So we began our session by picking up where we left off, with me unconscious. I actually was awake, with my consciousness in a different realm, or dreaming, or something, but whichever the case may be, I met Thanatos, another Greek god/death entity. He seemed a bit strange, but otherwise, not too bad. We had a weird chat about reality, made some clay people that lived in a stone castle, and then I woke up.
Persephone was waiting in the room when I came to. She explained that her husband was doubtless up to no good and that it would be in everybody’s interests if we blew off his deal and followed her to an exit. I made the executive decision as captain to agree, and we rallied the crew. She also plucked that sword out of the fountain that knocked me out and handed it to me – not magical, but solid gold, so worth a lot.
Following Persephone, she led us to an exit through to the bowels of Mount Olympus. Before leaving, she gave us a tiny Eternal Ham (with a ‘just add water’ instruction) and a missive to take to Hephaestus, whom she said we should be able to find somewhere on Olympus. She also gave Cassius a pomegranate seed. Then we stepped on through and she sealed the door behind us.
On the other side, a short tunnel led us to what were clearly living quarters. Further investigation led us to believe these were the living quarters of Medusa – out of game, that is. In game, we knew something was here, but not what.
On the far side of the living quarters, we found a large cavern. I scouted it out and determined there was some kind of hissing creature in one area (Medusa) and a large, mechanical bull in another. We then, as a party, attempted to sneak across to the stairs on the far side, but we were spotted and the fight began.
Over the course of the fight, Medusa’s physical threat was quickly neutralised by Cassius and his shenanigans, before Leonardo and our crew killed her. The Gorgon, likewise, was taken out without a huge amount of effort required, but not before it breathed on Cassius, turning him to stone. A couple of us also failed saves against Medusa’s gaze before she died, but all but one succeeded on subsequent saves, meaning one of our crew (our ship’s surgeon and the only other healer we had, no less) was turned to stone as well.
We then spent an inordinate amount of time, a long rest, and entreaties to both the gods we had met thus far (excluding Hades) and the rakshasa that screwed us over trying to find a way to de-stonify our two companions, but in the end, had to move on and leave them behind. We decided we would seek out help and then return for them, but that required finding that help first.
At the top of the stairs, we emerged into a maze. There, we learned that we required three keys to proceed. We also met a man called Theseus, son of the famous Theseus (and Cassius’ player’s temporary new character). He had been in the maze for a while and was likewise searching for the way out.
It is worth noting, however, that that first meeting was not smooth. I ended up stabbing him. It was all worked out in the end, though.
As we explored the maze, we found Polyphemus, the cyclops, whom we later killed in order to get a key from his eye, a hand of Midas holding a golden key, which was acquired thanks to solving a simple riddle about washing the curse away, and a reenactment of the Prometheus punishment with the eagle and the chains and the liver-pecking. That, Theseus strapped himself into, and after one peck, the bird’s mouth opened and provided us the final key.
As we opened the final door with the keys and passed through, we were met by Daedalus, along with the construct recreation of his son, Icarus, and five other constructs forged in the likeness of a handful of Greek heroes. Daedalus explained that the final test of the maze was to defeat the heroes in combat, and we… we got our asses handed to us. There’s no way around it. We weren’t allowed to rest in the maze, so we weren’t in tip-top shape as the fight began, and it didn’t go our way.
To be fair, Leonardo managed to kill one of the constructs, and we would’ve gotten a few more, I think, but we had some unlucky rolling on our part (made harder by the fact they had an effective AC of 21 with an AC of 19 plus the parry ability). As we came close to dropping, Theseus surrendered and was knocked unconscious (but stable), the others were taken down forcefully, and then when I ran in from my hiding spot where I had been firing arrows and mostly missing to stabilise Biggs before he bled out, I got swarmed by the remaining constructs and knocked out. Luckily, while Theseus and I were automatically stable and I managed to sort Biggs out, the others passed their saves, so nobody died.
Yet. That’s where we ended the session, with us all unconscious. Again, for me. I hope our DM doesn’t make a habit of this.
So, we are now one step closer to achieving our goal of returning home, but we are also down a party member – temporarily, hopefully. Will we ever get back to Saltmarsh? Can we find some way to restore Cassius? What will happen to us before we wake, and where will we be when we do? Tune in next week to find out.