Pan, god of herds and flocks and major party boy, faces a drinking challenge in a mortal desert!
Week Four:
Short but Sweet in Two Tough Locations, July 11-17, 2025
Friday, July 11, Hades wakes in his luxurious yet depressing Underworld palace after a broken night’s sleep. He’s the richest god in the pantheon when mineral rights are factored in, but he’s constantly stressed about expense overruns- -soccer hooligans continually breaking things in Tartarus, the regular reseeding of the Fields of Asphodel, huge heating and lighting bills for the vast underground cavern of Elysium so the orchards can thrive. And now, gate crashers! Somehow, souls are sneaking into the Underworld without crossing the River Styx and paying their coin to the ferryman. Daunted by Hermes’ high drachma proposal for a new security system, Hades orders his valet, Anatole, to pack the Helmet of Invisibility and join him on a reconnaissance mission to all three Underworld realms- -to flush out the gate crashers or know the reason why!
In a mortal desert Pan, wearing a rash-inducing high-necked military uniform and loathing the dry Saharan summer, arrives with Ares at an oasis outlaw camp on Tuesday, July 15. Ares, arrogant and brash in his undercover identity the Main Man, brazens his way into camp. He introduces Pan (who poses as the general of a sympathetic European army) to outlaw leader Great Cheese. Ares says Pan will give the outlaws troops and money. To Pan’s surprise, an indoctrination ritual is required up front: per Great Cheese, “We’ll see if this European can hold his liquor.”
