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Guide Expeditions: Rome - who to choose - Theophilus or Zenobia

Guide Expeditions: Rome - who to choose - Theophilus or Zenobia


 Who to make the head of Misia, how to complete the Divide and Conquer quest, find poison, compromising evidence, and leverage against Theophilus


Divide and Conquer is one of the first story missions in mainland Asia Minor, which you will receive while talking with Luculla. First, he will offer to visit the temple of Apollo to talk with the local ruler of Misia. As soon as you get to the location, you will find out that at the moment Mysia is ruled by the priest Theophilus. He stands near the fountain on top of the mountain where the temple is located. You cannot enter the temple. Not now, not later.


Talk to Theophilus, who is, to put it mildly, unfriendly towards the Romans. He is aggressive, so you can choose what to say to him. If you have already captured Misia and sent your legion there, then you can threaten Theophilus with reprisals by declaring the temple to be your place. The other two options do the same, but the conversation will continue. You can threaten Theophilus if you choose the appropriate life path. The purpose of the conversation is to force him to withdraw his troops from the siege of Kyzikos. Ultimately, he will abandon such an undertaking, and at the exit from the location, you will meet a woman named Zenobia. She claims that Theophilus killed her husband, the rightful ruler of Mysia. The woman asks for help in revenge in exchange for the fact that she will contribute to the withdrawal of the Mysian troops and the conclusion of an alliance with Rome.


You need to find a way to kill Theophilus. Chat on all topics with Zenobia to get three options. You can find poison, a correspondence with King Mithridates to trick Theophilus into facing you alone, or find leverage for Theophilus to attack you in front of the temple.


Where to find poison

If you decide to follow the path of poison, you can buy it from a merchant in the fishing village of Troad during one of the upcoming story quests. The poison costs 400 denarii, but once you buy it, the task of finding the poison will be completed and the quest will direct you back to the Temple of Apollo. Arriving at the place, you need to find someone who will agree to poison Theophilus. He can become his student Rain, who can be found all the same, on top of the temple, in a small park on the left. Talk to Ryan and ask if he likes his master. After you hear the answer, you can ask him to put a bay leaf in Theophilus' tea.


There are two ways to convince Ryan to poison his master. The first is through the rhetorical style of Ethos, threatening his family (if you choose this life path). Or you can pay Rian by spending 1000 denarii. In both cases, Rian will tentatively agree and then kill Theophilus. To continue the task, you will have to talk to Zenobia again.


Levers of pressure on Theophilus

After talking to Zenobia, go up the stairs next to the woman to find two girls talking about Theophilus. One of them will say that she is his secret mistress. After that, she will leave, and you can follow her to a secluded place next to the statue. Talk to the girl. Ask for Theophilus and mention that you heard her words. Then you will be offered two ways out of the situation. If you follow the Paphos path, you can persuade the girl to help you. The second way is to kill Theophilus' mistress in cold blood. In the second case, you will receive a medallion. Show it to Theophilus to attack you. Defeat the enemy. After killing him, return to Zenobia to move on to the next part of the quest.


Correspondence between Theophilus and Mithridates

You can also search the location "Temple of Apollo" to find the correspondence between Theophilus and Mithridates. It is hidden in a crate behind the temple in the upper left corner of the fire extinguishing area. You can put it out yourself to get to the documents right away, or refuse and come back here later when the fire goes out. In any case, search the box and take the note. As soon as you receive the documents, return to your camp, where the legion stands, and chat with Sineros. He will say that he will be able to forge the handwriting of Mithridates in order to lure Theophilus into an ambush. He will offer to resolve the issue without bloodshed, with which you can agree or declare that you will kill Theophilus.


After the conversation is over, Sineros will forge a letter, and you will be directed back to Zenobia, in the temple of Apollo. Tell her about your intentions, after which she will deliver the letter to Theophilus. And you can go to a secluded place outside the temple, on the mountain on the right, to meet the leader of Misia in private.


Head to the mountaintop ruins east of the Temple of Apollo. Theophilus will be surprised and ask if you are going to kill him. After that, Zenobia will appear, who will report that this was the plan. Theophilus will try to explain himself by stating that Zenobia's husband was a bad ruler. And even declare that he will come over to your side in the future. From here, you can do things differently. You can choose between arresting and killing one of two characters. Let's figure out what will lead to what.


Kill or spare Theophilus

If you decide to convince Theophilus, an animated scene will start in which your character will kill the man, and then talk to Zenobia, who will offer to continue communication in the temple of Apollo. Returning there, she will tell you that you can sneak into Mithridates' camp unnoticed, but you will have to find and destroy evidence of the agreement between Misia and Mithridates, which gave the latter the right to Troad. Go to the scout camp, where there will be another battle. Steal the uniform and then visit Mithridates' military camp. Having done this, sneak into Mithridates' tent and steal the documents lying on the table. Return to Zenobia to give her the documents and complete the task. For this, you will receive 140 exp and the achievement related to the fact that you made Zenobia the head of Mysia.


Kill or spare Zenobia

If instead you decide to kill or detain Zenobia, nothing much will change. Theophilus will remain at the head of Misia. You need to return to the temple of Apollo to talk with him, and then still infiltrate the military camp of Mithridates and steal the agreement between him and Misia. In this case, everything will repeat itself, but you will receive another achievement related to the fact that you left Theophilus at the head of Misia.

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