Wrath of the Gods Page #2

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FADE UP ON A DESOLATE MOUNTAINSIDE. The King

gestures imperiously toward the ground. Dione, weeping,

places the Baby down upon the grass, then she and the King

withdraw. The Baby is crying.

CUT TO CLOSE-UP OF BABY ON THE GROUND.

Galloping hoofbeats are heard to approach and slow to a

cautious pace. The legs of a centaur (SEN-tawr) enter the frame.

FADE OUT:

FADE UP ON A MOUNTAIN PEAK WITH VISTA. The

Hero, your on-screen representative (hereinafter “you”),

stands on a mountaintop with Chiron (KYE-ron) the Centaur.

The centaurs were half man, half horse. Notoriously

uncivilized, they were prone to such behavior as

disrupting wedding feasts by trying to carry off the

bride. Chiron was distinguished from the other centaurs

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by his civility and cultivation of the healing arts. Among

other skills, he taught young heroes the medicinal value

of herbs and plants.

CHIRON:

Well, my boy, I’ve done all I can for you. I’ve

raised you in the ways of beasts and men.

(handing you something)

Take this ring, it was in your blanket when

I found you. And these gems might come in

handy.

The ring and the gems go into your inventory with the

sound of a “ping.”

CHIRON:

Now it’s time for you to make your way in the

world. Venture forth, find your true parents, and

prove yourself.

(gestures)

This is the hero’s path.

CROSSROADS WITH RUINS OF CLASSICAL STRUCTURES.

In the first scene that you enter as you set out on the hero’s

path, you come upon the partially tumbled remains of

some impressive architecture. Although this scene evokes

the glorious spirit of ancient Greece, there were actually no

ruined monuments during the Mycenaean (my-seh-NEE-an)

Age, the probable time setting of the Greek myths.

Ruins

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Shepherd

CLEARING WITH SHEPHERD AND BOULDER

You cross a meadow to find a huge boulder in its midst.

There’s also a Shepherd and some Sheep. If you click on the

Sheep they react, and after the snake in the Shrine scene (next

page) has cleaned your ears, they talk to you:

SHEEP:

Baah! Here’s b-a-a-a-d news. You can talk to the

Shepherd.

If you do so:

SHEPHERD:

What’re you supposed to be? One of them

apprentice heroes?

Clicking on the boulder walks you over to it. Clicking on it

again triggers an animation of you failing to lift it.

SHEPHERD:

Whoa! You’re stronger than you look, but

strength ain’t everythin’.

You notice a branch in the foreground. You pick it up and it

“pings” into your inventory. You select it out of inventory

and click it on the boulder. This triggers an animation of

you prying at the boulder. The branch breaks. The stronger

branch from the Arrest scene (page 17) moves the boulder

around a little, but you still can’t lift it.

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SHEPHERD:

That don’t seem to be getting you nowhere.

If you consult the Info for a free hint, you will learn that it

was by lifting a boulder that Theseus (THEE-see-us), grandson

of the king of Troezen (TREE-zun), first proved himself a hero.

If you read on, you’ll find that Theseus might have lacked

the physical strength for such a feat and used the principle of

leverage instead. But if you didn’t pick up the small stone in

the Avalanche scene (page 20) you’re out of luck for now.

If you have the small stone in your inventory, you click

it on the boulder, which puts it in position to work with

the branch as a fulcrum. Use the strong branch from your

inventory to lever up the stone. Underneath it you find a

sword and a pair of sandals—the very items that Theseus

found beneath his boulder. They had been left there by his

father as tokens so that Theseus could use them to prove his

identity.

SHEPHERD:

I wouldn’t give you much for those sandals, but

that’s a fine lookin’ sword!

The sword glows magically. The pattern on the hilt is the key

to the episode in the Banquet scene (page 38).

SHEPHERD:

Yeah, I couldn’t figure when that old guy buried

it a while back. Seemed like a funny place to be

storin’ armaments.

The sword and sandals have pinged into your inventory.

ROADSIDE SHRINE. To this day there are countless

roadside shrines in Greece. These are consecrated to the

Virgin Mary and various Christian saints, but in ancient

times they were sacred to pagan deities. A temple was

considered to be the house of a god. Its architecture was

often elaborate. In contrast, a typical small shrine consisted

only of a simple enclosure and an altar. In addition, there

might be a statue of the god or goddess to whom the shrine

was sacred. Sacrifices were placed within the sanctuary or

Shrine

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burned on the altar. Blood offerings consisted of the meat

of an animal, which was burned while wine was poured

into the flames. Bloodless offerings included vegetables and

fruits. Some cults featured cakes as the offering. One such

cake was made from wheat and honey.

An old woman (the Peddler) is kneeling in devotion beside

this shrine. As she stands up, she touches her heart then

raises her hand to heaven.

PEDDLER:

If you wish to make an offering to the gods, I

have one last honey cake. I might part with it…

(pause)

For a gem.

If you give the Peddler a gem, she hands you the cake.

PEDDLER:

(spookily)

If you wish to understand the language of

animals and insects, you must clean your ears.

A character from Greek mythology who understood the

language of animals was the seer Melampus (meh-LAM-pus),

who was kind enough to care for some young snakes after

their mother died. One night he awoke in terror to find them

licking his ears. This gave him the power to see into the

future.

The Peddler walks away. If you place the cake on the small

altar before the shrine, a Snake comes out and licks at it.

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RIVERBANK. You find yourself on the bank of a raging

river. The hero Jason once found himself in a similar

situation and made a fateful decision. Jason had been

abandoned at birth by his father, the king of Iolcus (eye-ALLkus),

and raised by Chiron (KYE-ron) the Centaur (SEN-tawr).

When he came of age, he set out to claim his rightful throne,

and the goddess Hera (HEE-ruh), the queen of Olympus

(oh-LIM-pus), decided to test his mettle. She contrived it that

he came to a raging torrent on his way to Iolcus, and on its

bank was an aged crone. Would Jason go about his business

impatiently, or would he give way to the old woman’s

request to ferry him across the river?

There are two women standing beside the river looking

forlorn, a Young Woman and an Old Woman. The Young

Woman is beautiful. Talking to either woman zooms in on

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