Session 5 - King Bion's Bad Day

General Summary

The assassination is at hand! We scan the crowd as King Bion moves towards the statue. We see soldiers moving into position, ready to take action. A sniper with a bow is perched atop one of the buildings, and yet more on the other rooftops. Menarcles prepares to give the order. Aga and Ionessa try to climb up behind a couple of the archers before they start firing; Aga is spotted but Ionessa is hidden.   Bion gives his speech mourning the loss of Vasili Isadora of the Praxilid and celebrating her life, wishing he could have better cherished his time with her and hoping that she one day returns, not knowing whether she is truly dead. He unveils the statue of Isadora, Menarcles and two of his soldiers begin to approach. Menarcles gives a passionate speech denouncing Bion and the statue of Isadora animates to lead them in the coup!
We battle…Rhoecus is here! Holding a spear! The king is killed in the ensuing battle. Menarcles is slain. Xanthos had bitten Menarcles during the fight, revealing himself as a vampire of sorts. We talk down the statue of Isadora and it breaks its sword away from its hand, standing down. Xanthos tries to flee after the fighting dies down, but is met by screams from the public who see him as a monster. Ionessa convinces him to come back to the palace with the party. Hedylus picks up King Bion’s corpse and we accompany him back to the palace, Isadora statue in tow.
We brainstorm ways to bring the king back to life, we will need to beseech the gods for aid. It would help to travel to a place of holy power and ask a god who favors Bion. The Oracle at Korymour could assist us. We could go into the water, the domain of Thalakyma. To the West we could find battlefields that are holy sites of Zole. A temple could work, but we will have a better chance if we go through hardship to ask them for their favor.
Hedylus gives us his blessing to try to bring the king back, and gives us some context about the king’s life. Bion was not terribly devout, more interested in his own research than bowing to the Gods. Apnosis is the closest to a god he worshiped, Fytanke is his enemy, but Hedylus thinks any god would look favorably on him as he was a good man.
Meanwhile Aga and Kestor snoop through the house and find a promising collection of scrolls. Unfortunately it is behind a glyph of warding that we cannot bypass and we back off. Hedylus does not give us permission to snoop so we have to stand down. We formulate a plan to inform the guards of what had happened and to take a boat north-east and then trek on foot to Korymour.
Ionessa and Xanthos try to book passage with Captain Eryxo and to help the Isadora statue. She’s unwilling to help without being told the whole truth, and she can tell they are holding something back (that we need her to transport the dead body of King Bion). Ionessa tells her the king is dead. She needs to ask permission of her patron, Dexamene, to whom she owes 10,000 gold pieces.
We give Captain Aerope a rundown of what happened to make sure she’s up to date, and successfully lie to her so she doesn’t know we’re leaving town. We go to Dexamene’s estate, an opulent place where the guards won’t let us bring weapons or Kovu inside. There’s an intoxicating incense throughout that makes it a little hard to focus. Dexamene is lounging around in silks.
She’s in the smuggling business; King Bion’s death may be a real problem for her if Vas moves in and cuts off her trade. She’s tricky as can be and clearly wants to get as much out of helping us as possible. Her terms are this: We make it clear to the king that she was instrumental in bringing him back, we complete our task quickly, and we agree to hear her out about some work down the line. We agree and head back to the mansion.
On the way Ionessa and Kestor have a discussion about whether Kovu is a person (he is). Aga starts mimicking a lecturer he once heard, which Kestor recognizes as Eustathius of the school of the Kritharics. Aga is just repeating philosophical lectures without understanding, which seems to strike a chord with Kestor. Masters are dumb and boring.
We get back to the king’s mansion and introduce Eryxo and the Isadora statue. They start having a long discussion about what it is to be a statue. Hedylus gives us King Bion’s book of knowledge, which contains his spells and his thoughts, for safekeeping on our travels and to give him upon his awakening. Neo agrees to safeguard the book and not let anyone have it or read through it.
We go to the crafter, Eos, and ask her to make us a coffin while trying our best not to make it sound like we’re asking for a coffin. We help her make it. Xanthos and Ionessa have their scheduled end of session heartfelt conversation; Xanthos sees himself as a monster but he’s actually just a soft boy! The not-coffin is made.

Rewards Granted

1 dead body of King Bion.
King Bion's spellbook.

Missions/Quests Completed

Stop King Bion's Assassination (Failed)

Report Date

29 May 2022