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<span class="mu-s">And now, we resume Nikandros' tale, as he and the Achaeans grapple with the unhinged King Philomeides of Lesbos...</span>
Suddenly, swarms of servants roll into the palace’s courtyard; the feast table, and even the benches are stolen away and placed on the sides of the hall. Bizarrely, you see a team of slaves lifting away at the polished floor stones of the feast hall, and these are revealed to be thick tiles - they are stacked in chest-high towers by the corners of the room. To your surprise, the team of slaves quickly reveals a sand pit beneath the flooring.
An arena?
Philomeides addresses your confused and outraged party as a whole, his heavily-muscled arms raised to the air:
"In the house of Philomeides of Hattusa - all men must prove their worth, or suffer the consequences!" His baritone voice is excited, his tone aggressive. Menelaus begins shouting at the man to explain himself, that this is a violation of ξενία, but the foreign giant ignores him outright. You struggle to understand the Phyrigian’s meaning - before you hear the sounds of sandaled troops marching into the hall. Two platoons of men, Hellenes and foreigners alike, line the feast walls, with spears and shields. They hold position against the walls, but the threat is breathtakingly clear.
Philomeides continues his insane ranting - by the gods, only a madman would threaten the King of Sparta this way!
"WHICH OF YOU SMASHED MY GATE AND KILLED MY GUARDS?" he roars, spittle flying into the air. The beast is insensate - he completely ignores Menelaus and Odysseus, who are both wildly pleading with him to cast aside this madness before he garners Zeus' retribution. Philomeides' bloodshot eyes dance between yourself and Ajax - the only men present of roughly equivalent size.
<span class="mu-r">"I CHALLENGE THE GUILTY MAN TO STEP FORWARD AND TEST YOUR STRENGTH AGAINST MINE!”</span>
Harpocrates, god of silence, drapes his cloak about the room - only the faintest crackling of the wall-torches audible.
You consciously begin to shift your weight, rotating slightly, preparing for a mad rush against the spearmen against the wall closest to you. You catch the eyes of sturdy Ajax and golden-haired Pollux – wordlessly, the three of you find that you are all resigned to violence, and a desperate battle out of the feast hall. By smashing into the spearman along the wall as a group, your team will be able to temporarily disrupt and confuse the commoners, and once equipped with their shoddy arms, you may well be able to butcher your way out of the mad king’s palace, so long as you fight tightly in formation. To your right, Menelaus is still pleading with Philomeides to no effect; Palamedes seems to have vanished entirely – you suspect he has ducked under the feast table and out of immediate danger. Ajax opens his mouth to roar his command to attack, and you turn even further towards the bracing commoner spearmen, steeling yourself to –
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