Session 25 - To Follow Kings or to Follow Gods
General Summary
We start with Ischyrós being turned away by some men at Kalama - the small fishing village. The men blame Ischyros, a foreign visitor, for bringing and spreading the Dionysian madness, and escort him to the village outskirts. He proceeds to the outskirts of Ormos. He finds the gates locked, and proceeds to a group of huts outside the town's walls. Feeling the hunger, he snoops in a house where he finds an old blind man left alone. He loses control and eats his food until he can no longer move. He lays on the floor with the old man until the next day.
We jump to Candid, who, after a short trip down the coast to Ormos, is pointing his ship out to Eurymachos' men. They climb aboard, and Eurymachos speaks to Polydoros. Candid stays off to the side and throws an apple to the sea as an attempt to lift this curse. He learns from Polydoros that women in the city Ormos also have left and attacked men in the town, the madness spreads. Candid offers to travel into the city to learn what's been happening inside Ormos, but not before a well deserved rest. The sailors offer to row Candid back to some abandoned houses as the curse seems to make them uneasy. He is dropped off on shore and is met with by an old shambling man looking for everybody. The old man leads Candid into a hut, only to find Ischyrós on the floor. Candid rests alongside Ischyrós on the old man's floor after agreeing to help find his family.
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Some time earlier, Ischyros' companions made their way from the village to the hills. Abraxas leaves with two of the maenads to build a shrine to Aphrodite and Dionysus on a nearby hilltop, but the rest of the women stay with the party. The rest are perplexed about what to do after Abraxas' departure, as they expected him to lead all the maenads to Ormos. Pyro attempts to figure out the complexities of what he saw in the day before, and Xenobia and Theresa talk plans as they don't really feel the need to help Eurymachos with his plans to take Rabdos from Pentheus - the “wrong king”. Instead, they plan to look for their missing companions, as Xenobia voices fears about their curses.
Xenobia gets the feeling Theresa is running away from the confrontation, also and a vision that weighs heavily on her mind. As she relates:
A red-haired woman walks among you as you sleep. She touches Candid and Ischyros and drives them into a rage. As they flee, she touches others in the area - farmers, soldiers, so on. A large group of women start digging up flesh and gnawing on it. The red haired lady walks away. As she does, you see her open a basket.Figuring Ischyros, as a merchant, would likely have returned to the city, Xenobia convinces Theresa her to turn back to Ormos and camp a ways away from gates before beginning their search. From there, Theresa and Pyro, using their powers of disguise, can slip in to look for Candid and Ischyros undetected. A storm blows in and drenched in rain they look for shelter. A few huts sit outside the gates look good to stay in. Inside, Candid hears the three approaching and hails them. Theresa flood-proofs the hut, while she discusses the nature of the curse with Candid and Xenobia. Xenobia suggests offering a replacement boar to Demeterin exchange for the one killed. Candid explained he was “kicked out” from the ship because the people on it feared his curses. They discuss if they still want to help Polydoros or to focus on doing the will of the gods. The storm starts to taper off as they discuss the future plans and decide that they want to give a new boar to replace the one that was killed to try and reverse the curse placed on Candid and Ischyros. At night, Xenobia and Pyro set out in the night to make a trap to catch a boar with magically glowing string and a shovel. They head toward the hills, where Xenobia finds lots of foragables. They are met by an owl woman named Xanthe. Xenobia speaks respectfully and entreats Xanthe to lift the curse if they bring back a boar as recompense to the goddess. In return, Xanthe tells of an Erymanthian boar in the woods that connects the north of Kadmeia to its south, if the companions capture a male boar and return it to her she can help ask Demeter to lift the curse. Xenobia seals the bardgain by offering the glowing moon rock as thanks for helping them, and Xanthe makes a wreath out of weaved vines to give to her. They say their goodbyes and make our way back with the news to fix Candid and Ischyros. Theresa gives wine to the blind old guy and they make plans to move to the woods and gather supplies. The old man asks us to at least spread his name to see if maybe his family can come back, his name is Grandfather Linus. The group sets out after the boar as the session comes to a close.
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