𝐑𝐄𝐔𝐒.

As the boats finally pull up alongside Pontius, NYX, CIRCE & APOLLO are the first to reach, and officially raise the alarm. MINOTAUR dives in and pulls the figure out of the water and onto the dock, but no one moves to make any medical interventions, as it’s clear even from a distance – whoever this water-logged, mystery person is, it’s far too late for them.

POSEIDON makes a call for all guests to return to their rooms until they can deal with the emergency, calling on ALECTO for help ushering everyone safely away. SCYLLA, HEPHAESTUS, POSEIDON, HERA & ZEUS are the only ones to remain behind, waiting until the last of the guests have returned to the main deck before examining the body. There is no doubting it – the corpse is that of SISYPHUS – Thersander to the Pontius crew. But there is something very, very wrong. It’s not just the facial expression that is stuck in a permanent shock – it is the gnarled and shifting features that blink between what might be familiar to what isn’t, glitching even after its host has passed. Dysfunctional augmentations, Scylla notes, with growing dread. Botched, outdated, perhaps a black market version of what Scalpel has proved capable.

Back on Pontius, the rest of the guests break into groups to return to their rooms. On their way, ODYSSEUS, ARTEMIS & PROMETHEUS run into a bloodied ACHILLES and begin to question him, but are cut short when MEGARA appears to bring him back to HADES. Elsewhere, DOLUS, HYPNOS & HERMES notice something strange, passing through one of the hallways of guest suites: CHARON’s door, cracked open. As they approach, one of them points out something even more alarming– a smear of blood across the doorknob. The group enters the room to discover a grisly scene, pulled from nightmares: ARIADNE’s dead body on the floor, a dagger stuck squarely in his chest.

Further down the hall, ATHENA hears the commotion in Charon’s room, and runs inside. Upon realizing what has transpired, she goes to find help, intercepting EURYDICE, HYACINTH, & PAN on their way back to their own rooms. Elsewhere, THESEUS, DUSA & TISIPHONE run into a bloodied THANATOS stumbling back to his room, and rush him into CHARYBDIS’ quarters for treatment, taking care not to be seen.

LITTLE DO THE GUESTS KNOW… While they were enjoying their night, there was an undercurrent of bloodshed happening right under their noses, secrets and betrayals long simmering rising to the surface. Earllier in the night, unbeknownst to most of the party-goers, Thanatos doesn’t go on the boats with the rest of the guests, but meets with Charon. Their meeting, initially cordial and familiar and soft-spoken, takes a tense turn, then violent as Charon pummels Thanatos to the ground and does not let up until blood mars his fists and Thanatos is barely moving. 

Charon swiftly leaves the scene to return to his room, but Ariadne catches him as he’s retreating, sees the blood splattering his fingers, and demands to know what the financier has done and who he’s hurt. Perhaps Charon mentions Thanatos - perhaps Ariadne makes the connection on his own. Whatever the case, Ariadne erupts with promises of retribution, threatens to go to Hades with proof that one of his most trusted confidantes has been going rogue, sending his prized fixer on business and missions irrelevant to Tartarus’ interests and wholly pertinent to his own. It’s a long time coming, he says; finally, the crooked financier has broken a rule from which there is no coming back, attacking one of Khton’s own, and Hades’ judgment is sure to be swift.

Then, the abrupt strike of blade to flesh. Ariadne falls to the floor, grasping weakly at the dagger stuck squarely in his chest, and Charon does not wait to watch the light leave his eyes, turning heel and running back out to Pontius’ docks, quickly boarding a speedboat while the fireworks reach their climax.

Minutes after Charon has made his escape, Sisyphus makes his own way to the dock. The deckhand takes no notice of the missing boat, and acts with no knowledge of the blood being shed and life lost behind him, too busy putting into action the culmination of weeks worth of plotting and preparations. Faced with increasingly fewer opportunities for survival, let alone escape, the plan Sisyphus has landed on is simple: he stows a bag on one of Pontius’ speedboats, with plans to flee on the boat while everyone is away at the festivities, and make a break for the nearest coast — and his new life.

Sisyphus is about to set out on the speedboat when he hears a sound behind him, and finds his former friend and current adversary, Achilles, running down the dock towards him. Sisyphus attempts to run for it, knowing that the consequences of being caught fleeing his post — after already being afforded his second chance — are likely to be dire. Inevitably, Achilles catches him, and they fight fiercely for control of the boat. But in the flurry of action, Sisyphus slips on the wet floor and falls headfirst, cracking his skull against the corner of the navigation console on his way down. 

The impact rings out, a sickening crunch followed by the strangest electric crackle, like a signal gone astray. The bootlegged augments, already twisted far beyond the use they were designed for, previously damaged in another fight, do not take well to the impact. With one final crack, like a bolt of lightning crossing his face, the augments go through a final, fatal glitch, electricity zapping across his features, around his bones, into his brain – and killing him on the spot.

Achilles leaves Sisyphus’ body a few yards out from Pontius, where the boat chase ended, floating in the water; at first glance, the death looks like a tragic boating accident, an unfortunate step and a hard fall, followed by a slide into the sea. Achilles is just parking his own boat as the silhouettes of the guests’ boats break over the horizon, and he makes his swift escape back aboard Pontius.

ADMIN NOTE