Sing, goddess, of thirsty Argos, and of the glory of Hippomedon Aristomachides - sing of the folly of Adrastus, of the savagery of Tydeus and of Oedipal transgressions! Sing, O Muse, of Zeus’ designs, which even now come to fulfillment…
Observing these deeds from his cosmic height, the nations stainedwith first bloodshed, the Sower of Stars commands the Marcherbe summoned posthaste. And Mars, who had just destroyed Getic cities and slaughtered howling Bistonês, waswith dizzying speed racing his team up the slopes of sky,tossing the lightning-crested gleam of his helmet, his armorgolden, grim and alive with horrific, monstrous figures;Heaven’s dome thunders, the blood-colored light of his shield glowsruby-red, its disk rivals and strikes the sun from afar. Jupiter, seeing Mars still puffing from his Sarmathianlabors, his heart flooded with all the storm-bursts of war:“As you are, my lad, just as you’ve come to me, set outfor Argos, your sword reeking, your self in a cloud of wrath.Let them snap their indolent reins and, loathing all else,yearn for you as they plunge in headlong, pledging to you theirhearts and hands. Sweep the reluctant on, break their treaties!To you we gave it, yours the right to arouse war lustin the Gods themselves – even in my dear Peace. I’ve now sownseeds of conflict; Tydeus returns, reporting brazenoutrage, a ruler’s crime, and (primary source of vile war)treacherous ambush – which he, and with his own arms, has avenged.Make them believe!”“Now, You, High Gods, who trace your bloodlines to me:strive neither to fight in hatred against me nor to swayme with pleas. Fate and the Sisters’ dismal spindle have thussworn to me. This day, appointed for war since the worldbegan, lies waiting and these nations were born for this battle. But, if you object to my making this generation payfor crimes of old, to my punishing these dire grandsons, then,by this eternal citadel, by my entempled mind,and by Elysian springs awesome even to me, I swearwith my own hand I’ll shake Thebes off her foundations and shatterher walls, strew Inachian rooftops with towers tornfrom the ground – or else, with my downpours, I’ll sweep them allinto the sky-blue waves, though Juno herself, toiling amidstthe turmoil, should wrap her dear temple and hills in her arms…”- Book III, Statius’ ThebaidZeus’ words to Ares, following Tydeus’ ambush by ThebansTranslation by Jane Wilson Joyce
LESCHES’ NOTESSeven Against Thebes Quest is a spin-off quest related to the series of Trojan War Quests that were created first by Homer, and then hijacked by myself. Set in Mythic Greece – a time of brazen helms and spearpoints, of demigods and Olympians, and occurs approximately twenty years prior to the events of Trojan War Quest. We will be playing as the father of the TWQ and TWQ:DS’ main characters (Nikandros and Deianira) – the legendary Hippomedon Aristomachides of Argos, near the peak of his physical ability and fame. Please note – no prior experience in the other quests or knowledge of Mythic Greece will be necessary to play this quest – this quest is meant to stand alone as a complete and self-limiting story.His actions during the upcoming events are quite important – not just to his compatriots as they struggle against the Thebans and their allies, but also for his future family. Gods, goddesses and spinners alike will be watching his actions with great interest, and unforeseen consequences are a certainty…VOTING REQUIREMENTSOne-post ID votes will be ignored, unless they back-link their previous posts and claim them for identification.Players must “register” by posting within the thread within 48 hours of thread creation; only “registered” posters will have valid votes.Players who miss initial “registration” window may choose to provide six lines of original poetry in Homeric style OR an original TWQ meme of high quality to register. Please note that players can choose to register at any time during the thread!I reserve the right to call upon suspicious voters to verify themselves in a manner I deem fit.Recommended Reading:Seven Against Thebes Quest #1: https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2024/5934977/Seven Against Thebes Quest #2: https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2024/5976675/Seven Against Thebes Quest #3: https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2025/6180072/Optional Reading:Trojan War Quest #1: https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2023/5579585/Trojan War Quest #2: https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2023/5610431/Trojan War Quest #2: Nostos: https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2023/5742360/Trojan War Quest #3: https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2023/5827930/Trojan War Quest: Deianira’s Sidestory #1: https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2023/5644134/Trojan War Quest: Deianira's Sidestory #2: https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2023/5687242/Trojan War Quest: Deianira's Sidestory #2.1: https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2023/5725902
Hippomedon Aristomachides (Ἰππομέδων)Level 4Height: 6’8”Weight: ~375 lbs/170kgsKleos:: Your name has graced the lips and tongue of many Danaans – to your enemies, your name is a synonym for “death”, and to your allies, the byword for the perfect soldier. You are loved by the Argive Royal Family and by the Argive people for your many contributions to their safety and security. +9 to Kleos checks. Deeds below.Major:• Victorious Argive Prince (+8): You have crushed countless bandits, raiders, Heraclids, and more in the service of your uncle, King Adrastus of Argos. There are very few living Hellenes who can say honestly that they have won more duels and personally slain more foes than you.Minor:• Phocian Provocateur (+1): You set two warring princes of Siciunt, a minor kingdom, against one another, causing their deaths, the deaths of hundreds of their soldiers, and guaranteeing another generation of conflict in one corner of Phocis – all to please the bloodthirsty gods. Timae: You are a very wealthy prince of Argos, even richer than some minor kings of Hellas – the gifts of your estates are so great that they cannot be easily measured in talents or livestock alone. +8 to Timae checks. Relevant possessions below.STATS:Strength- (21/24) (+12)Agility- (18/20) (+6)Constitution- (17/24) (+5)Willpower- (14/20) (+2)Intelligence- (13/20) (+1)Charisma- (11/20) (+0)Regional Alignment: Argive. Argive nobility are well-adept at navigating the intricacies of Hellenic noble politics (+3 CHA). Following King Adrastus’ example, the noblemen of Argos are expected to hold fast against their enemies, never quaking or quailing, and to stand firm (+3 WILL).Epithets:• πελώριος: “Gigantic” or “the Mighty”, due to Hippomedon’s size and strength.• ἀμύμονος: “Peerless”, due to Hippomedon’s genius in personal combat.Traits:• (Tier 1) Giant: You are akin in size to the famed Heracles. (+4 to strength and strength cap and +4 to constitution and constitution cap. For reference, the normal cap is 20).• (Tier 1) Gifted Athlete: You are a gifted athlete, skilled in wrestling, boxing, pankration (unarmed combat), running, swimming, jumping, chariot-driving, horse riding, discus, shotput, archery, and javelin throwing. (+3 to strength and agility, and +3 skill in all the aforementioned).• (Tier 1) Argive Martial Tempering: You are the product of excellent Argive soldier training (+2 to STR, AGI, +2 skill in unarmed combat, swordplay, spearplay, shielding, javelin throwing, archery, and dodging).• (Tier 1) Strategist: Basic tenets of troop discipline, camp formation, battlefield tactics and general warfare knowledge has been imparted to you. (+3 intelligence, +2 to petteia, generalship, troop combat rolls when you are in command)• (Tier 0) Argive Combat Training: Additional instruction with a second weapons-master, stacks with the AMT trait. Further +1 to combat skills, +1 to STR/AGI.
Flaws(Tier 1) Offputting Impiety: Devotion to the gods has never been your natural impulse - some part of your instinctively rejects the authority that they assume over the lives of men. While you are not truly blasphemous, your casual indifference to matters of the divine is somewhat offputting as a member of the Argive nobility. (-3 to all deity interactions, up to one success per thread auto-fails, -2 to CHA)STATUS:HP- (13/13)Skills:• Petteia: +2 to the game. (Strategist)• Command: +2 when commanding your troops personally in battle. (Strategist)• Combat: +3 to to-hit, wound, dodge and block rolls. (Argive Martial Tempering/Argive Combat Training)• Athletics: +3 bonus to all such contests. (Gifted Athlete)• More skills to be uncovered as circumstances and traits necessitate.Inventory:• Armor of Aristomachus: Provides a mighty +4 bonus to block rolls, and additionally provides the ability to convert a battlefield unit’s failed morale roll into a success once per battle. The bronze helm is topped with triple-tiered snow-white plumes, and iron chain-mail lines the sides of the torso; a unique appearance making you instantly recognizable.• Royal Quality Bronze Spear (1d5+STR+SKILL), Bronze Sword (1d5+STR+SKILL) and Bronze Shield (+1 to block rolls)• Hephaestian Kopis: A divinely-wrought short sword that has come into your possession, it is unbreakable and pierces bronze like thin linens. 1d7 base damage die, negates enemy armor bonii, and increases chances of enemy spear-breaks.Your Forces:• Second In Command Currently not with you: Argyros, veteran of the Second Argo-Theban war. An experienced campaigner who is utterly devoted to your family. He can be trusted to command the men in your stead but is a commoner in every other sense. When he is independently commanding your troops, they receive a +3 bonus in combat and another die. His bonus (but not the die) adds to yours when you directly command.• Inachian Honorguard: This loyal squadron of commoner spearmen is well-seasoned in warfare and well-equipped to boot – they are Tier 3 troops, and their equipment is a cut above most Argive squadrons. Exceedingly well trained, experienced, loyal, and high morale: some of the best troops in the Argive army. (High-quality equipment – 1d4 spear damage, +2 to block rolls). 5/10 unit progress• Hippomedon’s Army: Two thousand men-at-arms recruited from the large population of your home estate; these men along with all other Argive troops, have been passed through a punishing training program. They are now Tier 2 troops and can be trusted to behave professionally on the field. They have been equipped in the standard fashion of Argive forces: good-quality linothorax, ox-hide shields, leather helms and spears that fly true. (Good quality equipment – 1d3 spear damage, +1 to block rolls)
In the Palace of Eurykratides, King of TrachisApologies for the long delay, anons. I have returned to see this quest to the end! We’ll pick up exactly where we had left off this past March.---But then, round Eurykratides stands to address his guests once more:“…Now, as many of you have heard, the victor of my Oetian Games will select a priceless treasure from my personal collection. Is it not right that these valorous men should know what they compete for?!”The μέγαρον bursts into raucous cheering - your own interest is piqued. The obese king’s prior comments about an Argive shield come to mind... Eurykratides waves his plump arms, and a team of household servants bring in a bulky object – you immediately discern it to be a weapon or armor-stand, with a heavy blanket thrown over it. Eurykratides continues his verbal flourishes for another interminably minute, ensuring all present are hanging on his word, before the heavy blanket of the stand is dramatically cast aside...You are momentarily dazzled by the jeweled shield that rests within – a stunned hush falls over the crowd as they observe the artifact. This is clearly the jewel of Eurykratides’ collection – the shield whose existence you weaseled out of the fat king a few nights previous. You recognize it at once as a work of sublime quality, far beyond what a man of his κλέος ought to possess.Intricately detailed and flawless – nearly the entire surface of the bronze has been worked over in flowing designs – you peer intently, as the flickering torchlight plays over the rubies, emeralds, and sapphires. The scenes depicted strike you as familiar, somehow – they are of -Of –You know this shield.You KNOW this shield.A far-flaming disc, where lived, in perfect gold,Danaus’ Night:In fifty guilty bridal suites glow,The Furies’ pitch-black torches;The father himself at the blood-stained doors praises the heinous crimeAnd inspects the swords…You last saw it as a young man – barely more than a boy… Hanging in the halls of your estate, before the mansion became yours - you spent countless hours examining the surface, amazed at the tiny details of the inlay.And then, after your father burned upon his pyre – it was never seen again. No – the shield went missing even before the funeral pyre of Aristomachus; your father was burned with a favorite spear alone. A mystery, swallowed whole by another. Your father’s abrupt death was rarely discussed in court – his missing shield, never. You had long thought it lost forever; you rock back on your heels – you don’t remember standing. Murmurs of concern rise from the other feast attendees, beneath your notice. A thought floods your mind, drowning your senses, flooding your ears, drenching your tongue, scrambling your wits:THE MISSING SHIELD OF YOUR FATHER RESTS BEFORE YOU!
Shock recedes – and fury rises in its wake. How did the shield of Danaus’ Night come to Trachis?! Now, Eurykratides’ past terrified conduct makes sense – his insistence that you swear the strong oaths is cast in a new light. Treachery and thievery – it is only means by which your father’s shield could come to rest in this midden heap. The Trachians present now know that something is amiss – they stare at you with increasing alarm as your face reddens and hands curl into stony fists. Eurykratides is holding up his hands, pleading with you:“Please, Hippomedon! The oaths, the oaths you swore! HONOR ZEUS Ξενιος!"A friendly hand comes to rest on your shoulder - Faibokranef the Aegyptian gazes at you with concern, asking you some question in accented Hellenika - you are too angry to discern his meaning. The Sardinians, twin sons of Heracles, are standing now as well, their jaws clenched, prepared for the possibility of violence. On the far end of the table, Hyperenor remains seated - his eyes watch you wolfishly, dissecting your weakness.>Anons previously rolled a 4,15 – double-passing Hippo’s rage checkBut you clench your jaw, find your control once more. You are not some barbarian blind to obligation, willing to kill guest-friends at a moment’s notice- even the lowly Trachians benefit from Zeus' law. You sit heavily once more. Your reaction was noticed by all, and in particular, by the Theban Hyperbius*, who eyes your birthright hungrily. You’d rather die than let a Theban carry your father’s shield into battle against you. You do your best to keep up appeareances - sipping at the mediocre wine and chewing the charred pork. Faibokranef, the Aegyptian, now sitting next to you, pats you reassuringly on the shoulder, before whispering in his accented Hellenika: "Iz yur shield, Hippomedon?" You cannot hope to tell the full tale to the foreigner, but his gesture is appreciated - you shake your head in a friendly fashion at him. The atmosphere in the room is punctured - the men present speak in hushed tones, ther eyes sliding in your direction now and again. You've ruined the celebratory mood, unfortunately, and so you elect to head to your small guest rooms early. ---In the morning, you perform some light exertions in an effort to keep limber. The next "Labor" in these Oetian Games was announced as the "Bulls of Crete" - you can only guess that you'll be wrestling with one of the straight-horned beasts. In the early afternoon, you rest, and in the late afternoon, you take your steeds out for a ride on the trails surrounding Trachis. Crowds of filthy Hellenes and devotees of Heracles Προμαχος alike bathe you in their admiration - always a balm to your nerves. As you return to Trachis, you note with interest that a new group of steeds are stabled there - a double quartet of well-bred beasts, stallions all.I kept referring to the Theban prince as “Hyperenor” by mistake last thread, whoops.
Eurykratides is nowhere to be found, and the other competitors are similar submerged in their own training regimens. You cross paths with them all over the course of the day, but nothing of import is said between you - all manful communication is to be conducted through tomorrow's event. In the evening, there is no celebratory feast. As you consume huge quantities of substance for your evening meal (all the better for tomorrow's competition), you learn that news of your participation in the Oetian Games (and your meddling with the heirs of Siciunt) has spread like wildfire in central Hellas. A princess of neighboring Locris has apparently arrived with her brother to observe the remainder of the competition - or more likely, to identify marriage prospects. You don't bother to remember her name, as she does not appear in Eurykratides' megaron - presumably, she decided to eat in privacy. In all likelihood, further spectators are likely to make their appearance as the competition continues. In the evening, you retire early once more - you are impatient for tomorrow's tribulations. As you rest atop the cushions of your bed, your eyes flutter, and the Ονειροι pull you into a dream nearly at once.>welcome back to SATQ, anons. This dream sequence will constitute the "interlude" of the thread. This vote will close on 10/16 at 10pm - a nice long time to settle in, re-read the old threads, shitpost about the bastard gods...>but what to dream about, /qst/?>You stalk a fearsome prey across a mountainous ridge, careful in your approach...>In the training yards of Argos, you come across your cousin, Capaneus. First words fly - then fists...>Atop a black-hulled ship, you ride with Argyros - in pursuit of Cycladian pirates...>A blonde woman beckons that you follow her - it is twilight in the hills of Thessaly, but her hair shines...>Your father, so much taller than yourself, carries you atop his shoulders - today, you finally ride Arion!
>>6318578>>Your father, so much taller than yourself, carries you atop his shoulders - today, you finally ride ArionSeems fitting, now that Hippomedon knows what he is truly competing for.Great to have you back Lesches!
>>6318578>Your father, so much taller than yourself, carries you atop his shoulders - today, you finally ride Arion!
>>6318588Kek, these meme cards are out of control.>>6318584Good to be back - I still think that SATQ could finish by thread 6 if all goes well and I am disciplined, so this thread will be critical to push several plot points along.
>>6318578>Your father, so much taller than yourself, carries you atop his shoulders - today, you finally ride Arion!Oh glorious day! Welcome back, QM.
>>6318578>>Your father, so much taller than yourself, carries you atop his shoulders - today, you finally ride Arion!It is only fitting to dream of our father when reminded of him so...
o shit it ain't dead? shit I guess I need to go back and do some catching up
looks interesting, suppose I'm registering and going to check out the other threads
>>6318648>>6318625Welcome, flowing-haired anons! Strap on your bronze, make your propitiations to the Olympians as you set out - Zeus prefers the roasted double-fold of fat on bone! Fan the flames of your resolve as you read - The Late Bronze Age is a time of heroics, yes, but also a time of grief and woe. there is much sadness contained within the poetic lines…
>>6318578>You stalk a fearsome prey across a mountainous ridge, careful in your approach...Just to be a contrarian.
>fatso stole pops' shield somehow>hyperbiatch being a smug ass thinking he's gonna win itAnger, but also A LOT MORE ANGER FUCK. This Theban prick better hope he suffers a tragic accident and dies because if we ever get our hands on him after we leave this place and our oath within it he's doomed. I also expect everyone else to get out of our damn way if they know what's good for them.Faibokranef is chill though. I wonder if his son will march under Memnon in the Trojan War. So far I wish glory and wealth for his family.
~24 hourish warning until vote close--->>6318850Part of the fun of SATQ is producing lots of characters and wondering what might become of them over the next ~30 years... Most of my characters have a little backstory beyond their charsheet, even if it never comes up in the quest itself, Faibokranef included.
Hail Noble Lesches, Blessed Storyteller, Returned from Far-Wanderings!Lord Hippomedon's deeds not yet recorded, his lineage High-Born of Olympos, shall be proven in this game of Low-Born Olympics.
>>6318937The worst part is trying to figure out which half of the characters are gods in disguise.
>>6318958You won't believe me but Hippomedon is actually just a hippo that's been dressed up by the Argive court and made to think since birth that he's a man.
>>6318962No shot. Next you'll tell me Capaneus is just a (particularly stinky and surly) boar that they put a hat and fake beard on and he's been bluffing his way through life.
>>6318962I believe you, o mad prophet.
>>6318963No, that's Tydeus, Amphiaraus can see his true form and is being driven mad by the constant squealing and grunting. Capaneus is actually a cross-dressing woman.
>>6318966
>>6318578>Your father, so much taller than yourself, carries you atop his shoulders - today, you finally ride Arion!Awesome your alive Lesches!Got to re read this so I remember whats going on.
no new votes in a while, so let's get started a bit earlyIn the way of dreams, you forget yourself as you fall – And you are Hippomedon Aristomachides, five-year-old prince.You are big for your age, and Father tells you that this is very good when you see him. But Father hunts in the wilds for days and days, because it is the summer, and this is when the hunting is good. You cannot hunt yet – not until you are eight. So from sunrise until sundown, you are outdoors in the fields and forests and swamps beyond the Palace. You have servants – a gang of boys, who play Soldier and Hunter and Gods on Olympus when you want. You run and chase them until you are all tired and then you all gulp milk and honey and pressed grape – the poor boys from the common huts guzzle these like they are dying of thirst before playing more. You win every game - they are all afraid of making you sad or mad. If you send them back to their slow-wit fathers, they will work the fields and carry heavy things all day – much harder work than playing with you. But you send most of them back to the huts after only a few days – Father says that this is good, too. “Do not let them get too comfortable, Hippomedon – the Palace is not their place.”Some days, you glimpse Father on his chariot as he rides back from the wilds or to the City. And if you are lucky, he will see you waving and he will wave to you. You love the horses in his chariot – big and strong and fast. You want to ride with him so badly, but you cannot beg – if you beg, Father says “begging is for women, boy”, and strikes you hard. But Father knows that you want to ride, even though you did not ask this month. He always knows what you are thinking. He knows that most of all, you want to ride the god-horse - κυανοχαίτης Arion. The black-maned horse of Heracles! And finally, Father told you two days ago that he will bring Arion to the Palace, and you will ride him!The morning is here! You are so excited you cannot be still. You spin hoops in the courtyard of the Palace and throw rocks at the Palace walls, but it is very hard to wait. You jitter and wiggle and run and jump and hop and roll and run some more, until Helios the sun-god is riding high in the sky, towards unlucky noon.You hear Father and his chariot far away - hooves pounding the earth like distant thunder, Father’s sharp commands cracking the air like lightning. When he arrives, you are standing too close to the road - you stumble backwards to stay clear of the wheels, as he stops. In a flash, Father sweeps you up his arms. He talks to you, scrubs his hands through your well-oiled hair, laughs with you. Today, his voice is warm and clear, and without cruelty - no need to watch his hands. Father places you atop his broad shoulders, and you are high, high, high in the air. You grasp his black hair tightly and scream with laughter as he pretends to shake you off for a minute or two.>cont
Father stops pretending and points to his steeds - you stare at the four lathered creatures, panting and massive, as Father names them - but you only pay attention to the stallion in the lead-horse position. Famed Arion stares back at you with knowing eyes. In the way of dreams, you are suddenly a man again, standing beside your father in the chariot - an impossibility. You ask the divinity in your man’s voice:“Son of Poseidon, what have you seen through the decades? How many secrets do you hold?” The black-maned stallion reveals nothing, but meets your gaze steadily, whickering in apology for his silence. The scene blurs - you are a boy once more, and now you ride atop Arion’s broad back in the pastures on the edges of Father’s land, your fingers wrapped within his flowing mane. His hide is warm, the moving muscle beneath like carven stone. The scent of horse is overpowering, and the warm breeze is tugging at your prince’s chiton, dyed dark red, and ruffling your unshorn locks. Father walks beside Arion, his right hand resting on your lower back, teaching you how to sit, how to turn left and right, how to tap with one’s heels to urge Arion on. You do so, and Arion moves to a trot - happiness bursts through your chest and you cackle wildly with glee. You are Heracles! And for a moment, an errant gust of wind brings you a foul scent - dry excrement, rotting bark, wet scales… but it passes. The scents of growing wheat and fat cattle fill your nose once more as Father jogs lightly alongside you. Father is proud that you keep your seat as Arion trots - “A firm grip, Hippomedon! Your instincts are true!” – and he laughs himself – a booming drum that vibrates your chest too. Is this more than a dream? you think, in your man’s voice. I remember this day...Father turns to your boy-self, still astride Arion, and says: “Hippomedon, I named you well. A Horse-Lord of Argos!” You show him your gap-toothed grin, and he says:“My first-born son and heir… you will inherit all that I have. You will be spared the injustice that I have suffered.” You don’t know what he means - what is an eenjestive? You don’t know the word. But he stops speaking for a time. You come to the small stream by the west end of the pastures, and Father helps you down from Arion. There is a servant standing by the streambed with a set of foals. You kneel with Father by the waters and wash your hands and say your prayers to the naiads of this place. Father brings you to the foals and you see that each of them are wrong. The brown one has wiggly legs and takes slow, shaking steps – the black one cannot move its neck and must swing its body stiffly to look about. The foals are excited to see you – they know you are a child too! They lick your fingers and you giggle when they push you in play, trying to bowl you over. Father taps you on the shoulder, and speaks further: >cont - last post will come at 9-10pm tonight
>>6319178> Father brings you to the foals and you see that each of them are wrongDad is going to make Hippomedon kill the foals, ain’t he?
“Hippomedon, see their forms? These foals have been shaped poorly – they are bred of good Argive stock, but even so, such accidents of form are common and unpredictable. It is the will of the gods.”You pat the foals gently on the noses – they nip at your fingers and their hot breath spills over your hands. Their tongues are very pink! You are strong enough to keep your footing as they push against you – you push them right back, laughing at the effort needed. After a few moments more, the servant comes to pull the foals away – they bleat happily as he does so. You like them.“These foals are blameless, son – but if they were to survive, they would pass on their deformity to their sons, and on to their sons. In time, the whole line would suffer the effects. In truth, many of these foals cannot survive on their own. It is the same with men – a tainted spring will poison the waters. Better to block it up, let the streams run dry, than spread the poison.” As he speaks, your father presses something into your hand. A brazen knife. You look at Father in confusion, and he replies:“Hippomedon, we must be strong and decisive – ready to sniff out weakness like a hunting hound and cull it at once, no matter the cost. This must be done constantly - every day.” You nod, unsure – there is a sinking feeling in your gut. The bronze is heavy in your hand. Father gestures to the servant and the brown foal with wiggling legs is returned. Father shows you how to grip the blade properly, how to position it against the throat.“You must be quick, and draw up as hard as you can, as you pull.”And with Father watching, you do it. Black blood streams forth from the foal’s throat – much much more than you expect, and you drop the knife. The foal flops unsteadily, collapsing against you – your hands and chest are now warm and sticky. The foal’s mouth is open, its lips curling – a whisper of a shriek is escaping from its frayed throat. You know that it is in pain - crying out, you desperately try to hold the wound shut with your hands, but the blood flows like a river - hot droplets spray across your face and mouth. The foal is thrashing wildly, knocking against you as you try to save it - but suddenly falls to the earth. Its eyes are motionless. You step back. Your eyes are open very wide, the scent of blood invades your mouth and nose. You know at once that the foal is dead – its warm blood drying on your flesh. Father watches you close.>okay, /qst/ - can boy Hippo keep it together? this is essentially a morale check, and will be match or roll under the check. As an Argive prince, his WILL is 4 (better than some commoner adults!). Normally, I would call for two rolls here, but Hippomedon's father is present as a stabilizing influence, so I'll grant a bonus die. >I need THREE rolls of dice+1d20. At least one 4 means Hippomedon keeps his bearings and Father continues...
Rolled 14 (1d20)>>6319178>Father taps you on the shoulder, and speaks further:>>cont - last post will come at 9-10pm tonightHoly shit, dad can speak in greentext? Incredible.>>6319330
Rolled 4 (1d20)>>6319330Cold to teach it this early, but understandable.
>>6319307nice work, now find all the fun tie-ins and other clues scattered through this interlude
Rolled 7 (1d20)>>6319330
>>6319335>>6319344>>6319348>4>Hippo very narrowly escapes flaming out>players have won another clue!Nice work, anons - I’m traveling this weekend, so update timing will be hard to predict. Shooting for at least two more before Monday, which should be enough to wrap up the interlude and resume the quest proper.
>>6318543Is it still possible to register without having to jump through hoops?
>>6319358You already have through this post, you’re within the ~48hr registration window (or close enough).I only set-up the registration thing originally because I was worried that I would get trolled to oblivion by anti-Homer-QM people and that never really happened (although I later kept in place to make samefagging votes arduous, which has worked reasonably well). Ironically I had more to fear from Deianira-stans deluging my threads with an infinite supply of softcore drawings of topless priestesses…
>>6319373>I had more to fear from Deianira-stans deluging my threads with an infinite supply of softcore drawings of topless priestesses…That sounds to me like the opposite of a problem.
>>6319380Some men drown while others desiccate.
You stand there, looking up at Father, and fire licks at the inside of your heart. You feel unsteady on your feet, your head swims, your eyes water. A tear rolls down your cheek, but you stifle your sobs. You look to the bright blue sky, hear the buzzing of insects, smell the copper scent of horseblood in the air. Father is speaking to you calmly:“Peace, Hippomedon – peace. This is a difficult thing – to firm your resolve and act. Strength must be won and held firmly.” Father approaches to kneel, and brings his face to yours – the nose and angular features that you know so well, the faint lines of his forehead only just beginning to reveal middle-age. Dark circles ring under your father’s eyes, marring his face. He says soothing words with his mouth, and places a reassuring hand on your shoulder, but his eyes are flat, and his mouth twists strangely as he speaks. You don’t trust his hands - he watches you, measures you. You resist the urge to sob or run or empty your breakfast onto Father’s sandals, and only just barely manage to do so.After a long minute, your head clears, and Father rises again, seemingly satisfied.“Hippomedon – Horse-Lord - one day, Arion and his sons and grandsons and great-grandsons will all be yours to command - and a crown will rest upon your head.” You are baffled by this - only your uncle King Adrastus has a crown. Will everyone get a crown? He points to the brazen knife, in the dirt, and after a second’s hesitation, you pick it up. Father motions to the servant once more. The black foal seems to sense the danger – it bleats in outrage and terror as the servant drags it closer. Its eyes meet yours, betrayal indelibly pressing the moment into your mind. Your man-self watches from above, powerless to stop the memory, knowing that your Father is in the right. Again, Father helps you hold the knife against the black foal’s throat, even as it bucks and rocks stiffly from side-to-side. It begins to scream – a yowling cry like a baby. Your hands are shaking – your fingers are numb. “Now, Hippomedon!”The blade slashes of its own accord – black blood sprays, and this time, you step back quickly. The foal topples to the ground, and its hooves scrawl wild loops into the earth. You watch as it strains to right itself, wracks its body, tries to hold the wound shut against the dirt.All fruitless efforts – it lies still. Father places a hand on your shoulder, and you turn to him – his eyes search you again, as you grapple with the deed...>okay, /qst/ - another set of THREE dice+1d20 rolls. Hippomedon survived the first morale test here, and the killing of the second foal is less shocking as a result, so I'm assigning a +2 context bonus. So 6 and under is the number to beat.
Rolled 13 (1d20)>>6319490Kingly ambition?
Rolled 2 (1d20)>>6319490
>>6319490>>6319501My ability to roll low has come in clutch.
>>6319501>>6319502>>6319494Well done, anons. I do need another roll to see if child Hippo manages to impress his dad a little
Rolled 18 (1d20)>>6319580
>>6319494Nah dad just believes all men are kings. Sadly, mom believed if he breathes; he's a thot.
>>6319618>all menNot peasants.
>>6319619Well that's cause peasants aren't even people. That's like comparing cows and ducks, man. Be reasonable.
Update tomorrow (probably morning EST).Fun fact: I’ve been reading Apollonius Rhodios’ Argonautika and it’s possible that he wrote a pretty good epic poem when it is was out of style as an elaborate “fuck you” to his poetic mentor. I found this very reassuring since I started QMing out of pure spite myself
>>6319686kek
>>6319686My favorite thing is that super ancient graffiti they found and it was a bunch of crass jokes and dumb bullshit that you see today. It reassures me that likely in the future a thousand years from now there will be more jokes about taking mad shits on their neighbor's porch written on strange futuretech crystal memory sticks or whatever weird crap they make. Humanity truly never changes.
A burning sensation spreads within your chest – like you’re holding your breath. Again, you feel the blade slip from your fingers – the bronze tip lands neatly in the earth, and the knife stands upright. The goals are motionless now - how strange that only a minute ago, they played with you as a friend. Droplets of fresh blood splash into the dirt besides the ruddy bronze. Again, your guts twist and writhe – but you hold back your vomit, only barely. You wince as pain singes your fingertips – somehow, you had cut them as you released the black foal’s lifeblood.Father notices this, and kneels to inspect the cuts – his hands are gentle, but firm.“Ah – the cost of duty, Hippomedon. Even when we are strong, when we are decisive, there will be pain. But we must never relent in the face of discomfort. We have common ground with Adrastus there, at least.”“But you must know, Hippomedon, that even strength, honor, fame and duty is not enough. Others will strip from you what you deserve - smiling thieves will rob you of your birthright before you are even born… The only response can be to tilt the future in our favor – to strike out, no matter the cost. And failure must never be tolerated.”At this last statement, Father turns to the servant – a balding commoner man of middle years. His face is blanched white.“Lasthenes, is it not so that you have betrayed me and my interests?” Father asks. The man coughs and splutters a bit, before responding.“Y-yes, it is so, Prince Aristomachus.” Your man-self stirs in confusion – [i]did this truly come to pass? The the moment with the foals, yes, but I do not recall this interrogation…[/i]“And what the nature of this betrayal?”“I gambled away the wealth and substance of Argos, meant for Athens. I was weak, and the women of Corinth were willing. When it came time to return to Argos, I instead fled to Sicyon.” Your boy-self is confused again – what women?“And what is the justice required for this betrayal?”“To g-go down to the Lord of Many, Prince Aristomachus.”Father turns to you and speaks slowly to you –“Do you see, Hippomedon? This man is deformed in the spirit, and in the mind – not in the flesh. He could not fulfil his duty as a result. His weakness must culled before it can infect others. Bring him the knife.”Your limbs move – you feel nothing as you float over the earth and hand him the blade. The man is weeping silently, still white with terror.“If you have the strength to save your family, Lasthenes, then use it now,” your Father intones calmly.>/qst/, I need your help for these morale rolls – you will be rolling for Lasthenes. I need TWO rolls of dice+1d20. Normally his will is 5 (worse than the average commoner), but there is a significant context bonus of +5 (which may become clearer later). So anyways Lasthenes is trying to roll under a 10 twice.
Rolled 17 (1d20)>>6319872
Rolled 10 (1d20)>>6319872Well he failed already kek
Rolled 6 (1d20)>>6319724
>>6319898>>6319901>17, 10>extremely narrow pass for LasthenesAmazing how the dice conspire for greater drama. Next update (which include a vote) will be tomorrow, probably in the evening EST. We’re making good time and are on schedule!
>>6319903What happened to your old trip?
>>6319903>pass>So anyways Lasthenes is trying to roll under a 10 twice.Hm?
>>6319904Eh now that you mention it, I think I misremembered by my old trip pass (even though I swear I know it by heart…). Should be able to check my original notes and verify by tomorrow morning. I doubt that 4chan changed their trip algorithm but maybe they did after the basedjak hack incident?>>6319906Bad phrasing on my part - morale checks are a “meet or roll below” test. Our guy had a 5 WILL and +5 context bonus = 10 or below morale check.
>>6319912But he still didn't roll ten or below -twice-.
>>6319912>I doubt that 4chan changed their trip algorithm but maybe they did after the basedjak hack incident?They did, because many passwords and tripcodes were exposed.
>>6319927>twiceAh, apologies for being unclear, I just meant that there would be two rolls of dice+1d20, each roll attempt being to match or roll under 10. Bad wording on my part. Anyways I was mostly looking for some direction for the scene and Tyche Αυτοματια has provided it!
Where is hippo's momma anyways? A lake, wetland, or river?
>>6319962Ah I see I see. Yeah with the elaboration I can see it. I kinda misplaced the emphatic portion.
>>6320001Strangely enough, Hippomedon's mother doesn't seem to have come up at all in the source literature, nor has it ever been mentioned in my set of quests or in Homer-QM's original TWQ (as far as I know).I have something planned for this, but it's not an exciting part of Hippomedon's history, I have to say. He knows who she was and why she is not around - it just hasn't come up naturally so far. >>6320208Appreciate your feedback nonetheless, sometimes when I am racing against time to post I fail to express myself clearly.---Writing update now - should be out within the hour.
>>6320631>when I am racing against time to post I fail to express myself clearlyTo be fair this is entirely a linguistic quirk. Some people will read it how you think it, some people will read it how I did. It's not like the phrase itself was incorrect.
With shaking hands, Lasthenes raises the still-bloody knife to his own throat. You scramble backwards to the safety of your Father – your eyes feel like they are bulging out of your skull. The noon sky above is brilliant and cloudless; the stream gently laps against its banks. The foals are still motionless – dolls that have been discarded in the dirt.The dream flickers for a moment – your boy-self is standing in the shallows of the stream, washing the foalblood off his hands and face. Father helps you back onto the banks, passes you a handcloth for drying, and then provides you with honeyed bread. A fragmentary thought from your man-self swells - Yes – this is more familiar, not like before…The dream flickers again. Lasthenes is struggling with the blade – his hands are shaking so much that he is losing his grip, and he is breathing hard, face rolling with sweat, eyes downcast. Father says nothing, as you crowd against his legs. A long minute passes, and then another. Your hands and feet itch, your flesh crawls – even as a boy, you know this to be madness and torture, this indecision. Your mouth is so dry that you cannot speak. You find that you are angry with Lasthenes - why can he not summon his manful dignity?!Lasthenes meets Father’s eye – and there is no resolve, only terror. With a sudden motion, he draws the knife against his throat with both hands. But the cut is ragged, uneven - deeper on the left and barely a scratch on the right. Blood streams down the left side of his neck and bubbles wetly from the gash - Lasthenes is choking. He slides to his knees, attempting to seal the wound shut with his hands...Father kneels besides you, calm and cool, and brings his face close. His breath is foul – like rotting meat.“Boy – he did not have the strength to do his duty properly and suffers for it. His agony will be prolonged, now. A fitting end for a προδότης and a ἐπίορκος – a traitor and oathbreaker.” Your boy-self watches the man struggle, kicking his heels and writhing – another foal in the dirt.Father is content with Lasthenes’ torment – he watches the man with interest. There is a light breeze – your bloody chiton rustles against your flesh. Your hands and feet are frozen in place. You wonder if you should act in some fashion?>here’s the first vote of SATQ #4...>Strength comes from duty fulfilled – pain and dishonor from duty unmet. Let the man suffer and die as Father wishes, and let him be judged by Αἰακός, judge of the dead, when his shade arrives in Tartarus. >Pick up the knife yourself and end Lasthenes’ life swiftly, but not out of mercy. If he has betrayed your father, then he has betrayed you in turn. You deserve your own revenge; honor is stripped from the shoulders of the enemy that you have laid low yourself. WARNING: Will trigger another WILL check.>Something else? Warning: may trigger a check, depending on the write-in.
>>6320656>Pick up the knife yourself and end Lasthenes’ life swiftly, but not out of mercy. If he has betrayed your father, then he has betrayed you in turn. You deserve your own revenge; honor is stripped from the shoulders of the enemy that you have laid low yourself. WARNING: Will trigger another WILL check.Further prove our worthiness as a leader of men.
>>6320656>Strength comes from duty fulfilled murdering>a foul scent - dry excrement, rotting bark, wet scales>His breath is foul – like rotting meatThis is actually a dream from Tisiphone I'm guessing. If only we could talk to Arion
>>6320677Wait a minute. Can we trying calling her out? Even though it might be a bad idea. I'd change to that.
>>6320656>>Pick up the knife yourself and end Lasthenes’ life swiftly, but not out of mercy. If he has betrayed your father, then he has betrayed you in turn. You deserve your own revenge; honor is stripped from the shoulders of the enemy that you have laid low yourself. WARNING: Will trigger another WILL check.>>6318584This is me. The constant bad smell is a little concerning. I wonder if there is a god masquerading as Hippomedon's papa?
>>6320681>>6320771>can you attempt to confront your Father and smoke out the divinity behind this charade?Ding ding ding, you can certainly can! This may trigger a roll but there would be a good bonus. Well done to the insightful anon - your paranoia will serve Hippo well in the future.The vote will close tonight at ~7pm EST, and update shortly afterwards, if all goes well.
>>6320656>Something else? Warning: may trigger a check, depending on the write-in.CALL HER OUT. politely, if possible?
>can you attempt to confront your Father and smoke out the divinity behind this charade?I like to imagine this is why MC doesn’t really worship the Gods. Cause he’s played these games before.
>>6320818Actually most of Hippo’s exposure to the divines has come through the events of this quest. He’s not partly-divine like his children, so he cannot see divinities or easily speak with them. However, he was raised in the hyper-masculine Argive Royal Family and many of these people are extremely confident in their own abilities, very prideful and not terribly devout or faithful people (Melampians like Amphiarus aside). So Hippo is generally skeptical that the gods mean well or deserve his respect (after all, they don’t seem to respect mortals that much, do they?). He hasn’t needed their help to crush the enemies of Argos and doesn’t expect this to change any time soon…
>>6320656>>6320661 is me. I'll change to back >>6320816Great thinking, anon.
Wait, wait - I’ve had a brainwave! I’m implementing a second flash vote that will end at 8pm tonight. Do you trust me, /qst/? Pick one of the two:>Hippo strikes to end these games once and for all. Moderate risk, potentially high reward.>Hippo takes a measured approach, low risk but reduced reward.Choose wisely!
>>6320934>>Hippo takes a measured approach, low risk but reduced reward.Always pays off to be cautious with divinities. Except when it doesn't because they think you being careful is pussy shit, or something.
>>6320934>Hippo takes a measured approach, low risk but reduced reward.
>Hippo strikes to end these games once and for all. Moderate risk, potentially high reward.We ain’t no BITCH!!!
>>6320971>>6320993>>6321020Extending the flash vote to 9pm, update will follow shortly afterwardsDanaans aka lurkers, I summon thee! Arise from the fields and vales of Hellas and lend your mighty voices to this chorus! aka vote, you bastards lol
>>6320934>Hippo takes a measured approach, low risk but reduced reward. not nira
>>6320971>>6320993>>6321020>>6321034>Hippo maintains his prudenceInteresting, I thought for sure you guys would throw caution to the wind here. Update shortly.
As you cower against Father’s legs, clarity washes over you. The scene is surreal, bizarre. A dying man squirms and gurgles in agony; dead foals before you.This is not true. This is a dream.Your man-self is awakening – but you are still within the dream. As a boy, you step lightly to the side, as Father watches the suffering man – just out of his sightline. Clear-headed, you remember that you are Hippomedon, Prince of Argos, and nobody’s fool – you pretend to stumble and sway on your feet in distress as you think. Some part of this dream is real – you remember the foals, yes, but the man is a fiction. And who else but the gods could invade your dreams, twist your memories of Father against you? And who else but the Queen of the Venerable Goddesses, Τισιφονη Σεμναι, would do such a thing? Tisiphone has slithered in your trail since that night in Tegea – will you never be rid of the scaled bitch? Irritation flares into anger beyond reason – will she poison your nights and days, steal your happiness as her whim? Must you watch over your shoulder endlessly for the deceits of this creature? You’ve heard of deities becoming enamored with mortal men, but you doubt that the goddess has interest such as this in you – the Furies are well known to be virginal. And while you don’t doubt that Tisiphone has tormented countless mortal men and send their shades to the Lord of Many below, your innocence is assured – you have committed no treason, no oathbreaking, no fratricide. Your loyalty to Argos and to your family is sacred and inviolate - you are blameless!You have half a mind to simply lay hands on the goddess yourself and shake the truth loose – if Peleus can capture Ἁλοσυδνης Thetis and subdue her for his own purposes, why can you not do the same to Tisiphone? It’s been remarked by some of the elders of Argos that Capaneus and yourself might have been able to match Peleus and Pollux in their respective primes, had you joined them on the Argo a generation ago…But you put aside such foolishness - men who challenge the gods are inevitably punished. Only Heracles himself could consistently challenge the gods and survive – and even then, suffered greatly for his ego. You have no desire to repeat his mistakes. You decide to put an end to this play – but with control, not with savagery. As certainty rises in your mind, the boy-prince vanishes and is replaced by the man. Before the goddess can notice, you kneel, turning towards Her, lowering your eyes, and booming out with your voice of command:“Πραξιδικαι Tisiphone – Hippomedon of Argos greets you! What message do you bring from the gods?”>cont
Lasthenes’ gurgling and retching suddenly comes to a halt – from the corner of your eye, you see that he simply vanishes from sight. Father stiffens in surprise, and turns to you, standing – She wears your Father’s skin still. Before She can speak, there is melodious laughter, and then a pleasing male voice from the empty air, like a brazen bell:“What foolishness this has been, Sister! I design the dream to your wishes, and still the prince punctures your chicanery! How many times has he done this before, I wonder? Tell me the truth!” and then more laughter.You freeze in disbelief – Tisiphone mocked before your very eyes! By the words, you guess that he is one of the Ονειροι – one of the gods tasked with the delivery of dreams to mortal men. She glares in rage at the empty air, over your left shoulder – clearly, Tisiphone can see one of her own kind, even if you cannot, and hisses imperiously in return:”Silence! I have been tasked by Zeus Βασιλευς himself!" You are frozen with your head lowered, eyes on your father’s sandaled feet – but in a flash, more ridiculing repartee from the unseen god: ”Oh – now it is silence that you wish? Well, what do you have to offer? Speak at once - the price of my silence rises with every moment! This tale is worth quite a bit on Olympus!””Barter later - begone now!" Tisiphone screeches through your Father’s clenched jaw – the sound of glass shattering on stone. After a few moments, there is no response from the empty air – you dare a longer glance at the goddess. Tisiphone audibly takes a deep breath, eyes closed, still wearing your Father’s skin – and you are startled to see… embarrassment?! written on his face. A thing you never saw in life, you are certain - your father was not capable of embarrassment, as far as you know. Your eyes flash back to the earth before you risk discovery -You have inadvertently led to Tisiphone to shaming and mocking by a god! You aren’t sure how to react and so you do not – you pretend to have heard nothing, head bowed, and wait for the goddess’ word. After a few more moments, you hear Her speak, Her words tumbling too swiftly:”Arise, prince.” Standing, you keep your eyes on your Father's feet – meeting Her gaze is not a mistake you wish to repeat.”I bring word from Olympus. Preserve the life and limbs of Hyperbius of Thebes, during the Oetian Games. Do this and you do the will of Zeus.” Somehow, you get the distinct impression that Tisiphone is flustered...“Yes, goddess," is your simple reply.”And Hippomedon – tell no one of this dream. Do this, and I... I shall be pleased.”"I swear that I will no one of this dream, deity or man alike," you add quickly."Then awaken, Hippomedon, and serve the will of the gods.">Tisiphone Bond - 2 / ?
Next update tomorrow evening - well done anons. Insightful anons may well start piecing things together - there have been enough clues. If not, don’t be alarmed - the big reveal is coming soon enough (nearly two years in the making!)
>>6321055Haha, get rekt snakeshitter! But also, damn, now we can't kill the Theban.
>>6321066>now we can't kill the ThebanThere are many and more ways a smart prince of Argos can neutralise a theban prince, without resorting to murder or mutilation. His followers, his horses, his chariot, his arms and armour. These are just the material things one could remove from the board. His reputation and standing, the trust of his friends, family, lovers and countrymen, these too could be targeted, not even mentioning a scheme to involve the gods in his affairs (though that may be folly).If we truly want it, he can do it for nothing is impossible for Hippomedon, Aegis of Argos
>>6321057Aristomachus tried usurping Adrastus' throne because of all the abuse leading to him being killed covertly. Tis gets interested because of the attempted oath breaking and kinslaying. The uncles are sad because they murdered their brother. Adrastus inflicts more injustices onto the son such as trying to make him break his marriage oaths...which is incredibly impious considering the patron deity of Argos is Hera, the goddess of marriage.>>6321066Just get a discus competition going. It's worked before.
>>6321055>don't kill hyper bumfuck>in fact, make sure he survives unspoiled>mfwThis dumb fucking snake I FUUUUCK shit bitch. I wish to force this creature to become the ouroboros. Stuff her head up her own ass. The gods ruin everything, man. Take all our fun away.
>>6321101As the other anon said, his life and limbs must be intact. Nothing about jacking his ride and gear. In fact, one could argue that doing so would further preserve his life by keeping him out of play for longer.
>>6321389The problem I see is if we fuck with him and he decides to press the issue and force our hand. Otherwise I am 100% down to take exactly one of his chariot wheels. So he looks like a bum playing at being rich with a salvaged chariot when he inevitably gets a replacement here. I guess it's a matter of opportunity.
Your eyes open, and it is morning in Trachis. Your bed is peaceful - you are reassured to find that you possess your heavily-muscled frame once more, and not the frail form of a boy. You take several minutes to find your bearings, and steady your mind. You dress yourself in the gear that fat Eurykratides had provided you at the start of the Oetian Games – lion’s hide and club. You resolve to put the events of the dream behind you as best as you can, barring the order of Tisiphone to preserve the wellbeing of Hyperbius. Seers of all the great cities tie themselves in knots attempting to discern the rationale behind the gods’ behavior, and are no better off for it. Better to forget it entirely, if you can. You must clear your head and put aside the distracting riddles of the divines until you have time to puzzle over them at some future point - today, you and the other five competitors will meet the challenge of the “Cretan Bulls”!Given that Eurkyratides has had twelve years to plan these games, you rather expect that each challenge will mount in complexity and showmanship, all the better to drive up his own fame and popularity. After all, building the wealth and prestige of the Trachian king is the true goal of the Games, you expect, despite the ostensible purpose of pleasing Heracles Προμαχος. As you find your way through the shabby halls of the Trachian Royal Palace, you wonder if you had misjudged the portly king entirely – you had initially conceived him to be an idiot, out of his depth, putting on a tournament that he could not actually arrange to completion. But as you turn into the entrance hall, you are immediately mobbed by servants, slaves, guests of all kinds, and among the chattering crowd, noblemen and noblewomen alike. You recognize none of these last, but their number alone suggests that the Oetian Games must be a smashing success - Eurykratides’ vault is no doubt filling to the absolute brim with guest-gifts! A clever king retains the choicest of these for his own collection and distributes the remainder to new arrivals in turn.It seems you had slumbered somewhat later than expected, and this was the source of some consternation, although none had yet dared to disturb your rest. You are quickly bustled outside to Eurykratides’ stables, as adulating men and lusting women scream for your attentions. In a few minutes more, you are riding in your own chariot, pulled by four sons of Arion – Surf, Tide, Bounty and Plenty, and Eurykratides himself joins you in the car. You ride from Trachis down the slopes of the hills to the Malian Gulf - the waves sparkle on the horizon in the clear morning light. The roads are swamped with travelers, vagrants, Achaeans, Danaans, Hellenes, Malians and once, you think you even spot a half-civilized Thessalian, dressed in out-of-fashion robes. Your chariot can only make swift progress due to an advance team of horsemen who beat aside the road-weary with clubs and spear-butts.
The mole-like sovereign, after some customary greeting, begins to launch excitedly into a review of today’s event – the other competitors are already waiting for you. He is sweating profusely and speaking – no, shouting – over the sound of chariot wheels and hoofbeats, but speaks efficiently – no theatrics now:“As you might remember, decades ago, King Minos of Crete had been gifted a divine bull, brilliant white, that had once been property of Poseidon Πελαγαιος. Poseidon later requested that the Cretan bull be sacrificed in his honor, and King Minos instead attempted to deceive the Earth-Shaker by hiding it amongst the lesser beasts of his royal herd. In retribution, Poseidon cursed the bull with raging madness, and the creature set about destroying Crete. King Minos, despite summoning up the best of his kingdom, could not restrain the beast, and despondent, let it run wild. King Eurystheus of Athens learned of this, and interested in seeing the bull’s might for himself, challenged Heracles to capture the beast and bring it back alive to Athens for his review.”This tale, of course, you know very well, being the Seventh of Heracles’ Labors – but you don’t interrupt your kingly host as he speaks – this would be rude. As he speaks, you find that you’re grateful for your extreme height – the Trachian is emitting a constant spray of spittle as he yells up to you, and were you shorter, it would be your face getting covered, rather than the oiled iron chain-mail of your armor.“Today’s challenge comes in three parts, Lord Hippomedon, and the final goal, of course, is to transport a mighty bull to the finish line. The first task is simple – wrangle one of my mighty cattle into a reinforced cart, and drive the cart to the sea – a distance of ten stadia. You race against your peers to do so, for there are only four carts. The slowest two competitors will be out of the competition.” “The second task is again simple – wheel the cart into the boat, and row the boat across a shallow stretch of the Malian Gulf. Importantly – there are only three boats.” At this point, there is a pregnant pause - you sense that Eurykratides is leaving something important out. Before you can press the king, he continues:“Finally, you must make landing on the opposite beach, and drive your cart through the “Gates of Athens” and on to the victor’s platform. As you might have surmised – the bull must be living for the victor’s laurels to be awarded.”You consider - a test of one's strength and endurance, to be certain. A finely-bred bull might weigh more than twenty commoners - but it is much easier to go down-hill with such a weight, and easier still to row such heavy things on the water. But the final portion of the challenge - pushing the beast and cage back UP the beach and through the "Gates of Athens" - this should be the true test.
>Whoops, ran out of time lads>Next update tomorrow night EST - we should be able to start the competition proper then>See you tomorrow, get hyped for the BULLBOWL!
>>6321501I invoke the curse of SHIT DICE on Hyperbius and seek his rout from the tournament. So we don't have to worry about him getting disemboweled by a swan or something.
Rolled 1, 8, 6 = 15 (3d20)>>6321503Swan rolls.
>Heracles stole Asterion the Minotaur's dad, then Theseus killed himHuh, I somehow never put together that these were all the same magic bovid.>>6321501Looking forward to it!
>>6321505Thank goodness, it's just a regular and typical swan. You never know when you're gonna come across a mythical dire swan.
>>6321507>mythical dire swanThose are over in Solarpunk Cleanup Agent right now.
>>6321509Those poor bastards.
The ride continues for several more minutes, and your pace increases as you descend from the hills surrounding Trachis. Cresting over a ridgeline, you are greeted with an unimpeded view of the Malian Gulf. This part of Hellas is thickly settled, despite its political strife – fields and farms stretch out almost to the edge of the shallow ocean. The waters are a bright and lazy blue, and hardly deeper than a river. You let Eurykratides babble on about this and that, saying little of note of yourself, until you realize that the man has started to poke and prod at Argive matters. He asks no outright question of you, but poses half-rhetorical questions to the rushing morning air – “Ah, but I wonder what Tydeus of Calydon might think of this tournament?” and “Hmm, your cousin Capaneus might able to smash a battalion in his own right, presuming that he is of the mind to do so!” Clearly, he hopes to bait you into conversation. You simply grunt in response – the Trachian is no Odysseus, and is of a much lower standing than yourself, despite your respective titles. You can simply ignore these fitful interrogations and Eurykratides eventually falls into silence. As you draw closer to the beach, you see that Eurykratides has assembled a circular, fenced arena – perhaps two stades in diameter – with a very large number of spectator stands ringing it. Your eyesight is akin to an eagle’s, so you can easily make out that there are four, large reinforced carts that have been joined to the north side of the fencing, with their doors held upright by heavy joists. These will be cast aside when the time comes, slamming the heavy door shut, and jailing a captive bull within. On the south side of the arena, you note that there are seven gates, currently shut, built into the fencing, and directly above, multi-layer stands for the crowd. You intuit that the cattle will burst from these closed gates when the time comes and are no doubt being whipped into a frenzy at this very moment. The crowd notices your arrival, of course, as you draw near – huge waves of screaming, shouting and applause buffet your eardrums. The familiar rush rises within your breast, and you raise a mighty fist to the air, roaring your greeting in return! Is there anything sweeter than the acclaim of men?! κλέος– it is your breath and blood! You vault the fencing easily and make your way to the center of the arena. At first, you hardly notice your fellow competitors in the area as you bathe in the worship of common Danaans – but after a minute, you turn to them:>cont
The Sardinian giants, sons of Heracles himself, Nicodromus and Halocrates, blonde and smiling. They have their father's appearance and build, but you have found them pleasant and civilized - very much unlike their progenitor! They nod at you amiably, wishing you well, and you do the same. In the last competition, they had to work against one another, but will they again?Dadaces, a Cycladian of low nobility (hardly more than a shepherd) and short height, but of great sportsmanship – he paces a bit anxiously, stretching his phenomenal shoulders and arms, as he does so. He hails you squarely and without shame – you hail him with respect in turn.Hyperbius, the Theban, glowers in your direction while playing to the crowd – he is young, brash, foolish, and – gods damn it, your responsibility. At least a man’s thoughts are his own – curse that scaled bitch to Tartarus! you think.Finally, the foreigner Faibokranef, whose forefathers had their hides blackened from Phaëthon’s doomed ride over Libya, Aegypt and Aithiopia. You have been charmed by the man, despite his difficulties in speaking Zeus’ Hellenika. His scarred shoulders and wiry frame are capable of greater feats of strength than you had imagined.The crowd is simply too loud to make speaking to your fellow athletes possible, so when Eurykratides stands atop a platform in the stands, begins his opening benediction to the masses, you all turn to his attention. It is a thankfully brief address - Eurykratides repeats the general structure of today's event, but his final comment catches you off-guard -"AND TO OUR COMPETITORS, I ASK THAT YOU SEEK OUT THE WISDOM OF HERACLES Λύσανδρος AS YOU STRAIN AGAINST YOUR FELLOWS!"Strange - "liberator of men" is not a name commonly given to Heracles. As you frown, you see Hyperbius grinning blackly. Heracles was famed as the victor of many competitions, but often killed his opponents in the process of doing so. You grasp the king's euphemism and groan - Eurykratides suggests blood-shed between the competitors! The crowd doesn't grasp the implications, and the cheers fade away in confusion - but then, unseen horns blast a brief note - "Prepare yourself!"You have only a moment to react ->your strat, /qst/? Vote closes at 10pm EST tomorrow.>Focus all of your efforts on capturing a bull as soon as possible, and wrangling it into a cage. Your best move to simply flee the arena at all haste.>Attack one of your competitors at the earliest opportunity in order to remove them from the event - PLEASE SELECT TARGET AS WELL. The Heraclean clubs deal 1d4 "stun damage", but accidents can and do happen, especially when these clubs are wielded by men with semi-divine strength.>Attempt to team up with a fellow competitor to defend against any onrushers and capture a bull as swiftly as possible. Teamwork is an uncertain thing - you move as quickly as your partner, and may even be betrayed later.
>>6322040>>Focus all of your efforts on capturing a bull as soon as possible, and wrangling it into a cage. Your best move to simply flee the arena at all haste.If we move quickly enough then that dipshit Hypnobumpkin won't even have the chance to accost us. And I'm sure only one of the Heraclid twins would be able to actually stop Hypodermicbuttfuck in a physical confrontation and they'll both probably be working together this round.
>>6322040>Attempt to team up with FaibokranefBIG men with BIG feelings.
>>6322040>Attempt to team up with a fellow competitor to defend against any onrushers and capture a bull as swiftly as possible. Teamwork is an uncertain thing - you move as quickly as your partner, and may even be betrayed later.Whatever happens, Hyperbius must be protected, sadly. Perhaps we should explain noe that, while we do not care for it, it is Zeus' own will that we work together for now? We need not break any oaths by specifying which goddess shatred thsi or how.m -- it just was revealed in a dream.
>>6322153>tell guy who absolutely wants to bash our brains in he has to survive and be okay>assume he won't immediately leverage that by attacking us since we can't fuck him upAm I being paranoid? I feel like if Hyperbius is an absolute cock gobbler he'd pull some shit like that. Especially if he gets it in his head that the gods have ordained his wellbeing.
Can we just chokehold Hyp and knock him out for a couple minutes so he misses his chance for cattle preserving his life and limbs? Or just throw a rock at his cattle/boat?
>>6322158We also want to win the contests so we can ensure we get our dad's shield back. I do wonder if sinking any boats would be allowed though. It would be unsportsmanlike so I don't know if it would fly. Or killing the cattle. Of course, that doesn't stop us from doing it the first time to get browbeaten by the fat little king. Which would probably be a kleos hit, if we're being honest. Getting a dressing down from a small man of objectively lower social status than you and him being in the right for it so you have to just take it because you've also sworn not to turn him into paste? Talk about the perfect storm. Come to think of it, with how pissed off these bulls are gonna be when they get let out, they might just charge and try to gore everyone in front of them, which would complicate things if we did try to fight Hypiebonk and a bull tried to impale us mid scuffle.
>>6322047>>6322153>>6322155>>6322167You guys are basically all thinking about this correctly, lots of competing priorities here.>>6322158>can you accost one of the other competitors right now to prevent them from being more seriously injured later? Absolutely, yes - the phrasing of Tisiphone's request matters. She wants you to preserve Hyperbius' life, as well as physical and mental capabilities. She didn't exactly say that you can't lay hands on him...In fact, there's at least one clever solution to the Hyperbius problem that Hippo could deploy RIGHT NOW, but I don't think any anon has thought of it yet.
>>6322193>there's at least one clever solutionBreak his cart, such as the door or wheels or handles? Though that may lose Hippomedon his advantage.Tough decisions so far, for now I will go with>Focus all of your efforts on capturing a bull as soon as possible, and wrangling it into a cage. Your best move to simply flee the arena at all haste.>>6318584This is me.
>>6322197>sabotage competitor’s equipmentThat’s not exactly what I had in mind but could be done as well. By the way, other competitors might have the same idea…
>>6322193>solutionCan Hippomedon throw his club at him? We don’t seem to have changed clothes so maybe a stunner?
>>6322205>can you huck your club at Hyperdick’s headKek, yes, and Hippo would automatically throw at half-STR bonus. I’d have to assign a small risk of permanent damage, you’d temporarily disarm yourself in the process, and of course, now you’ve rendered Hyperdick unconscious in an arena with stampeding bulls, so what to do then?>what about Argive stunners?Everyone has their Heracles cosplay gear on, so these stunners are in Hippo’s chariot. The rules of sportsmanship are obviously extremely loose in this era but it’s expected that Hippo et al only use the provided gear, would be cheating to bring your own gear in
>>6322213>wat do?Steal his club and get protective bull clubbing. Or throw his club at another competitor and just punch oncoming bulls.Would we get advantage for the throw or is Hyp paranoid enough to see it coming?Anyways that’s my vote. Should take him out for the whole tournament if successful.
Thinking on it. Hippomedon is strong enough that he could stand a good chance of just quickly beating the shit out of all the others in this bull arena. Certainly wouldn’t win friends.
>>6322219>advantage to throw?You don’t really need it, it would be very unlikely for Hippo to blow it at this close range. >take him out for the full tourneyPossible but these guys do have borderline superhuman constitution, so more likely that you concuss him for a lasting INT debuff a la Nikon.>>6322221>Can Hippo go hogwild and start fucking everyone upYes, but even Hippo might not want to start a 4v1 wrestling match while getting charged by bulls. Even if this works out for him, consider that he will be Enemy No 1 for the remaining events…
>>6322155This is why I would phrase it as "Zeus wants us to work together" not "I am not allowed to hurt you."
>>6322193>In fact, there's at least one clever solution to the Hyperbius problem that Hippo could deploy RIGHT NOW, but I don't think any anon has thought of it yet.Bully the little king into telling Hypebeast he has to leave?
Vote count with ~8 hours to goBullrush>>6322047>>6322197Team up with Hyperdick>>6322153Attack Hyperdick with thrown club>>6322219—Get those votes in, lurkers. Six lines of Homeric poetry OR a spicy LBA meme is enough to buy entrance to the best quest on /qst/ just meming, I don’t hold a candle to the greats like ForgottenQM, Homer-QM, etc. I’m just a poser!
>>6322253Yeah that's fair. I probably glossed over that in my shadowrunning.
>>6322310>>Focus all of your efforts on capturing a bull as soon as possible, and wrangling it into a cage. Your best move to simply flee the arena at all haste.You are knowledgeable and loyal qm.
>>6322040>>Focus all of your efforts on capturing a bull as soon as possible, and wrangling it into a cage. Your best move to simply flee the arena at all haste.Hyperbius is also a gigachad so he'll be fine. We can slow him down later when we're not at risk of being trampled by a literal bull.
Rolled 3, 8, 4, 14, 9, 1, 20, 17, 6, 4, 1, 15 = 102 (12d20)Alright, Hippo is locked on the sigma grindset here. However, my autism has demanded that I produce a map so that everyone has a clear sense of the events (since it could get messy). I will also roll some dice to determine starting locations for competitors, since it might be relevant later. See map. Position 1: lowestPosition 2: 2nd lowestPosition 3: 3rd lowestetc Hippo: 1,2 rollsDadaces: 3,4 rollsFai: 5,6 rollsHyp: 7,8 rollsHalo: 9, 10 rollsNico: 11, 12 rolls
>>6322458Hippo: 11Dad: 18Fai: 10Hyp: 37Halo: 10Nico: 16I'll put Halo and Nico together since it wouldn't make sense for the twins to be standing far apart anyways... See revised map.Please note that:>Blue Triangle H is Hippo>Yellow Triangle H is Halocrates>Red Triangle H is Hyperbius
Rolled 4, 1, 6, 5, 1, 6, 6 = 29 (7d6)>>6322462Finally, I'll be rolling for directionality of the charging bulls - this is mostly for flavor...
>>6322463>three bulls heading for hyperbiusShit.
Rolled 16 + 3 (1d20 + 3)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JzDCFfbenA&list=RD41qC3w3UUkU&index=2optional musical element, trust meConfidence blooms in your chest. You were born for this - born for this moment. These other men are lesser creatures - you pity their ignorance, their foolishness, their weakness. Only the men of Argos are capable of true greatness; only the men of Argos are beloved by Hera Αργεια! You will have to educate these poor fools..."MEN OF TRACHIS - I AM HIPPOMEDON OF ARGOS - MEET ME ON THE VICTOR'S BEACH!The cry shreds your throat, but you care not, for the horns are already sounding – a long, drawn out blast like thunder, like bronze on bronze, like the gates of Thebes crashing to the earth. The cattle-gates before you snap up violently, and your quarry emerge from the darkness.As when a howling gale approaches the rocky coast, and the wine-dark waves swell and rise, first battering against the cliff sides and the outcrops, before finding their way into a rocky inlet, drawing their strength from the hidden deeps, and giving chase to one another, vaulting over the slick boulders embedded in the sand, growing frothy white with salt spray as they leap one another to crest the next stone, each wave shouldering another aside to make its own headlong dash against the coast – in this fashion, so did the white cattle of Eurykratides burst forth from their gates. Seven prime beasts in the strength of their youth – long-horned, thick with muscle and fat, they crash onto the sand, spraying blood (for their hides have been marked with whips) and breathing hot fumes of frenzy. You tense; light on your feet, you grip your club. The sounds of the crowd fade to nothing – your mind clears. The cattle break and shift unpredictably – but their instinct, even maddened, is to run together. The far left two of the mighty beasts immediately break to their right, and begin to run against the far fencing. Hyperbius wastes no time – one of the beasts is approaching and he sets off after it, club in hand. Dadaces, too – he lumbers heavily into a sprint, tacking to meet the second of these. The bull from the central gate tacks to its right as well, but seeing an opening, you charge it yourself! Your strides lengthen, in only a few seconds, you will catch it! You spare a glance over your right shoulder – the Sardinian twins move to capture a beast in tandem, and beyond them, Faibokraf lopes to meet the last. An extra set of bulls careen wildly towards one another as the exit their gates – they are on a path to collision! As you draw within ten paces, your prey catches sight of you and jolts in alarm – now is the true test!>okay, /qst/ - give me a dice+1d20+6 for Hippomedon’s initiative>I’m rolling for the bull – it has a +3 AGI bonus in total (+1 base, +2 temporary whipping bonus)>We’ll handle the rest of the competitors once Hippo’s section is done.
Rolled 18 + 6 (1d20 + 6)>>6322478
Rolled 17, 12, 3, 19, 11, 10 = 72 (6d20)>>6322479kek, based. BATTER UP I need THREE ROLLS of dice+2d20 to determine Hippo's to-hit and wound. He will be attempting to crack this bull's skull in a HW,HW,HW format. I'll be rolling for the bull in the typical NPC DDD,BBB format.Hippo will be rolling with a mighty +9 to-hit (I'm pretty sure, although as I look back to the thread 1 duel with Adrastus, I gave him a +11 bonus at the time, and I can't recall why, something to do with the style bonus against a human combatant? anyways, that particular encounter wouldn't have changed even if Hippo had been given a +9 bonus...), and terrifying +14 to wound. The cow will be rolling to defend with a +3 dodge bonus, and +6 natural con bonus. Importantly, these cattle are much sturdier than mortal men, and their wound pool is 1.5x. So the cattle have 28 wounds total if I'm doing my math right.
>>6322486Correction, I think Hippo has a +12 STR bonus and an additional +3 wound bonus between his combat traits - so actually a +15 wound bonus, I think.
Rolled 16, 19 = 35 (2d20)>>6322486Moo>>6322310You’re number 1 QM in my books! Though I think you may have a dice addiction
Rolled 12, 5 = 17 (2d20)>>6322486Who'd have thought cows were so strong?>>6322488Nice.
Rolled 5, 7 = 12 (2d20)>>6322486
14*1.5=21?
Rolled 16, 10, 1, 7, 7, 14, 7, 17, 17, 18, 7, 11 = 132 (12d20)>>6322486>>6322488>>6322494>>6322496>Hippo rolls a 25,34 vs 20,25>solid contact! I need a dice+1d4+14 to determine wounds! --->>6322503Erm, that's right, the cattle have 21 wounds apiece.>>6322488>dice addictionCould be true but I'm very motivated to make sure that the quest is "fair" and not overly biased by QM bullshit. Lots of the "fun" surprises of the quest have come from Tyche's direction. ---I'm also going to take a moment to roll for cattle initiative and competitor initiative here. dice 1-6 - these are the remaining cattle initiatives at a +3 bonus, from Gate 1 to Gate 7dice 7-12 - Fai (+6), Nico (+1), Halo (+1), Hyper (+4), Dadaces (+2)Again, some of the competitors could feasibly die here. The cattle randomly pick between headbutts (1d2), hooves (1d3) and horn attacks (1d4) and their STR means that they'd deliver some hurting for sure.
Rolled 1 + 14 (1d4 + 14)>>6322600+15
Rolled 4 + 14 (1d4 + 14)>>6322600
>>6322600>Gate 1 Bull vs Nico (and then Halo): 19, 18, 18 - bull attacks Nico, Halo attacks bull>Gate 2 Bull vs Fai: 13, 13 - tie goes to Fai>Gate 3 Bull vs Gate 5 Bull: 4, 10 - bull 5 attacks bull 3 >Gate 6 Bull vs Hyper: 10, 22 - Hyper attacks bull 6 - we have a race with Hippo here!>Gate 7 Bull vs Dadaces: 17 vs 7 - Dadaces has a special plan which is delayed...>there's an extra 11 at the end I will discard>feel free to check my math, I haven't become any better at juggling all these numbers despite my lust for rollingI'll do some additional rolling over the course of the day to dictate the outcomes of these minor conflicts and then will write up the update for tonight.There will be considerably less rolling (maybe) once the fields have winnowed and the bulls are packaged up...
>>6322604>Hippo's Bull takes 15 wounds!>Hippo's Bull is now at 6/21 wounds - this correlates to a -6 wound debuff under Homer's system. Bull is now very sleepy and much easier to push and pull...>I'll dictate that Hippo will automatically succeed his grappling attempt against the bull given the significant mismatch between his bonii and the bull's malii>If Hyper is also successful in his attempt, there will be a STR+AGI contest to determine who stows their bull away first.
Rolled 13, 10, 6, 17, 3, 13, 14, 9, 15, 17, 12, 3, 16 = 148 (13d20)there's a bit of rolling to do here...>Gate 1 Bull attacks NicoSo that's BTHx3,BWx3 and then NDx3,NBx3Bull TH - +3 bonusBull Wound = +6 bonusNico Dodge = +1 bonusNico Block = +9 bonus (+8 Con, plus +1 heracles costume bonusLast die is to determine horn (1-8) vs headbutt (9-14) vs hooves (15-20)
Rolled 10, 15, 1, 13, 20, 11, 7, 9, 18, 4, 11, 13 = 132 (12d20)Bull vs Nico, Halo Resolution>16, 23 vs 16, 25 - bull attack fails, Halo countersRolling for Halo's club counter-attack - bulls are "unflankable" so he gets no flanking bonus.HTHx3, HWx3 vs BDx3, BBx3Nico To-Hit = +1 bonusNico Wound = +10 bonus (pure strength, no skill bonus!)Bull Dodge = +3Bull Block = +6
>>6322828Kek, so amusing, the twins sort of blow it on the counter - Halocrates takes a home run swing and misses, while Nico basically tanks a bull charge. So the twins are still struggling with the bull at the end of Phase 1. Will do the rest later tonight.
>>6322834If the two progeny of Heracles manage to get eliminated on this trial I will cry laughing.
Rolled 12, 18, 18, 10, 6, 20, 20, 20, 3, 4, 6, 12 = 149 (12d20)>>6322924Very possible, these guys have been mostly dicking around in Sardinia for twenty years and are still level 2, they don’t have much to show for their age. Heracles the god and his Hellenic offspring (discounting the Dorian branch) are not terribly ambitious people…Don’t sleep on Faibokranef, by the way, he’s older than he looks…It occurs to me that I should give Nico a chance to counter-attack to finish his phase, rolling for that now…NTHx3, NWx3, BDx3, BBx3 - all with same modifiers
>>6322941>20, 20, 20,What the fuck. And double 18s? Why don't you go gamble you rat bastard lmao
>>6322956Kek, this bull is a slippery one, he dodges the Nico counter as well. The twins are well on their way to a freakout
Rolled 6, 19, 15, 4, 15, 15, 11, 6, 18, 4, 10, 20, 11 = 154 (13d20)Alright, I lost some time tonight wrestling with a logistical challenge, but having solved that, can at least finish the rolling for Phase 1. >Fai attacks Gate 2 bull FTHx3, FWx3, BDx3, BBx3presuming Fai connects, also rolling a d20 for damage and dividing by 4.Fai has a +8 to-hit (and he really misses his old khopesh at the moment), and a +5 to woundBull has a +3 dodgeBull has a +6 block
Rolled 12, 16, 3, 16, 8, 9, 14, 16, 19, 4, 2, 10, 9, 12 = 150 (14d20)>>6323084>27, 20 vs 21, 26 - Fai hits squarely but the bull DGAFBull counters! 13th die is for horn vs headbutt vs hooves, 14th die for damage...
Rolled 6, 14, 12, 7, 10, 17, 16, 11, 13, 11, 1, 19, 5, 17 = 159 (14d20)>>6323085>19, 24 vs 27, 14>last two mostly irrelevant since Fai dodges the headbutt Another washout - a shame, I was rooting for Fai.Now, bull on bull conflict as Gate 3 and Gate 5 collide. We'll skip the initiative roll since it doesn't matter, really, and go right to combat resolution, mostly to see if one of the bulls is damaged. Last two die dictates type of attack and damage by aggressor.
Rolled 20, 9, 7, 16, 2, 13, 6, 18, 3, 6, 18, 7, 12, 15 = 152 (14d20)>>6323090>17,23 vs 19,25 - aggressor fails, victim counters...
Rolled 11, 7, 4, 9, 16, 19, 8, 11, 1, 20, 10, 17 = 133 (12d20)>>6323091>23, 22 vs 21, 24 - another washout, victim bull strikes fail>these two bulls separate...Now for Hyper's rolls against Bull 6...Hyper To-Hit = +6Hyper Wound = +10Bull Dodge = +3Bull Block = +6
Rolled 2 + 10 (1d4 + 10)>>6323093>17, 29 vs 14, 26 - Hyper success!!!>rolling a dice+1d4+10 for damage This will trigger a "sprint" phase between Hippo and Hyper in the next update...
Rolled 4, 4 = 8 (2d4)One final roll to dictate directionality of Gate 3 and 5 Bulls after their collision to conclude Phase 1...I'll write up a chunky update for tomorrow, thanks for everyone's patience. The crunch will likely start reducing quickly as competitors (both men and bulls) fall out of the event or out of Hippomedon's attention.
>>6323098Do you think we’ll reach the nemean games this thread?
>>632321730-50% chance, we have a couple big scenes in this thread to tackle once the tournament is over (which might take another 2 weeks or so), then a major timeskip, and then some other business to tackle before we hit Book 3-5 proper of the Thebaid.But I don’t plan to take nine month gap between thread #4 and #5 so I am really pushing to finish this quest by summer 2026…
The bull you dart towards is white – the color of fresh cream, handsome and wide-browed. But its hide has been marked with cruel lashes, and rivulets of blood now wick over its body, crimson streaking its sides and gathering in the folds of its flesh. Its dark eyes are wide open, frantic and rolling, as it takes in the screaming crowd – one of these locks at you, and its hooves flash. It tacks toward you, bringing its left horn to bear! In the three or four years of its short life, it has learned that men flee its charge, fear its bellowing power – its rippling muscle and thick fat give well-deserved confidence.But the beast does not know you – does not know your fame - does not know that hail from the greatest line of Hellenes in all of the Aegean - twice are Argives are descended from Zeus! It does not know that countless hours in the training yard have brought you power too – and your mighty hands grip a club that will serve you well enough.As the beast turns in towards your chest, you twist violently from right to left, bringing the head of the club around in a great wheel. Of course, your timing is perfect, effortless – the clubhead smashes violently into the beast’s left temple just before it makes contact with you – the dull thud of wood on solid bone is your reward. You let the momentum of the strike rotate you as the bull misses its footing, dips suddenly towards the sands of the area; you leave the club-handle in your left hand as the strike finishes. The long left-horn of the beast begins to sweep against your right side, and so you drive viciously against the earth with your left sandal and place your right hand on its shoulder, vaulting high over the bull’s back, and tucking in your right leg as you soar.You don’t quite leap the beast entirely – your sandals drag across the beast’s broad back, and you reach down with your right hand to brace against the bull’s spine as you fall upon it. In the end, you actually ride the bull as it crashes like a great oak, scoring the sand as it slides for several strides. The crowd erupts in celebration – cries of “ARGOS!” and “HIPPOMEDON” are volleyed like arrows from on high. The beast is insensate, motionless; the action has flipped your orientation, and you now have an excellent view of the whole arena. You’re caught off guard as a set of bulls streak just before you – they bash and jostle one another like fighting brothers as they run side-by-side to your right.>cont
Rolled 7, 10, 4, 11, 13, 15 = 60 (6d20)You spare a glance to your competitors. To your far right, Dadaces runs after his bull, but is too slow to approach – the man is heavy-footed and can only chase after it as it runs along the far fencing towards the empty cages.Hyperbius, the Theban, manages a feat similar to your own – he cracks his bull’s skull from above with a violent chop as it attempts to gore him. You watch his form carefully – a graceful and smooth motion, and he does not react with surprise as the beast stumbles and falls, although he only narrows avoids having his legs crushed by the disoriented steer. The man is a trained soldier and has great strength in his own right. You scowl – he is a threat to you after all, not some flower to shelter. Damn the gods, you think. The brotherly bulls race past Hyperbius as well, now charging against the far fence. To your left, the Sardinian twins, Nicodromus and Halocrates, struggle violently to no avail. Their bull is truly mad with rage, completely unpredictable, thrashing bizarrely as Nicodromus simply catches his bull by the horns, grinding it to a halt. Halocrates comes in with his club, but handles it like an enormous children – a wild swing that misses the beast entirely and nearly causes Halocrates to fall himself.To the far left, the Aegyptian makes his own play - with surprising fluidity, he makes a daring one-handed strike against his own bull as he sprints alongside it, but the beast’s skull is too thick – it simply shakes off the strike as it continues to run. Still, you revise your opinion of the man once more – you suspect that he is no stranger to armed conflict. The bull below you begins to stir - you quickly slide off, stash your club within your belt, and take position. Given your stature and armspan, you can simply stand at the beast's shoulder, and grip each horn-base with your hands. By sheer force, you'll be able to drive the creature into an empty cage, especially while dazed...>The Bull previously took 15 wounds from a full-power strike from Hippo, translating to a significant -6 malus. No need for crunch here, the power mismatch is too great.Hyperbius is quick to mimic you, although his captive is considerably more lively than your own, and you each prepare to begin your race to the empty cages...>Hyperbius' bull took 10 wounds - he has a +8 STR bonus and a "Soldier of Thebes" trait. I'm rolling to determine whether Hyperbius faces any bull resistance in the grapple phase, or even escapes, although this is pretty unlikely.>Hyper gets a +8 grapple bonus, bull gets a +2 bonus given its wound penalty. HHH vs BBB
>>6323349I thought constitution wasn't affected by wounding?
Rolled 8, 4, 11 + 5 = 28 (3d20 + 5)With pandemonium still erupting across the arena, you begin to wrench your captive bull forwards, quickly bringing it to a trot. Blood weeps from its left ear - its head tends to track in the same direction and attempts to shake its skull from time to time. With your great strength, you are able to keep the bull moving forward. Clearly, your strike has perplexed it - it does nothing to shake you off as you make steady progress. Hyperbius is not so lucky - his bull retains some part of faculties and begins to thrash and wrestle against its new master. The Theban is able to maintain his grip, but only just so - his progress suffers as result. >Hyperbius will be rolling with a -4 malus since he can't control his beef very well, but is slightly closer to the empty cages (see map).Still, the race is on - the Theban has a slight positional advantage that you must overcome! >I need THREE rolls of dice+1d20+12! >This is a STR+AGI contest, so I'm calculating this as (STR bonus + AGI bonus)/2 + gifted athlete bonus. For Hippo, this is (12 + 6)/2 +3 = 12. Hyperbius is of course a gifted athlete as well - (8 + 4)/2 + 3 = +9, minus -4 beef malus = +5 total.
Rolled 6 + 12 (1d20 + 12)>>6323356Lol we just have to roll a 4
Rolled 12 + 12 (1d20 + 12)>>6323356
Rolled 20 + 12 (1d20 + 12)>>6323356
>>6323353>con affected by wound malus?Shoot, this comes up every thread and I have to scour the previous material for the answer since I never remember, let me get back to you.Grappling is a STR-only contest though, so the wound malus definitely affects the bull’s STR bonus. The bulls have 18 STR and 18 CON if that clears it up
>>6323356>>6323365>16 against a 32Wow. Lapped him.
>>6323356>>6323357>>6323362>>6323365>32 vs 16 >blow-out, Hippo secures an extremely healthy lead on Hyper>this will translate to a significant speed malus on Hyper for the race to the boats down by the shore, although Hippo and Hyper are both in the same "race phase", if only just barely.>Hippo once again proves that he is a flowing-haired Chad with no equal, but good thing that this is not a math contest...I'll write up another update tonight at 10pm ish. Given that Hippomedon is going to be leaving the arena behind and won't have eyes on the remaining bull vs man fights, i might do the bulk of the remaining arena fight crunch behind the scenes and instead post a summary image for review.
>>6323377Can we bean Hyper during the race phase?
>>6323384The stick is looking mighty chuckable.
>>6323384>>6323385Yes, but honestly, Hippo will likely be so far ahead that the angling would be tough to pull off, and Hyperbius will be running behind his cart. The carts are basically really big wagons with crossbar long handles (see pic related for a smaller IRL version), so I’m imagining that the competitors will actually flip the wagons around and then act as the “brakes” as the weight of the cart + bull pulls them downhill. So hyper’s cage might partially shield him as he goes.Hippo could theoretically just wait outside the arena to brain Hyper but I don’t know that he would burn his huge advantage in order to pre-settle a grudge…
>>6323396>Hippo could theoretically just wait outside the arena to brain Hyper but I don’t know that he would burn his huge advantage in order to pre-settle a grudge…Giving up an advantage to get a preemptive runback is absolute Capaneus hours.
>>6323396I guess a rock would be better. I think Hippo is straight up skilled enough to pull of such a shot while at such a distance. How far would you say the throw would be?
>>6323401>a rockLike Father, like Son.
>>6323574
>>6323400>>6323401>>6323574>>6323576Nice to see the old memes take flight once more...>>6323401I mean, Hippo is the most gifted QB this side of the pyramids. He can huck a fist-sized stone with unbelievable precision. Longest on file QB throw is ~70 yards (Baker Mayfield or Aaron Rodgers). I'd personally put Hippo's max throw range at 120 yards, now that his STR is 21, but would cut this in half if he's trying to wound rather than kill. The throw is definitely "possible", but again, the angling is not great for him, since Hyper's cage will be blocking the shot most of the time.Additionally, I would definitely make Hippo take a turn to collect an optimal rock, which means giving Hyper time to get a bit closer. I'll dictate now that each degree of success in the cart-push correlates to about 50 yards, which seems fair - in which case, Hippo would probably need to sit and wait at a good spot to catch a side angle on Hyperbius (so small cage con bonus for that).Also, consider that Hyper may very well decide to throw rocks back at Hippo, and that Hippo will be exposed (no cage con bonus), since he'd be standing on the hill side of his cart. Given the discussion, I'll definitely put it up to a vote, since there's some legit trade-offs between charging flat out to the beach vs trying to wound Hyper and put him out of the running more permanently.
>>6323603Thinking on it. Good rocks would probably be better found at the beach
>>6323603What about trying to ruin Hyper's cart instead? Like, via busting its wheel with a rock?
Rolled 20, 10, 17 = 47 (3d20)As you trot across the sands, you can hardly believe your luck – mayhem is blossoming in every corner of the area, but your direct advance to the empty cage (middle right) is entirely unmolested. You watch as Dadaces and his bull follow the rounded fencing, passing by empty cages – the Cycladian is not fleet of foot, but appears entirely at ease as he lopes along, apparently unconcerned with his lack of progress.Bundling your bull into its cage is a straightforward affair – perhaps you imagine it, but there seems to be some relief in your victim as it enters the safe space. You rip out of the supporting brace that holds the cage door aloft – it crashes shut, and you “lock” it by jamming the brace back through a set of iron rings that links the door to the cage floor. Looking behind you, you see that the Theban has hardly made any progress – the beast wobbles left and right, attempting to spin off its grappler. You don’t doubt that Hyperbius will succeed in the end, but you don't stick around to observe, or take stock of the other competitors. Now that you have the advantage, you must push it! Putting your shoulder against the heavy cart, you strain – it pops into motion, and you duck out of the arena trailing behind it. Of course, the trail itself is lined with screaming commoners, who chant your name - you ignore them. Sweat rolls down your back under your lion’s hide as you strain – the morning is growing hot, although thankfully, Zeus Σκοτιτας has sent a few billowing clouds to shade the earth here and there, along with a cooling sea breeze. Your muscles thrum with power, still fresh - you make the best of your early victory and speedily begin your descent to the shores – already, you look forward to a quick wash in the waters of the Malian…>okay, /qst/ - this is a (STR+CON)/2 + SKILL contest. Hippo has a mighty +12 for STR, a decent +5 for CON, and +3 for Gifted Athlete = +11 (round down). Cart pulling was not specifically part of Hippo’s athletic training (lol), but by QM fiat, all reasonably-related athleticism traits held by all characters will apply to this part of the competition. >so I need THREE rolls of dice+1d20+11 for Hippo!>I’ll be rolling for Hyper with an (8 + 5)/2 = +6 bonus, except that I’m also giving him a significant speed penalty due to his poor grappling outcome – so he’s back down to dice+3d20 flat. Hyper has no athleticism trait, btw. --->I also need a vote – this will close in 24 hours at 10pm EST tomorrow. I have a bunch of rolling to do tomorrow, so updates might be scarce tomorrow.>stop to collect rock, try to ambush Hyper? Hippo will sacrifice a large chunk of his lead in the process and success is not guaranteed, given the practicalities of trying to throw around a bulky cage. Success means that Hyper is realistically out of the competition...>continue with all speed to the beach.
Can we just put holes in the other boats if we get there first?
Rolled 15 + 11 (1d20 + 11)>>6323623>20You’re a rat bastard who should go gambling, Lesches.>continue with all speed to the beach
Rolled 3 + 11 (1d20 + 11)>>6323623>>continue with all speed to the beach.If we win this one with two points we technically can't lose in the final competition, only be tied with. And if it's 1 on 1 we have great odds of winning regardless of which dude we face.
>>6323623>stop to collect rock, THEN >continue with all speed to the beach.We only sacrifice a bit of our lead to nab a stone and stuff it somewhere, and then if Hyper comes after us and gets close we can rock him/his cart. Maybe a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy, though; the rock would slow us down some.
Rolled 20 + 11 (1d20 + 11)>>6323623>Continue with all speed to the beach.Hope my rolling works lol
>>6323680Boy did it kek
>>6323680>20This brings me much-needed joy.>>6318584This is me btw.
>>6323680damn he's moving fast
>>6323625>>6323626>>6323680Wow, Hippo and Hyper are pushing things to their very limit here - really putting on a show for the commoners!Will be doing lots of rolling today, but small chance of an update tonight…
I spent a lot of time dicking around with various rolls in between other activities today but came to three conclusions:1) Numerical performance means something beyond just "higher = good" - I intend for the rolls to actually correlate to race position, so a visual schema is needed to keep track of all the various shenanigans in this event. See pic for current abstracted race positioning, separated into bands. Only Hippomedon and Hyper are listed for now; you'll note that Hippomedon's excellent performance has moved him a rung above Hyper's (also excellent performance)You'll additionally note that there a "spacer" between bands, worth 10 performance units. Basically, it takes some significant overperformance to move up a slot. 2) I shouldn't roll behind the scenes at the same time I'm introducing new mechanics - this is confusing and may create the appearance of impropriety on my part. Better to roll openly and slowly through regular post updates.3) I forgot to give Nicodromus a legitimate counterattack (which I will handle in a short post) and made a couple of other minimal errors elsewhere in roll calculations, but nothing that would change events so far.
Rolled 7, 15, 2, 6, 7, 15, 6, 18, 5, 5, 13, 18 = 117 (12d20)The trail is hardpacked earth – Eurykratides had clearly spent considerable time and effort ensuring that the trail from the arena down to the shore would be serviceable for the competitors. In fact, it is so smooth and stable that you have little concern for overturning; your movement can be best described as a controlled sprint, as you simultaneously guide your cart, steady its wobbles, and even push it forwards time and again. In short – you can’t hope for more speed without taking reckless risks. You glance over your right shoulder – another of the cages lurches out onto the trail. Hyperbius, no doubt – your opponent’s cart quickly picks up speed, and you catch a glimpse of him as he flips his cart around in the same way that you did - he is now mostly obscured from view. The Theban must be pushing with all of his fiendish strength, as his cart flies, but as you gauge his progress, you are reassured – his top speed cannot quite match yours, and your lead will certainly lengthen even further over time…You’ve about a hundred paces* down the trail when you hear a great roar erupt from the arena behind you. Your ears sift through the cacophony to discern what event has transpired...this little vignette takes place in the middle of the cart-push sequence, the visual schema I just posted represents the “end state”, where Hippomedon is already at the boats.>okay, I’ll rolling for Nico’s counterattack against the bull – this is the final aspect of Phase 1 in the arena. Nico has a +1 to-hit, +10 wound, bull has a +3 dodge, +6 block. NTHx3, NWx3, BDx3, BBx3
>>6324105>2I dunno about others but I trust you to roll behind the scenes. Like how you sort of did with that spreadsheet in the mock battles. I can't help but wonder if you'll make a tournament spreadsheet to save you time in the future. Don't have any comments about new mechanics.>3Considering that competitors might die to bulls or maybe others, I'm a bit surprised there hasn't been aristeia.
>>6324110>16,25 vs 21,24 - kek, Nicodromus blows it with a sloppy miss as well. They'll go for a tag-team on the bull next Phase and that will probably go much better for them.Next update will come tomorrow evening 10pm EST. Thanks for everyone's patience - these events can be sort of a grind.
>>6324111Appreciate the kind words, anon. I mostly felt more comfortable doing the army battling out of the quest thread because it was something of a dry run for an actual battle sequence, and more importantly, the stakes were quite a bit lower (a couple of reputation points with Adrastus). I do actually have a spreadsheet for this tournament as well, of course :), but Hippo stands to win a considerable amount in this tournament (Kleos, sure, but other things as well) and could also possibly lose, at great personal cost, as well. No one has really taken seriously the idea that Hippomedon may completely lose his marbles if some idiot takes his father's shield home. At any rate, it's quite critical that I take my time and do this properly, because so much of SATQ and the rest of TWQverse depends on it...
Rolled 8, 8, 17 = 33 (3d20)The great surge of voices fades away into jeers and scattered catcalls - clearly, whatever attack was launched failed again. You fall into the rhythm of the challenge - the cart swaying and rocking as it goes down the slopes, the shores of the Malian gulf drawing closer. You enjoy the challenge, of course, as you push your body to its limits. You have hours to go until you are on the victor's stand, and eventually you will tire, but for now, the excitement sustains your forward progress very well. You briefly wonder what Deianira and Euanippe might be doing this morning - a girl of one and her mother. With luck, they are enjoying the fine weather outdoors - Deianira loves sunny days. You miss the child - you haven't seen her face for nearly two weeks...>rolling for initiative on the Nico, Halo, Bull conflict at the top of Phase 2 in N,H,B configuration. All parties now have a +1 AGI bonus - the "whipped" bull bonus has faded away.
Rolled 9, 17, 2, 13, 3, 3, 11, 6, 9, 18, 14, 4, 2, 17 = 128 (14d20)>>6324227Ah - she truly is a delight. Her hair - lightest blonde - was just beginning to grow when you had left your estates. You'd been surprised that she had been bald so far long, but Euanippe has assured you that this is normal for a yearling child. She has changed you - the same hands that would throw ten ten down to Tartarus in the morning would hold her gently in the afternoon, as carefully as you might try to hold a cloud from the sky. Another roar from the crowd in the arena - you glance back at Hyperbius and see that your lead is steadily growing as you had hoped. >rolling for Gate 1 Bull against Halocrates. BTHx3 (+1), BWx3 (+6), HDx3(+1), HBx3 (+9) format. Last two dice are for horn vs headbutt vs hooves, and damage, should bull connect
Rolled 9, 19 = 28 (2d20)>>6324229In the sky above, you see a pair of sea eagles wheeling - like you, they are heading towards the sea. To your surprise, you see a pair of fledgings trailing behind them, their wings smaller and less confident in the air - they flap frantically to catch their parents. Perhaps their first flight out of the nest?>18, 19 vs 12, 27 - bull connects by fails to wound And again, the crowd's energy dissipates into mocking calls - clearly, more disappointment at a bloodless outcome. The downsloping trail is still smoothly graded as you labor. >Now for the Sardinians twin's grapple attempt - they forgo their clubs and simply lay hands on the beast - should have done this from the start. Nico has a +10 STR bonus and is the prime grappler. Halocrates tags on and adds his STR bonus too - another +10. It's incredibly unlikely that the bull would be able to fight out, so we'll forgo this and instead say that the Twins are now frogmarching the bull towards the left middle cage. >We turn our attentions now to Faibokranef - rolling for initiative. Fai has a +8 bonus, Gate 2 Bull has a +1 bonus. F vs B formatOnly a few seconds later, you hear some loud and clear calls - "AE-GYP-TIAN! AE-GYP-TIAN!" and at the same time, another side of the arena bursts into cheers - you suspect that a bull has been captured - by the twins, if you had to guess... You likely have only a minute before they enter the cart-push striving properly.
Rolled 17, 19, 16, 7, 13, 9, 9, 4, 9, 17, 12, 11, 8, 20 = 171 (14d20)>surprisingly, the Gate 2 Bull beats Fai 20, 17, and gets a chance to attack!>Gate 2 Bull has a +1 to-hit, +6 to wound, Fai has a +8 to dodge, and a mere +4 Con bonus in total.>Fai has 11 wounds total (8 base + 3 Con bonus), and could theoretically be killed here if he gets hit by a horn... Rolling in a BTHx3, BWx3, FDx3, FBx3, plus a die for bovine attack type and then actual damage roll. Checking repeatedly over your shoulder at Hyperbius' cage and for signs of the Sardinian twins on the trail above you, you listen carefully for rumor of the foreigner's conduct on the arena sands - you're learning that you don't need your eyes to intuit the ongoings...
Rolled 13, 8, 12, 15, 4, 20, 18, 4, 10, 15, 3, 1 = 123 (12d20)>>6324409>20,19 vs 17,21 - a headbutt attack is only narrowly blocked from crushing Fai! >Fai counters! FTHx3 ,FWx3, BDx3, BBx3. Fai +8 to-hit, +5 wound, bull has a +1 dodge, +6 blockThe shouting of thousands of Trachians weaves a tale together - a missed attack involving the Aegyptian, and you wait for the counter. Amazingly, you hear a deep voice bellowing to you from the backtrail, fresh with young zeal:"HIPPOMEDON - IS THIS NOT A FINE DAY? MEN LIKE YOU AND I ARE BORN FOR THIS!"Strange - you don't detect a hint of irony at all, and as you open your mouth to shout back, the Theban screams again:"I CANNOT WAIT TO SHAME YOU IN FRONT OF A CROWD, ARGIVE! IT WON'T BE THE LAST TIME!"Bastard. You grit your teeth and close your mouth - let the man stew in second place in silence.
>>6324422I can't wait to rip his still beating heart out at Thebes.
>>6324422Nice, a personal rival.
Have had a busy couple days and a head cold, but should be able to make some good updates tonight and probably a vote post, stay tuned
>>6324951Get well soon, QM!
Rolled 3 + 5 (1d4 + 5)forgot my roll...
>>6324990I wonder if Fai is better in the social and intellectual fields.
Before you, the hills are beginning to spill out into the marshy fields by the coast - the trail is still relatively steep and lightly forested on each side, but the time to switch the cart around and pull it is coming soon. Your legs are beginning to settle into the steady rhythm of hard labor - tense, flex, extend, relax, tense, flex, extend, relax... You'll be able to keep up your pace without too much difficulty. If Argyros were here, he'd no doubt invent some joke about missing your true calling as a common laborer. You miss the man and hope he's doing well - really, you treat him better than any brother. That bronze panoplia you gifted him is really worth a small fortune...You pay no mind to the commoner Hellenes who beg for your attentions as they labor. One group of young men are so foolish as to leap into your path, perhaps expecting you to slow - instead, one of the men's legs are crushed under a cartwheel when he is too slow to retreat. You scoff at both his idiocy and his frailty, before you put him out of your mind. Above you, echoed cries of joy ring out from the wooden stands of Eurykratides' arena and roll down the trail - the unmistakable sound of Hellenes delighting in bloodshed. You wonder if the Aegyptian has finally scored a strike? >Faibokranef scores a hit with a 21,25 vs 19,21>He deals 8 damage to the Gate 2 Bull - 13/21 wounds, -3 wound malus. This ends Faibokranef's Phase 2 - but he's positioned well for Phase 3...>Dadaces trades his Phase 2 turn for a +5 context bonus...As you follow the trail to the west, you craning your head around to check your backtrail, and observe the arena - but you can no longer see it clearly. It rests atop the hillside that you are now descending, and is screened by copses of trees - the echoes of the Trachians become strangely distorted, losing their coherence. With nothing else to observe (and no desire to look upon the sweating Theban), you look instead at the sky. The same set of sea eagles and fledglings that you had spotted earlier are now wheeling low over your head, skimming the tops of the cypress trees. The greater of the eagles crosses over your head, dipping lower and to your left. You lose sight of it behind the boughs. You hear keening cries and peering through the canopies. Interested, you see a large, battered swan flapping into madly into the clear air, riding an ocean breeze to greater elevation. The sea eagle does not reappear, although certainly, the swan seems to be fearful - the eagle's companion and fledglings continue their journey towards the sea. You'll have to recount the tale to Amphiarus when you next get the chance and see what the seer might -"DO YOU SEE THAT, ARGIVE?! ANOTHER CAGE HAS LEFT ITS MOORINGS!" Zeus above, will you be forced to listen to the disagreeable shouting of this Theban prince all day?! Unfortunately, as you attempt to peer, you cannot see what your inferior does - he still labors on a higher ridgeline.>cont
Rolled 20, 20, 18, 13, 15, 19, 5, 19, 9, 14, 4, 17, 1, 4 = 178 (14d20)>>6325010He's an interesting guy and has seen a lot in his life, you'll get a chance to talk with him at the feast dinner tonight. ---Okay, for the next bit of rolling - I'm going to put the play by play in spoilers so that anons can choose to be surprised by the next couple updates, if they would like. So basically, DON'T LOOK if you want to learn about events along with Hippomedon!Dadaces makes a sneak attack on the twins just as they leave the arena and turn the cart around - Nicodromus is handling the crossbar, letting the cart pull him downhill and is the closet to the arena wall, and Halocrates is stabilizing/pulling the cart from the front, running alongside - both have their backs to Dadaces at the moment.Dadaces has a +2 AGI bonus, and a temporary +5 context bonus to the following initiative roll only - he's been chasing his bull as a decoy this whole time, waiting to strike. He has typical +2 to-hit, a +5 wound bonus and no combat skills. If Dadaces wins his initiative challenge, he'll enjoy a smaller bonus of +2 to his combat rolls (because Nico is coming off the crossbar and grabbing his club all at the same time, a bit awkward). Nico has a typical +1 dodge, +9 block bonus, +1 to-hit, and +10 wound bonus (ouch) and no combat skills. So it's DIni, NIni, then DTHx3, DWx3, NDx3, NBx3. If Dad loses initiative to Nico, then these rolls will represent Nico's strike on Dad. Last roll is just damage if either one scores a wounding...
Rolled 15 (1d20)>>6325026some high fucking rolls in this quest lately.Dad initiative: 20+5+2 = 27Nico initiative: 20+1 = 21Dad to-hit: 18+2+2 = 22Dad wound: 19+5+2 = 26Nico dodge: 14+1 = 15Nico block: 17+8+1 = 26fuck me, it's a tie. I'm giving Dadaces the tie break because sneak attacking the Twins takes serious balls and I don't know how this ends for himI forgot the damage roll last post, so here it is now...
All done for tonight - should be able to put out several more updates over the next few days.
Rolled 20, 3, 14, 11 = 48 (4d20)>more spoilers, don't read if you want to learn about events along with Hippomedon!Dadaces amazingly scores 8 damage against Nicodromus, bringing him to 8/16 wounds, and providing a -4 wound malus to Nico. Not a bad alpha-strike, but the odds are against him... Now time for the next round of combat!so I'm rolling now for four initiatives - Dadaces at+2, Nico at -3, Halocrates at+1 (because of course, he's spun around to defend his brother and advancing on Dadaces), and Faibokranef at -9 (+6 AGI minus a 15 context penalty - he's still inside the arena, but will be charging out - he didn't know you could attack your opponents until now due to the language barrier.Moments later, the spectating throng explodes into surprised howling, individual voices merging into a single cry – something has happened! You don’t stop your efforts, but clearly, one of your competitors has done something unexpected. Despite your irritation, you wish the Theban might shed some light – but damn him, he is silent. You suddenly suspect that he is preparing some trickery himself, and quickly check his position - but no change. You hate that the man is within earshot and therefore close enough to warrant your attention - he is staining your glorious day with his boorishness. You give up on trying to learn what has come to pass up by the arena - whatever information that Rumor might pass alongside the trailside Trachians is likely to be too inaccurate to be helpful to you anyways...
Rolled 15, 1, 4, 1, 8, 11, 17, 1, 11, 19, 17, 6 = 111 (12d20)>>6325512>more spoilers, don't read if you want to learn about events along with Hippomedon!yo, Dadaces is not fucking around here. Dadaces attacks Nico first (DTHx3,DWx3,NDx3,NBx3), Halocrates attacks him, Fai storms out of the gates to attack one of the twins, and if Nico is standing, he is last. Dadaces now has a +2 to-hit bonus, +5 wound bonus, Nico has a -3 dodge bonus, and a +4 CON bonusAs far as I know, Homer-QM intended for wound malii to affect CON bonii in combat and his original intention was to create a "death spiral" for wounded characters, I suspect. I'm using Nikon's duel with Diomedes as a reference, but I can't think of another similar fight - the MCs of the TWQverse have not fought while wounded very often for obvious reasons, but if someone can find a statement from Homer, would be happy to re-evaluate...You’ve finally reached the bottom of the trail and entered the marshy outskirts of the shoreline. Now on flatter terrain, you quickly spin your cart and begin to pull. You’ll no longer be able to move at a near-sprint, but with the trail so carefully engineered, your pace will be excellent. You have no doubt that you’ll be first to reach the boats – which you can see as tiny smudges on the rocky sands.Your lead is substantial - and despite Hyberbius' efforts, he has not been able to keep pace. You're certain that you'll be able to take to your boat without molestation - but should you flee the man? Why not simply eliminate him from contention through some other means? It occurs to you that naval vessels are typically rigged with spare lines - you could subdue Hyperbius, restrain him thoroughly with one such rope and keep him from further danger? Even better, you could lash the man to the top of your cage and make a show of his weakness. The bitch goddess ordered you to preserve his physical and mental strength, but said nothing at all about his reputation... >well, /qst/? What will Hippomedon do upon reaching the boats? Please note that directly sabotaging the vessels is possible but wouldn't occur to Hippomedon - he's not a schemer like Odysseus. This vote will close in 24 hours. >simply move to the boat, stow your bullcage safely and begin rowing to maintain your lead. >force a confrontation with Hyberbius in order to eliminate him from today's challenge. Afterwards, you might choose to stash him away safely somewhere or instead, actively attempt to puncture the man's reputation.>something else I haven't thought of?
>>6325519>simply move to the boat, stow your bullcage safely and begin rowing to maintain your lead.Fuck it, just leave.Thread 1 from homer>Correct. Constitution is unaffected by stat degradation.
>>6325519>force a confrontation with Hyberbius in order to eliminate him from today's challenge. Afterwards, you might choose to stash him away safely somewhere or instead, actively attempt to puncture the man's reputation.Humiliate. Emasculate. Intimidate. We will soon be stomping upon the necks of his people in combat, so let this set the tone.
Can we steal the oars of the boats? Or even huck them?
>>6325519>>simply move to the boat, stow your bullcage safely and begin rowing to maintain your lead.Don't want to risk accidentally killing his bitch ass. And if we get unlucky and get stuck in a slog we might miss out on our W and that may complicate things.
>>6325519>>simply move to the boat, stow your bullcage safely and begin rowing to maintain your lead.Tempo Tempo Tempo + honour and such>>6318584this is me
>>6325519>simply move to the boat, stow your bullcage safely and begin rowing to maintain your lead.
Rolled 19, 15, 2, 8, 8, 6, 17, 6, 5, 11, 10, 1 = 108 (12d20)>>6325520Damn, you're right, not sure how I missed that. Fortunately, does not change the outcome of the prior set of rolls. >spoilers belowDadaces botches his next round of combat - 17,16 vs 14, 27 - he makes contact but Nico tanks the hit like an uberchad. These rolls are for Nico's counter on Dadaces he's still wounded but will regenerate at the end of this turn. He is a grandson of Zeus and so his Fresh Olympian Blood trait is stronger than Nikon's - he regenerates 3 wounds at a time. So Nico still has a -3 to-hit bonus, a +6 wound bonus, and Dad has a +2 dodge, and +6 block bonus (+5 con plus +1 herc armor). NTHx3,NWx3,DDx3,DBx3>>6325520>>6325536>>6325553>>6325623Consensus seems clear, but will let the vote run until 10pm EST or so. >>6325543>Can you put them in the water or steal the oars? Yes, of course, but this is obviously an extremely dickish move, and Hyperbius has eyes - he might temporarily abandon his cage to come fight you if he sees you doing this. But completely possible.
>>6325636Okay, we're locked in for >row row your boatBut I've completely run out of time today and didn't get a chance to do much quest-thinkin', so next update will come tomorrow at some point. Maybe 10% of an update before 12pm and 90% of an update by 10pm EST.
>>6325903>row row your boatNot so gently across the bay. And it will be merrily if the fool Theban capsizes his stupid dinghy. Well maybe not for the bull.
Rolled 2, 6, 20, 4, 4, 5, 15, 7, 16, 12, 18, 15 = 124 (12d20)16,16 vs 19, 17 – Nico blows the counter – his cracked ribs slow his attack and Dad dodges…now Halo comes storming in to crush Dad’s skull! Rolling for Halo in HTHx3, HWx3, DDx3, DBx3 format. Halo has a +1 to-hit, a +10 to wound, Dad has his +2/+6 dodge/block bonii as prev desc…As tempting as the shaming of Hyperbius would be, you decide against any such delays and resolve to simply take off from the beach with all possible speed. After all, this is only the second of the three Oetian challenges – a first-place finish today would near-guarantee that you receive the champion’s laurels at the end of the Games. And not to mention, the recovery of your father’s shield, and some additional burnishing of your κλέος besides.Looking ahead, you see that Eurykratides has taken the time and effort to lay out a broad “trail” of split logs, flat side up and carefully joined together, to meet the edge of the earthen trail and guide the carts down to the waves – the wheels rattle loudly against the timber, and you scatter nearby gulls into the air with the racket you make. You constantly check for Hyperbius’ progress over your shoulder, but he is only just now descending into the marshy flats, many strides behind you, and too far away even for one of your legendary spear-casts - he is no threat to you, certainly, and has apparently calculated that a second-place finish is preferable to facing you directly.The shouting of the arena crowd is now entirely swallowed by the pleasant surf as you pass on the wooden road, but to your distaste, some vagrants have camped here, hoping for a glimpse of the competitors. They tumble out of their makeshift huts and from behind shrubs to gawk at you and shout at you in their gaptooth pidgin, draped in filthy rags. You pretend not to see and hear them. Truthfully, you could hardly even call these rootless, indigent men Hellenes; men so impoverished of mind and body that they are claimed by no king. Thankfully, the sweet breath of Ζέφυρος draws away whatever mighty stench their unwashed bodies are producing… Before you, the Malian Gulf’s waters are quite calm – you’re no sailor, but even you know that a shallow gulf tends towards peaceable currents. It is only out on the wine-dark sea that a man must be on watch for the ship-breakers. The boats of the challenge are set about one hundred strides distant from one another - the western-most with a black hull, the middle vessel painted a dull red, and the eastern-most, a brilliant white. Each boat appears to have a team of laborers awaiting the arrival of the competitors, and as far as you can see, the vessels are mastless, quite small, but broad and deep-bellied. Likely that they are only just large enough to support a pair of oarsman and the caged bull. Speaking of, your captive, the bloodied bull, only lows from time to time as you approach the center vessel – apparently, he does not fear the water. >cont
Rolled 20, 1, 5, 1, 17, 10, 1, 6, 7, 14, 19, 18 = 119 (12d20)>spoilers below, don't look!Astonishing how bad the Sardinians are at fighting. Halocrates blows his attack on Dad by rolling a 21,15 vs 18,24 - now Dadaces "counters", but he's actually going to attack Nico again, since they're all standing right next to one another - (DTHx3,DWx3,NDx3,NBx3) Dadaces has +2/+5 to-hit/wound bonii, Nico now has a -2 dodge bonus, and the correct +9 CON bonus per Homer-QM - he has regenerated 3 wounds and is now at 11/16 wounds for a -3 wound malus. After Bringing the cart to a halt beside the white-hulled vessel, you are swarmed by common Trachian laborers - men of olive complexion, with brown hair and eyes. Bowls of well-mixed wine and water appear to wet your throat; platters of meat, fruit and other food for your sustenance. You eat and drink of the substance of Eurykratides as quickly as possible as you stretch your fatigued legs - they'll now have a chance to rest as you row. As you replenish yourself, the laborers lay out a broad and heavy ramp from the sands to the ship's deck, tie the bull-cart with ropes, and with coordinated heaving, pull the cart up and maneuver it amidships. As you join them on the deck, you see that there is a square depression, with iron wheel-locks, where the mastbox might typically be. A cleverly-designed thing - the cart is locked into place and is quite secure, and is also now low enough so that you can see over the top of the cage within it, provided that you stand from your rowing bench.You quickly stride about the deck for other quirks of the small boat - no weapons of any kind, although you note that there are many long lengths of rope with iron-hooked tips - grapples. Clearly, Eurykratides was imagining that there might be conflict between the ships - you will be glad to disappoint him! The laborers place another generous supply of wine, water and food upon the deck in secured fashion, and leap to the sands. They kick out the wooden bracers (which kept the ship upright) and with coordinated pushing, skim the ship over yet more wooden logs into the waves. You settle onto your rowing bench, and adjust the footrest so that your legs are comfortable. Your back is to the bow of the ship, and so you'll be able to stand now and again to peer over the bull's cage for Hyperbius as you leave the southern beaches. Looking over to the north, you see only the waves - it is late morning, and you expect to row through noon to the late afternoon. With luck, you'll arrive on the northern sands well before dusk. Your shoulders flex - you grip the oars and breathe deeply - and begin! >okay, /qst/ - give me THREE rolls of dice+1d20+8. This is another strength/endurance challenge, so it's (12 + 5)/2 = round down to 8. Hippomedon has an excellent lead on Hyperbius...
Rolled 1 + 8 (1d20 + 8)>>6326361Gifted athlete bonus?
Rolled 20 + 8 (1d20 + 8)>>6326361ROW. ROW. ROW. ROW. ROW.>>6326364Rowing wasn't listed for it, though rowing can be a sport. Personally I'd consider it something for athletic contests but I ain't in charge.
Also, happy Halloween errybody. Hope no one got got by a satyr or dickass nymph. Nor accosted by any shades escaping from the underworld on this ghoulish night.
>>6326369>dickassI read that as dickless nymph and was filled with terror at the implication
Rolled 4 + 8 (1d20 + 8)>>6326361get after it
>>6326364>>6326368The duality of man.>>6326369Happy Halloween!>>6326372May all you nymphs be as Ganymede ἑταῖρος Διός? A curious blessing indeed. Only in this far-eastern basket-weaving forum shall such nymphs dominate discourse.
>>6326377>The duality of man.This is just trojan war quest dice
Rolled 3, 20, 5, 16, 2, 10, 14, 11, 10, 12, 3, 10 = 116 (12d20)>>6326364>>6326368>no gifted athlete bonus? Honestly, it was an oversight since by the end of the night I'm desperate to finish up and be done, lol. Rowing is not specifically listed under Gifted Athlete, true, and Hippomedon himself is so rich and famous he doesn't have much rowing experience (why row with common sailors?), but seeing as I provided the +3 bonus to cart-pushing (also not explicitly listed in the GA description), and Hippomedon is simply a giga-chad, I should probably just not think too hard and apply the bonus. So all that to say>Hippomedon has rolled another 20+11=31 for the rowing leg of the challenge - he is basically outperforming even his own lofty expectations and is an LBA speedboat. Hyperbius cannot hope to outpace you by normal means.The real battle is for second place and beyond... Hoping to put out another update around 2pm. Also, more rolls for the spoilers, don't read below!Dadaces "counter" on Nico fails to wound - 22, 10 vs 13, 27- Nico takes a face-shot at very close range and doesn't even feel it as he advances. Faibokranef arrives and now he attacks, but due to positioning, he strikes at Halo first - FTHx3,FWx3,HDx3,HBx3. Fai has a +8/+5 bonii, Halo has +1/+9 bonii as typical. Unfortunately for Fai, the twins are now alert to any possible bullshit and so he loses out on a potential ambush/flanking bonus of his own - Halo sees him coming and spins to face him. the 13th die is for damage provided Fai actually connects. The crowd has basically all scrambled out of the arena and are baying for blood at this point. All of this combat is happening while Hippomedon and Hyperbius are descending down the hills, by the way, so the timelines have diverged somewhat between the spoiler sections and Hippo's updates...
>>6326473High CON and low AGI really make this seem like a slap fight
>>6326688im actually glad that most of it is happening off-scene because i feel like it would be like writing a WWE match and not in a good way, lol. Reflects well on Hippo that we don’t have to worry about such embarrassing performance.Next update tomorrow (and perhaps a double or triple update day by way of apology) - sorry for the delay but I’m simply knackered
Rolled 14, 13, 1, 5 = 33 (4d20)>spoilers below, don't look!Okay, so Faibokranef actually gets a hit off on Halo – 28,21 vs 15,21 – ties goes to attacker. I had rolled a 6 for damage in a now-deleted point (I messed up the spoilers tag). So Halo finishes the round with 10/16 wounds for a -3 wound malus. The twins have now been bloodied, let’s see if they can actually be brought down! Rolling again for battle initiative – Fai has a +6, Dadaces has a +2, Nico has a -2 presently, and Halo has a -2 as well. FI,DI,NI,HI format. I’m hoping that this next round of combat resolves this battle royale…Your hands are not used to gripping the oars, but you find your natural rhythm almost immediately – stretch, dip, roll, drive, lift. The oars whisper to you through your hands, chastising you for any wasted effort or mis-timing - as you gain confidence, you pick up speed. The beach diminishes, and the teams of Trachian laborers shout encouragement to you as row away. Peering over the top of your bull-cage, you see Hyperbius drawing somewhat closer to the sands, although you estimate that the Theban may have several minutes more of cart-pushing before he can be installed on his own boat. You wonder what has become of the other cart – since Hyperbius’ shouting on the descending trail, you’ve heard and seen nothing of the third bull.Your legs are thankful for rest, but your arms, shoulder and back are eager for the challenge – a few minutes more, and you’re ready to push yourself – great sweeps of the sturdy pine begin to skim your craft quickly atop the realm of Poseidon Αιγαιος. Your “cargo” actually serves to assist you – the bull’s weight helps keep the momentum of the ship passing through the calm seas between strokes. As you work, you begin to sweat – you remove your lion’s hide, seeing as you are out of immediate danger, and refresh yourself with water and well-mixed wine from time to time. As you row, you find depths of strength and endurance that surprise even yourself – finally, the power and speed of your strokes begins to threaten the integrity of the pine oars and of your footrest. You allow them to squeal and creak a bit protest, but are careful to avoid snapping them by accident. As you row, your mind wanders...
Rolled 12, 12, 13, 11, 4, 10, 20, 3, 15, 3, 20, 16, 3 = 142 (13d20)>>6326808>this is a pure spoiler-post, please disregard!Battle order is Fai, Dad, Halo, Nico (lol, wtf are you doing man). Rolling for Fai's attack on Halo, FTHx3,FWx3,HDx3,HBx3. Fai still has +8/+5 bonii, Nico has -2/+9 block bonii and will regenerate another 3 wounds after this strike/counterstrike sequence. Also rolling for damage on the 13th die if needed.
Rolled 20, 16, 10, 6, 6, 9, 14, 15, 20, 16, 3, 7, 10 = 152 (13d20)>>6326811>this is a pure spoiler-post, please disregard!Fai botches his attack - 13,11 vs 18, 29 - and fails to wound. Halo counters, although it's probably hopeless that he hits Fai. Halo with -2/+8 bonii vs Fai's +8/+4. HTHx3,HWx3,FDx3,FBx3. 13th die is damage.
Rolled 18, 1, 20, 20, 11, 7, 15, 17, 13, 19, 7, 19, 10 = 177 (13d20)>>6326812>this is a pure spoiler-post, please disregard!Halo rolls a 18, 17 vs 28, 20 - Fai dodges by a mile. Halo is now at 13/16 wounds. The royale is tipping back towards the twins... Now Dadaces tries to attack Nico, who is currently at 11/16 wounds. Dadaces has +2/+5 bonii, Nico has -2/+9 bonii...DTHx3,DWx3,NDx3,NBx3
Rolled 11, 12, 8, 13, 6, 10, 1, 16, 2, 12, 15, 19, 5 = 130 (13d20)>>6326814>this is a pure spoiler-post, please disregard!22,25 vs 13, 28 - Dadaces is fighting to his very limits, but it's just not enough - Nico tanks the hit. Now Nico counters...NTHx3,NWx3,DDx3,DBx3. Nico with -2/+8 bonii, Dad with +2/+6 as previously described.
Rolled 13, 8, 1, 14 = 36 (4d20)>>6326816>this is a pure spoiler-post, please disregard!Nico misses his counter - 10,21 vs 18,25 but he regenerates 3 wounds and is now 14/16 wounds. The battle is essentially lost for Dadaces/Fai. But wait! - Dadaces makes a desperate offer before Nico counters! Rolling for a persuasion attempt - a flat +0 against Nico's will of also +0, lol.
Rolled 2, 9, 8, 10, 20, 7 = 56 (6d20)>>6326821Halo tells him to fuck off. Fai sees which way the wind is blowing and flees! I won't roll this out, but the Sardinian twins now beat the living shit out of Dadaces and Eurykratides intervenes at the last moment to save his life. Dadaces is now out of the tournament for good.Fai now charges down the trail after Hyperbius, who rolled a 20 for his cart-pushing context. Fai has spent a couple minutes fighting the twins here, so if he was pushing a cart, I would give him a -9 speed penalty. However, because he is cartless, this is an AGI context to catch up with Hyperbius. Fai has a natural +6 AGI bonus, but he's also running downhill and fleeing for his life, so I'll assign him a +3 context bonus. It's just possible that he catches the Theban by the sands, and he also might get close enough to consider swimming to Hyper's boat as he leaves the shore... I'm also now rolling for the twins cart-push progress. They are able to combine their efforts, but have a -12 delay malus (they spent extra time maiming Dadaces). I think the most reasonable thing to do here is make Nico the "lead" pusher for a (10 + 8)/2 = +9 bonus, plus Halo is helping him - a further +4 performance bonus, for +13 total. So all that to say - three rolls for Fai's sprinting and another three for the twin's cartpushing - FRx3,TPx3 format
>>6326824Wow, bad news for Fai, extremely bad news for Hyper and excellent news for the twins. Fai rolls a 9 - he get outpaced on the trail by the twins and flees into the woods. He's out of the contest and knows it, so he simply retires. The twins zoom down the trail with incredible speed, and they roll down the hill with a 21. So they actually beat Hyperbius to the boats, but friendly reminder that the two boats are fairly far apart on the beach...Whew, lots of rolling for all of that. Next update I'll be able to merge the timelines again. Hoping to put that out by 2-3pm EST today.
Rolled 6, 8, 12, 18, 18, 17 = 79 (6d20)With your mind wandering, you keep your excellent pace, keeping your heading easily. Your limbs do their best work without interference from your thoughts. But you don’t become complacent - you keep a close watch on the southern shore, and when you see activity, you clamber atop the bull-cage, the extra height giving you a fuller view of the sands. At this distance, even your excellent eyesight cannot make out all the details, but a large figure who can only be Hyperbius is gesticulating furiously before the black-hulled vessel. He is directing the laborers to install his bull-cage onto the black-hulled ship as quickly as possible, and you watch as he forgoes his princely airs and assists the Trachians with his cart. The black-hulled ship takes to the water and the oars begin to turn in great, coordinated sweeps – the Theban is capable of discipline even pressure, it appears, despite his boorish tendency to shout. Briefly turning towards the bow of your own ship, you can make out the northern beach, but well over half the distance remains to be rowed. You sit back and set to it, keeping a close watch on the Theban’s ship as you go, but you’re very confident that you won’t be overtaken – your speed simply cannot be matched by a lesser man. >okay, I’m rolling for Hyperbius, and the twins as well, in a HRx3,TRx3 format. Hyperbius will be rolling again with a dice+3d20+6 – he has no special affinity for sailing. The twins, however, have finally arrived at one of their competencies – beyond their immense physical gifts the Sardinians are fanatical sailors and as such, have a +3 skill bonus for sailing, swimming, rowing, and other nautical affairs. Again, Nico is the “main rower’ for the crunch (+9 bonus as previously described), Halo is assisting him for +4 bonus, plus the +3 sailing bonus, so they’ll be rolling with a fearsome dice+3d20+16 in total. Hippomedon thinks he's extremely good at rowing but as players might have noticed, he's not always a reliable narrator...>I’m attaching the final cart-push race-phase chart in spoilers! (and will provide a sailing phase chart as well), although I’m not sure that other people will find it as helpful as I do. Basically, it’s possible (or even likely) for Hyperbius to be overtaken in the water (or perhaps later in the final cart-push sequence) if he does badly in the rowing or pushing, and the twins do very well at sea.
>>6326945>hyper hits a 18>against the twins' whopping 34gahdamn. Thank fuck we've been keeping our lead. I wonder if they're gonna jump Hyperbius to try and get both of them a bull instead of just one of the twins getting one.
>>6326962> jump hyperWho do you think will win?
>>6326963Well Hyperbius has a pretty solid shot since he could probably two shot either of them pretty reliably, and they aren't really great fighters so he has a good chance I think despite the fact there are two of them. However if they literally jump onto his boat and just throw him overboard they could probably take both boats pretty easily if their boating boni also apply to shipbourne combat. If they want to jump him on land he's got a better shot of fending them off I think.
Hyperbius: 18 - he advances up a phase. Twins: 34 – phenomenal, they advance nearly 2 phases[/spoiler]But astonishingly, your speed CAN be matched by a pair of Zeus' grandchildren. In disbelief, you see the very distant yellow-hulled ship takes to the water with a double-pair of oars. It can only be Nicodromus and Halocrates – the oars move with perfect timing, their sweeps long, broad and fast as a heartbeat. The Sardinian vessel tacks and turns, searching for a current, and finds one – its bow points northeasterly, instead of north. Your alarm grows as the Sardinians make remarkable progress, eating away at your lead – no doubt the Theban is watching them with true anxiety! Remarkable that any two men are capable of such endless coordination and power. Your own stamina is not so inexhaustible – your muscles are burning. Your thirst is unquenchable as well – you sweat more moisture than you can take in.You watch as the twins sweep wide of the Theban’s course – they are giving up interdiction in order to reach the beach quickly. Turning north, you see that you are drawing quite close to the sands, and already, another team of Trachian laborers are scurrying about the shore, readying to receive you and your kidnapped bull. Looking back to the other ships, you’re sure that the Sardinians will not quite catch Hyperbius on the water, but will be only minutes behind him when he lands on the northern beach. You have confidence that you’ll clear the beaches well in advance of your competitors, but you have doubt that you will reach the victor’s stand unharried. It certainly seems possible that the twins might out-do you in the final stretch of cart-pushing if they are working together – and if they overtake you, it’s a certainty that they will attempt to rob you of your bovine prize. Alternately, you wonder if they might instead settle for second and third place – by ambushing the Theban, they could take his own bull, and avoid manful combat with a legendary prince of Argos.But if they are careless with Hyperbius in their assault, you, in turn, risk the wrath of the queen of the “Venerable Goddesses”’. Frustration bubbles in your gut – a ridiculous offense that you must consider the demands of Τισιφόνη despite your innocence, your impeccable character! You’d scream in rage if you were not so out of breath...>vote post next
>>6326974Sigh, I fucked up the spoiler tags but don't care to delete/repost again>this vote will close in 24 hours at ~3pm EST.>Damn the consequences – you’ll win this challenge as quickly as possible, push your cart to the victor’s stand with all speed, and let the Theban face the twins as fate dictates. You don’t seek to anger one of the Furies, but you’ll not jeopardize your hunt for your father’s shield for a Theban you will send to the Lord of Many in a year’s time regardless.>Assist the Theban in fending off the twins – sacrifice your lead and convince him to make a stand with you on the beach, thereby preserving his second place finish. Of course, there is the risk of betrayal on his part (for what if he then aligns with the Twins against you?), and even if your alliance stands, he could be seriously harmed in the fighting. Of course, if you work together, victory against the Twins should not be in doubt – each of you (Theban and Argive) are professional soldiers.>Attack Hyperbius yourself by the sands and stow him away safely on his own boat, before making your escape. You can subdue the man (at some risk to yourself), tie him up and leave his bull-cart for the twins – they would then split their efforts between two carts, slowing them. This would no doubt fulfill your oath to Τισιφόνη, but you could be wounded in the attempt. Also, you’d have to move very swiftly in the last push to the victor’s stand, and could be overtaken by one of the twins if your strength begins to flag…>Something else?I can try to clarify the race mechanics/relative positioning of the competitors if any anons have questions, there's a bit of strangeness since the Twins have actually accrued a higher race score of 55 but are still somewhat behind Hyperbius at 38 because they started the race at Phase 3 - if I had planned ahead better, I might have restructured the phase system to be a bit more intuitive, but like a lot of this quest, I invent this stuff on the spot when it's needed...
I am confused. How far away are all the competitors from each other? How far is the victor stand from hippo?Could hippo do full strength throws against the twins?
>>6326976>>6326987Actually yeah could we throw something and attempt to sink the twins' boat? Or at least make it take on water and slow them down? Or hit one, naturally. We should have at least a moment while the laborers are taking care of our boat as we come ashore.
>>6326987Let me make a large/detail map that might help, I can post these later tonight. Basically, Hippomedon is like ~250m ahead of the Theban and they're aligned on a north-south axis, but Hippomedon is still putting distance between them. The Sardinians are another ~150m south from Hyperbius' boat but like 500m+ to the east. They're moving faster than either Hippomedon or Hyperbius, and will land only a couple minutes after Hyperbius hits the shoreline.>>6326993Hippomedon is strong but not strong enough to puncture a ship's hull with anything he has lying around his own boat (excepting the very heavy anchor-weight in bottom deck, but removing it would cause his own ship to be unstable). He could search for a big boulder on the shoreline, but that obviously wouldn't be of any help right now.
Man this is a hard one. If we DO take Hyperbius clean out of the race Tisi the hissyfit will be happy since we'll do it gently. However we'd then totally be taking a 2 on 1 against the twins next round. Though I'm confident we could win it's very risky. Likewise Hyperbius should be smart enough to know that he would be in the same sandals as us if we ask him for help and he betrays us. But he's also an absolute fucking dipshit bigtalker and probably thinks he can no-diff both of them if he has to anyway so he might like those odds if it means fucking us over. We COULD leave Hyperbius to it and he'd maybe win but his chances of suffering an injury are real and he can't just lolnope away damage like olympian grandchildren can. And if that happen Tisi is going to inflict CBT on us which is not my fetish. I hate this kek.
Come to think of it though, if the twins do somehow win this contest, we can just follow them on the road and fucking kill them or beat them into submission to get our dad's shield back. Then we break no oaths or conduct in the little king's abode. So what's the over/under on the gods stealing dad's shield and giving it to the little king for this whole thing to play out? It's looking pretty likely. Though I don't think they expected Hippo to actually be here what with Tisiphone having to strongarm him into not killing the shithead Theban. Unless she acts opposed to the will of the Olympians, of course.
>>6326976>Damn the consequences – you’ll win this challenge as quickly as possibleHippo will legitimately go insane if he can't get his dad's shield and I reckon he's impious enough that this would seem to him a fair trade.>>6327022>he can no-diff both of themHis AGI and CON are pretty good, including his soldier trait, he's got something like +6 (4 AGI + 2 Skill) and +8 (5 CON + 1 Armor + 2 Skill?)Besides, you saw how the twins rolled during the other fights, they're goobers. Sort of reminds me of how Nikon fared against Pollux in that spar.
>>6327033The dice are as fickle as the gods. Maybe they'll both immediately double natty him and both hit for max damage. While Hypissbaby might fumble and eat the hits and straight up get thwacked into a wheelchair. We've seen some pretty fucking stupid dice before so I legitimately can't say I'm being 100% hyperbolic. I fear the Fury and if she's being so fucking accommodating I'd absolutely try to leverage SOMETHING out of her in the future, which means playing nice with her despite the fact I want to hit her with a rock. This is the nicest she has ever and likely will ever be to anyone who isn't a god(dess) or a rape victim.
>>6327042>pretty fucking stupid dice before so I legitimately can't say I'm being 100% hyperbolicNah man, there's totally no way the dice would lead us into running into the greatest warrior of a culture and he procs his aristeia.Thinking on it the situation would be more worse if the twins entered aristeia. Situations fucked. I don't know, maybe Hippo levy his kleos to yell at them to not mutilate each other though I'm getting the sense he'd be too far at the victor's stand for them to hear him.
>>6326976>>Assist the Theban in fending off the twins – sacrifice your lead and convince him to make a stand with you on the beach, thereby preserving his second place finish. Of course, there is the risk of betrayal on his part (for what if he then aligns with the Twins against you?), and even if your alliance stands, he could be seriously harmed in the fighting. Of course, if you work together, victory against the Twins should not be in doubt – each of you (Theban and Argive) are professional soldiers.Perhaps Hippomedon can let Hyperbius know that the Gods have deemed it fit that they triumph over the grandsons of Zeus together? It is true, from a certain point of view
>>6326987Here's the map I mentioned - hopefully makes things clearer? The boats are all within easy visual range but out of spear-throwing or grappling hook range. However, it's entirely possible that Hippomedon could huck his club (or grappling hook, Hippomedon will automatically think to take one) at his opponents in the final cart-pushing sequence, especially if Hyperbius or the Twins will cross paths with him.Hippomedon is not aware of the final stretch of cart-pushing just yet, but it's a tough uphill sprint of about 4 stades - only a short distance to a hill overlooking the northern beach. >>6327022Yes, you're understanding of the motivational crosscurrents. I feel that I am becoming more adept at muddying the waters for the MCs as time goes on hehehe>>6327025This is also true, there is nothing stopping Hippomedon from doing whatever he wants once the Oetian Games are over, although obviously, there would be consequences to these kinds of decisions. He once considered murdering Polynices and Tydeus in cold blood, if you all recall...>>6327050To this day I am astounded at the sequence of highly unfortunate events - the resounding success of Paris' abduction followed by the very worst possible set of outcomes once inside the Palace of Ilion, followed by the players choosing to hara-kiri rather than kill their best boy Teukros - I did literally weep at the sheer drama. Of course, I am partly to blame for not screaming DANGER DANGER WHAT ARE YOU DOING at maximum volume at the players during those last updates, but thematically, it was a goldmine and of course, Nikon was glory-blind. If nothing else, it set up this quest, and I'm still having fun writing about Hippomedon.>>6327098Yes, Hippomedon can lean on the divine instructions he's been given to attempt the persuasion attempt on Hyperbius.
>>6326976>Attack Hyperbius yourself by the sands and stow him away safely on his own boat, before making your escape. You can subdue the man (at some risk to yourself), tie him up and leave his bull-cart for the twins – they would then split their efforts between two carts, slowing them. This would no doubt fulfill your oath to Τισιφόνη, but you could be wounded in the attempt. Also, you’d have to move very swiftly in the last push to the victor’s stand, and could be overtaken by one of the twins if your strength begins to flag…
I sort of wonder if like with Dad we could just beat the shit out of the twins so they can’t compete anymore. Jump Hyper then jump them when they each got a cart. Hippo’s probably enough of a sociopath to do it. Though I sort of want to recruit the twins alongside fai
>>6327188> deliberately crippling the twinsYes, of course this could be done. Homer QM pretty clearly established that divine regent is not perfect regen, so Hippomedon could mulch their femurs with his club, for example, and end their tournament. But this would be pretty unsportsmanlike, and word would inevitably get back to Sardinia
Bump for votes.Not seeing a broad consensus emerge so I’m extending the voting window to 8pm EST. Will leave things to chance if there’s a tie!
>>6326976>>Attack Hyperbius yourself by the sands and stow him away safely on his own boat, before making your escape. You can subdue the man (at some risk to yourself), tie him up and leave his bull-cart for the twins – they would then split their efforts between two carts, slowing them. This would no doubt fulfill your oath to Τισιφόνη, but you could be wounded in the attempt. Also, you’d have to move very swiftly in the last push to the victor’s stand, and could be overtaken by one of the twins if your strength begins to flag…Maaaaan FUCK. Let's be sure to rough up the wagon so it's extra slow so we can pretty much ensure we can't get lapped by both twins even if we botch this. We could probably just talk to the twins tonight and ask them for a polite contest tomorrow where we don't try to give each other brain trauma if we're really worried about a fight.
Don't suppose we get a chance to throw the hook at Hyper's face?
Rolled 12 + 4 (1d20 + 4)Your white-hulled ship comes to a shuddering halt, scraping the wet sands of the northern beach – teams of Trachians are there to haul the craft onto the sand and remove the bull-cart. You stand on stiffened legs, staggering over to the stern and using the handholds (for like most Hellenic ships, there are iron bars along the curved pine there), you gently lower yourself into the chest-high water with burning shoulders, and plunge below. The ocean-water is refreshing and does much to restore your resolve, but you cannot linger – there is much to do! The present situation is untenable and your victory is at risk. Decisive action is needed to scramble things in your favor once more. You consume food and water voraciously, don your lion’s hide, and watch the laborers pull your cart onto another road of split logs. You grab one these men by the robes – a frail and gangly thing with an embarrassingly thin beard. His eyes bulge in fear as you make your announcement around a mouthful of roast pork (now rather dry and salty, after a day at sea):“I will confront the Theban; there must be witnesses for the poets.”Hyperbius’ presence has been long irritating – grains of sand in your wine goblet, as they say. Of course, you will take pleasure in humbling the man, driving some fear into him that you can exploit later… In a flash of insight, you realize that you have an opportunity to further improve your odds of victory – you can hobble the Theban’s cart by some degree, slowing it down. A man of your strength can simply crack one of the heavy wheels with your club – the Sardinian who claims the prize would then be forced to move cautiously or risk losing the wheel entirely. A clever solution! Less than a minute has passed since your cart has been positioned – your stiff rower’s stagger smooth out into an easy lope as you move west to intercept Hyperbius’ black vessel. In the distance, you see the Sardinians drawing closer – really, they’re moving at a phenomenal pace. Unfortunately, you don’t have the time for theatre – as Hyperbius’ ship hits the shallows, you simply call out to him in challenge:”THEBAN! THE TIME HAS COME FOR US TO MEET PROPERLY! LET US DECIDE TODAY’S VICTOR HERE AND NOW!To his credit, the man is not a coward – he stands calmly, stretching his limbs and drinking deeply of his well-mixed wine bowl, before leaping off his craft and wading out of the waters. No boorishness now, you note, as he stops twenty strides distant – his flat eyes are both predatory and without pretense. The laborers crowd into a loose ring, forgetting their duties - spectating Trachians from further up the victor’s trail are now scrambling down the northern hills.The Sardinians are drawing yet closer – you must begin now! Your hands grip the club, and settle your stance – the Theban mirrors you, arrogant in the set of his shoulders...>give me an initiative roll, /qst/! dice+1d20+6.
Rolled 2 + 6 (1d20 + 6)>>6327535FUCKKKKKKKKKKKK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUU THHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEBBBBBBBBBAAAAAAAANNNNNNN
Rolled 16, 5, 20, 11, 19, 3 = 74 (6d20)>>6327537He surprises you - launching faster than you might have guessed, his sandals tearing off a loose skin of wet sand over the boulder he had been standing on - solid ground to leap from! He flies closer, jittering left and right as he raises his club in his right hand, picking up speed as he goes. His chestnut hair flows wildly in the breeze as he sprints closer - his form and positioning are excellent! Your shoulders are tired and legs weary, you are too slow to interdict! You dance backwards in alarm, extending your club forwards towards his chest, buying yourself just an extra instant of reaction time before the strike comes!>uh oh - the Theban has first-strike! He is rolling with a +6 to-hit (+4 AGI plus +2 combat skill from "Soldier of Thebes"), and a +10 to wound! Rolling in a HTHx3, HWx3 format. Needless to say, a successful hit here will likely quash Hippo's dreams of an easy victory today...>from the players, I need THREE rolls of dice+2d20 in a HipD,HipB format. Hippomedon dodges with a +9 and currently blocks with a +6 (+5 natural CON, plus +1 lion pelt bonus). You'll notice that Hippomedon and Hyperbius have no shields and therefore there is no shielding bonus applied to either fighter.>minimal correction to Hyperbius' previous sailing performance - he actually got a 41 rather than a 38. If Hippomedon gets his "Gifted Athlete" bonus, so should Hyperbius. Doesn't change the narrative and actually buys Hippomedon another minute of combat before the Twins arrive.
>>6327547>26, 29Oh my god, he's going to bash out Hippo's brains.
Rolled 1, 13 = 14 (2d20)>>6327547>>6327552Aiiiiiyyyeeee it's happening again! kek
>>6327557Lesches just is too damn good at rolling
Rolled 3, 2 = 5 (2d20)>>6327547Well, the worst has already happened.
>>6327557>>6327561I am appalled and ashamed. I bid you all a good evening.
Rolled 15, 2 = 17 (2d20)>>6327557>>6327561....What the fuck.>>6327547Despair and woe.
>>6327569Good ol trojan war dice. Literally the only thing that sucks the fun out of it. A statistician would probably blow his wad if he calculated the odds of most of the rolls in this series lmao
Oh right we don't actually get a counter attack if we don't successfully dodge or block, right? Guess we lost.
Unless Hyperbius takes a contextual malus for being fresh off of his boat and a little winded from rowing whereas Hippomedon is fresher since he had time to compose himself? Eh? EHHH? kek. Oh well.
>>6327597>we lostHyper might straight up murder Hippo here. At the very least we’ll be free of the tournament arc. It’s kinda been a drag.
>>6327622Hippomedon can't die here. We already know his fate. Stripped by the shitty r*ver and shot to death outside of Thebes. I've enjoyed the tourny myself. As well as the mystery around how the fat little king got our dad's shield. And why an Aegyptian is all the way out here in the middle of bumfuck nowhere. Somewhere along the coast I could see, but here? Unusual even with a minor game to bring people in from afield.
>>6327624I like the mysteries, but it’s the phases and the fuckton of dice that I find dragging. It makes me dread the nemean games. Maybe I’m just not seeing in a meaningful light of action packed, character interaction, and prizes. I’ll just check out for a week or two till this one ends and if hippo lives to the next one I’ll just do the same when it rolls around.
>>6327631Fair enough. May the wind fill your sails, brother. kek
Rolled 4 + 10 (1d4 + 10)>>6327547>>6327557>>6327561>>6327569Oh no.>26,29 vs 24, 19 - Hippomedon takes a big L here.Friendly reminder to all that the clubs deal "stun" damage and that Hippomedon has 13 wounds. There's a chance that he'll be able to resign with a bit of dignity here...
>>6327658>There's a chance that he'll be able to resign with a bit of dignity here...You uh, actually believed that? I have come to determine that in combat the only actually worthwhile stat is CON. Which is weird because there are plenty of instances of characters being taken prisoner or held for ransom in the story which wouldn't really be reflected well in quest because most characters have a solid chance of instantly dying in a single round to equivalent "powerlevel" characters. With the only exception seeming to be Ajax because he's a brick shithouse. Probably only Achilles has the actual strength to one tap Ajax. Perhaps Memnon? I think Hector just barely can't cut it unless he enters an aristea. Am I the only one? I know lots of STRchads in here and DEXfags.
>>6327660I am constantly amazed that the gods want the TWQ MCs to suffer. I would have bet money that Hippo would have thrashed Hyper here, but alas, Zeus Μοιραγετης had different plans today.I’m actually very proud of the players who are willing to stick with the quests I run despite these painful setbacks. The victories seem all the sweeter when devastating failure is never far…
>>6327666>The victories seem all the sweeter when devastating failure is never farIf I'm being frank I don't quite agree. I find it more like a relief to succeed than uplifting. A cessation of negative impulse rather than a blossoming of a positive one to use flowery language. Primarily because it's so swingy. It usually goes "someone rolls a 18, 19, or 20, can someone else roll an 18, 19, or 20 in return?". Even during the race portion it was back to back to back 20s. Really I'm only still around because I more or less stopped giving a shit after I killed Nikon with my dogshit roll kek it makes it easier to ignore the ever looming dread and instead enjoy the background stuff which is genuinely fascinating and interesting from both a writing and historical standpoint. So it plays more like a black comedy for my coping ass.Now I'm wondering just HOW HARD Hippo is going to lose his fucking marbles since anyone who doesn't finish this round is disqualified. I fully expect Hippo to leave, and immediately return with a small army to kill Eukarytides after a brief interrogation about how he got the shield. I will however be extremely pissed off if Hyperbius manages to get injured and Tisi whines about it. Because that isn't just annoying, it's fucking annoying.
But you make a critical error, an oversight borne of long years in the training yard with the excellent equipment that only a king of Argos could provide. The Theban rears high, club upraised to dash your brains out, and with no shield, you raise your own club to turn aside the blow. You brace, holding your club laterally so that your head and face are barred from harm. Of course, you trust the integrity of the club – that it will be strong when you need it to be strong, that it will serve you faithfully, just like Argive bronze has countless times. But Argive bronze it is not. The Theban’s club, moving much more swiftly than your own, shatters your own weapon into chips, brushes it aside with the implacability of fate, renders you defenseless, leaving you with nothing, stealing your future. Your eyes have just enough time to widen in surprise bef ----Your skull aches, your head pounds – where are you? It is dark. You groan in pain – your right shoulder screams in protest. You freeze, motionless – for fear that your shoulder might punish you again. You can’t quite recall where you are. The battle in the Phocian hills, taking the divine kopis… Oh – the Oetian Games. Things are fuzzy – boars and bulls and crowds chanting your name. Things have clearly gone wrong somewhere.Something is covering your head and face, blocking your sight – trembling fingers from your left hand push and pull at the linens. Bandages. You don’t probe too far for fear of what you might find. Your bed is comfortable, the air perfumed by incense. You groan again in pain.“Peace, Hippomedon, Argive prince,” a kindly woman whispers in the dark – an older woman, Thessalian by accent? “You are within the halls of Eurykratides, within your guest quarters. You faced Hyperbius on the sands, but he bested you – it is the early morning of the next day. You are safe within these walls as you convalesce, as guest of the king of Trachis.”You are grateful for the information – although, you do not like the sound of this word, "convalesce"“How are my wounds?” you inquire with a parched tongue. The woman clucks in disapproval:“Your right shoulder is black and blue, and the bruising extends nearly down to your right hip – it is perhaps crooked in the socket. The little keyclavicle that locks your right shoulder to your neck is cracked - the bruising there is worst of all. Hyperbius of Thebes split your right scalp with the same blow, although not terribly – the force of the strike was received mostly by your shoulder. Splinters of your club have been plucked from your flesh - although we are not certain that we have removed them all.”A significant battering – but not permanent impairment, thankfully. You’ll make a full recovery in time. >Hippo has 1/13 wounds. He has no divine regen and recovers two "stun" wounds each morning - he will have 7/13 wounds on the day of the next event (if he competes).
Rolled 1, 5, 10, 10, 17, 13, 8, 15, 11 = 90 (9d20)>>6327670Now to take a brief break from the narrative to see how things shake out for the challenge. Event Sequence:>Hyperbius takes out Hippomedon, starts cart-pushing. He is rolling with a dice+3d20+9 for this last leg - (8+5)/2 + his Gifted Athlete bonus of +3 = +9. unfortunately, I haven't been consistent in applying his "Gifted Athlete" bonus (i missed this in his bull-grappling and initial cart push). Sigh - no change in practice to the plot, since Hippomedon had rolled so well up until the duel, but a frustrating error on my part. Hyperbius would have been 30m closer in the sailing portion than I had described as a result, but still not in throwing range.>Nico and Halo arrive at the beach just a couple minutes after Hyperbius - each of the twins has long since recovered from their earlier bout with Dadaces/Faibokranef and have a full cart-pushing bonus of (10+8)/2 = +9. Because they're late to the party but catching up very quickly, assigning them a relative -6 speed malus. Halo has an additional -1 speed malus since he has to run over to Hippo's cart and claim it for himself.So I'm rolling in a Hypx3,Nicx3, Halox3 format with +9, +3, +2 bonii. If Hyperbius is lapped or one of the twins gets within 3, this will prompt some sort of conflict between them. >>6327669>disqualifyingWell, Hippomedon is not kicked out of the tournament just yet - he just wins zero points for the second event and could CHOOSE to resign the tournament entirely (this is what the next vote point will be about at 10pm EST tonight or so). It's still possible for Hippomedon to win the Oetian Games outright, although that would obviously require him to do well in the final challenge and potentially knock out some of the other competitors, which is definitely still possible in his wounded state. 7/13 wounds translates to a -4 wound malus, so Hippomedon would be hitting a +5, wounding at +11, and throwing at an even higher bonus.
>>6327700>Hyp: 19, Nico: 20, Halo: 17Right, so now Hyperenor is going to fight the twins with a highly uncertain outcome - his vaunting over Hippomedon might be pretty short-lived, kek. Honestly not sure how this will go for him - he'll have to put Nico down quickly or risk getting double-teamed.Will roll this out later this afternoon.As I mentioned next update at 10pm EST or so.
>>6321499>The slowest two competitors will be out of the competition.”>>6327700Ah I remember reading this and must've thought it meant if you didn't make it you were out. It does make more sense that competition here referred to the round itself rather than the games et al.
Also just realized, this is the second time the MC has gotten a cool new weapon, got swept up into something and got one shotted without ever getting to use their new gear. Now that is just depressing. We never get to do anything fun lmao
>>6327669Part of why it's so swingy is because it seems like EVERYTHING is an opposed roll. If we had to lift a rock it feels like, at this point, the rock is going to throw hands and we'll have to roll to fight it.
>>6327859I was actually thinking the same. d20s are already pretty shifty on 4chan. Add in opposed rolls and it's effectively doubling down on the hit-or-miss tendency of the die size. We either get a DC of "sneeze and win" or "do a triple backflipping axe throw onto a playing card at ten feet or die" and there's no indication of when we'll get either of those until it's actually rolled. Compound that with a momentum system where losing basically guarantees further losses and virtually every opposed roll where HP is involved is essentially determined in the first go. Though even where HP isn't involved there's usually some malus that is applied if you try to do something and fail to dissuade you from trying again. I feel bad for Lesches for inheriting the system.
>>6327872Like, the system pretty clearly apes after classic d20 TTRPGs mechanics-wise. Were I Lesches, I'd take a page out of their book swap to flat-DC defense and keep the rolling to attacks. Maybe have an OPTION for rolled defense to represent doing unconventional defensive moves against a more skilled opponent who can break your passive block/dodge skill.
>>6327888I mean it would be more consistent, but it'd make it either too easy to hit your betters or genuinely impossible to resist their attacks. I get why the dice are used in the way they are I just don't like it kek. It feels like gambling.That being said, THAC0 AAAAHHHH NOOOOO
The dice system we use is absolute shit tier. Enemies should get best of 1 or 2 at max. Only MC should get bo3. Otherwise you just get cascading failure. And its not like failures are minor. Its always do or get Uber rekt. And makes all the fights super swingy. Should have a failure and win ratio. Kind of like you do by multiple degrees of success but you need that for failure too. Like in the fallout qst even if you fail a roll it's not catastrophic. You usually get some movement towards the goal. And damage is incredibly to high vs HP. You shouldn't be able to one shot any of the Enemies or ourselves. Should use a static HP system of 3+ con modifier for number of wounds you can take. Base weapons should do 1 dmg, high end weapons 2, and artifacts 3+. Armor should be able to eat a certain amount of damage before being destroyed. Aka basic armor can eat 2 dmg, high-end armor 4, and artifacts 6+. Would make gear and weapons meaningful and the fights not swingy instant kills.
>>6327902I feel like that would make combat too much of a slog. Especially with the vibe for combat being extremely lethal here. I think it'd just be nice to have instant death resistance on "important" characters and some kind of momentum breaking option. Like it's genuinely unfun that Iudas insta-died the way he did. And it would be equally unfun for someone like Faibokranef to slip on a banana peel and have his spine rip itself out. It'd be weird for a character like Aeneas to lose one round against say, Meneleus and be turned into a puddle of gore especially considering he gets actual plot armor and spirited away when he's about to die even despite the fact that the old man is jacked as hell. IMO it's best to keep the sense that combat is dangerous but to get rid of all the save-or-die that happens. Running away happens a LOT in in the story, and that should be something that is facilitated, since most of the characters die when they can't run away or when they're faced with genuinely impossible odds, like stepping up to Achilles and telling him he's a homo. Even Hector had to run away from multiple fights.
>>6327891>rolling dice>feels like gamblingI mean...>>6327902>>6327907Fair complaints, tho, IMO.
>>6327950>I mean...Ay mang throwing bones ain't gamblin' it's a way of LIFE! Jokes aside though it has the same sort of vibe as going into a casino, you're not playing to win you're just hoping to get lucky. Shit I guess that means it's more like today's dating scene then, eh? kek
>>6327795I was unclear in my statement in that particular post, thank you for pointing it out! >>6327806I swear I'm not doing this on purpose>>6327859>>6327872>>6327888>>6327891>>6327902>>6327907These are all extremely legitimate critiques of the TWQ system and I take them seriously. Part of the tension and drama of the TWQverse is the very real consideration that the MC could fail and fail with horrendous consequences - I really believe that these quests would simply not work as stories or as quests, if the MCs (who are - let's be honest - the literal whos of epic Greek poetry) - could simply blast through all opposition if Aeneas and Hector and Achilles and Ajax could not. But even a system that is meant to be fair to both MCs and "NPCs" can change and evolve - Homer-QM did move from two rolls to three rolls in challenges, for example. I am generally quite conservative though, and very hesistent to modify the system until there is compelling data that something is not working. Fidelity to Homer-QM's vision (or at least, my interpretation of Homer-QM's vision) is the driving force of the quest. All that to say - Hippomedon had a pretty low chance of getting utterly BTFOed by Hyperbius (10%? 20%?) but it happened anyways, and there was no quest or dice mechanic to save Hippo's bacon or spare him of the negative consequences of failure. Obviously this is a painful thing for the players (and also to me), but the system is working as Homer-QM designed it. >>6327907>what about running away? This is a point well-taken - it is Homeric for heroes to flee combat and I can probably do more to make that explicit in battle sequences. However, I would note that pretty much every time the MCs have gotten bodied in TWQ, the players have explicitly voted to take that risk. I cannot recall an incident where I forced the players into a combat sequence that they did not ask for first!>Iudas getting murkedLooking back, that was an emotional ambush on my part (which I partly regret), but I was an inexperienced QM at the time. I likely would have handled it a bit differently today.>some characters in the Late Bronze Age have plot armor from the gods and that's not fair to the cast of SATQ. You're more right than you know. It is desperately unfair, and there is nothing that I, or you, or Hippomedon can do about it. We are all fate's captives now, until the great arc is complete.
I reckon from now on have Hippomedon work with at least one other person. This human shielding can work to help ablate bad rolls from Hippo, because it seems he really needs it
>>6327978So you realize it was just dumb luck that we didnt die the first time we ran into the Dorians? Like if that is how you want to run it sure you do you. But this will just end in another travesty like twq. And youll just have anons vote to scrap the whole quest again. When the Greeks fought in the myths it was almost never a 1 tap and game over. They beat each other bloody in multiple rounds of combat. Damage is too high or HP is too low. You could do the whole HP pool + stamina pool. Stamina is getting bloodied or minorly injured. HP is when it gets into fatal territory. Otherwise you just have people insta killed by thrown spears... which Cannonically almost never happened unless divine intervention. Thrown javelins almost never killed or even hurt people with shields. Often. What would happen is your shield would get fouled by javelins and you'd be forced to drop your shield.
>>6327978I think youre also missing the point. We wouldnt blast through the opposition we'd have much closer fights. If 1. We didnt 1 shot kill the enemy 2. The enemy didnt just 1 shot us.Like im all for if we fight Ajax they have bo3 also. But there is no reason some no name prince from thebans with 0 military experience should insta kill us. At most it should take 3-4 rounds of combat for a hero to be taken down unless a literal god shows up to sway stuff. Like youre 9/10 going to kill the theban with the twins... then what we get cursed by the gods??? For the dude nat 20 us? Like smdh you should maybe us 3.5 dnd rules and like... confirm crits. There's a ton of different ways to fix the system. So that epic fights don't just end in 1 round. I dont think that's fun for anyone or really builds up tension in the story well. It just makes it rocket tag.
>>6327978>However, I would note that pretty much every time the MCs have gotten bodied in TWQ, the players have explicitly voted to take that risk. I cannot recall an incident where I forced the players into a combat sequence that they did not ask for first!I would rephrase that, since pretty much every random encounter that involved combat was the players not in fact looking for a fight kek. Such as Nira getting strangled half to death by the river slag, or Nikon getting jumped by the BIRDS!!!!. For Nira we voted to go back to try and save Iudas because obviously he was useful and cool and had an emotional attachment for the character so it was entirely reasonable as a decision despite how it panned out. For the BIRDS!!!! we did run, even if we were understandably pursued because you can't really get away from things that can fly faster than a horse's gallop. The only combat encounter that was "toughed out" was against Diomedes. I just mean to say that every character should have a minor amount of plot armor that allows them to not instantly perish unless they've been put into a position where it cannot be avoided. Getting stabbed to 0 HP should proc a forced retreat in a battle rather than death unless you cannot evade pursuit and the enemy wants you dead. As an example, in the middle of a battle with two armies a character should be able to get brutally injured and either stumble behind or get dragged away by his own troops, sparing his life even if the battle itself is lost from something like morale shock. Or a desperate flight from a monster bearing down on you. The "heroic" aspect of the characters we play only seems to matter when compared to literal peasants rather than their actual presence and conduct which makes it feel less like these larger than life people doing larger than life things and instead just stat-blocs with stories around them. After all, the only thing that's actually separating that level 0 farmer from Odysseus is that Odysseus has bigger number and a goddess riding his cock. I would also expect the same thing to apply to heroic beasts and divine monsters. Even on death's door things can run away. Hell even when actually mortally wounded things can run away. It makes little sense that every 0 HP should mean immediate spine severing, brain splattering, torso eviscerating mega injury that kills you before you even touch the ground. Especially considering how easy it is to get people to 0 HP unless they are CONMAXXING. I absolutely expect something that slams you into negative 10 HP to rip your heart out of your chest on the spot, it's just not really like, enjoyable from a player perspective for that to be every encounter no matter how grand or minor. Like to put this as nicely as I possibly can, this is an unbelievably well written piece of media, on /qst/ or elsewhere on the internet and it is extremely engaging and enthralling but it is also probably the least fun quest I have ever -played-.
>>6327978The issue isn't necessarily being unable to blast through opposition, it's that there seems to be no STRUGGLE, we just get folded instantly. We stepped up, challenged Hyperbius, lost the initiative, then missed out dodge/block. Fair enough, in most systems or quests this would result in a severe setback against an on-par opponent like Hyperbius, then several turns of back-and-forth struggle. However, due to the low health pools and high damage of the system, we just got bonked once and were knocked unconscious with no recourse.It would be less of a complaint if Hyperbius was a noted glass cannon build or something, but if EVERYONE is a glass cannon in LBA Greece, then nobody is.>>6327999What this anon says. Your writing is immaculate, but the system makes it less classic tragedy and closer to modern comedy.
>>6327999>probably the least fun quest I have ever -played-I feel much less strongly about it than this anon, QM, but I do agree that a slightly longer combat resolution would be more fun.Ultimately, you do you, but a couple rounds rather than one and done is often a bit more exciting and dramatic, eve if win/lose probability stays the same.
Rolled 15, 13, 3, 20, 18, 12, 15, 14, 13, 15, 12, 10, 8, 2 = 170 (14d20)>>6327982>>6327990>>6327999>>6328013I value this feedback and will consider it carefully - will keep everyone appraised of my thinking. I would also generally state that there are some big surprises still waiting to be discovered in SATQ that might change opinions, so please bear with me as we draw close to the war.---Now, to business! We're going to roll for the first round of Hyperbius/Twins dueling in the final stretch (although I'll have to finish in the morning, it's already quite late) and then recalculate standings/post story update sometime tomorrow night.Hyperbius has the initial lead, but at about 80% up the trail, it becomes clear that Nico will overtake him. So rather than risk missile attacks, he desperately parks his cart and sprints to Nico in the hopes of putting him down, perhaps overly confident after his victory over Hippomedon. Nicodromus is dragging his cart up the hill but won't get fooled again after the Fai/Dadaces fight, so it's a flat initiative contest followed by club-battle.See bonii below (pretty sure that it's correct but please let me know if you spot an error!):HypIni: +4HypTH: +6HypW: +10HypD: +4HypB: +6NicoIni: +1NicoTH: +1NicoW: +10NicoD: +1NicoB: +9---dice 1: HypInidice 2: NicoInidice 3-8: WinnerTHx3, WinnerWx3dice 9-14: LoserDx3, LoserBx3.Halocrates is further down the hill - he'll need two combat rounds (which is to say - attack, counter, attack, counter) to park his cart and then sprint up the hill to engage Hyperbius.At this moment, Hippomedon is getting carried back onto his white-hulled ship for return voyage back to the Palace.
>>6328025>Hyp wins initiative 19 vs 14>Hyp rolls a 26, 25 vs 16, 19>Hyp is on a fucking roll and smashes Nico!!Does someone want to roll for Hyperbius' damage? dice+1d4+10. I'll pick this up tomorrow morning - Hyperbius is certainly deadset on making a name for himself, whatever the cost.Things might seem dire for Hippomedon at the moment, but consider the tournament standings and what the natural consequences of Hyberbius' actions might be...
Rolled 2 + 10 (1d4 + 10)>>6328029>Does someone want to roll for Hyperbius' damage?No. Cause I know I'll roll a 1.And as much as he's making enemies, if we all jumped him next round at once WE'D look bitchmade for it as well. Shit's lame. Big men with their big feelings and big fat throbbing egos. lmao
>>6328032>revenge is bad in the Late Bronze AgeAnon, you’re thinking like a Christian here
>>6328035It's not "revenge is bad" it's "look at this little halfmen who couldn't settle their grudges on their own". I wouldn't think twice about getting a runback on his ass, but jumpin him with the whole gang? Bitch behavior.
>>6328036Not in ancient Greece. Having connections is more than half any battle.
>>6328094I'm pretty sure the laws of get-backs still applied back then. If you had a rep for being a big tough guy you were probably expected to be a big tough guy. Odysseus could easily get away with getting a gaggle of groupies to gank someone, Ajax not so much. Sure honor is more about results than behavior back then, but personal reputation supersedes that as well. At least to my understanding. I'm not exactly a historical scholar though so if anyone has any actual sources for contemporary conduct to call me a retard do please share it. My own research is pretty shallow considering how annoying it is to sift through all the modern "erm ackhshually" bullshit. More importantly, we got massively fucked up from getting put under, if we jump him with the twins then Hyperbius would probably need to go out on a stretcher and then Tisibitch would give us the curse of eternal babydick or some shit. I don't doubt the twins would take the opportunity to mangle him like they did to Dadaces. We might have to back the fucking pissbaby up against the twins even. Which hurts my soul to even think about. I mean, unless he loses his fucking hand against the next brother in some stupid fucking bullshit bad luck attack. God I'd be so angry if he does.
Rolled 13, 11, 15, 1, 1, 5, 7 = 53 (7d20)>>6328032>Hyperbius deals 12 wounds to Nicodromus by cracking a few of his ribs, ouch! >Nicodromus now at 6/18 wounds and topples over, before fighting back to his feet - a lesser man's chest would have simply been caved in! Nicodromus now has a -7 wound malus, very substantial. Halocrates has finished parking his cart and is now sprinting up the trailside hill - he's only about 30m away. can Nicodromus hold out long enough for his brother to save him?>Rolling for initiative again - Hyperbius with +4, Nicodromus with a -6 malus, Halocrates with a +1, in a HypIni,NicoIni,HaloIni format. >Also rolling a further d20 to determine whether Halocrates is panicked enough to try hucking his club at Hyperbius - on a 1-10, he will keep it, and on an 11-20, he will throw. These Heracles-style clubs are not meant to be thrown like spears, so if Halo throws, I'll be treating it like a small boulder (d3 damage) and using Homer's improvised weapon rules (generally, that half-STR bonus applies = +5 wound bonus for a theoretical Halocrates club-huck). I'll go ahead and roll another 3d20 for the club attack in case we need these rolls later.
Rolled 5, 18, 14, 1, 9, 15, 4 = 66 (7d20)>>6328229Thanks for everyone's patience while quest progress has slowed to a crawl this week, I have had a borderline impossible set of responsibilities to juggle. Youth is wasted on the young. >>6328229>looks like the initiative order is Hyperbius at 17, Nicodromus at 5, Halocrates at 16. Halocrates doesn't even consider hucking his club, which is good, because he would have completely botched it. >So Hyperbius will start a new attack on Nicodromus and try to finish the job. Halocrates can't actually attack Hyperbius in melee at this point (he's still too far away, I only rolled initiative to see if he would cast before Hyperbius attacks), but I'll give him a small initiative bonus of +3 next round since he's basically sprinting up the hill at Hyperbius to save his brother. >I'm rolling HTHx3,HWx3,NDx3,NBx3, plus the seventh die is Hyper's damage roll if he connects. Please note that Nico's -7 wound malus is still in effect for his dodge rolls (but not his CON, as has been clarified in this thread).
Rolled 18, 11, 20, 8, 17, 8 = 82 (6d20)>>6328448Whoops, I forgot Nico's side of the equation. NDx3, NBx3
Rolled 9, 1, 5, 13, 7, 5, 16, 11, 2, 6, 18, 12, 14 = 119 (13d20)>>6328448>>6328450HypIni: +4HypTH: +6HypW: +10HypD: +6 (i had marked this as a +4 in my previous post but have corrected - Hyperbius has not needed to dodge in this thread yet until now)HypB: +6NicoIni: +1 - 7 = -6NicoTH: +1 - 7 = -6NicoW: +10 - 7 = +3NicoD: +1 - 7 = - 6NicoB: +9---HypTH: 18+6 = 24HypW: 15+10 = 25ND: 20 - 7 = 13NB: 17 + 9 = 26>Uh oh - Hyper's attack is successfully blocked/weathered by Nico. Bad news for the Theban, this duel is getting away from him - next round, Nico regens 3 wounds and Halocrates will arrive for a tag-team on him. I'll roll for Nico's counter on Hyperbius, but pretty unlikely that he connects here...NTHx3,NWx3,HDx3,HBx3, plus damage roll if successful hit.
Rolled 19, 10, 9 = 38 (3d20)>>6328454>Nico rolls a literal 3,16 vs Hyper's 22,24>a sad display, to be honest, but he regenerates to 9/16 wounds for a -4 wound malusWew, okay - rolling for initiatives. This will probably be the last round of this little duel, unless Hyperbius manages to take Nico down and then weather a Halocrates attack. HypIni: +4NicoIni: -3HaloIni: +3 (with the context bonus I had provided)We'll have to resume tomorrow since it's already quite late EST. I should really have a questing assistant (a QA) to whip up a real excel spreadsheet calculator for all this battlin', would be much faster.
Rolled 9, 13, 2, 1, 18, 12, 7, 10, 13, 5, 20, 11, 17 = 138 (13d20)>>6328458>Hyp: 23, Nico: 7, Halo: 10>Hyper has another chance! HTHx3,HWx3,NDx3,NBx3, plus the seventh die is Hyper's damage roll if he connects...
Rolled 17, 16, 17, 18, 16, 4 = 88 (6d20)>>6328941>Hyp rolls a 19,28 vs 10,29 - Hyper blows his second attack!>Nico is growing confident now that his brother is here and Hyperbius is failing - he finally decides to simply huck his club at short range rather than counter in melee. This is a modified boulder attack - d3+1 damage vs Hyper's CON! Nico would normally throw at a +5 bonus but he's still got his -4 wound malus at this point. >so I'm rolling NWx3,HypBx3
Rolled 10, 6, 17, 1, 7, 14, 10, 19, 1, 10, 8, 13, 3 = 119 (13d20)>>6328944>Nico rolls a 18 vs 24 - throw fails and Nico's club sails wide.>Halocrates is finally here! >Halocrates tosses his club to Nico, and forgoes a typical melee attack - he basically moves to grapple Hyperbius with his arms outstretched, making no attempt to dodge at all. Mechanically, I'm going to give Hyperbius a free attack on Halo, and then Halocrates gets to roll pure STR vs STR in a grappling challenge - game over for Hyper if he succeeds here. HTHx3,HWx3,HDx3,HBx3, plus the seventh die is Hyper's damage roll if he connects... Halo is undamaged and so has a +1 dodge bonus.
Rolled 3, 1, 16, 3, 7, 17 = 47 (6d20)>>6328947>Hyperbius rolls a 23,24 vs 20,22 - Hyper connects! He deals 11 damage to Halocrates, who is now at 5/16 wounds for a -7 wound malus.>Halocrates now attempts to grapple with a broken face... Neither of these guys are trained wrestlers - Halocrates is wrestling with +3 bonus, Hyperbius is rolling with a +8 bonus. Small chance that Halocrates manages to choke him out here. HaloWrestlex3, HyperWrestlex3
Rolled 9, 16, 17, 6, 3, 5, 15, 2, 9, 16, 19, 1, 1 = 119 (13d20)>>6328950Now Nico gets to club-attack Hyperbius at a significant dodge penalty (-5), since he's disentangling from Halocrates' failed wrestling attempt...NTHx3 (at -3),NWx3 (+6),HypDx3(+1),HypBx3(+6). Last roll damage
Rolled 10, 6, 20, 13, 15, 8, 17, 15, 3, 5, 1, 12, 13 = 138 (13d20)>>6328952>Nico rolls 14,12 vs 16, 25 - another failed attack. the twins are fucking goobers. this is taking so much longer than i wanted...>Hyper counterattacks Nico now (who still has a -3 dodge penalty)
Rolled 2, 10 = 12 (2d20)>>6328953>Hyper rolls a 26,25 vs 14,21 - a hit, thank Zeus! >Hyper deals 13 damage to Nico - he's flatlined with -4/16 wounds!!! Nico's out of the competition! Rolling a d20 to see if Halocrates will fight or run (more like stagger, given the hefty wound penalty) - 11 or lower, he flees. 12 or higher, he charges. Rolling a second d20 to see if Hyperbius pursues him in the event that Halocrates runs away - 10 or lower, he chases, 11 or higher, he lets him go...
>>6328957Hyperbius is a massive dickhead and decides to run Halocrates down. I'm going to do the rest offboard given that Hyperbius' victory is practically guaranteed...>Hyperbius throws Nico's club at the back of Halocrates' head (flanking penalty of -5) d3+4 vs +4 bonus = 23 vs 8 - kek. Hyperbius takes him down before he gets thirty paces.Wew, this might have been the most rolling in SATQ yet. Just goes to show that the blood of Zeus can carry you extremely far, but it won't guarantee victory. Hyperbius is the last man standing and he is the only competitor to actually win points in the second Oetian Challenge. At any rate, the next actual quest post will come tomorrow night at 10pm EST. My autism has been sated and I am at now at peace. The third event will have substantially less rolling. The dice-creep in this quest is getting out of control.
I take off for a week due to work troubles and i come back to YET ANOTHER shitshow. Are you fucking joking me? We just get insta gibbed? The dice gods TRULY hate this quest and its entire fucking bloodline.I will look on the brightside that we do not have to sacrfice ourselves/anyone important to us due to our horrid luck THIS TIME at bare minimum.
>>6329069This is your sign, stop having work troubles. In fact, quit your job. Live in a barrel outside of a starbucks stealing their wifi.
>>6329138
Next update will come tomorrow night EST, apologies for yet another delay. This week has been a series of crises (mostly solved now) that have successfully knocked me out of my regular update schedule, but I'm hoping to get back on again soon.>>6329247>diogenesImagine being such a wanker that history remembers you forever, perhaps Hippomedon and Nikandros are going about things completely wrong, you know?In the meanwhile - whatcha guys playing? The new viking quest looks absolutely kino and Fog of War's arc wrapped up very nicely just now...
>>6329367>Imagine being such a wanker that history remembers you foreverHis sarcasm levels have reached critical mass. Diogenes was THE king of bums.>playingBeen enjoying Spartan II war reports. It's bretty good.
>>6329367Loot and Longships is looking good so far, yeah. In the same sort of historical fantasy vein, albeit a more parodic take, Local Lord Quest is back! In the "eccentric ruler" aspect of Hippo, Anon for Mayor is off to a fun start. Silver Knight Quest has that high tier mortal caught up in godly games beyond your ken energy and excellent writing wit the same kind of rich worldbuilding and poetic writing that makes this a delight.
>>6329367Fallout quest, Alterac, and the halo quest. All top tier quests. Your writing style is definitely the best but our mechanics are whack.
To your surprise, the woman is skilled in the theatrical arts – Endeïs’ speech is patterned and rhythmic, and her voice’s range pleasing – she tells you of yesterday’s deeds in the six-beat lines of a poet! Her tones are confident and smooth – whether she arranged these lines herself and rehearsed them as you slept, or is gifted with the power of spontaneous composition, you cannot say, but you listen raptly all the same. First, she tells you of events that occurred shortly after your exit from the arena in the hills – that Hyperbius was close behind you, that Dadaces and Faibokranef had attempted to bring the twins down outside the arena walls through ambush. Dadaces, you learn, was so badly beaten by the return blows that his life is in danger, even now, and Faibokranef was forced to retire the field, unwilling to assault the Sardinians or the Theban alone.“Now, swaggering Hyperbius, straining up the hillside,Peering down upon the gigantic διογενής*,His heart grasped firmly by Δειμος**' claw,And leapt below, a fearful wolf stalking careless prey…”Despite your initial joy in the poetry, the content of these last lines soon fractures your face into a harsh grimace. Hyperbius, after a series of blows, managed to fell both Sardinians yesterday afternoon, in addition to yourself, and was never struck in return at any point. He was the sole competitor to reach the victor’s stand, and personally defeated three of his peers in the process. Eurykratides awarded him a golden bull pin, the mark of the challenge victor, before Hyperbius addressed the crowd of nobility present. Endeïs goes on to quote his short victor’s speech - self-congratulatory vaunting and vituperative remarks, mostly directed at you.A man of no repute did this.A Theban man of no κλέος, bringing you, ἀμύμονος Hippomedon of Argos, to the humiliation of public defeat. To be driven into the earth by Capaneus in a private “sparring” match and suffer the barbs of your uncles is one thing – but to be overturned and mocked by a boy of no deeds? Your rage explodes; collapses into itself, freezes into an empty abyss. Your ears ring, your fists strangle the bedding, seeking the Theban’s throat - sparking torment flashes down your side; a reminder of your shame. Endeïs, blind to the chaos within you, continues - at the penultimate moment of last night's feast, Eurykratides revealed a second Oetian Games’ prize from his collection – a scorched club, huge in size, rescued from the ashes of Heracles’ apotheotic pyre some decades ago…The Thaumakian woman falls silent for a moment, as you digest yesterday's strivings.>Oetian Games Standings>Hyperbius: 5>Hippomedon: 4>Faibokranef: 3>Halocrates: 2>Nicodromus: 1>Dadaces: Retired.*born from Zeus - underselling their heritage. Endeïs is impugning Hyperbius/the twins with her word choice. **Terror/spoiler]
You admit that you now have doubt as to your chances of victory in these Games – confronting Hyperbius was a disastrous misjudgment. You could have easily have beaten the Theban to the victor’s stand, and put yourself far ahead of the man in the rankings, and near-guaranteed the restitution of your father’s shield. You silently curse all the gods and especially, the scaled bitch – without her prohibitions, you would have simply brained Hyperbius from afar.Worse, you are now significantly injured – certainly, you have absolute faith in your flesh to mend itself, but in three days’ time, you will not be recovered in totality, although you're certain that you will be well-enough to ride your best steed (albeit painfully). You would be extremely hesitant to face another in close combat, given the severity of your battering, but even wounded, you are a very dangerous man.Finally, the blackest evil of all – the Theban has stolen some measure of your manful dignity, although no Argive bronze was stripped from your shoulders, and he is no doubt strutting about the Trachian palace unpunished. If the Theban goes on to defeat you in the tournament as well, your shame will be doubled. To put it simply, it is an unconscionable state of affairs that must be rectified.>Hippomedon has “earned” the Deed of “Theban Thrashing” – this deed currently deducts one κλέος from Hippomedon’s fame stat (now at +8 again), and will persist unless addressed through the narrative. But the Theban’s tactics have betrayed him on a strategic level – he now possesses the enmity of three of the competitors – yourself, and the sons of Heracles, and has only just barely taken first place in the rankings, hardly an unbeatable lead. Additionally, another of the competitors, Dadaces, has retired outright, although you hardly counted him as a threat to your own victory. In short – you find it plausible that Hyperbius himself might be targeted during the final challenge, losing the Oetian Games outright, and not only by yourself – you imagine that the godlike twins are also besides themselves in anger, for they too have had their fame stolen by a thief. Three days to prepare, and today, you will be unable to do much of anything – the pain is too great. But tomorrow, and the day after, you will be able to move, speak, and act… You sigh, turning your attentions to Endeïs. You thank her earnestly for the pleasure of her lines, and she retires graciously from your room, leaving you in silence. You leave your bindings in place, and begin to plan:>cont
>PICK TWO BELOW (vote closes in 24h). You'll note Hippomedon's natural preference for "sportsmanship and fair competition" has completely vanished now that he's losing the competition and his honor is on the line...>Summon Eurykratides and announce that you will be retiring from the Oetian Games outright. You’ve wasted enough time here as it is – why not return home to Deianira and Euanippe? It occurs to you that you might attempt to barter away the divine kopis to Eurykratides in return to your father’s shield, Games be damned. Of course, this means that Hyperbius’ crimes will go unpunished… This option is not compatible with the others, obviously.>Same as above, except Hippomedon plans to steal his father’s shield outright (in violation of ξενία!), rather than bartering his kpis in the process. Eurykratides is a thief, whether he admits it or not, and the lesser crime of robbing a host is outweighed by the justice of restoring your father’s shield to Argos. This option is not compatible with the others, obviously.>Summon Eurykratides and ask him to locate a true pharmakis/physician. The sheer number of nobility present suggests that one of these rare individuals may be present – you doubt that any are skilled enough to restore your body in a flash or through some magic potion (for this is the work of gods and witches alone), but perhaps some skilled individual could lessen your frailty and summon some portion of your strength forward?>Find Faibokranef for conversation and perhaps to ally together for the third event? Faibokranef and the Theban have no cause for conflict, but the man seemed friendly enough, and talented in combat. You might try to sway him to your cause... As a friendly reminder, Faibokranef attacked the twins and they probably remember this quite well.>Find the Sardinians for conversation and perhaps to ally together for the third event? Hippomedon doubts that they are schemers by nature, but perhaps application of a general’s logic might be helpful here. Between the three of you, your chances of taking Hyperbius down are good.>Attempt to gain advance knowledge of the third event by some means, and thereby better prepare yourself for the challenge. A castle-rustling event will no doubt take place outdoors and on horseback, and presumably, one would be moving cattle from place to place. Scouting about the local area may be informative and beneficial. >Confront Hyperbius - this would be exceedingly unwise in your wounded state, and it is unlikely that you could best him in combat in your current state, but perhaps you could find some other means to improve your chances of victory. >Something else?
>>6329880>punished for atrocious luck with losing points putting our chances of winning in jeopardyAlright. Understandable.>punished again by taking a significant debuff and inability to take a single hit from anyone in the contest for the next roundOkay...>punished a third time with a glory debuffMotherfucker relax. Christ. There's no reason.I don't see a way we can even do anything about this at this point either. The twins are our best bet for beating Hyperbius, but they'll fucking brutalize him. Hippomedon is basically a stiff breeze from falling over at all times so even if we do take the asshole down anyone else could just thump him so allying with Fai would mean probably fighting the twins if we do take down Hyperbius with him. And if we get taken down it's at best a tie between us and Halo with a tiebreaker that if it's physical would would 100% lose since we'd probably get hit with seven fucking debuffs for getting knocked out again or some shit. At worst this round is worth three points and we'd instantly lose in that case. Unless we somehow convince the twins to not turn Hyperbius into paste. Dunno how we'd do that. Tell them the gods want hyperbius to lose but be unharmed? I dunno guys. Half the time the heroes of the period just say "lol we know better than the gods" anyway.
>>6329880Okay I've actually become so irritated over this that I am going to >Something else?: Just leave. Damn it all. Return to our wife and daughter and forget about this whole debacle.Tired of getting kicked while we're down. Let's just go home.
>>6329880Ah the old quest being killed by the players due to frustration once again. GGWP Lesches.
>>6329880>Find Faibokranef>Find the Sardinians
>>6330005>getting back to the main story>killing the questRoight.
>>6329887Er, I appreciate the frustration, anon, but a couple points of clarification. Hyperbius temporarily has a point of Hippomedon's Kleos in "escrow" and if Hippomedon wants it back, he'll have to get even within the course of the tournament. If he pulls out of the tournament entirely, Hippomedon loses that chance to restore his honor and the Kleos loss is permanent. In addition, winning the Games entirely will give him a point of Kleos, so Hippomedon could walk out of here with a Kleos of 10, if he wins the games and finds a way to get revenge on Hyperbius. This is completely possible, because even wounded, Hippomedon is phenomenally dangerous.>twins will just kill Hyperbius no matter whatOn their own, of course they would like to, but Hippomedon has the chance to work with them, steady their rage, and develop a "let's get even" plan if he goes to talk with them prior to the challenge. >these punishments are too severeWell, yes, they are severe - Hippomedon voluntarily entered the tournament, voluntarily confronted Hyperbius, rolled very badly against a mortal enemy although interesting that Hyperbius did not take the chance to murder Hippomedon, no?, and is now suffering the first legitimate setback of the whole quest. But I've also given the players some choices to ameliorate these problems and still succeed (and there's STILL a very decent chance that Hippomedon wins everything), if they would like to try. Or they can simply go home with nothing.
>>6330020I have a strong suspicion as to why, I just don't care. I'll even admit if I was wrong if it does come out.It's not about earning or even losing kleos, it's about the principle. It's not like the glory even matters that much since Hippomedon started with 8. I'm also very cognizant of the likelihood of things and how modifiers stack up against each other if the dice decide to not fuck anyone over in particular. Everyone else can vote however they like and I'll play ball and not sabotage them, I'm sticking with my choice though. I'm tired of Tisiphone and her sidequest no matter where it may lead no matter where. I'm also rather keen to move the story along so we can KILL Hyperbius rather than just give him an uncomfortable nap. Because I hate him. Good work on that, he really is a bastard and I almost hate him as much as I do Odysseus.If we hadn't sworn an extra oath to the little king I'd vote to kill him on the way out and leave the shield anyway. But I will miss Faibokranef though. He's funny. Dadaces was okay, too. He might have been cool to have around if not for his strength then for his boldness.
>>6330029All fair complaints, Hippomedon is sort of boxed-in here through social constraints, which is obviously frustrating to him and the players.Ironically, Hippo’s high fame is the problem here. If he was a nobody, there would be no Kleos penalty to getting dunked on by a rando, but he has a reputation to protect, you know?
>>6329880>Find Faibokranef for conversation and perhaps to ally together for the third event? Faibokranef and the Theban have no cause for conflict, but the man seemed friendly enough, and talented in combat. You might try to sway him to your cause... As a friendly reminder, Faibokranef attacked the twins and they probably remember this quite well.>Find the Sardinians for conversation and perhaps to ally together for the third event? Hippomedon doubts that they are schemers by nature, but perhaps application of a general’s logic might be helpful here. Between the three of you, your chances of taking Hyperbius down are good.
Alright, looks like Hippomedon will be diplomancing the twins and Faibokranef rather than pulling out of the tourney. I ran out of time today but there’s a decent chance at an update tomorrow before noon EST and it’s a certainty before 10pm EST
In the darkness of the guest room (for you are still blindfolded), alone with your failure and the agony of your mauled shoulder, you spend the next several hours considering retirement from the Games. Further injury might risk your capabilities as a soldier, and your uncle will need you for the war to come. Were you to return crippled from an unheralded traipse around the Malian Gulf… Other kings crush their subjects in angry tirades, but your uncle Adrastus knows that disappointment, properly wielded, is a crueler lash than most, and compels true obedience. And not to mention, should this come to pass, Capaneus’ gleeful slights would be heard around the royal courts until senility steals his speech and your own ability to understand the barbs…But no – over the hours, your pride slowly braces your resolve, and resignation becomes untenable. This conflict between yourself and the Theban has no doubt become the tale of these Games - it represents something much greater than bad blood between athletes. Men and women who had previously declined to observe the Games, now educated of yesterday’s events, must be hurriedly traveling to Trachis, in the hopes of observing the counterstroke of peerless Hippomedon... Such gossip always travels faster than hooves and sandals can carry – Rumor has no shortage of helpers amongst the chattering nymphs and goddesses. And should you shrink from justice in three days, what would the gossipers say as Argos marches upon the walls of Amphion? They would whisper suggestively [i]Ah, yes - of course it is known that Argos will lay Thebes to waste… But in the weeks prior, Hippomedon and Hyperbius came to blows on the slopes of Oeta, and it was mighty Hippomedon who fell that day. Perhaps Thebes is not so overmatched as it appears…[/i]That same Argive pride bears you up out of bed, despite the singing pain of your right side, and with your left hand, you clear the bandages from your eyes. Outside your room, attendants are at the ready. You request food, drink and privacy in the hall beyond. Years in the training yard have taught you that recovery begins with movement, and so once properly fed and watered, you begin to pace the hallways outside your room. The ends of the corridor are blocked with hanging rugs so as to shield you from view. Over the afternoon, you feel your stuttering strides smoothing, and the coiled muscles of your right flank coming loose. By evening and after a hot bath in the hall (wooden tub and steaming water provided by your host), you even dare to probe your right shoulder with your left hand – Endeïs was correct. The joining of your right shoulder to your frame is partly misaligned. Tomorrow morning, you’ll have to reposition it – an ugly process with ropes and weights, to draw the joint outward and then press it back firmly, but one that any trained athlete can perform alone.Your sleep that night is fitful and uncomfortable, but sleep you do.>cont
Awakening very early the next morning, you find that the screaming pain of your shoulder has muffled to merely very loud shouting – inspecting yourself, you find that the extensive purple bruising of your shoulder and right arm has dulled, and at the fringes, beginning to go yellow. You risk unbandaging your head to wash and oil your hair properly, wincing as you do so – clumps of hair and clotted blood are in the washbasin, but your ink-dark curls are so voluminous as to hide the nasty gash on your scalp.>Hippomedon has 3/13 wounds! You arrange your robes so that the majority of your bruising is hidden, and eat breakfast in the feast hall of Eurykratides. This early, only a scattered few nobility are present (guests of Eurykratides all), and none dare interrupt your morning meal, although you’re certain that you're surreptitiously observed – they are all desperate to know the full extent of your injuries. Of course, you pretend that nothing ails you, and go so far as to wave to the servants with your right arm, hiding your pain with brazen will, while curious eyes watch. Let Hyperbius hear that you are without distress, and perhaps shade his too-confident expectations… Your mind is clearer today, and as you consume huge quantities of grain, meat, eggs, and further Trachian substance, you apply your general’s logic to the upcoming event. Hyperbius is clearly more dangerous than you had given him credit for – if anything, the man is a younger, less seasoned version of yourself. How would you go about capturing yourself? Given your wounded state, you need allies. Fortunate that Hyperbius has been so eager to make them for you - the twins would leap at the chance for revenge, you expect. The Aegyptian, while personable, has no vendetta against the Theban… but may be swayed by the opportunity to knock out a competitor. In fact, from the Aegyptian’s perspective, nothing would be to his benefit more than if yourself, the twins and Hyperbius clash ineffectively and remove yourselves from the competition in the process. Hmm. You’d have to convince him to settle for cooperation and reasonable certainty in a second place finish, over a gamble for first place. And there is the greater issue – Faibokranef ambushed the twins outside the arena in support of Dadaces - the Sardinians are likely to mistrust the man. It may be difficult to convince them to work together, but you should make the attempt, as a fourth man would guarantee success! Locating the twins is trivial – the pair of golden giants are jovial guests, greeting everyone they meet. A few questions of Eurykratides’ domestic staff places them on the northern trail to the beaches of the Malian Gulf – they had asked the Trachian King to loan them back their old competition boat yesterday. Given the very early hour (rosy-fingered Dawn is only just beginning to make herself seen), fishing in the sea must be their goal.>cont
Your ride upon Surf, son of Arion, is a painful one, but the motion further loosens the knots of your right side as you descend from the hills – well worth the discomfort.As you had guessed, the Sardinians are preparing their loaned yellow-hulled vessel – bringing nets and fishing spears aboard. Dawn shines ruddily upon the waves, the skies are clear, and the salt-laden breeze of the water is fresh and invigorating – a fine morning. The twins have stowed their chariot and horses high on the beach, and a team of bored Trachian scouts is settled on their haunches close by with slings and bows – they will protect the Sardinian chariot and steeds while their masters on the Gulf. Nicodromus and Halocrates greet you, and at first glance, appear no worse for wear, despite their losses two days previous. You’re not an envious man, but the blood of Heracles certainly seems to have its advantages… As you clasp their forearms in greeting, you see that your first impression was not quite accurate – the twins are no longer mirror images of one another. Halocrates’ jaw has been misaligned, and several pearly-white teeth are now absent, stolen by Hyperbius’ club, and Nicodromus now has a nasty scar wrapping around the back of his scalp, peeking through his blonde tresses. You make no reference to their appearance, and they make no remarks about your own injuries, although you catch them peering at your right shoulder and arm from time to time. The three of you are no trained rhetors, so you simply get to business: you apologize for the interruption, and begin to lay out your case for cooperation in the final challenge. Before too long, the twins trade amused glances with one another – Halocrates interrupts you, speech slightly slurred by his ill-formed jaw and missing teeth:“Hippomedon, no need for winged words here – each of us has suffered grievously due to Theban’s savagery. What is your plan? We are not so foolish as to ignore the advice from Argos' finest general."Pleasantly surprised, you explain that all castle-rustling is simply the movement of a herd from one place to the next, and this will provide the opportunity for an ambush. The twins are your superiors when it comes to fortitude and recovery – they will be the anvil, setting themselves upon the trail to confront Hyperbius and drawing his attacks. As for yourself, in a wounded state, you must settle for ranged support and serve as the hammer. You will plan to strike him with stones from the side, preferably hidden from view by vegetation or by Surf’s flanks, or both. You explain to the twins that you have a tremendous capability for throwing, and fighting through the pain, demonstrate your power and accuracy with a pair of fist-sized smooth stones from the beach, killing two gulls flying overhead in a flash. The twins are suitably impressed and so finally, you explain that to simply bring Hyperbius down is not adequate – he must be shamed before the crowd.
Nicodromus answers:“A fine enough plan, Hippomedon – but once this is done, our pact is dissolved, and we must be free to compete honestly for the remainder of the challenge. Let none of us interfere with the others in the rustling!” A reasonable compromise – the three of you swear no oaths, for there is no need – you trust them and they you. You continue:“And one more consideration – our victory would be guaranteed with the assistance of a fourth – the Aegyptian. Give me leave to approach the foreigner and have him enter this pact as well.”The sunny attitude of the twins dissolves – they are somewhat less pleased at this follow-up suggestion, and you wonder if pressing further might risk the agreement that you’ve just made. Additionally, there is no guarantee that Faibokranef himself would be willing to enter such a pact, even if the twins agree, seeing as you have not yet spoken with him…>what do, /qst/? Does Hippomedon push the twins for inclusion of Faibokranef in the ambush and shaming of Hyperbius? Feel free to provide additional rationale for a small context bonus. This vote will close in 24 hours (or sooner, if there's broad alignment). I can also further clarify the nature of these plans if helpful to the players.>Yes, Hippomedon presses his case for Faibokranef's inclusion in the ambush plans and following non-aggression pact under favorable conditions. Hippomedon would be rolling with a +6 bonii – (+5 context bonus, +1 CHA bonus), plus the possibility of a Kleos check. At least four successes total between the two twins would be necessary. The twins would be rolling at a +0 bonus. >No, Hippomedon decides to leave Faibokranef out of this particular alliance with the twins, and will instead attempt to strike up a different arrangement with Faibokranef on a separate basis. If this option wins, Hippomedon's alliance with the twins is an automatic success! >Something else?
>>6331033>No, Hippomedon decides to leave Faibokranef out of this particular alliance with the twins, and will instead attempt to strike up a different arrangement with Faibokranef on a separate basis. If this option wins, Hippomedon's alliance with the twins is an automatic success! We have a good plan without him. We need only warn Faibz off so he doesn't interfere or get caught up in it, as a courtesy.
>>6331033>Yes. Aegyptian trained soldier.
>>6331033>>No, Hippomedon decides to leave Faibokranef out of this particular alliance with the twins, and will instead attempt to strike up a different arrangement with Faibokranef on a separate basis. If this option wins, Hippomedon's alliance with the twins is an automatic success!FOUR successes? Pft.
>>6331124Hmm, I may not have been very clear - I meant “four degrees of success total”, which would be an easy/moderate challenge to achieve if Hippo is rolling a +6-8 vs two people at +0. A degree of success is numerically ~3 points and I basically only use this lil mechanic in some social contests. Hasn’t come up much in Seven Against Thebes, I used it more in Deianira’s Sidestory (and mostly for flavor).So a Hippo 20 vs a Halo 10 would be ~3+ degrees of success, for example, and if Nico rolls a 19, Hippomedon gets his 4th success. Or Hippo could roll a 25 and Halo rolls a 10 - Hippo gets his 4 successes just from this. It works in reverse too.Plus even if Hippomedon fails the regular social context, he gets a Kleos back-up roll. The intention was that this is an easy-moderate social challenge desu, so as long as Hippo doesn’t bomb by a huge margin, the deal would likely survive
>>6331147>A degree of success is numerically ~3 pointsHasn't it been 5 diff every time before?
>>6331149Hmm, not to my knowledge, but I’m learning my recollection of these things is not always 100% reliable. As far as I can recall, I’ve mostly used a ~3 difference for this kind of thing, although maybe I did something different in the early days of DS?
>>6331153I think I know what my issue is, I always assumed passing a check was one degree of success and every five after that was an extra because we rarely got more than 2 DoS. Went back and checked a few rolls.
>>6331156Ah, appreciate the double-check, thanks very much. I do strive for consistency but am not always able to achieve it, I have to say.>~60 days left until the thread drops off the boardI’m actually pretty optimistic about our timeline here, with some double-update days we can put Hippo in the home stretch before the end of the thread
>>6331110change>No, Hippomedon decides to leave Faibokranef out of this particular alliance with the twins, and will instead attempt to strike up a different arrangement with Faibokranef on a separate basis. If this option wins, Hippomedon's alliance with the twins is an automatic success!
Erm, have hit some turbulence in my professional life, next update tomorrow EST, appreciate everyone’s patience
>>6331681Sorry to hear it, and I hope all comes out well for you.
>>6331681RIP. I blame the Minoans.
>>6331684>>6331689Ah, thanks for the kind words. It’s partly self-inflicted, I am too helpful at work and thus tend to attract many forlorn suppliants to my own office…
