Session 42 - So Ended King Kymenon

General Summary

Mother is awake! We introduce ourselves, she’s mad that two of her children are dead (not sad?) and doesn’t really remember what happened to her. She asks to speak with Ezekias alone. Kestor sneaks in while invisible to listen in on their conversation, she wants to speak with Albinus and sends Ezekias to fetch him. We send him in the wrong direction to give us time to speak with the Queen, we tell her what happened to Albinus and why we’re here, but she refuses to see us and wants to speak with her husband. Ionessa explains that we’ll leave to let her have that conversation, but we’re going to the dungeon to free the prisoners and she can do whatever she wants with that information.
We head down to the dungeon, where they gather the BLOOD. We stop the servants from taking jugs of blood upstairs, but they run off probably to report what we’re doing. We get the keys from a vampire spawn jailer whomst we frighten into surrendering, and start releasing prisoners. They’re all weak and bloodless, including Ardere, Neo’s family’s leader. There’s also a corpse room, it looks like not all the prisoners survived. Everyone is too sick and exhausted to move, so we’ll need to deal with the vampires first. Ezekias returns, he’s still looking for Albinus and so we tell him the truth. He’s not that phased, he hates that guy, and we go with him to talk with his parents.
Xanthos has a vampy moment, he doesn’t want to let go of the blood jar but Ionessa convinces him to after a little bit of a fanged response. The queen’s name is Xenoclea! She has spoken to Kymenon, and she thinks he’s completely lost himself. She wants his reign to end, since she has no way to stop the fire of Fytanke and his ritual to keep himself alive is unsustainable. That said, she can’t stop herself from trying to save him due to his blood control over her. She and Ezekias will barricade themselves upstairs while we take care of him.
We barricade the hallway to keep the guards at bay and enter Kymenon’s room. Neo says a sick one liner, time for battle! It’s really touch and go, Hiero is killed during the battle and we’re all hurt or down by the end of it. Neo finishes him off with a sick fireball, he’s vulnerable to fire due to his Fytanke wound, 70 damage is enough to bring the vessel of the Godblood to an overdue end. He explodes into a blast of energy that heals everyone around him, the blood evaporates, and plant life begins to grow all over. We decide to hunker down and await Queen Xenoclea.
She arrives! She’s shocked that we’re alive, but seems grateful. The family is free of his influence. She will let us take the prisoners. She’s going to look for the remains of her children, and we tell her where to find Nikaia. She’ll return them to life if possible. Any mortals that want to leave can come with us, but the bloodletting is basically a tax in return for living in the kingdom, it’s voluntary. Kymennon came from the southern continent and met Xenoclea over here. Albinus was scheming so that if Kymennon passed, he would be in full control. She’s going to talk to him, but he does have free will now.
We stay with the prisoners until they’re ready to move. Some of the bodies need to be burned, some need to be buried. We get the survivors food and bedding to make them comfortable. Ionessa talks with Xanthos, he’s been a bit of a vampire ever since we got to vampire castle. She’s also traumatized by the fact that she was mind-controlled into trying to kill him. Xanthos is considering getting blood from the servants here. Is that messed up? Well we did save them, and they know what they’re getting into. Take a sippy, I say. Kestor diagnoses Ionessa’s malaise and heads off to secure some blood for Xanthos because if he does it he’ll bite em. He brings a chalice of blood, Xanthos is no longer dying of thirst, and Ionessa sleeps.
Neo talks to Ardere. She’s glad he rescued them! They’re family after all ;w; He’s surprised that she isn’t angry at him, she just wishes that they were able to give him the answers he wanted, instead he had to leave to find them. There is much that she hasn’t told him, but the time is coming that he must learn. But first they must leave this horrid place, honestly a vampire lair must be just the worst if you’re a Fytanke worshiper. We set out to take them to safety, Ionessa checks with the mortals here to ensure anyone who wants to leave can leave. A few take her up on the offer, including the necromancer Hekaline! She wants to try other forms of magic. Kestor goes looking for Hiero’s corpse, and finds his ratty cloak, now covered in ash and moss, he intends to make a marker of it in the watchtower where he died. Exekias will find Kestor a replacement for the blood sword, which is still in Albinus until the Queen decides what to do with him.
The end!

Notes

▓▒░(°◡°)░▒▓

Report Date

18 Sep 2023