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2 | Detailed “Session 0” prompt Setting #2 – Daedalus’s Network of Bronze Talôs High-Mycenaean era, c. 1400 BCE. System-agnostic; you can slot this into 5E, Mythic D6, Fate, or any rules-lite game. ⸻ GM read-aloud opener (feel free to paraphrase) Salt fog rolls across the wharves of Knossos at dawn. Massive ox-hide ingots—fresh from the copper mines of Cyprus—shine dull green in the torchlight, awaiting transport through the palace’s “living labyrinth.” Suddenly the harbor bell rings off-cycle: a Bronze Talôs, one of Daedalus’s famed clockwork guardians, has torn free of its patrol loop. Its bronze feet spark on flagstones; its single ruby eye flickers erratic reds. Sailors scatter as the automaton lurches toward the pallet of ingots, stamping each bar with an unfamiliar spiral glyph before hurling it into the sea. The palace factor drags you—engineers, envoys, and adventurers—into a side hall: “If this sentinel is rogue, the entire chain of guardians may inherit the fault. Stop it, trace the corruption, and restore the labyrinth’s logic before tonight’s equinox ritual—or the queen will blame us all.” ⸻ What the PCs already know Lore fragment How PCs could use it E-Abaton, the Maintenance Labyrinth lies beneath Knossos. It houses winding corridors of gears, counterweights, and coded clay tablets that control Talôs patrol routes. Map skill or Int check to recall safe-service shafts vs. lethal reset vents. Every Talôs contains a gear-stack codex—bronze cogs etched with Linear-A glyphs that define friend/foe, patrol timing, and stamping authority for ingots. Smiths or linguists can decypher glyphs; thieves can swap cogs for a soft reset. The sentinels’ bronze bodies require tin-rich alloy: 8-10 % tin keeps their limbs from seizing. The palace’s usual tin source is Byblos, but the latest shipment came with Mycenaean seals. Supply-chain clue: forged seals may point to sabotage from the rival palace of Pylos. Daedalus’s last apprentice Ikarion tends the labyrinth but has been missing for three tides. Find him for insight—or discover he was bribed. ⸻ Immediate objectives 1. Neutralise (not destroy) the rogue Talôs at the harbor—intact to study its corrupted cog-stack. 2. Descend into E-Abaton to compare the master timing-tablet with the rogue cog’s glyphs. 3. Trace the false spiral glyph back to its metallurgist or scribe. Leads point seaward toward a Mycenaean trading galley anchored outside the official customs quay. ⸻ Key NPCs Name Role Quirk / agenda Chara of the Counting-Cords Palace factor in charge of bronze inventory. Chews on dyed knotted strings while calculating—looks guilty but is just terrified. Ikarion Missing labyrinth steward; Daedalus’s last true student. Carries a pocket sun-dial; believes in open-sourcing Talôs schematics—ripe for blackmail. Klymemnos of Pylos Mycenaean metallurgist “consultant.” Secretly introduced tin with micro-fracture flaws; wants Crete’s guard network to fail so Mycenae can dominate seaborne trade. Priestess Melia Voice of the Snake-Goddess; public face of the equinox rite. Will declare the PCs “chosen troubleshooters of the goddess” if they keep her cisterns flowing. ⸻ System stress in play • Feedback spiral: Talôs units replicate patrol updates when they “hand-shake” at dock beacons. One rogue cog can contaminate the whole fleet by sunset. • Resource timer: The equinox ceremony starts in 8 in-game hours; every rescue or research detour costs 1 h. • Environment hazard: Volcanic tremors (Thera island) occasionally shift the labyrinth’s counterweights—Dex/Reflex to dodge sudden wall-shifts. ⸻ GM prep seeds & expansions • Dungeons: Three-layer maintenance labyrinth with rotating gear-rooms (inspired by fractal synth modules—each room’s exit becomes the next room’s input/output). • Skill mini-game: Let players re-slot tarnished cogs into a test-bench Talôs torso; each correct placement reveals a segment of the saboteur’s shipping manifest.

3 | • Act II hook: If PCs trace sabotage to Pylos, offer a sea-voyage episode: dodge rogue Talôi reprogrammed as pirates, confront Klymemnos in his coastal foundry, or broker a tin-for-copper détente. • Mythic stakes: Rumor says the sentinels seal the “Storm-Jar” containing a captive wind-spirit. If the network crashes completely, the spirit escapes, bringing Typhon-scale gales—escalates from tech mystery to mythic disaster. Set the tone somewhere between clock-punk Bronze Age thriller and mythic systems-engineering heist—perfect for players who enjoy puzzles, logistics, and the occasional smiting from malfunctioning bronze giants.