OOS 95

Korrinoth 10, the party is traveling toward Eddelton to retrieve Concludion. It occurred between sessions 41 and 42. It is preceded by OOS 94; it is followed by OOS 97. It occurs concurrently with OOS 96. 
== Transcript == 
Kiono: 
Kiono crawls back in through the window, slowly, carefully. She retrieves her things, holding them close to her and inspecting them carefully for damage as she returns to her seat. 
Lei: 
lei starts to climb down a few minutes later. returning to her seat across from teer, she looks worriedly at the slumped figure. 
then she gets an angry look on her face and whips out a writing utensil. 
and draws a mustache on teer’s mask. 
Kiono: 
Kiono is back to work, two books open, inkwell held carefully to avoid spillage. 
Lei: 
then draws eyebrows. 
Coachman: 
"Eventful trip," The coachman says. 
Lei: 
“....i apologize for any damage to the carriage.” putting the finishing touches on teer’s new ‘stache 
Coachman: 
"It's fine." He replies softly "It's not mine." 
Ephemera: 
"Someone ask them how their rooftop adventure went. I need to know how volatile the situation is," Ephemera pleads whoever might still have contact with her while also remaining conscious. So, like, Squire maybe. 
The Squire: 
“How did your rooftop adventure go?” 
Lei: 
lei shrugs halfheartedly. 
The Squire: 
“You have fun?” 
Lei: 
she tries to prop teer’s head against the seat in a way that looks more...comfortable? what would even be comfortable for him?? 
Kiono: 
"Not what I would describe as fun." 
Lei: 
“neither of us is unconscious.” 
Kiono: 
Kiono shoots the tiniest glare at Lei, as though the thought of Lei successfully knocking her out is an insult. 
Lei: 
lei is preoccupied and doesnt notice. 
The Squire: 
“Well, you can only have so good a time.” 
Kiono: 
Kiono shrugs in Squire's general direction. "We're not very good at... having a good time, it would seem." 
Lei: 
finished with her attempt at positioning teer, lei looks at squire. “request or no, you knocked teer out. i’d say punishment is in order.” 
picks back up the writing utensil and grins mischievously. 
The Squire: 
“...Leitha?” 
Lei: 
grabs a piece of paper and hands it and the pen to squire 
“i lost the cookie recipe. help me write down what you can remember?” 
The Squire: 
“Oh! Um... of course.” 
“Let’s see... flour, sugar, eggs...?” 
Lei: 
“candy bits.” 
“wait, scratch that out, that was only the cookie batter monster.” 
Kiono: 
Kiono looks up, annoyed. She worked hard on fixing that recipe. 
Lei: 
“peanut butter.” 
hehe, like the cat... 
“oh, butter. i firebolted that.” 
i’m sure they realize soon enough that they’re not going to be able to remember it well enough. 
The Squire: 
“Um... water...” 
“Dry ingredients in one bowl, wet in the other...” 
Lei: 
"hmm....." 
"maybe we'll be able to get a new recipe somewhere." 
after squire and lei give up their recipe-recalling efforts, lei notices teer’s head has slumped and readjusts it again. she mutters softly, “you dummy.” 
Kiono: 
While they are focused on their recipe-recalling, Kiono pauses in her spellwork. She casts Sending to Concludion. 
"We're on our way. If you leave me alone with these people again I will die on the spot. I miss you so much." 
Concludion: 
"I'm sorry, I didn't think about what might happen... I should have stayed behind. I'll see you soon. Not allowed to die of poor company." Concludion's voice responds in Kiono's mind, soft and all too distant. 
Kiono: 
Kiono leans over and rests her head against the wall beside her. She closes her eyes, experiences the strange twists of her emotions. Then she packs them back away and resumes her work. 
The Squire: 
“Well, there’s more than one way to skin a cat.” 
Kiono: 
Kiono eyes Squire. "Is there?" 
The Squire: 
“It’s— it’s an expression, but yes!” 
Kiono: 
Kiono stares at him, trying to process what means there could possibly be to skin a cat beyond the obvious. She decides it's not worth it and, blinking, looks back down at her work. What the heck. 
Lei: 
after a long while of making small talk with squire and making sure teer is laying in what looks like a comfortable manner, lei remembers that kiono wanted to talk to her about the cabin from donjon. she glances at kiono and says with some hesitation, "sorry to interrupt. you wanted to....talk about the cabin, right?" 
Kiono: 
Kiono starts, not expecting to be spoken to. She stares at Lei, barely grasping the meaning of her words. She eventually nods, small and nearly imperceptibly, but looks confused. 
Lei: 
lei waits awkwardly for her to.....do the thing. 
Kiono: 
Kiono stares awkwardly back at Lei. 
The Squire: 
“...Was- was that a yes?” 
“Maybe I should go to the roof.” 
Kiono: 
"Um... It, ah... It....was? You don't... you don't have to." 
"I, ah... don't know.... where to start? What to... tell... I.... You can stay," she finishes lamely. This isn't at all what she was expecting and is struggling to find her footing again. 
The Squire: 
“All right. Let me know.” 
Kiono: 
Kiono closes her books carefully, placing the quill on top of them and arranging them precisely on her lap, not making eye contact with anyone else in the carriage. 
"I, ah... Spent all of my time studying. Magic, the rituals... The only time I wasn't doing those things... was when I would sneak away. I was good at it, but, uh... There are a lot of guards to dodge, and I... frequently forgot to be back on time and was caught..." She shudders at some unspoken memory, curls around her books. Protecting them or herself or perhaps both. 
Lei: 
listens and waits for more. there is a question just begging to be asked, but she abstains. 
The Squire: 
“That sounds... difficult.” 
Kiono: 
After a brief pause to recollect herself, she continues, her voice somehow smaller than before. "My... I didn't want to work. More and more it... didn't interest me. The... constant pressure to do my lessons... Concludion convinced them to let me take a break, that the... that time alone, without the work would be good, would let me refocus. I... don't know how he did it, but he did." 
She is becoming somewhat more confident now, remembering it. "There is a cabin upriver, at the hot springs. We spent the time there. He was... my protector, sent to make sure I didn't get hurt or... run away for good, to report back if I did anything especially against the rules." 
After too long a pause, remembering the trip itself, she finally says, "It ended. We went back. I resumed my studies. Enooto... might have increased the work load to... make up for lost time, I don't know." She's practically bent in half, hugging her legs, her books pressed between her and her lap. She offers a half-shrug. 
Coachman: 
"Parents, eh?" The driver says, unprompted, "Just want what's best." 
Lei: 
"why--" 
no. try again. 
"uh....so the....donjon was that time." 
obviously. ugh. 
The Squire: 
“Mm.” Squire says to the driver. 
Kiono: 
"I don't have... parents... I mean, I do, but..." she mutters in the direction of the driver. 
"Yeah, that was... likely what you saw in Donjon," she says to Lei in not much louder of a voice. 
Lei: 
"now you can go to hot springs and cabins whenever you want." 
"and choose to study--or not--whenever you want." 
Kiono: 
Kiono looks at Lei, hesitant. "I... suppose. That, ah... is a bit far off yet..." 
Lei: 
"no way. you could go if you wanted to." 
Kiono: 
She shakes her head. "There's too much to do first." 
Lei: 
"so you want to do other things more?" 
frick. slipped up. 
The Squire: 
“You think you’ll go back to that cabin after we... after this quest is over?” 
Kiono: 
"I suspect not. The... clan... It's... by the village..." She closes her eyes. "There's too much work to do before I can... relax like that again..." 
Lei: 
"i disagree." 
Kiono: 
Kiono looks up at Lei, an expression of accusation on her face. "Like you relaxed so much in Oceanside, spending all your time in libraries doing research?" 
Lei: 
"....i did that because i wanted to." 
"and that's not the point." 
Kiono: 
She sits back up and straightens her quill. "It's the same thing, liar." 
Lei: 
"wha--?!" eyes get wide, she is super surprised 
"i'm not--" 
Kiono: 
"You can't tell me to do something that you refused to do yourself. You're a hypocrite." She glances at Lei. "You didn't want to. There was just too much work to do." 
The Squire: 
“We’re not workaholics. We take breaks.“ 
“You didn’t spend all your time in Oceanside researching, as I recall.” 
“But, um, regardless. Lei, what do you mean?” 
Lei: 
lei is thinking a bit and doesn't respond right away. "um....i mean....." 
shakes her head "never mind." 
"that's not the point of this conversation." 
Kiono: 
Kiono watches, bordering on amused. 
Lei: 
she gives up. she's just going to ask. "why did you tell us about the cabin?" 
Kiono: 
"You have to answer a question for me in return." 
Lei: 
snorts "okay." 
Kiono: 
She shrugs. "I was recently told what friendship is, and thought I'd test a few hypotheses about it." 
Lei: 
"friend--?" 
The Squire: 
“That’s not a question.” Squire says lightly. 
Kiono: 
"No, that was the answer to her question. My question is why she has to question anything anyone ever says ad nauseum." 
The Squire: 
“Preamble to the question, I suppose.” 
“Ah. Sorry, I’m interrupting, aren’t I...” 
Kiono: 
Another half-shrug. "It's fine." 
Lei: 
raises an eyebrow "i dont know how to answer that." 
Kiono: 
She doesn't look surprised. She looks back at her quill, flips it over, then flips it back. 
Lei: 
"i ask because i want to know. why else would I ask a question?" 
"or sometimes....i'm....testing a thought..." 
Kiono: 
Kiono begins to give a half-shrug, then stops part way through. She looks at Lei, her expression darkening somewhat. She leans back in her seat and very deliberately opens one of her books, glares at whatever page she opened to. 
Lei: 
"to be frank, it's been driving me crazy trying not to ask things." 
"i'm not trying to offend you. i'm.....sorry it bothers you." 
Kiono: 
Kiono glances back up at Lei. She doesn't look very happy. Her tone is sarcastic, unbelieving. "Are you?" 
Lei: 
"am i what?" 
Kiono: 
"Sorry." 
Lei: 
puzzled look "yes." 
"what merit would there be in intentionally making you mad? it's tiring." 
Kiono: 
"Sounds familiar," she mutters, glancing briefly at the halberd before returning her gaze to the page in her book. 
"I won't pretend to understand you. I don't believe your sincerity. I've no evidence of it unless you made that decision in the last half hour or so and haven't had a chance to prove it." 
The Squire: 
Squire taps his fingers against the halberd’s wooden pole. 
Lei: 
"you just told me it bothers you half an hour ago." 
"it doesn't really matter whether you believe it or not, i suppose." shrugs 
Kiono: 
"Half an hour ago I pointed out that your endless stream of questions is imbecilic. Weeks ago everyone else pointed out that said stream is annoying." 
The Squire: 
“Did we? It’s hard to remember things at this hour.” 
Lei: 
"no. they said it was rude and intrusive, the manner in which i asked questions." 
Kiono: 
"You were having your own spat with the halberd at the time," Kiono mutters in Squire's general direction. 
Lei: 
"i have been....attempting to think about that." 
The Squire: 
“Well, don’t rope me into things while I was busy spatting!” 
“Everyone this, everything that. I think specificity would make everything clearer.” 
“I mean— make your opinions clearer. See?” 
Kiono: 
"What is the point of being more specific about that particular matter?" 
Lei: 
"specifically, it was kiono. and teer agreed." 
The Squire: 
“Avoiding confusion. And— avoiding making the person you’re talking to feel alone.” 
Lei: 
"i spoke with teer afterwards about it. he assured me he'll let me know if he thinks i'm...asking things inappropriately." 
The Squire: 
“Spat or not, I do remember that. I think the party, collectively, agreed to let Lei know when a question was— excellent!” 
Kiono: 
"Because he's always around." She glances at Teer in some frustration. "And conscious when he is." 
The Squire: 
“Well, we could let you know. Kiono, and Ephemera, and I.” 
Kiono: 
"You have a brain, Renn. Why don't you use it for yourself instead of making Teer do your thinking for you? Piece together things without asking the questions with the most obvious answers." 
The Squire: 
“Okay, stop.” 
Squire stands on the bench. 
“We don’t all have the benefit of— what’s obvious to one person may not always obvious to another, right? You can’t get on her case for being hypocritical if you— if I’m going to accept that your upbringing makes you incapable of understanding what you did to Anna is wrong.” 
“So there.” 
Lei: 
lei watches this unfold with some surprise. 
Kiono: 
Kiono glares at Squire. "Are you going to rebuke her, too?" 
The Squire: 
“For what? Trying to sort things out instead of sneaking off to murder children?” 
“I’m— sorry, that was mean. But no.” 
Kiono: 
"I thought so. Nobody ever has a problem with Renn." She grabs her things and goes to the roof muttering that she will get off this carriage and walk to Eddelton if anyone follows her. 
The Squire: 
“What in the world makes you think— Gahh!” 
Lei: 
"wha--?!" 
The Squire: 
Squire unfastens his seatbelt, climbs into the opposite bench, and tucks himself under Teer’s motionless arm. He pinches the bridge of his nose. 
Coachman: 
"Oh, back on the roof then. I should put a seat in, ha-ha." The driver says. "Crusader, eh? difficult, difficult," He continues, muttering such that he's very deliberately heard. 
The Squire: 
“Indeed.” Squire huffs. He puts his disguise back up and places a hand on Ephemera, remembering himself. 
Ephemera: 
"Well that didn't go very well," Ephemera says, her voice neutral. An observation and nothing more. 
Lei: 
lei looks up at the ceiling briefly and then at plosi “i don’t understand what just happened.” 
groans “i knew i shouldn’t have brought it back up....” 
slumps back in her seat, looks back at teer briefly 
Plosi: 
<Should I be on your case for not stopping her from killing Anna?> Plosi asks Ephemera in silence. <I seem to recall that you didn’t know she was doing it.> 
“I’m sorry. I think I might have escalated things.” 
Ephemera: 
"Tell Renn that she's wrong about what just happened." 
"Yes, that's closer to what just happened." 
Plosi: 
“Maybe she just needs space— what?” 
“Ephemera says you’re wrong about what happened but that I’m closer. I think. I’m not entirely following.” 
Ephemera: 
"That's it, yes." 
Lei: 
eyebrows furrow in confusion, she’s kind of lost on a thought and not entirely listening to plosi “i don’t know how to describe it but it’s like...it’s like she’s like....me.” 
Plosi: 
Plosi reaches across the carriage to put Renn’s hand on the halberd. 
Lei: 
lei is not happy about this arrangement and gives plosi a dirty look. she immediately jerks her hand from the halberd. 
Plosi: 
“Sorry.” 
Lei: 
then hesitantly puts it back. sigh. 
ready to let go at any point. 
Gloom: 
Teer's arm twitches slightly, but otherwise the warforged remains inert. 
Ephemera: 
Ephemera sighs. "You know, I can't take you over without your permission." 
Lei: 
“what do you want to tell me.” 
Ephemera: 
A pause. "If you truly meant it, then you'll have to show her you're sorry, that you... aren't just... thinking about what you've been told." Another pause. "Questions aren't bad, but you are constantly asking people why they're telling you things, seeking out hidden motives where there may not be any, and it gets very frustrating." 
Directed more at Plosi, but still to them both, "And you can't use Anna's death as a trump card in unrelated arguments. She truly does not see how it was wrong, and just leaping straight to outrage, justified though it may be, isn't how you're going to teach her otherwise." 
Lei: 
lets go of the halberd 
Plosi: 
“That’s... fair.” Plosi exhales heavily. “It’s going to be difficult for me to wrap my head around... I mean, how to explain it. It’s just something you don’t do. But it’s worth interrogating. Thank you.” 
Akaros: 
"What is just something you don't do?" The voice of Akaros asks. 
Lei: 
[just into the halberd or out loud?] 
Gloom: 
[Out loud] 
Lei: 
closes her eyes and rests her cheeks in her hands. she’s listening to plosi and akaros but there is just. too much. 
Plosi: 
“Kill children.” 
Akaros: 
"Do you think so?" Akaros asks "In my observations, it seems far from a universal constant. 
"...even among prey species." 
Plosi: 
“There’s a difference between killing children and— we’re not animals. We’re civilized.” 
Akaros: 
Akaros chuckles his amusement at something Plosi has said and falls silent. 
Ephemera: 
"Kiono isn't civilized. Very specifically, the village hides from civilization, killing anything from civilization that gets too close," Ephemera remarks casually. "They've been that way for thousands of years. Murdered more than one child along the way." 
Plosi: 
”Yeah, I— I get that impression.“ 
Ephemera: 
"So the task is to figure out how to completely reform someone's view of the world. Specifically a death cultist's view of the world." A pause. "Yikes." 
Plosi: 
“Has she changed at all from when you met her, in that respect? Just from being out in the world, having experiences?” 
Ephemera: 
"She said she learned what friendship was, so that's an improvement there at least." 
"Unfortunately, I suspect that Concludion is the only one to have seen the 'real' Kiono. I only ever saw her frightened and submissive, Kitano and Enooto looming over her as they were. And the occasional, ah, rendezvous." 
Plosi: 
“Concludion seems like a good influence.” 
Ephemera: 
"We're lucky they decided to keep him." 
Plosi: 
“Yeah.” 
“It’s... encouraging to me that she feels so strongly about him. Like she wants to be better.” 
Ephemera: 
"I certainly hope so." 
Akaros: 
"I may need one of you to figure out how to heal Teer in a few minutes," Akaros says abruptly. "Give it a moment- I'll let you know if it becomes necessary." 
Ephemera: 
Ephemera cannot look concerned, but she projects many levels of concerned into the group chat. 
"What's going on, Akaros?" 
Plosi: 
“I think I’m out of potions. Does his spine have a manual... button?” 
Akaros: 
"Dunno, if there's one on tap I should be able to activate it, maybe," Akaros says, "It's probably fine. It's just his own mind, right? It's not like the constant stress of looking after a pack of children intent on their own destruction has pushed him to the edge of breaking such that he thought being knocked into oblivion by means of violence a favorable alternative. What could be lurking in there that would grind the last of his sanity to dust?" 
Akaros laughs grimly and somewhat nervously, "I mean to say, he's doing some ill-advised introspection." 
Ephemera: 
"Akaros, what the heck." 
Akaros: 
"What What Heck?" 
Plosi: 
Plosi unconsciously hugs the side of Teer’s torso. 
Ephemera: 
"What is going on??" Never before has she so wished to strangle a dragon. 
Akaros: 
"Turns out warforged don't dream they just hang out in their mindscape with you and you get to try to keep them from opening weird doors in their own mind." 
Ephemera: 
"...............if Teer comes back evil or otherwise traumatized, I'm blaming you. I don't even care if it's not your fault, I'm still blaming you." 
Plosi: 
“Come back to us, Teer.” Veggrek murmurs. “Or I’ll never forgive myself.” 
Lei: 
lei doesnt care if there isn’t room to sit by teer. she’s going to find a way to do it anyway. she has her last potion at the ready. 
“what is a mindscape? what does opening weird doors in your mind mean?” she asks, alarmed 
Plosi: 
Plosi kind of climbs on top of Teer’s chest to make room for Lei. 
Akaros: 
"Mindscape! It's a scape for your mind! I thought you read fiction!" Akaros snaps. "He's going to meet himself." 
Ephemera: 
"Yikes," Ephemera says again, with the same amount of 'that's not good' as before. 
Plosi: 
"Like where the glow worm lives." mumbles Plosi. 
Ephemera: 
"O-oh. Oh dear." 
"Oh." 
"Plosi, we have to deal with that thing soon," Ephemera says with some urgency. 
Plosi: 
"Um-- Um? What, why?" 
Ephemera: 
"Because I now have a very strong mental image of that thing crawling around in your mindscape and I don't like it." 
"I didn't like it before, but there's an extra level of creepy now." 
Plosi: 
Plosi chuckles weakly, panic dissolving into nervous relief. 
"Is that all." 
Ephemera: 
"It's... Not only is this thing tossing people into Timeless Space, but it then eats their weird, malformed clone in your mindspace. I'm..." She hesitates, sighs. "Having the context just makes it worse, I suppose." 
Plosi: 
"Oh. That is weird!" Plosi giggles. 
Ephemera: 
"Can you imagine if the version of them in your mind had true consciousness? It'd be like killing one person and then basically killing a second person via Timeless Space. Absolutely terrible." 
Plosi: 
"It's a good thing they don't. ...Well, what if it just tosses them into Timeless Space too? They might still be alive." 
Ephemera: 
"Two of one person in Timeless Space? Well, I suppose it's not actually two people at that point. One of them isn't even the original; they're just a clone and therefore a completely different person entirely." 
"Terrifying." 
Plosi: 
"Mm." 
Ephemera: 
"Sorry. That's... probably not helpful." 
Plosi: 
"Well, no. It-- it doesn't really bother me anymore." 
"Um, so, don't worry about it. You're fine." 
Lei: 
lei sits there watching teer, potion still in hand. “how will we know if we need to give this to him?” 
Plosi: 
"I'm-- I'm watching for him to start bleeding from the eyes. I'm kidding. He doesn't bleed. Convulsions, or-- how's he doing, Akaros?" 
Akaros: 
"He's probably fine now." Akaros says weakly. "Danger passed." 
Plosi: 
"Oh, thank god." Plosi says, all in one exhale. "Anything we can do? I can-- I can do." 
Ephemera: 
"...You alright, Akaros?" Ephemera says somewhat gently. 
Akaros: 
"Appreciate how much he looks after you twits," Akaros says somewhat sharply. 
"Sorry. I'm fine, thank you." 
Plosi: 
"Always." Plosi says coolly, if very quickly. 
Lei: 
lei leans over and gingerly puts the potion back in her bag. she looks uneasy. 
Akaros: 
"We're gonna play Halo." 
Ephemera: 
If Ephemera had a head she would shake it. 
Plosi: 
"Have fun. Give him my love, please." 
Lei: 
“what is—“ sigh
Category:OOS