100 miles to the Empire

[Eldan]

A day like this should dawn in blood and thunder. But the gods often have no concern for the lives of men on such a scale, and so, dawn is barely seen, announcing itself as mere shafts of pale gold piercing feeble holes through the mist that hangs heavily between the black and mossy trees.
You are a night's exhausted flight away from the camp where the legion made its last stand. Somewhere west from the position of that distant celestial light, though all those trees, hills and small creeks look quite the same.
It does not seem as if many made it out of there alive. There were cavalry and flocks of ravens, chasing down the fleeing legionaires. Now, it seems, you are the only ones left. Five people, exhausted, with no supplies, and a hundred miles into hostile territory.

[Quakes]

Have to keep moving...have to stay alive...food, water, shelter

Lycomedes repeats this under his breath to himself like a mantra. He doesn't command, he doesn't lead, but he knows how to stay alive, and keep an army fed. Feeding himself and 4 others shouldn't be too much of problem. Avoiding discovery...that's the challenge.

Can't sneak if we starve first.

He keeps his bow drawn, wary for any game that hasn't been eaten or chased away by the enemy forces.


Spot [roll0]
Survival [roll1]

[Raunchel]

Drusilla Claudia Pulcher looks horrible, her archaic helmet's crest no longer stands proudly upwards but the torrential rains have put such a weight on the feathers that they are now hanging from their mounting. Her finely decorated musculated cuirass is scratched, and the leather under the thin gold layer is visible in some places. Her cape is tattered, there are tears in the expensive Tyrian purple band at its bottom.

She is tired, but her features show only a strong determination. She curses herself, she should have done the proper thing and have fallen onto the sword that she holds in her hand. It's not even her own weapon, that was lost early in the fighting along with much of her equipment. Including her battle armour, that would actually have protected her, unlike the decorated leather that was only for show. If only she had not been too lazy to always wear the heavy armour.

Claudia looks at the few survivors who are with her, of course, they're barbarians like those who betrayed their allies. Can they be trusted? She doesn't know, some of them are familiar, but so were the traitors. Nevertheless, she should do what her upbringing tells her to and what they will certainly expect from her, take command. "Everyone, stop for a moment. You are a scout, right? So tell me, where are we now?"

[Quakes]

Training kicks in, and with some relief that someone of rank has taken charge, Lycomedes tells the officer what he knows of their location.


knowledge geography
[roll0]

[Shinovar]

Rindon decided it was best to follow the lead of lycomedes. Rindon was a capable scout, but he knew when he was out of his league. Lycomedes knew of his abilities. If he wanted help, he would ask. Still, Lycomedes would probably be off scouting much of the time. Rindon would be the first alert for the main group if his scouting missed anything. And perhaps he could find game.

Spot: [roll0]
Listen: [roll1]
Survival: [roll2]

[whoiam]

German: "What does she expect him to find in the middle of the forest, landmarks and waystones?"

Audr hadn't been suffering nearly as much overnight as she should have done. She had a certain innate skill at traversing forested areas (one of the tricks of the druidic trade), and during the darkness and panic of the night before it had only become more obvious. Net result, a pace determined by her colleagues was actually relatively pleasant for her.

It was a lovely feeling, being able to outpace people that would have normally beaten her in any sort of endurance race.

Besides, a night spent running through the forest couldn't make Audr look any more unkempt than she normally did...


[roll0]
[roll1]
5+ ranks needed to find North. She's got 7, so she knows which way we're heading.
DC 15 to prevent Audr getting lost during the 'retreat'. I'm going to assume she passes that one.
DC 10 to be able to feed herself today, 18+ to feed the entire party. Hope they like their greens!


Latin: "Do you have a map, Sir? I know, roughly, how far we've run and in what direction. But if we don't have a map I might as well have spent the night counting owl-droppings."

As she spoke, Audr was already starting to look around. Like Lycomedes had earlier, she was starting to think about their food supply.

Unlike the scout she wasn't a very proficient hunter. What she *was* good at was foraging. There's always plenty to eat in a forest... and most of the plant life couldn't even run away!

[yugi24862]

Alexandros stumbles along with the motley band of survivors he ran into. He was glad that Drusus had managed to survive and find them, in truth. He was in no state to lead at the moment, not after the events of the last few days. The dishonor of his actions after the first ambushes still tore at him, as much as he knew without them he would not be alive.

As Drusus called a halt, Alexandros took the opportunity to examine that other soldiers with him. While it was good that some scouts had survived, his mouth turned into a sneer when he saw Audr. It was filthy barbarians like her that had destroyed the legions, why should he trust her? When

"With all due respect, Sir, we are in the middle of Germania. I doubt even the best scout could pinpoint our location exactly, and even if they did all there is is forest uptill we either reach the Alps or the Rhine.

[Raunchel]

"Yes, I am well aware of the fact that we are here in Germania, surrounded by savages. However, it has come to my attention that some of our companions are scouts who might have an idea of where we are and what the best route would be to return to the rhine and to cross it. These lands haven't been properly mapped, which is why we had to rely on our guides.", Pulcher replies.

[whoiam]

Germannic: "Thanks!"

Hm. On the one hand, we've got a better survival chance if I support 'Claudius'. Because someone is going to have to keep Alexandros and I from killing each other and she's likely the only one of us he'll listen to. On the other, I don't like the 'savages' bit. What to do...

Latin: "Germans don't build Roads, at least not up to anything like your standards, but there are still paths through the forest. The Legions followed one in. Problem is, we cannot use any of them to get back out. While the Rebels are searching for survivors they'll just make us easier to run down. When the army's back in order and the generals get it moving again, those paths are going to be their route.

Think about it, they've killed three legions but there are plenty left - and Rome has better generals to lead them. If they want to hold onto the gains they've just made, the two legions holding the Rhine have to go next to give them a defensible border when Rome retaliates. Their army will take the good paths, so we'll have to make do without. Or try looping far to the North or South to get out of their likely lines of advance.

Now as to maps, yes, I know we don't have any that stretch this far into the Forest. Varus marched us past the limits of the maps we did have. But then, a map isn't much good for working out where you are in an unfamiliar forest. I just wanted to know which stretch of border we should try aiming for.

Maybe one of the scouts remembers the course of the Rhine better than I do? If you can give us a rough sketch of the border we can at least make a decent guess which direction we should aim for... and how long we'll have to run to get there."

[Eldan]

Though some quick navigation produces a vague sketch of the Rhine's course, a few settlements suspected to be nearby and even a major landmark or two, you can't really agree on a more detailed course than "due west", which is the shortest way and not hard to find. Still, a hundred miles, as the eagle flies, over rough terrain, should take a long time on foot, when foraging also has to be done.

After going over your meagure supplies, you set out, the morning sun at your backs. The forest is remarkably calm and peaceful: the mist hangs between the dark trees, so that, together, they block most of the light from reaching the uneven floor, but at least there is not much underbrush. Even the birds seem silent: there is no song, only the occasional cawing of a raven or crow in the distance.

You make good marching speed for an hour or two, even finding small brooks along the way to provide enough clean, fresh water for the march, and things seem to be going well.

Listen checks, please.

[Quakes]

listen

[roll0]

[yugi24862]

Listen
[roll0]

Ouch, nat 1.

[Shinovar]

Listen: [roll0]

[whoiam]

Listen Check:
[roll0]

[Raunchel]

Listen: [roll0]