Session 58: Getting Catty
General Summary
Even more years clock by and we’re in the final year of our decade long time skip. We meet up for our weekly brunches and play catch-up, getting lost in conversation about one of Elathera’s worst students (and by worst, I mean best). He calls himself Byron, Lord of the Skies and he’s a surprisingly powerful sorcerer at the ripe, old age of 10. This boy has caused all sorts of wild antics at Industria’s school, one such situation ending in a lawsuit. Because surprise, surprise! When you polymorph your friend into a frog and then lose him for a few hours, there’s bound to be emotional damages there.
So over these years, Elathera has joined the motherhood club and has become a teacher at the Florence Academy of Higher Education. Her classes are for young sorcerers only, using her magical prowess and knowledge to educate them and train them to control their innate gift. Rikius also has a job at the academy, teaching some classes of his own before he became the dean of students. I have begun dabbling in journalism, already getting myself in trouble after exposing some corrupt politicians. And both me and Rikius have been dabbling in law school with each other after opening up a small library in the city.
Industria’s been busy with ferrying the souls of the dead and making some new friends at the job. One such friend being an esobok by the name of Aurora, who barks like the literal gates of Hell have opened up. Industria has also found herself in a relationship with Charon for some years after they met on the job, but it unfortunately didn’t work out between them. Always good to keep your personal life separate from your work life, you know how it be. All of our families are doing extremely well for themselves nowadays too. As we enjoy some salads and wine, I tell Elathera and Industria about how I intend to head off to Basilla to meet my mom’s side of the family. There’s some shady things there that I have to figure out and tend to, so I ask for back-up and they both oblige.
But we have to pick up Lucky first before we can leave as they promised to come along too, so we grab Rikius on the way, and head out for Necropolis. Oh yeah, that’s a thing, by the way. Jordeira had founded a city on the outskirts of our country and it’s a city exclusively for intelligent undead. It’s run by a council consisting of him and Lucky, as well as another lich, a vampire, and another zombie. Industria has a lodge for some of her Order members here and they help make sure the place stays safe. None of us, outside of Industria, have been here yet so our visit’s long overdue and Lucky’s more than happy to see all of us. At the mention of Basilla though, they quickly try and find ways to put the situation off longer.
Such as giving us a house tour, showing us Jordeira’s literal man cave (which looks like a goddamn torture chamber), and trying to pack up nearly everything for their child who’ll be left in the other lich’s care for the time being. Eventually, Industria suggests we just kidnap Lucky, so they take off as they think it’s a game now. I attempt to give chase, going to pounce on them, and missing horribly. While I’m facedown in the dirt, Elathera stops time to calmly walk over to them and place a hand on their shoulder, thus catching them and sealing their fate. With us all packed and ready to go, Elathera teleports us into the marketplace of Basilla’s main island. It’s currently wrapped up in its tourist trap holiday, the Cigar Festival. It’s hard to breathe with all the smoke slowly choking us out.
Merchants are aggressively peddling their wares, all of us getting samples and boxes of cigars shoved in our faces. And like the disgusting mainlander I am, I give in to this trap and buy some fancy cigars for Rikius and my dad. Elathera gets a hold of a pair of cat ears, which she wisely decides against wearing. So I take them for “myself” and the moment Rikius turns his back on us, I slip them on his head and we carry on. We decide not to hang around the festival and head right into the problem without any solid plan. Who needs a plan though? This is me and Lucky’s family, so direct honesty (mostly) should be enough to clear this situation up. Unfortunately, an old, elven maid recognizes Lucky immediately and asks where they’ve been for the past 600 years.
This shakes Lucky to their fucking c o r e. They’ve been thinking that they’ve only been undead for a hundred or so years. Luckily for us, the maid seems friendly enough, but more than one servant knows them. Another elf, much younger than the last, is excited to meet them as his grandma told him so many stories about them. After he’s done geeking out, we’re led to a room to wait as my grandma, Sunyeros, is busy for the next few hours. Once the servants and guards are out of the room, we have no respect for anybody’s privacy apparently, and scry on her. She’s musing over the fact that I willingly waltzed onto the property, ominously discussing it with another catfolk that we can’t see. She’s not mad about any of it though, saying this all makes her job much easier.
She’ll throw a feast and introduce herself, hoping we warm up to her. Most startling of all is the fact that she’s pregnant, but for some reason, she still needs me as her heir. Two guards step in our room after, stating that Sunyeros has asked us to go out and enjoy the festivities while the dinner’s prepared; so off we go…reluctantly. So for the next few hours, we’re given a tour of some of Basilla, seeing the lovely beaches by the Kociak manor and also getting to stop by the temple of the catfolks main deity. After leaving a few offerings to her, the guards let us know that the feast is ready and we teleport back to the manor.
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