Journey to the West: Kyrademon's Jade Regent PBP

Game Master Kyrademon

Liothonae goes about her own quick cleaning up, and then dresses. She is probably just a smidgen faster than him in this task. Possibly because he is speaking. She blushes at his words, pulling her hair back and securing it with a brown cord. Once she is dressed, and secure in facing him, she says, "You have given me... something wonderfully unexpected. Not all gifts can be compared in quantifiable ways. Believe me, when I say, that, I am very, amazingly, happy in, sharing this, with you. Even if, the circumstances, were less than ideal. I cannot imagine, a more, special, moment." Her words are almost painfully shy. Her stops and starts, mixtures of wonder and embarrassment at being so wonderfully pleasantly surprised.

Hrithik smiles at her, then embraces her firmly and warmly. "I am glad you are happy with the gift we shared. Since I was also made happy thereby, however, I still believe I am in your debt." He raises a mischievous eyebrow, "I look forward to finding ways to repay that debt."

"I used to look up into the sky and create imaginary constellations. I somehow get the impression that the next time I look up in the night sky, I'm going to start blushing furiously as I think of what you just said."

Hrithik nods sagely. "As well you should. The stars are very lusty, leering things, always gazing down upon our furtive loves below them. When you are done blushing, perhaps you can give them a wave."

"Well, I suppose it depends upon which direction you wish to be guided in." She offers. Although her words are not terribly serious, her expression conveys how seriously she takes what he was just said. She follows his gaze into the distance for a moment. "Watch your step, there's some slippery rocks over here." She offers the distraction of a minor obstacle along the way back.

Hrithik nods gratefully. "One thing I know I can't really change is my passion. I have tried bottling it, like an Ifrit, and venting it, like a Devil. Neither are who I want to be. I need some other path to share my passions ..." He concludes with a grin, "Unless perhaps you wished to assume the burden of receiving them entirely selflessly alone."

She returns his small smile with one of her own. "Did Mel or Myri ever tell you how I earned my freedom?"

Hrithik shakes his head. "Clearly, they weren't able to finish their claim on you. I am happy to hear the tale, though I imagine it is a bittersweet one."

Hrithik smiles at her, then embraces her firmly and warmly. "I am glad you are happy with the gift we shared. Since I was also made happy thereby, however, I still believe I am in your debt." He raises a mischievous eyebrow, "I look forward to finding ways to repay that debt."

Quietly, although very seriously, Lio studies him. "There is no debt. I gave freely." She says.

Quietly, although very seriously, Lio studies him. "There is no debt. I gave freely." She says.

Hrithik nods his head. "That is not the debt. That was my potential gift to repay the debt, but it isn't much repayment since we both knew joy. No, the Debt I owe you is for intervening as I began to disintegrate under Lord Rokuro's revelation. I would likely be a catatonic wreck hitting my head against the floor if not for that kindness, requiring others to carry me back. Thank you for sparing that burden."

Hrithik nods his head. "That is not the debt. That was my potential gift to repay the debt, but it isn't much repayment since we both knew joy. No, the Debt I owe you is for intervening as I began to disintegrate under Lord Rokuro's revelation. I would likely be a catatonic wreck hitting my head against the floor if not for that kindness, requiring others to carry me back. Thank you for sparing that burden."

"They probably would not have carried you." She says in all seriousness. "I, would not have done, what I did, if you had not made me feel, so wanted. And I do not see what knowing joy has to do with it not being sufficient. You are allowed happiness, too."

Hrithik nods sagely. "As well you should. The stars are very lusty, leering things, always gazing down upon our furtive loves below them. When you are done blushing, perhaps you can give them a wave."

Now you're just teasing me. Lio laughs quietly, putting her arm around his waist for a brief moment, her eyes nearly shining with pleasure. She lets go of him after a moment, still smiling. "But perhaps I will."

Hrithik nods gratefully. "One thing I know I can't really change is my passion. I have tried bottling it, like an Ifrit, and venting it, like a Devil. Neither are who I want to be. I need some other path to share my passions ..." He concludes with a grin, "Unless perhaps you wished to assume the burden of receiving them entirely selflessly alone."

She considers the question cautiously, "I suppose it would depend upon the extent of your passions and if I shared them or not." Then she adds a bit more lightly, "I do not find much interest in abstract art, carving stone, or herding geese. Especially geese, not only are they unintelligent, but they are vicious." She is clearly avoiding the question. But it isn't out of malice or some deep manipulative cunning. She is just not quite ready to bring up such subjects, this early in their... newly found relationship.

Hrithik shakes his head. "Clearly, they weren't able to finish their claim on you. I am happy to hear the tale, though I imagine it is a bittersweet one."

"I don't know about sweet." She smiles. I was, for more than 20, but probably less than 30 years, it was sort of hard to mark the passing of time, a slave in Magnimar. I was owned by a noble, and his family owned a series of illegal warehouse operations where mass production of goods took place. I did weaving, on huge machines, it was dangerous work, if you can believe that, requiring deft hands, and small stature." She looks at him, occasionally as she talks.

"He liked to feel powerful, so he found orphans and the lost, and put them to work. He called his operation a training house, where the poor could learn skilled trades. He made his peers believe that he was doing the city a great service by keeping these children off the streets, housing them and feeding them. But if an orphan tried to run away, they were brought back, tattooed to be marked as his, beaten, and usually they did not try to run away again. He often killed small children, in front of all of us, to ensure compliance. The killing didn't matter much to me then, I was very damaged. I just worked, like an automaton or a golem. But over time, something in me changed. We were given one meal a day, and worked 16 hours or more. There was a high turn over, as many children broke hands and became useless, or grew too old and became too large for the work. They were taken to other places, usually never seen again. But I digress, I suppose I should have organized the telling of this, prior to beginning, oh well, we're in the middle already." She adds.

"They probably would not have carried you. I, would not have done, what I did, if you had not made me feel, so wanted. And I do not see what knowing joy has to do with it not being sufficient. You are allowed happiness, too."

Hrithik nods sadly. "I have burned a lot of bridges today. That said, I think you underestimate the decency of Mr. Tollin and Mr. Rhost and Mr. Kalimac. Even if the others, including you, would have callously left me for dead, I do not believe they would."

Hrithik makes ready to depart the Vault area, ready to remove the Sun and Moon Discs of Brinewall from their nooks.

"I was, for more than 20, but probably less than 30 years, it was sort of hard to mark the passing of time, a slave in Magnimar. I was owned by a noble, and his family owned a series of illegal warehouse operations where mass production of goods took place. I did weaving, on huge machines, it was dangerous work, if you can believe that, requiring deft hands, and small stature." She looks at him, occasionally as she talks.

Hrithik winces slightly at the description so closely matching that of the halflings and children of Mistress' plantation, but nods to her attentively.

"He liked to feel powerful, so he found orphans and the lost, and put them to work. He called his operation a training house, where the poor could learn skilled trades. He made his peers believe that he was doing the city a great service by keeping these children off the streets, housing them and feeding them. But if an orphan tried to run away, they were brought back, tattooed to be marked as his, beaten, and usually they did not try to run away again. He often killed small children, in front of all of us, to ensure compliance. The killing didn't matter much to me then, I was very damaged. I just worked, like an automaton or a golem. But over time, something in me changed. We were given one meal a day, and worked 16 hours or more. There was a high turn over, as many children broke hands and became useless, or grew too old and became too large for the work. They were taken to other places, usually never seen again. But I digress, I suppose I should have organized the telling of this, prior to beginning, oh well, we're in the middle already."

Hrithik looks undisturbed by the lack of narrative flow. Instead, he appears concerned, and places his hand gently on the back of Liothonae's waist. [b]"I am sorry, Liothonae. You were saying that something inside of you changed?"

"I do not find much interest in abstract art, carving stone, or herding geese. Especially geese, not only are they unintelligent, but they are vicious."

Hrithik nods firmly. "Geese are demonic monsters. Mistress would set them around the perimeter of the plantation. No one ever snuck in or out without loud honking and brutal pecking."

With a smile, he adds, "Abstract art isn't so bad, by comparison."

Now you're just teasing me.[/b] Lio laughs quietly, putting her arm around his waist for a brief moment, her eyes nearly shining with pleasure. She lets go of him after a moment, still smiling. "But perhaps I will."

Hrithik puts his hand into hers, entwining their fingers. "So long as it gives you pleasure to be teased, I will take pleasure in doing so, Liothonae."

Lio gives Hrithik a level look. "I did not say I would have left you. You are sometimes too obtuse."

Hrithik looks pensive, his hands on the Brinewall Discs. "As angles go, I always thought I was acute one."

Grinning suddenly, he continues, "My apologies for attributing too much Druidic coldness to your statement. Your broad use of "others" implied everyone, and you seemed to be lumping yourself in with that everyone if I hadn't wooed you. I am sorry for misinterpreting and doing you an injustice."

Hrithik pulls the Sun and Moon discs from their holders, and waits for the Vault to close.

Or, if that doesn't cause it to close, he puts the discs back in. Then, if still not working, he gets methodical with them: puts them in but in the opposed slots, then try one disc at a time in each possible slot.

Turning to her, Hrithik says, "Shall we go?

"Geese aren't quite demonic. It takes a special sort of intelligence to be a demon. I've seen some pretty bad abstract art. Had an owner who liked to paint with blood. He wasn't very good."

Hrithik looks back at Brinewall Castle. "Better or worse than the blood art back there?"

Hrithik's expression grows thoughtful. "Perhaps Mistress specially bred Her geese to be demonic. Mated their parents with a demon lord, just like Nindinzego back there."

"Yes, something changed... but I don't think it makes sense if I don't explain."

Hrithik nods and says tenderly, "Take as much time as you need, Liothonae. Explain whatever needs explaining."

"Perhaps when it's a nice night, we can look at the stars together, and wave at them." She keeps a hold of his hand as they walk.

Hrithik squeezes her hand fondly. "When we make our way further north, tales say the sky will be clear as glass, the night black as pitch, and the stars perfect as diamonds. I would like to wave to all of them with you." His voice grows huskier, "And then perhaps give them something worth watching."

"Druids are not cold, we are merely practical." She offers, practically. Then she nods when he asks if they should go. She watches him remove the disks. Then she puts on her backpack, testing the weight of the new contents, before picking up her impromptu bag containing her's and Kalimac's old armor. She waits for him to precede her. This way she can make sure he is steady and does not fall down the stairs...

Hrithik, being in front of Liothonae, somehow finds a previously undiscovered downward stairwell and immediately trips and flies down it like an old "Chevy Chase as President Ford" impression, with no way for her to interpose herself. The spectacle of him tumbling head over heels and bouncing off the walls is, of course, hilarious.

But meanwhile, in the actual campaign ...

Hrithik steadies himself with a hand on the wall as he attempts to ascend the stairs up and out of the Vault area. He looks back to Liothonae thoughtfully climbing behind him, and smiles warmly. "Thank you," he says, as they ascend and depart.

She too looks to the castle for a moment. "I think it was worse, but that's probably just because he used my blood." She does not comment on the geese.

Hrithik winces in anger, and puts his arm around Liothonae's back to hold and comfort her. "Your life tales make me want to go on a cross-Avistani murder spree. Vengeance as justice." He shakes his head, trying to shake the hatred welling up inside. "Which owner and tattoo was that?"

"I do not enjoy being watched." She looks painfully shy, and small, and innocent all of a sudden.

Hrithik rebounds immediately, and nods while saying, "Then we will give them the chance to watch us setting up a tent and sticking our tongues out at them before darting beneath."

After a pause, he smiles and adds, "The gesture works so well for Sir Kalimac, after all."

"They were very small changes, and took, in human terms, a long time. But for an elf, they were mere moments, and I'm an elf. So... over time the men who ran things for this noble, who thankfully did not find me pleasing to look at, found my work reliable. They gave me small privileges as I had been there so long, longer than most of them, longer than any of the children. I was still, in human terms, a teenager, though nearly at the end of those years, and I suppose as Mel and Myri are teens, I was old enough. But those men, they thought, what harm could it do? And for me, well, it was freedom of a sort. I had never been so free, not since my illfated tenure with the bookseller. I thought, this life is hard work, but at least I can live this way... even if sometimes I had to avoid drunk guards who forgot what I looked like under the light of day, or dodge their anger when quotas were not met."

"We were all locked in hot dark rooms, day and night, with hardly a moment of natural light. Eventually, after some famine, when we had been given even less to eat than usual for a long time, I convinced the guards to allow me to try to help feed us. And of course, they got their share of food as well... they took most of it, actually, but what was left, saved our lives through that year. ...I was given space by some broken windows to grow plants for food by those men, it was the greatest moment of kindness I had been given in as long as I could remember. Finally we had more than thin soup to eat. I used discarded pots, and anything I could think of, and somehow, things grew. Even though I hardly knew nature, it seemed nature knew me. Plants just liked to grow for me. The guards kept quiet, because the owner had no idea, and they were eating well. Turns out they should have said something, I guess. But I'm glad they failed in their duties. "

"See?" She asks, "That's when it changed, it was no longer just me, it was no longer just me surviving, i started of thinking of all of those children as people, rather than slaves. They had lives, they had dreams and wishes."

"For how I got my freedom, well, later that year, a stray cat found its way to me. It had injured it's paw, so I helped bind it with some clean bits of my shirt. A few days later it came back with some friends. And then occasionally birds and dogs would find their way to me. I set a lot of wings and stitched up wounds. I had no idea how, really, it just sort of worked. I don't even know how these animals got past all the armed goons. But they did so for weeks, months even. I talked to them a lot, even though I didn't understand them. Told them about the noble and his operation, about his children, he had a young son, maybe 7 years old, who was nothing like his father, who hated the warehouses and what went on. The boy found me when he got away from his father's men during a tour of the warehouse. He wandered into my little garden, and I thought, that would be the end. But he kept the secret, which I'm sure he regrets now. But back to the animals, I talked to them about my life, I had finally found something to cling onto, something that made me be able to think again, to be sane."

And then one day, they stopped coming. I thought, well, that's that. That was the day I was to get my new ownership tattoo. You see, the son, not even 8 years old, was going to follow in his father's footsteps, wether he wanted to or not. He picked the moon and stars, not knowing what it would mark me. He stood with me once, in my garden, looking out through broken windows at the night sky. Told me about a dream he had, where poeple lived amongst the stars. It was a good dream. I thought, if I must be a slave, at least this boy will grow into a good man. I went about my day as if nothing had happened, sat there, patiently, while the tattoo artist worked on my face. But then, there was a loud ruckus, and sounds of fighting echoed through the warehouse, coming from outside, barging into our little sweat shop. It turns out, a raid was staged. A group of soldiers and guardsmen killed the armed men who stood guard outside. They had arrested the noble hours prior. Some of the guards tried to take hostages so they could get out. I remember, after the tattoo artist ran away, a guard picked up a small child to use as a shield. I hit him in the back of the head with a pot. He turned and looked at me, and stabbed me with his sword and I fell. But then the druids came. I woke up clean and only slightly uncomfortable. I think my face hurt more than the rest of me. There were a group of women in the room with me, and they sort of explained things. That in Magnimar, what the lord had done was illegal, and they asked me to speak testimony to the mayor. They said all of the children were too young, couldn't speak under oath. I thought, I am a slave, who will listen to me? But they listened. They were very angry with this man. They took his wealth, imprisoned him, struck his name from the records. His family was left with a small home. Of course to me it would have been a palace, but they too were angry. His son, especially, did not understand why I ruined his life. I had not thought my actions would have those consequences. My testimony, of the conditons, of what the guards had done, of what the owner himself ordered in my presence, those things were the truth that condemmed his father. But to this day he blames me. It is why, when he got older, and saw me, once, in the city, the druids thought it best I leave the area around Magnimar. He has no title anymore, but he still has friends, and a youthful anger that I understand humans are particularly good at nurturing. That's why I came to Sandpoint, to live in our sister grove."

Whenever their embrace ends, Hrithik wistfully says, "It sounds as though the little noble boy had already been enslaved by the very slavery system he participated in, even at such a young age. I am coming to believe that the system tries to make devils of everyone and everything it touches, master and servant alike."

Hrithik extends his tongue at Liothonae, rolls it into a tube, and waggles it back and forth at her.

Liothonae's smile turns into quiet laughter. She grins, looks down a moment, then meets his eyes again. Sticks her tongue out at him, for a very brief second.

"There are no servants within that system. But I found, fellow slaves could be far worse than owners or guards."

Hrithik nods emphatically. "The hierarchy of Hell asserts itself at every level. Everyone is encouraged to abuse everyone else. Those with the least power, in my experience, are often the most eager to abuse it ... and those with the most power are often trapped to do exactly what the system expects of them, lest they be devoured from below."

Hrithik looks at Liothonae happily. "But you broke out of the system entirely, and brought an entire operation of that system to an end with your testimony. That is a very powerful thing, Liothonae." He pauses, and gazes at her admiringly. "You are a very powerful woman."