Session 8 - Birds of a Feather

General Summary

We continue sailing on to the port city of Yivas. Along the way Aga spots something shiny in the water, Ionessa jumps in to retrieve it; it’s a jug with a jeweled stopper. After some investigation and determining it is not dangerous, they open it up to find what looks to be a map on papyrus. Neither of them recognize the cartography. They show it to Captain Eryxo, who identifies it as an island off the coast of the Merchant Republic, but she doesn’t know anything about it. It’s past our destination, so we’ll save it for later.
We arrive in Yivas, the port authority wants to inspect our cargo so we disguise Bion’s body and act as though he’s Xanthos’ uncle Davos from Iroa (he’s a Vassic citizen who became an adventurer and retired there), who we claim always wanted to be buried among The Spears mountain range. We are boarded and addressed by Evagora, a priestess of Pola, who explains there has been a wave of smuggling and crime in Yivas. She profiles Aga for being a Kenku, which is unfortunate because he actually is carrying around a severed head that he stole.
He successfully hides the head but the priestess keeps accusing him, apparently the crime wave in town is due to a gang of Kenku and she thinks Aga is here to join them. She finds his wealth and items and decides with no evidence that these are all stolen. Efforts to persuade her otherwise fail, Neo heads above deck to try to settle things but she’s continually hostile. She moves to search Neo, who is worried she’ll find Bion’s book on his person. She does flick through it, but doesn’t seem to find it suspicious.
The inspection continues, there are a few close calls but we manage to avoid being detained. They try to confiscate all of Aga’s things but he is able to swipe it back before they leave, allowing us to leave the city right away without having to appeal the decision. Ionessa asks the statue of Isadora if she wants to travel with us, but she says she needs to think more on this and will stay on the ship for now.
We briefly stop off at a leather shop to get some armor, Xanthos pretends to be a Vassic citizen to allow us to have them. Ionessa noticed that Xanthos had been a little uncomfortable about pretending King Bion was his uncle, and lets him know he can tell us if he’s not okay with a plan we suggest. Aga talks to Neo and thanks him for helping. He also noticed the book that Hedylus gave him, but Neo explained he promised not to show it to anyone, which Aga respects. Kestor decides to try to talk to the voices in his head, and tries to imagine the dwarven leatherworker is the elf he keeps seeing and being charmed by. He manages to have a confused conversation with her, learning that she and Kestor (or whoever’s role he is playing in the vision) are on the run. She doesn’t recognize the names Rheo or Vas, however, and Kestor is interrupted before he can get any concrete details out of her.
But now it’s time to leave! We skip town, along the way it starts pouring with rain so we are soaked by the time we arrive in Istodraka. We meet Duris, owner of the Crystal Scale, and get a room and food. Ionessa asks about Rhoecus, his family is from this town! This is where that dragon showed up. She gets pointed towards his family, the Audaxid, but another person warns her away saying it is a peculiar and unwelcoming place. Amelius? Is very protective of his estate and was very rude to this person, very reclusive, used to have people in for feasts all the time but for some time have not welcomed anyone inside. A rude, grumpy man.
We sleep for the night, setting watches for the cart. Aga and Kestor spot a kenku snooping around, Aga follows and confronts them, telling them they have forgotten why they seek shiny things, that they abandoned “him”, that it’s all their fault and they should just leave. It seems Aga has some issues with Kenku! The rest of the group are alerted and are met by a more eloquent kenku that can speak without repetition. He claims to not mean any harm, they were just curious about us and the box we were carrying.
But now their interest is in Aga. They are intrigued by what he said. Aga agrees to meet the rest of the kenku, they are Speaker, Jangle, Hero, and Chanter. Chanter takes him aside to speak in private, they talk cryptically about being very old (it seems Aga is really old, Chanter was only taught by someone old) and how some kenku have an instinctive need to take things but are not satisfied when they get them.
Aga argues that they are not satisfied because they are not giving what they take to someone, the “him” he mentioned earlier. Chanter says “he” is not there anymore, which upsets Aga (could they be talking about Mourionos?) Aga says it is his job to go out and find things to give to “him”, but Chanter wants to be free of “him” and the curse. Aga says it’s their fault for leaving him, Chanter says “he took us first”, but Aga says he loved the kenku. Chanter says Aga is as deluded as “the other one”.
Aga storms off, things are uncomfortable. Jangle wants to rob the Audaxis manor and asks us about it, but we leave without giving any info. We question Aga! HE IS FROM HEAVEN! HE CAN TALK NORMAL! He grew up in heaven, and there was this God, the best God, he hung out with the kenku and they would find trinkets for him. Aga left to find a trinket, a beautiful rock, and when he came back the rest of the kenku had left him. The God’s name is Mourionos. Aga served him alone for a long time, but then Mourionos disappeared.
Mourionos is an old God. Aga is OVER FIVE HUNDRED YEARS OLD! He came down from the heavens to search for Mourionos, he stayed with kenku at first but they became afraid because he does not age. However he has now started molting, and a feather fell out. He’s worried that might mean something has happened to Mourionos, so he’s no longer letting himself get distracted and is dedicating himself to the search.
Kestor deduces that given the play that drove him mad had Mourionos’ name in it, that the play must be ancient as well. He explains that he belonged to a group of radical thinkers who wanted to push the boundaries of art and magic. Their leader brought the play to them and was intending to restore and perform it, however she suddenly went missing having apparently tried to burn the play. Kestor took it upon himself to restore it instead and performed it. He does not remember doing so, nor any of the content of the play, but afterwards all of his friends were gone and he began to hear the voices that have driven him mad.
In short, he does not know the origin of the play, but perhaps learning about it and finding Mourionos is a connected goal. He lets Aga cast identify on the one remaining page, which reveals that when it is reunited with the rest of the play, it will become whole. Kestor sees himself in a library filled with scroll cases reaching out for a scroll containing the play, and hears a familiar voice telling him he was warned not to touch anything. When he turns around he’s back in reality. He puts the page away…

Rewards Granted

Backstory

Character(s) interacted with

Chanter
Speaker
Jangle
Hero

Report Date

17 Jul 2022