MERCYGAME

SCENE CONTEXT
The summit arena before dawn, high above a sea of fog. The court feasts and bets in its box while condemned men fight to the death on a single plank across a chasm; across the chasm the master of the games watches alone. Whose scene: @freckles's, the youngest of the condemned and the first of the six to be chosen. The gap: he knows something the audience does not; the only clue is that he looks down into the chasm before the fight. What it costs: he cannot beat a man twice his size, and he never begs.

CAST AND REFERENCES
@merciful is the master of the games; his ivory mask never changes.
@boar and @hawk are the lords of the court.
@wolf_masked_warrior_triptych is the court's enforcer; he picks the fighters.
@iron_guard controls the look of every guard; there are six, each exactly like @iron_guard, each with a tall halberd held upright.
@champion is the unbeaten fighter of the plank.
@freckles is the condemned man chosen first: the youngest, with light-brown curls and a freckled boyish face. He stands at the plank end of the row.
@runt is a different man: dark hair hacked short, a few days of stubble, hollow cheeks. He stands at the far end of the row, farthest from the plank, and is not chosen in this scene.
@scar, @redhair, @ox and @elder are the other four condemned; each matches his own sheet.
@arena1 sets the place only; it has no people in it.
Sheet backgrounds and layouts are not inherited.
Without a reference: the first man, a heavy, bald condemned man of about fifty with a long grey beard, in an undyed sackcloth tunic, barefoot, seen only in CUT 1; about thirty masked nobles in dark furs on the upper rows of the left stand; servants in grey; on the court's table a dark red cloth, roast meat, grapes, silver cups, wine jugs; a heavy leather purse of gold coins in @boar's hand in CUT 6.

LOCATION MAP
@arena1: a summit split by a cleft about fifteen metres wide that drops into fog. Two stone stands face each other across the cleft, and the plank, a bridge two metres wide and fifteen long with no railings, runs between them from the lowest step of the left stand to a ledge on the right.
Everything of the court is on the LEFT stand. At its top is the court's box under a dark canopy: @boar and @hawk sit at the table, and @wolf_masked_warrior_triptych stands at the rail beside @boar. The masked nobles fill the upper rows. At the bottom of the SAME left stand, on its lowest step, right where the plank begins, six condemned men stand in a row with their wrists tied in red rope, facing up the stand toward the box, the plank starting directly behind their backs. Two guards stand behind them at the head of the plank. The six, from the plank end of the row: @freckles, @scar, @redhair, @ox, @elder, and @runt at the far end. @champion waits on the right half of the plank, beyond them.
The RIGHT stand, across the cleft, is empty except for its box at the top under a pale canopy, where @merciful sits alone in one of two chairs, the other chair empty, two guards standing on each side. Its benches stay empty.
Light: pre-dawn overcast, flat cold blue-grey sky, brightest low on the horizon beyond the cleft; fire baskets burn by both boxes, the only warm light.

FIRST FRAME / BLOCKING
16:9. A wide establishing view of @arena1, locked, about 30 mm. The camera stands high on the top of the left stand, just to the right of the court's box and a little in front of it, about eight to ten metres above the plank, looking down at a gentle angle and across to the right toward the right pillar, aimed a little more to the right than straight across so that the right stand's box fits fully inside the frame. Exactly what is where in the frame:
- First, the right stand's box: its whole pale canopy, both chairs and the four guards with upright halberds sit at about four fifths of the frame width, up near the top of the frame, NOT at the edge, with a clear strip of sky and mountains to its right; the box is about a tenth of the frame width. In one chair @merciful, a bright white figure in his white hood and ermine, clearly visible at a glance; the other chair empty.
- The left fifth of the frame, from the top edge down to about two thirds of the height: the court's box seen from beside it. A thick dark wooden post runs up the very left edge; the dark wool canopy hangs across the top-left corner; under it @boar and @hawk sit at the long table with its dark red cloth, and @wolf_masked_warrior_triptych stands at the rail of the box beside @boar's chair, looking down over the stand; a fire basket burns on the wooden floor of the box.
- The lower-left quarter: the wet grey stone rows of the LEFT stand curving down in a half-circle from the box toward the plank, moss in the joints, fire baskets on the top row. On the lowest step of this LEFT stand, right at the near end of the plank and directly below the court's box, the six condemned stand small in a row, facing up the stand, the plank behind their backs; from the plank end: @freckles, @scar, @redhair, @ox, @elder, @runt; the two guards stand behind them at the head of the plank.
- The middle of the frame: the plank begins at that lowest step a little left of and below the centre of the frame and rises on a diagonal to the right, across the cleft, to the right pillar at about four fifths of the frame width, a little above the middle of the height.
- Below the plank, in the lower middle and lower right: the dark rock walls of the cleft dropping away and the white fog far below.
- The right third: the cliff face of the right pillar and its stand of empty stone rows curving up to that box, with nobody on them.
- The top half of the frame: the Alpine ridges and the sea of fog in the valleys, the horizon about a third of the way down from the top, the overcast sky above.
On the right half of the plank, at about two thirds of the frame width, two small figures, @champion about a fifth of the frame height: @champion stands with his back to the camera, facing the far side edge; in front of him, at the far side edge, the first man is down on one knee on the boards, facing the camera, his back to the drop. @champion's bare right foot is already pressed against the man's left shoulder; the man grips @champion's ankle with both hands and pushes back against it.

FORMAT MODE
One generation, about 26 seconds, nine cuts, real speed throughout. No slow motion anywhere.

CUT 1, about 3 s, the wide establishing view exactly as in FIRST FRAME, one locked shot, every part of the frame as listed there, the right box with the bright white figure of @merciful fully in the frame at about four fifths of the frame width, never at the edge:
On the left, on the lowest step of the LEFT stand at the near end of the plank, @freckles, @scar, @redhair, @ox, @elder and @runt stand still in their row with the two guards behind them for the whole shot. At 0:00.3 the first man gasps "Please." Still on one knee, he resists with the last of his strength, both hands on the ankle, his face toward the camera. @champion keeps his back to the camera and leans into the foot. At about 0:02 @champion straightens his leg in one hard push; the man tips backward off the far side edge and falls away into the fog. @champion puts his foot back down.

CUT 2, about 2 s, the right box across the cleft, a medium shot of @merciful from slightly below, about 85 mm, locked, the empty chair beside him, a guard at each edge of the frame:
@merciful's right hand rests on the armrest; the fingers slowly curl into a fist. Nothing else moves.

CUT 3, about 2 s, inside the court's box at the top of the left stand, just behind @wolf_masked_warrior_triptych's right shoulder, about 50 mm, locked, looking down the SAME stand: his fur shoulder and outstretched arm large in the foreground; directly below him the stone steps of the left stand run down to its lowest step, where six condemned men stand small in a row, their faces turned up toward him, @freckles at the plank end and @runt at the far end; directly behind their backs the plank begins and runs away across the cleft, @champion standing on it; the right stand far in the background:
@wolf_masked_warrior_triptych points one gloved finger down at @freckles, the man at the plank end, and says flatly "That one."

CUT 4, about 2.5 s, the lowest rows of the left stand from the side, a wide shot from about twenty metres away, about 35 mm, locked: six condemned men small in the frame, each about a third of the frame height, standing in profile in a row on the lowest step, facing screen left up the stand toward the court's box and @wolf_masked_warrior_triptych at its rail; from right to left: @freckles nearest the plank, @scar, @redhair, @ox, @elder, and @runt at the far left end; the two guards standing behind the row at the head of the plank; the court's box with its table and canopy fully in the frame above them; the head of the plank behind their backs at the right of the frame, the drop under it; @champion small on the plank beyond:
@elder prays without a sound; @runt, at the far end, trembles. One of the two guards grabs @freckles, the man nearest the plank, by the back of the neck, spins him round to face the plank and shoves him onto it, then steps back behind the row. @freckles stumbles three steps and catches his balance. Five men remain in the row on the step: @scar, @redhair, @ox, @elder and @runt, the two guards behind them.

CUT 5, about 1.5 s, a side-on medium shot of @freckles on the left half of the plank, about 85 mm, locked, the fog below him:
@freckles looks down into the drop, then up at @champion to his right. He swallows. His face goes calm.

CUT 6, about 2 s, the court's box, a medium close shot across the table, about 85 mm, locked:
@boar, laughing with his mouth full, slams the purse on the table; it splits and gold spills across the red cloth; he points at @champion below. @hawk, her eyes on @freckles, slides one coin forward with one finger.

CUT 7, about 7.5 s, from the same place high on the left stand beside the court's box, looking down and across at the plank, slightly tighter, about 70 mm, locked: the plank with @freckles and @champion on it in the middle of the frame, the open drop on both sides of the plank and the fog far below always in view, the right stand behind them:
@champion walks at @freckles and swings a heavy fist; @freckles ducks and drives two punches into his ribs; @champion does not sway. He backhands @freckles, who staggers to the side edge: one heel slides off the boards, he hangs over the drop for an instant with his arms windmilling, and throws himself back onto the plank. @champion grabs his tunic, headbutts him and slams him down on his back; the plank bounces. @freckles rolls onto one knee and tries to rise.

CUT 8, about 1.5 s, the court's box, close, about 85 mm, locked:
@boar tears meat off a bone, laughing; a servant refills his cup. @hawk eats a grape and does not watch.

CUT 9, about 3.5 s, the wide establishing view again, one locked shot, about 30 mm, from high on the top of the left stand just to the right of the court's box, looking down at a gentle angle and across to the right. Exactly what is where in the frame: first, the right stand's whole pale box at about four fifths of the frame width, near the top, not at the edge, a strip of sky to its right, with @merciful as a bright white figure in his chair between his four guards; the left fifth, the court's box with its dark post at the very left edge, the canopy across the top-left corner, @boar and @hawk at the red-clothed table and @wolf_masked_warrior_triptych standing at the rail beside @boar's chair; the lower-left quarter, the stone rows of the LEFT stand curving down to its lowest step, where five men stand in a row at the near end of the plank, from the plank end @scar, @redhair, @ox, @elder and @runt, the two guards behind them; the plank beginning a little left of and below the centre and rising on a diagonal to the right pillar; the cleft and the fog below it; the right third, the right pillar's empty stand; the Alps and the sea of fog across the top half. On the right half of the plank, small in the frame: @champion with his back to the camera, facing the far side edge; in front of him @freckles on one knee, facing the camera:
At real speed, in one quick motion, @champion grabs @freckles by the tunic and belt, lifts him over his head and throws him off the far side edge. @freckles falls away into the fog. @champion stands at the edge with his back to the camera, breathing hard, looking down.

CAMERA AND OPTICS
Every cut locked, no push-in, no zoom, no tilt; lenses as given in each cut.

ACTION
Bare hands, heads and feet only; every blow lands on a body in the frame. Every fall goes over the far side edge of the plank, straight down into the fog. Nobody walks off the plank. @merciful's only movement is the fist in CUT 2.

PERFORMANCE
@champion: no expression while he kills, heavy breathing, every throw effortless. @wolf_masked_warrior_triptych: flat, bored. @boar: greedy laughter. @hawk: cold. @merciful: absolute stillness. The first man: exhausted, begging, resisting on one knee, no wailing. @freckles: frightened at first, then calm once he has decided; beaten but getting up; he never begs. @runt: frightened, trembling, staying at the far end of the row. The condemned on the step react one at a time and never turn to watch the plank. No exaggerated faces.

PHYSICS AND LIGHT
Wet boards that creak and bounce; the plank stays straight and whole. Wind in hair, furs and hoods; fog drifting in the cleft; breath in the cold air. Bodies fall as real bodies do, never thrown up into the air. Cold light on the plank and the step, warm firelight only in the two boxes. Fine film grain.

AUDIO
No music. Wind under everything. CUT 1: "Please.", a scream falling away. CUT 2: the creak of the glove. CUT 3: "That one." CUT 4: shuffling feet, a grunt. CUT 6: the thud of the purse, scattering coins, one coin's click. CUT 7: footfalls, punches, a gasp from the court at the near fall, the crack of the headbutt, the court roaring. CUT 8: chewing, laughter, pouring wine. CUT 9: a grunt, the roar of the court, then wind and hard breathing.

STYLE
Photoreal live action, cold prestige grade, near monochrome grey-blue; fire, gold and dark red wine are the only warm colours. No glow, no particles, no AI gloss.

TEXT
No readable text anywhere.

POSITIVE LOCKS
- Every referenced person matches his sheet in every frame.
- @freckles and @runt are two different men, and both stand in the row in CUTS 1, 3 and 4: @freckles at the plank end, @runt at the far end. @freckles is the one taken, who fights in CUT 7 and is thrown in CUT 9; @runt stays in the row the whole scene.
- Six condemned men stand on the lowest step of the LEFT stand in CUTS 1 to 4, directly below the court's box, at the near end of the plank, with the plank right behind their backs, facing up the stand toward the box and @wolf_masked_warrior_triptych; they are never across the cleft and never on the right stand. Five remain after @freckles is taken: @scar, @redhair, @ox, @elder, @runt. No other condemned except the first man in CUT 1, who never appears again.
- The two guards of the row stand behind it at the head of the plank in every shot that shows the step; only one of them moves, to shove @freckles, and then steps back.
- CUTS 1 and 9 are the wide establishing view described in FIRST FRAME: the court's box filling the left fifth with @boar, @hawk and @wolf_masked_warrior_triptych in it, the stone rows and the row of condemned in the lower left, the plank on its diagonal in the middle, the Alps across the top half, and the right stand's whole pale box at about four fifths of the frame width, never at or beyond the edge of the frame, with @merciful as a bright white figure in it and his four guards beside him. The two men are small on the plank, @champion with his back to the camera, the other man facing it.
- CUT 7 is filmed from the same high place on the left stand, never side-on at plank height; the drop on both sides of the plank is in view.
- In CUT 1 the first man stays on one knee until the push; he never lies down on the plank.
- CUT 4 is a wide shot: the six never fill the frame; the court's box above them and the head of the plank are in view.
- @wolf_masked_warrior_triptych stands at the rail of the court's box beside @boar at the top of the LEFT stand the whole scene; he never comes down.
- @merciful sits in the right box with the empty chair beside him and four guards in every shot that shows the right stand; the benches of the right stand stay empty, no crowd and no other guards on them. He never speaks or stands; his mask never changes.
- @champion always holds the right half of the plank; the condemned come onto it from its left end.
- One plank only: a straight, unbroken bridge with both ends on rock; it never breaks, bends or sticks out into the air.
- No weapons on the plank; halberds always upright.
- Only two spoken lines: "Please." and "That one."
- No slow motion anywhere. Nobody looks into the lens. No blood, no gore. No music. No black frames, no fade.

SCENE CONTEXT
The summit arena before dawn, high above a sea of fog. The court feasts and bets in its box while condemned men fight to the death on a single plank across a chasm; across the chasm the master of the games watches alone. The champion has just thrown the young man into the chasm; four condemned are left on the landing. Whose scene: @scar's, the hard, silent one, the next to be chosen. The gap: the champion knows something @scar does not: whoever wins on this plank only has to fight again, and again. What it costs: @scar beats him and offers him his hand; the champion refuses it and lets go; and the guards throw the next man onto the plank: a frail old man @scar will have to kill.

CAST AND REFERENCES
@merciful is the master of the games; his ivory mask never changes.
@boar and @hawk are the lords of the court.
@wolf_masked_warrior_triptych is the court's enforcer; he picks the fighters.
@wolf_masked_warrior_triptych, @boar and @hawk sit side by side at the court's table: @wolf_masked_warrior_triptych on the left, @boar in the middle, @hawk on the right.
@iron_guard controls the look of every guard; there are two, each exactly like @iron_guard, each with a tall halberd held upright, both behind the condemned on the landing.
@champion is the unbeaten fighter of the plank; he is the only bare-chested man in the scene.
The four condemned are four different men, each matching his own sheet, each in his undyed sackcloth tunic:
- @scar: head shaved to short stubble, a long scar running from his brow down across his nose to his cheek; he wears his sackcloth tunic with the thick knotted rope belt at his waist in every frame. He is the one chosen now; he stands at the plank end of the row.
- @redhair: long copper-red hair and a red beard. He stays in the row the whole scene.
- @ox: big and heavy, a full black beard. He stays in the row the whole scene.
- @elder: a thin, frail old man with thin white hair. He stands at the far end of the row.
@arena4 sets the place only; it has no people in it.
Sheet backgrounds and layouts are not inherited.
Without a reference: about thirty masked nobles in dark furs on the upper rows of the left stand; on the court's table a dark red cloth with gold coins scattered across it and nothing else: no food, no cups, no jugs.

LOCATION MAP
@arena4: a summit split by a cleft about fifteen metres wide that drops into fog. Two stone stands face each other across the cleft, and the plank, a bridge two metres wide and fifteen long with no railings, runs between them from a wide flat stone landing at the foot of the left stand to a ledge on the right.
Everything of the court is on the LEFT stand. At its top is the court's box under a dark canopy, with three carved chairs side by side behind a long table: @wolf_masked_warrior_triptych on the left, @boar in the middle, @hawk on the right. The masked nobles fill the upper rows. At the bottom of the SAME left stand, on the wide landing where the plank begins, exactly four condemned men stand in a row, their hands free, their backs to the court's box and their faces to the plank. Two guards stand behind them on the landing. The four, from the plank end of the row: @scar, @redhair, @ox, and @elder at the far end. @champion stands on the right part of the plank, near its right end, beyond them.
The RIGHT stand, across the cleft, is completely empty except for its box at the top under a pale canopy, where @merciful sits alone in one of two chairs, the other chair empty. Nobody else is anywhere on the right side: no guards, no crowd, every bench empty.
Light: pre-dawn overcast, flat cold blue-grey sky, brightest low on the horizon beyond the cleft; fire baskets burn by both boxes, the only warm light.

FIRST FRAME / BLOCKING
16:9. A wide establishing view of @arena4, locked, about 30 mm. The camera stands high on the top of the left stand, just to the right of the court's box and a little in front of it, about eight to ten metres above the plank, looking down at a gentle angle and across to the right toward the right pillar, aimed a little more to the right than straight across so that the right stand's box fits fully inside the frame. Exactly what is where in the frame:
- First, the right stand's box: its whole pale canopy and both chairs sit at about four fifths of the frame width, up near the top of the frame, NOT at the edge, with a clear strip of sky and mountains to its right; the box is about a tenth of the frame width. In one chair @merciful, a bright white figure in his white hood and ermine, clearly visible at a glance, sitting alone; the other chair empty.
- The left fifth of the frame, from the top edge down to about two thirds of the height: the court's box seen from beside it. A thick dark wooden post runs up the very left edge; the dark wool canopy hangs across the top-left corner; under it the three lords sit in their three carved chairs at the long table with its dark red cloth, three seated figures clearly visible side by side: @wolf_masked_warrior_triptych on the left, @boar in the middle, @hawk on the right; a fire basket burns on the wooden floor of the box.
- The lower-left quarter: the wet grey stone rows of the LEFT stand curving down in a half-circle from the box to the wide flat stone landing at the head of the plank, moss in the joints, fire baskets on the top row. On the landing, directly below the court's box, exactly four condemned stand small in a row in their sackcloth tunics, their backs to the court's box, facing the plank; from the plank end: @scar, @redhair, @ox, @elder; the two guards stand behind them on the landing.
- The middle of the frame: the plank begins at the landing a little left of and below the centre of the frame and rises on a diagonal to the right, across the cleft, to the right pillar at about four fifths of the frame width, a little above the middle of the height; it is whole from end to end.
- Below the plank, in the lower middle and lower right: the dark rock walls of the cleft dropping away and the white fog far below.
- The right third: the cliff face of the right pillar and its stand of empty stone rows curving up to that box, with nobody on them.
- The top half of the frame: the Alpine ridges and the sea of fog in the valleys, the horizon about a third of the way down from the top, the overcast sky above.
On the right part of the plank, a few steps from its right end, at about seven tenths of the frame width, @champion stands alone, small, about a fifth of the frame height, facing the left end of the plank.

FORMAT MODE
One generation, about 29 seconds, nine cuts, real speed throughout except the one slow-motion moment inside CUT 5.

CUT 1, about 2 s, the wide establishing view exactly as in FIRST FRAME, one locked shot, every part of the frame as listed there: the three lords seated side by side in the court's box, exactly four condemned in their row on the landing with the two guards behind them, @champion alone on the right part of the plank, and @merciful alone in the right box at about four fifths of the frame width, never at the edge:
@champion stands breathing hard, his eyes on the landing. Nobody else moves.

CUT 2, about 1.5 s, inside the court's box at the top of the left stand, just behind @wolf_masked_warrior_triptych's right shoulder as he sits at the table, about 50 mm, locked, looking down the SAME stand: his fur shoulder and outstretched arm large in the foreground; in front of him the dark red cloth of the table with only gold coins scattered across it, no food, no cups, no jugs; directly below him the stone rows of the left stand run down to the wide landing, where four condemned men stand small in a row with their backs to the camera and their faces to the plank, @scar, the shaved-headed man, at the plank end and @elder at the far end; directly in front of them the plank begins and runs away across the cleft, @champion standing on its right part; the right stand far in the background:
@wolf_masked_warrior_triptych points one gloved finger down at @scar, the shaved-headed man at the plank end, and says flatly "That one."

CUT 3, about 2 s, the landing at the foot of the left stand from the side, a wide shot from about twenty metres away, about 35 mm, locked: exactly four condemned men, no more, small in the frame, each about a third of the frame height, all four in their sackcloth tunics, standing in a row on the landing, their backs to the court's box and their faces to the plank; from right to left: @scar, the shaved-headed man, nearest the plank, @redhair with his long red hair, @ox with his black beard, and @elder with his white hair at the far left end; the two guards standing behind the row; the court's box with its table and canopy fully in the frame above them; the head of the plank at the right of the frame, the drop under it; @champion small on the plank beyond:
One of the two guards grabs @scar by the back of the neck and shoves him straight onto the plank, then steps back behind the row. Three men remain in the row on the landing: @redhair, @ox and @elder. Beyond, @champion starts walking slowly along the plank toward @scar.

CUT 4, about 1.5 s, a close-up of @scar's face in profile, standing on the left part of the plank in his sackcloth tunic, about 85 mm, locked, his shaved head and the long scar from his brow across his nose clearly visible; behind him, soft and out of focus, the landing with the three remaining condemned in their row and the two guards, and the stone rows of the left stand rising behind them:
@scar closes his eyes and takes one long, deep breath. He opens his eyes and leans forward to run.

CUT 5, about 13 s, ONE continuous take with no cut inside it, a side view of the plank: the camera is out in the open air of the cleft, beside the middle of the plank, about twelve metres from it and level with the boards, looking straight at the near side of the plank at a right angle to it, not along it and not from either stand; about 50 mm. The camera is locked for the whole take: it does not move, pan or follow the men. Exactly what is where in the frame for the whole take: the plank runs whole across the lower third of the frame from the stone rows of the left stand at the left edge to the cliff face of the right pillar at the right edge, both its ends resting on rock, rising slightly to the right, its boards wet; between the two stands, behind the plank, the sea of fog and the Alpine ridges; below the plank, the drop and the white fog far below. Both men full figure, about two fifths of the frame height, and the whole fight stays in the middle of the frame, far from both stands.
In this order: @scar, the shaved-headed man in his sackcloth tunic, the rope belt still knotted at his waist, sprints in from the left along the plank with an explosive start, body low, arms pumping, bare feet slapping the wet boards, at least six long strides, while @champion walks toward him from the right. Only when @scar is one metre from @champion does he launch himself, low and flat, and slam into him side-on: his shoulder, his side and his whole body crash into @champion's chest and belly, his arms wrapping round @champion's torso. He never jumps high and never flies past or over @champion: the two bodies collide head-on. From the moment @scar's feet leave the boards until his shoulder hits @champion's chest, everything slows to about a quarter of real speed, like a high-speed camera, water spraying off the boards. At the impact, real speed again for the rest of the take: the blow drives @champion backward and down onto one knee, but he does not go all the way down, and @scar bounces off him onto the boards beside him. @scar springs up and in two quick steps is behind @champion's back while @champion is still on one knee, facing right. Only now, behind him, does @scar pull the knotted rope belt off his own waist in one tug, his tunic staying on him and hanging loose; he loops the rope round @champion's neck from behind and hauls back with all his weight, his chest pressed against @champion's back, both of them facing right; @champion chokes, his face darkening. Then @champion grabs the rope with both hands and yanks it forward over his shoulder: @scar, still holding the rope, is pulled over @champion's shoulder in a short, low arc and slams down on his back on the boards in front of him, his head and one arm hanging over the near side of the plank above the drop. @champion rises over him, lifts his right foot high and stamps down hard at @scar's chest. @scar twists aside along the boards and the heel slams down into the wood where his chest was. While that foot is still planted on the boards, @scar seizes the ankle with both hands and yanks it out sideways over the near side: @champion, thrown off balance on one leg, topples sideways off the near side of the plank in the middle of the frame, and at the last moment both his hands catch the near side of the boards. The take ends with @champion hanging below the plank over the fog in the middle of the frame, his hands on the boards facing the camera, the plank running on whole to the left and to the right of his hands, and @scar on his hands and knees above him, breathing hard. The plank stays straight and whole.

CUT 6, about 3 s, a close-up of @champion's face from just below the near side of the plank, about 85 mm, locked, his two hands gripping the wet side of the boards on either side of his face, the fog below him:
@scar's open hand reaches down into the frame from above and stays there, held out to him. @champion looks up at the hand. He slowly shakes his head: no. He closes his eyes, lets go and drops away straight down into the fog without a sound.

CUT 7, about 1.5 s, a close-up of @scar kneeling at the near side of the plank in his sackcloth tunic, side-on, about 85 mm, locked, the fog behind him:
@scar slowly lowers his empty hand and looks down at it.

CUT 8, about 1.5 s, the landing at the foot of the left stand from the side, a wide shot from about twenty metres away, about 35 mm, locked: @redhair, @ox and @elder in their row, the two guards behind them, the court's box above, the head of the plank at the right of the frame:
One of the guards grabs @elder roughly by the back of the neck, drags him out of the row and hurls him onto the head of the plank; the thin old man falls onto his hands and knees on the boards.

CUT 9, about 3 s, it starts on the wide establishing view, about 30 mm, from high on the top of the left stand just to the right of the court's box, looking down and across to the right: the court's box with the three lords seated side by side on the left, @merciful as a bright white figure alone in his pale box at about four fifths of the frame width, the landing with @redhair, @ox and the two guards, the plank whole on its diagonal, @elder on his hands and knees at its left end and @scar in its middle, the two facing each other. Then the camera rises steadily up and back, high above the summit, until it looks down on the whole split arena from above: both half-circles of stone rows facing each other across the cleft, the court's box with its red table on the left, @merciful's pale box on the right, the plank a thin straight line across the dark cleft, @scar and @elder two tiny figures on it facing each other, the landing with its two condemned and the guards, and the sea of fog and the Alpine ridges all around:
@scar rises slowly to his feet and stands still. @elder trembles on the boards. They grow tiny as the camera rises away into the vast grey silence above the summit. @merciful does not move.

CAMERA AND OPTICS
Every cut locked except the rise up and back above the summit in CUT 9; no push-in, no zoom, no tilt, no pan; lenses as given in each cut. CUT 5 is one continuous take with no cut inside it.

ACTION
Bare hands, heads and feet only, and @scar's own rope belt; every blow lands on a body in the frame. The only fall is @champion's, in CUT 6: he lets go of the near side of the plank and drops straight down into the fog. @scar never falls. Nobody walks off the plank, and nobody ever reaches its right end.

PERFORMANCE
@champion: no expression at first; surprise at the impact; fury while strangled; at the end, hanging, a tired calm, as if he understands something; no fear when he lets go. @scar: hard and silent; the breath gathers him; ferocious in the fight; he offers his hand without hesitation; at the end, an empty face, the champion's tired calm passed on to him. @elder: thin, frail, terrified, trembling. @wolf_masked_warrior_triptych: flat, bored. @merciful: absolute stillness. The condemned on the landing never turn round. No exaggerated faces.

PHYSICS AND LIGHT
Wet boards that creak and bounce; the plank stays straight and whole. Water sprays off the boards under running feet and at the impact. Wind in hair, furs, tunics and hoods; fog drifting in the cleft; breath in the cold air. Bodies move and fall as real bodies do, never thrown high into the air. Cold light on the plank and the landing, warm firelight only in the two boxes. Fine film grain.

AUDIO
No music. Wind under everything. CUT 1: wind, the court murmuring, the champion's heavy breathing. CUT 2: "That one." CUT 3: the scuff of the shove, bare feet stumbling onto wood, slow heavy footsteps on the plank. CUT 4: one long breath in and out. CUT 5: bare feet slapping wet wood; in the slow motion every sound goes dull and distant, as if under water; at the impact the full thud of body against body and the court's roar snap back; then a choked gasp, the rope creaking, a grunt, a body slamming onto the boards, the court on its feet, the heavy stamp of a heel on wood, a roar, hands slapping onto the side of the boards, the plank shuddering. CUT 6: wind, hard breathing, then only the wind; no scream. CUT 7: only the wind. CUT 8: a grunt from the guard, the thud of the old man hitting the boards, and the plank begins to creak, slow and regular, like a clock ticking. CUT 9: only the slow, regular creak of the plank and the wind, growing fainter as the camera rises.

STYLE
Photoreal live action, cold prestige grade, near monochrome grey-blue; fire, gold and dark red wine are the only warm colours. No glow, no particles, no AI gloss.

TEXT
No readable text anywhere.

POSITIVE LOCKS
- Every referenced person matches his sheet in every frame. @scar, @redhair, @ox and @elder are four different men and are never swapped or merged.
- Nobody's wrists are tied: there is no red rope binding anyone; the guards shove the condemned onto the plank as they are. The only rope in the scene is @scar's own belt.
- @scar wears his undyed sackcloth tunic in every frame of every cut, before and after he pulls off the rope belt; he is never shirtless, never in a loincloth, never naked. @champion is the only bare-chested man.
- The man who fights on the plank in CUTS 3 to 9 is @scar: shaved head, the long scar from his brow across his nose, never long hair, never red hair. @redhair and @ox stay in the row on the landing the whole scene and never step onto the plank. @elder stays in the row until a guard hurls him onto the plank in CUT 8.
- Exactly four condemned stand on the wide landing at the foot of the LEFT stand at the start, no more, directly below the court's box, their backs to the court's box and @wolf_masked_warrior_triptych, their faces to the plank: from the plank end @scar, @redhair, @ox, @elder. Three remain after @scar is taken, two after @elder. They are never across the cleft and never on the right stand. No other condemned anywhere.
- The two guards stand behind the row on the landing in every shot that shows the landing; they move only to shove @scar and to throw @elder, and step back.
- On the court's table there is only the dark red cloth with gold coins scattered across it: no food, no cups, no jugs, in every shot.
- CUT 1 and the first frame of CUT 9 are the wide establishing view: the court's box filling the left fifth with @wolf_masked_warrior_triptych, @boar and @hawk, three seated figures side by side, all three visible; and the right stand's whole pale box at about four fifths of the frame width, never at or beyond the edge of the frame, with @merciful as a bright white figure alone in it. CUT 9 ends looking down on the whole arena from high above.
- On the whole right side of the cleft there is only @merciful in his chair: no guards, no crowd, nobody else; every bench of the right stand stays empty.
- CUT 5 is one continuous take from one camera that never moves, beside the middle of the plank and level with it: the plank runs whole across the frame from the left stand at the left edge to the right pillar at the right edge, both ends on rock; the whole fight stays in the middle of the frame; the camera never stands on the plank or on either stand and never looks along it.
- In CUT 5 @scar's body crashes into @champion's chest: the two collide head-on and @champion is knocked down onto one knee; @scar never jumps high and never flies past or over him.
- In CUT 5 @champion stamps straight down with his heel, the foot lands on the boards, and @scar grabs that ankle while it is still planted; it is a stamp from above, never a sideways kick.
- @champion goes over the near side of the plank, the long side facing the camera, in the middle of its length, and hangs from it by both hands at the end of CUT 5 and in CUT 6, the boards continuing to the left and right of his hands; he falls only once, when he lets go in CUT 6. @scar never falls.
- The rope belt stays knotted at @scar's waist through the run and the impact; he pulls it off only when he is behind @champion's back, and he strangles @champion from behind, never from in front.
- Slow motion only inside CUT 5, from the moment @scar's feet leave the boards until his shoulder hits @champion's chest; everything else at real speed.
- The court's box has three chairs side by side: @wolf_masked_warrior_triptych on the left, @boar in the middle, @hawk on the right; all three stay seated the whole scene.
- @merciful sits alone in the right box with the empty chair beside him; he never speaks or stands; his mask never changes.
- @champion starts on the right part of the plank near its right end; @scar and @elder come onto it from its left end.
- One plank only: a straight, unbroken bridge with both ends on rock in every frame of every cut; it never breaks, never shortens, never ends in the air.
- No weapons on the plank; halberds always upright.
- The only spoken line is "That one."
- Nobody looks into the lens. No blood, no gore. No music. No black frames, no fade.

SCENE CONTEXT
The last moments of the episode. On the plank over the chasm, @scar, who has just won, faces @elder, a frail old man the guards threw onto the plank for him to kill: his father. The master of the games refuses all responsibility with one gesture. The old man answers it himself: rather than make his son a killer, he chooses the fall. Whose scene: the father's choice and the son's grief turning to rage; the one word the son cries out tells the audience who the old man was.

CAST AND REFERENCES
@scar: head shaved to short stubble, a long scar from his brow across his nose to his cheek, his undyed sackcloth tunic with the knotted rope belt; he matches his own sheet.
@elder: a thin, frail old man with thin white hair, in his undyed sackcloth tunic, @scar's father; he matches his own sheet.
@merciful is the master of the games; his ivory mask never changes.
@endframe is the last frame of the previous shot: it sets the place, the camera framing, and where both men stand in CUTS 1 and 3.
@mercifulseat is a frame from the film: it sets exactly the framing, the chair, the canopy and the background of CUT 2.
Sheet backgrounds and layouts are not inherited.

LOCATION MAP
As in @endframe: a side view of the plank from the open air of the cleft, level with the boards. The plank, a straight bridge of wet dark boards, runs across the lower part of the frame from the stone steps at the left edge, a fire basket burning on them, to the cliff at the right edge, both its ends on rock. Behind it the sea of fog and the snowy Alpine ridges under a flat grey sky; below it the drop and the fog.
On the plank, a few metres apart: @elder on the left part, facing right; @scar on the right part, facing left, toward his father.
High above the right end of the plank, behind @scar and out of this frame, as in @mercifulseat: under the edge of a pale canopy, beside a dark timber post, @merciful sits in a tall carved dark wooden chair, the grey sky and the distant blurred mountains behind him; he is seen only in CUT 2.
Light: pre-dawn overcast, cold blue-grey; firelight the only warm note.

FIRST FRAME / BLOCKING
16:9. Exactly @endframe, locked: the plank across the frame at the level of the boards; @elder full figure on the left, stooped, facing @scar; @scar full figure on the right, standing, facing @elder; the mountains and the fog behind them.

FORMAT MODE
About 11 seconds, four cuts, real speed throughout except the one slow-motion moment inside CUT 3.

CUT 1, about 1.5 s, exactly the framing of @endframe, locked:
The two men stand facing each other. @scar turns his head away from @elder, to the right along the plank and up, toward the master's box high above the right end of the plank, off screen; his face ends in profile, looking to the right and up. He does not look toward the camera.

CUT 2, about 2 s, exactly the framing of @mercifulseat, locked: a medium shot of @merciful from slightly below, seated in his tall carved dark wooden chair, the edge of the pale canopy above and a dark timber post at the left edge, the grey sky and the distant blurred mountains behind:
@merciful's hands rest on the armrests. Slowly he lifts both hands, palms open and turned up, and gives one small, slow shrug of his shoulders: it is not his doing. His mask does not change. His hands settle back onto the armrests.

CUT 3, about 3 s, exactly the framing of @endframe again, locked:
@elder has turned to face the camera, his back to the drop at the far side edge of the plank, his eyes on @scar. At real speed he spreads his arms wide to the sides and, with a tired calm in his face, leans backward over the far side edge; in the same instant @scar turns back to him, lunges forward to the left, one hand reaching out, and cries out once in horror: "Father—", the cry breaking off. As @elder's feet leave the boards, everything slows to about a quarter of real speed, like a high-speed camera: the old man falls slowly backward away from the plank, his arms still spread wide, his face calm, his tunic lifting in the wind, sinking into the fog until it swallows him. @scar stays frozen at the edge of the plank, his hand reaching out over the drop.

CUT 4, about 4.5 s, real speed again from its first frame, ONE continuous close-up of @scar's face, about 85 mm, the fog and the mountains soft behind him, his shaved head and the scar across his nose clearly visible; locked at first, then, as the rage comes, the camera pushes in very slowly toward his eye:
At first his face is in profile, looking to the left and down, where his father fell. Silence after the cry. His breath catches. He swallows. His lower lip trembles once. His eyes fill, one tear runs down his cheek, and he closes his eyes. Then he opens them and slowly turns his head to the right and up, toward the master's box, until his face is in profile looking right; and the grief turns to rage: his whole face begins to tremble with held fury, his teeth clenched, the muscles of his jaw knotting, his nostrils flaring, tears still running down his cheek while he does not blink, his eyes fixed on the master's box. He does not shout.

CAMERA AND OPTICS
Every cut locked, except the very slow push-in toward @scar's eye in the second half of CUT 4; lenses as given in each cut. CUTS 1 and 3 keep exactly the framing of @endframe; CUT 2 keeps exactly the framing of @mercifulseat.

PERFORMANCE
@elder: frail; in CUT 3 a tired peace in his face, without fear, as he opens his arms. @scar: hard and silent until the old man opens his arms; then one raw cry of horror, the voice breaking; in CUT 4 first grief, the face trying to hold and failing in small movements, then contained fury as he turns to the master's box: the whole face trembling, the jaw clenched, the eyes burning through the tears, no shout. @merciful: absolute stillness except the lifting of the hands and the one small shrug.

PHYSICS AND LIGHT
Wind in hair and tunics; fog drifting in the cleft; breath in the cold air; the plank still and whole. @elder falls as a real body does, straight down. Cold light, firelight the only warm note. Fine film grain.

AUDIO
No music. CUT 1: the wind, and the slow, regular creak of the plank like a clock ticking. CUT 2: the faint creak of leather. CUT 3: the creak stops; @scar's one cry, "Father—", breaking off at real speed; then, in the slow motion, every sound goes dull and distant, as if under water, only a low rush of wind; no scream from the old man. CUT 4: real sound again: only the wind and @scar's broken breath, then his breath forced hard through clenched teeth and a low sound deep in his throat.

STYLE
Photoreal live action, cold prestige grade, near monochrome grey-blue. No glow, no particles, no AI gloss.

TEXT
No readable text anywhere.

POSITIVE LOCKS
- @scar and @elder match their sheets in every frame: @scar with his shaved head and the scar across his nose, @elder with his thin white hair.
- CUTS 1 and 3 keep exactly the framing of @endframe: the side view at the level of the plank, the plank across the frame from the left edge to the right edge, both ends on rock.
- The master's box is high above the right end of the plank, behind @scar. In CUT 1 @scar turns away from @elder and looks to the right along the plank and up, his face in profile; he never looks toward the camera.
- CUT 2 keeps exactly the framing of @mercifulseat: @merciful alone in his tall carved chair under the edge of the pale canopy.
- Only these two men are on the plank. @elder falls once, in CUT 3, over the far side edge, straight down into the fog. @scar stays on the plank.
- @merciful's only movement is lifting his open palms and the one small shrug; he stays seated, his mask unchanged.
- The only spoken word is @scar's single cry, "Father—", in CUT 3, at real speed.
- Slow motion only inside CUT 3, from the moment @elder's feet leave the boards until the fog swallows him; everything else at real speed.
- CUT 4 is one continuous close-up with no cut inside it: grief looking left and down toward where his father fell, then rage as he turns his head right and up toward the master's box.
- Nobody looks into the lens. No blood. No music. No black frames, no fade.