Heroes of the Peloponnese Game Thread #2

[Vanya Mia]

"So," Kataramene mused, "what is so bad about this lion, do you think?" She looked at the others. "There's got to be something difficult about it or that sod would never have sent Heracles out there." She pulled her sword out, swinging it through the air a few times. "Of course he wasn't aware there would be so many of us, but even though there are he was still rather smug. Whatever it is, this lion must have a fearsome reputation. A pity there was no time to ask Ioleas more."

[smartalec]

"It'll be fine," Polytropos insisted. "Lions are big, I think, but its just one of them. We'll sort out something clever, like... luring it into a pit or something? Shooting it until it drops? If all else fails I'm sure Heracles," he added with a slightly sour note, "can just plain wrestle it to the ground. Maybe we can draw a crowd, get it to an arena."

[Shadani]

"It was mentioned that no weapon could pierce its hide, I believe," Eleni said. "But that leaves plenty of room to get creative..."

An impish smile appeared as she considered the possibilities.

"I propose we start with fire. Fire is always fun."

[Topato]

"Ioleas said no mortal weapon could pierce its hide, I guess we'll see if ours will do the trick. If not, we might have to get creative. Maybe we could strangle it or drown it or poison it." Telemachus suggested. "Or burn it yes, Eleni please stop grinning like that it's unnerving." Tel sighed "Killing monsters is the simple part. We've had plenty of practice at that. I'm more worried about pretending to be Heracles. Acting is not exactly my strong suite"

[Lazybones]

Since Gulfwulf is out this week, +1350xp for full-party IC posting.

IP is 108.204.120.190:5121
PWs are same as usual.

We'll begin with the party arriving at the outskirts of the village of Cleonae, in Nemea.

[Mirgalen]

Andreas was happy because the villagers were safe again. They had found and defeated the lion-lady as well as a number of giant frogs. Not that Andreas had much to do with the actual killing. The Gods had given him strength, speed and combat skills. Enough to win in the arena or even face an ogre but magical creatures with enchanted skin were beyond his abilities. The best he could was to knock down a frog, or at least try to and let "Heracles" do the killing. At least he was a fast runner and a skilled healer when there was enough bandages and herbs to go around...

[Gulfwulf]

As the others went on their journey to slay the fabled lion and bring back its pelt, Damian looked over his shoulder and stopped as he noticed Aias limping. "Are you okay, my friend?" he asked the bear as he knelt down to examine the bear's front paw. Aias licked his face as he gently probed his paw and shoulder. "Ah, I see that your wound has re-opened, my friend. Let's get that treated." Damian pulled some herbs from his pack and quickly made a paste that he liberally spread across a wound on Aias' shoulder. "There, my friend. Let's leave that there for a time and I'll remove it when we stop to camp with others..." He looked around. "Uh-oh. Come, my friend, we must make haste and catch up to them before they get into trouble."

The two followed the road to Nemea, enjoying the forested hills they traversed through. Damian followed the party's tracks through spider infested areas, finally arriving at the "lion's" den. He snorted as he saw the remains of giant toads and the remains of the lion. "I knew they would get into trouble, my friend. I just hope nobody died, especially not Tel. Ah well. It looks like they found the beast and slew it, so we should make our way back to town. Hopefully they won't have gone off on another of that king's hair-brained 'trials' before we can get back." He took one more look around the cave, then the two set off on the road again back to city wondering what new dangers awaited them.

[Karvon]

Swamps, Leonaidas wasn't too keen on wading around in muck looking for this hydra, whatever that was. From the comments he overheard, it didn't sound like a very easy creature to dispatch. His arrows certainly had done nothing to the lion they'd hunted down, aside from anger it. Fortunately, a wand he'd picked up along the way proved deadly enough to the beast. Perhaps, he'd better look into securing another such weapon. He sort of doubted this lizard creature would have much in the way of loot; they certainly didn't seem to be getting any pay for these tasks. He'd have to keep his eyes out for potential sources of income along the way.

[Vanya Mia]

"I'm missing the villa, with someone to serve us meals and our own private swimming place."

An all too brief respite in the village, though they had indeed been grateful as all of them new only too well what the cost of even a goat was to a place so small, and none whatsoever in the Kings palace before it was on the road again. Not that anyone sensible would have expected anything else; at least Kataramene hadn't.

"The real labour in all of this, if you ask me," she grumbled on, "is that we don't seem to have stopped walking for days." The young woman waved her sword hand around as if to indicate the countryside in general. "Can we find a village to stop for a night, at least? Buy a couple of flasks of wine and some good bread and cheese? Relax and rest our feet? We're going to be no good for a fight if we don't rest sometime, and we could do with finding a craftsman to turn that lion skin into a trophy, and should give Damian time to catch up at least. Then we can go and find this hydra, eh?"

"Which reminds me," Kataramene continued after a bare moment of a pause, "what is a hydra anyway?"

[Shadani]

"A hydra," Eleni said, in her best scholarly voice, "is a many-headed giant serpent, known to dwell in lakes and marshes. It is said of the hydra that its blood melts bronze; that a single breath holds enough venom to slay an elephant and that for every head one cuts off, two more grow to take its place."

She paused for a moment, slowly realizing that she had failed to paint a particularly optimistic picture of their chances.

"I would recommend we keep our distance. And also fire. Lots of fire."