"Oh my god," she purrs afterwards. "If only Helen knew what was available in Greece she wouldn't have needed to go across the sea."

She fills two goblets of wine for them and returns to the bed.

"My father and all his brave companions are fools. Helen wasn't kidnapped - she obviously wanted out of that backwater Spartan place and thought that Menelaus would forget about her and go back to playing with his swords and soldiers. She didn't count on his pride and the mocking from the rest of the Achaean kings, so now here we are about to sail to a foolish war."

Iphigenia throws back the rest of the wine in her goblet then lets out a loud belch.

"Come god-man, there are only a few more hours before my minder will come looking for me - and he will look in here first - so show me the Olympian ways of love once more!"

The imp rubs his aching ribs while he speaks.

"The boss would stop by every couple of centuries or so to see what was going on and make a few repairs. I don't know when he will learn of this because nothing like you has ever come around before. And who the hell are you anyway?"

The troll grabs the imp by its thin hair and holds it up to eye level.

"This was the thing keeping me in prison all this time," it guffaws while poking the imp, "Howsabout I eat it in revenge?"

OOC: From Brooklyn, going to school at Rutgers.

"Well met, Eric of New York. This is the land of Troy and I am Skamander!"

The man raises his arms as if expecting light to radiate from his body and for Eric to fall in awe. When that doesn't happen he continues on with a slight hint of sullenness.

"Which way lies this New York and for what reason have you ventured to this place?" his accent while saying 'New York' is odd.

It's begging stops when it can no longer breathe and there is the sound of cracking bones. Dagon feels that the creature has a powerful mind but not so strong as to resist his mental probe. From images and memories brought forth he can read that the imp was summoned by Hephaestus and bound to this temple in order to keep the people cowed into continuing the feeding of the imprisioned troll. The imp was also commanded to attack the troll if he ever escaped his prison. Extra enchantments were laid about the temple but all have been destroyed from battle.

Loosening his grip Dagon asks the imp "That was quite a performance considering you were imprisoned too."

"It was the geas," the creature gasps, "Hephaestus had me bound body and soul to this building."

The discussion continues for hours more but nothing of great interest is heard by Deinos; the leaders talk of which ships will be loaded first and what order they will sail in, of tides and weather and diviner's assessments of the impending voyage. It seems this kind of talk will continue for the rest of the night.

"So powerful that his strength could have been used by us when it was needed," the creature rasps as it continues to shrink.

The mind-on-mind force that Dagon brings to bear on the creature weakens and distracts it enough that the troll breaks free of the grip just before Dagon crashes down upon it. The last of the dirt sloughs away revealing a 3 foot tall mauve imp strugling to break free of the naga-coils.

"It's over. Free me," it manages to gasp before the coils squeeze its chest tight.

The man is slightly taller than average and completely perfect looking. HIs skin is unblemished and has a healthy glow, hair in near curls, muscular without appearing to take working out very seriously. He gives the impression of being relentless in his pursuits, although Eric can't figure out how he was able to deduce that trait in the stranger. The man carrys a sword at his belt but is otherwise unarmed or armored. The man seems almost friendly.

"The peasants are often slow in the mind but quick on their feet. Unlike them, I am convinced that a Greek spy would not enter our lands in full armour. Even so, there is a mystery about you."

An option to play the game with dice would be useful to get new players into the game and could be used as a stepping stone towards playing diceless. Similar to how Erik mentioned in the rulebook that he hoped to eventually 'evolve' his campaign away from using any of the stats and just have story. I guess that this would involve writing up two sets of rules for the new edition.

And the previously mentioned idea of a list of hooks or secrets for the characters would be good too. That would allow the GM to pull some ideas he liked out and give or auction them to the players to provide an initial push into the game. Having the players invent their own can lead to unexpected imbalances and over-rewards for the players who have an excess of imagination or time to create them. A playtested list would also have the ideas remain "Amber-ish' rather than have the game lose the Amber-feeling.

I've also noticed that players usually don't really enjoy or take to the player-vs-player aspect of the game, so a collection of ideas to help GMs develop rivalries between the players would be helpful.