Soloplay Game Report - Teuta Act II, Scene 1

As they walked down the road towards Oricum, Lucius told them of the bandit lords who had aided the Macedonians in their fight against the Romans twenty years before.  He described the battle at the gorge of the Aoos that had crushed the Macedonian army and how all of their allies had been cut down or captured and sold as slaves.
   "According to the scrolls that old Lysixenos has, they joined the Macedonians after a two day march.  In that sort of terrain it means that they were within twenty miles of the gorge."
  "So you're proposing we tramp down the Ceraunian road to Chaonia?", asked Sumakos.  "If the the Toad is after Teuta, it will be easy for him to send the Phrygian down the road on a horse and overtake us."
  "Possible", admitted Lusicus, "but unless you think we could take ship at Oricum and sail down the coast, which I can't afford, how else can we get there?"
  "I grew up in the Byllian Hills, we just cut through the fields to the East Road to Dimale and then pick up the course of the Apsus, we can follow it through the mountains and come out in Chaonia east of the gorge."¹
  With that they swung east and passed through Dimale as the afternoon faded they decided to press on into the Byllion Hills until the light faded.²  The next day they reached the mountains at the head of the valley, Lucius wanted to push on, but Sumakos and Teuta were adamant they they should camp then and start the ardouous trek in the morning.^3,4  The next day they began their trip through the mountains, Sumakos estimated that they should reach the valley of eastern Chaonia in no more than a week. 

Red indicates the group's path.  Green is the trail they meant to take.

The following morning the path forked, Sumakos confidently led them up the left hand path into the shadow of the peaks.  Three days Sumakos announced that they had reached the Candovian trail and Clausura was only a few miles to the right.  As the miles walked by and there was no sign of the valley of eastern Chaoinia, much less Clausura, they became less and less certain that they knew where they were.  Sumakos remained confident that they were on the Candovian trail, but did not try to pretend that he knew wher they might be on that trail.  One midnight Lucius arwoke the others at the sound of horses approaching.  Two riders on shaggy beasts rode into the light of the campfire, armed with scimtars.  They gave a loud whistle and the party realized that there were over a dozen of them.  The leader, wearing padded armor, cantered forward and smiled sardonically, "You shouldn't camp right on the trail, you never know who you will meet."
"We're simply travelers, on our way to Clausura.  We have nothing of value."
"Clausura?  You're on the right trail, but you're a week away."
  "A week, that's lnger than our provisions will last, can we purchase some from you?"
"See, you do have something of value, let's see what you have besides your gold.  Unfortunately, we won't be selling."
Later, as the bandit chieftain rode away in Maedus' scale armor, Teuta remarked "I see his point on who you meet on the road."

  Three days later, Maedus woke them up before dawn, saying there's something out there.  They're mvoing pretty stealthily."  Suddinely, the party was rushed by three goblins, who closed into attack.  Maedus, Teuta and Lucius all missed their attacks.  Sumakos cast Entangle and trapped all the goblins.  After dispatching the evil humanoids, they counted up what they had gained, three morning stars and shields and a handful of silver.  "At least we'll have money to buy food, if we find anyone who has any extra."
Two days later, they camped overlooking the valley and ate the last of their provisions.  The next day the marched hungry into the little hamlet of Clausura.  As the sun approached the zenith, they came up the cluster of buildings, the farmer's wife bustled up from where she was working in the garden.
"You lot look footsore and tired."
"Yes, m'am, hungry too.  Our provisions gave out last night.  Could we purchase some food from you?"
"We can talk about that later, I have some beans in a pot.  You can join us, then we'll talk about what you need to go on."
The farmer, Eucheron and his workers soon came in for the meal.  In the discussion over the food, he mentioned that he had seen Bardyllis and his gang riding north the previous week, so he wasn't surprised that they had run afoul of them.  He wasn't aware of any ruins near the farm, but had rarely ventured into the mountains east of the valley.  He did offer to sell Maedus a set of old studded leather, which he claimed he had recovered from a casualty of the battle years before.  In response to a question from Teuta, he replied that there were no healers in the valley, the closest temple being to the west south of the gorge.⁵
Game notes below the jump.





Scene Party moves from Apollonia to the base village via the river road. The objective is in the territory of the Serdi, south of Mons Candavia. He intends to go to Clausura at the gorge of the Aoos to start. Start: leaving Apollonia  
End at the base village

Note	Description
1	Chaos Factor 5. Roll 5. Altered scene. Decide to skirt the Byllion Hills and go down the valley of the Southern Apsus, instead of the Aous into the Ceraunian Mountains.
2	Party consensus check.Do they push on? Name Odds Difficulty Outcome Sumakos Very Likely Average 33 Yes Lucius Likely Average 59 Yes Maedus Indifferent Average 43 Yes Teuta Unlikely Average 17 Yes
3	Party consensus check.Do they push on? Name Odds Difficulty Outcome Sumakos Very Likely Average 99 Exceptional No Lucius Likely Average 30 Yes Maedus Indifferent Average 79 No Teuta Unlikely Average 95 Exceptional No
4	Chaonia is 23 miles through the mountains of Paraura. Predominate terrain = mountains. Move – Very Rugged 5/day
5	Question Odds Difficulty Outcome Can they purchase food? Very Likely Average 2 Exceptional Yes. They get a free meal Does Eucheron have any armor to sell? Unlikely Above Average 11 Yes Is it Leather armor?>/td> Very Likely Above Average 95 No Is it Studded Leather? Very Likely Above Average 73 Yes Is there healing available in the valley? Very Unlikely Exceptional 89 Exceptional No. They'll have a long journey to get healed.

Scene wrap up. They got lost and were robbed, ran out of food and there's no nearby clerical support. On the other hand, they seem to have a ready support base for the exploration of the mountains while looking for the dungeon. So I'm leaving the Chaos Factor unchanged. Two new NPCs: Bardyllis and his gang; Eucheron and Gentia.