Silver Insanity

(From Cold Blood.)

By Stockade Reserve Armory, we mean large warehouse full of junk. And by that, we mean this is a storehouse that is underwater / flooded, and contains old coral packing crates and chests. Some are suspended off the floor with chains, in a web of maze-like swimming tunnels and OSHA violations. The chests contain mostly worthless coins and strange items that were important enough to keep, but not important enough to be needed on a regular or even semi-regular basis. Come to think of it, this is a palace-sized junk drawer.

Corystes is clearly at home under the water, moving better than she does on land.

Ossian's spear seems fairly well adapted to an aquatic environment, pulling him along like an underwater jet. His hand signals aren't great, but he is managing to communicate with the others as needed.

The question of whether Krajk moves better underwater or not is largely one of aesthetic preference on the part of whomever might be watching, but it is quite obvious that Krajk-as-shark is perfectly at home beneath the surface. He is clearly more hindered by the close quarters and clutter than the others but also clearly has experience dealing with such matters, though some of his tight loops border on the improbable. Keeping one eye on the two locals, he tests the water for scents.

Scents of a half dozen or so aquatic people greet you, coming through the currents from several very specific places. The mage, who is distorting said currents to fool your nose, has forgotten your other senses. Five very specific electronic signatures wait in ambush, hidden in the maze, and ready for you and your companions to swim past them to attack.

((Apologies for delay, Krajk was being mum last night and then my brain was busy melting for most of today (stupid heat)...))

The head of a shark is remarkably unsuitable for showing any expressions other than "blank" and "BITING YOU", but it almost seems like Krajk is smirking. Perhaps it's something in the eyes, but it's hard to tell really. He stills his circling long enough to point his snout in a few directions, then (of all things) rolls his eyes*. The blue-grey shark makes a tight loop to catch his breath, and then points his snout in one final direction. He snaps his jaws five times and then does a strange, somewhat jerky forward motion for a few twitching moments**. Somehow despite the crudeness of the gesticulation enforced by lacking both speech and hands, Krajk's meaning comes through surprisingly clear*** - those first few locations are false and Krajk isn't particularly impressed, but there are five opponents trying to be sneaky over thataway.

(*Sharks rolling their eyes involved more literally rolling the eyes *back* than twirling them around in their sockets. It's intended to protect lidless eyes when attacking, but Krajk has apparently figured out how to manually control the effect.)
(**He's trying to mimic someone crawling along on all fours, but a lot gets lost in translation. Pretty good effort for a fish though...)
(***Though per OOC discussion, Corystes may well understand Krajk's pseudo-speech better than Ossian. Yay handwaviness!)

Corystes nods, and clicks off noisily down the path Krajk directed towards the false locations. She's deliberately moving slowly and conspicuously, which should give Krajk and Ossian enough time to circle around and ambush the would-be ambushers.

_____
Corystes

While you don't outrank them utterly and completely on warfare (and neither NPC does either) and keeping in mind you're outnumbered, you really can't lose this battle. Anyone Krajk gets his teeth in is just dead (no save), while the others are effective but not quite so blender-ish. The male siren (the magic user) will quickly and hastily bid a retreat once you start wasting his mooks. Now, it's possible to try to downplay your abilities to try to draw the siren into the fray, but... I'm guessing that's not Krajk's style. Unfortunately, the mooks (a number of well muscled fish-men and at least one warfare based underwater fencer) are good enough that you can't quickly disengage to follow the siren.

(OOC: Normally I would do this over chat, but let's try on here so people can see.)
What would you like to do? And what price are you willing to pay for it?

Krajk has driven himself to his limits and past them on multiple occasions and so knows where they lie quite well. He's quite willing to take a few hits to get what he wants - after all, he heals faster than most anyone else he knows and dead enemies don't heal at all (usually). He's not about to abandon his two companions, not unless he's quite sure they're in no real danger - a few cuts and scrapes ranks somewhere between "clothes got dirty" and "missed a meal" for Krajk - but he's not going to stay around and finish off small fry when the real target is fleeing. If he can catch the siren, excellent; if he can at least wound him (going for the swimming equivalent of a hamstring if possible), also good; worst case the shark will settle for simply keeping hot on the siren's trail.

These people don't push you to your limits. Although, they do demand your attention. By the time that you can take out two of the mooks, the siren has fled the room. It's only maybe 10 - 15 seconds later that Corystes gives you a signal that she and Ossian can handle the remaining three. As stated, as much as the siren can muddle his scent trails, he has completely forgotten about your electroreception.

Krajk surges after the siren without a second glance at Corystes or Ossian. It's not the all-out equivalent of a shark sprint, but he's definitely pushing the pace; sharks can't afford to waste energy unless there's a sure kill at the end, but Krajk can and will.

The siren is fleeing into a side-room, into a huge gray door of some slate-like substance, bound in metal, towering to about twelve feet up.

The room itself is almost a mirror of the grand ballroom upstairs, only this is several hundred feet underneath. A cold, blue drawing shimmers like cold fire on the floor, quivering and makes the whole room seem somehow unsubstantial. It is an elaborate tracing of bright power, composed mainly of curves, though there were a few straight lines near its middle. Perhaps a hundred yards across at its narrow middle, and maybe a hundred and fifty long, it seems composed of a single straight line.

The siren shivers and looks around. "No, not here." He will say before heading for where the single blue line ends. "You won't take me alive. There will be one of us on the throne!"

(unfortunately, he will make the pattern before you catch him. Not that you know what this is. )