Viola will be bringing Constantine, Calliope (if she's willing), Ipek, Ipek's brother, and a couple of shield grogs.
Sheesh, for some reason I've never thought that much about what vis to carry around. Let's say 4 pawns each of In, Mu, and He, and 3 each of An, Im, and Vi.
Scott
It's a short voyage from Delos to Piraeus, the harbour of Athens. As your ship docks, you see a statue of a lion in white marble, over three meters tall, looking down upon the harbour. The harbour itself is clearly far from full, and the town appears quiet - not silent, but it doesn't have the bustle you might expect if the port was thriving.
You disembark from the ship, the sailors muttering to themselves as you go. The grogs have discovered that it is a walk of several miles inland until you reach Athens, but that there is a clear straight road.
[Can we say we do this before the tribunal? That gets rid of the possibility of having an yet-to-be-determined apprentice in tow. It also makes it easier for Viola to get Gregorius home afterwards, if he wants that.]
I assume this is just standard muttering consequent upon having two Gifted individuals on board? Does Ipek know why the town isn't bustling? Or is that just how Athens is nowadays. Maybe we'll find that out when we get to town. I do intend to pass through town, just for curiosity's sake. I mean, sheesh...it's Athens. Let's walk down the road.
Scott
[OOC: This is unlikely to be all that quick, as you need to spend time getting Ipek to spread the song (assuming you're not planning to just leave her somewhere and hope she doesn't get into too much trouble before you come back). That means that, assuming my understanding of the calendar is correct, you'd potentially be looking at a December tribunal, which seems unlikely even for magi. The apprentice thing is a problem - would Viola bring the apprentice with her if she did have one (and the problem is just that we don't know if she does or not), or would she want to immediately return and start opening the Arts? If the latter, it may be better to change when the Eleusis adventure is happening.]
The muttering does seem to be of the type Viola frequently gets due to her gift (and eerie appearence) - the sailors have avoided you throughout the voyage, and are now clearly glad you're going.
Ipek has very little idea about the current state of Athens - she's not been here before, or even near it. There's no signs of recent destruction, that you see, although there are some old ruins, especially at the outskirts of the town - it looks as though it was bigger once.
You make your way through the town, onto the long straight road leading to Athens. Proceeding along it, you pass a single column standing on its own by the road side. Calliope pauses to read a greek engraving, then informs you that it appears to be dedicated to Saint Haralambos - whoever he was. It doesn't seem to hold her interest any further.
After an hour or so of steady walking, you reach the outskirts of Athens. This is a much larger city than the port town was, although still nothing compared to Constantinople.
[She'd need the whole season to open the arts, anyway, so that's not a consideration, but yes, I think you're right that she'd have to go to the tribunal meeting first. It's probably best just to elide the putative apprentice for now--Viola would want him/her along, but I can't imagine the apprentice contributing much to the story.]
If Ipek needs to spread the song, Athens is the best place to do it, so let's head for the city center. I'm sure Calliope is going to be at least as fascinated by anything with mythological or mystic significance as Viola is, so Viola is relying on her to notice things like that. Constantine's job is to keep watch for any of the sorts of things you can see only with Second Sight.
Scott
The centre of Athens is dominated by the Acropolis - a flat-topped rocky outcrop rising above the sprawling plain the rest of the city occupies. Making your way through the city, you come at last to a broad flight of stairs, leading up to a great marble gatehouse. As you draw nearer, you can see that the entrance is guarded by soldiers who appear to be westerners rather than greeks. They appear to be monitoring the people entering the Acropolis - not denying them passage, but watching for trouble, perhaps?
Viola will see if one of the grogs can discreetly inquire about what's going on here.
Scott
The grog you've instructed heads on up to the gate.
What is Viola doing in the meantime? You had to get a little way up the stair before you could see that there were guards up the top, so it may look suspicious to turn around.
She doesn't see any reason not to continue, so let's all keep going, and act like the other passersby are acting, except for course for looking like a freak.
Scott
Your grog is stopped at the gates, and you see one of the guards holding out his hands. Calliope meanwhile has pulled out her lyre, and started singing softly a verse of some greek song, strumming along to accompany it.
[Per + Aw roll against EF 9 to notice that Calliope's appearence has changed subtlely - her posture seems straighter, her face almost glowing with some supernatural light. If she makes the Awareness roll, Viola will automatically recognise this as the result of Aura of Enobled Presence.]
"I can cast something that should make them see us as friends, but it's a bit risky - I'm not really good enough with the details to make it work properly yet. What do you think?" she asks.
The grog meanwhile returns, and reports: "Apparently only members of the Duke's entourage are permitted to be armed within the Acropolis."
She fails that.
Viola responds to Calliope first: I don't think it will hurt anything. Just don't claim to be someone in particular".
To the grog: "Is there somewhere we can store your weapons for safekeeping. And...what Duke?"
Scott
Calliope shakes her head.
"The spell's more complicated than that. If it works, the guards will see me as a friend, and then fill in the gaps as to what friend I could plausibly be. If it doesn't work...he'll see me as somewhere between an obvious fake and a formless monstrosity, depending on quite how badly it doesn't work."
"We can leave weapons at the gatehouse, or with an innkeeper outside the citadel." The grog pauses to think a moment, then shrugs. "The Duke of Athens? I think someone said his name was Otto."
"Well, you've already cast the spell, haven't you? So let's see what happens."
"Ah, still the mess of the Crusade." She sighs. "I suppose it doesn't matter. Store your weapons. Let's see inside."
Scott
"Not yet, no - just Aura of Enobled Presence. I'll leave it at that for now, I think - I can always come back later with the Amorphous Friend."
You go on up to the gatehouse, where the guards peer at you suspiciously until you've divested yourself of any weapon larger than an eating knife. The gatehouse itself is a substantial structure, clearly lived in by a significant number of people, and parts of it appear very old - although there is also a several storey tower tacked on which is clearly much newer. Due to the steep cliffs around the outcrop it would be difficult to enter the Acropolis via any other route - at least, assuming you were limited to mundane means.
Once through the gatehouse, you can see a mix of modern and ancient buildings nestled in amongst each other. A little way in front of you, and to the right, you can see a great many-columned marble building - surely the famous Parthenon.
Viola turns to Calliope, "I think this is all we need, to get in." She leans over to whisper, "Go ahead and explore if you like--I need to watch Ipek."
She'll then suggest to Ipek that we find some good places to sing the song...and she'll watch her like a hawk, to make sure she doesn't do anything stupid.
Scott
Calliope heads off straight towards the Parthenon, her shield grog in tow. Ipek looks like she wants to follow her, but after Viola's instruction starts looking for a tavern instead.
As you walk through the streets you see a much higher proportion of franks than were present in the main city below - although the greeks still make up the majority of those present, most of the franks appear to be either military or relatively wealthy. The first tavern you find appears to be the haunt of the off-duty soldiery - several groups of them are drinking and dicing the afternoon away. Viola notices that several of them bear bandages, or other signs of injury.
Ah, violence....
At any rate, we need to find the places where the Greeks hang out, since Ipek doesn't have a Latin(ish) version of the song.
Viola does though promise Ipek we can explore the Parthenon later.
Scott
It takes you a few minutes to extricate yourself from that tavern, as Ipek has already started talking to the innkeeper and the soldiers (many of whom appear to be able to speak at least a smattering of greek). As you're walking the streets looking for another place, Calliope catches you up, her face thunderous.
"They've turned it into a church!"
If Ipek wants to sing to the soldiers in Greek, let her--if they understand enough of it to understand the story, that's great.
Viola assumes Calliope is referring to the Parthenon. "It's sad to see it changed, but there's not much that two Hermetic magae can do about that."
Scott
Calliope shakes her head, still looking angry. "It used to be a temple to Athena. I didn't expect them to still be worshipping her there, but I hadn't expected them to try to completely overwrite her..."