The Godfathers

Krista was tempted to take a different train - traveling with Odysseus and Cayden for company didn't sound great. One was a jerk and the other was so silent and timid as to be an inanimate object. But whatever was going on, it would probably be easier to handle as a group - the larger the better. She sighed. "I'll go too." With luck the others would be on board with this.

"You have two hours before the train leaves. Grab something to eat and pack your things. I'll drive you to the station" Simone said eagerly.

Emma had listened silently to the conversation, trying to appear enthusiastic. It wasn't easy considering that she didn't feel her students were ready. She went to her room before the conversation had ended to pack. She decided against bringing her longbow, instead opting for her long-sword, which she strapped across her back. She then grabbed her travel backpack filled with generic [useful] adventurers items (flashlight, rope, compass, etc.) and her cell phone/charger. She rejoined the group within minutes "Anyone want help packing? Or need anything? I've got a sword short I could lend someone."

Odysseus went back to his room. He grabbed his backpack and packing the two books he bought today, as well as a change of clothes and his cellphone and charger. After closing it, he rejoined the group.

"I'm all ready to go." He says, grabbing an apple off of the table in the common room before he rejoined the group.

Jaron simply kept to himself and this things. He was reading a book detailing the levels of hell and cycles of death. A pretty depressing book on the outset, but Jaron was finding it fascinating.

Raizo quickly packs a change of clothes, the books he had bought, and the issue of a manga he would read on the train. Leaving his quarters, he rejoined the group. "So, our first mission."

*Sarajevo Belgrade (turns out Sarajevo is the capital of Bosnia - what an embarrassing mistake . You are in Belgrade)*

Emma found herself rather unrested after a sleepless night in the hotel restaurant in central Belgrade. In front of her were some pancakes and syrup. While not far apart geographically, Vienna and Belgrade were vastly different. Whereas Vienna came across as organized, majestic and new, the Serbian capital had clearly been constructed outward over centuries. The city itself was a mixture of older buildings and cobblestone streets with tall new structures and freshly paved streets.

A TV in the corner of the restaurant was showing footage of the flooding, caused by the Donaube. Having driven to the Hotel from the Belgreade station last night, Emma could see how the water was dangerously high. In southern Serbia, it turned out that most of the roads and bridges were closed.

Odysseus has had a restless night. He slept four- maybe five- hours and then spent the rest of the night reading his book about the monsters of the Balkans, just in case they ran into any monsters.

When daylight broke, he found himself walking to a nearby restaurant, taking a good look around the city. This place looks like it has seen better days... he thought as he looked around.

He took a seat next to Emma and ordered an omelette. He looks at the TV screen to see the massive flooding caused by the Danube. He turns to Emma and says, "Is there anything I can do about this flooding? I mean, I am the water god's son and all."

Emma shook her head, pulling out a map of Serbia "I'm afraid even you wouldn't be much help in stopping this flood. But I do think you'll be key in getting us to our destination, especially since we are going southeast."

"Okay, great!" Odysseus says as he looks over the map.

He was particularly interested in the region they were going when another question pops into his mind.

He looks back up at Emma and asks, "What, exactly, is causing the flood?"

He ran through the possibilities in his head. Was his father, whichever water god he was, angry with Serbia? Was this a natural flood?

"I don't know what is causing the flood. No one knows" Emma replied. She figured that staying away from the water would probably be in the groups best interest.

Emma pointed traced her finger along the Donaube river towards Rumania, stopping a good distance from Belgrade "Our village is here. From what I can tell we can try to go through the sparsely populated hills and mountains to the south along the river. That route would be the safest, but also slower. We could also try going north along the river, on more level ground, thus making our journey easier. However, there we run the risk of running into some nastier things. So how do you want to proceed?"

Jaron awoke to that someone had placed a medallion on the open pages of his book, featuring a chapter on Hades. The medallion was a silver piece of metal depicting a bird (falcon?) sitting on top of its recently captured prey: a large fish. A note in dark ink had been placed underneath "Predator has become prey. Neither predator nor prey has accepted my hospitality...yet - H"

Odysseus thought about it for a little while. "Do you think that, if we go down this path," he says, pointing to the north path, "I could use my water magic to move the water out of our way?"

"Possibly. But you are talking about moving water by the ton" Emma pointed out "perhaps as a last resort."

Jaron takes the medallion and studies it. Looking at the book, it was clear who gave it to him. The former soldier could almost laugh.

'Guess mom only could fall for a man like that.'

Putting on the medallion Jaron placed the note in his pocket. He searched for the rest of the group and found them. Showing Emma his medallion "I got a visitor."

"Very nice, Lieutenant." Odysseus says before looking back at the map.

"Yes, nice craftsmanship" Emma commented. She didn't recognize the emblem, although she'd seen it somewhere before. She waited for Jaron to elaborate, finishing off her pancakes.

Krista was silent, poring over the book she'd gotten trying to figure out who her divine mother was.

"It appeared on my book when I was studying. The chapter was on Hades." Jaron said as he sat down.

"There was also a note, with the signature of H on the last part. I'd take that as good an indication of my godly parent as any."

"Yes, it is fairly obvious that Hades is your father, isn't it?" Emma glanced up from the note and looked closer at the medallion "Predator has become prey. That probably refers to the falcon. What is Hades trying to say? Perhaps a warning there's another predator?"

Emma handed the note back to Jaron, sighing. She didn't like riddles, especially just before embarking on a quest.

As Krista read her book, she didn't find any particular godly parent stick out. The book read a bit like this: Artemis would've had the power to transform - but she was a virgin goddess; Pan would've had the power of transformation - but he was male; Jörð was the personification of Earth - but Krista hadn't displayed any Earth powers/ Jörð's transformation powers were a bit unclear; etc, etc, etc. In other words no goddess really fit nicely. Perhaps her parent wasn't a nature goddess?

"So, Lieutenant," Odysseus says, "Your father is Hades?"

In retrospect, though, it was kind of obvious. Jaron did seem like someone people would avoid.

He began to wonder when his father would give a sign of who he was. His mother did say that his father was a Greek man. Was he from the same pantheon as Hades?

"It's possible that he's trying to say that the tables have turned on someone, or something we thought we knew about turned out to be false. Either way, whatever the outcome, one of the two is going to the underworld sometime soon."

Jaron glanced at Odysseus "Thank you for actually getting my name correct, but as far as I can tell it seems to be the case. The son of the god of the dead. Wonder, does that make me the prince of the underworld?"

Jaron let out a small laugh "In all honesty, it doesn't really surprise me. My mother always attracted a certain type of company."

"I honestly don't know what he was trying to say, but that's possible. Perhaps my uncle has seen the emblem before" Emma said. She was just a little concerned with Jaron's reaction. But for the moment, she was more concerned about the quest "My uncle promised to drive us as far along the river as possible. So the question still stands: do we want to go north along the Donaube or south? I vote north - it's slightly more dangerous, but it's faster. Besides, should it become too dangerous, then Odysseus can help us cross the river to safety."

It was then that a short man entered the restaurant. His eyes immediately settled on Emma. He'd joined the group just as Emma had presented her reasons for going north of the Donaube. He hugged Emma, before asking Raizo if he could scoot over so that he could sit at the table.

"I take it this is the uncle?" Jaron asks.

"Aye" Emma's Uncle answered "just call me Robert. I'll drive you as far as I can, then you'll have to walk on foot to whatever village Emma was talking about. Just promise me you'll be careful out there."

Emma meanwhile got the waiters attention and started paying for the breakfast meal.

"If you don't mind me asking Robert, what is out there?"

"Besides the usual Balkan monsters? Usually the Serbian government is able to protect its people living in cities, but with the flood draining government coffers, expect more monsters than usual to roam. Probably from neighboring regions such as Transylvania or Bulgaria" Robert answered "But to answer your question: you probably know some Greek mythology. The Balkans have a lot of the same monsters as our Greek friends."

Emma had meanwhile excused herself from the table and was moving the groups gear into the van. In truth she'd wanted to clear her mind before embarking on the journey.