Session 37 - I Hear Wedding Shells

General Summary

We arrive at Ionessa’s home farmhouse! It’s simpler, smaller, more rustic and wild. They grow kelp straight up or use whalebones and cord to grow different types, corals, shellfish and anemones are all over the place! Netting prevents things from getting in/floating out. The place seems a lot smaller to Ionessa since she’s explored the world, this used to be all she knew. She shows everyone the family workshop, they’re jewelers who work with pearls and shells and such. This stuff is really expensive in Rheo, maybe we could buy some supplies and sell it on for profit! Ionessa and Xanthos go find a nice apricot colored pearl.
Idressi wants to leave and take his cut from the treasure, he thinks we’re cursed. Ionessa wants him to admit that what we did was good but he refuses so we just split the gold and let him go. Everyone gets 523 gold each (after giving 50gp to Kovu for his hoard), Idressi argues he should get an item but he cowarded out of going into the room with Kono so he doesn’t get shit. The items are a tentacle cloak, purple dagger, and a teeth ring. We get a tour of the farm, all kinds of kelp used for all kinds of purposes such as netting, medicinal uses, rope, writing, etc. We get a cool glimpse into her childhood.
We discuss our various childhoods growing up on farms and how life was so much easier back in the day! There’s lots of things we want to do when we get back to Sideris, maybe we can hire people for the farm, maybe we can set up a kelp farm to show off underwater culture! Kestor wants to have a school where he can give lectures and draw students. Xanthos still won’t talk about why he stayed behind at the magic shop. We identify our items, a cloak of the kraken, dagger of the mother, and a ring of the great white. We don’t attune until remove curse is ready.
Come morning, Ionessa gifts Kestor an orange coral necklace she made herself! Xanthos is furiously jealous. She asks Kestor to be completely truthful when telling the tale of what they did out here, saving the merrow, saving Kono, all of it. She’s tired of feeling small and weak, having to bow to rules that she doesn’t always agree with. She wants to be fully honest about what she’s doing and what she wants, if that gets her banished again then so be it. Kestor is fully on board, this is kind of his whole philosophy. His approval worries her a bit but overall she feels good about it! He agrees to hold off on telling the story until she’s had a chance to talk to Thyrsos in case it would ruin the wedding. They hug!
We try out the magic items. The cloak and dagger are safe but the ring is cursed! Xanthos can’t take it off without taking damage from a spike in his finger so Neo casts remove curse, but not before Xanthos transformed into a handsome shark boy. BUT THE WEDDING IS TODAY! We swim back to Oiakis as fast as we can, Neo gets exhausted because it’s a really long swim. We fill Iris in on the details on the way home and spot Gelon swimming back to the city as well. He was doing his oramonos, a tradition where one must spend a night alone before changing clans.
The wedding will have a procession of both families from Gelon’s home to Thyrsos’ with lots of singing and dancing. We also need to get changed, it’s bad luck to bring things from the surface. We go in search of clothing and are given a bunch of ill-fitting garments except Ionessa who can just borrow Halina’s clothes. We head over for the parade! We sing and dance as we’re carried along by this enormous crowd. Xanthos lets loose for the first time! We accumulate people en masse as we move through the city until we meet with the other group coming from the opposite direction until eventually we reach the actual wedding destination for friends and family. Ionessa and Xanthos kiss in public, GROSS! They have a nice conversation about Xanthos having something of a new family now and being able to let his guard down and enjoy his time there (sure hope we don’t get attacked after that lol).
The elders of both clans are here, Ino and Itheria, and they give a quick speech blessing the union. There’s music and singing! Gelon and Thyrsos come down the wedding tube. We witness a beautiful wedding ceremony, which is far more private between the grooms than we might have come to expect. They get their piercings to symbolize their unions and then the real party starts! We get to speak briefly to the grooms, it’s made clear that we shouldn’t talk about our adventure until after the wedding. Halina releases a feather star, a type of crinoid, which has haste cast upon it. We have to catch it to have good luck in our life and in romance! It’s like catching the bouquet at the wedding. We all go for it but Neo of all people catches it! Now he has to marry Shapewise Ianthe.
Ionessa’s parents are around and they talk to her and Xanthos. They make eyes about how Xanthos tried to catch the feather star. Kovu is making people nervous and being harassed by bored children. Aura approves of Xanthos building a town, Celandia kind of agrees but is pretty rude. Ionessa puts her foot down and says that if she can’t be nice to Xanthos then they’re going to leave, which cows Celandia into apologizing. Things go a little more smoothly from there. Xanthos appreciates Ionessa standing up for him. She probably needs to talk more with her parents, but now is not the right time.
The party regroups and ends up arguing about romance and who’s good at it and who’s not. Apparently the consensus is that Kestor is not the matchmaking guru that he believes himself to be, which honestly doesn’t sound very true to me. Xanthos is a himbo. We grill him on what secret he’s hiding again! It’s a surprise but it’s a good surprise, he promises. He pinky promises.
The next morning Ionessa goes to speak with her elder and invites her to hear the story that Kestor is going to tell. Xanthos speaks with Ionessa’s parents and pays them for the pearl he took from their farm. They want to know what this story is going to be about, but Xanthos keeps mum and tells them not to worry.
Kestor tells Ionessa’s story, he begins with how she met the dragon, how it sent her visions and dreams, and how she eventually returned here to rescue it. He talks of the merrow and their corruption, the creatures that are behind their plots, and how the merrow and the dragon have been victimized by this greater evil. He talks about how the dragon reached out so as to not be used as a weapon against the people of Oiakis, and that when we thwarted their plans to infect the temple and destroy the city, we were called friends of merrow and of the dragon.
Kestor is VERY ELOQUENT! The elder seems to be taking the threat very seriously, she expresses that she wants to look further into this and prepare her people to deal with it. She wants to know if their clerics can replicate Fytanke’s magic to purge the tadpoles, and Neo says that theoretically this could be taught. This news does not excuse every attack from the merrow throughout history, but it’s important that the people of Oiakis do not let previous attacks blind them to the real threat happening now. There is a common enemy that is far worse than merrow.
Celandia asks if Ionessa is still in the service of this dragon. Kovu is Ionessa’s family now, but she also feels she’s accomplished so much good thanks to the powers that the dragon has granted her. They may not like the origin of her abilities, but she will use them to change the world for the better. She will make those powers hers. We have bought Oiakis time, but the threat will come back, we need to travel back to the surface to learn more. Thyrsos asks what the military can do, and Ionessa brings up that a change of mindset is needed. Iris was banished for looking into this, outside perspectives should not be met with hostility if the city is to survive. Kestor brings up the omen of the shark and the octopus having died fighting each other, never having tried to fight what killed them both.
Elder Itheria will bring this news to the other elders. It seems that she’s really on board with looking into this, and she’ll do her best to convey the importance to the others, though she cannot promise they will respond favorably. Everyone’s uneasy now, but that’s probably for the best given the circumstances. Ionessa’s parents are really worried, but they’re supportive of Ionessa helping to fight it, and they’re thankful to us for helping her! The way to defeat these things might be to become closer as a community, have everyone keep an eye out for each other and to watch out for bizarre behavior. Ionessa suggests reaching out to the merrow, the militia is not so optimistic about that but Thyrsos says he will try.
Ionessa goes to talk with Celandia. She tells Ionessa that when she was thinking of getting married there was some family drama about moving out to the farm away from the family. That didn’t mean that she couldn’t come back to the city, and she wants Ionessa to remember Oiakis and that she’s going to come back. Ionessa would come back all the time if she could, she doesn’t want to be away, but there are things to do far away. She’ll come back as much as she can. She asks if things are serious with Xanthos, Ionessa doesn’t know. They haven’t been dating long but she thinks so. Celandia says that if they get married, Xanthos needs to join their clan because she doesn’t want Ionessa going clanless. Ionessa agrees.
Ionessa asks if her parents are doing okay. They had argued over how Ionessa’s exile was handled and things had been difficult for a while, but neither of them are giving up on the relationship and seeing Ionessa has helped. Ionessa offers to have Halina relay messages via sending if they do need to hear from her, and she could even come visit! Once the town is built, she will come visit.
We check in about the Pearl situation, the Tidecaller is going to go check in on her and confirm her status as a child of Thalakyma. If she isn’t, Ionessa’s family will take her. Xanthos picks up his suspicious purchase. Plans with the ember are underway. We say our goodbyes and leave!
The end.

Notes

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Report Date

23 Jul 2023