Maze Master:
A Shattered Union
It is clear however that the union that had previously been strong and forged over time was slowly being shattered. Somewhere on their way up North, Doria and Aleta (who had already by this time fallen in love and married one another) decided to go their own way and forge their own path, taking a "lovers honeymoon" thus dwindling the party's strength.
However, despite this setback and loss of their companions, the core party was still strong especially with the power of their hirelings to press on. Thus, they continued North, learning through their travels of an ancient temple along the Frozen Sea that housed the Bow of Herakles.
A true disaster then struck. While camped out on the edge of the frozen sea, the party was ambushed in the dead of night. Their attackers, while humanoid, had stuck to the shadows. By the time they had been drive off, Dysis had been abducted, while Lysandros and Eurenomes also went missing. Whether they too had been captured was unknown. It had seemed that perhaps they were killed, or maybe forced by their attackers to flee to parts uncertain. Regardless, they did not return.
Arthanos and Itylus, knowing that they could not continue like this, formally abandoned the quest to retrieve the Bow of Herakles and traveled south back towards the lands of the great cities. While they and their hirelings moved quickly, another disaster struck as they were attacked by a band of Orki while crossing the mountains. Mugarod was killed in this attack and Itylus badly wounded. The hunter was forced to flee leaving Arthanos with the twins.
The union of the companions had been shattered by outside forces and they were now on their own.
Over a year had now passed since those events, however all paths back to Thena, where Itylus and Arthanos had reunited, and then had also run into Lysandros as well. By a chance meeting they had encountered Dysis who had escaped her abduction and had also had a perilous journey back to Thena. However the ordeal of the past year had shattered the fortunes of all of them, and in renewing their respective friendships sought to strike out once again... However, politically things in Thena were stable with few if any monsters plaguing the countryside and thus work for adventurers and would-be heroes was thin. The four had found themselves down in their fortunes, literally down to a handful of silvers in total which was problematic since the group's prior patron, Lord Joris, had passed away over the past year and his heirs were not keen to "squander" any more of his money.
But, Tyche had smiled upon them. The four had been approached by a nobleman who was hiring adventurers to seek out an item called the "Cap of Invisbility", though it was also known as the "dog-skin of Hades." The God of the Underworld had owned the helmet and it had been forged for him by Elder Cyclopses and used in his and his brothers' war against the Titans. It was thus an extremely powerful artifact, and the rewards promised for it were substantial: a new patron, wealth, power, and prestige.
The nobleman had informed them that divination and consultation with Oracles had provided his family with the approximate location of the artifact, they just needed somebody to go get it. The three were provided a map by the nobleman and their destination was a two day march north into the hills.
"It is true that I have sent others before you but none have yet returned. The last group I sent left Thena over a month ago now." he warned them. He pointed to a spot on the map.
"About a decade or so ago this used to be a silver mine, but King Theseos had it closed after it had run dry. This is where you should go to search for the Cap."
"Any questions?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:19, Fri 05 July 2019.
