Session 23 - Agoraphobia

General Summary

We’re in Rheo! It’s beautiful, it’s picturesque, people are using money!! We are surrounded by the ills of capitalism, surely this is a horrid place. Kestor is a bad tour guide, but uses this opportunity to track down transmutation specialists who can help give Xanthos beautiful brown eyes. We find them at a bar called The Owl’s Nest. There’s a dog fight happening! We try to break it up and in the end Ionessa has to physically separate them with a chair! It is then revealed that these are not dogs, but transmutation wizards fighting for sport.
So we lost them some money but luckily the guy we actually need to talk to, a philosopher called Theages, was not fighting. He has a fair amount of experience with altering people’s appearances (probably) and is willing to do the work for Xanthos to change his eyes. He offers to cast a spell that needs to be re-upped every now and then or give him an item to make it permanent. We bargain a little and Xanthos agrees to pay 125gp for an amulet that can permanently alter his eye color. He takes us to his associate, Ionor, who takes the money and tells us to come back tomorrow!
Ionessa is upset about the faux dog fighting, which is fair it’s definitely sketchy. Maybe we can make a new law about that sometime. Neo wants to see the temples! The temple of Pola is particularly grand, with a shining light imitating Pola’s sun blazing out of its roofless building and shedding its light across the whole city (except the slums lol). This is called Pola’s Sun or the Sun of Rheo and is a true wonder of the world.
Kestor also points out the tomb of Acheric the Fire Eater! It is sealed with stone, not meant to be opened, with a carving of Acheric being slain by the spear of Nicanda the Douser guided by the Gods, while Acheric falls back into the arms of Nypoloita. It’s sooooo insulting. Neo obviously really wants to go in there and burn the body, and frankly I think it’s safe to say OOC that this is going to happen eventually, but we don’t know how to do it. Neo just wants to make his god and his family proud of him.
Next, we go to the debate. Eusthathius, Kestor’s former master, is mopping the floor with everyone. Kestor stands up to debate him, and argues that Kritharicism is stopping a real conversation from happening because it cannot respond to any of the Populi’s points with any flexibility. Kestor gets baited into revealing that he was at Korymour and reveals the corruption of the Keepers there, but before he can say that one of them was killed for this, Xanthos interrupts and ends the debate. Kestor leaves, and realizes that he had been standing in Eustathius’ shadow the entire debate. Neo asks a few follow-up questions and gains a better understanding of Eustathius’ philosophy; he will open his doors to his neighbors but he will not fight their war for them.
After the debate we reconvene and have a big heart-to-heart about Kestor’s motivations and ambitions. He wants to be remembered, but he needs to remember the people around him as well. He apologizes for being a big jerk and understands that they can reach their legend together. He offers to write it, he’s been taking notes (hehe), though Ionessa is curiously unsure if she wants to be in the history books!
We go back to wait for Halina, Ionessa’s older sister. Drinks are had, we chat, Kestor does the worm. Ionessa hasn’t seen anyone from home since she left! Halina arrives (and falls down because she’s used to being in the ocean) with the biggest deal: Tidecaller Axiokeanos! But we can call him Axio. He’s very boisterous. Halina seems nice! She’s overwhelmed by surface life but she’s getting her land legs! She steers clear of Kovu…
We head to Singing Doriskos’ house! She’s a Firbolg with an owl familiar called Pelius. Her home is SWANKY! Baths, multiple rooms, enormous beds, servants, etc. We get to pick our rooms based on color themes. There’s a musician playing so we head down to listen to them. There are also some Vedalken present! One of them is called Drosis the Unseen, wait they’re all the same guy because he’s an illusionist! We chat with them and then Halina gets the rundown of who we all are and what we’re doing. She cottons onto Ionessa and Xanthos’ connection.
The night starts to die down. Ionessa and Halina go to the bathhouse so they’re not drying up like a beached fish. Kestor hangs with the philosophers and asks about cursed plays but they don’t know anything (maybe Drosis does but he’s hard to read). Neo and Xanthos slip away to have a conversation about Neo drawing his blood and what not. Xanthos appreciates it but is just worried about how he was going about it. Xanthos tells Neo that he needs to relax, he’s always worrying, so he goes to play music with Kestor.
Ionessa talks with Halina, who is not very cool about Kovu. She sees him as an animal to get rid of rather than someone she has a duty to. She worried about Ionessa, she has a lot of enemies. SHE SAYS SHE HEARD THE KRAKEN IS DEAD! She wants her to come home, but she would have to give up Kovu :( - Then she asks about Xanthos. Ionessa likes him but thinks he’s not interested in a relationship, so Halina offers to go talk to him. There are protests but obviously we all want to see this.
Wow this conversation is awkward! Until Halina straight up asks him if he likes Ionessa. HE’S TRYING TO DODGE! HE WON’T ANSWER! He thinks she’s still into Rhoecus. Basically they’re not communicating. Halina says they should talk! They’re both afraid of looking stupid in front of one another, but love is stupid! He’s still very resistant but maybe gets convinced to talk to her.
The end.

Character(s) interacted with

Halina - Ionessa's sister
Eustathius - Kestor's former master
Singing Doriskos - Our host
Drosis the Unseen 
Tidecaller Axiokeanos

Notes

<3

Report Date

06 Feb 2023