Night Floors (IC)

[Lone Star]

"What the hell is going on here?" KC said aloud as he entered the room.

Cannonade went up to a woman sitting in a nearby chair, dressed in antique clothes that were thread-bare in spots, as if they'd come from the back rack of a vintage store. "Excuse me, miss..."

The woman turned around, a smile pasted on her face. "Oh, new visitors!" she said. "And such costumes! Mind you, Halloween's not for... some time now, but I like them! So daring."

Cannonade looked down at his costume. "Yeah, I... guess you could say that," he said. "Listen, my friend and I were just passing by when this place caught our attention. Seems... interesting. Does it have a name, or...?"

"Ah, I see you've found the Smoking Lounge!" she said. "Or it's found you. It's a revelation, isn't it? A great place to draw in the inspiration... I mean, there's so much that happens here, so... much..."

The smile flicker on her face for a second, as if she was recalling a bad memory. It righted itself quickly, however. "But where are my manners?" she said. "My name's Maureen. And yours?"

"My name's Kid Cthulhu. Umm...do you guys know about a play called The King in Yellow? My friend and I had heard about it and we were wondering if we could borrow your copy. We wanted to perform it at our school." In some bizarre way, KC thought it made sense. They were from some area of the past, and maybe ignorant of where they were. "We'll return it right away."

[trollthumper]

"Oh, yes!" Maureen said. "Jane brought that play to one of our recent salons. I must say, it's amazing. It paints such a vivid picture of what life must have been like in Carcosa..."

"Carcosa?" Cannonade asked. "Where the hell is Carcosa?"

"Why, it stands on the shores of Lake Hali. Framed by mists from the boiling lake, illuminated by the moon through the Towers of the Captured Sun... it's magnificent. The King has come to it... or did... I highly doubt it matters anymore. Carcosa is, and was, and ever shall be."

"Well, it... sounds like one hell of a destination," he said. "So, about Jane--"

"Oh, wait!" Maureen reached into her purse, and pulled out two bushels of paper, handing one each to Cannonade and Kid Cthulhu. "Would you mind taking a look at these? Jane's stepped out of the production, 'cause of her promotion and all, so I was wondering if you'd mind reading for a few parts..."

Cannonade took a look down at his bushel. It looked like pages to a play, with a list of roles on the front page. Only the ink was still fresh on two -- "THE CHAMPION" and "THE SCHOLAR." Among the other roles were the ones on the pages Kid Cthulhu had found in the apartment, including "THE ARTIST" and "THE MASK SALESMAN." And at the top of the roster was one name written in fading ink that seemed to be slowly drying and vanishing before their eyes -- "THE MUSE."

[Lone Star]

"Okay, I don't know what the hell's going on here. Tell us where the play is and who the king is, okay? This is driving me nuts!" KC shouted at them. He grabbed the paper out of her hand and crumbled it. "This is an evil play, don't you understand? It needs to be destroyed!" KC said, shaking slightly. The sheer thought of what was going on made his head spin.

[trollthumper]

Maureen looked down at the crumpled sheets of the play, then back to Kid Cthulhu. "Oh, why did you have to do that?" she said, picking up the scattered sheets of the play and handing them back to Cannonade. "Just give me some time, I'll get them in order... I know it might not be your thing, but the theater of the abstract isn't exactly everyone's preference."

Cannonade took a look down at the play again. The cast list was still the first page, only now there was a name missing from the roster. "Who's playing The Consort?" he asked.

"Why, that was Jane, of course," said Maureen. "But like I said, she stepped out. Y'know, she didn't even start off as the Consort -- first she was the Sculptor, but the role... shifted. She just... became... became..."

Something seemed to break in Maureen for a second -- the mask of leisure giving way to creeping terror. "She's gone with the King," she said. "To the eternal court, to dance the endless dance. The play's being written as we speak, but it can be dashed. Find the corridors, find her, end the fiction, just hurry --"

And then the fear was gone, and she relaxed. "I'm sorry," she said. "I don't know what came over me..."

There was a rustle of paper and cloth. Cannonade looked up from Maureen to the other end of the lounge. A man in a tattered yellow robe had just ducked behind a rapidly closing door.

[Lone Star]

KC nodded to her. "Never was much of an actor. Tell me, where's the exit? Surely there must be a way out. I believe I need some fresh air." KC said as he looked around for a possible exit.

[trollthumper]

"Well, there should be a balcony just through the door," said Maureen, pointing to the door the man in the tattered robe had just vanished behind. Cannonade was already moving for the door, catching it just before it closed. He pulled it open -- with perhaps a bit too much force, shoving it hard enough to dent the wall -- and ran through.

On the other side of the doorway was a long, sweeping corridor, far from the balcony Maureen had described. The passageway seemed to twist before his eyes, like a gradual corkscrew. Doorways and paintings ringed the walls, with strange cacophonies emerging from behind both.

"Great," Cannonade said. "How the hell are we gonna explore all these?"

[Lone Star]

"Wait, wait. Just give me one moment." KC sat down on the ground, and assumed a meditative position like a Buddhist monk. He held out his hands. The cacaphony of the hallway ceased into a gentle hum, and the hallways stopped spinning and contorting, and it settled into an average hallway. An otherworldly sphere of light appeared between KC's open palms. His nose began to bleed. The sphere of light hovered for a moment, then rushed to the door at the very end of the hallway.

KC gasped for air, and nearly collapsed. "Aaaugh! Oh GOD!" he screamed. "Oh good. It's fine. Did it work?" he said. Taking a deep breath, he saw the sphere of light at the door at the end of the hallway. "That should be the right way."

[trollthumper]

As Kid Cthulhu stretched his senses out into the warp and weft of the building, he felt... something. Vast, and untamed. Pulling at the structure of the building like a singularity, letting up whorls and whispers. It felt like the building wasn't being built so much as expanded... but to where, he did not want to know.

Cannonade, meanwhile, followed the ball of light to the end of the hallway. A set of double doors stood before him. He barged through... and found himself in a dance hall, populated by dozens of couples in fine evening wear. In the corner, a swing band was set up in the bandstand, playing 20s style jazz. The couples danced riotously across the floor. In addition to feeling somewhat out of place, Cannonade was alarmed. How many people has this place swept up?

He tapped the shoulder of one of the nearby dancers. "Hey, listen, I'm looking for this girl..." The dancer danced on, ignorant of the inquiry. Cannonade tapped again. "We think she's lost, and we're trying to find her..." But the man kept on dancing. At the end of his rope, Cannonade grabbed the man by the shoulder and spun him around. "Look, pal--"

The man spun, and it was clear he was no man. His face was lacquered wood, pressed into a jovial smile. Cannonade looked up to the ceiling; there were hundreds of strings, dancing across grooved tracks, leading down to the many dancers. It was a hall full of marionettes. Suddenly, he heard the sound of snapping cables, and saw several strands fall to the ground. He looked into the face of his target, which was no longer smiling, but scowling.

"...aw, crap."

[Lone Star]

KC ran after Cannonade, and his boots skidded against the carpet when he tripped over himself. As Cannonade broke open the doors, KC's face fell. Another ballroom. He walked in slowly as Cannonade began to interrogate the guests, and he looked up. Strings, like spider webs, were hanging off of the ceiling. He gasped, and looked at the man Nick was holding.

"Aw, crap."

[Lone Star]

KC quickly gained his composure and summoned a ball of mystic flame, and hurled it at one of the puppets. He felt his mystic power fluctuate, and he really put a kick into this one! The fire exploded out like a machine gun, and he directed the fire at the marionettes. "Take that, you...strange puppets!" he said as the power exploded from his palms. He knew that taking these mystic puppets down would get them one step closer to finding the King and saving their target.

[trollthumper]

The eldritch fire washed over the marionettes instantly, consuming clothing and wood with equal fervor. They fell to the ground, resembling nothing more than firewood by the time they hit. Cannonade, however, was distracted by the sound of more snapping strings.

"Oh no you don't," he said, rounding on the nearest marionette and punching it right through the chest. The blow was enough to splinter outwards, causing the body to collapse into a pile of chips and cloth. He rounded on the next marionette, but his fist merely glanced off its chest. "What're you made of, redwood?"

The marionette lifted its head to look at him, a grotesque parody of a hanged man. The marionette did not move, but the strings began to slither upwards, and lashed out at Cannonade like a bullwhip. He managed to dodge the blow, however, and turned to Kid Cthulhu. "You deal with this stuff often?"

[Lone Star]

KC launched another eldritch assault at another trio of them, his hand launching another volley of eldritch fire. "Nothing like this. I've never had to deal with the King in Yellow before. This is some weird stuff, Cannonade." He tilted his head back, and looked around. The puppets were marching towards them like zombies. "Good thing these guys are easy to whomp on, though."

[trollthumper]

The row of marionettes ignited before the scorching heat of Kid Cthulhu's volley, joining their smoldering compatriots on the floor. "You said it," Cannonade replied, shattering another marionette over his knee. "Wish these freaking puppets would give it a rest, though." He launched a strike against another marionette, which managed to dodge with inhuman grace. "I mean, these things give me the -- whoa!"

The marionette had managed to wrap one of its strings around Cannonade's leg, dragging him to the ground. As it loomed over him, the other marionettes began to converge around the duo. One of them lashed out at Kid Cthulhu's feet with its strings, just barely missing the hero.

[Lone Star]

KC reached out and fired a bolt of eldritch fire at the one attacking him and the one that was on Cannonade. "These guys may be made of matchsticks, but man are they annoying!" he said as he casually shot the fire out of his palm. "Are there any doors around here? We need to keep going once we finish these guys."

[trollthumper]

The eldritch fire struck the marionette standing over Cannonade; however, while the blast seemed to set its gown on fire, it seemed to weather the flame. Cannonade threw a punch against the marionette, but couldn't reach from the floor. "Don't know about doors," he said, desperately scanning the ballroom. He pushed against his bonds, managing to make them snap open; as the marionette desperately attempted to reknit them, Cannonade sprung to his feet.

"Yeah, I --" Cannonade ducked another blow from a marionette. "--don't see anything, 'cept the way we came." Another puppet wrapped its cord around him, but Cannonade managed to break it with one hand. He focused on the far wall. "There's a crack over there, though... don't know if we can fit through it, but --"

Meanwhile, two marionettes slouched towards Kid Cthulhu, their bodies held aloft by some unknown force. One went for his feet with its lash, and he nimbly side-stepped it -- but in doing so, lined himself up for a strike across his brow from another puppet...

[Lone Star]

KC gritted his teeth and summoned more eldritch fire. He fired at the one that hit him, and turned to his side and fired at two others, the fire blasting forth like an artillery gun. You'll have to break it down once we get done with these...puppets!" He shouted, clearly irritated. This was starting to piss him off to no end. The one thought that hovered in the back of his mind was if they were strong enough to take on the King himself.

[trollthumper]

More puppets hit the ground in flames. "Almost there!" Cannonade yelled as two puppets came apart in his hands like rotten wood. "Once we clear the room, it's time for demolitions!"

The dance hall was in utter disarray by now. The music had long since stopped, as the marionettes had clambered out of the bandstand. Tables were turned over, and scorched and shattered wood covered the floor amongst empty clothing. The two active marionettes lashed out at Kid Cthulhu and Cannonade as their compatriots scrabbled to join them. One lash whipped right past Cannonade's boots, but another managed to catch Kid Cthulhu right in the ankles...

[Lone Star]

KC fell to the ground, surprised at the tenacity of the puppets. He shook his head, and raised his hands up. He swiped his hand from left to right, unleashing another volley of mystical flame. "Time to finish these bozos off." he said. He was looking forward to getting out of this nightmare room.

[trollthumper]

There was little left of the marionettes save for a pile of charcoal that smelled faintly of incense. Three remained, but one split as Cannonade grabbed it by the arms and ripped it clean in two. "You said it," he said, as the strings of the other marionettes slithered over his arms and legs. He quickly managed to break the bonds, however. "I wanna find out just who the hell's responsible for this head trip."

[Lone Star]

KC gritted his teeth as he launched another fiery assault at the puppets. "Between you and me, I hope we don't. The King in Yellow is supposed to be one bad dude. It may cause some serious mental damage to both of us, possibly beyond repair. So I hope we can find those people soon, without fighting the King. He will mess us the hell up." He breathed in a sigh. He was getting worn out fighting these minions.

[trollthumper]

Kid Cthulhu's flames caught the one marionette, causing it to fall apart into burning kindling. The second gout merely glanced the other marionette, however, so even as its gown burned away, leaving nothing but varnished wood and an eerie smile, it still remained standing.

"Time to join the wood pile," Cannonade said, bearing down on the marionette. As he dived for it, however, the wooden doll quickly jerked away, dragging itself to the other side of the room -- and the crack in the wall -- by the strength of its sundered strings. Before Cannonade could cross the distance, the strings plunged into the crack, pulling it apart with inhuman strength. Suddenly, the entire room began to sunder -- chunks of the ceiling crashed into the floor, which began to pit and warp. The walls were folding it like a house of cards.

Cannonade lifted his arms in an effort to protect himself... and then, it was all over. He lowered his arms, and found himself on a vast stage. The audience was occluded in shadow, but he could swear they were marionettes as well. They made no noise -- they just sat and watched. He looked back to Kid Cthulhu.

"Maybe I shouldn't try ticking these guys off."

[Lone Star]

KC shielded his face as well, and opened them. "What. The hell. This is new." KC said as he looked around the stage. "What on earth are we doing here? This is really strange." He held out a hand and lit it with the green mystic flame, trying to look into the audience.

[trollthumper]

The light washed over the audience, showing that it stretched off into the horizon. The marionettes did not move, but they did whisper -- if they were speaking to one another, Kid Cthulhu couldn't tell, because the whispering seemed to emerge from the shadows between them.

Something split the strange whispering, however -- a groan. Cannonade turned around, and froze. "Christ almighty..."

There, on a vermilion throne, stood a woman in her early thirties. She was of fair features, but obviously in a feverish state. She scratched at her bonds, which appeared to be newspaper ribbon and steel clips. Cannonade ran forward to her.

"Jane?" he asked.

"Who are you? Are you from upstairs?"

"No, no we're not. We're from downstairs. We're here to get you out." He began pulling at the bonds, trying to sunder them. He yanked his hands away, however, when he realized that they were writhing and constricting.

"Don't -- you don't get it -- he's writing -- he's writing throughme --"

There was a clacking noise from stage left. A man emerged from the shadows. He wore a black suit with yellow pinstripes -- or rather, he had once, as it now stood in long strips and tatters. His hair was slicked back with pomade, but his face was unseen. Instead, he wore a pallid mask the color of moonlight, with no features whatsoever.

"Do not give the plot away. Or else what is the point of performance?"

[Lone Star]

KC gasped. "It's him." he breathed to Cannonade. "The King." He quickly gained resolve, however, and threw his fists at his sides, igniting them with green fire.

"King, we demand you give Jane back, or we're gonna kick your ass all the way back to Carcosa!" he shouted at him. It was the only thing he could do to make him not comprehend what was in front of him.

[trollthumper]

"I'm afraid that's not possible," said the man in the pallid mask as he crossed the stage. He seemed to take impossibly long strides, crossing three yards one step, two feet another. "I have shown her such things. I have colonized her mind -- I exposed her to the account of true things, and she shall soon dance in my halls."

"Exposed her... you're one of the Kings!" Cannonade shouted. "You gave her the play in the first place!"

The man in the pallid mask turned to Cannonade. Despite the fact that the mask betrayed no emotion, something like scorn crept in underneath. "Once. Maybe. But I am remade now. I am clad in the tatters of the king, and this building is my embassy. The path is clear for Aldebaran, and my reign shall --"

But Cannonade was already across the stage, driving his fist into the tattered man's gut. The man doubled over. "I am fricking sick of this!" he yelled. "I don't care if you're the Duke of Earl. You're pulling up roots, getting back to the freaking Dagobah system, and letting these people go back to normal. You hear me?"

The man in the pallid mask righted himself. "Such disrespect," he whispered as he began to levitate above the stage. "I will show you how to regard nobility."