OOS 79

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 Korrinoth 9, the party’s first night in the Shadowfell, walking back to Rau Deikum’s home from the tower. It occurred between sessions 36 and 37.

## Transcript

Concludion:

*Concludion looks cautiously out of the arrow slit into the gloom beyond for what is probably the fiftieth time that morning. He's playing both lookout and assistant to Kiono as she works on determining the nature of the artifice in the black tower. He seems nervous, as if waiting for an ambush, or about to spring one of his own.*

"You've come a long way," *he says to Kiono*. "Since leaving the village, I mean. I can't really wrap my head around any of this, but here you are."

"Or maybe you were always good at this stuff and really didn't have the chance to show off?"

Kiono:

"No, I.... I haven't— It was—" *She stops what she's doing finally, pauses, then looks at him. She gives him a small, sort of nervous smile.* "You think so? That I was always...?"

Concludion:

"Even if you went from Enooto to having the *best* teacher in the world, You're working on fixing a weird thing that someone probably died trying to get working? That's a lot." *He shrugs*. "At least, I think so."

Kiono:

*Kiono's smile grows into one of mild amusement and takes that smile back to her work.* "I'm just... looking at what he did, working backwards to... figure out what's going on." *She shrugs.* "This is the easy part."

Concludion:

"Going backwards usually makes things more difficult, in my experience, but I'll take your word for it." *He looks back outside, once again confirming that they're alone, and then back to Kiono*. "I... you seem happier out here."

"Maybe not the *Shadowfell*, exactly," *he says quickly* "but away from the village. Actually doing things."

Kiono:

"I guess I... I can do things at my own pace instead of... instead of wh—" *She stops, takes a breath. She looks at Concludion with a smile.* "We've been able to hang out more. Just... do whatever."

Concludion:

"That's true. This feels almost like the cabin- Cozy house in the middle of a harsh, bleak landscape. Unspeakable evil living just down the road."

Kiono:

*Her smile falters ever so slightly. As she returns to her work she says,* "Yeah, it's been... it's been nice."

Concludion:

"The lack of hot springs is a bummer. I don't think these "pools of shadow" are going to be any fun." *He says.*

Kiono:

"Decidedly not. Maybe a sort of practice for whatever the plan is for dealing with Strahd. Sneaking past evil fey and surviving..."

"Maybe we can feed Renn to them as a distraction."

Concludion:

"I think maybe that *is* the plan," Concludion says.

"New plan: we dress Teer as Anna or whoever, and then the vampires break their teeth on the rocks, and they slowly starve to death."

Kiono:

*Thoughtfully,* "I wonder if they need their teeth or if they can just drink it out of, like, glasses and such."

"Or if an old person who doesn't have teeth anymore, or a baby who never had them. What about them?"

"Or if an adventurer came along and punched them in the mouth and broke their teeth."

"Is it the actual *taking* of the blood that provides their sustenance, or just the consumption of it?"

*She will just keep rambling for a while until stopped or she runs out of vampire thoughts.*

Concludion:

*Concludion laughs* "Old vampire. Just gums your neck. Terrifying."

Kiono:

*In an 'old person' voice, doing the thing with your lips where you pretend to not have teeth,* "Give me your blood, young man!"

Concludion:

"No! Not my blood! I need that" *He says in mock-terror, then also in old man voice*, "Get off my grave-lawn, whippersnappers!"

Kiono:

*Kiono laughs.* "Strahd's supposedly the oldest vampire. Maybe we'll be lucky and he's lost all his teeth."

Concludion:

"One can hope," *Concludion says, laughing into a sigh*. "I'm a little excited to see what his deal is, and mostly absolutely terrified."

Kiono:

"Hm."

"Pros and cons of being a vampire, go."

"Pro: immortal."

Concludion:

"Con: eating people."

Kiono:

"Hm."

"Con: Weakness to sunlight."

Concludion:

"Pro: Super Strong and Fast?"

Kiono:

*Kiono thinks for a moment, then says,* "Teeth?"

"Pro, I think."

"Not just *having* teeth. Fangs. That'd be neat?"

Concludion:

"...you think so? I guess I could dig it."

Kiono:

"Maybe. Might be weird. Imagine biting your tongue on accident."

Concludion:

"Is the accent mandatory and is it a pro or a con?"

Kiono:

"I wouldn't want it," *Kiono says, shaking her head.*

Concludion:

"Seems like maybe cons overall," *Concludion chuckles*. "Seems like it would be lonely anyway, unless your friends were also vampires."

Kiono:

"So we both get turned and take over this tower, maybe. Clear out this thing—" *she pats the workings that she has been examining* "—and make it a nice home or something."

Concludion:

"Just the two of us?" *Concludion looks out the window, smiling.*

Kiono:

*She shrugs.* "Of course. I'm not about to invite Renn or something."

Concludion:

"What about Izora?" *He asks, raising an eyebrow*.

Kiono:

"I don't think she'd want to," *Kiono says after the briefest moment of thought.*

Concludion:

"Being a vampire tiefling seems like it'd be a lot, huh?" *He says*, "But no, I mean, would you want her here anyway? You two seem close."

Kiono:

"Sure. We are inviting our friends to this hypothetical, right?" *She smiles at him, the most genuine look of complete obliviousness.*

Concludion:

*He sighs* "Yeah, okay, I set myself for that one," *he mutters under his breath*. "Kiono, I mean, do you *like*-" *He stops himself and pauses.* "...

How do you feel about Izora?"

Kiono:

*She makes a face that says something like, 'this is so obvious, why are you asking'.* "She's my friend. I thought you liked her too."

Concludion:

"I do like her," *he says*, "But I don't like her in the way that I like you."

Kiono:

"I wouldn't imagine you do. We haven't known her *that* long, while you and I have been friends for years."

Concludion:

"Right, that's... Kind of what I mean." *Concludion sighs and smiles*. "I think I'm kind of selfish, maybe."

Kiono:

*Confused,* "How so?"

Concludion:

*He crosses the room and stands near her* "I'm not- I don't really want to share you, Kiono."

Kiono:

*Kiono looks at him in confusion.* "...What do you mean, 'share' me?"

Concludion:

*He sits down, cross-legged on the ground* "You're important to me in a way that no one else is. No one else makes me feel the way that you do, and I don't know how to properly express it because we both grew up in a village where they squash all individuality and emotion."

Kiono:

*Kiono sits upright, processing what he said. She unconsciously rubs the base of the middle finger of her left hand. At length she says,* "I don't— It's—" *In a small, almost fearful voice she finally asks,* "Is it good? Th-the way I... make you feel?"

Concludion:

*He looks up at her. He's wearing a warm smile below his conflicted eyes* "It is, very much, I think."

Kiono:

*She gives a small nod of acknowledgement, a small smile of relief.* "That's... that's good. I— That's good."

Concludion:

"How... do you feel about me?" *He asks a little hesitantly*.

Kiono:

*She looks at him, then looks away, at her hands in her lap. She that 'I hadn't really thought about it' sort of half-shrug.* "Y-you— I don't— I mean, you..." *What the heck are emotions and why is she suddenly having them, rude.* "You make me happy. I..."

*She looks at him again and smiles, sort of embarrassed.* "When you opened the door to the carriage I barely didn't give you the biggest hug, tackle you out onto the ground."

Concludion:

*He laughs* "You should have. I can only imagine the reactions."

"It was crazy, seeing you there like that. That's how I felt, too."

"It's how I feel all the time."

Kiono:

"I should have," *Kiono chuckles and looks back at her hands, noticing for the first time what she's been doing. She slowly opens her left hand fully, studying it, then closes it with her other hand.*

*She is silent a very long moment, her expression one of focus. Her voice is nearly a whisper when she says, maybe to Concludion, maybe to nobody,* "Your parents..."

"You... described them like that once. The... emotions like that..."

Concludion:

"Yeah, they were nuts about each other," *He says.* "I'd like you to meet them sometime."

Kiono:

*Kiono gets a very concerned and confused look on her face as she looks back at him.*

"Con— I-I... can't. You..."

Concludion:

*He laughs* "No, not like that. They're still very dead."

"Maybe I'll get the chance to show you. I should have taken it with me." *He says.* "But it would probably break again."

Kiono:

*Her expression does not change.*

Concludion:

"We uh, we ended up near my hometown, before I met back up with you. We found my house, I guess?" *He looks down at his feet* "There was a recording device there, it had... images of them. of me."

Kiono:

"Oh." *Her expression softens. She is still somewhat confused, but she will get those details later.* "Y-yeah, that could be... that could be interesting. 'Meeting' them."

Concludion:

"If we get the chance, it's a few days out from Wolis." *He sighs* "But yeah, I guess that's something like how I feel about you."

Kiono:

*Kiono is quiet, staring at her hand again. She eventually opens her mouth to speak, then closes it again, looks a little frustrated. She looks at Concludion, or in his general direction at least.* "Your... parents felt the same way that... that you do about me... Do you— They, uh—"

*Vital file is missing. Cannot execute concludion\_emotions.exe*

Concludion:

*Concludion's face is flushed as he looks up at her* "I uh, yeah-"

*He looks back down, and almost mumbling*

"I just want to share my future with you, now that we have one."

Kiono:

*Kiono freezes, processing a million things at once suddenly, terrified.*

*Then she grabs her journal that she's been taking notes about the machine in and does what she can to climb into/under/preposition the thing, ostensibly to see the inner workings better.*

*Except in the middle of a very important conversation, which is rude.*

*Kiono.exe has stopped responding.*

Concludion:

*Concludion watches her for a bit before returning to the window, Sighing and looking for danger*

*He pulls out a pocketwatch, the origins of which are mysterious.* "Eighteen minutes and 37 seconds" *he says, before walking over to where Kiono is lying under the apparatus, pretending to or actually calibrating the lenses within the machine. He grabs her ankles, and slides her out like a misbehaving desk drawer.*

"Hey," *he says* "are you okay?"

Kiono:

*Kiono's hands are near her face, though it is now impossible to tell if they had been on her face as she had been crying — and she had been crying up until very recently — or simply near her head adjusting something.*

*She nods and wipes at the tears with her sleeve as she sits up, turning away from him and toward the machine. Softly she says,* "Yeah, I— There's a lot to do, and not a lot of... time or hands."

Concludion:

"I've got hands if you want to tell me what to do."

Kiono:

*Kiono is sniffley, but otherwise doesn't seem likely to cry immediately. She nods and indicates for him to follow her back under the machine, where she has him help her adjusting the aforementioned lenses. Turns out she was multitasking down here, working and having a panic attack at the same time.*

Concludion:

*He follows her back under the machine, immediately intimidated by the number of runes and fiddly bits in front of them* "Okay, what do I do?"

Kiono:

*She points at various things and tells him what to do with those things, mostly just moving and holding things while she works with the magic bits.*

*She consults her notes in her journal frequently, focusing on the task at hand as much as possible.*

Concludion:

[I'm gonna roll an arcana check for Concludion. good luck, buddy]

[21]

*Concludion is not in the way, at least.*

*He does as directed and helps Kiono make progress understanding and repairing The Machine™️*

"I'm sorry if I upset you."

Concludion:

*Kiono slowly finishes the thing she was doing before responding.* "I'm alright. I..."

"...I hadn't considered.... having a-a future..."

Concludion:

*Concludion falls silent for awhile at that.*

 "Yeah, I guess you wouldn't have," *He says*.

"It's not something you need to make a plan about *now*. We've still got a lot of work ahead of us."

Kiono:

"Yeah, I.... I guess I-- we do... A-a lot can happen between now and th-the future..."

".......which is sort of a dumb statement to make, I guess."

Concludion:

"Maybe," *He chuckles* "Although accurate."

*Looking over everything they're doing, he suddenly says* "Do you think you can teach me magic?"

Kiono:

*Kiono stares at him in shock, nearly dropping something on her face in the process.* "*What*?"

Concludion:

"Magic," *Concludion says not unsnarkily* "that thing you do with your hands and the words and stuff. Can you teach me?"

Kiono:

"I know what magic is," *she replies, equally not unsnarkily. She considers the request.* "......so... in the evenings you teach me how to stab people, and I teach you how to blow people up with your brain?"

Concludion:

"Maybe not exactly exploding people, but essentially, yes." *He smiles*.

"I mostly want to learn how all this stuff works. Enough to know what we're getting into with the asteroid. What risks you're taking."

"and if I can explode someone with my brain that's pretty cool I guess. Can't disarm someone's brain-knife."

Kiono:

*Kiono smiles at the last statement, then looks away as she considers the request. Her expression becomes dark.* "I... wouldn't be... a good tutor of magic... I..."

*She sighs and closes her eyes.* "The last time I... did magic in... that sort of setting... I..."

"I'm better at it now, but..."

Concludion:

"That wasn't your *fault*." Concludion says\_. "Enooto preps counterspell in her sleep *and* she could have chosen to save-" *He shakes his head.* "I trust you. We don't need to do anything flashy- but I want to be more helpful to you than just your bodyguard."

Kiono:

"It still happened though. If Enooto hadn't been there I still would have--" *She sighs.* "I... I haven't cast that spell again. I don't... I don't trust myself to."

Concludion:

"Have more faith in yourself," *Concludion says.* "Whatever was going on then- you're different now. Better. More in control. And even if things go wrong again, your allies have taken far worse than a stray spell- they can handle a mishap."

"But you've got the power. You just need to see that you're as incredible as I know you are."

Kiono:

*Kiono looks at Concludion, tears welling up as she searches his face for any sign of deceit. Finding none, she takes a moment to compose herself enough to say complete sentences.* "I can... I can teach you the basics at least. That would be.... simple enough for now..."

Concludion:

*He rolls over as much as is allowed in the cramped space under the heavy machine and plants a smooch on Kiono's cheek.* "Thank you, Kiono," *he says* "I won't let you down." *He rolls back over and resumes working at the task to which he was last directed for a moment before humming under his breath, only just audibly:* "Gonna be a wizard, gonna learn some spells"

Kiono:

*Kiono chews on her bottom lip as she watches him, her thoughts racing. Eventually she sets back to work, directing and tinkering as necessary.*

*Some time later, when they aren't under the thing anymore and probably doing something else, Kiono abruptly asks, her question seemingly directed toward her work,* "What if we just left once we got out of the Shadowfell? Leave the group, go somewhere else? Somewhere Enooto can't find us."

Concludion:

*Concludion freezes, processing what she's said. It is a few moments before he responds* "If... if that's what you want, we can find someplace safe where no one will find us. We can look after each other." *He seems hesitant, unsure about something.* "I want to work with these guys to stop Varren, even to stop the asteroid, but... if you ask me to, I'll leave it all behind."

"We could... join up with Road Work and Urugg, do some good work with them, or maybe head into the wilds and build a cabin or... anything, really."

Kiono:

"The don't *need* me to do that stuff... There's.... They just need the halberd, really. Just kill Varren instead of... doing the... rituals.... Izora know what to do about the asteroid. She can... take over running that, right? Just..." *Kiono sighs and stares at her hands.*

Concludion:

"They could manage without us, probably," *Concludion says*, "But it's... the right thing to do. I've been doing the wrong thing- killing people who committed no crime except maybe technically trespassing, or at least, being complicit in their deaths- for so long... Just so I could survive, just so I could try and keep you safe.

"It didn't really work, but hey.

"But I don't *want* to hurt people anymore. I don't want to let others hurt people anymore, not if I can do anything about it."

*He looks at Kiono not looking at him with a complicated expression*. "You *can* make a difference here. Save more people than these guys could without you. They need your expertise- Even Izora doesn't know these rituals like you do. She's smart, but she's not you.

"But making sure that you- that no one can hurt you, is the most important thing."

Kiono:

"Why save them? They wouldn't do the same for you. Random strangers, most of them garbage people." *She looks at Concludion and shakes her head.* "I haven't met many people out here worth helping."

Concludion:

*Concludion doesn't answer immediately, gathering his thoughts* "You remember seeing Urugg, right? Big orc guy? all smiles and muscles?"

Kiono:

*Kiono nods slowly.*

Concludion:

"When we met, one of the first things he did-" *Concludion turns his arm up over his head and back down, so that he's grabbing the roof of his own mouth and pulling backwards* "-he tried to tull my head off with hish ware hands." *He puts his hand down* "He almost succeeded. But I won the fight, barely, and through a series of wacky hijinks where I tried increasingly complicated ways of tying him up and he tries increasingly muscley ways of breaking out and trying to murder me... I didn't really get through to him. He didn't see me as another person, just a captor, an enemy to be defeated.

"But then we were both attacked by undead, they swarmed the campsite. I could have left him, gotten up into a tree and left him to be eaten. It would have been easy, and no one would have blamed me.

"But I cut him loose and fought beside him. He saw that, that I wasn't willing to just let him die

"And now he's like, second in command or something of this whole group of bandits with similar stories."

"All of those people were my enemies. Nevermind random strangers- they *all* tried to kill me."

"So I just think... people can change, if you give them the room to do so."

Kiono:

*Kiono frowns.* "But they *have* the room. The world is huge, and they're still awful. The only thing you did with Urugg was... not kill him."

Concludion:

"Sometimes that's all it takes," *Concludion says* "People get stuck easily, thinking that 'this is the way it is' and 'this is how I am' It's easy not to try to be different, to be better.

"But a lot of people, if you show them better, they'll want to do better, too."

*He shrugs* "But some people are jerk butts and the only cure is murder."

Kiono:

"How do you know?"

Concludion:

*He considers for a long time* "You don't, not always."

"Urugg could have decided that, even after I saved him from zombies, that he wanted to kill me. I don't know if I could have gotten away from him, either.

"Ideally- you surround yourself with people you love and/or trust that can help you when someone tries to screw with you. People who will help you stab the offender in the face.

"Other than that, it's a leap of faith? Not the most encouraging thing, maybe."

Kiono:

"Just... guess and hope for the best, huh?" *She doesn't sound convinced.*

"It's easier to just assume they're all going to turn against you. You'll probably be right more often."

Concludion:

"Maybe." *He says* "Wanna try it out?"

Kiono:

"What do you mean, 'try it'?"

Concludion:

"We've got a good team here," *Concludion says, Holding a hand out, palm upwards, as if offering something,* "We could see how many garbage people turn around, and how many we end up needing to stab. Just keep a tally?"

Kiono:

"....you want to try Plosi's diplomacy route all the time?"

Concludion:

"I don't mean that we should lie down and let ourselves be killed, but when it seems reasonably possible, maybe?"

"Once we've disarmed who needs disarming and tied up who needs tied up, we give them the chance."

Kiono:

*Kiono is thoughtful for a moment, not entirely sure what to do with the proposal.* "Do you think... Do you think Kitano would change if given the chance?"

Concludion:

*Concludion chokes down the sourest expression. He's about to respond, but closes his mouth as if he's considering something he's never thought about before. He looks at the floor as he thinks about his response, before saying*, "Maybe. I'm not sure."

"Do you want to try?"

Kiono:

*Kiono hesitates only a moment before nodding.*

Concludion:

*Concludion sighs* "Well, then we'll try. Or he'll kill us. Either way, we'll have a definitive answer."

Kiono:

*Kiono nods again and sighs.* "So, now we brainstorm how to.... do that, I suppose."

Concludion:

"Tie him up and have him listen to Plosi for a few hours? Maybe the exuberant optimism will rub off on him." *He says dryly.*

Kiono:

"You don't seem optimistic."

Concludion:

*Concludion smiles and shakes his head* "It'll be a challenge, to say the least."

Kiono:

"I suppose it will be, all things considered..." *She looks back at her hands, fiddling with whatever she happened to have to play with.* "But it'll be easier with help, maybe."

Concludion:

"We'll do it," *Concludion says simply, smiling and returning to work.* "Together."

Kiono:

*Kiono smiles appreciatively before also returning to work. Now to figure out how to do this without giving up her secret, RIP.*

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