The Trojan War

[Anxe]

A while ago a member of this forum (SilverClawShift) posted asking for help in her campaign and after the successful advice was given she continued to post info about what she had done until the completion of the campaign. I wanted to do something similar with my current campaign based off the Trojan War and the rule system of the Green Ronin book of the same name. This'll be sort of a blog I guess. Oh and in case you didn't get it yet, I'm the DM!

The Players:
Adeus, Son of Billeus Bobeus, Son of Zeus. A greatsword using warrior who fights for his grandfather.
Chridea, the amazon who also specializes in swinging a greatsword around.
Bonus, the badly named Priest of Apollo. He is very cowardly.
And another player missed our first session, so we'll see what he comes up with.

Adeus and his warrior companions were summoned to the court of Menelaus, king of Sparta. Menelaus needs wedding gifts for the marriage of Thetis and Peleus. He put the task to Adeus and his companions to find them for him. First he wants the 48 point white buck from the nearby forest and second he wants the blue sapphire of Hyperion.
The brave warriors went to Dennis the trapper to get some help in catching that nasty old deer. In your first forey into the forest you saw the white deer and followed it to a clearing. The white deer disappeared on the other side of the forest and then 7 normal deer popped out and charged the party. They were quickly dispatched, but Dennis and Bonus were wounded in the battle. The wounded stayed behind to take the deer back to the trapper's home while Adeus and Chridea went on ahead.
The two left caught sight of the white deer again and followed it again. Then eventually lost sight of it and continued using their only their hearing. They heard a splash up ahead and found a shallow river that the deer had crossed. On its way across it had apparently gored a fair maiden. The maiden was entranced by Adeus and invited him to come wash her wounds at her home. Chridea objected to this blatant seduction and tried to force Adeus to continue the search. The maiden then turned into a horrible acid breathing fish person. A battle ensued in which Adeus's sword got thrown into a tree. Chridea managed to slay the fishy after in feigned death twice, but she was wounded and passed out after the battle. Adeus bandaged her up and then quickly exited the forest under the eye of the white deer.
Dennis went back to the river while Chridea healed up and set a snare to catch the white deer. When the party reassembled they checked the snare and found wolf cub in it. Dennis speared the wolf cub and the party continued on the track of the white deer. Eventually they caught up with it, but were unable to catch it. They got lost as the forest got deeper and darker. They ended up in a thicket of sharp briars when the wolves began to howl. The party took up defensive positions before being attacked. Two of the six wolves were killed before they retreated. Torches were lit to keep the wolves away as the party went home to treat their wounds. The wolves attacked again causing Bonus to panic. The beasts were all killed this time and then a huge wolf appeared. The meager humans ran away in fear and ended up outside the forest by nightfall.

[Maetugi]

The Trojan war is all about being stuck between a rock and a hard place. Then you eventually find an answer to get out of the situation, just to have it come back and bite you in the a**. Every time.

My suggestion is that Great Wolf give them an option to save their lives. A child for a child. In return for their lives, they must replace the wolf cub with human child of royal blood. Let the party succeed (with difficulty) and let them eventually forget about it (couple of gaming sessions). Then the boy or girl will age at the same speed as a wolf cub and in a year will be leading packs of wolves or werewolves terrorizing the local populace. And worse... the only words the man-beast knows are their names.

[Middle Snu]

The Trojan war is all about being stuck between a rock and a hard place. Then you eventually find an answer to get out of the situation, just to have it come back and bite you in the a**. Every time.

My suggestion is that Great Wolf give them an option to save their lives. A child for a child. In return for their lives, they must replace the wolf cub with human child of royal blood. Let the party succeed (with difficulty) and let them eventually forget about it (couple of gaming sessions). Then the boy or girl will age at the same speed as a wolf cub and in a year will be leading packs of wolves or werewolves terrorizing the local populace. And worse... the only words the man-beast knows are their names.

I like your idea, but any respectable Greeks would rather die than sacrifice a child to evil. Subtlety is required.

[Maetugi]

I like your idea, but any respectable Greeks would rather die than sacrifice a child to evil. Subtlety is required.

Ummmm.... What about Agememnon and his daughter, Iphigenia? He sacrifices his near adult daughter to the gods so the Greeks can go to War against the Trojans. Or the multiple babies that are left to the elements because they're foretold to do this or that.

But the question isn't really about respectable Greeks, but your pc's. Are they afraid of death more than stealing babies? Will they see that this will bite them in the a**, and therefore won't do it?

If they don't sacrifice the child, the great wolf may follow them around. It does not need to attack them directly, but kill the people they visit. Soon the PC's will be considered cursed by the gods and not a soul will let them into their town.

Or the wolf follows them and takes a royal child herself.

[Anxe]

That does seem like a good idea, but they have already gotten back to the shelter of Sparta. The big wolf was just a tool to scare them out of the forest. Maybe when they get back I could use that idea though.

[Anxe]

We finally had another meeting last night to play D&D. It sure is hard for all of us to get together at one time.

Two new characters joined the scene. Foirtchirn the Archer and Torus the Druid. They were sent in by King Menelaus after he learned of all the trouble the adventurers had been having catching the deer. Bonus the priest chickened out and left (The player for Bonus lost his character sheet and decided he'd rather play a Druid then remake it.).

The four PCs and one NPC set into the forest again, going past the first clearing, across the river, and followed the deer's trail to the east of the brambles. It led them to a small clearing which was home to six bandits. The party quickly used an entangle spell cast by Torus to trap the bandits. Being unable to fight back the bandits were subdued and they surrendered. The party decided to sell them into slavery in the Greek way. After looting the bodies the White Deer showed up again, but the party decided not to chase after it. Their newfound slaves would have run away if they did.
The party lived it up in Sparta for a day with their new riches from the bandit encounter before deciding to sacrifice to Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt. She would tell them an appropriate way to capture or kill the White Deer. After being told that they received no information because they did the sacrifice wrong, two players looked up Greek Sacrificial rites online and read the whole 20 steps out loud to me. Their answer from Artemis, "Don't kill the stag. Approach it in peace and you will be rewarded."
The 5 brave warriors went into the forest once again and followed the deer's path once again. It led them to a glade which I described as, "being like the place where Bambi was born." The White Deer was there. The party explained that they wanted the Deer only as a quest at the wedding not its skin. The Deer agreed to come along with them if someone would stay behind to guard the forest while it was away. Dennis the Trapper stepped up for that job. He and the Deer talked while the PCs went to King Menelaus to convince him that the Deer shouldn't be killed.
The negotiations with Menelaus were successful after it was found that Peleus could skin the deer for himself and invoke the wrath of Artemis. Why should Menelaus or any of his countrymen have to deal with that? So the deer was brought to the court of Menelaus to live until the month of the wedding.
The king then sent the adventurers off to get the Blue Sapphire of Hyperion. They needed to take a gilded bronze statue up north and give it to the Oracle of Hyperion. She would then tell them where the Blue Sapphire was. Their orders were to go to that place and bring it back afterwards.

That's where we ended the session and started dancing to AC/DC.