Sophia

We rested well that night, and set off into the forests of Brauron at the break of dawn. The moment we crossed the river, Sipriotes was all business.

Not a word out loud from here on. Aipserokeleuthos is no ordinary deer, her size and strength make her a considerable threat, and that’s without even considering her intelligence. We cannot let her know what we are planning, and should take all measures necessary to prevent her from spotting us.

She looked at both of us in turn.

She won’t hold back this time. If you slip up, you will die.

Chloe suddenly looked uncertain, so I gave her hand a quick squeeze.

Ok. Just tell us what to do.

She smiled as she nodded and led us deeper into the woods, the village and temple quickly fading from view. As she did, she began weaving images in our minds. Three dimensional imaginings of a variety of snares and traps implanted within us, a training technique that had been inspired by my actions yesterday. Not quite as fun of a use for telepathy, but certainly useful. We followed behind her, dutifully memorizing each of them to the best of our abilities as we trekked ever further.

She’s smart, but she is still an animal. She has instincts and habits, both of which can be taken advantage of. For example, deer mark their territories by rubbing their antlers and heads against trees. While for typical deer, such behavior only occurs in rutting season, Artemis’ hinds do so year round. If we find her rubs, we know we’ve found her territory, if we figure that out, we can plan an ambush.

So we just have to wander until we find those signs?

Unfortunately, yes, but we’re not completely out of luck. You saw her at your camp less than two days ago. The weather’s been clear lately, it’s not been particularly windy either, odds are good we can find some tracks there.

She stopped where she was and spun towards us, her arms stretched wide.

So that’s your first test today! Show me where you were camping. Lead us there. I sure as hell don’t know!

Ah, so she hadn’t been leading us anywhere. She was trying to make things difficult on us. I looked her up and down, she’d pay for that later. I chuckled as I imagined it.

She gasped.

Ha, knew she was listening.

Chloe

Hmm…

This would be tricky.

We hadn’t followed any kind of road to reach Brauron, instead taking a direct route through the forest, and there were hardly any real landmarks to orient ourselves with. On impulse, I sat down against a tree to try and think things through. It had taken a few hours to get to the temple from our camp, so it definitely wasn’t close. Based on the angle of the sun now that it had risen, I knew that we’d set out heading east this morning, and I knew that Athens was northeast of Brauron. Assuming we traveled in a roughly straight line, we were south of our camp, though how far south I wasn’t certain. Slowly, an idea began to form.

H-hey Sipriotes, how far does the whole telepathy thing stretch to? Like, how far away can I still talk to Sophia like this?

She tilted her head and smiled.

You can get about three hundred feet between you and still talk just fine, any further and it might get dicey. Why?

Ok, yeah, that could work.

Yesterday, while we were walking to Brauron, Sophia and I were picking berries and leaves and stuff. She was showing me some of the edible plants she knew. If we spread out and then slowly walk north, examining the nearby plants for damage, we might be able to track ourselves.

I looked away, cringing under their attention.

It’s an idea, at least. I don’t really-

Sophia bumped her shoulder against mine, squeezing my hand tight.

It’s a great idea, Chloe. Let’s do it.

So we spread out, the three of us spaced evenly about 200 feet apart to ensure some leeway, spending the better part of an hour creeping northward and analyzing the local flora. Eventually, Sophia popped into my head.

Hey Chloe! I’ve got something!

…

I think… Tell Sipriotes, I want her opinion.

SIpriotes voice rang out.

Already on my way, my range is a bit longer than yours, after all.

Sipriotes

Well, it was certainly a bush of wild strawberries. Whether the missing berries were the result of human hands or some animal was hard to tell, and I told the mortals as much. It was a novel idea that Chloe had come up with though, and I wanted to see it rewarded.

I assume you did pick some wild strawberries at some point?

They both nodded in unison.

Then spread out a bit, and walk northeast with me. Keep an eye out for any other signs of humanity. There’s some good, muddy dirt around here. That stuff holds tracks well.

They did as I asked, and it wasn’t long before Chloe called us over. Two sets of footprints, coming from the northeast, irrefutably human. Well done, mortals. They grow up so fast. Now it was time for their reward. An impromptu tracking lesson!

As you probably know, tracks don’t stick around forever. The weather and the type of soil that the tracks were left in can have a serious impact on how long those tracks persist. If the weather is dry and windless, tracks will last longer. Likewise, tracks left in mud last longer than those in sand. The tracks themselves aren’t all we’re looking for though. To track you two, I’m looking at both the proper tracks in the dirt, and I’m watching for any disturbed vegetation from your foraging. Different animals also leave all kinds of different signs in their environments. Droppings, disturbed vegetation, tree rubs for deer, that kind of thing. You can even tell a lot about an animal by the scent of what it leaves behind, especially when it comes to how long ago the animal was there.

As I lectured the two, I continued to follow their trail until we came to what we were looking for. The ashy remains of their campfire from last night. Now it was their turn.

Alright, I hope you’ve been paying attention. Aipserokeleuthos was here under 48 hours ago, weather conditions are good, and there’s good soil around here for her to leave tracks in. It’s time for test number two, ladies! Good luck!

Sophia

Lessons and tests, lessons and tests. This was starting to feel less like an adventure, and more like school. Fine then, how hard could it be? I took a moment to reorient myself with our old campsite. The fire was in the center, Chloe and I had slept near a knobbly tree at the southern edge, when we were hiding behind the fire, I was fairly certain we’d been hiding on the south side of it, meaning Aipserokeleuthos had been on the northern side. I did my best to cast my memory back to that night. When the deer had run away, she’d run to our left… almost directly west.

After a few careful minutes of searching, I found what I was looking for, hoof tracks. The hunt was on! I called Chloe and Sipriotes over to confirm that these were indeed deer tracks, and Sipriotes took the time to explain how deer hooves differ from other hooved animals. We were on the right trail, all we had to do was follow it.

And follow it we did. We stopped briefly for lunch, silently chewing on softer foods to reduce the noise we made, our offerings to the gods were done in whispers. Eventually, after hours of tracking, doubling back several times as the trail was lost by our novice eyes, we started to see signs of long term occupation. Rubbings against trees, scraped out territorial markers in the dirt and leaves, and fresh tracks that began to convene with those we were already following. It seemed that Aipserokeleuthos walked this trail often.

After a bit more time spent quietly scoping out the area, we found something interesting. In a grassy meadow, a circle of the tall grass had been matted down. Sipriotes called for a stop, and called us towards her with a sinister grin.

See that grass that’s been pressed down like that? That’s where she’s been sleeping.

Her grin grew wider.

We need to get ready, we’ll ambush her there. Tonight.

ashlynflagg

Gotta catch that deer! Ar-tem-is!

Like the pokemon theme, y'know?

Time for your ancient Greek fun fact of the day! Since our ladies are about to undertake a (slightly toned down) trial of Heracles, let's talk about Heracles. In classical Greek mythology, Heracles was actually one of two twins. One twin was named Iphicles, he was the son of Alcmene and her cousin/husband, Amphitryon. Heracles came about when Zeus disguised as Alcmene's cousin/husband to sleep with her, as he often did. Twins are rare, and they were sometimes believed to be the result of a woman bedding a god along with her mortal lover. As the story goes, Alcmene and Amphitryon knew that one of their children was a child of Zeus, but they didn't know which. At least, they didn't until Hera sent a pair of serpents to kill the children. Iphicles rested idly as the serpents approached, but Heracles strangled the snakes on the spot. That was the moment the parents realized.