Warriors of Athena - The Sacrifice of Promiskuous

The Odyssey - The Sacrifice of Promiskuous.

The Mad Lord Snapcase ventured north recently and we managed to cram in 7 games in effectively 3 days. One of these games was the Sacrifice of Promiskuous.

He’s gone overboard from the Argo after buying the new rules, Warriors of Athena, by Joe McCullough the guy who wrote the Frostgrave rules as well as some others.

We played a couple of games of Luke Warm Grave back in ’17 when the three of us first met. None of us had anything suitable for scenery in a winter wonderland and so we used this very temple as the centre piece of two games that Dougers created and umpired.

I remember them very fondly, partly because of the amount I had to drink and partly because I won both games, or at least that’s my vague memory of how it went.

I’ve since bought the Frostgrave rules and played 3 solo scenarios, all which I’ve posted somewhere on the blog. I didn’t enjoy the solo games and wasn’t happy about the use of D20’s to resolve combat and magic, it’s just too random for my taste, but I know that there’s a lot of people very happy with the rules.

Anyway to cut a long story short, as far as I can see these new rules use the same combat mechanisms and D20’s to resolve combat and yet I thoroughly enjoyed this game. This needs some thinking about but I’ll not be buying the rules because the basic set doesn’t include a Bestiary, so as far as I’m aware. to play a game you have to buy 2 books, total somewhere around £50.00.

If I’m wrong about this please let me know but on the basis of our game I’m going to have another shot at using the Frostgrave rules and see if they work for me this time, although I wonder if it’s a rule set best played in company.

The Mad Lords scenario gave us a cracking game, very nicely judged in terms of difficulty and lots of fun.

The books on the table are clue markers, we had to read all three of them to reveal the fair Promiskuous who would then appear, ready to either be sacrificed or rescued, it was to be a cooperative game so we obviously intended the latter.

Somewhere along the way there was a treasure token and the most deserving Hero would find it.

Unfortunately I can’t remember how I found it, only that I did.

These flying creatures are supposed to be bees, I don’t remember bees in the Odyssey but it’s a while since I read it and as neither of us had any we went with giant mosquitoes.

The chap in the green tunic is my companion Neoptolemos and a jolly brave sole he was, the bees aren’t particularly powerful but can give you a nasty sting. The white bull that we sacrificed before setting out on our quest must have been viewed favourably on Mount Olympus because Neoptolemos had very little trouble defeating this bee.

Similarly the Mad Lords companion in the blue tunic, Prothus killed this one as well.

The upright strong limbed fellow in the background leading the charge is me, Alitis. I had various attributes such as Creature Killer, Mystic Energy, Sprint, all of which we forgot to use in the game.

The slinger, trying to keep up is Lysimanchos one of the Mad Lords Companions but you don’t need to remember his name.

Because he was killed by a bee, well I did say they had a nasty sting.

In the far distance you can see I’ve already claimed one clue marker on the way to the temple and am hoping to get another in the centre of the temple.

You can probably just make out two of the bees about to dive in to attack me. With the first two falling so easily I’d got a little cocky so then when the slinger got killed I was wondering if I’d just made a huge mistake.

The Mad Lord had said we were Hero’s so I charged on like a hero but I noticed the chapess with the white hair and a black stripe, who is his Hero, or maybe Heroine, I don’t know if they have them anymore, was hanging back a little. She’s called Thrafsiperiptosi which is a bit of a mouthful; I preferred it when she was Xena Warrior Princess. Any how she and the Createn Archer who is my other companion Harpaios were both laying down a field of fire to keep the bees at bay.

That’s when my man in green saw them. Giant crabs and there’s no lotion or cure for them.

“Archers” he shouted, “over here” and pointed as if they might not notice Giant Crabs coming their way.

There’s a saying about discretion and valour.

“To me” I shouted and without further ado he ran forward, admittedly this was away from the greatest danger but we had bees to fight, I’d already claimed the second clue marker and the treasure token had been revealed as a gem stone in the skull of a dinosaur.

The very skull that’s just appeared, in case you missed it.

Snakes, why did it have to be snakes.

Various things happened on the turn of a card and I think the deck was stacked against us.

We were too busy fighting bees to worry about snakes and then they disappeared.

We killed the bees and the Cretan joined us, he’s probably extracting the jewel from the skull, I can’t remember. This is a fine shot of my command, me waving a huge sword and battle axe like a true Greek warrior on a Hero’s Quest and some cannon fodder.

You might wonder what is happening I’ve retreated halfway down the steps and am waving my weapons like a maniac. Xena has climbed a short column and is pretending to be a statue.

Her remaining companion has been told to guard the base of the column….with his life if necessary.

This is the explanation, monsters will go towards the nearest enemy (us) that are in sight so we’re drawing them to us. The snakes are climbing the far steps, we decided they couldn’t climb the walls of the temple but had to go up the steps.

The final book (clue) is on the far side of them.

I had a clever and cunning plan to get this.

Xena is armed with a bow and doesn’t like snakes. She reasoned that if they can’t climb the temple walls, then they can’t climb her column.

And here they come, my weapon waving has attracted them in our direction and if you look carefully to the left of the temple you can see my companion in the green tunic making his way along the left hand side.

If he keeps out of sight and we survive the snake attack he should get the book and we’re home free.

That’s when the Amazons turned up, two of them, they came in from the two corners, Green Tunic has a tricky decision to make, go for the book or retreat.

Retreat is the safe option but he’s a Companion to a Hero so naturally he ran to the book.

By this time we had disposed of the snakes and I’m moving forward to the centre of the temple to support Green Tunic, you know the thing…...’Come on man’, run faster, or ‘They’re all around you, throw the prize to me’. That sort of support.

Collecting the book created a distortion in the space time continuum and Promiskuous ported in from wherever she had been hanging out, right next to me, The Hero and my other Companion the Cretan.

Promiskuous was a sight for sore eyes and no mistake, we’d gone through hell to rescue her. All she said was “Cut these ropes quickly I have an appointment with my hairdresser and I can’t go in these clothes". So we cut the ropes holding her to the upright posts and started to make our way off the far end of the board, to safety and the Hairdresser.

Xena is still on her column, I’m sure she was doing something useful, probably shooting arrows, or is that firing arrows, anyway she’s still not moved forward to support her fellow Hero.

And I need a little support, one of the Amazons is climbing the stairs and the other is getting close. These gal’s ain’t no bees, and they have a very nasty sting.

Xena and her remaining Companion have finally move forward. I’ve sent my Cretan back to stiffen their resolve a little and they’re forming a defensive line.

Green tunic and I join them in time for the first Amazon to attack us.

It says in the rules, they’ll attack the nearest enemy, that would be you I hear the Mad Lord say.

Then it all got a little confused, dice were rolled, Amazons died, I survived. My Companions survived and by heck so did the Mad Lord.

That’s when the final danger arrived, a pair of Shades. I believe these are dead people and not sun glasses as I was hoping when he read the last card.

However it must have turned out alright because we killed them all and walked off the far end of the table to tumultuous applause.

In retrospect, I don't remember the fight with the Shades, so we might have just run away. Hummm.

As I said at the beginning, it was a great scenario, almost every turn something bad arrived but they were usually far enough away to give us time to react, plan and overcome. When the Slinger got killed, early on, in hand to bee combat, we realised that shooting is a much safer option and when the Mad Lord pointed out that I had a sling, something I’d overlooked, well then, my strategy changed completely.

It may sound as if all the glory, taking all the clues, finding the jewel and rescuing Promiskuous were done by the Hero Alitis but Xena aided in a support role, mainly from on top of her column and you shouldn’t overlook that. ;)

Should the Mad Lord read this, it was an outstanding game and if I might have taken a few liberties with the truth you have to realise, it’s because I’m a Hero and that’s my job.

Cheers

Showdown at Little Whiskey

The third game of what must be a trilogy. 😊

You may remember Dona was hopeful that Whiskey Jack would stay open for her last night, I think I said she lived in hope but hope is a cruel mistress and not one Jack served. So she slept on the stoop by the door and was his first customer when he opened at 10:00 the following morning.

The townsfolk are chatting about last nights events, Dynamite Dan on the right is keeping quiet about his involvement but his pocket has a nice jingly sound from the silver coins Texas Red paid for his services.

Poker Faced Fitz Badger is complaining to Big Jim that the fire could have burned him out and Wells Fargo are not the easiest company to deal with when it comes down to a claim for malicious fire raising. Jim strokes his beard thoughtfully; it’s the first time he’s heard of insurance. Well apart from the sort of insurance that says you will have a long life if you keep your gun clean and buy reputable ammunition for it.

Oh…..and learn to shoot straight.

The Bank Manager, whose name I’ve forgotten looks at his watch, a Breguet Repeater and confirms, “same time, same place” and Dora Du Fran nods. She wonders if now might be the time to discuss raising her prices but decides against it. He’s as regular as his clock and a continual source of income in this 6 horse town.

Maybe tomorrow she thinks.

The suns been up for a few hours as Wild Dougal Emfoure on the right and Captain Bertram ‘Barmy’ Snapcase mosey on up Main Street in the direction of the Sheriffs Office.

Barmy is asking Wild Dougal if he thinks they should go in ‘guns blazing’ to rescue Johnny Vagabond. Dougal who is more of a ‘take the high ground and unleash hell’ sort of a gunfighter thinks they should take a more reasonable approach and check the lay of the land first.

“Maybe so, maybe so” Barmy agrees although he loosens his six shooter in the holster….just in case.

They’re both a little nonplussed when English Bob informs them that Johnny Vagabond is no longer a prisoner.

“Busted out last night, the ungrateful wretch” Dougal says, “last time I’m getting out of bed early to rescue him” Then after careful consideration he says “The Tail Feathers is open, what do you say to a quick snifter to start the day”

Barmy’s day started much earlier so he’s in full agreement about the snifter, his hip flask is already almost empty.

That’s when Alice Morgan walked out of the Tail Feathers, the early worm gets Whiskey Jacks best whiskey and she smiled to see the two outlaws crossing the street in her direction.

“There’s only two of them” Barmy muttered to Dougal, “we can take them easily”. He was thinking about the almost empty hip flask and the only thing standing between him and a full one was Alice Morgan.

“Dangerous Dave isn’t so dangerous” he continued.

Dougal wasn’t so sure, Dave had a bit of a reputation for being quite dangerous but by then it was a little academic as Alice and Dave were followed out of the saloon by two more members of her gang, Frank MacAulay and Skully.

They formed a line across Main Street looking quite….well…..dangerous.

Pearl De Ville looked down from the balcony of Blonde Edna’s and could see her takings going down the pan once the gunfight started.

Deputy English Bob watched from in front of the now empty jail. He was on his own, Sheriff Tarot and the Marshal had ridden out after Texas and Johnny, they’d only been able to round up a small posse, the townsfolk had been most reluctant to join them chasing this particular pair of hellions.

I’ll just wait and see what happens he thought. Maybe no one will survive and I’ll have an easy time arresting the dead.

Just to pad out the post I’ll show the dice throws to determine who activates first. High goes first, Skully and Frank didn’t get to activate which was a bit of a worry for them, but Dougal is fastest and with one fluid motion he pulls his revolver.

BOOM, BOOM, two shots ring out, he hits Alice in the leg, the left leg if I remember correctly, it’s a flesh wound which stuns her but she’s not incapacitated. However she drops to her knees in shock. Seeing this, swift as a striking snake Dougal changes aim and shoots at Dangerous. Chest shot, no one knows how he stayed on his feet, but he did.

Frank and Scully jump to their left and take cover behind a couple of horses conveniently placed for them.

If you remember the picture before last, which I’m not counting on, Alice and Dave should have reacted next but being shot sort of trumps that and so Barmy is next to react, He fires twice and misses twice.

Next turn he’s on fire, well not literally but he reacts first and shoots first, hitting Frank in the guts. Frank has one of those huge belt buckles, you know the sort, the ones with a big skull as a buckle and this stops the bullet but stuns him momentarily.

Well it would wouldn’t it.

Dougal fires again, he’s a cool customer and takes careful aim first, he shoots Alice, again, in the arm this time and she drops her shotgun as well as being out of the fight.

Snapcase fires next, hitting Frank MacAully in the head and he’s down and out, then with consummate ease he shoots Dangerous Dave. Later he did admit it’s much easier shooting someone who isn’t shooting back.

The Alice Morgan gang are all lying in the dust of Main Street except Scully. Scully did a runner and escaped the mayhem, something he’s not proud of but is thankful for.

Main Street after the gunfight.

Deputy English Bob is a worried man.

He’s a little relieved when Bertram Snapcase asks if there’s a bounty on the heads of the Alice Morgan gang.

I’ll go and check the wanted posters is his quiet reply.

Well this rounds up three short games with my western town and some rather odd ball characters. Hopefully anyone who reads this enjoyed it, I certainly did but that's probably a given.

Cheers

Jail Break in Little Whiskey

Texas Red and her trail partner Johnny Vagabond had been bushwhacked on the Main Street of Little Whiskey. Johnny took a glancing shot to the head and Red had no other option but to high tail it out of town.

Red and Johnny had kicked around the West for some time together and she had no intention of leaving him behind to serve time in the Pen and so later that very night she returned to Little Whiskey.

The streets were quiet, streets is a bit of a misnomer because there is Main Street and a couple of alley’s leading to dubious back doors, one day the residents hope to build Back Street but that may just be wishful thinking.

There was a half moon, shadows were deep, in the shadows of course, but you knew that, and the fact that I spent ages darkening the pictures to give the impression of night time.

Well I hope you did!

At the far end of town is Poker Face Fitz Badgers Wells Fargo Office next to Whiskey Jacks Saloon.

At the other end of town is the Arizona Bank next door to Sheriff Tarot’s Office and Jail.

Inside the Jail, Johnny Vagabond has recovered from his head wound and is pacing the 10’ length of his small cell.

Where the hell is she......now is the time to hit the Jail he’s thinking. I taught her better than this, the Marshall and Deputy are both asleep, there’s only the Sheriff awake, it’s 03:00, this is the time.

He continues to pace……quietly........in case he wakes the sleeping lawmen.

This is where some of the alley’s lead to, the doors at the back of buildings, the one on the left is the Marshall’s entrance to the joint office he shares with the Sheriff; they have separate entrances to preserve some form of judicial independence, to the right is the Banks back door.

At the far end of town near to the Wells Fargo building a shadowy figure moves quietly to an old tent used for storage, hard to make out in the dark but the big bushy beard probably means it’s old Dynamite Dan Tucker creeping about.

Texas Red moves quietly up to the Sheriff’s Office and peers through the window, quickly jerking back because she thinks he’s seen her.

Not before she’s had a good look in the building and seen two sleeping men as well as the wide awake Sheriff.

Damn, this is going to be hard.

There’s no time to lose and she’s lucky to make a fast move to the corner of the building just as the door opens and the Sheriff steps out to look around. He must have heard something because he sets off in the direction she went.

But Red wastes no time and has reached the back door of the Jail. She reasons that if she can get in there before the Sheriff catches up there’s a good chance she can overcome the sleeping men. She doesn’t know that Sheriff Tarot is a canny one, he didn’t stay alive in the old west for so long without being a little savvy and he’s woken his deputy English Bob to cover for him.

This all proves a little academic when she tries the door handle and finds it’s locked.

Damn this is going to be hard.

Just then there’s a huge explosion at the far end of town. She smiles thinking that her idea of causing a distraction might work after all.

Dynamite Dan has blown his dynamite.

Deputy English Bob disobeys his orders and steps out onto the board walk and looks down the street to the ball of flames and smoke. Get back inside you fool yells the Sheriff as he runs down the street to see what has happened.

Bob hears a loud "Thump", seems to be coming from the back of the jail house.

Red had decided to try and break the door down, my decision and not a good one, It was only a flimsy door but a bad dice roll made it tougher than it should have been, Red is only a lightweight and just bounced off the door on the first attempt. 

The attempt that made quite a lot of noise.

She gave up on this foolish idea after the first shoulder charge left her shoulder bruised and throbbing. 

Play to your strengths she heard Vagabonds voice in her head. Bugger off was her immediate response but then decided anyone that old probably knew something, even if she wasn’t going to admit it, so she ran round to the front of the Jail House and looked through the window again.

Both the Deputy and the Marshall were watching the back door with their guns trained on it.

Drop your guns and reach for the ceiling she yelled. Reaching for the sky somehow seemed inappropriate.

Between you and me English Bob is a bit of a coward, he needed to roll 2D6 and get 2 or less each roll to be brave. He rolled 2 x 2 and spun round ready to fire. Marshall MacAlister is as game as a rooster cock and he followed suit, also ready to fire.

Red was alert and fired first, hitting Bob in the leg, he was stunned and fell to the floor. MacAlister saw this and dropped his shotgun and threw his hands up. So much for being as game as a rooster, he needed to roll 2D6 getting 5’s or less to return the fire but threw double 6.

Red pushed through the door and held both men at gunpoint.

Before locking them in the cell that she’d just let Johnny Vagabond out of.

About time he grunted ungratefully.

Dora Du Fran the high class gal had been awakened by the explosion and dragged herself out of bed, she stared up the street and as well as the flames and smoke.

She saw the door to the Sheriffs office open and the two outlaws emerge. Dora is a bit of an outlaw herself and didn’t raise the alarm.

Most of the other inhabitants were out on the street and they all had a similar point of view.

The fire is at the end of Main Street, the little wind is blowing it away from us, that;s not my tent and not my stores so why should I worry.

Johnny and Red saw this and decided that a bit of horse stealing might be in order.

They saw drunken Donna across the street but she was weaving around so much that they thought she might not notice them.

So they carefully moved down the street and mounted the two saddle horses still tied to the hitching posts and trotted out of town.

Donna saw them go but thought “What the hell........ I wonder if Whiskey Jack is awake and still serving his rot gut whiskey”

She lives in hope.

Another short but enjoyable game, hopefully I haven't ruined anyone's eyesight with the dark pictures and if you're still here, Cheers