Quoted By:
You rummage theatrically within the bowl, so that even distant members of the audience can see your movements, and withdraw the first token triumphantly– a golden talent, hammered into a flat chip, painted with a boar’s profile. You pass it to Eurykratides, who promptly emits a shockingly loud cry:
<span class="mu-i"><span class="mu-s">”BOARS OF ERYMANTHIA!”</span></span>
The audience cheers wildly, as his words roll down the mountain slopes – apparently, this was a hotly desired result. You immediately intuit the purpose of this “labor” – very likely, you and your competitors will be tasked with the successful hunt of a boar, returning it alive. You very much doubt that Eurykratides has multiple captive boars equivalent to the one that Heracles returned to Eurystheus of Athens (supposedly one of divine size, strength and anger), but a full-grown boar of typical ancestry is a very legitimate threat – they are known to mortally wound men with their tusks and are capable of lightning-fast charges. Most of common ancestry would simply flee from such a beast, rather than risk possible death - you, of course, have slain many on hunting trips over the years.
Secondly, you draw a token with a stylized bull’s head:
<span class="mu-i"><span class="mu-s">”BULLS OF CRETE!”</span></span>
The crowd’s fanaticism builds – and your heart begins to sink a bit. Below you, you see your fellow athletes shift nervously on their feet as they face the bloodthirsty crowds. The Trachians, like all commoners of Hellas, revel in bloodshed and death on the athletic fields. It occurs to you that you had entered into this competition without a clear sense of the dangers, assuming it to be something like the Olympian Games – man against man. You have to admit that wrangling a frenzied ox is not something you would normally volunteer for…
The third token proves to be a bit more complex to interpret – multiple oxen-shapes next to a figure with an ox-prod. You hand it to Eurykratides for his interpretation, and he is quick to bellow:
<span class="mu-i"><span class="mu-s">”CATTLE OF GERYON!”</span></span>
You sigh in relief, here – herding cattle is likely to be a safer enterprise, and surely, Eurykratides has no mythical giant under his command to threaten your life and limb. With luck, a simple test of one's cattle-rustling skills. With all three tokens selected, Eurykratides wastes no time - he delivers another short benediction to the milling Trachians below, before ordering a change in venue:
<span class="mu-i"><span class="mu-s">“ALL PRESENT – JOIN ME IN THE FIELDS WEST OF TRACHIS! WE HONOR THE FOURTH LABOR IMMEDIATELY!”</span></span>
>should be able to start the competition proper with another update tonight at 10pm ESTish, get hype for some LBA action!
