Heroes of the Peloponnese Game Thread

[Mirgalen]

Andreas had done very poorly during the games. Failing with the javelin was expected. He was better at throwing barrels, rocks or tree trunks somehow. The second contest should have been an easy go. He even tried to determine the shortest path given the known obstacles like buildings and trees. He did get to the first token, tripped in something a bit later and lost a fare share of time to free himself. He proceeded to get the second token but could not find where it was. What kind of foul play was that. Did someone hide or destroy the beacon? He tried to focus and look around but it was too late the race was already over.

The day was not over yet, there was still the tiny arena where he knew he could shine. With his body well oiled to avoid being grabbed or pulled easily and all his hours of training, knowledge of the opponents strengths and weaknesses he should have done well. He should have but blinded by the sun for a second he did not have a time to react to a sudden attack and dodge or parry a brutal assault. His bulky opponent had simply charged like a bull and knocked him down.

Game Over.

OOC

Thumbs up guys. I have no clue how you finished the race so fast but I suspect that playing at 5-10 fps may be one of the reason. Same thing for the combat part, no matter what is the initiative roll, the "lagg monster always wins"
Now the part that really surprised me is that many of you guys took KD at lvl 1 (or 2 for fighter) and it worked. I almost never do that, I often take it at lvl 9 or 12 when your BAB/AB is high enough to offset the -4 penalty. Having said that, it is true that if the enemies have AC close to 10 you may get 50% chance of knocking them down and Discipline is never going to matter at our current lvl. Talking about lvl, I think we are getting close to lvl 3 now, right?

[Vanya Mia]

((I probably wouldn't have taken Knockdown with a Barbarian or Monk build, but Kat's just fighter so far and there's feats all over the place for them so it's worth it. You have to think where to use it, though, as you don't want to be wasting too many attacks, but it's fairly successful on monsters at this level even. It was bound to fail on a PC so using it in the wrestling to represent her struggling to trip Polytropos made sense, as while she possibly /is/ as strong stats wise OOCly - ICly she probably wouldn't be, and proved a pretty good demonstration of it's limitations. She only entered the wrestling because of what played out as Imeme's automatic exclusion of her after all! As for the running? Yeah, between my old fingers and useless old machine there was no way she'd win, hence an excuse in the form of the hurt ankle which probably got her more of what she wanted most anyway, attention seeking bitch that she is. ))



The day before had been a good day. The food had been delicious, all the more for the adventure had finding it, and the drink had flowed, never more fun than when it had done it down Medios's back. She'd gained a sharp new spear, and even though she'd then under-performed in the other contests the outcome of both from her point of view she'd still been victorious. Basking in attention was as warming as lazing in the sun when the sources were so palatable.

Now more adventure beckoned. Centaurs? Yes, she'd heard all the tales. Who hadn't? But no one ever went south of the river, which made it all the more appealing. How could they ever be notable if they didn't achieve what others had not? And if no one ever went there that would make tales of their journey all the more enthralling.

"Come on then," Katamarene said cheerfully, walking with purpose and occasionally forgetting to limp. "There's deeds to be done and new pastures to explore. Time to write a new and larger note in our story."

[Shadani]

The festival had been most entertaining.

Eleni's only regret was failing to time her little trick better during the race. Oh, if she'd actually won thanks to that, she'd have confessed, likely grinning, and conceded to the runner-up, of course. It wasn't as if she cared about winning, really - toying with people's expectations was significantly more fun.

Speaking of expectations - the wrestling had certainly been full of surprises. She'd never have predicated that Pol's swiftness would have proven such an asset - nor for Andreas to be so quickly overcome by Brygos' bull rush, and even less for Tel to triumph against said bull in spite of that! Eleni did feel a little sorry for Brygos, though. She had intended to go bring some boar after the contests, but he'd been nowhere to be seen. Hopefully, he hadn't gone off and done something silly.

"Writing new and larger notes?" Eleni mused aloud, following Kataramene. "I cannot imagine who will get stuck with the duty of scribing all that wonderful nonsense down."

[Topato]

Telemachus was altogether fairly pleased with his performance in the games. Particularly with thrashing Bryagos. All in all a good day. And now they had a new task, a real challenge. A fallen star and the possiblity of finding some sky iron! The centaurs worried him, but not unduly, getting caught was not an option, but as long as they were careful they stood to gain a great deal.

[smartalec]

Polytropos played with the string of the new bow, drawing it up to his cheek, and down again. He sighted a tree, and nodded. To Hades with not winning any prizes in the village's Games! To find a falling star, to brave the Centaur lands, and to have a sword forged from ancient sky-metal, these were the beginnings of heroes. He'd show that he had what counted - a steady hand, a brave heart, and wit.

He smiled slyly at Kataramene and Eleni. Wit and charm, he reminded himself.

"Ah, who cares for such minutiae?" he asked them. "Forge ahead, whenever we can, and leave the fretting to others! A story unwritten is better than no story to write."

[Karvon]

Leonaidas had been pleased to win the foot race around the village. He'd done his fair share of scrambling over hill and dale as a shepherd and gotten pretty nimble over the years of doing so. He'd luckily seen and skipped over the tripwire someone had lain; others hadn't been so lucky. He wondered who had done that? Wrestling didn't go nearly as well as he'd hoped. Though he did get in a few solid strikes, he got tackled and KO'd by Tel, who went on to win the competition, so he didn't feel quite so bad about losing to the champ. The ample food and drink at the feast that followed proved a great antidote as well.

Now they were off hunting centaurs; he wasn't really clear on what this was all about, but it'd be more exciting than hanging out in the village.

[Lazybones]

+300xp for full-party IC posting this week.

Server is up at 108.201.222.209:5121, usual PWs.

[Mirgalen]

The heroes ventured into Centaur lands in search of a rare item. It could have been some rare ore, a lost crystal shard or perhaps a weapon. After all the risk of being caught and perhaps attacked by the horse-men had to be less or equal to the expected reward. Andreas was not convinced that a piece of rock, even from a shooting star was worth that much. Nevertheless perhaps some fights would give him a chance to regain a bit of honor among his peers.

The centaurs were friendly, that was unexpected. They were sent to seek and destroy a nest of lady-birds who had invaded the centaurs land. The rather ugly creatures who looked a bit like sea hags with wings had very nice voices and could charm a mortal with their singing. Luckily the charm was not very strong and the heroes returned victorious.

Back in the village they were told that about a missing elder. they went to investigate his house and found that odd crystal from the swamp on the ground. As Andreas attempted to grab the thing they found themselves in some Hades like place with demons roaming continuously. As they explored the strange realm they found ruins an the entrance to a complex. After fighting their way in the strange building they faced the leader of the creatures who was holding the master in a cell. They defeated the creature, set the master free and used some magic to get back to the village. Bur perhaps all this was just a dream and Andreas would soon wake up somewhere in the field under an olive tree...

[Topato]

Telemachus spent the evening cleaning himself up and dressing the various cuts and wounds that he was near-covered in from their adventure within the shard. The things they had faced within were beyond anything he'd ever heard of in myth or imagined in nightmare. The world was becoming a dangerous place, and they had barely left mantenea. What was going on in the wider world?

[Vanya Mia]

"Doesn't anyone else think it's strange?" Kataramene asked idly, of anyone who might hear. She was stretched out in the shade of an olive tree with her head propped up on one hand while the other twirled a small flower she had picked, carefully avoiding anything which might be seen as work in general, and perhaps women's work in particular. "We've grown up in this village with nothing remarkable happening in all that time, and now we don't seem to be able to turn for things happening."

"Look at all we have done in just the last moon." She rolled over onto her stomach, which allowed her to look south to the river. "Strange spirits. Hidden shrines. Creatures pushed up from their distant homes by creatures rising from below. Odd stones and metal, some of it falling from the skies, revealed to us. One if which transported us to some daemon's abode." Kataremene's lips pursed thoughtfully. "Really, don't you think it strange?"