Spoiler: Archery Roll D100: 76+20 (Weapon+Skill) Spartan's HP: 100-20=80 Spartan's Sword arm disabled! Talpharos' arrow twangs, flying true. The female warrior raises her shield, but a nearby scuffle bumps into her and throws off her balance, and the arrow just manages to whizz above the shield rim. Her sword falls to the deck as the arrow pierces the woman's arm. Spoiler: Melee Roll D100: 39 The woman doesn't stop, even injured. She barrels towards the archer with a fury. Switching to his spear, Talpharos tries to stop her, but she easily bats it away with her shield, dashing in for her own attack. Spoiler: Enemy Melee Attack D100: Enemy: 10+20 (Agoge Training)-20 (Sword arm disabled) Talpharos: 68 Spartan HP: 80-58+10 (Spartan Helmet)=32 Spartan Dazed! Talpharos reels in preparation for the woman's attack. She raises her shield to strike him with it, but at that moment, the ship shifts in the water, and as both lose their footing, Talpharos falls against the shield, sending it slamming back into the woman's face.
Talpharos gave silent thanks to whichever deity was responsible for his good fortune and grabbed the woman's shield with both hands. He pulled it away, only to slam it down into her face again and again, trying to knock her out before she could recover.
She could only take a guess what had happened and while instinctively reaching for her weapon, she was still too dazed even if she could possibly catch up to them. Her panic caused her to trip over herself, falling face first into sand, but she gritted her teeth knowing she had no time for clumsiness and pulled herself back up. Her father's voice in the back of her mind to think her moves carefully, she took a breath and tried to calm herself. He must still be alive and they don't want him dead yet if they took him. He wasn't necessarily in danger just yet then, and if they wanted to hold him for ransom, it would make no sense to do this and potentially kill the one you wanted. Most likely, she'd have plenty time to actually track them. Behaving too recklessly wouldn't accomplish anything. She wasn't sure the exact reason, and while she couldn't catch up to them and their riding, she figured her best option was to mostly just follow their direction and it must lead to somewhere.
Spoiler: Grapple Roll D100: 15+20 (Spartan sword arm disabled)+10 (Spartan Dazed)= 45 (Minor Failure) The woman, even seeing stars, manages to keep a hold of her shield and shrug off Talpharos' attempt. Spoiler: Enemy Melee Roll D100: Spartan: 61+20 (Agoge Training)-20 (Sword arm disabled)-10 (Dazed)=51 Talpharos: 16 Talpharos HP: 100-35=65 Talpharos Dazed! As he reels backwards, the woman manages to shake off her confusion and dart forward. The solid metal of her shield makes contact with Talpharos' face, and everything goes white for a moment. When his vision clears, he's seeing double.
Talpharos cursed and tried to pull away from the woman. Attacking her while seeing double would be difficult, so he chose to let her make the next move. He would try to duck under her attack and tackle her.
Spoiler: Tracking Roll D100: 65 Still tired from the ordeal, Rhea's stamina isn't enough for her to keep up with the horsemen, but luckily the hoofprints they leave in the Earth are easily enough to spot and follow. She pursues for an hour and change, the land around her ascending as she enters a terrain of woods and hills, until finally she comes across a village secreted high among the trees. Amidst the wooded plateau stand about a dozen thatched huts - clearly neither Grecian nor Roman in origin. A few people sit around a central camp fire, drinking and exchanging idle chatter, while Rhea sees a stable to the side of the village, and one hut on the other end of the settlement from where she is that stands larger than the rest - perhaps a communal hut, or the residence of a leader.
Spoiler: Dodge Roll D100: 47-10 (Dazed) Enemy Attack: 66-20 (Sword arm disabled)+20 (Agoge Training) Talpharos HP: 65-29=36 The woman brings her shield up at the last moment, slamming into Talpharos' chin and nearly knocking him on his back.
Rhea approaches somewhat cautiously and a distance, observing them for weapons and scars, trying to access whether or not these were raiders or just a remote village. She needed to be sure if they were actually hostile or not before making her move as got closer, getting her hand near her weapon, but not drawing yet, as she counted the number around camp and how many could come out of the tents on a moment’s notice, if they heard fighting. Keeping out of sight, she tried to get close enough to hear their conversation.
Groaning in pain Talpharos stumbled back a few steps and fell down on one knee, pretending to be more hurt than he actually was. He used the chance to try and recover from the daze while waiting for the woman's next move, hoping that she will think him weakened and underestimate him.
"Quite unfaithful from you, don't you agree..." He hummed as he moved his hand over her labia, slowly, deliberately. "Makes me wonder, what else are you hidding~"
"Stop, Artaxos!" Pelagia attempts to evade the man's searching hands. "I am saving you!" The captain doesn't hesitate to try forcing the wax into her beleaguered first mate.
Spoiler: Awareness Roll D100: 23 Sadly, with the lack of activity, it's hard to judge what kind of people these foreigners are. As she gets a little closer, she finds she doesn't understand their tongue - they're not speaking Greek, and certainly not Latin. Spoiler: Stealth Roll D100: 68 Using the shadows cast by the fire, Rhea's able to creep up towards the center of the village with relative ease.
Spoiler: Deception Roll D100: 67+10 The spartan woman takes the bait, approaching slowly. From where they are, on the center of the deck, they have a reprieve from the fighting, which is occuring behind the woman, close to the edge of the ship. "You fought decently well, for someone with no abundance, oof, of skill." She grunts in pain from her arm wound. "Surrender, and I promise you a mostly comfortable life as my slave."
The woman writhes against her bonds, labia slick against his fingers. "N-No, sire... I just wasn't ready for such, mmph, pleasures... I hide nothing."
A little wary, Rhea decides the best choice was to make her presence known and approach calmly and gauge their reaction. They couldn't be so far from Greece or Rome that nobody hear could speak the language, someone must. Even if they were raiders after all, they must have someone whose able to translate negotiations. She wasn't sure, but she slowly advanced more visibly, but keeping her hands visibly not reaching for her sword or spear yet.
"A pity..." The prince gave her pussy a light smack. "Now I lost a reason to torment you~" He said with a chuckle as he stepped back from her.
Yes, closer, come closer. Talpharos thought as he watched the woman's slow approach. “Your personal slave? That is... an interesting proposition...” He pretended to be thinking about it as he watched the woman get even closer. When he decided that she was close enough he made his move, rushing forward at her in an attempt to surprise her with a tackle.
Spoiler: Grapple Roll D100: Artaxos: 51+10 (Strong) Pelagia: 64 Pelagia feels her first mate's hands clasp around her wrists, but she manages to snatch them back before his grip can tighten. Artaxos falls forward against her, almost knocking her onto her back, and with the closeness, she's able to force the wax into his ears until it fits snugly, and the grizzled man reaches for his head, groaning. "By Poseidon, what... Captain?" He looks at her in confusion, before letting go. "Oh damn, I..." He seems to be remembering the situation in flashes, but he's cut off as he looks at the crew, still rowing hard with no thought to exhaustion or injury.
Some of the barbarians do a double take as they see the approaching Roman, looking at her in confusion, before bolting to grab spears, bows and slings, calling out loudly. More people start to emerge from the huts, similarly armed. Interesting, the culture here seems to be a mix between Greek and barbarian. "Another visitor in one day? And a better looking one at that." A voice says in elegant Greek. "How may I help you?" Striding from the main hut comes a muscular young man, his shaved face and oiled hair suggesting that he's a Greek, while his roughspun clothing and furs are of the barbarian manner.
