The muses sing of an unfaithful sailor, whose wife left him when discovering his adultery. Furious, he threw himself into Aegean sea, cursing Aphrodite. In return, the goddess conspired with Poseidon to punish the sailor, changing the man into a tentacled sea monster Eroketos, doomed to roam the waters in this hideous form forever, feasting on the flesh of men and the pleasure of women that he can ambush with his tentacles.
“And that’s why I am glad your travels have brough you here, Demetria” Troyan princess Laodice turned to her guest as they approached the cliffs. “Surely you would be able to slay the terrifying beast.” The muscular huntress climbed down the rocks with little effort. “I have no doubts. We only need to bait the creature, and I know exactly how…” The princess looked on in curiosity as her companion put down the sack she had been carrying. “How will you do it? …are those chains?” “They are indeed.” Demetria brandished the shackles and approached the Troyan maiden with a mischievous glint in her eye. “Surely our beast will take an interest in you…” Before Laodice had a chance to react, the chains were tightly wrapped around her arms, the strong huntress hammering them into the cliff with a fist-sized rock, their feet splashing in the “What is this? Unhand me right n- ohmmph!?” She tried to struggle free and protest, but only got a large gag shoved into her mouth, which her captor then bound in place with another cloth. “Dmmmphrh!”
The huntress simply placed a finger on the damsel’s gagged lips. “Be quiet. We only need to attract the creature, not the entire polis. The sea will not reach above your waist here either, so you risk no drowning while Eroketos’ tendrils reach for you”. “Mrph fmh mmh?” Laodice’s eyes went wide with worry. “Dmmmphrh, cmmbmph!” But Demetria simply smiled, and took position on top of the cliff, as something large stirred beneath the waves in the far distance. From there, she watched eagerly as the princess struggled against her chains, crying out into her gag as the thirsting tentacles of the monster approached them. Only when the first arm started coiling itself around the damsel’s leg, did Demetria reach for her bow, and carefully took aim…
The muses sing of a cunning huntress and a beautiful maiden, who together slayed the monster Eroketos, and lived to tell the tale. Demetria travelled back to her homelands, having left the beast’s corpse sunken bottom of the Aegean… And if one were to ask, so did she leave Laodice’s dignity.
