From this moment I will change a bit the storyline and divide the story into 2 separate plots. One of the plots will follow the dacian emmisary , Callidromus, in his road towards the Parthian king, while the second plot will follow king Decebalus and the Dacian Army. Also, due to the fact that the situation of the Dacian Kingdom at this moment is criticall, i will try to give when it is possible total freedom of choices to the member who will post.

Historically speaking, the Dacians had strong diplomatic relations whith the Parthians, and indeed sent a delegation to the Parthian king, howewer they where at one certain point intercepted by the Romans... ...

THE CROSSING OF CALIDROMUS (january 106 AD)

Calidromus was riding for more than two days trough the deep snows of southern Dacia.Together whith him, where his slave and bodyguard Susagus, seconded by Dada, a wise man who knew many foreign languages and customes.

They where not very farr now from the outskirts of Drobeta. Drobeta was by any means, a large roman fort, sorrounded by many houses in which the native dacians lived. Many roman troops were guarding the entrances, numerous patrols where everywhere ,the entire area looked like a huge roman military camp. Thousands, if not tens of thousands of romans where spread all around the place.

To the south , across the Danube, large and magnificent, lyed the great bridge of Appolodorus... it was truly a wonder, a wonder to amaze both the romans and the dacians ! Below the bridge was the Danube, cold as ice and very deep, flowing slowly trough the misty landscape. Sometimes, large packs of ice collided whith the pilons of the bridge, cracking out in many smaller glass-like pieces, taken away swiftly by the threacherous currents, twisted and broken in an endless dance of death by the wawes of the mighty river.

"How should we get trough the roman guards, my noble master ? ", asked Susagus.

There was not a single way to pass over to the other side on the bridge whithout beeing stoped by roman patrols at least once. Pretending to be merchants ? Merchants for what ,in times of war ? To the east, crossing the river whith a boat would be an posibility, howewer going east would mean traversing trough Drobeta and eventually encountering roman forces and patrols, all vigilant to capture any spies which would attempt entering the Roman Empire. Howewer, Calidromus knew that further west , lightly guarded by the romans, where the mighty gorges of the Danube, the nigtmare of any ancient sailor. Full of hidden cliffs and threacherous currents, they where indeed the Sydereya Pilai, the Iron Gates of Dacia , now even more dangerous due to the large floating ice packs! Crossing the Iron Gates in this period of year, would be totally unwise.


IMPORTANT

THE FIRST 3 MEMBERS WHO WILL POST ABOUT THE "JOURNEY OF CALLIDROMUS" PLOT WILL "BE" CALIDROMUS, SUSAGUS AND DADA (in no specific order) ,AND THEY WILL CHOOSE THE PATH TO BE TAKEN. UPON THEYR OPINIONS AND ADVICE, THE DECISION WILL BE TAKEN ! ONLY THE FIRST 3 POSTS WILL BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT.



THE HIDDEN MARCH TOWARDS DROBETA (January 106)

The dacian army left Tibiscum heading towards Drobeta. Howewer, the road taken was not the main road, but a road trough the mountains.

Local guides were taken to show the road... the first day, was a true march in a deep valley, sorounded by dark forests. It was cold... soon, some of the horses fell ill.

Local witches where asked to heal them. They came, ignited great fires and said words of prayer to the spirits to take away the sickness from the horses, but in vain. The horses where slaughtered by the soldiers, and theyr bodies burned.

The second day, the dacians continued to follow the path, and went up climbing on a secondary valley to the ridges... they climbed for hours trough the forests, but they where not tired, they where the nation of the mountains, and the mountains where theyr brothers and protectors in times of evil.

Howewer, again some horses fell ill and died, and many more where lost on the tracks... they simply fall down the cliffs, only to be found dead in cold ,dark valleys, lying whith their legs broken, tears of blood in the white imensity of snowy mountains.

The third day, howewer, the army faced better odd, despite the fact that most of the horses where either ill or already dead. The mountains of South-western Dacia, where strange... in their tops, they had large plateaus, whith no forrest due to the strong winds and high altitude, and one could walk trough these large plateaus tens of kilometers... In summer, these plateaus where used as points of observations, and the shepherds lived on them. They gathered in certain moments in such places to celebrate the rise and fall of the Sun, the mighty servant of Zamolxis and the lover of Bendis, the Pale Moon.

"Not farr from here, is one of the holy mountains", said Vezina ."And at the footsteps of the mountain, in most ancient times Herakles fought whith the serpant women, the Echidna... these are sacred lands to the romans, also, and they will fight well to capture them !"

The news that one of the Holy Mountains was nearby, somewhat rised the morale of the dacian army, which was seriosly dwindling. The cavalrymen especially, where now of little use... even the elite soldiers, the brave and fanatical Zamolxian knights where discouraged, and just walked silently in the terrible cold, without whispering a single word.

During the march, one of the Palmyran auxiliaries simply dissapeared. Altough the dacians watched overthem all the time, he dissapeared in a night.As during the night snow had fallen, his tracks where covered... Rumours started spreading in the dacian army. The rest of the auxiliaries where questioned, but no specific answer could be get from them. They knew nothing. If the one man went away, he probably went away on his own.

The march continued, but whith more caution. The dacians indeed, using an ancient patwhay used by the shephards, where on the mountains above the narrow valley of Tsierna, guarded by a small roman outpost named Castrum Tsiernensis. Nearby, was a place whith hot water springs ,caming out of deep caves, named by the romans Herculanum. The waters, as the legends said, where to cure all the ilness from the hearth and body of a man. Not farr from Herculanum, some kilometers away where the roman forces, guarding Drobeta and the nearby areas.

Decebalus looked towards the valley... capturing the probably ill defended Castrum Tsiernensis would be quite an easy task , but taking Drobeta would be very hard to accomplish, especially since the romans will call for reinforcements from Moesia Superior.

Should the dacians deploy in the valley and attempt luring the romans into an unwise attack ? Or should they go to assault Drobeta, or retreat to Tibiscum, or Sarmizegetusa ?

IMPORTANT

THE FIRST 3 MEMBERS WHO WILL POST In THE "ARMY OF DECEBALUS" PLOT WILL "BE" DECEBALUS, DIEGIS AND VEZINA (in no specific order) ,AND THEY WILL CHOOSE THE PATH TO BE TAKEN. UPON THEYR OPINIONS AND ADVICE, THE DECISION WILL BE TAKEN ! ONLY THE FIRST 3 POSTS WILL BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT.