Session 28 - Síderis

General Summary

We awake to a commotion, raised voices in the inn downstairs. There are lots of people, farmers, a new guy who’s guarded by armored mercenaries is being shouted at by one of the farmers about how someone is destroying their crops. Someone is living in the ruins of Sideris who is burning crops and destroying things, he’s lanky and Vas won’t do anything about him! We volunteer to take care of it, the mercenary company is after him as well. The head merc is called Keos. He plans to kill the lanky man, who’s engaged in devil worship. He’s doing a ritual!
Iros is going his own separate way, he’s going to swim across the channel and get back home. We set off with the mercenaries. Xanthos reveals that the lanky man is his “bastard of an uncle,” he’s greedy and might be trying to take control of the town to make money off the trees. He had destroyed neighboring towns to lessen the competition for trade in the past, or perhaps he was doing this in service to the devil in exchange for boons. The devil was gone when Phaedra got there, she set the town and the trees on fire because they were earned through devil power. A burning tree trapped Xanthos and she had to save him, which allowed the uncle to get away.
Xanthos has wanted nothing more than to kill his uncle for quite some time, but now he is undecided. The devil needs to go, that is for certain. The uncle’s name is Arsenios. Xanthos talks to Keos about his history, he’s from a town called Anatapol, which was quite prosperous until Arsenios destroyed it and everything his family had worked generations for. He and some others had escaped and since then he had been plotting his revenge. Xanthos tells him that he’s his uncle and that he would like to speak with him before any severe action is taken. Keos knows Xanthos’ name from this information! He knew Xanthos’ family before all of this, he has his mother’s hair, they had actually met when Xanthos was a little boy. He thinks Xanthos shouldn’t talk to him, he has the devil’s tongue. We’ll deal with it when we get there.
We arrive in Sideris, it’s in ruins with a great burning wagon wheel at its entrance, a symbol of Fytanke Calametes (typically a chariot wheel). Captain Leos stays behind to guard Rhene and Adelpha with the horse and carriage. Fytanke actually hates devils because they represent stagnation, summoning devils is heretical for a worshiper of Fytanke. Neo belongs to a less radical sect of Fytanke, “one should not force the wheel to turn, the wheel will turn.” Xanthos hasn’t been here since it burned, Keos is heading for the building that used to be Xanthos’ family’s home.
As we approach, we hear an unnaturally loud booming voice, enhanced with thaumaturgy. “Leave this place now! There will be only one death here today, Keos, come no further.” Xanthos smells ash in the air, as though something is burning. The voice continues shouting, “This is your last chance, murderer.” Xanthos asks what that means, but Keos just says it’s lies.
A BIG BATTLE HAPPENS! It’s really touch and go, Arsenios and his devil (probably) are aided by fire elementals that are summoned when the devil kills someone. We lose a lot of mercenaries, save for one who escapes. Keos tries to take Xanthos hostage in the confusion and threaten Arsenios with the death of his nephew, but Arsenios kills him. Eventually we drive them back.
We pursue Arsenios and the devil further into the building, where we find them, the devil clutching a bundle. They have been living here, but Arsenios gave up that right when he destroyed Sideris and killed Xanthos’ family. He says that “she” didn’t listen to him. He tried to warn her, if we’d killed Keos earlier, they’d both still be alive. Keos poisoned Xanthos’ mother, so Arsenios burned down everything he ever had. Arsenios did kill Xanthos’ father. Keos’ family wanted Sideris for years. Phaedra burned Sideris, but Arsenios’ actions brought her there.
The woman with the bundle is Arsenios’ wife, he met her when she came to the town hoping to help it regrow. She is a worshiper of Fytanke. Xanthos asks where the devil is, she’s long gone, she left him some of her power and he doesn’t know where she is now. Her name is Nepheli. The bundle she’s holding is a child, Xanthos’ cousin. Arsenios believes that Keos was responsible for all of the recent mayhem to drum up support to kill Arsenios. Arsenios killed Xanthos’ father as a sacrifice to bring the devil into the world to seek vengeance on Keos, “your spineless father was too weak to protect my sister.”
Xanthos… actually offers him amnesty in exchange for helping to rebuild. I am shocked. Arsenios’ wife’s name is Helia, the child is named Xandra, she’s about 2 years old. Xanthos needs some air, Ionessa follows him. He feels everything he knew is wrong, the child is named after his mother. Ionessa is really proud of him, were it not for her he would have killed him. They hug.
Neo asks how Helia plans on restoring the land; she recognizes him as a Fytanke worshiper. She sees him as a bit of a lesser worshiper and too young to have joined them on their march, she was part of the Great Wildfire. Kestor takes her to task over this. She says nobody took joy in the Wildfire, but it was a necessity because something terrible had been growing in the world.
There are old things, old rot, things from before, things that Fytanke was supposed to burn away before they took over this world. Everything has its time, gods are born and live and die and are reborn again. That is how this world is meant to be, but if the rot is not burned away then it will grow. That is why the Great Wildfire happened, because the world needs to be reborn lest the rot continue. Kestor relays what he saw when he died, she says that may be the rot, or perhaps a symptom of the same rot. Neo reveals that Acheric has been burned, and that he was responsible. She says there may be more use for his sect than she thought, but Neo doesn’t really agree.
Ionessa and Xanthos come back, Xanthos asks for an assurance that she won’t try to burn down the world, she doesn’t have that power. Arsenios asks to speak with Xanthos privately and shows him a burned portrait of Xanthos as a child with his parents. Xanthos asks if they can stay, Arsenios says no harm will come to them. Ionessa and Kestor leave to collect the others, Neo is acting real sus and wants as many people to leave as possible so he can talk to Helia alone. But we don’t have time for that! So this is the end!

Notes

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Report Date

24 Apr 2023