Session 44: Damn God Eaters...at least we stopped the Wedding!

General Summary

Echoing down from the shrine, they hear a deep voice shout, "Suise don't be insane!"
Anya shouts at Sikander, "Get ready to fly" then shifts into a bronze wyrmling. Scooping him up, she flies them up to the top of the hill, where they hear the voice of a young girl shouting to be left alone and see Hokiyo and a large furry creature arguing with each other while trying to talk the fox down. Sikander runs closer and sees Suise standing on a branch with a silken rope around her neck, with the Hokiyo and a Tenuki standing below the tree just outside the shrine.
Determined to help, he swings himself onto the roof and runs closer, readying to sever the rope.

Back down below, Offa is swarmed by hornets and is poisoned while Silas and Sense use the Stench ability to affect several of the hornets, causing a few to fly off and confusing a couple more. Silas then swings Sika Zashi and starts clearing the swarm, s hishkabobbing several hornets on his blade with each swing.
Seeing that Silas has the hornets under control, Offa Dimension Door's up the hill and attempts speaking wtih Suise. As he leaves, Granny Too tries to ride Tal, offering a rib to entice the giant dog. Instead, Tal kicks into "destroy undead" mode and Granny Too briefly becomes like a rag doll for him. Eventually, Tal drops Granny Too and they make their way up the hill, with Silas close behind as he finished clearing up the last of the swarm on Sika Zashi.

Pando curses at Sikander as he climbs up, which Sikander returns as he turns and swings Wibbles into the rope, "Sikanderizing" it with ease. He then moves to scoop Suise up, saying, "Don’t you worry little fox we are here to save you." Before he can get hand on her, she attacks him unsuccessfully with her hair combs. Startled, he stops trying to grab her and is hit from a barbed spear thrown by Pando. He pauses long enough to pull the spear out, bleeding continuously, and tries to climb after her. Anya flies up and shifts out of dragon form seeing she will not fit in the trees. Climbing after her, Anya attempts to convince the fox to stop and listen, stooping to saying she is royalty to do so. Offa offers his own assistance by grabbing Suise telekinetically, halting her ascent and angering her further. Once the two women stop climbing, Sikander catches up, and in attempting to grab Suise, is kicked out of the tree. Falling, he aims for Pando, pulling them both out and lands on top of the giant Tenuki and his testicles. They agree not to talk about it as Pando tells Sikander, "I thnk I hate you."
Suise is willing to talk if everyone else will leave her alone, prompting Offa to end his telekinesis. The pair sits in the tree for a while as Suise cries until she is ready to share with Anya. They argue back and forth until Anya calls her out for giving up to soon. During the conversation, Anya realizes there is more going on and God Eater is present, probably within Suise.
Getting out of the tree, Anya insists they all leave the forest quickly to get Suise's mind clear (Silas mentally conferring with Anya on her suspicions). Pando scoops her up and takes off, with the others much slower following after.
Catching back up to Pando at the gate, the party finds Pando knocked out and a God Eater emerging from Suise, telling them to kill her. Offa and Anya attempt forcing the creature out with no luck when Offa decides to offer himself as a host instead. Convincing the God Eater he was a better choice, Anya protects Offa while the others prepared to attack. Eldritch blasts, Wibbles swinging, and a Cone of Cold from Anya destroys to creature, finally freeing Suise.
Free of the God Eater, they are able to have reasonable conversation with Suise, who leads them to the graveyard where the princess is taking her bridal walk. Silas reaches out to her mentally while everyone else hides. They go back and forth using fan code as Silas learns the princess loves Suise, wants to be with her, but will not run from her duty to her people to be with Suise. Needing help with ideas, Suise shares some of the concerns the empress has, giving the party an idea of how to convince her. Silas tells the princess to go through the motions while they worked on her mother. They then tells Suise they need to get Silas to the Empress, and she leads them away. 
They head down the path to a smallish castle and find the statues around the entire place. Suise warns them they will animate and protect if any threat is noticed. To avoid this, Silas becomes the princess, Offa becomes Haka-ho, while Anya and Sikander remain themselves. Silas then calls out, "Mother I am not going through with this wedding. Vixen." After a moment, her father comes out and Silas plays up the spoiled, insistent daughter, demanding to speak with her mother about the God Eaters and a need for change. He eventually agrees, heading inside. The others start to follow, but Anya is forced to clean Sikander off, spit cleaning his face and pulling debris from his beard before they are allowed to enter with an assist from Scent. He whispers to Anya, "There better be an ambush soon." (He is clearly itching to go swing Wibbles over staying sneaking around). 
Inside, they are led to the Empress (kneeling at a writing table, brush in hand), where Silas manages to pass as the princess and through careful back and forth about tradition versus change, why her sister could not be empress, whether a man could lead the Foxes, concerns over the Oni tribes, the dangers of the God Eaters, how to best deal with Kensei's family, and what a male empress would be called the Empress agrees to Silas's request.
Report Date
29 Apr 2024

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