Session 48 - Snakes on a Political Compass

General Summary

Ionessa finds us a small sailboat to Limpani captained by a tiefling called Zephyrinus, a free-spirit who likes sailing the waves but he’s kinda a weirdo. He says don’t scrape off the barnacles, don’t touch his stuff, and follow orders. The ship is really small and it shifts around a lot. Kestor gets sick and leans over the railing, when he looks at the barnacles he sees they’re in a pattern that resembles teeth, which suggests Tegissa worship. Kestor tells the others and we confront him about it, he says he spent time beneath the waves; a vessel he was on sank in a storm and he was dragged into the depths by sinking wood and ropes. A voice told him it wasn’t his time and brought him back to the surface, and he knew that the voice was Tegissa. She saw something in him, a kindred spirit or something he needed from her that he hasn’t been told. The signs of Tegissa follow him wherever he goes, and one day she will ask something of him.
On watch, Ionessa hears harpies singing in the distance. She’s terrified, people get killed by harpies all the time! We plug our ears and go above deck to keep watch visually, Ionessa can see harpies flying around and diving but they’re not coming closer. We take turns watching them, they come every night probably because the captain is a Tegissa stan. When we arrive we are stopped by Tidas, who is handling things while Parmenion is in Rheo. He seems REALLY stressed out and doesn’t even recognize or care about Kestor when he sees him. He wants to check our manifest and keep track of everyone coming in and out. Neo notices him casting the sending spell while he writes our names down. Ionessa and Kovu hide during the inspection and manage to evade notice, though Tidas isn’t convinced by our explanations for why she’s gone.
We ask some rats to help us find Gylippus, we find him and he warns us not to talk about some stuff in public, we’re being followed and we have to throw off our tail and meet him in the sewers. We move through the city and try to reveal our tail, Ionessa spots Tidas following us on the rooftops with a bunch of goons. We try to lose them but fail miserably and accidentally get herded into a dead-end alleyway. Tidas accuses us of not being truthful and says we have property that does not belong to us, indicating to Ionessa. He says he will take her to his master, but we suspect he doesn’t mean Parmenion. Is he working for Dorien? We threaten each other until combat starts!
During the fight, Xanthos beats Tidas into unconsciousness, ending the illusion over him hiding markings on his face and neck that suggest he’s actually some kind of snake boy. They’re all snake boys! It’s a tough fight, lots of poison. After we beat them, Kestor inspects Tidas and finds that it’s not Tidas at all. It’s an imposter who has prosthetics to support the illusion cast upon them. They for sure work for Dorien. Kestor wants to investigate further and try to save lives, but Ionessa wants to flee the city and get to Rheo ASAP. Neo casts sending on the real Tidas to see if he’s still alive. He responds, “I don’t know who this is but I’ve been kidnapped, locked in Parmenion’s tower. I know how sending works. Send for Parmenion, he will save me.”
We confirm with Learchos via sending that Parmenion is actually in Rheo, and she tells us to meet her at a teleportation circle in a temple of Pola, she has things to tell us. But first, Gylippus! He’s never seen anything like these snake people, but he knows of Dorien. Kestor tries to convince him to go to Vas and tutor to Aristion. He says he knows that Kestor has experienced horrors, Gylippus did not lose his home to the Wild Fire but he fought hard against them and before that he fought in many other battles for many years. He started to see himself differently, is he the same as another man if he could kill him and scores of others in an instant? When he saw how easy it was to end mortal lives. He doesn’t care for war anymore, he’s seen too many people broken by it, but more than that he fears that if he were to go back he would not have anything to teach. Would he teach him to live in a sewer, to avoid conflict, or would he advise him as a student of war and make Aristion just like him, or would he advise him to seek peace and see him cut down by his own countrymen.
Gylippus saw untold amounts of death, and when he heard of Acheric he set out to defeat the Fire Eater himself. Surely the Lord of War could stop such a creature, and when someone else slayed him he felt intense rage that his own fate had been robbed of him. He will consider giving his words to Aristion once the spears have been laid down and war is not on the horizon. He advises us not to let anyone goad us into a conflict over their pride, and that Parmenion will only enter a war for his own gain, not anybody else’s. Kestor shares some sentiments with him, that he respects his decision but feels sad to see such a great man doubting himself, and he wishes he could retreat from the struggles in his life without condemning himself to death. Gylippus then guides us through the sewers to an exit by the temple of Pola, we say our goodbyes and head up.
We enter the temple and let them know about the not-Tidas and hand him over to forces from the temple of Kaiotim. We meet with Learchos and give everyone in attendance the story about the invasion of the snake people, including that we believe they are aligned with Dorien and that they are ARMED AND DANGEROUS! We teleport to Rheo with Learchos and she tells us that the people here are super into war now because of the blasphemies committed by Eurydia and the coming election. Eponymous Dexeos is running against Nicanda the Douser. The current Polemarch, Brigos (the Lion of Rheo), is running against Parmenion who has been pardoned and has become a Rheon citizen again. He’s using the war to bring Limpani into Rheo and crush Vas, which would solidify himself as one of the most powerful political figures.
Learchos suggests that we spread the word of the peace offer and Kairemos’ intervention to Brigos and Prytanis. She also tells us that after the incident at the tomb of the Fire Eater, there were a series of murders, each of the guards who were guarding the tomb. Kestor suspects Pairairi the kenku. We go to find Parmenion and find a great party where wine, food, and gold is flowing. People from Rheo and Limpani both are here and everyone’s getting along, Limpani's coming back into the fold. We find him in a restaurant, dressed as a military scholar. He spots us and heads over to us and takes us to a private room to talk. Ionessa detects something invisible and activates her dragon eyes to see it, it’s a 10-12ft high construct made of stone and wood, which Kestor identifies as a shield golem thanks to a near-dissociation. It’s bound to an amulet, the wearer of the amulet will be protected by the golem in a number of ways.
Parmenion asks us what was so important that we broke into his prison, kill his jailor, and rescue Mikola Leos. We dance around the issue. He knows that Dorien is making a move, he’s letting them play out their hand before he retaliates and finds out exactly what they’re going to all this trouble for. He mentions Dorien bringing “foreign agents” onto his soil, the snakes? He hopes to count on Kestor’s vote. The conversation devolves into us telling Parmenion he’s a weak loser and him telling us we’re small and stupid, and that we’ll help him in time whether we like it or not. He wants to know what the “potion” is, he knows about the conclave but not what it’s about. He tells us he will find out in time.
We leave and discuss what we should do next. People are suspicious of Kestor, they think he might side with Parmenion if he could offer to solve his problems for him. Kestor assures them he’s on the party’s side and would never betray them. They believed him, the fools! Alright, time to undermine an election.
The end.

Notes

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Report Date

30 Oct 2023