The Pantheon

**The Pantheon** is the forth installment of the *Well Versed* series on *Another Bad Side Quest.* Kavix and Finn find themselves in a colleseum death match before entreating the Roman gods to help them in what may be Earth's first Kaiju fight.

## The Pantheon

### **Synopsis**

Last we saw of Kavix, he, along with fellow heist-mate Sibyl, were making their way into the Feywild for their reward, but as he passed through the shimmering tunnel noticed she had gotten quiet and had disappeared. He also noted that it had taken a long time before he found himself out of the tunnel into a damp dim prison with sounds of a roaring crowd above. As he bemoaned how familiar the situation was to him he noticed a person in strange clothing and warned he would beat them if they tried to fight him. The person, Finn, stood and pondered what Kavix was before she recalled her last memory of medicinal experiments on herself in her lab and when she woke up she was in the prison. Finn then questioned if she was still high from her drugs and when Kavix questioned what drugs were offered him a vial of blue liquid. Kavix drank it and hallucinated that he was as tall as her and Finn eventually realized what happened.

A couple of guards passed by and wrapped the bars and when Kavix asked if there was a problem questioned if there were two of them beforehand. As the guards opened their door Finn put it together that they were in ancient Roman times. More guards soon came along to bring them to some armor and weapons and told them they had five minutes to get what they wanted. Kavix explained from his experience that they were in a fight to the death, that he didn't want to do this again and asked for something else from her to make it entertaining. As Finn picked up a shield, Kavix picked up a thin spear as it would be easier for her to use, then pulled out his collapsible great axe before the two headed into the colosseum.

Finn quickly stuck an augmentation needle into Kavix causing his muscles to bulge before asking him to not let her die. They soon saw a large brown bear being led in by gladiators before they charged to the group. Kavix took down the bear with his greataxe and incapacitated one of the gladiators, while Finn took down the other with her drugs and spear. The emperor gave a thumbs up to them as the effects from the drugs wore off Kavix. The two had their weapons taken back, minus Kavix's great axe collapsed back before they could, and were led back to their cell.

Kavix quickly fell asleep from the side effects and Finn took down notes. A person called out that Kavix's snoring meant he had bad sleep apnea and Finn agreed before realizing that shouldn't exist here and where he was from. The figure approached, revealing their neatly shaven, well dressed look, noted that she wasn't from there either and Finn agreed and asked how she gets back to her time. The figure said they knew who could do it before asking what she knew about Janus, noting he was a relative good with portals and when Finn recognized that he referred to the Roman God and confirmed that said there was a bunch of them. The figure phased through the bars and as his appearance changed to shiny armor Finn woke up Kavix from his sleep. The figure introduced themselves as Mercury, messenger of the Gods and explained he sensed a weird presence and found them. He added that there was a conflict with the Gods, especially Jupiter and Neptune, were trying to beat each other and that Janus would be busy with the issue. Kavix asked what he needed and Mercury said he needed them to stop it. Mercury also gave them a map and directions to a house outside the city who could help contact the Gods as he would be busy, but noted it would help them. Mercury then opened the bars for them, and imparted his blessing on them, gave them a coin with his face on it and said the person would know what to do before he left.

Kavix suggested they get out to before anybody realized the door was open, pulled out his great axe and ran down the hallway with her. Kavix easily found the exit as all colosseums were similar, including their exits, and made their way into the streets. They made their way through the buildings all the way to the river and eventually found the house. Kavix kicked the door open into pieces and the two saw the home was bigger inside and adorned with fountains and marble architecture. They walked inside, with Finn pressing the doorbell, and a voice called out to them to wait a minute before an 8'8 man with rippling muscles appeared. Finn tried to say the door was like that when they got there both saw Kavix bathing naked in the fountain. The figure pointed Kavix to the bathing fountains before he replaced the door with a new one and welcomed them to his home. The figure then introduced himself as Hercules and Finn introduced herself before giving the coin from Mercury. Hercules had the two follow, after giving a toga to replace Kavix's clothes, to a room with 13 fountains decorated with different colors and flowers.

Hercules confirmed they had only one coin before explaining there were 13 relatives they could talk to for their assistance. Finn tied the coin with a string to attempt to get more uses from it before the two identified the 13 statues as

* Jupiter the Sky God
* Juno the Queen God
* Neptune the Sea God
* Minerva the Wisdom God
* Mars the War God
* Venus the Love God
* Apollo the God of a lot of things
* Diana the Hunter God
* Vulcan the Fire God
* Vesta the Hearth God
* Mercury the Messenger God
* Ceres the Agriculture God
* Pluto the Underworld God

Finn read under Pluto's plaque how he was a Greek God, but how it was too difficult to sort out the actual details. Kavix relieved himself in Mars's fountain, in frustration to being a gladiator so long, causing his fountain to dry up. Finn headed to Venus's fountain summoning Venus, who appeared in whatever form was most attractive to them. Finn asked for a way to get back home and Venus noted they were busy and gave her blessing to Finn before she vanished. Finn asked Kavix who they wanted to try as Venus wasn't that helpful and suggested Neptune. They headed to his fountain to summon him, confirmed he was Neptune and was starting a war and Neptune griped that there didn't need to be a war if he had just given his followers before he asked what they wanted. They tried to speak to him but he dismissed them and abruptly gave his blessing and vanished. They headed to Jupiter's fountain, the biggest one in the centre, to summon him and asked what he did to anger Neptune. Jupiter claimed he did his job and Neptune got jealous and when Kavix asked what they could do for him asked if they could calm him down before he gave his blessing and vanished.

The two asked Hercules where they needed to go next and Hercules teleported them back the streets of Rome. They immediately saw people screaming around them as giant people, presumably Gods, were fighting and headed towards the conflict. They saw Juno squaring off against the other Goddesses, while Mars fought against Vulcan excitedly. Kavix mocked Mars as he went by and Mars, aware what he did to his fountain, angrily declared it was him, but focused on Vulcan. Jupiter and Neptune soon appeared on the battle field in lightning and water separately and Kavix headed in Neptune's direction and repeatedly kicked him in his nethers before returning to Finn. Finn immediately chugged a green vial, yellow vial and purple vial causing her to turn purple, double in size and a third eye to appear. She then picked up Kavix and threw him into Mars causing him to fall in frustration before Kavix passed out, along with Mars. Fiin quickly retrieved Kavix, brought him back to the streets and as she attempted to heal him saw everyone had stopped fighting at the sight of Neptune down and Mars dying.

With the fight over Jupiter asked what reward he could give and, after Kavix requested to date Hercules, the two pointed out they needed to find someone called Janus. Jupiter teleported them through lightning to a marble palace in the sky with a big staircase and ancient roman elevator next to it. They waited five minutes for Finn's drugs to wear off before they took the elevator up and arrived at a big cloudy room, with circular walls made of lightning. They also saw a man in mechanical armor made of moving gears, who turned around and said they had been expecting them, though they were late and Kavix regaled his attack on Neptune's nethers.

1. ↑ *Mercury's Blessing* grants +2 to all their dexterity checks
2. ↑ *Venus's Blessing* gives +2 to all Finn's charisma checks
3. ↑ *Neptune's Blessing* grants +2 to all their dexterity checks (in addition to the +2 from *Mercury's Blessing)*
4. ↑ *Jupiter's Blessing* grants +2 to all their strength checks