Session 10: The Lion Sleeps Tonight

The Argo set sail from the island of Lemnos, but an oncoming storm diverted them to a small, isolated island where they could take shelter. On the island was a single grand house in the middle of the forest. Jason suggested leaving some of the crew behind to watch the ship while a smaller party parleyed with whoever lived in the house. The twins Calais and Zetes stayed. Amara offered to stay behind as well, but Aegis intimidated her into coming with them.
As they walked along the path leading up to the house, the party noticed that an array of woodland animals were watching them intently from the forest. Suspicious, Amara recalled stories she had heard from sailors about a witch who lived alone on an island and turned men into beasts. “Good thing we aren’t men,” Aegis quipped.
The women of the party sent Jason and Caeneus back to the ship, then approached the house. As Meredythe went to knock on the door, Aegis body-slammed both her fellow adventurer and the door, which splintered apart and caused both women some damage. While the rest of the party reamed Aegis out, a voice from inside called, “Well, that was unexpected.”
The voice belonged to a tall, redheaded, and golden-eyed woman in a fancy dress. She had an air of divinity about her, reminiscent not of the Olympian gods but of a descendant of Titans. She introduced herself as Circe and invited them into her banquet hall. She also noted that Aegis reminded her of someone, but she couldn’t quite place her finger on who.
Inside the banquet hall, a wine bowl and a large roast boar was laid out on the table. Aegis immediately began eating, but Amara used Identify on the boar and determined that it had been the victim of a Polymorph spell—likely a human who had been transformed, hunted, and killed.
Kallos objected strenuously to this, revealing that the party knew about the witch’s animal transformations. In response to Kallos’ accusations, Circe replied:

“Inside every person, there is a reasoning soul and an animal instinct. When these two come into conflict, so often, it is the inner animal that rules humans… Do you know what the humans who’ve come to my island have done? What they planned to do? Stealing and ravaging and glutting themselves and rolling about in the filth like pigs. I’m not transforming them into anything they aren’t. I’m simply revealing them for the beasts they truly are. Allow me to demonstrate!”

She then attempted to cast Polymorph on Aegis, who resisted. Seemingly taking it in stride, Circe argued, “She had the self-control to resist. The ones who get turned don’t.”
Meredythe then grabbed the wine bowl and threw it in Circe’s face. After a moment of tense silence, Aegis—still eating the boar—asked, “Do you have any salad? I’ve been trying to eat healthier lately…”
Circe burst into laughter.

“Now I know who you remind me of. Strange you should be traveling with this crowd of do-gooder adventurers… Still, as your mother would say, it’s your choice.”
“Your mother?” Amara asked, confused.
“Oh? You didn’t know?” Circe raised an eyebrow. “Her mother is Eris. I haven’t seen her in forever, you must tell her to come visit Aeaea sometime.”
“Who is Eris?” Meredythe asked.
“Goddess of discord and chaos,” Amara explained, then facepalmed. “Gods, that makes so much sense…”

While this conversation was happening, Circe had summoned a lion to block the door to the banquet hall. Amara cast Speak with Animals and talked to it, discerning that it had no memory of being anything other than a lion—and that it would attack them if Circe commanded it to do so. With that, Circe cast a Firebolt at Aegis and a fight broke out.
Amara cast Sleep on the lion while Kallos set Circe on fire and Meredythe engaged her in melee. Callidora shot an arrow at the sorceress; Atalanta tried to follow suit, but she rolled a 2 and her arrow got stuck in her bow. Aegis, angered that Circe would attack her of all people when she was the least judgmental of Circe’s human-eating habits, went into a rage and hit Circe hard.
On her turn, Circe cast Dispel Magic to wake the lion from its sleep. The lion promptly leaped to her defense and tried to bite Meredythe, but it could not get through her armor.
Amara teleported behind Circe and cast Thunderclap, knocking her prone. Kallos cast Silence so Circe could not cast any verbal spells (or surrender, which she might have done upon realizing how few hit points she had left), and Meredythe finished off the sorceress with a dagger.
Turning their attention to the lion, Atalanta and Callidora shot it with arrows and Aegis killed it, then continued beating it up after it was dead. Aegis then ransacked the house and found enough treasure to give 150 gold pieces to each party member.
With Circe’s death, the animals who had been outside transformed back into (naked) men. Horrified with what they had done, the party decided to give proper burial rites to both Circe and the man who had been transformed into a boar and cooked.
As soon as Circe was buried, the storm clouds parted, and a ray of brilliant sunlight hit her grave. A voice from above spoke:

“You killed my daughter. I understand why you did so, but still, this must not go unavenged. You now have the enmity of Helios, Titan of the sun.”

The party was even more rattled by this, all except for the grimly determined Kallos, who responded:

“This is not holy ground, and so I will blaspheme as much as I want. If Helios is so uncaring as to let his daughter go about and do these things, then a god who is so uncaring towards humans is unfit to be a god—and if we are meant to dethrone them, then so be it.”

Relations

Protagonists

Aegis, Amara, Callidora (previously Melantha), Kallos, Meredythe Maegwund

Allies

Jason, Caeneus, Calais and Zetes, Atalanta

Adversaries

Circe, Circe's lion

Plot type

Session