CLASH OF SPEARS... DOMESTOS AND THE TEMPLE OF THE GOLDEN FLEAS.

Following the unfortunate events at the Temple of Persephone, where the great hero, Testakles, had allowed himself to be diverted from the strategic aim of the action, thus enabling the High Priestess, Amonia, to be spirited away by the Zealots, something of a rift had begun to form between the General and his subordinate, Domestos. While Testakles organised a thorough search of the area around the temple, Domestos, accompanied by a band of his faithful peltasts, ventured off in pursuit of the High Priestess and her Zealots. The trail led him deep into the forbidden heart of the forgotten province of Amnesea, towards a prize of untold wealth and unspeakable danger!

The Temple of the Golden Fleas... The Tree of the Festering Sheep stands in the centre of the Temple; its roots are said to have grown down to the very depths of Hades. At some point, lost in the mists of time, the dead sheep was unceremoniously dumped by a passing shepherd and the heat rising from the abyss attracted a swarm of Golden Fleas who have occupied the carcass ever since.

After her miraculous escape from the Temple of Persephone, Amonia, the High Priestess vowed to protect the Golden Fleas from any who dared to remove them from their home on the Festering Sheep... in this sacred task, she was assisted by her loyal servants, the Zealots.

And so it came to pass, on that fateful day, that Domestos and his Peltast warband arrived and, for the first time, gazed upon the magnificent splendour that was the Tree of the Golden Fleas! Unable to resist the temptation, they hurriedly advanced towards the Tree, believing it to be defended only by a scantily clad woman...

Little did they know that this scantily clad woman possessed deadly magical powers and an Arcane Bolt dispatched two of their number to the eternal torment of the underworld.

The hue and cry of battle stirred some great and monstrous evil from deep within the swamp that lay beyond the temple walls and numerous demonic eyes awoke to scrutinize the source of the disturbing clamour.

The Peltasts froze, gazing in awe and wonderment at the mighty beast which appeared before them from the inhospitable deepness of the swamp... it was at this moment that they realised that, driven by their greed and covetousness, they had strayed beyond the command range of their noble leader, Domestos, who was thus powerless to command them...

With a speed beyond belief, the Hydra was upon the Peltasts, who could do nothing but attempt to defend themselves against the brutal assault of the seven headed beast...

The savage razor-edged teeth ripped un-mercilessly into the terrified warriors and two of their number were instantly torn to shreds and cast asunder like useless scraps of meat... 

Unable to escape the terrible and violent assault, yet more of the Peltasts became victims of those rapacious fangs... 

Until the survivors turned and fled for their very lives, desperate to escape the monstrous beast from the swamp, all thoughts of the treasure of the Golden Fleas driven from their heads by the carnage and bloodshed they had experienced. From that moment forward, their night-time dreams and their day time thoughts would be haunted by the nightmares they had just, so providentially, left behind.

To compound the disaster faced by Domestos, the High Priestess Amonia's Zealots continued their assault upon the Peltasts facing them and wantonly slaughtered them, leaving not one man left alive... Domestos had no choice but to turn and flee, knowing that he would have to face the wrath of his commander, Testakles, for the sorry loss of so many of the gallant men of Hallitosos.

This was a very quick game of Clash of Spears, intended to test a set of rules I had put together for the Hydra and a much larger game, where the beast will face much stiffer opposition, will follow. There will be hoplites in the next encounter with the Hydra, but they will still need to test against their Grit value when in combat with the beast and failure will result in them having to choose Defend as their combat option. Many thanks to Alvaro Erize for tweaking my Hydra rules and bringing them back into the Clash game sequence... my love of the Hydra got the better of me and I perhaps gave it too much of an advantage over the mere mortals it would come up against in combat. To be fair, the Peltasts had little chance against the Hydra, despite some fairly average dice rolling, having strayed beyond the Command Range of Domestos, who had already used two of his three Command Points earlier in the turn. It will be interesting to see how the Hydra copes with an opponent who has access to archery and the more powerful melee combat presence of the hoplites...