Although historians would only later append 'the Younger' to the name of Prince Cyrus--to distinguish him from his father--he was worthy of that epithet already. He was barely twenty-two. He kept a short black beard, the best he could manage in his youth, and the Persian habit of painting his eyes with kohl. He sat a horse loosely and without effort. At close quarters one could see the scars, white and ridged where his coat opened at the neck and where his sleeve met his hand, which were rumored to have been earned in deadly contest with a bear. He was, from his birth, serious and thoughtful. Often, he sent wine or meat from his own table to men who pleased him. Men who displeased him left his court short a hand, a foot, or an eye.His seat was in Sardis, the old Lydian capital at the foot of Mount Tmolus. The timber and mud-brick houses of Sardis crowded around the narrow Pactolus, whose sands had once made Lydian kings rich. Above them the acropolis ascended a sheer ochre crag, so that the city seemed to be shaded by a fortress. Lydian craftsmen, Greek traders, Persian officials, and soldiers from half a dozen countries jostled in its markets. It was prosperous and ancient, but not peaceful by nature. Cyrus the Great had taken it from Croesus, and Greek rebels had burned it a century before. Its present tranquility was yet another anomaly of the age maintained by Persian spears.It was there, in Sardis, that Cyrus ordered his scattered Greek contingents to assemble. Two thousand men gathered by his guest-friend Proxenus of Boeotia, fifteen hundred hoplites, another five hundred light-armed men with javelins, slings, or bows. The Peloponnesian War had ended only three years before. Many among them faced the prospect of neglected farms, inherited debts, or cities which disdained their return, and so had not yet left the service. Their present task, so they were told, was to put down the hill tribes which were troubling the Prince's lands in Pisidia. It was to be a short and predictable campaign, no more than a season's march, with a few villages spoiled and plundered, some Pisidian barbarians butchered. A common enough kind of war, and to many, a last chance at redemption or glory or fortunes, before the inevitable retirement.
It was not until they passed Iconium, that they grew suspicious. Pisidia lay behind them to the southwest, among the broken ridges of Taurus, but Cyrus kept the columns moving east across the open Lycaonian plain. They proceeded easily on broad roads while the rough mountains they had supposedly come to subdue dwindled behind them. Even the most innocent or empty-headed had but to ask an Ionian in the ranks or a trader in the market to know that he had been decieved, to know that Cyrus had not abandoned his schemes--the same schemes for which Tissaphernes had denounced him at Artaxerxes's coronation in Pasargadae, accusing Cyrus of hiding in the sanctuary to murder the new King while he changed into the robe of Cyrus the Great, a treason for which he would have been executed, except that his mother, Parysatis, had thrown her arms around him, wound her long hair about his body, and wept until the King relented. Humiliation had done nothing to temper his ambitions and the men knew Cyrus marched them towards Artaxerxes, the Great King, and when they reached Tarsus, they refused to go any further. They hurled insults and protestations and in some cases even stones, upon Cyrus for having decieved them. Cyrus and his generals answered, sheepishly, that they were only going after Abrocomas, an officer of the king, who was encamped a mere twelve marches away. It was not that they had decieved the men but that their priorities had changed. Cyrus cajoled and taunted and finally resorted to that penultimate argument of kings (which often precedes the last) and resolved the matter at once: he raised the monthly pay from one gold daric to one and a half.But at Thapsacus there could be no more doubt. Flat-roofed mud-brick storehouses crowded the western bank of the Euphrates. Along the landing: only the black ribs of the ferries Abrocomas had burned. Across the river: the long march through Arabia and the desert, down the Euphrates toward Babylon.The soldiers cursed their generals, spat upon the name of Cyrus and upon the whole duplicitous race of Persians. Now Cyrus made no further to attempt to hide his intentions, but promised five silver minae a head when they stood beneath the brazen gates of Babylon, and full pay until he returned them safely to Ionia. This time he did not stir their passions, but spoke plainly of his brother's cowardice, negligence, heedlessness, incompetence--and united, in the men's mind, all these weaknesses with his brother's immense wealth. A fool and his fortune are soon parted, so they said. And thus they pressed on to Babylonia. The plain lay flatter than the sea, scored by irrigation ditches and canals. Reeds and date palms rose whereever water ran; everywhere else the earth baked to hardness beneath their sandals. The scouts reported Artaxerxes somewhere ahead with the royal host. Captured deserters (treated as honored guests by Cyrus, to the disgust of some) claimed his men were beyond counting.
Greed and fear are as oil and water in a man's blood, and Cyrus, so close to his vaulted ambitions, resorted once more to flattery and covenants. He claimed for himself but one fear: that victory would leave him with more land to give away then with friends worthy to recieve them. And to the common soldier he offered, if not friendship, then the consolation of a gold crown per head. Thus did oil overmaster water.The Great King, however, was not as eager for battle. He had his men dig a trench wide enough to lay five grown men head to heel across it, and deep enough for three men to stand on one another's shoulders. It left only a narrow passage beside the Euphrates. They marched through, alert to the sudden hail of arrows or the earthly thunder of horses or chariots. But there was nothing, only tracks leading away. Still they marched. Cyrus rode ahead in a wagon behind the six hundred Persian horsemen of his guard, men in corselets and helmets whose horses were also armored over brow and chest. The remainder of the army had fallen out of formation. Shields, spears, and armor that should have been close at hand, had been loaded into ox-drawn carts or lashed upon the backs of asses. The men grumbled about food and shade and the swarms of gnats rising from the ditches, and boasted that the so-called Great King had a deer's heart within his royal breast. You count yourself among them, of course.
Choose background:>ARCADIAN HOPLITE: You hail from a farm outside Tegea, where barley fields fill a high plain ringed by the dark mountains of Arcadia. Arcadia is no single kingdom but a knot of rival towns. The upland farms are small, and many men earn more campaigning abroad than tilling their own soil. Your first campaign was during the final winter of the Peloponnesian War. You helped close the roads into Athens while Lysander's fleet sealed Piraeus until the city starved. Three years later you took service under Proxenus. You carry the titular round hoplon, which covers you from chin to knee. You carry the bronze spear and the short sword and wear a linen corselet, and a helmet and greaves of hammered bronze. This panoply represents not only your trade but your rank and fortune as well. If your shield is ever lost, you will bear the epithet of coward till your death. (Skills: Melee +20, Foraging +10, Navigation +10, Scouting +5, Rhetoric +5; Standing: Proven +8)>IONIAN PELTAST: You hail from Ephesus, where the Cayster passes through reed marshes into a harbor crowded with merchant hulls, and the marble columns of Artemis rise above the tiled roofs. Persian clerks people the citadel while Greek dockhands, Lydian traders, and hired soldiers pack the streets below. During the last years of the Peloponnesian War, you served in one of Cyrus's garrisons. When Proxenus called for men, you answered. You carry a crescent-shaped pelte, javelins, and a short sword. The extent of your armor consists merely of the clothes on your back, but what you lack in protection you more than make up for in mobility and speed. There is no dishonor in retreat for the skirmisher, their task is to harrass and scout the enemy, not to engage or pin them down. To press forward unarmored--and often alone--into the battlefield requires its own sort of courage even if it is not always as valued as that required for close battle. (Skills: Marksmanship +20, Scouting +15, Melee +10, Navigation +10, Foraging +10, Rhetoric +5, Languages +5; Standing: Known 5) >RHODIAN ATTENDANT: You hail from a family of shepherds in the sun-whitened limestone hills above Lindos, where sheep and goats pick through thyme scrub among terraces of olives and vines. The immense temple of Athena overlooks on the sheer acropolis above Lindos's harbor; at the island's northern point, masons are still raising the new city of Rhodes, founded only seven years ago. Here, admist the waririors of Proxenus, you carry baggage, run messages, and scrounge for supplies, moving between the captains' tents and the mess fires, invisible to all except to employ you to their errands. Your only weapons are a knife and a shepherd's sling, with which you hunt pigeons, partridges, hares, and the occasional bustard to supply the officer's table or the common mess pot. (Skills: Marksmanship +20, Foraging +15, Languages +15, Navigation +10, Scouting +10, Melee +5, Rhetoric +5; Standing: Unproven +0)
QM Note: Welcome to Anabasis Quest. The system we will be using a simple 2d100 percentile based one. The first d100 is your skill die and is modified by the relevant skill. The second d100 is the support die which is modified by pretty much everything else. More mechanics will be explained/revealed as we go.
>>6455445>ARCADIAN HOPLITESing, O museā¦
>>6455445>ARCADIAN HOPLITE: You hail from a farm outside Tegea, where barley fields fill a high plain ringed by the dark mountains of Arcadia. Arcadia is no single kingdom but a knot of rival towns. The upland farms are small, and many men earn more campaigning abroad than tilling their own soil. Your first campaign was during the final winter of the Peloponnesian War. You helped close the roads into Athens while Lysander's fleet sealed Piraeus until the city starved. Three years later you took service under Proxenus. You carry the titular round hoplon, which covers you from chin to knee. You carry the bronze spear and the short sword and wear a linen corselet, and a helmet and greaves of hammered bronze. This panoply represents not only your trade but your rank and fortune as well. If your shield is ever lost, you will bear the epithet of coward till your death. (Skills: Melee +20, Foraging +10, Navigation +10, Scouting +5, Rhetoric +5; Standing: Proven +8)
>>6455445>RHODIAN ATTENDANT: You hail from a family of shepherds in the sun-whitened limestone hills above Lindos, where sheep and goats pick through thyme scrub among terraces of olives and vines. The immense temple of Athena overlooks on the sheer acropolis above Lindos's harbor; at the island's northern point, masons are still raising the new city of Rhodes, founded only seven years ago. Here, admist the waririors of Proxenus, you carry baggage, run messages, and scrounge for supplies, moving between the captains' tents and the mess fires, invisible to all except to employ you to their errands. Your only weapons are a knife and a shepherd's sling, with which you hunt pigeons, partridges, hares, and the occasional bustard to supply the officer's table or the common mess pot. (Skills: Marksmanship +20, Foraging +15, Languages +15, Navigation +10, Scouting +10, Melee +5, Rhetoric +5; Standing: Unproven +0)
>>6455445>>IONIAN PELTAST: You hail from Ephesus, where the Cayster passes through reed marshes into a harbor crowded with merchant hulls, and the marble columns of Artemis rise above the tiled roofs. Persian clerks people the citadel while Greek dockhands, Lydian traders, and hired soldiers pack the streets below. During the last years of the Peloponnesian War, you served in one of Cyrus's garrisons. When Proxenus called for men, you answered. You carry a crescent-shaped pelte, javelins, and a short sword. The extent of your armor consists merely of the clothes on your back, but what you lack in protection you more than make up for in mobility and speed. There is no dishonor in retreat for the skirmisher, their task is to harrass and scout the enemy, not to engage or pin them down. To press forward unarmored--and often alone--into the battlefield requires its own sort of courage even if it is not always as valued as that required for close battle. (Skills: Marksmanship +20, Scouting +15, Melee +10, Navigation +10, Foraging +10, Rhetoric +5, Languages +5; Standing: Known 5)
>>6455445>IONIAN PELTAST
>>6455445>ARCADIAN HOPLITE
>>6455445>>RHODIAN ATTENDANT: You hail from a family of shepherds in the sun-whitened limestone hills above Lindos, where sheep and goats pick through thyme scrub among terraces of olives and vines. The immense temple of Athena overlooks on the sheer acropolis above Lindos's harbor; at the island's northern point, masons are still raising the new city of Rhodes, founded only seven years ago. Here, admist the waririors of Proxenus, you carry baggage, run messages, and scrounge for supplies, moving between the captains' tents and the mess fires, invisible to all except to employ you to their errands. Your only weapons are a knife and a shepherd's sling, with which you hunt pigeons, partridges, hares, and the occasional bustard to supply the officer's table or the common mess pot. (Skills: Marksmanship +20, Foraging +15, Languages +15, Navigation +10, Scouting +10, Melee +5, Rhetoric +5; Standing: Unproven +0)I find this the more potentially interesting narrative choice. If it's a tie between the scout and hoplite:>ARCADIAN HOPLITE: You hail from a farm outside Tegea, where barley fields fill a high plain ringed by the dark mountains of Arcadia. Arcadia is no single kingdom but a knot of rival towns. The upland farms are small, and many men earn more campaigning abroad than tilling their own soil. Your first campaign was during the final winter of the Peloponnesian War. You helped close the roads into Athens while Lysander's fleet sealed Piraeus until the city starved. Three years later you took service under Proxenus. You carry the titular round hoplon, which covers you from chin to knee. You carry the bronze spear and the short sword and wear a linen corselet, and a helmet and greaves of hammered bronze. This panoply represents not only your trade but your rank and fortune as well. If your shield is ever lost, you will bear the epithet of coward till your death. (Skills: Melee +20, Foraging +10, Navigation +10, Scouting +5, Rhetoric +5; Standing: Proven +8)
>>6455445>RHODIAN ATTENDANT
Vote closed. Will try to update later tonight.
>>6455441>ARCADIAN HOPLITE: You hail from a farm outside Tegea, where barley fields fill a high plain ringed by the dark mountains of Arcadia. Arcadia is no single kingdom but a knot of rival towns. The upland farms are small, and many men earn more campaigning abroad than tilling their own soil. Your first campaign was during the final winter of the Peloponnesian War. You helped close the roads into Athens while Lysander's fleet sealed Piraeus until the city starved. Three years later you took service under Proxenus. You carry the titular round hoplon, which covers you from chin to knee. You carry the bronze spear and the short sword and wear a linen corselet, and a helmet and greaves of hammered bronze. This panoply represents not only your trade but your rank and fortune as well. If your shield is ever lost, you will bear the epithet of coward till your death. (Skills: Melee +20, Foraging +10, Navigation +10, Scouting +5, Rhetoric +5; Standing: Proven +8)This is a very cool quest and I love the OP art
Missed the vote but will be reading, we need more Classical quests.
OK I have the update written but need to do some heavy editing before I can post. It's late now so I'll do this tomorrow.
>>6455811That's fine, sounds like a neat quest, thank you for running
In the ninth spring of the Peloponnesian War, Athens, wishing for respite to contain the revolts led by the Spartan general Brasidas, asked for a brief armistice. The Spartans agreed in the hope that negotiations would secure the return of the Spartan citizens captured at Sphacteria. The war was not ended. The Peace of Nicias, and the release of those captives, would not come until two years later, and the war itself would not conclude for another nineteen years. But your mother, an Elean from the country near Olympia, had always taken your birth, which supposedly happened on the very day the herald had arrived in Tegea to announce the truce, as a good omen. She told this to no one, of course, for in those days your grandfather still had the full strength of body and mind and mouth (which he has since lost) and because his eldest son, your uncle, had been killed earlier that winter during Brasidas's first assault on the Athenian fort at Lecythus, which the defenders repelled. Despite all this, you have heard pass from your mother's mouth to your father's ear, more than once, that you were a blessing of Ekecheiria, Truce Herself.Your childhood did nothing to disenchant her of that notion. As a boy, you were the very picture of contentment and, if you did not possess the loud, winking cheerfulness of your father, your silence lacked also your grandfather's particular species of melancholy. This, however, did not stop him from rearing you in the manner of his forefathers, and, almost as soon as you could walk, you were deemed worthy, indeed, destined, to inherit his hoplon--which none of his sons, and certainly never your father, ever had the honor of flaunting--despite all the seemingly contrary signs surrounding your birth.Your time and your heart divided between the hoplomachic mysteries and the common labors of the farm: herding the sheep in the oak woods, dozing upon a high place with one eye cast upon the grazing valley, following your father's ox-drawn plow with a mattock, and when harvest came, marveling with him at the pale-gold ears bowing under their grain, or else grieving with him when the frost arrived too late or the rains departed too early--divided amongst these pursuits and your grandfather's tutelage, your parents elected to produce further aid in the form of two more children, your younger brother and sister. Neither seemed to inherit your serene disposition however, taking instead after your father, and thus filling the house with new, endless noise.The house stood on a stone footing, close enough to the fields that often the chaff would blow beneath the door during the threshing. In winter, rainwater streamed off the tiled roof into wide-mouthed pithoi set beneath the eaves. You and your family slept in two rooms beside the byre, where the two plow oxen ruminated at night.
>>6456068You were seventeen when Tegea summoned men once more to serve in the campaign against Athens ("the last" as they had said many times before, though this time it would prove true). Your father, without the counsel of anyone, not even your mother, with whom he had always been of one mind, borrowed silver from the wealthiest landowner in the city against the lower barley field and the next year's harvest, and with this considerable debt, bought a long ash spear, a short sword, a linen corselet, and a helmet and greaves of finest hammered bronze. Even now the memory of your mother rubbing oil into the leather handgrip of your shield, careful to wipe her tears before they could fall and mix with it, summons an unanswerable anguish. You recall your brother begging to hold the spear and dropping it instantly from the weight, while your sister chased this humiliation with merciless teasing. Your grandfather seemed to say all with his eyes, confined as he was upon his bed and within his body. Your father meanwhile was nowhere to be found, which you only later understood was because he wished to shed in secret his unmanly (so your grandfather would have said, if he still possessed the power of speech) tears. He returned at the very last to guide your arm through the porpax and to embrace you--but so briefly and roughly it was as though he did not trust himself to let go. Your mother had no such qualms and wept openly upon your shoulder until she had to be torn away by your father, and only by a stern remonstrance--which your father had never, in all the years you've known him, resorted to with anyone--had she uttered the cold refrain attributed to Spartan mothers and wives (of which she was neither): either this, or upon this.King Pausanias brought the Peloponnesians through the Isthmus and camped outside Athens among the olive trees of the Academy. King Agis came down from Decelea. Lysander's ships sealed Piraeus while the land army closed the roads. Within their walls the Athenians were untouchable, and no one wished to pay the blood-price for a futile assault. Men joked of wooden horses but hunger proved the more effective and cheaper weapon.Most of the campaign was guard duty. You stood beside roads churned to mud by winter rain, searched carts, chopped wood, and at night watched smoke rise beyond the long walls. Sometimes Athenian horsemen or foot soldiers tested the approach, desperate, enraged by the sight of the distended bellies of their starving children and at their own uselessness. It was in one such fight that you earned the epithet you bear to this day.
>>6456075On a wet morning in the Academy, the horsemen struck your post before the levy could rally to the spot. The Tegean beside you took a spear at once through the thigh. The rest stepped back as another horse bore down upon them and, at the same moment, you noticed that the dew had been knocked from a narrow trail through the olive trees. Athenian foot soldiers were moving along it toward the sleeping camp.>STRONG-SHOULDERED: You lifted the wounded Tegean across your shoulders and carried him, his shield, and your own behind the closing line, then returned to your place before the next charge. (Trait: Strong-Shouldered +20 when lifting, carrying, bracing, or forcing)>KEEN-EYED: You warned that the horsemen were a diversion and pointed out the foot soldiers on the olive trail before they reached the sleeping camp. (Trait: Keen-Eyed +20 when detecting something distant, concealed, or easily overlooked)>STEADY-HEARTED: You stepped into the gap and held your spear level until the oncoming horse swerved, giving the rest of the file time to close beside you. (Trait: Steady-Hearted +20 when resisting fear, panic, or intimidation)
>>6456076>>STEADY-HEARTED: You stepped into the gap and held your spear level until the oncoming horse swerved, giving the rest of the file time to close beside you. (Trait: Steady-Hearted +20 when resisting fear, panic, or intimidation)
>>6456076>KEEN-EYEDIt's what you don't see that kills you
>>6456076>STRONG-SHOULDERED: You lifted the wounded Tegean across your shoulders and carried him, his shield, and your own behind the closing line, then returned to your place before the next charge. (Trait: Strong-Shouldered +20 when lifting, carrying, bracing, or forcing)Strength is always useful. Even if it isn't THE most useful thing we could've done in this situation.
>>6456076>KEEN-EYED: You warned that the horsemen were a diversion and pointed out the foot soldiers on the olive trail before they reached the sleeping camp. (Trait: Keen-Eyed +20 when detecting something distant, concealed, or easily overlooked)Do you by any chance know what this name would be in greek? Cause that would be cool to know
>>6456082If you mean the epithet of keen-eyed, it'd probably be eĆŗskopos (Īµį½ĻĪŗĪæĻĪæĻ) which Homer often uses to describe Hermes (the keen-eyed slayer of Argos). Also steady-hearted should have been lion-hearted (ĪøĻ Ī¼ĪæĪ»ĪĪæĪ½ĻĪ± thÅ«mo-lĆ©onta) as used to describe Achilles. Will correct if it is chosen.
>>6456076>KEEN-EYED
>>6456076>KEEN-EYED: You warned that the horsemen were a diversion and pointed out the foot soldiers on the olive trail before they reached the sleeping camp. (Trait: Keen-Eyed +20 when detecting something distant, concealed, or easily overlooked)We can always get stronger trough lifting heavy rocks, so it's either bravery or perception, but now I believe we can save more lives if we alert the camp of the incoming attack.This is also the option that earns us the most good-boy-points from our officers.
>>6456076>>KEEN-EYED: You warned that the horsemen were a diversion and pointed out the foot soldiers on the olive trail before they reached the sleeping camp. (Trait: Keen-Eyed +20 when detecting something distant, concealed, or easily overlooked)
>>6456076>KEEN-EYEDThe others are pretty situational, while this can be used pretty much for everything (detecting danger and traps, cold reading people for intentions and lies, finding weak points in enemy formations, etc...)
>>6456068> hoplomachic mysteriesIām uneducated. What does this mean? Being a good hoplite?
>>6456134I think this means all the religious rites and folklore connected to being a hoplite. For example, taking part in processions and sacraficial rituals. But these are only guesses, OP probably knows more.
>>6456134>>6456139It's just a bit of a hyperbole/rhetoric. I.e your grandfather's martial instruction was imparted with such ritual and gravity it's as if you were being initiated into a mystery cult.
>>6456093Neat!
>>6456076>KEEN-EYED: You warned that the horsemen were a diversion and pointed out the foot soldiers on the olive trail before they reached the sleeping camp. (Trait: Keen-Eyed +20 when detecting something distant, concealed, or easily overlooked)
>>6456076>STEADY-HEARTED: You stepped into the gap and held your spear level until the oncoming horse swerved, giving the rest of the file time to close beside you. (Trait: Steady-Hearted +20 when resisting fear, panic, or intimidation)Handy in a shieldwall and extended combat. Leave the ogling to the scouts. It's there job.
Vote closed. Update coming shortly.
You understood instantly that the horsemen were merely a diversion, and raising your spear high above you, you shouted for attention and pointed the spear towards the Athenian infantry creeping forward among the olive trunks. Euphron, your portly, wide-browed file leader, sent a man sprinting toward the camp, then ordered the rest of you to close shields and brace against the oncoming horsemen. The runner flew among the tents shouting men to arms. Sleepers stumbled outside while dragging on helmets, some leaving their armor aside while they thrust their arms through shield bands and snatched up spears. Seeing the men they intended to slaughter now awake and arming themselves, the Athenians wavered, then retreated hastily back through the path they had come. At midday, Euphron broke a barley cake and passed to you the larger half--a great honor, if only because he parted with food so dearly. He raised a cup of watered wine and the men raised their eyes. "Because he saw them before they reached the tents, I call him Keen-Eyed." By next watch, it had all but become your name.That spring Athens sent envoys to Sparta to learn the terms of their peace. Sparta's five ephors summoned an assembly of the allies. Corinth had fought Athens over Corcyra and Potidaea. Thebes had fought Athens for influence in Boeotia, and neither of the delegates from each city wanted its defeated rival to recover. Men around the campfires spoke of Erianthus the Theban who demanded that Athens be leveled and Attica left to sheep. The Spartans, however, refused not only to raze the city but also to enslave its people. Athens had fought beside them at Salamis and Plataea, they said, while with whom had the Thebans allied themselves? The Spartans would not destroy a city which had served Greece in its greatest danger, and certainly never for the pleasure of those who had served its enemies."Spartan honor," you had said, when this news reached your ears, and not without a little pride, for your grandfather had always claimed descent from one of their race, even if, as you had later learned, that ancestor was an exile."Yes, it is true that Athens fought beside them," replied Euphron. "But also true that Athens must fight for them now, and that Thebes and Cornith grows no stronger."The terms required Athens to surrender all but twelve triremes, recall its exiles, follow Sparta by land and sea, and pull down the Long Walls linking Athens to Piraeus together with Piraeus's fortifications.Lysander, commander of the Spartan fleet, led his triremes into the harbor, took possession of the surrendered ships, and ordered them burned. You still remember seeing the columns of smoke rising from the coast, as your file climbed one of the Long Walls. How strange it felt to wield again the mattock, but now to drive its iron blade into the sun-dried brickwork, instead of the soil, and kick the broken blocks down onto the limestone footing below.
>>6456404Outside the city, pipe players from Athens joined the women already in camp. The high notes of their double pipes rose to the walls even as they came down, and men about you, wearing wreaths cut from olive sprigs, shouted that Greece was free. You could not help but shout with them, for it made the work lighter, but when one tune ended, your spied a player, one of those summoned from the city, lower her pipes to draw breath, and saw that the famine had left her cheeks sunken and hollow. She looked no older than your sister. And when the men's voices rose to shout again, yours did not join them.Athens had surrendered under Spartan terms, so no general sack followed. Your company received no allotment of captives or silver. When King Agis later withdrew the land force from Decelea and dismissed the allied contingents, most of the Tegeans started home with whatever coins they had not lost at dice or slipped to wine sellers and prostitutes around the camp.You could have followed them. You knew with absolute certainty that no one, not even your grandfather, would have begrudged you that return. Yet, to crest the last hill, to clap eyes on your father's low barley field, to smell the garlic in the lentils simmering in your mother's cookpot, and then to embrace your father once more, to laugh at your mother's happy weeping, your siblings dancing about you and taking your hands, and yet, in the end, to place a few obols, mere ration money, in your father's hand later that night, and to have him thank you for it--that was unendurable.And so, at Euphron's invitation, you sailed north with Clearchus the Spartan. He had persuaded Sparta's ephors to authorize an expedition against the Thracians attacking Greek settlements around the Chersonese and Perinthus. When they gave the order to recall him, he refused and sailed for the Hellespont anyway. You remember asking Euphron why Sparta had changed their minds. It was the only time you had seen Euphon's pleasant, cheerful face darken. Clearchus had once governed Byzantium and kept its grain for the Spartan garrison while its women and children starved; Euphron thought the ephors might have remembered that.The Spartan authorities condemned Clearchus to death in absentia for disobeying the recall. Now an exile, he went to Cyrus. The prince gave him ten thousand darics, and Clearchus used it to hire more men. Cyrus was preparing his revolt even then, and the war against the Thracians gave Clearchus a public reason to maintain an army until Cyrus summoned it.In the campaigns that followed, you fought Thracian bands driving Greek settlers from their farms in the Chersonese. You were proud of the defense of men like yourself and your father. When Clearchus defeated them, the cities he protected sent money to support his troops, who in turn sold what they captured. You spent your meager shares on food and new sandals. When your spear shaft split, its replacement consumed whatever else remained.
>>6456408Clearchus was one of those commanders men wanted when the enemy was near and deserted when danger had passed. Without a battle before them, his heavy punishments became harder to endure. Once the Thracians had been driven from the Greek farms, Euphron left his service, and you followed him. Word reached the Chersonese that Proxenus of Boeotia was gathering hoplites for Cyrus's campaign against the Pisidians. The offer was one gold daric for every month under arms, with a share of whatever the army could win from the Pisidians who raided the Prince's lands. Men expected to divide captured flocks. Anything of bronze could be sold, as could prisoners who failed to raise a ransom. You dreamt nightly how you would spend those riches. First clear the debts with your father's creditor. Then buy the field and the all the fields surrounding it outright, and servants and slaves to man them. You could furnish your sister's marriage portion. Your brother would have his own plot to do with as he wished. And as for your grandfather, you wanted Hieronymous and Proxenus to speak your epithet before all the assembled soldiers, so that the men returning to Tegea would carry your name well before your arrival, and do honor to it.In pursuit of these lofty visions, you marched into Babylonia.On that morning near Cunaxa, the endless peace had grown almost tiresome. Shortly before full-market time, in midmorning, wht the day's stopping place only a short distance ahead, the men drifted out of their ranks and began untying tent rolls and cooking gear from the baggage wagons, expecting the order to halt. Euphron stepped beside a dry irrigation cut and lit a small fire. He arranged three pieces of broken mud brick around it, set his bronze pot across them, and stirred millet meal into water. Then he added the last of his chopped dates, as dear to him as his own scattered misbegots.You laid your shield against the bank and wondered aloud, "Cyrus will pay us what he promised after he wins, won't he?"Euphron scraped meal from the side of the pot. He was forty-five now, leaner through the waist than he had been at Athens, his beard longer and whiter, but still holding doggedly to his old routines. He always prepared hot food whenever the soldiers halted long enough. The men in his file called him Uncle. "I don't know," he said, spooning up a bit of the broth to his fat, shiny lips."I knew though you knew everything?""And what fool put that thought in your pretty head?""As I recall, it was you."
>>6456410"Well, then trust me when I tell you that I don't know." He tasted again the porridge from the stirring spoon and added a pinch of salt. "It can't be known. Just consider: he owed us more than three months' pay in Phrygia. But when finally he scrounged up the silver, he paid four months together. Then at Tarsus he raised the wage again. Perhaps he'll find the money again too. But then, perhaps not. Cyrus is a fisherman. Every time we turn away, he dangles fresh bait. Now we have swallowed his hook to the gut. Just consider: what will he do with us when he gets his brother's throne?""He will still have his brother's friends to contend with," Onasimos said, Onas, as he was known by all. He knelt beside his medicine bag, wrapping dried herbs he must have collected on the road, in scraps of linen. "The new king cannot dispose of the soldiers who put him on the throne so easily in their midst. Paying us will cost less than sending us away angry or having as enemies."Simos looked up from tightening the straps of one of his greaves. Even at seventeen, he had mastered the formality his tutors had taught him, that curious blend of arrogance and wheedling servility that seemed so out of place in the mess. The men called him Lordling, not always unkindly--for they liked his earnestness--but never to his face. "The Prince shall reward Proxenus, who shall leave the division to Hieronymous. Our concern must be whether Hieronymous remembers us when the prizes are partitioned.""Now there's some comfort for you," Euphron muttered. "If you can't trust a Persian, trust a Greek. Not as if we're known for trickery or anything. Hand me that bowl."Simos passed it to him. Euphron filled the bowl and passed it back, taking another from your hands. Then he looked around the fire. "Where is Hawk?""Theotimos said he found tracks beside the canal," you reply. "He thought he might put up a hare.""May Apollo give him the hare and Hera give him a white-armed wife. The dried meat is all gone, and I am tired of millet. If Hawk brings a hare before this pot is empty, he shall have the larger half." He looked around at the men as if daring them to challenge him, but, of course, all were only too pleased to defer to his authority. Not to mention, no one would dare get on Theotimos's bad side.You saw Theotimos beyond the baggage wagons a short time later. He was running toward you with one arm raised. Euphron stood at once and reached for his knife."He has caught meat," he said. But Theotimos's hand was empty. He was pointing men toward the wagons as he ran.He reached the irrigation cut and bent forward. Dust covered his shins, and sweat had soaked the neck of his tunic. After two breaths, he spoke. "Arm yourselves now! The King is coming. The whole army is formed for battle. To arms! To arms!"
A moment later, Pategyas himself galloped along the road and shouted the same warning in Greek and Persian. Men dragged their shields out from the carts, scrambling. They shouted for missing file-mates. Officers shouted orders, calling every man to his assigned place. No one could see the King's army, which made the fear the greater: every soldier expected the first arrows to fall any minute, before their shields were raised in formation. Euphron reluctantly dumped the uncooked porridge over the fire and took up his shield. Men overturned packs around the wagon in a panic, and you lost sight of your own armor and spear. Proxenus's line was forming to the right, beside Clearchus and the Euphrates, and men already blocked the quickest way to it.What do you do?>FORM: Recover your own arms, abandon the mess's loose property, and reach your assigned place beside Euphron as quickly as possible. (Navigation, DC 50; time: short; favors immediate readiness and Standing at the risk of food, baggage, and stragglers)>RALLY: Help Euphron collect the rest of his scattered file, recover the equipment they need, and bring them together to Proxenus's line. (Rhetoric, DC 60; time: long; favors Relations and cohesion at the risk of late deployment)>PROVISION: Help Onas secure the medicine bag, fill the water skins, and take enough food for the mess before joining the line. (Foraging, DC 60; time: normal; favors supplies and endurance at the risk of Standing and a poor place in the formation)>OBSERVE: Climb the nearest loaded wagon, use your keen sight to locate the approaching army, and report its direction before you arm. (Scouting, DC 60; Keen-Eyed +20 applies; time: normal; favors warning and preparation but risks being caught unarmored and separated)>WRITE IN.
>>6456416>RALLYIf somebody convinces me I might change it to Observe to use our ability, but I am not sure how would this help us? We know the enemy is coming and our boss's scouts probably know a lot more already
>>6456416>OBSERVE>>6456432>boss's scouts probably know a lot more alreadyThe enemy is already bearing down on us and I don't think the scouts will be here in time to tell Fat Man, our boss, what's going on. Though, honestly my first instinct is to have us hauling ass to the armor because of classical quest trauma I've sustained.
>>6456416>>OBSERVE: Climb the nearest loaded wagon, use your keen sight to locate the approaching army, and report its direction before you arm. (Scouting, DC 60; Keen-Eyed +20 applies; time: normal; favors warning and preparation but risks being caught unarmored and separated)Intel before the manoeuvring and clash is really important so you can do those two things as favourable to your side as possible.
>>6456416>RALLY: Help Euphron collect the rest of his scattered file, recover the equipment they need, and bring them together to Proxenus's line. (Rhetoric, DC 60; time: long; favors Relations and cohesion at the risk of late deployment)
>>6456438>>6456463Okay, iam changing it to Observe. We are the unofficial scout of the battalion anyway
>>6456416>OBSERVE: Climb the nearest loaded wagon, use your keen sight to locate the approaching army, and report its direction before you arm. (Scouting, DC 60; Keen-Eyed +20 applies; time: normal; favors warning and preparation but risks being caught unarmored and separated)
Using tripcode as my ID might be different.Vote closed. Update later tonight, but in the meantime, let's do a name vote for our fledging protagonist.What did your parents name you?>IPHITOS (IĻĪ¹ĻĪæĻ), meaning Mighty>ECHEMOS (EĻĪµĪ¼ĪæĻ), meaning He who holds fast>LYSIMACHOS (ĪĻ ĻĪÆĪ¼Ī±ĻĪæĻ), meaning Battle-ender>WRITE IN
>>6456609> LYSIMACHOS (ĪĻ ĻĪÆĪ¼Ī±ĻĪæĻ), meaning Battle-ender
>>6456609>LYSIMACHOS (ĪĻ ĻĪÆĪ¼Ī±ĻĪæĻ), meaning Battle-ender
>>6456609>ECHEMOS (EĻĪµĪ¼ĪæĻ), meaning He who holds fast
>>6456609>LYSIMACHOS
>>6456609>IPHITOS (IĻĪ¹ĻĪæĻ), meaning Mighty
>>6456609>LYSIMACHOS (ĪĻ ĻĪÆĪ¼Ī±ĻĪæĻ), meaning Battle-enderGiven our mother's premonition about us, this makes sense in two ways.
Now for the first roll of the quest!Please roll d100. The first two valid rolls will be used.Reminder:The first die is the skill die: add +5 from Scouting and compare the total with DC 60. The second die is the support die: add +20 from Keen-Eyed and compare that total with DC 60. Scoring equal to or more than the DC is one success. A natural 1 on the skill die always fails.Two successes achieve the intended result. One achieves it with a cost or complication. No successes produce a setback but also immediately improves the skill by +1.
Rolled 10 (1d100)>>6456797
Rolled 75 (1d100)>>6456797Nat 100
Looks like a success with complication. Will need to push the update to tomorrow as I need to be up early in the morning.
Bracing one foot on the wagon wheel, you grab hold of the rope binding the tent bundles and start to hoist yourself up. Someone shouts nearby and the ox, startled by the sound, jerks in the yoke. The wagon lurches. Your foot slips from the wheel and your knee hits the wooden underside, hard. You clutch the rope with both hands, kicking until your toe finds the wheel again, then pull yourself swiftly onto the piled bundles, futilely cursing the oblivious ox.A few weeks earlier, Theotimos had shared with the mess a first hand account of a story which had been circulating through the camp. Earlier that day, the wagons had gotten stuck in such a narrow stretch of mud that the whole column had been arrested. Cyrus sent some of the soldiers ahead to free the wagons, but when they delayed, he did not hesitate to order his own nobles to aid them. Knowing well how their Prince rewarded the least dissent, they at once threw off their purple cloaks, dismounted their horses, and waded doggedly into the muck. Theotimos had rendered this account with the utmost indifference, as though it were most natural, no more then men allied against a common obstacle. Euphron had roared with laughter until he could not breathe. The absurd image of those refined men, grunting and sweating against the carts amidst lowing oxen, spoiling with common sludge their fine Persian tunics and trousers and gold bracelets and gold necklaces, will bring a smile to his lips even now. Simos, on the other hand, immediately went red and snapped that they were nobles! And how could Cyrus have done such a thing? It was unsubstantiated gossip that should not have been repeated (never mind that Theotimos had seen it with his own eyes). He turned to Onas, expecting reinforcements, but Onas had merely shrugged and answered that Cyrus did right not to spare his own, it was a kingly gesture. This sprung the ordinarily restrained young Simos to his feet and sent him pacing and muttering darkly to himself. From your vantage on the cart, you gain now a clear view of the field. Proxenus's men are still moving into their places on the line. Clearchus's division is moving closer to the Euphrates. Cyrus seems to have left his chariot, for you do not see him or his Persian guard about it. They appear a little further off, the horsemen still buckling armor onto themselves and their mounts.But no royal army to speak of. No broad dust rising beyond the road foretelling their approach, no sunlight glinting on spearheads. Pategyas, if he was speaking the truth, must have reached the Greeks well ahead of the Great King.You cup both hands around your mouth. "No enemy in sight! Proxenus has time to form! Take time to arm yourselves!"
>>6457017The men nearest the wagon hear you and obey. One of Proxenus's officers runs up to accost you of the matter and you repeat what you see, and he sends runners along the rear of the forming line to relay the message, though many seem to quickly disappear among the horde. Some men who had started forward without their helmets or swords stop now to fasten them. Others pull corselets over their tunics rather than leave their armor unused beside the baggage.Your own gear had been kicked beneath the wagon by the men dashing to position. You must lie on the dirt and pull out your linothorax and your ash spear, but your hoplon you never leave unattended and it is soon fastened onto your arm. In the midst of these labors, Simos arrives, apparently sent from Euphon."He's at the front and told me to get you into any open place I could find," he explains.As if to corroborate him, a passing file leader you do not know strikes the rim of your hoplon with his knuckles, and gestures to an open gap behind him. Euphron stands--you know not where--certainly further ahead, with men quickly filling the gaps between.What do you do?>REJOIN: Take Simos through the forming files and force a path back to Euphron. It will take time to find him among the men already closing ranks, yet it is better to fight beside a comrade than a stranger, even if the two of you are embarrassed by a late arrival.>HOLD: Take position in the gap the other file leader offered you and keep Simos at your side. Better to be armed and in place when the King comes, whoever be at your side.>RELAY: Relay your report along the rear of Proxenus's line while the files are still forming, helping stragglers to arm and form. Men need to know they still have time to do so, but this will undoubtedly carry you farther from Euphron and leave others to claim the open places.>WRITE IN.
>>6457023>HOLD: Take position in the gap the other file leader offered you and keep Simos at your side. Better to be armed and in place when the King comes, whoever be at your side.Can't pay dad's debts if we're dead.
>>6457023>HOLD: Take position in the gap the other file leader offered you and keep Simos at your side. Better to be armed and in place when the King comes, whoever be at your side.>>6457060Hopefully we can scavenge enough bronze to repay our debts and make more armour for ourselves. Either that or get lucky with looting some silks and gems.
>>6457023>HOLD: Take position in the gap the other file leader offered you and keep Simos at your side. Better to be armed and in place when the King comes, whoever be at your side.
>>6457023>HOLDI guess an order is an order. Maybe we can make new comrades and allies among the rank and file. We need allies if we want to become a proper philosopher king and pimp out our dad's farm (gold plated yoke for our oxen)
>>6457023>RELAY: Relay your report along the rear of Proxenus's line while the files are still forming, helping stragglers to arm and form. Men need to know they still have time to do so, but this will undoubtedly carry you farther from Euphron and leave others to claim the open places.This seems more useful to me. We're just one guy missing in file, but can help a lot of other men doing this
>>6457023>RELAY: Relay your report along the rear of Proxenus's line while the files are still forming, helping stragglers to arm and form. Men need to know they still have time to do so, but this will undoubtedly carry you farther from Euphron and leave others to claim the open places.
>>6456797I guess Lys needs a bronze cuirass, though a linothorax is still good considering the weight. I don't think there will be much chance for great pay since it is Anabasis.
>>6457244Cuirass takes too much bronze. We are better off going piecemeal until we have a full suit. Start with vambraces and make do with scales until we gather enough bronze to reforge it into a proper cuirass.
You take the place indicated by the file leader. Simos steps in on your left and sets his shield rim against yours. Looking about you, you can find no familiar face, the men ahead of you are strangers, as much as the men behind. One has a chipped red crest on his helmet, another a linen corselet patched at the shoulder with fraying wool. Their features, at least, have arranged themselves into the same grim determination you've seen many times before. But can you trust these men with your life? Can they trust you?More stragglers and latecomers keep trailing in from the baggage. Some arrive with helmets tucked under their arms, others without even their shield (for which they shuffle with their eyes cast down). They slide into open places as quickly as they can find them.No arrows fall. No horsemen show beyond the ditches. The sun continues to climb until its rays strike the bronze of helmets and spearheads and hurts your eyes. Sweat gathers beneath your linen corselet and runs down your neck and armpits to your ribs. Men shift from foot-to-foot in the waterless earth, adjust their arms in their shields, or simply let them rest on the ground--until sighted by a file leader or officer. Simos keeps glancing behind him toward the baggage. The animals and the carts can no longer be seen for the men who have now formed up in front of them."They have had their chance," he says at last."Hmm?""Artaxerxes The King. If he meant to take us scattered or by surprise, he has lost that advantage."The file leader walks past again to scold the men at the front to close their gap. The intolterable wait before battle exempts no one from the irritation and temper it arouses, not even officers. Midday and still the enemy is nowhere in sight. You take another sip from your waterskin, swallow and taste dust. One of the soldier's behind you mutters what all are thinking: the deer-heart has run once more. He does not wish to do battle.Another man arrives from the rear at a stumbling walk.He is not dressed as a runner, which might have explained his belated appearance. He carries a round shield like yours and a long ash spear, but what turns the heads of all the company is the bronze cuirass that covers him from collarbone to waist. Its lower edge is scuffed a little but the smooth and polished breastplate almost blinds you when the sun catches it. The man takes three quick steps toward the file, then stumbles and catches himself on the back of your shield. He looks up at you apologetically, his face pouring with sweat, nearly ashen, his tunic dark between his thighs, and a faint, foul stench emanating from him. He is about to say something--when the file leader turns and notices him."Do not tell him," he mutters to you.Simos leans his head towards yours as the man takes a spot ahead of you. "If he falls," Simos whispers in your ear, "A breastplate such as that will be claimed quickly."
>>6457367The file leader approaches the man. His eyes go first to the trembling hand around his spear shaft. "Lykon," he says, his voice lowered, not without some concern. "Are you well?"Lykon straightens. "Just ran hard, sir. I'm fine.""What're doing here, then?" The leader points to an empty place in the first rank, another two men ahead of you. Go take your usual spot."Lykon glances back at you. And the leader marks his gaze and follows it, in expectation.>CONCEAL: Support Lykon's story, tell the file leader that he had sprinted here, and hand over your waterskin for him to drink. In doing so, preserve his dignity, but give up the last of your water and become complicit in whatever consequences follow from this support.>REVEAL: Tell the file leader your suspicions and let him take the man out of the line. The public declaration will make Lykon loses his honor in the sight of his comrades, but his sickness endangers those same men. >REPLACE: Let Lykon answer for himself, then silently trade your place with his in the front line after the leader passes. You'll not let him risk the lives of the men in the ranks, even if you do not know them, not even if it means risking yourself.>WRITE IN.
>>6457368>REVEAL: Tell the file leader your suspicions and let him take the man out of the line. The public declaration will make Lykon loses his honor in the sight of his comrades, but his sickness endangers those same men. I saw you! You and Lykon deserve the same fate!
>>6457368>REPLACE: Let Lykon answer for himself, then silently trade your place with his in the front line after the leader passes. You'll not let him risk the lives of the men in the ranks, even if you do not know them, not even if it means risking yourself.
>>6457368>ReplaceWould it make sense to do this openly? Like asking Lykon in front of the captain to change place with us. This would bring us great honor and honor=money.Also, showing some bravery in front of the other unknown soldiers (who I assume are also unfamiliar with eachother) would give them some confidence.
>>6457410>Like asking Lykon in front of the captainYou probably don't want to do this in front of the captain/file leader (otherwise it kind of defeats the purpose), but everyone around will see that you're taking his place, so to the men at least you'll have gained standing (not to mention Lykon himself will appreciate the gesture).
>>6457368>REPLACE
You keep your eyes on the ground and say nothing. The file leader returns to Lykon, who gives him a quick nod. Lykon lifts his spear and works his way through the two ranks ahead of him. Each man lifts his own spear or steps bodily aside to let him pass. His bronze cuirass screeches against shield rims as he reaches the open place. Then he plants his feet and faces the empty plain.The file leader moves on, but you continue to observe Lykon. At first he holds himself steady, and you think him recovered, but as the sun climbs further and further in the sky, and with no relief from the merciless heat, he begins to shift his feet between the long spells of stillness. At one point he bends over his shield, nearly falling forward, but catches himself at the last second, just before the man beside him can assist.Simos clucks his tongue. "Wasted on him," he mutters. It is clear enough what he's thinking about. And you'd be lying if you said the thought of that magnificent armor did not pass through your own mind.The men stand under arms until their shoulders ache and their spear shafts grow hot. One near the rear says the King has surely gone south. Another says that a king who absconds from so many spears arrayed in wait for him is surely wiser than the Prince. The file leader walks the front ranks again, correcting a loose shield here, a drooping spear there. Each time he passes by, Lykon stiffens and raises his head, but when the leader has gone down the file once more, Lykon's knees bend. He locks them straight, both hands clutching his spear, bracing his weight on it like a crutch. His face has lost its colour. He's panting. Unable to bear it any longer, you step forward.The men immediately make room without being asked. Lykon looks over his shoulder just as you reach him. He opens his mouth, but you simply take his place before he can speak, not even looking at him. He hesitates a moment, but then backs through the ranks with his shield held close, settling at the spot beside Simos you had stood at just a moment before. Then, in the front rank, your own shield closes the gap, and it seems that the men about you stand a little straighter, hold their shields a little higher then had been before (Standing +1).You expect the arrangement to only last a little while before the file leader discovers and reverts it, but he never get the chance, for a shout rises suddenly from the right and all heads turn to mark its source.At first you see only dust above the plain. It is sheer white where the sun strikes it, but as the dust rises the lower part darkens and spreads across the fields. Bronze flashes within it, unmistakable to all who have tasted battle. Then spear points emerge, followed by the shapes of horsemen and blocks of infantry, each contingent keeping to its own square. The King has come after all.
>>6457601No one sounds the charge. The King's army marches forward in strange silence, its ranks advancing at a sleepy pace. Horsemen in white cuirasses canter along their left flank. The man beside you whispers that Tissaphernes, hated enemy of Cyrus, is said to command them. Beyond them stand troops hidden behind tall wicker shields. Farther along: men with wooden shields that reach down to their bearers' feet. Egyptians, mumble the men.But the chariots come first. They spread out before the infantry, keeping vast empty spaces between them to better admit the manuever of the cruel blades which project from their axles. Other blades hang beneath the bodies, pointed toward the ground. You watch the horses toss their heads and snort while the drivers hold them to the slow advance.The file leader turns up again and takes his place a few men to your left. Whatever he might have said is now irrelevant. "Keep close," he barks.Cyrus proceeds along the Greek line with but a few men. He has discarded his helmet despite the sun--or perhaps because of it. He calls to Clearchus near the river, and the order passes from officer to officer: he and his Greeks are to advance and strike at the King's centre.A runner now moves behind the files with a message from Xenophon, a guest of Proxenus, without any formal rank: the ram's liver was whole and sound, and, before the line, the blood of another ram ran true and pure. The gods give no sign against an advance.A call rises at your right at the same time. "Zeus Saviour and Victory." Invocation and watchword. Other voices take it up. The words come through the files a second time, rolling like distant thunder. Then they reach you, and you repeat them, thinking of Theotimos, to whom those names were truly sacred and not the mere numb repetition of men whose eyes never try to grasp the great mysteries beyond.No man in the first rank expects to return to camp before supper. Not with so many men arrayed before them. In their hearts, they know there shall be a great battle today, and in a great battle some never return. >SURVIVE: Set yourself behind your shield and fight only as the battle demands, saving the greater part of your strength and preserving the arms your family bought so dearly, even if the men beside you receive less from you than their share. [+5 to combat roll for duration of the battle]>SHIELD: Make the men beside you your charge, keep the shield rims closed, and expend yourself on any gap the chariots or enemy force open. Let the men see that you will hold the line for their sake, even if it means taking a blow meant for one of them. [+1 Standing]>DISTINGUISH: Fix your eyes on the first break in the enemy line and lead the drive through it before another can claim the chance. Great is the risk to leave the protection of the file, but greater still the prize and the glory to he who draws first blood. [Gain an additional piece of loot]>WRITE IN.
>>6457602>SHIELD: Make the men beside you your charge, keep the shield rims closed, and expend yourself on any gap the chariots or enemy force open. Let the men see that you will hold the line for their sake, even if it means taking a blow meant for one of them. [+1 Standing]Close to 10.
>>6457602>SHIELD: Make the men beside you your charge, keep the shield rims closed, and expend yourself on any gap the chariots or enemy force open. Let the men see that you will hold the line for their sake, even if it means taking a blow meant for one of them. [+1 Standing]
>>6457602>SHIELD: Make the men beside you your charge, keep the shield rims closed, and expend yourself on any gap the chariots or enemy force open. Let the men see that you will hold the line for their sake, even if it means taking a blow meant for one of them. [+1 Standing]Shieldwall time. The great shoving, grunting, and heaving.
>>6457602>SHIELDBeing recognised as a reliable asset will make more down the line.
>>6457602>SURVIVE: Set yourself behind your shield and fight only as the battle demands, saving the greater part of your strength and preserving the arms your family bought so dearly, even if the men beside you receive less from you than their share. [+5 to combat roll for duration of the battle]
The paean starts up on the right, a few voices in harmony beside the river. "IÄ Paian! IÄ Paian!" It moves swiftly across Clearchus's men and reaches Proxenus's line as the last of the gaps close. "IÄ Paian, guard us from the spear! IÄ Paian, bring us safely home!" You lift your spear with the others and sing until the men about you drown out even the sound of stamping feet.The King's troops, in contrast, continue to advance in unbroken silence. Upon the chariots, a lone driver stands scowling, with his reins drawn tight. You set your shield rim against the man at your left, taking only a moment to then glance over your shoulder. Lykon and Simos have raised and set their shields. You can trust Simos to do his duty, whatever his faults, cowardice and negligence are not among them.The order to advance comes down the line. At first the files walk, the heat and crush of bodies forgotten in the singing and shouting and the coursing blood that precedes all battle. The distance closes. Men near the rear begin to hurry, then must run to keep up. Soon the whole Greek line is driving faster and faster, shields knocking together and spear butts striking the dry earth. Men shout, "Eleleu! Eleleu!" to Enyalius, the battle-god. Many in the front beat their spear shafts against their shield faces. You do likewise, strring your nerves up into a frenzy. The noise carries a great distance.A team of horses is the first to break. They toss their heads against the bit, frightened by the noise despite all their careful training, and pull its chariot sideways. The driver hauls on the reins, but by the force of the horse's motion they slip from his hands, and the wheels turn toward the troops behind him. The scythes pass between men who throw themselves aside. Those who are too slow are mowed down like fresh barley grain, their limbs and heads scattering like so many heads of cabbage or lettuce. A second team bolts soon after the first. Then a third. The men behind the chariots now crowd away from the blades, their solemn silence broken by screaming, then they lose their nerve and flee. Their flight spreads along the line facing you.But not all the chariots pass through their own ranks, some are driven forward by their maddened beasts.One of these chariots comes straight at your file. The driver has lost one rein and is dragging at the other with both hands, the cords of all his muscles straining at the effort--but to no avail, the horses are too strong for him. Perceiving the inevitable collision with the shield wall, he leaps out from the board. He hits the ground, rolls once, and struggles to his feet while his empty chariot bowls on."Open!" you shout.
>>6457799The men at either side pull apart. You shove the shield of the man on your right back against the next rim and make a narrow lane. The chariot passes through with its axle scythes high beside you, scraping the shields but causing no harm. The left wheel clips a spear shaft and sends it spinning, but no man falls, and the team of horses goes on toward the baggage, its driverless board bouncing behind it.The Persian who jumped clear is now only a few steps away. He wears a quilted coat beneath his breastplate, and his cap has fallen in the dust. He has no chariot now, but a short double-edged sword hangs at his belt, its heart-shaped guard and jeweled pommel showing above the scabbard. He looks past you toward the open ground behind the Greek line, then back toward his own routing men, and begins limping toward the latter.No volley of arrows covers his retreat. The men in your file clamor to give chase, waiting only for the order. Behind you, Lykon bends over again on his shield, struggling to keep his feet as the line starts to move once more, called to an orderly advance. You think of Euphron, wondering what he would do in your place. Would that you could rejoin them! He and the rest of your mess are surely among the moving files, but you cannot make out where.What do you do?>ANCHOR: Stay with this file, force its pace to remain steady, and keep the men from scattering after the fleeing enemy. You will give up the leading pursuit and whatever it yields, yet these men may still need one another if the tide changes. (Rhetoric DC 60; Hoplon +18 and Standing +10 support)>REJOIN: Leave this unfamiliar file to seek out Euphron among Proxenus's moving ranks. Better to fight amongst familiars, though you will lose whatever place and trust you have earned here if you cannot find them quickly. (Scouting DC 60; Keen-Eyed +20 supports)>SEIZE: Sprint ahead of the file and chase down the charioteer before he can reach his own men. His person may be worth more than the common spoils, though going after him will separate you from the file and may cause a mad rush.>WRITE IN.
>>6457801>SEIZE: Sprint ahead of the file ... (Melee DC 70; Dory +14 supports)
>>6457801>ANCHOR: Stay with this file, force its pace to remain steady, and keep the men from scattering after the fleeing enemy. You will give up the leading pursuit and whatever it yields, yet these men may still need one another if the tide changes. (Rhetoric DC 60; Hoplon +18 and Standing +10 support)
>>6457801>ANCHOR: Stay with this file, force its pace to remain steady, and keep the men from scattering after the fleeing enemy. You will give up the leading pursuit and whatever it yields, yet these men may still need one another if the tide changes. (Rhetoric DC 60; Hoplon +18 and Standing +10 support)+5 unskilled rhetoric
Please roll d100. The first two valid rolls will be used.Reminder:The first die is the skill die: add +5 from Rhetoric and compare the total with DC 60.The second die is the support die: add +28 from Hoplon and Standing and compare that total with DC 60.Scoring equal to or more than the DC is one success. A natural 1 on the skill die always fails.Two successes achieve the intended result. One achieves it with a cost or complication. No successes produce a setback but also immediately improves the skill by +1.
Rolled 3 (1d100)>>6457984
Rolled 84 (1d100)>>6457984
wait did someone delete a roll? I remember both rolls failed.
>>6458043https://archived.moe/qst/thread/6455441/We really are known for trickery, huh?
>>6458176It wasn't even an important roll and the only way we can level skills is by failure. Not surprising they don't take a guy they don't know seriously too. So I guess so.
Six weeks earlier at Thapsacus, beside the Great River, just after Cyrus had made his promise of five silver minae a head of those who would follow him to Babylon, Menon the Thessalian, the beardless, spoke these words to his men: "Soldiers, obey me this day, and without danger or toil shall Cyrus honor you above the rest. Cross now with me before the others decide, and when they follow, you shall have the credit for leading them; and should they refuse, then we shall all return together, but Cyrus will trust you alone with garrisons and commands. Whatever else you ask, you shall have. No man knows better how to repay a service." Abrocomas had already burned the boats by that time, yet Menon's men were so fierce in their obedience, they crossed on foot, wading into the Euphrates up to their chests, while the others still deliberated. Cyrus sent Glus after them with another pledge: "Today I commend you. It is now given to me that you will have cause to commend me in the days to come, or count me no longer Cyrus." And Menon's soldiers cheered their farsighted commander.Nearly three months earlier at Tarsus, Clearchus the Spartan had tried to force his soldiers onward with similar enticements. But when he and his pack animals began moving, his own men threw stones at them, and Clearchus himself barely escaped being stoned to death. Later he called his troops together in assembly. You had managed to sneak in as a former member of his company. Clearchus stood before the men, in silence, and wept. The men watched him in mute wonder. "Cyrus gave me ten thousand darics," Clearchus finally said after his tears were exhausted. "Did I keep them or squander them for my own pleasure? Or was every daric spent one on of you? Now I must either desert you and keep his friendship, or else prove false to him and remain with you. And this is why I weep my friends: because I choose you, and I shall suffer whatever I must beside you. No man shall say that, after leading Greeks among the barbarians, in strange lands, among strange customs, I betrayed the Greeks and chose the friendship of barbarians or of strangers. And since you will not obey me, I shall obey you. You are my friends, my allies, my fatherland. Wherever you go, I shall go." That very day, not only those in assembly, but more than two thousand more men, under Xenias and Pasion, took their weapons and baggage and moved their camp beside the camp of Clearchus the Spartan. It is these examples which run through your mind now, as you attempt to grab the attention of the men, striking the rim of your hoplon with your spear shaft. "Keep your shields together! Don't run! With me, men!" you shout. But many are shouting, and many are the spear butts and footfalls which thunder on the earth around you, and no man farther than a few paces turns his head to heed your words.
>>6458355The file leader himself has joined in the pursuit. He looks back but once and that only to raise his spear and egg on the men until the oncoming rush of hoplites hides him from sight. Some run straight after the nearest runaways, dropping their unwieldy spears to better give chase, while others stop and bend down to seize bows and shields and helmets and men that have been cast aside.The man on your left stops short upon seeing that you do not advance. Another collides with his back and curses, but then, seeing the forming unit, adds his own shield beside yours. The first forms up beside him. Simos advances to close the gap immediately behind you. Lykon and four others line up beside Simos to make the second line. They watch your shield and advance when you advance, keeping a compact body while the rest of Proxenus's line draws farther ahead.No arrows. No sudden charge from awaiting horsemen or chariots. The Persian infantry continues to flee, no orderly retreat, but a mad dash for their very lives. Those who have managed to snag some spoils now start to turn back to protect them. A Greek passes on your right flank carrying an embroidered coat over his shield arm. Another has taken a bow and a full quiver. Simos watches them go, lips pursed and jaw set, but silent.You continue at the same pace. Advancing calmly, just as you were ordered.Lykon's spear suddenly strikes the back of Simos's shield. You turn to see Lykon's knees give way. Simos catches Lykon beneath one arm, while the man beside him takes the other.Simos looks to you. Everyone in your makeshift unit has stopped.You look for somewhere to put Lykon and spy a dry irrigation ditch cut behind you, nearby. Beyond it, the wagons stand far off across the level ground. Strange. They should be still, but dust now rises along their whole position. Pack animals scatter from the wagons in tiny isolated groups. Sunlight reflects from metal among the carts, appearing and disappearing as a loose body of men passes through the baggage.You watch until you are certain that the wagons themselves have not started forward."What is it?" Simos asks."Armed men among the baggage. Too many to be our own guards."
>>6458356He squints into the dust. The others whip back their heads as well, but none answer, for their eyes are not as sharp as yours. Your tent roll and Euphon's cooking gear remain with those wagons--as indispensable to him as his own shield. Any food he left there is also within the reach of the men moving through them. Far ahead, no Greek file has yet turned.What do you do?>RETURN: Leave Lykon in the irrigation cut with Simos and take the others back toward your wagons. If you move now, you may save the mess's food and baggage before they are carried off, though the armed men there may cut you off from the Greeks.>WARN: Trust Simos and these men to get Lykon moving while you run after Proxenus's officers and report what you have seen. Your own property may be gone before the army turns, and an officer may dismiss what you cannot prove, but the Greeks must know that armed men have entered their baggage.>EXTRACT: Lay Lykon on his shield and make the others carry him after the Greeks until you find Onas. You will lose your baggage and the chance to give an early warning, while the armed men behind may overtake you, but you will not leave Lykon helpless in the open.>WRITE IN.
>>6458357>RETURN
>>6458357>ReturnNow we shall fight. We can win this.
You order Simos and another man to lower Lykon into the irrigation cut. Lykon lies there and makes no effort to push himself upright. His eyes are closed and his breathing ragged. Simos kneels beside him and puts a hand against his throat, likely in imitation of Onas, though without the corresponding skill to physic."Keep him here," you say. "If the army turns, take him to Onas."Simos glances toward the distant Greeks, then up at you. He nods.You climb out and point your spear toward the baggage. The six men who remain form around your shield without being told twice.You start at a trot. The others keep close until scattered packs force them to spread out. A mule runs across your path with one empty pannier bouncing against its ribs. Farther on, a man in Persian dress leads an animal laden with ill-gotten goods away from the wagons. He sees the round shields advancing and quickly abandons their lead ropes. The animals continue after him for several steps, then stop.A small armed body of Greeks has formed in an open space among the baggage. Several enemy bodies lie slain on the ground before their spears, yet the plunderers continue to press from the far side. Some carry the tall wicker shields you saw in the King's line. Others, having thrown their shields down to better move through the baggage, now fight only with swords.Your own baggage does not lie in that direction. You spot the wagon to your far right, recognizing the patched end of your tent roll beneath it and Euphron's soot-dark cooking pot lying beside a tied provision sack. Two plunderers drag property from the next wagon, and one points towards yours. They will reach it before the contingent of Greeks can finish their current sortie and turn their attention in that direction.A woman shouts from the open ground ahead.She is naked from head to toe, running now towards the Greek shields. Even from this distance, even without your eyes, she turns the heads of all the men who behold her. You can make out strong black brows and a long fall of dark hair. Dust sticks to her knees and forearms yet her body seems to shine with its paleness. She does not try to cover herself. Both arms drive at her sides while she runs."Please! Help me!" she cries.Several enemy soldiers turn after her. The nearest draws his sword and begins shouting in Persian. Two others follow him with spears. They are close and fast enough to catch her before she reaches the shields unless someone goes out to intercept them.
>>6458751What do you do?>JOIN: Lead the six into the open end of the Greek line and fight in close order with the men already holding. Together you have the best chance of protecting as many persons and possessions as possible. (Melee DC 70; Hoplon +18 and baggage guards +10 support)>INTERCEPT: Lead a short sally across the woman's path, put your spearpoints between her and her pursuers, and drive them back until she reaches the guards. (Melee DC 70; Dory +14 and six hoplites +4 support)>RECLAIM: Get to you your mess's property before the plunderers can, set your shields around the food and equipment, and hold there against them. (Melee DC 70; Hoplon +18 and six hoplites +4 support)>WRITE IN.
>>6458752>write inSplit the forces up. Send two hoplites to flank the greek line. Two to cover the women than rejoin either our own supplies or the main group depending on who needs help more. Two to secure our own supplies and regroup.Strictly speaking all we have to do is delay and regroup. The woman only needs a little delay to regroup. Our own supplies are only being raided by two both of whom have no shields only a sword. No match for two hoplites. The biggest problem is gonna be where the main holdout is that is pinned down but we should be able to flank the enemy or reinforce the main defending troop.
>>6458756I'll back this.
>>6458756Just to make sure: Lys himself is going to the main holdout to flank, is that right? Or is he going with any of the other hoplites? (important because it determines which modifiers apply and some following consequences)
>>6458752>JOIN: Lead the six into the open end of the Greek line and fight in close order with the men already holding. Together you have the best chance of protecting as many persons and possessions as possible. (Melee DC 70; Hoplon +18 and baggage guards +10 support)
>>6458778I'm going to assume there is already an officer with the main group given that they organized and rallied together already. I think the fastest method for the MC would be scaring off those pursueing the woman and than joining up to ensure our own supplies don't get looted would probably be fastest. As the woman will need the least amount of time. Thereby taking our teammate to quickly secure our supplies before going in to join the flank or regroup depending on how things are going.
>>6458791Understood. Just to summarize:Split the hoplites into three groups, one for each of the targets. Lys initially leads the group intercepting the enemies pursuing the naked woman. Then he joins up with those who are going to defend the baggage. Once the baggage is secure, rejoin the group that has gone to flank the main body of looters.This is perfectly fine. The roll itself will use the INTERCEPT choice DC and bonuses, but the hoplite bonus will be cut to +2 to reflect the splitting of forces. A full success, however, will achieve all the intended aims of this plan.
>>6458752>>JOIN: Lead the six into the open end of the Greek line and fight in close order with the men already holding. Together you have the best chance of protecting as many persons and possessions as possible. (Melee DC 70; Hoplon +18 and baggage guards +10 support)
>>6458752>JOIN
>>6458756+1
OK looks JOIN wins. Please roll d100. The first two valid rolls will be used.
Rolled 91 (1d100)>>6459142
Rolled 22 (1d100)>>6459142
>>6459144>>6459145Always with the complications!
>>6459346
It pains you to leave the damsel to deliver herself from death, but your brothers-in-arms must come first. You point your spear toward the open end of the Greek defense. "To me! Support their flank!"The six men turn with you. The file leader at that end, stepping forward in front of his shields to drive back an enemy swordsman, catches the man's wrist with his spear shaft and disarms him. At the same instant, a second plunderer reaches over a wicker shield and thrusts. The point of his blade enters below the Greek's jaw and a spray of blood erupts from his throat. He drops his spear, a futile, desperate attempt to cover the wound and staunch the bleeding. Blood leaks through his fingers and he falls against the men behind him, pulling one of their shields aside.The two guards nearest him step backward, half in fright, half to let him fall. The same plunderer forces himself into the opening and is about to strike again, his sword coming down on the shoulder of one of the hoplites, poised to sever the arm from the joint--You strike him in the face with the rim of your hoplon. He staggers and loses his footing, trips over the fallen captain, and falls backward. You do not pursue him. Instead, you set your shield against the nearest guard. "Lock shields!"Your six form beside you. One of the hoplites of the main contingent repeats your command. Shields are set, spears held out between them"Advance!"The swordsman on the ground tries to rise. Spears thrust out and one enters his back piercing him through to the chest. Another man advances without a shield, gripping a sword in both hands, but he cannot bring his blade near the Greek line without meeting a wall of spearpoints. One of the hoplites thrusts at his shoulder. He parries it with his sword. But this leaves him open to a thrust of your own, aimed at his groin. It goes wide but catches his thigh, the point going through the flesh to the other side. He falls back screaming into the men pressing behind him and is trampled underfoot."Forward! Keep together men!"The shields move as one. Your spearpoint passes over a wicker shield and enters a man's cheek, a man's throat, a man's belly. They fall and trap the men beside them, who are instantly gored by searching spears, or pushed back by the shieldwall.Then a plunderer manages to duck beneath your spear. His sword slashes at your right side before the next shield can intercept its arc. The edge cuts the outer surface of your linen corselet, a deep cut. The blow turns you sideways and empties your lungs. Pain cascades down your ribs. But you succeed in remaining upright, supported by the man beside you, gulping for breath. When the enemy presses on you drive your shield into his chest with all your might. A spear from the second rank passes suddenly over your shoulder and strikes him beneath the collarbone. The breath then goes from out his body, never to return.
>>6459442You straighten. Look down. The corselet is stained with blood but it does not feel like your own. Your ribs hurt when you breathe, but the corselet seems to have done its work and kept the blade from entering your body.At the other end of the defense, two Greeks move out across the fleeing woman's path. One plants his shield between her and her nearest pursuer. The other lowers his spear. She passes behind them and into the guarded ground. Her pursuers stop, then retreat when more Greek spears turn toward them.The men facing you do not wait for another advance. Those who threw away their shields run first. The shield bearers retreat more slowly and cautiously, far enough to turn without colliding, then follow the others through the wagons. A few Greeks start after them but you shout at them to return.The guards halt.You point them toward a wounded guard and order the remaining spears outward. They obey. When another band of plunderers sees the restored line, it changes direction and searches among wagons farther away.Across the plain, men collect the bodies of infantry that still retain their shields. Horsemen in white cuirasses arrive from the direction of the river, the same you saw standing beside Tissaphernes in the initial advance. The looters begin to form with them. Their number quickly growing well beyond the small body you now command.You can see the dust above the main Greek force far ahead. The King's troops begin to abandon the baggage and move toward it in order. Blocking them would only slow them a moment and result in needless death. Better to remain here and protect what has been won back.Once the last formed troops pass, the guards tentatively advance to pull their dead behind their shields. Men who own bundles within the line carry them toward its center. You eventually make your way back to the wagon with your mess's belongings. The cords beneath it have been cut. Your tentroll is gone. Euphron's bronze pot and the provision sack are gone as well. A trail of gray millet lies in the wheel rut, poured from a punctured sack while someone carried it away.The royal formation still continues toward the Greeks. At that distance the soldiers appear as dark ranks beneath their dust. The Greek line turns to face them. But, before the two armies can meet, the royal ranks change direction and move away. The Greeks follow. They are right to do so, of course, victory would be certain if only they clashed. Both soon disappear toward a mud-brick village as the sun bows to the horizon.You remain with the baggage guards. The man whose spear killed the swordsman approaches you to ask which company you belong to. When you answer that you serve under Proxenus, he glances at the dead file leader, now placed upon shield and guarded by his men, and then at the six men still arrayed about you."You certainly have good timing," he says, smiling.
>>6459443The first Greeks return at supper-time. Some carry captured bows. Others have Persian coats folded over their shields, or tug at ropes that collar Persian men. They report that the enemy fled before the Greek spears could reach them and rallied once more on a hill above the village.Theotimos finds you when the light is almost failing. Dust has dried in the sweat on his face."There was a golden eagle fixed to a shield upon a pole," he says, between sips of water. "The King's horsemen stood around it on the hill. They left when we advanced again. Clearchus sent Lycius over the hill, and he found them still fleeing."Euphron soon follows after him, searching and calling for you amidst the wagons. He rushes forward when he sees you, then stops short when he spots the cut across your corselet and the stains of blood around it, and begins shouting persistently for Onas, until you explain that you are not wounded nor is the blood your own. Then, with clear relief showing on his face, he begins to berate you for falling behind and getting separated.The man who approached you before now stands and intercedes."Our captain died just as this man reached us," the guard says. "He put his own men into the opening and led us forward. We would have surely been lost if not for him."Euphron looks from him to the guards behind him, then to the six hoplites who had followed you and remain with you even now. He sets one hand on your shoulder, squeezing it in silence, though there is a sad look in his eyes you've never seen before.Then he turns aside to call Onas again. "Onas! By Zeus, you're slower than Epimetheus!"Onas finally arrives, carrying one side of a shield bearing a man. Simos holds the other side, and the man you left with him. Lykon lies upon it. His eyes are open when they lower him, though he's still to weak to stand without help. Simos apparently followed the returning files from the irrigation cut until he found Onas among Proxenus's men.Onas pulls up the edge of your corselet and presses the flesh over your ribs. The pressure hurts, but nothing moves beneath his fingers. He examines the cut cloth."Thank your mother when you return home," he says. "It was surely by her prayers the gods interceded on your behalf; though you will curse them tomorrow for the pain."He then moves on to check the wounded among the guards.Meanwhile, you escort Euphron to the stripped wagon. He searches beneath it and around both wheels for the pot. Nothing remains there."Gone," you tell him."And the food?" he asks, still with hope.You shake your head.He is utterly devastated by this news.
>>6459445Men search the camp until darkness prevents them from distinguishing even flour from soot. One of Cyrus's wagoners says that four hundred wagons had carried flour and wine for an emergency, but the King's men have taken them all. Most of the Greeks had eaten no breakfast when Pategyas interrupted the morning halt with his announcement of the enemy. Now most have no supper.Euphron sits against the wagon wheel, eyes as blank as if he had just lost his family to plague. Onas gives Lykon some water and some herbs to chew on from his satchel. The rest of you lie down on your packs hungry, though sleep comes swift and deep from the day's travail.At dawn of the next morning, Cyrus has still not returned. No one has seen him since the charge. Stragglers returning from the hill maintain that he continued after some other part of the enemy or occupied a position farther on. No one near you doubts that Cyrus has won: the King has fled twice, while the Greeks remain armed in their own camp, almost entirely whole and ready to do battle again if needed.The generals assemble. Orders come for the surviving baggage to be packed and for the soldiers to arm. Cyrus has sent no instructions, so the army will advance until it finds him.It is well into the morning when two men from Cyrus's force arrive. Those nearest the officers identify them as Procles, ruler of Teuthrania, and Glus, the son of Tamos. They speak first to the generals. Euphron runs ahead to receive the new orders from Proxenus's officers. When he returns, he carries no order to march, and his face darkens in a way you've only seen once before."Cyrus is dead," he says.Simos stares at him. "What? How? That can't be!""Dead," Euphron repeats. "Ariaeus fled with his men to yesterday's stopping place and will wait for us there today. He starts back toward Ionia tomorrow."END OF EPISODE 1: CUNAXA
You gain 6 XP.WRITE-IN: 1/3 XP. There was a write-in in this episode but none won a ballot.ROLEPLAY: 1/3 XP. Your winning choices consistently defined the protagonist through loyalty to his comrades, obedience under pressure, and willingness to accept responsibility for other soldiers. RISK: 2/3 XP. You delayed arming to observe the field, replaced Lykon in the front rank, accepted danger to protect the file, separated from the main army, and entered the close fight at the baggage.ACHIEVEMENT: 2/3 XP. You obeyed the command not to scatter in pursuit, held a small body together in safety, detected the attack on the baggage, and led the defense that drove off the looters.Each point of XP raises one chosen Skill by +2. Anything unspent is lost.
>>64594472 in Melee1 in Navigation 1 in Scouting 2 in Rhetoric
>>6459447I think we should bump rhetoric or melee. Improve the strengths of Lys considering his hoplite role and increased standing. More buddies is helpful in war.
>3 melee>3 rhetoric
>>6459463+1
>>64594472 in marksmanship2 in medicine2 in languages
>>6459447I still want to go the philosopher king root so.3 on rhetoric (because it's the only part of the trivium that we can develop)2 on scouting (because we are keen-eyed that's our role in the party and philosophy is birthed by the observation of nature)1 on languages (I mean we do not necessarily have to become a king within Greece)Do the 6 hoplites that we commanded remain under our command or do they go back to their friends?
>>6459759>Do the 6 hoplites that we commanded remain under our command or do they go back to their friends?That will be one of the primary subjects of the next episode!
Qm, can you explain ROLEPLAY & WRITE-IN XP?
>>6459463I'll support this.>>6459759Considering we didn't make any money, I think we are kinda screwed. We cannot even pay our own wages much less that of any men.
>>6459766Sure. You get awarded bonus XP for creative write-ins. If any of them win, you get an additional XP point. You can get a third XP point for an exceptional write-in (bit subjective but in general anything that is clever, or is unusually/surprisingly fitting given the context/character). Roleplay is similar. You get 1 XP for adding flavor/direction/motive/background that I can directly incorporate into the update. You get an additional 1 XP for behaving consistently throughout the episode and 1 more for maintaining consistency through what's been established about the character in previous episodes (fitting callbacks especially will award this). N.B write-ins can supply both roleplay and write-in XP; none of the 4 categories are mutually exclusive, a single write-in can earn a roleplay, write-in, risk, and achievement XP in one go.In general, you don't need to sweat these two too much and you definitely don't need to make it performative. I've designed it so that even without these bonuses there's still enough XP to fill up a few of the skills. They are more to reward and incentivize roleplay and write-ins -- because it makes my job in writing the updates a little bit easier when I have some seed ideas to bounce off of.>>6459772Note the Purse is more about personal wealth rather than logistics. It's an abstract measure that you can spend later/unlocks some gated choices/routes (also has an influence on the quest ending). Paying wages and other such nominal logistics will be handled off-screen--until they become a source of conflict.
>>6459457+1>>6459447
Euphon tightens the strap of his shield and tells you to keep the mess together while he talks to the other officers. The six men who followed you back to the baggage linger nearby, sitting among the guards whose captain died. Some of them bind cuts or search for property among the opened wagons. No officer has yet told them where to form.Lykon pushes himself upright from the shield. His legs shake as he stands, but he walks a short distance with his spear used as a staff. Before going with Simos to recover his armor, he grips your forearm. "I shall never forget what you did for me. From this moment on, consider me your brother."Euphron returns just as the morning gives way to noon. Clearchus has answered Ariaeus by offering to make him king in place of Artaxerxes. Cheirisophus the Spartan and Menon of Thessaly have gone to relay the offer.Men who had been sitting silently till now begin to clamor. One says that Ariaeus has only to join the army that defeated the King. Another asks how many Persians would follow a man who fled even a winning battle.The waiting Greeks must procure their own breakfast. Men begin cutting the throats of oxen and asses from the surviving baggage train. Handlers lead their sound animals away and guard them ferociously. Lame or injured beasts go down first when anyone cares enough to choose.There is at least no shortage of fuel. Persian arrows lie scattered across the field in bundles and loose trails. Men break the shafts beneath their sandals and feed them into small fires. Wicker shields catch equally quickly. The Egyptians' great wooden shields require axes to break into smaller pieces, but when done, their split boards keep the coals glowing beneath heavy pieces of meat until they charr and sear.You and Euphron have no pot, so Euphon roasts strips of meat, that Simos somehow managed to scrounge up, upon a borrowed spit while men about him look on hungrily. Some paces away, two men quarrel over a haunch of beef until the stronger one overmasters the other and walks off with it. Others continue the search, unwilling to leave their dead or their spoils for mere food.At full-market hour, horsemen approach from the direction of the royal army. Persians. The lone Greek among them is soon identified as Phalinus, a man maintained at Tissaphernes's court for his supposed knowledge of Greek tactics and methods of training the heavy infantry. The heralds summon the generals, and the soldiers press to the boundary to glean what they can of their discussions.The King claims victory and Cyrus's death. He orders the Greeks to surrender their weapons and seek whatever terms they can obtain at the royal gates.
>>6460164Clearchus is away from the other generals when the demand arrives. A sacrifice is being made, and an attendant has called him to inspect the entrails and hear the augury. Cleanor the Arcadian answers first that the Greeks will die before surrendering their arms. If the King wants them so badly, let him come and take them. Proxenus asks why the King requests the weapons if he is already their master. If he wants them as gifts from friends, Proxenus says, he should state what the expectations and benefits of friendship entail.Phalinus replies that the King holds them in the middle of his country, enclosed by rivers, enclosed by armies, enclosed by earth and sky. They cannot cross. He can bring more men than the Greeks could kill even if given time to do nothing else. An Athenian retorts that a brave man is enclosed by nothing, he either lives free or he dies in the pursuit of freedom.Clearchus, upon his return, takes entirely a different course. He reminds Phalinus that they are both Greeks and asks what advice he would be proud to have reported at home.Simos, watching the exchange with you from behind the guards, mutters to them: "He wants Phalinus to speak the refusal for him."But Phalinus is too clever for that. If the Greeks possess one chance in ten thousand of resisting the King, he advises them to retain their arms. But If they have no chance of escape without royal consent, they should save themselves by surrendering. There is no freedom in the court of Hades.Clearchus at last gives his answer: The Greeks are worth more to the King as armed friends, or they can fight him better as armed enemies. Either way, they will relinquish nothing.Phalinus then delivers the rest of the King's message. The truce lasts while the army remains in place. One step forward or backward and it will be considered broken.Asked whether he chooses peace or war, Clearchus says merely that the Greeks agree with the King. Phalinus asks again. Clearchus repeats himself and reveals nothing further.The heralds ride away. Men resume their feasting, though now they keep their shields and weapons close. You expect Proxenus's officers to call the files any minute and give the army's next order. But no call comes. The generals are still waiting for Ariaeus's reply, and Clearchus has kept his intentions hidden from his own soldiers as carefully as he kept it from Phalinus.As the afternoon wanes, Euphron goes once more to seek orders from the generals.The guard who spoke for you after the battle approaches you now again. Behind him, his dead captain's men remain scattered in small groups among the wagons."We have heard no order," he says, scratching his cheek. "Some are packing and others are arming. Half have not eaten." He seems expectant for a reply from you, some kind of command.
>>6460166Theotimos has watched Phalinus since the heralds departed. The horsemen are crossing the old battlefield toward the irrigation cuts. He says that they must return to the royal force, and that following them is the only available way to learn whether that force is preparing to attack.What do you do?>MUSTER: Spend the remaining daylight assembling the dead captain's survivors by mess and establishing who is present and where each group will rally on the next trumpet call. You can give the leaderless men a common order, though Proxenus's officers or senior soldiers may punish you for assuming command without appointment; this closes the chance to secure common food or inspect the royal force. (Rhetoric DC 60; Standing +10 and six hoplites +4 support)>PROVISION: Spend the remaining daylight organizing these men to butcher and divide suitable baggage animals while preserving the strongest animals for their loads. You can begin the march, if it comes, with the men fed and unburdened, but hungry owners will contest your claim and a mistake may cost transport needed later; this closes the chance to organize the men or inspect the royal force. (Foraging DC 60; Standing +10 and six hoplites +4 support)>SHADOW: Leave the camp with Theotimos and follow Phalinus's embassy far enough to discover where the nearby royal troops are gathering. You can return with warning of an attack or evidence that the road is open, but detection may bring Persian pursuit or accusations that you broke the truce; delay will also keep you away when the officers reorganize the men. This closes the chance to muster or feed them and places Theotimos's safety and trust at risk. (Scouting DC 70; Keen-Eyed +20 supports)>WRITE IN.
Canāt we ask Theotimos for help with foraging and also using that as an opportunity to organize the survivors by doing this task?
>>6460167>SHADOW: Leave the camp with Theotimos and follow Phalinus's embassy far enough to discover where the nearby royal troops are gathering. You can return with warning of an attack or evidence that the road is open, but detection may bring Persian pursuit or accusations that you broke the truce; delay will also keep you away when the officers reorganize the men. This closes the chance to muster or feed them and places Theotimos's safety and trust at risk. (Scouting DC 70; Keen-Eyed +20 supports)
>>6460167>>PROVISION: Spend the remaining daylight organizing these men to butcher and divide suitable baggage animals while preserving the strongest animals for their loads. You can begin the march, if it comes, with the men fed and unburdened, but hungry owners will contest your claim and a mistake may cost transport needed later; this closes the chance to organize the men or inspect the royal force. (Foraging DC 60; Standing +10 and six hoplites +4 support)
>>6460192This sounds good.
>>6460167>Write InTheotimos is the guy with bronze breastplate right? Well, he can start to repay our favor immediately. Send him to muster the men. His bronze chestplate will easily convince everyone who sees him that he is someone important and should be in command. Even the officers won't notice easily. Take advantage of that to get him rallying the men.The MC meanwhile who go fight over provisions because we lost our baggage train. Make sure to send a couple of hoplites with Theotimos to complete the image of him being in charge by already having people follow him. The rest go with us. Specifically, what we should look for is the royal, now-abandoned baggage train because our boss is dead. Coincidentally, we just happened to help save the guys who were in charge of guarding everything and would know where it's located. Best of all, because the boss is dead, nobody can easily complain or realize the problem before the provisions are already reissued, because coincidentally there was no joint quartermaster to say otherwise.So long as we don't target where the pay and treasure were stored, we should go unnoticed and not clash with anyone over it.
>>6460385Lykon is breastplate dude. Theo is our eagle-eyed buddy. Itās a good thought that we have the guards, they might have a good idea of which animals would be suitable eating, having to watch them.>importantLittle Lordling could pull that off, but posing as a senior officer doesnāt strike me as wise.
>>6460167>PROVISION: Spend the remaining daylight organizing these men to butcher and divide suitable baggage animals while preserving the strongest animals for their loads. You can begin the march, if it comes, with the men fed and unburdened, but hungry owners will contest your claim and a mistake may cost transport needed later; this closes the chance to organize the men or inspect the royal force. (Foraging DC 60; Standing +10 and six hoplites +4 support)
>>6460395Lykon than I got the names confused. Breastplate guy easily looks like an officer to avoid scrutiny.
>>6460192Absolutely. Theotimos working alone won't be as effective as working together of course.>>6460385I take this to be similar to >>6460192 in that you want to split up the work. This will effectively be the roll in the PROVISION choice but with +1 support from Hoplites instead of +4 since some of them will be going with Theo (Lykon isn't really fit for this as he's still recovering).
>>6460722Eh the main idea was to send whoever had the breastplate to rally because the odds are low that even the officers will notice and if they do they will think he is another officer given his gear and how he is acting. Its a bluff really especially with a couple of needed hoplites already following to sell it.The second part was to target the abandoned royal baggage train because the boss is dead. Since there is no shared quartermaster, this should be easy and a big target, so long as we avoid hitting the payment chest and treasures, which everyone will be watching. We could probably find other goodies that are overlooked since everyone is more worried about their own supplies and pay. Avoid where the pay is stored and it should easily be overlooked.
>>6460725btw in terms of employment our best bet is two broad options. Greek colonies trying to civilize barbarian lands and the Silk Road trades. One for glory and the other for wealth. Assuming we want to avoid the typical Greek infighting.
>>6460722>Absolutely.Cool, can you count my vote, >>6460192, PROVISIONS but asking Theo to help out.
Please roll d100. The first two valid rolls will be used.vs. Foraging DC 60Standing +10 and six hoplites +1 support
Rolled 40 (1d100)>>6460840
Rolled 91 (1d100)>>6460840
"Theo, take four of these men and get the survivors ready to cook. Keep the messmates together. You know better than most what work to give them."Theotimos looks once more toward the departing horsemen, then turns back to the wagons. You keep the other two hoplites beside you and address the guard who asked for an order."Did any of Cyrus's baggage come inside the ground you held?""Some pack animals, with a few cooking vessels. Not the provision wagons, if that's what you mean.""Show me what remains."He leads you past the place where his captain fell. The body has been removed, but dried blood marks the dust beneath your sandals. Beyond it, between two wagons, stand several pack animals with bundles piled beside them."The men driving these asked for protection when the King's troops entered the camp," the guard says. "Our captain let them through. One of the drivers was wounded. We had to carry him away from the shields."He points out two asses that belonged to Cyrus's train. Farther along, mules are already loaded with the surviving guards' property. The asses have nothing on their backs, though there are empty panniers lying near them."Has anyone come for them?""No."You have seen men driven away from other animals all afternoon. Those able to assert their claims have eaten while these guards, because they have no captain to lead them, have gone hungry or subsisted on whatever scraps they could scrounge. Cyrus will give no further order about his property, not where he is now. So who better to enjoy it then the soldiers who kept it from the plunderers? You tell the guard to bring the asses out, leaving the loaded mules where they stand. The two hoplites help him hold the first animal while its throat is cut. You take a knife and help with the carcass. By the time Theotimos returns with men to carry the meat, the hide has been pulled back and the first leg is ready to be removed.He has found pots among the surviving baggage and assigned men to fill them. Others are busy breaking up more Egyptian shields for fuel. The thick pieces burn more slowly than the loose arrows, and he lays them under the pots while you send the meat to the fires.You put someone from each mess beside its portions. When another group comes asking, you make them bring a man who can say how many companions he is collecting for. Theotimos keeps those waiting for food at work. He sends them for water rather than let them crowd around the knives.You still do not know everyone by name. Several men come to the wrong fire, and one tries to collect a second portion for a companion who is already eating. Yet when you call for help with a pot, someone answers immediately, without waiting for an superior to relay or confirm the order.One of the guards later unveils a bundle of Persian swords from beneath a wagon. They are tied together with a length of cord, their blades knocking against one another as he puts them down.
>>6460983"These came off the men we killed here," he says. "They haven't been divided. We agreed to sell them for whatever the messes need."He leaves the bundle with you, beside the wagon. With supper already cooking, the swords can buy something other than this singular meal. More provision, medicine, not to mention your mess still has no tent.The first men eat from their own vessels. Others wait with divine patience for a companion to finish and pass his bowl. Theotimos brings each group forward in turn, and you keep enough aside for the men still working over the fires. Steam wets your face when you bend to look into a pot. Beneath the fat on the surface, the smaller pieces move and soften in the boiling water, releasing a mouth-watering aroma.Euphron returns while the last portions are being handed out. Hieronymous walks beside him, with a bandaged man following a few paces behind. The captain calls the guards away from the fires."Proxenus has put Euphron over you," he says to the guards. "Until he orders otherwise, you will answer to Euphron as your captain."Euphron brings news as well. Cheirisophus has returned with Procles, but without Menon, who remains with Ariaeus. The Persian has refused the throne. If the Greeks want to return with him, they must join him tonight; tomorrow he will depart whether they have come or not.Euphron asks the nearest men which messes they belong to. They point out the groups Theotimos has gathered and the men who collect their portions. When he asks how the food was obtained, one of them points to you."He got us working," the guard says. "And now there's enough here for everyone."Euphron looks toward you and smiles briefly. Then Hieronymous draws his attention to the pack animals."Find out what can still carry a load. Anything that came from Cyrus's train is to be accounted for before it leaves this camp. Tell me what was lost as well as what remains."He leaves Euphron to it. The bandaged man stays behind."I drove two asses in here yesterday," he says, slowly, in Greek. "They were Cyrus's. There were some panniers with them."The guards recognize him as the man carried away from the defense. He has a cut across his scalp, covered by a strip of cloth stiff with dried blood. The bandaged man tells Euphron that he has only now been able to come looking for the animals. He saw them pass behind the Greek shields before he was wounded, but nothing of what happened afterward.Euphron asks whether anyone took them to another part of the camp. The attendant does not know. Nor can he say whether they remained here when the looters withdrew.The hides lie beyond the wagons with the other remains of the slaughter. He has not gone to look at them. All around him, Greeks have been eating baggage animals since morning; the conversion to meat destroys all trace of identity and origin."They were handed to you for protection," the attendant says, growing angry. "Now who will carry the loads?"
>>6460985Euphron looks at the panniers, then at the bundle of swords. He asks who owns those. The guard repeats that they are held in common for the men who defended the baggage.The attendant crouches beside them and draws one blade clear of the cord. He runs his thumb along its flat, examining it before he puts it back."If they have been slaughtered here, would you take the bundle in their place?" Euphron asks.After looking at the other swords, the man agrees. He could exchange them for another beast when there is someone to buy from. Euphron leaves the cord untied but does not hand anything over.The guard moves closer to you. He keeps his voice low."Those animals would have been stolen with the rest if we hadn't held here. This isn't right."The men around him have stopped eating as well. Some look sourly at the swords; others watch you. They obeyed your directions to the word so far, and they have begun to expect that you will stand by those directions when someone questions them.Simos touches your arm as Euphron turns to ask the attendant about the remaining loads."He didn't see the end of the fight," Simos says quietly. "And he's not known to us. Uncle will certainly believe your account before his."Theotimos is still at the fires, helping the last working party divide its share, oblivious to all this. You cannot speak for what he would say if Euphron questioned him, his devotion to his gods forbids utterance of any lie, no matter the cost. But all the same, he was not there either. He cannot bear false witness of something he did not, after all, observe. The guard beside you knows where the animals came from, and so do the two hoplites who helped kill them, and the rest of the men surely know by proxy--but you doubt they would betray your discretion now, having come this far.Euphron returns to you. "What is it lad?" he asks, seeing the troubled expression on your face. "Is something the matter?"What do you do?
>>6460989>CONFESS: Tell Euphron now that you ordered the slaughter, and defend feeding the guards from the property they saved. Refuse to surrender their common spoils as payment. You will gain the men's respect by standing behind your decision, but forgo a quiet settlement and damage Euphron's trust by publicly challenging his judgment at the beginning of his command. (+1 Standing, -1 relation with Euphron)>CONCEAL: Give Euphron an account now in which Cyrus's asses were lost during the attack and the meal came from other animals. You may preserve the swords without an open dispute, but you will depend on witnesses keeping quiet and exploit the trust he places in you. Even an accepted account may leave him suspicious; exposure will cost you the men's respect and more of his trust, with the swords still owed in restitution. (Rhetoric DC 60; Standing +10 and Euphron Relation +5 support)>RESTITUTION: Accept Euphron's settlement and hand over the common swords before the men pack to leave. You will settle the claim without a lie or a public challenge to your captain, but surrender the goods that could have bought necessities for the messes. The men will see you retreat from the decision you made on their behalf and think less of your authority. (-1 Standing, +1 relation with Euphron)>WRITE IN.
>>6460990>CONFESS: Tell Euphron now that you ordered the slaughter, and defend feeding the guards from the property they saved. Refuse to surrender their common spoils as payment. You will gain the men's respect by standing behind your decision, but forgo a quiet settlement and damage Euphron's trust by publicly challenging his judgment at the beginning of his command. (+1 Standing, -1 relation with Euphron)
>>6460990>CONFESSLoyalty to men and responsibilities
I guess this also could be an opportunity for Fat Man to show authority and discipline Lys for refusing restitution of swords.
"I ordered the slaughter," you say. "The men only followed what I told them to do."Euphron glances toward the hides beyond the wagons."Then those were the driver's animals?""They were Cyrus's. But these men kept them from the plunderers while their captain was killed beside them. They were still hungry this afternoon. I had the beasts killed only to feed them, that shouldn't require payment of something they rightfully earned."The guard beside you straightens. Euphron looks from him to the others waiting around the bundle. The driver has heard enough Greek to understand the refusal. He points again at the empty panniers."The loads still have to be carried.""I will tell Hieronymous what happened," Euphron says."But you offered the swords," he whines."Go and take them if you can," snaps Euphron, walking away in a huff.The driver picks up his panniers. He walks away between the wagons, stopping once to look back at the bundle, then at the guards all watching him closely to see what he does. He continues walking away. You wait until he is out of hearing, then run up to Euphron.He speaks first. "You could have told me what you had done before letting me make a fool of myself.""I'm sorry. They were looking to me to answer for it and I...""You have answered. Now I must relay that answer to Hieronymous. Next time you object, speak to me before you promise the men what I will end up having to do."He returns to the animals without waiting for another reply. A guard has brought the swords over to a loaded mule. He asks you where to put them, and you help him secure the bundle beside the other goods his mess has saved. When you ask for someone to check that the cooking vessels have been collected, two men leave their places to do it.Onas brings Euphron a bowl with some of the remaining broth. He puts it into his hands and it seems to cheer him immediately. Euphron drinks standing up. He leaves the bowl with Onas, a spring back in his step, when he goes to find Hieronymous."He hadn't eaten," Onas tells you.You watch Euphron pass behind a wagon. Onas takes the bowl to the last pot and scrapes out a piece of meat left at the bottom."I'm glad you fed them," he says. "But some discretion on your part might have been wise.""They needed to hear me say it.""Did they need it or did you?"He offers you the piece of meat. You shake your head, and he eats it himself while the pot is carried away.By sunset Euphron is back with the orders. Clearchus has inspected the sacrifices. He says the omens favor joining Cyrus's friends, while staying here will leave the army without provisions. The Greeks will march tonight.Euphron calls the men close enough to hear. At the signal usually given for sleep, they are to pack. At the second call they must load the animals, and at the third they will follow the leading troops. The baggage is to stay nearest the river, with the hoplites outside it.
>>6461373Your mess has no tent to strike. You go among the guards, making sure the men around each campfire know where their cooking vessels have been secured. The first trumpet sounds while you are still at the wagons. At the second, the last bundles are lifted onto the animals and their cords pulled tight.When the third call comes, Euphron takes his place at the head of the company. You follow among the men you fed. Their animals move between the hoplites and the river; when one stops, its handler has to urge it forward before the next load can collide with it.News passes down the column that Miltocythes has gone over to the King with his forty horsemen and some three hundred Thracian foot. Euphron orders the men to close up and performs a headcount. Only when everyone is accounted for does he proceed. In the darkness you cannot see where the other deserters fled. Part of you wishes them well and wonders if they made not the wiser decision.You reach Ariaeus's camp around midnight. The order passes to halt under arms. You ground the butt of your spear and wait with the others while Euphron goes to join the captains at Ariaeus's quarters. Beyond the Greeks' animals, men are calling out in Persian. Ariaeus's army has been here since its flight from the battle.Some of the men doze where they sit beside their weapons. The night is far advanced when Euphon finally comes back. He calls the nearest messes together and waits while the men farther off come within hearing."The oaths are taken," he says. "Both armies have sworn not to betray one another and to fight as allies. Ariaeus and his officers have also sworn to guide the Greeks without treachery."Simos, as usual, asks for more details."They killed a bull over a shield, and a boar and ram as well. The blood was collected in it. A Greek sword was dipped in the blood, and a Persian lance. Their officers stood with ours when the promises were made. I believe they were sincere."Simos does not seem as convinced, though the answer satisfies him."Afterward Clearchus asked which road they meant to take," Euphron continues. "Not the one that brought us here. Ariaeus says that would starve the whole army."There's no arguing with that. When you had marched in that way, there was still flour in Cyrus's wagons. To return that way would be suicide. "He says there was almost nothing to obtain during the last seventeen stages. Where there was anything, it was eaten. The road he proposes is longer, but he says there will be provisions along it.""How far to the first place?" you ask."I heard no distance given. What he insists upon is the pace. The first marches must be as long as the army can make them. He wants to get two or three days ahead of the King before the King can follow.""After marching half the night?" asks Simos.
>>6461375"We set out at daylight," Euphron says. "Ariaeus thinks the King will not dare follow with a small force, and cannot follow quickly with a large one. With a far enough lead we might dissuade him from the chase entirely."Euphron lets them ask their questions, though his answers are no better than mere repetition of he's already said. When there are no more, he sends them back to their messes. Everyone has heard what is expected. Several men lie down at once; one of the guards stays to ask whether there will be relief for those bringing the common goods."That needs agreement between the messes," Euphron tells you after the man has gone.You would have to bring out the common loads and find which men are fit to take a turn with them. The owners of loaded animals would have to keep accounts of what their beasts carried. Men who had saved little would not willingly shoulder someone else's goods just to let him walk more easily. By the time you had an agreement and the loads were ready again, there would be little of the night left for sleeping.A man from Menon's contingent comes over looking for Onas. He has been asking among the newly arrived Greeks for someone who can help with a dressing and Onas's name was mentioned."Menon's foot is sore," the man explains. "He wants someone to look at it before we leave."Onas asks what has been done for it already, as he gets up. The man describes a dressing that has been loosened and tied again without making Menon comfortable."I'll need someone to help me," says Onas, looking about the company. You could volunteer yourself. While Onas is occupied, you could then ask about the road ahead. Though it would mean foregoing sleep in either case, not to mention you're already exhausted from the march and the prospect of another long walk is not a pleasant one.Behind you, the guard has put his pot beside his cloak and lain down. Euphron has not called the mess representatives back. The remaining night could be spent preparing the men or learning the road, but your legs have already carried you from the stripped camp to this one, and there will be another march before they have had much rest.What do you do?
>>6461377>CONSULT: Spend the remaining night with Euphron and the mess representatives, agreeing how to share carried equipment and relieve tired men during the forced marches. You may secure cooperation that keeps the company together, but some messes may accept only limited duties or refuse the arrangement. You will begin the march fatigued regardless of the outcome, and forgo both sleep and the chance to question Menon's contacts. (Rhetoric DC 60; Standing +11 and Euphron Relation +4 support)>INQUIRE: Spend the remaining night helping Onas attend to Menon in exchange for an account of the first village and water stop from his contacts. You will gain useful directions, though no account can establish whether the King has emptied the stores. The work and waiting will consume your remaining sleep and leave you fatigued at departure; you will forgo organizing relief among the messes.>REST: Forgo the meeting and the visit to Menon's quarters, and sleep before the daylight departure. You will preserve your strength instead of spending the remaining night at work. You will have to rely on the sworn guides and the company's existing cooperation in the morning.>WRITE IN.
>>6461379>CONSULTI think we should bring Little Lordling because maybe his education helped cover this. He also seems to have acted as Lysā advisor basically.
>>6461379>CONSULT: Spend the remaining night with Euphron and the mess representatives, agreeing how to share carried equipment and relieve tired men during the forced marches. You may secure cooperation that keeps the company together, but some messes may accept only limited duties or refuse the arrangement. You will begin the march fatigued regardless of the outcome, and forgo both sleep and the chance to question Menon's contacts. (Rhetoric DC 60; Standing +11 and Euphron Relation +4 support)
>>6461379>>CONSULT: Spend the remaining night with Euphron and the mess representatives, agreeing how to share carried equipment and relieve tired men during the forced marches. You may secure cooperation that keeps the company together, but some messes may accept only limited duties or refuse the arrangement. You will begin the march fatigued regardless of the outcome, and forgo both sleep and the chance to question Menon's contacts. (Rhetoric DC 60; Standing +11 and Euphron Relation +4 support)
Rolled 41, 23, 13 = 77 (3d100)Rolling to see if the fates are kind.
Please roll d100. The first two valid rolls will be used.vs. Rhetoric DC 60Standing +11 and Euphron Relation +4 support
Rolled 22 (1d100)>>6461975Winged words
Rolled 19 (1d100)>>6461975FAILED
The fates we meet this night may be the Keres
>>6461976>>6461980Fuckin' fates.
I've written up the update but am a bit swamped at work right now, so am deferring the necessary editing and post till tomorrow.
>>6462197Fates are cruel.
>>6462205Moirai do as has been, is, and will be.
You call back the guard who asked about his pot and send him to fetch the men who collected portions for their messes. Euphron waits with you while they bring out the common loads.Several nod their heads in agreement when you propose taking turns with the baggage. The trouble starts when you actually ask for volunteers for the first leg of the march.A man with his bedding on a mule offers to take it until the host stops again. But after that he must relieve one of his own companions, who now lugs their own cooking vessel to the front."Then someone from his mess takes yours," you say, pointing to the guard."But how will he find us?""Just stay together."The guard shakes his head. "One of our men walks slowly for he has an injury. If they go ahead, I can't just leave him behind."You ask whether the other mess will agree to keep the same pace as them. Its spokesman goes to consult his companions. While he is away, Euphron attempts to find another carrier but the men he finds have already promised to help with a different load.Simos sits beside the goods, accounting who has agreed and who has shuffled off. When the spokesman returns, Simos accosts him for the name of the man whom they have chosen, but he cannot give one. His companions are ready to help if they can, but they will not promise to remain behind while the army marches on. Not if the King will be on their tail.Frustrated, you have the all loads brought together in one place and then ask each man directly what he is willing to carry besides his own arms. You try to instill in them the seriousness of this request. There is no certainty as to when you might next resupply, the baggage represents life itself. But they shift their feet, or go to fetch a companion to answer. Others go back to their animals making a token effort to check whether anything can be shifted around. You wait for them, and when they do not return, you go looking after them.By the time you have them together again, men around you are rolling their cloaks up.Euphron, exhausted and no longer wishing to bother with the matter, simply tells the representatives to collect their own belongings."Keep your own men together. And if one of them needs help, just call for me before he falls behind."They return to their messes. The guard who had made the suggestion in the first place puts his pot over his own shoulder with a frown. You share his dejection. You've wasted time you should have spent resting.The army marches with the rising sun on your right. At a brief halt, you drop your shield on the ground and lean over it with your eyes closed. It seems like only a moment before Euphron shakes you awake. The nearest men have already formed up again, and you lift the shield hurriedly to follow.
>>6462572Farther on, you watch men within each mess shuffle their items amongst one another, or help one another adjust their bundles. They wait for one another. But most of the men now under Euphron have scarcely spoken to anyone outside their own mess except to ask for food. They are merely men gathered to a common cause, not the indivisible fighting force for which hoplites are feared and renowned.The sole silver lining is that Ariaeus has promised food along this road, and villages by the end of the day's march. But the march itself seems endless.Then, in the afternoon, men begin running back to the files. Someone ahead has seen cavalry.Euphron orders the company to close up. You bring your shield forward as the men beside you lower their spears and bring up their own shields. Beyond them, your eyes pick up animals moving in the distance, but you cannot make out whether anyone is riding upon them.Theotimos comes back along the line with news from the scouts."They're pack beasts. Grazing."Euphron asks him where. Theotimos points toward the animals, then farther on to smoke rising from the promised villages."The King's camp must be close," he says.Men raise their spearpoints. But there is no charge to meet, only more marching. You keep looking at the smoke while Euphron passes the order to march straight ahead.The first troops enter the villages near sunset. Your company, marching somewhere near the rear, is still on the road when the light finally goes, following the calls of the men in front.Two guards run up ahead to look for quarters. One returns and takes Euphron toward an opening between some houses. All is abandoned, not a soul besides yourselves. The other is still searching when you bring the baggage through.There is room to lie down beyond the opening, along a wall. Euphron has the animals taken to one side so men coming after him can pass without having to walk through their loads.The second guard finds you while you are bringing the last mess over."Nothing to eat," he grumbles. "The men in front have searched the houses already. The King's soldiers took even the timbers."He puts down his belongings with the others. Through the gap, more Greeks are arriving and shouting for their companions. Those already settled answer them without making any effort at all to get up.Onas crouches by the wall, then leans against, extending his legs out carefully. You settle beside him, still wearing your corselet. With the King's men rumored to be somewhere near, you would rather sleep in it than have to scramble to put it on when he suddenly appears.Voices continue late into the night. You hear Euphron chatting with a man who cannot find his mess, then nothing until someone treads on your cloak and pulls it from beneath your head.You sit up. Men are moving quickly past, jostling those who have stopped to pick up their goods."Horsemen! They're inside!" someone says.
>>6462573The shout comes from the gap. A man without a shield hurries out of it, looking behind him but once. You get to your feet and stop him by the shoulder."Where?""Coming through the camp! Move!""Have you seen them? With your own eyes?""Well... they were shouting it back there!"He twists away before you can question him further. Others who hear him begin repeating the warning. You put your arm through your shield strap and take firm hold of the grip.Simos appears at your side. "There's no attack. This is just mad panic!"Euphron hears him."No. Form them here."He calls for the company to assemble along the baggage, clear of the passage. A few men come at once. Others are trying to find their companions among the strangers now rushing through the open ground. Farther off, another officer is calling his own men together; several of yours turn toward him when they cannot hear Euphron.Near the end of the gap, a guard levels his spear at the oncoming men. Euphron shouts at him to lift the point. He obeys and steps back, but the men emerging from the houses cannot get clear quickly enough for those pressing up behind them.A shield knocks against the wall. Its bearer turns sideways to free it and is struck from behind by another man. He goes down. Someone bends to help him up and is knocked forward in turn onto his legs.One of them calls for Cleanor. He tries to crawl toward the open ground, dragging the other man with him, but someone runs across his arm and forces him down again.Onas, jumping into the opening, tries to reach for him. Two of the hoplites who followed you at the baggage go with him. One turns his shield toward the crowd, leaving room on the other side for men to get out. The second kneels beside Onas to help lift the fallen.But even they cannot get them clear. Each time the shield-holder is pushed back, Onas has to crouch lower to keep his balance. The fallen men are pressed against the wall with their legs across one another.The hoplite braces his foot and calls out to you."Brother! Put your shield here!"Between the fallen men and the wall you can see there is enough room to plant your feet. You could brace there with your shield turned toward the passing crowd, covering those men on the ground without necessarily extending into the space still clear beside them. Though, you would have to remain until Onas has pulled both men out.Euphron is also coming along the baggage toward you, calling the messes by their captains. Some do not answer. Beyond him, one of the guards lifts his bundle and starts toward the other officer's voice, with his companions in tow. You know that man. He was the one who ferried the portions to the men while you were supplying them. The men will follow whatever he does."Lys, bring those men back!" Euphron calls.At the gap, the shield-holder is forced another step back. Onas reaches farther beneath his shield, still holding the fallen man's wrist.What do you do?
>>6462574>RALLY: Stay with Euphron and call the mess captains back before their men can join other groups and get scattered. Convince them that no one who reached you has reported seeing an enemy. You may assemble the company around its baggage and keep the messes together through the alarm, but you will leave Onas and the two hoplites to deal with the trapped men alone. If your calls fail, scattered men will have to be collected afterward. (Rhetoric +12, DC 60; Standing +11 and Euphron Relation +4 support)>SHIELD: Brace against the wall and hold your shield between the passing crowd and the fallen men, keeping the clear part of the gap open. You can give Onas and the other hoplite room to extract them, but you must leave Euphron to gather the company without you. If you are knocked down, the crowd could crack your ribs beneath it while you are already fatigued. (Melee +26, DC 60; Hoplon +18 and two hoplites +1 support; worn linothorax ignores the first Minor bodily injury this phase--but note that cracked ribs count as a major injury)>WRITE IN.
Can Lys and Friends hit their shields with their weapons to make a loud enough racket/rhythm to draw attention?
>>6462580Sure, what's the intention here? Just to get the attention of the mess captains or something more specific?
>>6462581Yea and show men things are organized.
>>6462576>RALLY: Stay with Euphron and call the mess captains back before their men can join other groups and get scattered. Convince them that no one who reached you has reported seeing an enemy. You may assemble the company around its baggage and keep the messes together through the alarm, but you will leave Onas and the two hoplites to deal with the trapped men alone. If your calls fail, scattered men will have to be collected afterward. (Rhetoric +12, DC 60; Standing +11 and Euphron Relation +4 support)
>>6462576>SHIELDI admit I have played Legionary's Life too often to pass this up.
>>6462576>SHIELD: Brace against the wall and hold your shield between the passing crowd and the fallen men, keeping the clear part of the gap open. You can give Onas and the other hoplite room to extract them, but you must leave Euphron to gather the company without you. If you are knocked down, the crowd could crack your ribs beneath it while you are already fatigued. (Melee +26, DC 60; Hoplon +18 and two hoplites +1 support; worn linothorax ignores the first Minor bodily injury this phase--but note that cracked ribs count as a major injury)
Please roll d100. The first two valid rolls will be used.vs. Melee DC 60Hoplon +18 and two hoplites +1 support
Rolled 10 (1d10)>>6462824
Rolled 47 (1d100)>>6462827
Rolled 49 (1d100)>>6462824
QM?
>>6465085Been working on an update for a few days now but still not quite satisfied with it. Will post as soon as its ready.
>>6465109We're still here QM. Great quest about one of the most intriguing girl quests in history. Looking forward to the update
>>6466311*irl
You lay down your spear--it would not bode well to accidentally gore someone in the scuffle--and bracing your shield against your body, you advance into the fray. Men are squeezing out of the narrow path between the walls like pus from a wound. Their panic is frankly disgraceful, and you note, not with a little pride, that there are none of Euphron's new company among them. These are all men from other camps and messes. You manage to plant your feet beside them, and raise your shield parallel to the passageway, bumping and pushing against the stream of men. The crush is so severe that you almost lose heart, until another man comes up beside you and locks his shield with yours. It takes a moment, in the darkness, to recognize Lykon. He seems now entirely recovered from whatever ailment had befallen him in days previous, and together, you push the men back, creating enough of a gap for Onas to pull the fallen men out by their armpits.Only when Onas gives the all clear do you retreat from the passage. You are eager to see if the men are sound and stay close by Onas in case he needs any assistance as he treats them. One of the men winces and cries out as Onas touches his leg, while the other is already on his feet. You fear the worst for the first man. To be crippled now, while the army is under attack and may need to beat a hasty retreat at any moment, is a death sentence. It is doubtful if the king will entertain prisoners, given his need for speed in the pursuit. But, in the end, Onas delivers a sharp blow to man's thigh, which, though it elicits an unmanly welp of pain, seems to fix the man's injury at once, for he is able to stand again and, after a few moments of tentative limping, finds that he can walk normally as well. Relief washes over you. "Well done," you say to Onas.In the meantime, the familiar thunder of the herald's voice passes over the camp. Tolmides the Elean announces that a talent of silver shall be awarded to anyone who apprehends the man who let an ass loose in the camp. A few men laugh at this, but you can only fume. To think that the hoplites would have panicked from such a thing as that! Disgraceful! As the news spreads, it quickly pacifies the men and they settle back into their camps and bedrolls and tents, hoping to get some sleep before the inevitable march. You are ready to do the same when Simos comes up to you, a gleam in his eye, suggesting some fresh scheme or other. And indeed, he soon confides in you his desire to conduct a search for the culprit and try for the offered talent of silver. In this he asks your assistance, knowing Euphron would never go for such task (especially when it might cost him sleep), and because of your high standing among the men compared to his own.>You refuse and tell him to leave you in peace>You accept and decide to split up to cover more ground (Scouting)>You accept and decide to interrogate some of the men together (Rhetoric)>Write-in
>>6466731>You accept and decide to split up to cover more ground (Scouting)
