Session 43 - Neo... I am your father

General Summary

We leave the Black Fort accompanied by wounded prisoners and vampiric expats. It’s slow going, but we take care of them as we go. Kestor buries Hiero’s remains near the watchtower and prays for his safe journey to the underworld. We cut away from the roads and head towards Sideris to avoid Vassic patrols. Ionessa leads us safely through the wilderness! After a week or so of traveling we make it to Sideris, the Fytanke cultists reunite with most of their lost group. Leos reports that things have been going well in town, construction is going at a good pace, though Rhene did have an episode (probably when Kestor dissociated). Rhene was panicked and confused.
The architects have been bickering a little, and the Fytanke folks have been talking with Helia. Rhene has taken well to the loom, she’s making a long piece of work with white fabric. Her incidents seem to have calmed down now that she has the loom, but we’ll need to see if that’s really the case. Ionessa and Kestor talk about her, and come to the conclusion that he should talk to her about the fact that he’s kind of causing her condition. Ionessa also mentions that she feels she needs to be something different other than sweet and caring, maybe she should be scary! Kestor gives her some tips on being a bad person.
Xanthos talks to Arsenios. The tree is almost fully grown! Maybe another week. Baby Xandra is doing well, she’s playing with a little wooden horse made by Leos. He stays for dinner and plays with Xandra, it’s super cute and awkward. Neo talks with his clan, they thank him again and warn him about Helia. She used to work with the Fire Eater, she’s unremorseful, and they consider her ilk to be extremists who can do terrible acts. The clan came this way following portents to come east, the voice of Fytanke in Rheo and revitalized lands that were once burned. They think this was so they could reunite with Neo specifically. Neo is skeptical though, he thinks there’s more going on here and gets the impression that they feel the same way. They have more to tell him, but Neo wants us all there for the important conversation.
We are gathered. We tell them that we were involved in Fytanke’s voice manifesting in the east after we burned the Fire Eater’s body. Neo is close with the gods, but he was not the first. It was a blessing to speak with the voice of the gods themselves. They used this connection to further their insight into the wild fire, but those methods were not enough for him and eventually he left to find his own path. He was gone for many years, then he returned a changed man long enough to impart the staff Neo carries onto the clan, and second he imparted Neo as an infant child. NEO’S FATHER IS ACHERIC THE FIRE-EATER!?!? HE USED TO BE PART OF NEO’S TRIBE!? This is not common knowledge in the cult, only the elders know.
Neo is even more concerned now, there is now very little distance between him and the atrocities committed upon the world in Fytanke’s name. Ionessa argues that he has more knowledge than Acheric did, he knows where this leads so he can avoid making the same mistake. Xanthos and Kestor offer their support, he’s not his father and we all have his back. It’s too much emotion to write down easily, but we’re all going to talk to his family again later. Neo talks to Ardere, she could never find the time to tell him of his lineage. She doesn’t know who his mother is, there’s a lot she doesn’t know. Neo is upset that she hid this from him, she had hoped to learn more before speaking to him about it instead of just leaving him with more questions, and she worried what such a burden would do to a child
Kestor talks to Rhene. He tells her more about their shared condition, that her attacks are triggered when he dissociates. She asks what causes that, and he explains the general situation with the souls in his head even if he doesn’t fully understand precisely what causes them to take control. She appreciates knowing this information. He asks if she wants to socialize more, she does get lonely sometimes though she does enjoy solitude most of the time. He offers Adelpha and Leos as good people to socialize with, they know about her condition and are kind souls. He also offers to help her integrate with the town if that’s what she wants, but she says she needs to think about this. The scene ends with her teaching him how to loom.
Ionessa finds Xanthos, she asks about the timeline for how often Xanthos needs to drink blood. He doesn’t know exactly, he’s always thirsty for blood but it gets worse over time and it spikes at certain times. She says if he had a specific timeline then the party could help him prepare or stave off the effects, or she could be more careful around how she interacts with him because he got pretty nasty when she tried to take his jug of blood. When his life is in danger is the biggest risk factor for his mood changing, he thinks this goes back to when the elixir saved his life as a child when he almost died.
Ionessa says she’s having trouble figuring out exactly what Xanthos wants from the party. She’s used to more affection, but she doesn’t know what’s okay with Xanthos and sometimes he frightens her. Xanthos isn’t used to affection, that’s okay it’s just they haven’t had a lot of time to think and talk about this. In truth, Xanthos wants the same thing she wants, but he’s been holding back because whenever he’s gotten close to people in the past it’s been in search of blood. He’s basically worried that because of the association he’d bite her if they were more affectionate. She asks if he needs time, he just needs her to be aware of the risks and to be okay with it. She has negative feelings about being bitten because of Albinus and Nikaia, it wouldn’t be like that with Xanthos but if she doesn’t want to be bitten he’ll do his best to hold back. Basically he ain’t never had sex without biting the other person, habits are hard to break! Get a safe word, mine’s “ad hominem”!
Ionessa goes to sit by the river and stares at her reflection in the water; her eyes change from her own to her dragon eyes and speaks out loud to Kono. She asks him to visit her in her dreams. She checks in on the architects and finds that there are some personality clashes going on, Heromenes and Auge are type A personalities and are clashing a little because Heromenes wants input on how she builds her shipyard and such. Eos is staying clear of the conflict. In general the problem seems to be Heromenes not being a team player and acting like a jerk. We speak to him and it seems he might have some legitimate points, but he’s communicating about it like a total jerk. We get him to agree to take our words into consideration and maybe communicate a little more constructively. We also talk with Auge, she’s not so interested in communicating with him at all because she’s here for the shipyard. She’s open to listening if he stops being a jerk, so we give her the heads up that he might give that a try soon.
Ionessa asks Neo to send a message to Captain Eryxo that we’re leaving for Vas tomorrow, if they’re nearby we can travel by ship. He also convinces him to go talk to Helia, she thanks her for keeping the tree going and offers to let some of the other Fytanke worshipers to help out. Helia is staring at Neo, she definitely knows he’s Acheric’s son but Neo doesn’t want to talk about it. Then they go talk to Neo’s family to relay that part! He convinces her to work with Helia, she’s just concerned that Helia will try to lead Neo down a dark path. So long as she doesn’t try anything funny, she can be part of the community. The Evlogimenos will meet us in Sideris in the morning.
Ionessa receives a dream from Kono! They’re in a swamp/bog. She wants to become stronger, she asks him how he guarded his mind against the tadpoles while he was held captive, she needs to be able to guard her mind as well. He can’t teach her how to do what he does, but there are “shortcuts” for creatures with shorter lives. He agrees to seek them out for her, but there may be a price. He will see Kovu soon enough, but there are things he must take care of first. In the morning we board the Evlogimenos and head into the storm over Vas! Also Kestor’s sword is a plain yet well-made, bronze blade of Warning!
The end.

Notes

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Report Date

25 Sep 2023