Soloplay Game Report: Teuta - Act I, Scene 2

Phrygian Cap

  The throbbing behind her ear brought Teuta back to consciousness.  Opening her eyes, she saw she was in a small room, dimly lit by the lit coming through cracks in the shutters.  She could hear muted voices in the next room, but no one was watching her.  She fumbled at the cord binding her hands, found and end and quietly freed herself.  Looking aruond, she spotted her belt with it's daggers and pouch tossed in a corner.  Buckling it on she went to the door and listened. She recognized the Toad's harsh voice, saying something about the assassination.  

  She moved to the window and eased the bar out of the shutters, peering through the slits, she saw that she was on the ground floor of a building in one of the little alleys near the Dockside gate.  She couldn't tell if the Toad had left someone on guard out in the alley or not.  Speed, she decided, would be better than stealth in this situation.   

  She threw the shutters back with a clatter, just as Alkemachos entered the room.  Judging from the bellow behind him, the Toad had followed him in.  She used the window sill to give herself a boost up the wall and quickly reached the roof.  Looking down she saw Alkemachos slowly climbing after her.  As she turned away, she notcied a glint of metal in a shadow down the alley, was that a figured in a cloak and Phyrgian cap?  Teuta sprinted to the far edge of the roof and launched herself across the gap to the next building as she heard  the older thief gain the rooftop behind her.  She stumbled as she landed, but quickly ran to the opposite side.  She heard a thump and a scream, looking back the roof tops were empty.  She whisked away into the shadows towards the Laughing Eel. 

As she approached the Eel, light spilled out with Lucius and his friends as they tumbled out the door. Maedus was in full armor. She straightened and came up to him, say "You can't wear that in the walls, someone will call out the Families. 

In a slightly distance voice, Maedus responded "The Proskyntos are already out and when we find out who tried to have Epiphroditus killed, we'll destroy them to the last."

"Epiphroditus? But the Phrygian killed Klephtis tonight. Why would he agree to two jobs in one night? It would be so much harder to pull off."

"More than one man can kill,." Lucius interjected ,"Why in Rome there's a dozen assassinations a night. Compared to that this is a trifle."

"If the families have been raised, we'll never get out the gates tonight, and I'll need a new place to lie low." Tueta launched into a brief explanation of her night.

"Come up to my tutor's, old Lysixenos won't be bothered by Traodinus and his gang. They'd be afraid he'd really turn them all into toads! We'll all escort you up there. Maedus and Sumakos can meet us there in the morning."

Agreeing they turned down the street and walked to the Stoa.

A crowd was waiting in the square by the Oricum gate the next morning. Looking, they saw that each group leaving was being questioned by the guard and the contents of carts were being prodded with spears.

"They won't let us out" Maedus said, as he rested the sack containing his armor, shield and sword to the ground. "We're not farmers or traders, we don't have a reason to be leaving today. Not after the attack on Epaphroditus last night."

"Nonsense," Sumakos responded "I'm traveling to the oracle at Dodona to have my dream concerning the two goats and the lyre interpreted, and you're accompanying me."

Teuta smiled, "It's my father's friend, Demetrios, in charge, he may not let us through, but we won't be reported." and gestured to the armored man leaning against the wall out of the sun, within the shadow of the gate.

The crowd shuffled forward, picking it's way around the the steaming remains of the draft animals' breakfasts, until they were at the front of the queue.

Demetrios straightened up and strode out to them, waving his subordinates over. "You lot send someone to get us a jar of wine, it's going to be a hot day.", as be passed them a few coppers. "I'll take this bunch."

He walked up until his feet were almost touching Sumakos' sandals. "What's your excuse for a sudden trip into the countryside, armed to the teeth?"

Ignoring Sumakos' mumbled explanation of his desire to see the oracle, Demetrios said quietly to Teuta, "Your father hunted me up last night, after he heard about Klephtis' murder. He was worried about you, I'll tell him I saw you safely out of town. When you get settled, send me a message, I'll make sure it gets to him without Troadinus hearing about it."

"But the gates are shut, won't you be questioned about letting us through?"

"If the council bothers to ask, I'll mention that I passed a party that included a young Proskyntos lad", nodding at Maedus; "a most devout holy man and a Roman twerp from the Stoa." he finished sarcastically. "You'll just be some pretty lass I've seen around town."

With that he turned and started yelling at his men for the wine as they passed through the gate.

See the Epirus Nova page for previous scenes.

 

[How the story played out in Mythic below the jump]

At the end of the previous scene, I had fully expected she'd awaken under guard.  But, the first thing you do in a Mythic scene is roll against the Chaos factor - currently 6.  I rolled a 3, below the Chaos factor and an odd number, so the scene is altered,  The first thing that pooped into my head, was that she wasn't being closely guarded.  That set up the scene in the empty room.

So I started playing twenty questions on the Mythic Fate Chart.

Was she tied up?  Odds were Very Likely, and a 64 is a yes.

Can she untie herself?  If I was using 3.x I would have rolled a skill check against Escape Artist, but I'm using 1e which doesn't have that skill.  So I took her Dexterity 16 (Exceptional in Mythic) against an Average knot tying expertise  That gave her an 85% chance of getting untied. And a 32 confirmed it.

Next was her gear in the room with her?  The odds were Very Unlikely, but I rolled a 19 and it was there after all.

Were there any windows?  It's Unlikely that a prisoner would be put in a room with an additional egress, but an 18 said they had made that mistake too.

Now that I had defined the situation, the question became, does she get out the window without being heard?  That goes against her Move Silently skill - a 99.  Not only was she heard, but they're close enough to react immediately. In Mythic - doubles indicate Random Events, but only if they are less than or equal to the Chaos Factor, as 9 is greater than 6 there is no Random Event.

   She's out the window with the bad guys in hot pursuit.  She easily made her Climb check.  Alkemachos is a thug (Level 0), so  he doesn't have a climb skill, I rolled an Avergae odds on the 50/50 line and got a 44.  He climbs up, but this time there is a Random Event.  I rolled a 78 on the Random Event table - an Ambiguous Event, some that adds atmosphere but doesn't affect the story.  Hence the mysterious man in the Phyrgian hat.  

     I'm really beginning to wonder about him, at this point I have an important NPC, that I know nothing about except that he is an Assassin.  Even that's not a sure thing, as he may turn out to be a rumor the real assassin spreads to keep the heat off.

   

  Does she find her friends at the tavern?  A 7, an Exceptional Yes.  Not only are they there but she meets them coing out the door and Maedus is already in armor. 

  Are they free from harassment the rest of the night? 40 is a yes.

  Are they questioned going out the gate?  Likely odds. 34 is a Yes.

 Is there anyone important enough to name there.  Unlikely odds.  10 is a yes, but not exceptional, so it's an old soldier, the sergeant in charge that one of them knows.  Rolling randomly, I pick Teuta and decide he's an old friend of her fathers.

They make it out of town, end of Act I.

This scene was pretty tame, so the Chaos Factor does down to 5.  I add one new NPC, Demetrios to the list and the Relationship diagram.  

I'm also going to add Sumakos' dram to the story threads.  Two goats and a lyre walk into a bar, what's the punchline?