[SP-F17] To Spin a Golden Thread <<Challenge of Olympus: Tailor>>

[Them 0]

Before Cleo could lift a finger to close the 'Rank Up' screen, an intrusive ding snatched her eyes away, having received a message from up high. The subject gained her curiosity, but the sender stole her attention; Zeus. Presuming that she hadn't befriended a player named Zeus unknowingly, she gathered it to be related to some quest related to Greek mythology. After a brief scan of the message's contents, her theory proved correct. "An invitation to Olympus, to prove my worth as a tailor to the Goddess of War, Handicraft and Practical Reason, Athena. Is this for real?"

Searching the room for Eli, her feline familiar with a torch for a tail, she found him poking his head from a rolled-up rug beside the sewing machine. "I don't know what floor seventeen is like, but I'll bet it's warmer than this place. What do you say, shall we check it out?" The beige cat scrambled to free himself and leaped onto Cleo's worksurface, sitting with all the regality and posture of a king. Yet, his excitable tail betrayed his grace, swishing with anticipation.

"Let's do this," she said, smiling. Though they still had a long way to go, the two were beginning to build rapport and trust in one another after an undeniably rocky start to their relationship. Having presented her shoulder to Eli, which he climbed on briskly, Cleo hushed around to close up shop for the day and shut her doors no longer after, making way for the first-floor teleporter.

 

Spoiler

Them
Level 16 | HP 320 | EN 50 | DMG: 16 | MIT: 5 | ACC: 4 | EVA: 0 | LD: 3

Equipment:

Heart's Bane (T2 - Perfect - Dagger) (Bleed 2 / Paralyze 1)
Arrowhead Brooch (Tierless - Perfect - Trinket) (Accuracy 3)
Music Box (T1 - Perfect - Trinket) (Loot Die 3)

Skills:

Dagger R5
> Stamina
> Precision
> Ferocity

Cloth Armor R1

Combat Mastery: Damage R3

Extra Skills:

Meditation
Concentration

 

Edited March 28, 2022 by Them

[Them 0]

The road to the base of Mount Olympus was far less perilous than she had imagined. Monsters receded into the forest when she came close to them, as if they knew it to be the will of the Gods that she be given safe passage on her travels. With sparse reason to keep her weapon brandished, she strolled unarmed through the last stretch of woodland, Eli in tow, and stopped before a set of golden gates which marked the entrance to Olympus. Guarding the gates were a pair half-goat, half-men beings with scraggly beards, flask in one's grasp and a lute in the other's. They failed to realize Cleo's presence, occupying themselves with a drunken jig in lieu of attending their god-given duties.

"Ahem." Cleo cleared her throat, amused at the scene, but quite wanting to pass.

They halted with immediate effect. "Who goes there?" The Satyr with the lute was the first to approach, a hand grabbing the sword at his hip, whilst the other had taken a tumble and struggled to find balance in his drunken stupor. "What business do you have here?"

The Satyr towered over Cleo but she refused to be intimidated. She was more fearful of what Eli would do to them if left to his mischief than by the pair of drunken goat-men themselves. The other one too approached in time, his pole-arm dug into the earth for support.

 

 

 

 

[Them 0]

"To see Athena. I've an invitation from her." Cleo stood her ground, sizing the guards up.

The less coherent of the two shouted out, "Ish that the one?" To which the other responded with a disappointed sigh at his colleague's demeanor.

"Yes, it would seem so. Our apologies, human. We were told that one of your kind would be gracing us today. You may pass."

With a wave of the guard's arm, the golden gates blocking entry to Mount Olympus unlocked with a click and effortlessly unraveled. The one Satyr that could stand of his own volition stood to attention by the opened pathway, an inquisitive look set in his eyes. "Allow me to escort you the rest of the way, as is custom with guests of the Pantheon, as well as a show of good faith in light of my friend's... unfortunate, conduct."

Considering that the journey alone had been a bore, the prospect of a traveling companion came as a welcome one to Cleo. "I'd be silly to turn down such hospitality. Very well, then—shall we?"

 

Edited March 28, 2022 by Them

[Them 0]

The forest, once dense with trees and lush with green, largely receded as the Satyr guard led her further up the mountain. The dirt path became gravel as a series of paths converged into one, and notable landmarks started to pass every hundred or so steps; status with the likeliness of numerous Gods, bearing torches to illuminate the road. Knowing Greek mythology to be a gap in her knowledge, she could only dream of being able to identify the different members of the Pantheon, her attention captivated by each one.

Clearing his throat, the Satyr must have noticed her intrigue. "The Goddess of the Hunt."

"Hm?!" Cleo, forgetting present company, jumped from the intrusion. "Oh, forgive me. Sorry?"

Unphased by her shock, the Satyr pointed ahead to a sculpture, one bearing likeness to a goddess. "The image you were looking at carries the likeness of Artemis, her mastery of the bow unrivalled. And that, over there?" He pointed further still, to another sculpture in the distance. "Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom and War. In matters of the mind and of clear thought, she is quite unmatched."

Cleo studied the worksmanship, appreciating the fine detail with which the mason captured the Goddess' face. "And beautiful, too. If her wit is so sharp, I will have to keep mine about me." She smiled cheekily at the Satyr. "Truthfully, though, if she believes me to be a Tailor worthy of her audience, I would call into question her mastery of 'clear thought.'"

Edited March 29, 2022 by Them

[Them 0]

"For any human to be invited to Olympus makes them exceptional, doubly so for those called upon by Athena." The Satyr slowed down to await the human, continuing when she caught up. "I wouldn't be so swift to make judgments; she sees in others what they're blind to in themselves."

"Perhaps I will take it back, then." Cleo, amused by his flattery—or what she perceived to be as such, anyhow—gestured vaguely with acceptance.

---

A stretch of time passed. Cleo and the Satyr ascended a marble staircase, at the top of which stood a legion of sentries stationed to guard the walls around Olympus. Beyond stood the grand palace, Olympus itself, home to the Gods and Goddesses of the Pantheon high above the clouds. She wished for time to stop so she might take all of it in at once, yet her ogling of the sights was disturbed the Satyr cleared who his throat once more, and she turned to find him standing some paces behind. "Are you not to come any further?"

"Nay. Athena's maidens will escort you to the Goddess from here. I must return to the gates, I'm afraid." With a sensible bow, he turned, but not without hesitating. "One piece of advice, when you do see her. Be absolutely certain of what she is asking you."

Edited March 29, 2022 by Them