Free GreekQuest by Herbie Brennan Page B

refilling the glasses.
    â€œThat was excellent,” you remark, wondering what’s for pud, as the third course arrives. This turns out to be lamb flavoured with cheese and aniseed, a pungent combination not entirely to your taste. With it comes vegetables, roast garlic, fruit and a salad made from dandelions.
    â€œA toast to fighting!” shouts Pericles, slurring a little.
    By the time the meal is rounded off with some of the most amazing pastries you’ve ever eaten, you’ve taken so much wine you’re not sure what the next toast is all about, although it sounds as if it might be politics.
    You stagger from the table and collapse on a couch while female hetairai put on an entertainment of song and dance accompanied by tambourine, pipe and lyre. The evening begins seriously to blur when the women leave and your host begins a discussion on philosophy. You have a vague recollection of impressing him deeply with the phrase cogito ergo sum (which won’t be heard again for several centuries and even then not in Greece) before throwing up violently and passing out on the floor.
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    A fairly disgraceful end to the evening, but at least you have the decency to creep out the following morning before anyone is up to select another destination from your map at 61 .
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    â€œChaaaaarge!”
    You hear the call from somewhere behind you and swing round to discover several thousand armoured soldiers are bearing down upon you, swords and spears waving wildly in the sun.
    You swing back. In front of you are several thousand soldiers in slightly different armour, also charging, also waving spears and swords.
    Everyone is running, but, ironically, there is nowhere for you to run.
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    These warriors aren’t in the least bit interested in killing anybody except each other, but that’s small consolation when you’ve been trampled by several thousand men, twice. Go to 13 .
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    â€œListen,” you whisper, “why not go for Hera? I know she’s a bit of a bag-lady, but Europe and Asia sounds like a really good deal.”
    â€œPick Hera?” shrieks Athena, who obviously heard every word despite the whisper. “You’re supposed to be working for my father!” The owl on her shoulder flies off in sudden panic.
    â€œYou’re Zeus’s daughter?” you gasp. “But that makes Hera your mother, since she’s Zeus’s wife. You can’t object to his picking your mother!”
    â€œShe’s not my mother!” howls Athena. “I sprang fully-grown (and heavily armoured, I might add) from my father’s forehead. He was so pleased to see me he let’s me use these -”
    With which she releases a stream of thunderbolts in your direction.
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    Go to 13 .
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    You move to lurk behind the door in order to use the old lurking-behind-the-door trick, which is probably fairly new in Ancient Greece. After a moment the door opens to a rattling of keys and a bearded warrior walks in carrying a tray of slops in one hand and a sword in the other.
    â€œHello,” he says, looking at the empty pile of filthy straw where you were lying, “where’s the prisoner gone? I do hope he’s not stupid enough to try the old lurking-behind-the-door trick.”
    With which you leap out from behind the door and hurl yourself upon him.
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    You’ll still have to roll for first strike since he knew all about the old lurking-behind-the-door trick. The guard has 50 Life Points and can do +4 damage with that sword. But he can do even more damage if he succeeds in hitting you with the tray of slops (+6) although thankfully he can only use it once and if he misses, you’ve only the sword to worry about. Should you win the fight, you can make your break from prison to the