The Laurels of Olympia

Overview

The stadium smells of packed sand, pine-torch smoke, and ten thousand people in the afternoon heat. When the Mistwalkers step onto the arena floor, the crowd goes briefly quiet — no one recognizes them, which makes them interesting. Judge Lykos announces the opening heats from the judges' dais. Rival teams stretch in the sun: leonins by the north gate, satyrs making noise, hoplites in formation. The Iron Tusks don't stretch. They stare. In the stands, Damon “the Book” works the rails in a crimson sash, taking wagers with both hands.

Default split: about 3 PCs enter contests; the other 3 work the crowd — Insight, Investigation, Perception, and social checks. Contestants earn glory and keep cover. Spectators gather clues about the Sons of Ares before Enc. 3. Run any two heats from the menu (pick ones that suit the competitors’ stats). Glory, olive-leaf tokens (flavor), and rapport with captains are the prizes — until a lethal branch turns a heat into a fight.

Spectators (or an allied captain in the stands) can whip the crowd for a Mistwalker currently in a heat. This is separate from Aid — Aid is coaching; Cheer is the roar of the stands.

• Action: Performance or Persuasion DC 13 (or Intimidation DC 14 for a war-chant / coordinated stomp). Once per spectator per heat.
• Success: Choose one allied contestant in the heat. They gain Inspiration or advantage on their next Contest check this heat (their choice when the cheer lands).
• Beat the DC by 5+ or natural 20: The whole Mistwalker heat gains advantage on their next Contest check this round — the roar rolls through the stadium.
• Fail by 5+: Wrong chant / boos. That contestant has disadvantage on their next Contest check; Damon may loudly reprice odds against the guests.
• Stacking: Cheer and Aid can both apply in the same heat, but a contestant can’t hold more than one Inspiration from Crowd Cheer at a time. Other bonuses (e.g. Lea’s Pack Leader) stack with advantage normally.

Mechanics — Contest Menu

Each contest is a short skill challenge (3 rounds of checks unless noted). Run any two heats. A PC who rolls a natural 1 or fails by 5+ while an Iron Tusk or planted ringer is present may be fouled — see Combat Path / Lethal Branches.

Party should leave Enc. 1 suspicious of one or more teams. Two solid clues (ledger, spike case, Damon’s tell) are enough to accuse with Lykos’s backing in Enc. 2. Zero clues: Enc. 2 still works, but they walk into the vault cold.

Use when investigators get close, contestants keep winning against the fix, or someone refuses Damon’s bribe. Prefer the Lethal tied to the heat on the sand. Contestants still competing finish their current round of checks while others fight — don’t pause the whole table. A Contest Victory still counts if they place before dropping.

• A. Footrace — poison: Water-bearer spikes skins. Contestors: Con DC 14 or poisoned (disadvantage on Contest checks). Medicine DC 13 or lesser restoration clears. Catching the bearer = saboteur with a vial labeled in Damon’s cipher.
• B. Discus — lethal foul: Iron Tusk “miss” becomes a thrown discus at a PC (+5, 1d6+3 bludgeoning). Answering with steel → Combat Path; a Contest shove keeps it “legal.”
• C. Pankration — betrayal: A late “contestant” (Sons of Ares ringer) draws a short sword from behind a pillar. Combat: 1–2× Ares Cult Saboteur. Lykos screams for nonlethal; blood on sacred sand = crowd panic.
• D. Torch Relay — snuffed brand: Saboteur oil-slicks a station or snuffs the brand mid-run. Contestor: Dex DC 13 or 2d6 fire and prone; thief flees toward the altar with the brand. Flame loss matters for Enc. 3.
• E. Long Jump — spiked landing: Landing board collapses onto caltrops or a hidden blade. Dex DC 13 or 2d4 piercing and prone; a saboteur waits in the pit for a surprise attack.
• F. Footwork — spiked pit / knife: Opposed Athletics shove into a spiked sand pit (2d6 piercing) or a saboteur knife-hand among the poles (+4, 1d4+2). Steel answer → Combat Path.
• G. Dolichos — laced water / ambush: Mid-circuit water skin laced — Con DC 14 or poisoned plus 1 exhaustion. Alternate: caltrop stretch (Dex DC 13 or 1d4) then saboteur ambush from the stands. Cipher vial on the bearer.
• H. Oil & Heat — ignited lace: Laced oil ignites — Dex DC 13 or 2d6 fire; a saboteur with a torch tries to finish the job. Medicine DC 13 still clears poison if caught early.
• I. Archery — “accident”: From the butts, a “stray” arrow targets a PC in another heat (+6 to hit, 1d8+2 piercing; poison DC 13 Con or poisoned 1 min). Shooter is a saboteur; chase into the stands. Bag may hold ledger scraps.
• J. Javelin — lethal foul: Ringer “miss” becomes a thrown javelin at a PC (+5, 1d6+3). Steel answer → Combat Path; Contest shove keeps the Games “legal.”

• Trigger: deliberate foul, lethal branch, attacking a rival, or Iron Tusks / Sons refuse a loss.
• Skirmish budget (Medium): 2× Ares Cult Saboteur + 1× Bugbear Bruiser or 2× Bugbear + 1× Rhino Minotaur.
• Lykos calls for nonlethal; Phalanx of Elis joins on round 3 to break it up if still fighting (3× Hoplite as neutrals) — unless the clerk on Damon’s ledger is present, then one Hoplite “hesitates” (Insight DC 13).
• Win skirmish: reduce foes to 0 HP (nonlethal) or force surrender (Intimidation DC 14 after dropping one). Captured saboteur: Interrogation DC 13 → Damon runs the books; spike case went north.

• Fair play toward Captain Lea’s heat → she seeks the party after Enc. 1 (sets up Enc. 2/3 alliance).
• Show her a ledger or stop a lethal branch on her athletes → automatic ally offer.
• Win a musical/performance flourish for the crowd (Performance DC 15) → 1× Satyr Reveler offers to “share wine and steel” later.

Resolution

Creature Cards

Overview

Between heats, the sacred laurel crown for the closing ceremony goes missing from the prize vault beneath the stands — and the Olympic flame, which has not guttered in living memory, sputters and drops to a thin blue tongue. The smell from the north tunnel is wrong: not stone and old oil, but something metallic, sharp, like a forge running hot in a small space. Judge Lykos finds the party immediately: his voice is composed but his hands are not. He wants this handled quietly, before the crowd realizes anything is wrong.

Down in the vault and service tunnels, Sons of Ares saboteurs — Damon’s crew, optionally tipped off by sore Iron Tusks — are swapping the true laurel crown for a bronze-keyed control rod that will animate Khalkotaurus the moment it's pressed to the prize idol's brow-socket at the closing ceremony. They may also try to snuff or steal the Olympic flame so the bull has no sacred fire to fear. The vault is dark, oil-channeled, and close. They have a head start.

Mechanics

• Captain Lea: share proof of Sons of Ares / Damon → automatic ally for Enc. 3 (brings 2 Leonins if miniatures allow).
• Spare a cultist for questioning (Medicine DC 12 keep alive): reveals brow-socket weakness + “the bull hates the altar fire” — pairs with olive token handout.
• Wild Chorus: Performance or Persuasion DC 13 after returning the laurel → 2 satyrs join Enc. 3 as skirmishers.

Resolution

Creature Cards

Overview

The closing ceremony: the victor’s plinth, the crowd hushed for the first time all day, Judge Lykos lifting the laurel crown. If the Olympic flame still burns, it is a thin gold tongue on the altar; if Damon snuffed it, the stands murmur when the fire dies mid-hymn — the wrong omen for any Games. And then the bronze prize idol — Khalkotaurus, Brazen Bull of Ares — lurches forward off its plinth. The sound is wrong first: a deep resonant groan of bronze plates shifting, then the crack of marble as the plinth splits, then the screaming as the front rows realize what they’re seeing. The heat from its Furnace Heart is already visible — the air above it shimmers, and the sand around its hooves scorches black wherever it steps.

The crowd stampedes toward the exits. An allied team (ideally Captain Lea’s Pride of Nemea, or whoever the party earned in Enc. 1–2) stands their ground by the south gate. Khalkotaurus does not care about the crowd. It is searching for the false victor — the one Damon’s ring meant to crown with Ares’s stolen name. Ares himself is not here and does not claim these men. This is not a god-killing: it is stopping a war-construct before Olympia’s sacred Games become a massacre of twenty thousand.

Mechanics

• Initiative: Bull acts on initiative count; lair tremor at init 20 (10-ft square becomes difficult terrain).
• Olive Token: Action, adjacent: 40 force damage + lose legendary actions until end of its next turn. Second press (ally uses Help action, or bull prone): bull’s animation ends at 0 HP equivalent (crumbles, non-exploding).
• Olympic Torch / Sacred Flame: Ordinary fire does not bypass its fire resistance. Flame taken from the Olympic altar (or a torch lit from it) does. Brand (action): melee spell attack or Athletics DC 14 to touch the bull with the torch — 4d8 radiant+fire, ignores fire resistance, and the bull has disadvantage on attacks until end of its next turn (distracted by the sacred light). Thrown brand: range 20 ft, same damage, no disadvantage. Once per round. If the flame was out at ceremony start, rekindling mid-fight takes an action at the altar (Religion DC 15 or olive oil + any fire).
• Crowd: End of round 2, stampede — DC 13 Strength save or 2d6 bludgeoning and prone if in outer 10 ft ring. If the flame went out mid-ceremony, stampede starts round 1 instead.
• Ally captains: Lea focuses the bull; satyrs harass remaining Sons of Ares; hoplites form a shield corridor for civilians (failing to protect civilians is a soft failure, not a TPK condition).
• Damon: If still free, he flees into the stands (chase optional) or cheers from a box with 1–2 saboteurs (Hard+). Capturing him mid-fight is glory, not required.
• Persistence: Do not kill gods or level Olympia. If the bull would destroy the Temple of Zeus, it turns back to the party — Damon’s construct seeks a champion, not rubble. Ares does not intervene.

Resolution

Creature Cards