072: I was angry when I met you. I think I'm angry still.

[Sierra]

<El-Cideon> After leaving their royal charge in Ione's care for the time being, the party takes their magic ship back to Whitsunhold--this time with one largely absent troubadour in tow. Brijid demonstrates little to no awareness of her surroundings as Rosemund warps the ship from one world to another and docks it safely back in the floating enclave's hold. "This is very convenient, is it not?" Rosemund beams. "But there are only so many times that I can do that in a day," she adds as the group walks out into the simulated sunshine of the hold's interior.
<Franceska> "It would be terrifying if no limits on that power existed," Franceska notes.
<Steph> "You figure?"
<Julia> "Still, we can take it home so we can always get exactly where we need to be, spells permitting," Julia says, likewise enjoying the convenience.
<El-Cideon> "But why is that?" Rosemund asks with a blink. "You could not think I would abuse the privilege!"
<Franceska> "Probably not, but it would imply such things can be employed by our many enemies with impunity."
<Julia> "Do we really have many enemies?" Julia asks thoughtfully.
<El-Cideon> "Oh, that is true!" Rosemund concedes with a little gasp. "What a terrible thought. Ah, but most of our enemies are dead, at least."
<Franceska> "It is always a good thing to keep them that way."
<El-Cideon> There is a small crowd milling uneasily about the overseer's tower, the party can see upon arriving. There's no immediate sign of the overseer herself and the doors are shut.
<Steph> "Though a bit fruitless, since they'll just turn into demons and ruin someone's day a century from now. I'm starting to rethink my life choices- hey, a crowd!" Stephanie sidles towards them. "What's going on, people?"
<Julia> Julia takes Brijid's hand and looks around for Marcus in the crowd.
<El-Cideon> A few of the aging farmhands have sharp agricultural implements in hand. "Bailey came 'round asking where everyone'd like to go. Didn't much appreciate us telling her where we think she should go," one stout old woman tells Stephanie. Julia does not see Brijid's brother in the immediate crowd.
* Franceska can't help looking amused at that answer.
<Julia> "Are you rebelling?" Julia asks incredulously.
<Franceska> "It is a tad late for that," Franceska muses, before giving a slight shrug. "So where do you want to go?"
<El-Cideon> "Rebelling? Against who?" she asks. "The queen's dead, and thanks for that. Nah, we just traded a few words had a long time coming. She thinks she can sit up there for years in safety while the rest of us get picked away in the night one by one, and then just calmly ask us one day hey, would everyone like to leave? Like she wasn't working for that mad queen the whole time, like we was old friends!" The woman and a few fieldhands near her make rude gestures at the closed tower.
<Steph> Stephanie scratches her head. "But she was forced into it, wasn't she? It's not like she had any power so she just had to play the role she was given."
<Franceska> "The point, however badly delivered, is quite the valid one," Franceska notes. "This realm exists in the plane of death. Sooner or later, something from that plane will make its way here and kill everyone present."
<El-Cideon> Franceska's question calls up a few better-spirited responses: "Someplace I can see the sky again!" a peg-legged man calls out. "A real sky!" someone else clarifies. The general consensus is something appreciably like a comfortable agrarian setting more or less familiar to them...just not an enclosed habitat like this one.
<Franceska> "How about the plane of Air?"
<Steph> "All sky, no dirt. We could try Arcadia?"
<Julia> "Not very agrarian is it?" Julia says. "I think back home or one of the quieter upper planes would do the job. Though I recall from that elf on Arborea that they don't like us mortals ruining the ambience."
<El-Cideon> Franceska's suggestion provokes mostly a confused titter amongst the nearest citizens. The old-timers are used to having solid ground beneath their feet and it sounds like they aim to keep living that way!
<El-Cideon> Rosemund nods to Stephanie. "Oh, that might be a good place. There are lots of friendly communities there that would probably come together to welcome someone needing a safe place to live."
<Franceska> "It sounds like there are plenty of suitable alternatives, so I shall take my leave now," Franceska says, heading out to find William.
<Steph> "It's certainly fair compensation after going through all this." She claps her hands. "So we can take you to a place like that, everyone! But right now, you need to break it up and return to your homes peacefully today, okay?"
<El-Cideon> "It is very calm and quiet there," Rosemund assures everyone. "You can live and work however you like in complete peace." This suggestion seems to go over well enough, and without an obvious target for their disdain the group soon breaks up. William is located sitting on the porch of his lodge. He squints long and closely at Brijid as she approaches at your side, raises one incredulous finger to point at her, struggling to find words.
<Steph> Meanwhile, Stephanie negotiates passage into the bailiff's office, even if it does mean climbing up the side and in through the window.
<Julia> "Brijid, this is your brother," Julia gently says to the impaired half-elf, leading her towards William.
<El-Cideon> Flora is fretting nervously at her desk, and it's with a familiar outburst of shock that she finally notices Stephanie invading through the window. "I am not sure how many more appearances like that I can take," she says. "Could you not just knock on the door once?"
<Steph> "I didn't think you'd answer for the mob," points out Stephanie, walking over to sit on the desk. "Anyway, it will probably be the last time."
<El-Cideon> "Brother?" Brijid echoes, in a voice that should be quite melodic with more spirit behind it. There is no obvious recognition as she stands before her half-brother. He takes her hand, looks at her a long moment. "Brijid, do you remember me?" After his sibling fails to respond, he heaves a sigh and looks at Julia. "You didn't exaggerate, did you?" he observes, adding grimly, "They cleaned her right out."
<Franceska> "Her condition can only improve from this point on."
<Julia> "She's better than she was, but..." Julia only shrugs helplessly.
<El-Cideon> He snorts a sharp, bitter laugh. "And the only place to go when you're in Nessus is up, eh?" he says to Franceska. "Well, I'll be around to help her remember. There's not much else I'm suited to do anymore."
* Franceska gives him a curt nod.
<El-Cideon> "I thought some of them likely to kill me!" Flora explains as she calms somewhat.
<Julia> "I'll leave you two alone for now," Julia says, figuring they deserve some privacy. Or at least William does since Brijid surely doesn't care. So she goes to busy herself... somewhere else.
<El-Cideon> "Do you know exactly what happened?" William asks Franceska. "Or what to do about it?"
<Franceska> "The mindflayers seem to capture the memories of their victims for posterity, and we hired a capable adventurer to retrieve any and all from your sister's captor. Should we succeed to find the right one...."
<El-Cideon> "You will have my perpetual respect," William says.
<Steph> "Well, they won't be doing that." Stephanie clucks her tongue. "We're going to shuttle them to Arcadia when we leave, and I presume you'll want to go elsewhere. Actually, I was thinking I could use someone with your skillset back home."
<El-Cideon> "I'd just be pleased not to go where everyone else is going," Flora says hurriedly. "To hear them talk, you'd think it was me abducting them for unspeakable purposes all these years!" With more composure, she asks, "What had you in mind? I've always been good with figures. Father had me track them for the family concern after my--" She scratches her arm irritably. "Anyway, that was before the drow. Ever since I've been here, well, with this sort of population you find yourself learning a few things about medicine whether you like it or not."
<Steph> "Oh, well, I've opened a trading company recently and I could use someone to help handle the accounts," begins Stephanie, before her thoughts catch up to what Flora was saying and her mouth grinds to a halt.
<El-Cideon> "I should think myself well qualified for that," she continues regardless.
<Steph> "Yes, of course you would be," says Stephanie, catching up. "And it would help you start, er, putting down roots, making a life, and all of that!"
<El-Cideon> Flora stands up. "I've been here for eight years. Before that I was a drow slave for two. I don't know that I understand what a normal life looks like anymore, but I think it might not be too late to learn."
<El-Cideon> Back to brighter, freer realms, the group returns to Ione's asylum to deliver the siblings and check on their royal guest. Ione is fretting outside the cell door upon your arrival. "Ah, good," she says. "Auranelle had a change of mind during your absence, I'm afraid."
<Franceska> "Oh?"
<Steph> "But no problems with the antimagic?"
<Julia> "So it's not corresponding to daylight then," Julia says. "I take it she wasn't receptive to therapy?"
<El-Cideon> "She's still bound, and none of her special abilities have manifested. However, while refreshingly uncaring about my particular species as compared to Her Benevolent Majesty--" Ione toys with one of the many snakes writhing from her head, "--she is otherwise most dedicated to being the absolute worst person that she can be. I received mostly threats and verbal abuse, but persisted in explaining her condition and relating the contents of her captors' journals. She's since been quiet. I may have planted a seed of doubt, but this is not in itself rehabilitation."
<Julia> "Both personalities are fake, aren't they?" Julia says. "The nice one was different after we'd spoken to her for a while, opened her eyes. Presumably the same would follow for this one... it's just conversation isn't going to be as easy."
<Steph> "She'll remember we beat the shit out of her. I'm expecting to learn some new words today."
<El-Cideon> Ione nods. "I suppose we can't expect decades of conditioning to be dispelled quickly." To Stephanie: "I'm sure she will. Do you want to talk to her again? It's reasonably safe--I had the manacles reattached when she was briefly insensate between personas."
<Julia> "I think we should at least give it a try," Julia says.
<Steph> "We're not in a hurry."
<Franceska> "If we are going to taunt her give me a moment to put on her crown, first."
<Steph> "How is taunting her going to help? It'll just make her even worse, won't it?"
<Franceska> "However can she be any worse?"
<Julia> "Lets not give her the chance to demonstrate?"
<Franceska> "If you insist."
<Steph> "Not that I disapprove of taunting our defeated foes per se," Stephanie adds. "We so rarely get the opportunity."
* Franceska tilts her head. "So do you want to do it after all?"
<Steph> "Yes," confides Stephanie. "I just know it is a bad idea."
<Franceska> "If we want to interrogate her about something, it might make her angry enough to slip up?"
<Julia> "We don't want to interrogate her, we want to help her reform into a model citizen... er, monarch."
* Franceska laughs mirthfully.
<Steph> "That was a bit forced, Franzy."
<El-Cideon> Ione unlocks the cell and gestures you inside. Within, Auranelle is once again shackled to her bed. When she looks up to behold her visitors, her expression is one of anger beyond mere homicidal fury and congealed into an icy commitment to formulating an eternity of torment for her oppressors. "You forged this nonsense, I suppose?" she says with taut control, holding up one of the journals. Her chains have been given just enough slack for her to flip through the pages.
* Franceska raises an eyebrow, still quite amused. "Did you not kill your very captors in person?"
<El-Cideon> "Eventually," she recalls, smiling at fondly treasured memories.
<Steph> "But you didn't bother reading their diaries, I take it."
<Franceska> "I can believe that, but would you really forget what they did to you so easily?"
<El-Cideon> "They were cretins," she sniffs haughtily at Stephanie. "Easily deceived and disposed of. As though they had any thing to teach me!"
<Steph> "They taught you power. You learned well!"
<Franceska> "And to be fair, they did try to teach the other you more. But she was stronger and refused to listen."
<El-Cideon> Auranelle instinctively sits up to try and leap and lunge at Franceska, but is brought short by her chains. "You will not say such things to me!" she growls. "The idea that this simpering, passive idiot and I should share flesh, the very notion makes me feel need to purge myself in Hell's bitterest flames until nothing at all remains. You will not sully my hearing with this suggestion again, you who usurped my rule!"
<Julia> "Lets try a different tack," Julia suggests. "Do you remember before you were captured by those in the journal?"
<Franceska> "She was there first, so who is the usurper here?"
<Steph> "Rule? Over a few dozen seniors and a bunch of zombies? Your original nation was far more worthy of the name, but as you are now you'll never see it again, woman. That simpering, passive idiot has the appropriate qualities for a monarch, qualities which you yourself lack."
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+27
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+27 and gets 38."12 [1d20=11]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+19+10
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+19+10 and gets 31."12 [1d20=2]
<El-Cideon> "I have distant memories of a mortal life," she insists with disciplined willpower. "They fade further into insignificance with each year, yet this I know: then I was too weak, too trusting, naive and altogether prey to men possessed of more potent convictions. What strength I now have was tempered through their torments. I repaid them in kind--" Auranelle again smiles in fond remembrance, giving the group a flash of her vampiric teeth, "--NOT this false queen you speak of. She could not have endured to rule as I did. She would have broken."
<Steph> "Oh? Then tell us of your lands."
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+27
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+27 and gets 46."12 [1d20=19]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+19+10
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+19+10 and gets 35."12 [1d20=6]
<Julia> "As I recall, she... you, ruled through a particularly tumultuous time of our nation's history. Beset by demons and devils on either side, and all their associated spies and sympathisers, she held our nation together through the worst. You were only kidnapped a few years from the very end when our extraplanar enemies finally abandoned their efforts as futile. Not what I would call a weak
<Julia> ruler by any means," Julia says.
<El-Cideon> "My kingdom is that of the dead," Auranelle assures Stephanie. "My domain grows every day, and one day I will personally see that each one of you joins it."
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+27
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+27 and gets 45."12 [1d20=18]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+19+10
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+19+10 and gets 37."12 [1d20=8]
<El-Cideon> "Had this queen you speak of the mental fortitude to keep a kingdom under her lash, she should never have been abducted in the first place," she says coldly to Julia.
<Franceska> "Oh please, you buy old cripples someone else caught for you."
<Julia> "Does that mean your current abducted state corresponds to a mental weakness of your own?" Julia can't resist saying.
<El-Cideon> Auranelle again tries to heave her chains right off the wall they're set into, but again is brought short. She hisses and bares her fangs in frustration. "Every monarch has the prerogative to delegate those chores which demean the dignity of one so highly placed," she insists to Franceska. Towards Julia she turns a baleful glare: "Dispel this oppressive aura that surrounds my cell, and then I should make known the weakness of your own will!"
<Julia> "I could do the exact same to you," Julia smiles placidly. "But yes, you were abducted in the full bloom of your powers, in the heart of your kingdom. Whereas your earlier self was abducted without even having the benefit of being a supremely powerful vampire."
<Franceska> "Going by your record you might well find some way to try and horribly kill us in the future, but that really doesn't change the fact that you lost far more badly than your previous human self," she agrees with Julia.
<Steph> "To just a few of us, at that."
<El-Cideon> Auranelle draws herself up to a cramped sitting position with all the dignity she can presently muster. "No doubt you think there is some facile lesson I should have learned from this experience." She looks around the group with a speculative expression. "I tire of your trite mortal condescension. You have not killed me, as one aught a defeated foe--at least one that has ceased to be entertaining in its struggles. What is your purpose with me?"
<Julia> "We want to reach an accord between you and the other Auranelle," Julia says straightforwardly.
<Franceska> "As for me, I'm still entertained."
<El-Cideon> "It is in my nature to reign in blood," Auranelle says proudly. With a touch of amusement she adds, "Do you think that you can reconcile her to that existence?"
<Julia> "I'm sure we can find a compromise somewhere. Roughen up her overall sweetness, smooth out your incredible bitterness, and somewhere in the middle there'd be a functional person," Julia says, although good Auranelle's already been fairly well roughened up after shaking off the blinders earlier.
<Franceska> "If not, then ideally I would like to kill you and keep her alive. It would be a feat that will earn me immortality, so that's worth something."
<El-Cideon> "Listen to yourself!" she rolls her eyes at Franceska. "The medusa tells me that my adversary and myself are one and the same person. If that is so, then tell me how you would propose to murder me without sacrificing that stupid cow into the bargain?"
<Franceska> "You started out as one person, and then became two people sharing the same body. So if you can do that, you can probably kill one of the two and still have a functioning mind and a functioning body," Franceska says reasonably. "Ideally, you would choose self-preservation and try to find a way to survive by coexisting with your other self as well, but if not... well, no tears will be
<Franceska> shed over you."
<El-Cideon> "Whyever do you even care?" Auranelle asks the group with a trace of ironic amusement.
<Julia> "Well, even if we were born after your disappearance, we're still your subjects after a fashion," Julia muses.
<Steph> "Your other self is the sort of person who is worth protecting, in my view." Stephanie snaps her fingers. "Perhaps that's her true strength!"
<Franceska> "Most of them care, so it's just easier to go along with it," Franceska answers honestly. "So if you're not going to be entertaining, how about some display of self-interest to get this done quickly?"
<El-Cideon> "Then as your rightful monarch, I command you release me from my bonds," Auranelle coos sweetly to Julia. "And *that* is the most insipid thing that I have heard emanate from a fool's lips," Auranelle adds in response to Stephanie. Only Franceska's statement appears to provoke serious consideration: "You must have plans of your own for your late monarch?" she surmises.
<Julia> Julia stiffens and moves towards Auranelle, her hands about to touch the chains before she stops and laughs. "You almost had me there, your Majesty. But of course you're unwell so these bonds are for your own safety as much as ours."
<Franceska> "What I told you before our battle was entirely honest. We share an enemy, and it would be best for both of us to deal with it together. But given that you would want to kill me just as much as I would want to do the same to you after it was done, it is somewhat impractical right now. Someone I could trust enough to work alongside, however... well, that's optimal. I wouldn't even mind
<Franceska> if you ended up ruling properly over your true realm afterwards. I'm sure I could find a legal loophole to help with that." She pauses. "Your son probably wants to meet his mother again, too. I wonder if you're the same?"
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+27
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+27 and gets 29."12 [1d20=2]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+19+10
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+19+10 and gets 43."12 [1d20=14]
<El-Cideon> "I admit that the domain I presided over until so recently was rather...meager, by the standards of a queen. And I should think it unlikely that you left many of my subjects unslaughtered in your passage." With a more controlled, neutral, above all practical tone then she has managed elsewhere, she continues: "Tell me which adversary is it that we share in common? The only I know I have left living are all around me. I know how to treat my enemies...but I will not rest in a cell for eternity. Present me a tempting target and I may consider setting aside my enmity for now."
<Franceska> "There was that mage that sold you out while you were human and set it all in motion. Then there is his apprentice, now in your son's court, that sent all those knights and the angel to try and kill you. He's the one who probably killed Rosemund's aunt. If not, they are co-conspirators."
<El-Cideon> "Mm. This man who thought he could send mere hirelings to kill ME, him I shall be pleased to deal with personally," Auranelle says, a flash of her familiar murderous rage sneaking through. After some consideration, she offers: "Release me, do not interfere with the sating of my thirsts whilst we travel to find this man, and I shall put to rest our ill-will for the duration of this endeavor." Ione gives this suggestion a dubious shake of her head, but leaves the decision to those likely to be working with her.
<Julia> Julia likewise looks extremely dubious.
<Franceska> "Do I look stupid, or was this some strange gamble?"
<Steph> "But afterwards it will immediately resume, I take it," says Stephanie. "No, it's not enough. We need your power, yes, but harnessed by the ethics and temperament of a true Queen." She gestures to Auranelle. "I want to ask you something. You are quite proud of your strength, and that is one thing. But I honestly don't understand why you would glory in bloodshed and violence as if they're to
<Steph> be sought out for their own sake. Why?"
<El-Cideon> "Have you never personally held another soul in your power?" she asks Stephanie with what sounds like sincere bemusement. "Have you never gloried in triumph over an adversary and his destruction? Is there not joy in this? And I can only presume that you yourself have killed widely and well, to have ultimately overcome me. Can you say that you have never felt pleasure in the subjugation of those that you despise?" Smiling, she adds: "Ah, but as for the blood itself, that thrill is one difficult to communicate to the uninitiated. I feel you would likely only understand that once properly converted." To Franceska, she acknowledges with obvious difficulty: "I am held here with surprising efficacy and realize a need to bargain for my release. You may take what I said in that light."
<Franceska> "Here is a more sensible counter offer, then. Don't cause trouble for Ione, and try to reach some agreement with the other you. Write to each other and see if there are things you agree on instead of denying the other exists alongside you. It might just lead somewhere."
<El-Cideon> "And when will I be released if I do these things?" Auranelle presses. Rosemund, for her part, has a question of her own: "Do you actually need to drink blood, or is just an awful habit that you could stop if you wanted to?"
<Franceska> "Actually, an interesting question. If you do need blood, must it be human blood? What about the effects of sunlight? And just how do you switch between your personas?"
<Julia> "You'll be released when we have confidence that you don't present a pressing danger to those around you. If it helps you can be comforted that the other Auranelle is likewise confined?" Julia offers.
<Steph> "Of course," muses Stephanie. "You'll need to convince her as well."
<El-Cideon> Auranelle smiles and says with disarming fondness, "It is a Need," pronouncing the capital. "Besides, what is life without its pleasures? Should I actually feel no compulsion for it, asking me refrain would still be as absurd as demanding that you forgo the company of men, or fine wine, or whatever other indulgence allows you to forget your daily disappointments for a time." Rosemund is of course obliged to announce, perhaps a little too loudly, "I do not know about either of those things!"
<Franceska> "Yes, she's strange like that," Franceska agrees with a shrug. "What is your stance on elves?"
<El-Cideon> "So I shall need my feeble counterpart's approval before I am ever to walk free again?" Auranelle concludes from the others' statements, her expression curdling.
<Julia> "Oh, you know the big lake of blood back at your throne room?" Julia asks. "Is it potable or is it just for ambience?"
<Steph> "I think we need to get over the elves, Franzy."
<El-Cideon> "They are delicious," she says to Franceska's question. To Julia, she answers simply: "Both."
<Franceska> "I am honestly not sure how to feel about that."
<Julia> "Well you needn't worry about going thirsty, and we don't need to kill anyone," Julia beams.
<El-Cideon> "It is no inconvenience to our plans to ferry me back home for a drink whenever I should require one?" Auranelle infers.
<Julia> "We can just fill up a barrel and leave it here, surely?"
<Steph> "I'm sure we can bottle it... oh!" Stephanie snaps her fingers. "Do you know how to play chess?"
<El-Cideon> Rosemund, again, volunteers something strange: "If there is no other way to get it when you need, I think you must need to take some of mine. I can heal myself as long as you only take a little!" she assures everyone, adding quietly, "And I hope everyone would watch her to make sure that she does."
<Franceska> "No, the creepy lake of blood is the better way."
<Steph> "Rosemund, never say that in front of the vampire again."
<Steph> Stephanie grips her on the shoulders. "You'll give her ideas."
<El-Cideon> Auranelle inclines her chin in Stephanie's direction. "But of course. Why do you ask?"
* Franceska tilts her head. "Would you actually object to being turned human again if it meant being let out?"
<Steph> She whirls back and beams at Auranelle. "Then I'll get a set for you so you can properly show your counterpart who has the stronger mind."
<El-Cideon> "And I would be pleased to accept the young lady's generous offer, should circumstances warrant it," she adds happily.
<El-Cideon> "I have no doubt the outcome of this contest and I welcome it," she says confidently to Stephanie. More seriously, she's forced to consider Franceska's proposal. "I am free from fear of death and would under all pains stay thus liberated. You offer me an eternity of captivity as my only alternative? My captors cannot live forever."
<Julia> "Well it's a very big lake, I'm sure you can subsist a long while before we need to resort to other measures," Julia insists.
<Julia> "Ahem," Julia coughs delicately.
<Franceska> "Yes, some of us will probably live forever."
<Steph> "We could always lose patience and kill you. Sometimes we have bad days, like that one time in the Abyss."
<Franceska> "More to the point, do you know of any reasonably safe ways to do just that?"
<El-Cideon> "My own condition is perfectly safe so long as certain hazardous environments are avoided," Auranelle says, "and I heartily recommend it to all interested in a perpetually enduring condition."
<Julia> "Oh, speaking of living forever, I really should experiment while you're here," Julia says brightening. "Since most undead subsist purely on tiny amounts of negative energy, the vampire's appetites mark it as an oddity. But I do wonder if increased negative energy can alleviate the bloodthirst - do you mind if I try?" she asks.
* Franceska gives Julia a dubious look.
<El-Cideon> To Stephanie, she adds with raised eyebrow, "What time in the Abyss?" Rosemund explains simply, twitching her tail and wings. "Er, I was not born with these. It was a bad day."
<Steph> "We can't do that without taking down the antimagic field, can we?" Stephanie mutters.
<Julia> "Oh, yes I forgot. Drat," Julia mutters. So much for learning!
<El-Cideon> "By all means, try," Auranelle purrs on that note.
<Julia> "It will unfortunately have to wait for another time," Julia says, defeated by prudence.
<El-Cideon> ~