Archived:The Quest for the Matriarch's Freedom

Questors

 * 1) Sapphire, Matriarch of Erotiads, Leader (User:GirlofDelusion)
 * 2) Jaime Le'Blanc, daughter of Persephone (User:KittyInASheepsClothes)
 * 3) Lilianne Van der Berg, daughter of Hades (User:Queen.Bee)
 * 4) Brock Garreth, son of Nyx (User:BachLynn23)
 * 5) Gavin Masterson, Son of Hecate (User:Nhlott)

Prophecy
A patron of love, years has been gone,

for he was corrupt, a bond must be withdrawn.

This tie is abnormal, a brew must be made,

consumed it will be and his evil will fade.

Many threats and harms the group should confront,

above all, for the igniting beast they must hunt.

Her comrades shall conflict, to this there is no doubt.

For the matriarch's freedom, the foul they must clear out.

Quest
Sapphire: She waits by the camp van on Half Blood Hill for the others to come, equipped with an enchanted purse.

Brock: walks up with a bag slung over his shoulder Hey, hope I'm not late, had to stop by the infirmary first

Gavin: Walks up with a backpack on. Hey guys.

Lily: Walks up with her bag and her sword. Hello.

Sapphire: Hey guys! I'm glad you could all make it on time. You can walk into the van while I wait here for Jaime.

The three questors walk into the van, waiting for the last questor to join them.

Jaime: ''Runs up, a big bag over her shoulders, out of breath. ''Sorr-eh, I'm late. I couldn't find Roza, oh sorry, I'm Jaime, daughter of Persephone. Nice ta meet ya all.

Sapphire and Jaime board the van and it starts making way towards the Empire State Building.

Sapphire: Welcome, Jaime. I'm Sapphire, the matriarch of Erotiads, as you already know... I just want to thank you all for being able to join me on this quest, even though we know little to nothing about the course of action.

The questors get to know each other amongst themselves.

Sapphire: First we need to head to Olympus. There, we're going to visit the Palace of the Erotes,

where we'll be meeting my daughters. They'll explain everything to us... or so I hope.

Gavin: Olympus you say? Gods, I'm SO under-dressed.....

Brock: laughs under his breath at Gavin Well let's get headed then, Olympus isn't far at least

Sapphire: Oh please, it's not like it's a special occasion... but if you insist, it still is clearly not an issue... I'm the matriarch of Erotiad's, for gods' sake... ''She twirls her finger around and suddenly everyone in dressed in extremely expensive fashion branded clothing, though not anything too formal. They also seem to have gone through a slight makeover, hair done, makeup on for the ladies, and other various tweaks applied. Though, the look doesn't seem to be quite complete, as everyone is wearing colorful animal slippers. Ugh, I'll fix that... my powers have been malfunctioning since he left, but not to the extent it has as of late... the shoes then turn to match their outfits. ''There, that should do.

Gavin: Oooh. Awesome. Makes sexy pose.

Brock: Looks at Sapphire oddly Uuuuuhhhh thanks I guess sounds a bit creeped out but if you don't mind, next time I prefer to dress myself, not entirely comfortable with a girl undressing and dressing me

Sapphire: It's not exactly undressing and dressing, but, fine, it's your choice...

Gavin: So, Sapphire, what do you think is going on? From what you said, you don't seem to have any more of a handle on the situation as we do.

Sapphire: Well, it's safe to assume that my soon to be former husband has become one wretched little being, not to mention the fact I haven't seen him in over six hundred years. We need to gather ingredients for a potion, which as I told you, I'll need your help in mixing. These ingredients are probably dangerous to retrieve, since they asked me to bring a large group of demigods along.

Gavin: Sounds like deep shit

Sapphire: Well, it is.

The van then makes way into Manhatten.

Sapphire: Not too talkative, huh, Jaime and Lily?

Jaime: She brushes some hair out of her eyes, I'm barely awake, I dunno how you people can talk at this time without a hell load of coffee! Darn it, I have one craving for coffee...

Sapphire: I'm sure we can get you some coffee before we go up to Olympus.

Lily: I'm... saving my energy for action, not speech. But, what are the ingredients?

Sapphire: I have no idea... It's not a normal potion to break a bond of love, it's something that the Council of the Erotes created specifically for Jasper and I.

Gavin: Mad potion making skills for the win!

Sapphire: Indeed... I'm very grateful that you accepted to join us. That goes for all of you.

''The group arrive at the Empire State Building. Sapphire buys Jaime some coffee and then walks in. Once they board the elevator, she asks the elevator-boy to take them to the 600th floor. When he says there isn't a 600th floor, she shows him her pack of golden drachmas and her shields, and he inserts the special card in the slot. After a while. they arrive at the road to Olympus.''

Sapphire: Here we are.

Gavin: Indeed we are. What now?

Sapphire: Follow my lead. ''She starts going down the path, closing in on Olympus slowly, being careful with her balance. Once they all reach Olympus safely, a look of relief crosses Sapphire's face. She then takes them up until the highest area upon this clouded paradise.''

''The temples of the gods and the castles of the olympians can be found all around them, and at the head, the Castle of the Olympians. They go up pink and red stairs. As they go on, their favorite scent of perfume fills their noses. They go up until they reach a section of cloud which seems to be lightly tinted in pink. A river with beautifully clear waters, brightly glowing under the sun flows by them. Across the river, a majestic red palace, with golden windows, five towers with silver and pink patterns and a majestic golden heart with silver and bronze plating as a door. A silver bridge seems to be their way across. On each one of the towers lay a banner depicting a god. On the biggest is a banner depicting Aphrodite, and on the rest, the Erotes can be seen: Eros, Pothos, Anteros and Himeros.''

Sapphire: Welcome to the Palace of the Erotes.

Brock: Looking at the Erotes, he finds himself smiling like a kid in a candy shop and unable to speak properly

Sapphire: Don't even think about it... she chuckles at the thought.

Gavin: Begins juggling change from his pockets

Jaime: ''Yawns. ''Mmmm this place got any coffee? Preferably very strong...

Sapphire: Actually, I got you some... but I didn't really want you tripping and falling while we walk towards Olympus. ''She hands Jaime the cup of coffee. Okay, I don't want to waste much longer... She signals them after her and crosses the bridge, then setting her hand between the two knobs of the door. ''

''The doors then open wide for them to enter. They enter a large drawing room, with walls of gold, silver patterns of hearts, doves and roses along them. The furniture is entirely red, aside from the fireplaces, bookshelves, and chandeliers, which are entirely bronze. Beautiful Kharites, the winged attendants of Aphrodite and the personifications of grace and beauty, seem to be flying around. As Sapphire and the group take their seats on a large couch by a coffee table and a fireplace, a Grace (Kharis) bring them sweet delicacies, all pink, with pink herbal tea, and then quickly flies away.''

Sapphire: ''Takes a sip of her herbal tea. ''My daughters should be here shortly.

Brock: passes on the tea and sits and waits

Lily: Oh, Rose would definitely love this. Drinks her tea.

Gavin: Yea, I'm not one who enjoys things that are pink. Well, ONE thing, and I'm sure I could find it here, but I digress...

''A few minutes later, five girls, bearing resemblance to Sapphire, walk up to them. They seem to be luxuriously dressed, packed with purses enchanted to fit more than their physical capacity. One girl seems to stand out though, wearing more punky clothes, a messenger bag over her shoulder. All of the girls of the five enthusiastically run up to Sapphire and hug her but the one who seems to stand out. Her daughters seem to have appearance corresponding with their gemstones, with tinted eyes and (only slightly) tinted skin, similarly to Sapphire, who has red-tinted hair/skin and blue tinted eyes.''

Ruby: ''Ruby looks almost identical to her mother, only having tyrian tinted eyes. Her hair is worn in a braid. ''We've missed you so much... you don't even have a clue.

Nephrite: ''Nephrite stands out, seemingly rather seperated from the rest of her family. She has green tinted pale skin, dark green eyes, and short black hair with dark purple streaks. Despite this, she still is absolutely gorgeous. She also seems much younger than her sisters. She simply listens to music, leaning on a wall nonchalantly.''

They get on with their business, having small talk for a short time, until they're cut off.

Nephrite: I thought we were here to seperate that scum of a father from our lives, not to have some family reunion.

Amber: ''Amber has honey brown curly hair, with yellow tinted tan skin and yellow eyes. ''Right... first though, I'd like to see if any of the campers would like to note anything before I get into details about the coming quest.

Brock: Is still thinking about the erotes

Gavin: Staring a bit at Nephrite......Nah, I-I got nothin....

Nephrite: What you lookin' at, demigod runt? She eyes him, seemingly creeped out, able to sense his interest in her.

Gavin: Steps very close to her. Runt, you say? Brings his face inches from hers. Quite a rude thing to call a stranger, wouldn't you say?

Nephrite: Sod off, little boy. ''She steps closer to him, and then quickly pushes him away. ''

Amethyst: ''The purple-colored girl, bearing dark brown wavy hair hurries toward Gavin and helps him up. ''Calm down, Nephrite... it's not his fault you're an Erotiad.

Spinel: ''Spinel, the pink-colored girl, who is seemingly more true to her gemstone, bearing pink hair, eyes and skin, looks quite mischievous in that 'pixie' appeal. She also seems to be a tad bit rebellious, though not to Nephrite's extent. She seems only a little older than Nephrite and only a little younger than the rest.'' Okay, well... can we go on and do the talking on the road?

Sapphire: Sure thing... follow me.

''Sapphire motions for the others to follow her and walks out a back door, leading them to a beautiful, large garden, with fountains and exotic plants, largely roses. The garden also seems to have many creatures, including Hippoi Monokerata, unicorns. A large silver chariot led by a pack of auburn-feathered hippogryffs stands on the paved road.''

Sapphire: Boards the chariot.

Gavin: Pulls a flashlight from his pocket, extends Calibraun, points it at Nephrite, tapping the tip on her nose, then collapses it and boards the chariot.

Nephrite: She shakes her head, chuckling, and boards the chariot.

Nephrite's sisters follow, sitting down next to each other.

Jaime: ''Seems to be finally waking up after her coffee, and just noticing the situation and boards the chariot with a small grin. ''Damn that coffee works slow, only just starting to notice we're in a chariot with sparkly pink pixies.

Sapphire and her daughters glare daringly at Jaime.

Gavin: He twirls his flashlight in his hand and he leans against the inside of the chariot.

Lily: So, you guys gonna 'do the talking'? Like, where we're heading and what's waiting and all that?

Brock: Boards a bit disappointed he didn't get to see the erotes again, entirely disinterested in the girls Yea where are we headed?

The chariot flies away, seemingly headed west.

Amber: She turns to face her mother, taking her hands in her own. A few months ago my granddaughter, a huntress of Artemis was on a hunt for Empousai of a specific "coven", or so they call themselves. When sneaking into one of their lairs she found a man, father, conspiring with them. She abducted an empousa, and after interrogation, she found out quite a bit of information... see. after you went off to Spain, father was sent on a mission in the underworld, aiming toward a bargain with Hades to make a spirit of a demigoddess into an Erotiad... but the coven got in the way. The coven confronted him and their leader attempted to seduce him, which obviously didn't work... so she decided to bite him. Jasper used his powers to relax her, making her let go mid-bite. This caused her to suck not enough blood to kill him, but enough blood to drive him insane. The leader of the empousai decided to use this opportunity to corrupt him into joining their evil efforts.

Sapphire: That explains... quite a bit... I've been having nightmares with empousai hunting me down lately... but why didn't I have any before? And why is it only lately my powers have been significantly?

Amethyst: ''She takes on. ''After the huntress broke through and found out all of this, she tried to force the empousa she interrogated to help her capture the rest, but she pretended to go along with it and then warned the group to flee. Now the coven's hunting you down... and probably taking advantage of Jasper's link to you.

Brock: Wow, I didn't realise the empousai were like vampires, then again, I've never run into one yet

Ruby: Unfortunately, you'll definitely run into not only one, but a few this time around. The mortals drew vampires from the Empousai, actually... along with all those wretched she-demons, actually, but mainly Empousai.

Gavin: Deep shit indeed. So what exactly are we doing about it?

Amber: We consulted Aphrodite and the Erotes and they said they did invent a potion that can break the bond... but they made it very secret and complicated so no one can break the bond in harmful intention. It must be used on top of Mount Olympus in Greece. The ingredients are as follows: Ruby: The vial of holy water will be easy to retrieve... there is a fountain flowing with it at the mountaintop. We're now heading to the Garden of the Hesperides... hopefully we'll be able to bargain with the Hesperides. The most troublesome ingredient will be Jasper's wedding ring... we have no clue if he still has it or not. The potion must be spilt on Sapphire and Jasper's ring fingers, with their rings on. We have word on the Coven of the Flame's approximate location, and we were hoping mother's dreams might give us a closer look on things.
 * Water with the holy water of Olympus
 * Three rose thorns from the Garden of the Hesperides
 * Three drops from the tears of the eastern unicorns
 * The Heart of Gold from the nest of the Indian Myrmekes
 * A feather of the Amphisbaena's wings
 * The wedding rings of Sapphire and Jasper

Jaime: ''Rubs her eyes. Wait a sec, wass' Amphisabkkwho or whatever and where do unicorns live and whats myrmekes and why do we got to India for them and Has wide eyes. ''Now I know why I didn't pass Greek history. Please explain.

Amber: The Amphisbaena is a gigantic two headed serpent that resides in Libya. Unicorns settle in the far east, significantly in China... that's where the legend of Qilins was based. The Myrmekes are giant ants that reside solely in one big nest in India. I hope that answers your questions for now... we will try our best to explain everything.

Spinel: I think I'll have to pass.

Nephrite: Ditto.

Lily: So, are we reaching the garden soon?

Sapphire: Seems so... the Erotes' chariots are enchanted to go abnormally fast without the passengers even feeeling it.

Suddenly, the chariot starts to descend onto land, rattling, seemingly chased by a large group of beasts.

Sapphire: ''She stands up abruptly and unsheathes her throwing knives, bedazzled and decorated at the hilt, and starts to twirl them in her fingers. ''Looks like we're up for a fight.

Lily: Pulls out her stygian iron sword.

Gavin: He draws his sword and lights a fireball.

''The chariot lands abruptly and the questors run out of it. They seem to be within a forest. Suddenly, the sun shines brightly, disrupting their sight, only the gleam of metal clear to them.''

Sapphire: ''She throws two knives in the direction of the gleaming, only for them to miss. Sapphire calls the knives back. ''Can anybody see what the gleam-

From the direction of the gleaming, black birds with metal beaks, the Stymphalian birds dawn down at them.

Nephrite: Incoming! She takes a bow and starts shooting arrows at the birds, turning them to golden dust.