Session 3: You Give Love A Bad Name
After delivering the slain Calydonian Boar to King Lycaeon and receiving their reward, Amara, Melantha, and Meredythe, along with the huntress Atalanta, sought shelter for the night in a local inn. There they met Charaxos, a wine seller from the island of Lesbos, who plied them with drinks. While Melantha abstained and Amara and Atalanta both remained mostly sober, Meredythe downed a great deal of beer and wine, got very drunk, and attempted to test her aiming skills by convincing Charaxos to stand against the wall while she threw her various weapons at him. Charaxos refused, at which point Meredythe knocked herself out trying to climb over the bar and the rest of the party carried her to their room to sleep it off.
The next morning, the four adventurers were eating breakfast in the inn when they noticed a beautiful, mysterious woman staring in their direction. This woman approached their table, cast Suggestion on Atalanta and asked her to leave the inn, then introduced herself as Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty. She mentions that she “heard through the grapevine” that they were looking to stir up trouble on Olympus, which the party members denied, as they really have no say in what the Fates have planned for them.
Aphrodite asks them to help her make Atalanta fall in love and thus revoke her vow of chastity as a huntress of Artemis. In return, she promises that she will give the party an object of power and her allegiance in the upcoming fight against Zeus. She claims that she is the most powerful goddess on Olympus, saying,
“Zeus thinks he can boss around the Fates, and the Fates think they can control Zeus. What neither of them realize is that I can do anything I want. I can lead Zeus by the… well, you know. And the Fates have no control over love. Love doesn’t exist until I put it in your heart.”Angrily, Meredythe responded, “If you put love in my heart, why the hell would you take it away?” Amara and Melantha both took Meredythe’s side, saying that it’s wrong to force people into doing something without their consent, which Aphrodite dismissed as “mortal thinking.” After being soundly refused, Aphrodite sneered, “What else would I expect from huntresses of Artemis?” and vanished in a huff. The party members rejoined Atalanta outside the inn but didn’t tell her about their encounter with Aphrodite. Atalanta mentioned that Charaxos recommended they check out a local store, Pandora’s Box, and the party agreed to do some shopping. They were greeted by the shopkeeper, Pandora, who directed them towards some useful items. Amara was tempted by a set of panpipes and a trident, but decided against buying either, to which Pandora replied, “Are you sure? The trident suits you.” Meredythe bought an iron pot and a staff-holding harness, and Melantha bought a tent. The party members noticed that Pandora kept nervously glancing at an ornate jar on a high shelf in the back of the store. Asking her what it was, she told them that it was a wedding gift given to her and her husband by someone she couldn’t remember. She also mentions that they were told never to open it, but curiosity was gnawing away at her. The party offered to take it off her hands so she wouldn’t have to worry about it. Relieved, she sold it to them, and Meredythe put it in her iron pot so none of them would have to touch it. The party agreed to bury the jar in the forest where no one could find or open it. Amara used Earth Tremor to loosen the ground, and they buried the jar along with the iron pot and a stone with inscribed instructions not to open the jar, in case it was found by someone. As they made their way back to town, they saw a deer darting through the trees, followed by the appearance of a muscular young woman Amara, Melantha, and Atalanta recognized immediately: the goddess Artemis. Artemis thanked them for resisting the wiles of Aphrodite and upholding women’s right to choose what happens to them and their bodies. She also tells Amara that she holds no ill will against her for leaving the Huntresses of Artemis. In gratitude, Artemis gives the party their second object of power, made by her brother Apollo: the sunmote, a magic arrow that deals radiant damage and reappears in its owner’s quiver each dawn. Melantha gave the thyrsus (given to her by Dionysus last session) to Meredythe and took the sunmote for herself. Artemis ran off to chase the deer she had been tracking, and the party was relieved to find themselves a new divine ally as well as an enemy.
Relations
Protagonists
Amara, Melantha, Meredythe Maegwund
Neutrals/Bystanders
Charaxos, Pandora
Adversaries
Plot type
Session
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