Sx27 — Keep a Level Head

***Keep a Level Head*** is the 27th session of the campaign. It is preceded by Sx26 — How Do You Like Your Eggs in the Mourning, and followed by Sx28 — Dream a Little Dream of Me.

This session takes place over a single day the 20th of Akhamentes. Notable moments of this session are the group claiming the reward from the palace. Khantos has a meeting with Lirit Bassilin, finding out Carban is now a Myth Ender. Leoven meets with Stellina and tells her there is more to come. And Oto meets with Braxion Malleas, getting possessed by Hephaestus and taking the artificers life.

## Some small meetings

The group meet with Zatin, the interim head servant, he is a short, chubby elven man with short dark hair. He gladly retrieves the pay for them. During this they find out that the staff of the palace are unaware of Neleous and make no attempt to retrieve the pay for them. In the end all the members of the party are paid 2400 gp after including the pay meant for Theobald.

Leoven goes to Petros' bookshop to meet with Cyaro. To find them lying in a pile of books, as apparently *"I fell off a shelf" - Cyaro.* They talk and Cyaro admits to struggling to find something and have gotten themselves in a sticky situation. Leoven suggests that if they're struggling to ask for help. Cyaro asks what Leoven's actual elven name is, as they believe that "Leoven" is a city name. Leoven hasn't always been their name, and there were *"a few extra letters, they were taken from me. I gave them up for a better life." - Leoven.*

Khantos avoids a conversation with Adrasteia who is waiting outside the palace for them.

Oto and Leoven have an argument the details of which have been lost to time, however, it is noted that Oto's eyes had a tint of golden light as they got emotional. Afterwards, Leoven returns to moving rubble from the streets, alongside Adrasteia who has used a wild shape to become a dog and sniff out survivors, helping in rescue attempts. Rigani helps out survivors and medics, mostly by casting guidance on people.

Cyaro looks for a darkish corner pulls out a crystalline frog, and starts asking it questions *"Am I on the right path, should I leave with the group or stay where you led me." - Cyaro.* The frog responds confirming that Cyaro should go with the party.

## A few big meetings

Khantos and Oto, go to Lirit Bassilin's room in the palace, to try and get information out of her, after finding Braxion Malleas's room empty. They find out that Lirit Bassilin is a half gorgon, after seeing a surgery she was carrying out on a dog, she quickly kills the dog, and when she sees Khantos and Oto recognising them she starts to negotiate. She speaks of Khantos' parents clearly knowing them, she also tells Oto that Braxion is still in Artemis Cove in the temple of Athena. She says she'll send a message of your arranged meeting with him and gestures for Oto to leave. Letting it be just Khantos and Lirit. She starts to test Khantos, showing him her gorgon eye, and turning the skin on his hand to stone. She also has him drink poison, she is quite clearly testing his constitution, and she seems happy with the results. She offers him power in a new form. Khantos looks for a position of power within the Owl and Spear, which is met with much derision from Lirit, she has decided he will be a Myth Ender and under her control or he will be dead. Here Khantos mines her for information on being a Myth Ender and especially what any "special experimentation" would entail. She in response draws a symbol on a piece of paper, the piece of paper then becomes animated changing shape furiously between different visages before tearing itself apart. She goes on to say only one has survived this rune being carved into them but does not elaborate on who. Khantos offers the medallion to Lirit, however, this is the fake he has created. In return, they ask for information. This starts a bout of intense to-and-fro negotiation between the two, Khantos pressures Lirit with their insecurities about their appearance. However, this backfires somewhat as she starts looking for emotional revenge and brings up allies of the past, implying that one is quite impressive. When she finds out Khantos' motivation is about protecting his friends, she backs out of the deal completely and seems to relish in the idea of Khantos' anguish, jeering at him as he leaves that "Mr Fistskin will love seeing you all again."

*"It's like looking in a mirror except the reflection's ugly" - Khantos Evergreen.*

Leoven is approached by someone in the religious filigree of Apollo and tells her that Stellina is looking for her. Leoven heads there entering Stellina's room once again she finds tea waiting for her still warm and to their taste. She goes on to inform her that the final lines of the prophecy, she isn't sure have been carried out, she fears that we haven't seen the "Darkest Flood". She says that this "Mother" still has plans, and that faces from their past may re-appear, but not all of them will be glad to see them and likewise. She follows this by saying that Apollo still has plans for Leoven. But they are not alone in what's to come, but it will involve somewhere she dreads to return to. Stellina has yet to break the news of this to Queen Ione. But she expects more to be revealed at the King's funeral, she says there is no one in the city who would know any more but just outside the city a woman called Khea might. Notably her name was on the inside of the Mask of Varyas.

Adrasteia goes towards the temple of Asclepius, she spends some time looking for a priest who isn't too preoccupied. When she does she asks him about healing magic for regenerating a severely damaged hand, looking for help for Khantos. Once they have a good idea of the kind of wound they're dealing with the priest is doubtful that they are capable of properly healing the hand, and that it would require a more powerful cleric, most likely to be found somewhere like Imperum or Dexicos.

Cyaro goes to look for Zatin to gain access to the library. Once inside the library they research Hades there is little writing but they find a book about his Helm of Hades how it was forged, and how fearsome an artefact it is. It goes on to speak of Hades' power and the power of his offspring, many of whom have become greatly feared and are often killed when discovered. Rigani prays to Hera for her husband to be okay and is filled with reassurance.

Meanwhile, Oto arrives at the temple of Athena and is welcomed in to meet with Braxion Malleas. Braxion is glad to see Oto eager to tear apart the warforged and discover how he works, the room is surrounded by dismantled celestial bronze parts and pieces and at the far end an arcane forge that worked the powerful bronze. Oto feeling threatened by Braxion, panics and tries to contact Hephaestus by casting Message to the forge asking "How do I destroy them?". Suddenly he is surrounded by golden flames his very body producing them, the metal in the room melting and bubbling in his presence, he turns to the frightened and fascinated Braxion, threatening Braxion he says that the code into the base was 9876, but when Oto presses further knocking the artificer to the ground and driving his foot down on their throat, he realises he will die no matter what and takes the location of this base to his grave as Oto's foot burns through his flesh until it meets the floor. He adds a tally to his notebook. He destroys the rest of the metal and blueprints before attempting to leave and blacking out, waking up in an alley behind the Temple of Hephaestus.

Adrasteia and Leoven have a conversation about Leoven's relationship with Apollo, Leoven talks about how she hasn't given up on the relationship, and Adrasteia wonders if the Gods ever give up on them.

The group gathers and Leoven fills everyone in. She then talks about her life as part of the Order of the Vallotis, serving as a captain and their role in the civil war of Heliotym. The civil war was between the Vallotis and the Faen, this war ended with the Faen as the victors. The Vallotis were then publicly humiliated and executed in some cases, in Leoven's case she was exiled. According to her the Faen dealt with arcane teaching and research and were celebrated for their innovation in art and healing. Leoven's opinion is that the current view of the Faen is backwards. She believes that one day they will become too arrogant and take experiments with magic too far, perhaps treading into darker schools of magic. These acts are what Vallotis would consider heretical.