Dicaeus smiles and breaths deeply. “So we have, and so has the great Theseus. This is a mighty war you wage. I haven’t smelled this much death since...” His smile falters a bit. “Since I left home.” He clears his throat and then starts again, more subdued. “The Minotaur king is dead, and we, for the most part, are no worse for the ware. General,” he says, turning to Achilles. “Where would you next send us? What is the situation here? Anax, Carrus, and I are still healthy enough to lend our strength to the battle, should you think it beneficial.”

Achilles stands and moves to greet the four of you. Despite his injuries and the dire situation, he is still glad to see you all safe. "Well done, the Four of you. With their leader dead they will have no choice but to retreat." Achilles is using his spear to keep him on his feet, You have never seen the man like this before; He is visibly weak and frail. Looking like a soft breeze would push him over, It seems Age has caught up to the great General. 

"No Dicaeus, the giants are dead and the ram is destroyed. Theseus and I led the assault to rid them of their greatest weapons, With those gone the Minotaur are nothing but charging bulls. I will take the head of Drogon and force their hand." Achilles walks up to you Anax with his arm held out. "You four remain and get some rest, This has been a long night. We will speak on your next task at dawn."  Achilles smiles threw blood and guts. "Although you could join me in the Delivery, never a bad idea to have backup; even for one such as myself." 

Theseus spits some blood out of his mouth and with it a tooth, He smiles and stands to join Achilles. "Indeed the main threats have been dealt with, The Horde can be killed by arrow before they ever reach the wall and without the ram, they cannot break threw." He looks hurt but no where near as hurt as Achilles. 

Dicaeus

Anax takes Achilles' arm. "You've seen better days old friend."

He turns to Theseus, "We had hoped to have your priests find information from this, your majesty." He nudges the drow corpse with his foot.

"In the mean time, have you any need of us?" He looks at the two men, his foot on the drow body and the fallen minotaur skull nearby with not a scratch on the goliath, looking as heroic as he can. 

I would join you sir says Carrus.  He would gladly offer healing to Achilles, but will not even mention it where Theseus or any other Athenian might hear.  Maybe show the bulls this, and he draws the large battle axe that was Drogon’s and holds it up.   Unless you want it? He holds the weapon carefully, not offering it exactly, but ready to hand it over immediately if Achilles wishes to take it.

"Indeed I have my friend, Age catches up with all of us eventually, even me." Achilles grips your arm Anax in a firm shake, You can see that as oppose to when you saw him mere hours ago, Achilles looks older; The wrinkles on his face are stained with blood. The Stubble on his chin is all but grey and he seems ready to take a rest. It is odd to see this man look this way but it is Expected, Achilles is old for a regular man and he has done much in his time under the sun. "Yet you look untouched, Drogon wasnt much of a fight?"

Theseus grins at you Anaxandros. "Im afraid we have already dispatched the foes who would give you trouble Friend, Join Achilles in his delivery of Drogons head. I will find Merci to see if we can extract any information from this.....Drow." Theseus nudges the Drows corpse with his foot.

"There is other news," Cybele will say quietly so the nearby soldiers don't overhear. "When I was scouting Drogon's camp, a man wearing leathers and carrying no weapon left the Minotaur leader's tent and rode away on horseback. He wore the eagle of Rome."

Achilles and Theseus looks of pride and joy fade as you mention the Eagle of Rome Cybele. The look to each other as Achilles releases your arm Anax. "A Roman meeting with the Minotaur?" Theseus mutters under a breath. "And we fought so hard for the Truce with Rome..." Theseus shakes his head as he rubs his chin. Achilles looks worried and its not a welcome sight, this man has never been worried about anything. "If Antony broke the Accords then he must be planning another attack on Greece." The General steps to within 3 feet of the King. "You know Herkules must be made aware of this, Even if there is no hard evidence It's still one of the Four who brings this information." Achilles looks to the Four of you.

"I am off to Atlantis in the morning, Perseus has asked for my counsel once my business in Athens is concluded. You four will bring this information to the High-King." Theseus looks furious, like he is about to punch something. "If Antony breaks the truce then everything we have done in the last 10 years will be for nothing Achilles! The Peace we have had will be gone, War will come to all of Greece and this time we wont have Odysseus, By Zeus even you are not the man you were a decade ago." Theseus kicks the stool over. 

"Calm yourself Theseus!" Achilles clasps the Kings arm. "Odysseus may be gone and I may be getting old but that what they are for." He gestures to the four of you. "They are meant to take the place of Odysseus and Myself, Some of us are not the Children of gods; We will grow old and our bodies will fail us. So we must prepare for the future by training a new generation of Heroes." 

"Keep the Axe Carrus, you may yet need it if what you say is true." Achilles, with renewed strength picks up the head of the Minotaur king, While not as easily as Anax He can carry it.

Dicaeus excuses himself then approaches the figure and bows respectfully. “Thanatos, my Lord, it is an honor to be in your prescence.” With that, he returns to Achilles and places a hand on the older man’s shoulder. ”Let’s go finish this. I’m with you until the end, General.”

Edit: Fixing statement made on misunderstanding of lore

Thanatos does not respond or even acknowledge you Dicaeus. Though as you are walking away you get a strange shiver down your spine and you turn to look over your shoulder at the God of Death and he is staring right at you. You cannot see his face or eyes but you know that Death is watching you. You blink and he is gone, No where to be seen.

He is not a messenger boy Dicaeus, even the lord of the underworld fears Thanatos and shows him the respect he deserves. It's why he was charged by Zeus to make sure your father does not try to regain his lost power.

((For Reference to how Thanatos looks, Google a Nazgul; Thats how Im picturing him.))

The rest of you see Dicaeus just walk away for a moment, bow to nothing and say something then return to you. 

(OOC: Yep, figured as much, but if he’s going to rat out my location to Hades anyways, it was worth the shot)

So marching with Achilles, you walk past dozens of wounded and dead soldiers. The ones who are able stand and acknowledge you while other demand to be helped up to do the same. Achilles is unwavering in this moment, A fierce determination pushing him threw the pain he must be feeling . It only takes 40 minutes before you can hear the sound of metal on metal, Of men and Minotaur screaming in agony. You see the ruined and destroyed remains of their battering ram, Flames erupting from the wood and metal as a dead giant is sprawled out on it, His head no where to be seen. 

"YOUR KING IS DEAD, RUN BACK TO YOUR HOLES." Achilles mounts the head of Drogon onto a pike and displays it for all to see. The Minotaur one by one begin to retreat, fleeing as fast as they can at the sight of their leaders head. The People of Athens begin to cheer as the minotaur flee, Victory in this attack. They begin to chant, low at first but it gets louder and louder as word spreads of who has slain Drogon.

Four....Four.....FOUR.....FOUR.....FOUR The chant becomes thunderous as they bang on their shields and stomp their feet on the muddy ground. 

Anax starts laughing and banging his shield along with the beat, grinning wildly at the others. After a few strikes, he stops and takes a deep breath. "I'd say it's time for a lot of wine, women and rest!" He puts his arms around Carrus and Dicaeus' shoulders, leading them back to the feast hall, after winking at Cybele. 

"Mostly rest for me," Cybele will say, some weariness behind her smile. She'll absentmindedly run a hand over the magically healed skin where she was gored by Drogon. "We'll have more work to do in the morning."

With that, Cybele will retire to her room and collapse in bed. Thankfully she's too physically exhausted for worries about Rome to keep her awake tonight.

So those who wish to, Drink and feast long into the night as the War Hall erupts in celebration. People are singing and playing music, Dancing and getting very drunk. Theseus partakes of some but retires fairly early, Achilles is no where to be seen during the Celebration.

Anax meets a  thankful young woman who is rather frisky( Take away what you will) While Cybele beds down, having the wear of Drogons fury still aching her bones. The Celebration starts to dim at first light as many soldiers lay passed out in the War hall.  Carrus finds the Wine good but the Company better, Celebrating with Anax and the Soldiers of Athens before eventually finding rest.

Cybele and Dicaeus

 Everyone awakes the next day, Anax and Carrus with a pounding headache as the wine has left its toll. Anax's hangover fades fairly quickly (Yay Constitution 20) While Carrus' lingers for a few hours. The morning is yours.

And so the first Arc comes to an end! You all level up! Welcome to Level 11 and the beginning of Arc 2!

So you level up, Make the changes to the character! 

Hydra the change to Animate Objects is now in effect. It takes an action not a bonus to command the constructs created by it. You can switch the spell out for another if you wish on top of what you would normally get for the level up. (It's a free switch that doesn't count towards your Free level magic switch)

Mojake you are now attuned to the belt of Minotaur Strength.

Carrus wakes and groans at the sound of someone playing the drums next to his head.  He rises, finds a well or somewhere to get a long, cool drink of water, and then looks for somewhere serving breakfast.  

(Are we in the army camp?  Is there a mess hall?)

You are in the War Hall, There is a well outside the main entrance. The sun is peaking over the distant mountains, Brids are chirping and a warm breeze is in the air with not a cloud in sight. It should be a rather pleasant day.

You do find some Servants have prepared a Breakfast for the Four of you and set it separate to the Soldiers, who are beginning to stir. There is alot of water. Bread,Cheese with some grilled pork and a platter of eggs.

Carrus watches the soldiers rising and beginning the day; without realising it, he's already eaten half the eggs.  He looks down at the table, grunts, shrugs, and eats the other half of the eggs as the rest of the Four make their way out to breakfast.

Anax enters the war hall unarmoured, his bare chest on show with a slick film of sweat. Having just ran a lap of the city to freshen up, he drops into a chair with a satisfied sigh and grabs a slice of pork.

As he chews and washes down with water, he points his fork at Carrus and speaks between mouthfuls. "You... look like shit." He grins as yolk drops down his chin. "Maybe we should... take some horses this time... since Achilles won't be journeying with us?"

Arion will enjoy the run Carrus says, around a mouth half full of egg.  In the last two years with Achilles there had been a lot of training on forced marches, and much less on mounted combat, so Carrus had spent little time with his magnificent black warhorse.  He perks up at the thought of a day travelling on horseback through the countryside of Greece, and his head seems to clear a little.