As gods revealed themselves, researchers quit on trying to understand the Alphabet, instead derailing towards mathematical purposes. Many entities had already lunged out at Pericles, and not wanting to incur even more wrath from deities he tried his best to keep the God of Insects happy. While other gods never got the concept right, Pericles understood that the God of Insects was not only the deity that unleashed locusts... it was also the god that controlled the silkworms which resided southeast of Athens, and pursuit of this deity's quest would likely make the silkworms even more useful. The very essence of life seemed to have been sucked out of several places, Corinth was swept from the earth, and evil riders haunted its vicinity. Pericles felt a bit down on his luck, but pulled through nonetheless.
With Lucern killed again and Lancelot away, the strange troops were left without a leader. That state would not be for long. Leonidas personally took command of the new troops and led them back to Nidaros, now beset by grisly horrors as the Nightmares had headed for Nidaros, and while an emergency draft of citizens managed to keep out the first wave, they were brought down in the end.
Whispers of a mysterious deity spread to the lands... God, they called him. It turned out that this city was located in the Spanish lands, as Queen Isabella was so kind to reveal to him. Wanting to know more of this deity, Pericles signed a treaty with Queen Isabella to allow free trafficking of good between their lands.
The nightmares that took Nidaros now tried their luck at Athens as well. But, unyielding as always, the Greek phalanxes stood their ground against the horrors as they tried to cross the river into Athens. Not a single one went away of that group survived to haunt the Greeks yet again.
As the troops of Leonidas walked forward towards Nidaros, another group of troops met with success. They had arrived at Winstown, and upon arriving there the chieftain led his troops into battle against them. The troops were cut down and Winston was taken captive by the Greek phalanxes. Upon returned in New Corinth, Winston was led before Pericles but stubbornly refused to tell him anything. The man was detained in Athens and guarded until he walked to talk to the Greeks. Unfortunately, Athens suffered yet another attack by Nightmares and lost some of its citizens in the process.
Yet they failed again once they tried to take Athens itself.
A deadly silence fell over the Greek troops as they reached the outskirts of Nidaros, once a Viking city, then fully Hellenized, now a place of nightmares...
literally. A sense of foreboding struck Leonidas. He ordered his men to a halt.
"FORM RANKS! SHIELDS ON GROUND! SPEARS OUT!" Leonidas yelled at the tops of his lungs. The troops obeyed and slammed their shields with the downside in the ground, then pulled out the long spears they carried for this kind of task. Forming one long line of shields, Leonidas felt sure of his victory.
Until the nightmares came rushing out in a charge that shook the ground.
Nearly, the men gave into their fear. Leonidas did not, however: bellowing "DO NOT GIVE INTO FEAR, FOR THAT IS THEIR GREATEST WEAPON!" he ordered the men back to the line. The nightmares broke into the line and speared several soldiers; but they suffered heavy losses as well as they blindly ran into the spears of the Greek line. As the line broke and went after the nightmares, a wild melee ensued. In the end, the Greeks were victorious and the nightmares were exterminated to the last... thing.
A long, anguished wail. A wind, blowing the remnants of the Nightmares away. And then, a long silence from the troops as the terrified people came out their houses and sent prayers to thank various gods for Leonidas and his troops, who had after some time finally succeeded in bringing Nidaros back under Greek control and banish the last of these nightmares from this world. Leonidas took his well-deserved rest, for this was a glorious victory and the Greeks had won a victory over troops from hell.
Enormous swaths of trees had been brought to Athens over the course of hundreds of years, but the results were worth it. An enormous structure had been brought in the centre of Athens: an enormous complex of buildings from which plants hung, with an ingenious irrigation system to keep the plants watered, and even more irrigation to keep the populace of Greece healthy. The statue in front of the complex also drew attention: a large statue of a mantis with its arms spread out towards the palace of Athens.
Pericles checked the place for several months and saw it was a job done well: within months, numerous colonies of insects had taken up residence in the gardens. Flowery patches were soon 'decorated' with nests of bees, the earth got several ant colonies, and the God of Insects was happy. The garden would serve its purpose well. Several years later Greek scholars would discover an efficient way of harvesting new kinds of crops, courtesy of the new population the garden could provide for.
Leonidas and his troops killed another village of barbarians, still hunting after the stench of demons. Not a single inhabitant was spared, in retaliation for never ceasing attacks on Greek territory. He just was sick and tired of them and hoped the burning of this village would finally make the barbarians cease their attacks.
Things looked up for Greece. Pericles had stood against adversity, facing it head on... and had pulled through. He was certain luck would now change for the better.
Highlights:
-The Neanderthal Thugs (Winston, I suppose) suicided himself on a Phalanx. I take that he is captured.
-Athens built the Hanging Gardens.
-Nidaros was captured and eventually recaptured by the Praets, which are now led by Leonidas.
-Math, Masonry and Calendar were discovered.
-Spain got the City of God.
-A sh*tload of barbarians killed, who now came out in droves (and the troops got the experience to prove it), up to Horse Archers (!). Two barb cities were razed.
-The Nightmares are sent back to whatever plane of nonexistence they came from.
