RomanQuest (11 page)

98

 

If there's going to be a wedding, this is where they'll hold it. The chamber is obviously the main hall of the entire villa, an enormous room with some fascinating - and rather naughty - frescos of nymphs and satyrs gambolling across the walls. Lots of vines with plump ripe grapes as well, all pointing to fertility and plenty - perfect sentiments for a wedding.

Except there's no sign of preparations. The great hall looks the sort of place you'd welcome guests, no doubt about that, but for a couple as important as Germanicus and Agrippina, there would be scores, probably hundreds, of guests and those sort of numbers require special preparations.

Something doesn't feel right.

Unless, of course, the Sibyl arranged for you to be transported back a few days before the wedding. That would be a really sensible move, give you time to find your feet and make your preparations.

Except the Sibyl hasn't been noted for sensible moves so far. Nor has Jupiter, come to that.

Something really doesn't feel right.

 

Perhaps if you keep going you might come across a crystal ball to help you figure out what. There are two doors out of this huge hall, one in the western wall to
CVII
and the other in the eastern wall to
LXXXIX
.

 

Please select an option from the previous page.

99

 

The sign above the door of this large building shimmers as your Mercury Phone cuts in with the translation:

THEATRE OF POMPEY

You stand for a moment frowning, wondering if this is the sort of theatre you would recognise from your own time - a place for staging plays - or is it something ghastly like the Roman Games?

Since there's only one way to find out, you push forward only to be stopped by a burly man with a toothpick in one hand and what looks like a very nasty club in the other.

“Ticket please,” he demands.

 

If you have a ticket to the Theatre of Pompey you can present it at
142
. If not you'll just have to get back to your tourist map at
25
and select another destination.

 

Please select an option from the previous page.

100

 

You are standing over the body of the wild-eyed woman when the Italian Police arrive with sirens blaring to drag you off to jail where, after a short, sharp murder trial, you remain for the rest of your life.

 

Which just goes to show violence has its drawbacks even in a game book. For a slightly longer solo adventure, try
starting again
and reviewing your choice of options.

 

Please select an option from the previous page.

101

 

“Here it is,” you say, handing the weapon over. “Use it well and your name will go down in history.”

“I doubt it,” Cassius shrugs. “History remembers the monsters, not the men who rid the world of them. I'd be prepared to bet that by the year 2000 you'd be hard put to find a single schoolchild who'd know the names of Cassius Chaerea or Cornelius Sabinus.”

“Maybe you're right,” you nod, but use it well anyway.”

“I certainly will,” Cassius promises. “Always providing you can get Caligula down here, of course.”

Your knees suddenly turn to jelly. “Me get Caligula down here? But he'll have me killed the minute he sees me - I threw a trident at him, remember.”

“He'll have forgotten that by now,” says Cassius confidently. “His mind's in tatters.”

“But supposing he doesn't?”

“That's just a chance we'll have to take,” says Cassius sternly.

A burst of cheering greets you as, with sinking heart, you push open the door. The crowd is celebrating the death of several more brave gladiators. Caligula is seated comfortably overlooking the arena. He turns at the sound of the door.

 

This is where you find out if his memory's improved. Throw two dice. Score 2, 3 or 4 and go to
116
. Score anything else and go to
152
.

 

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102

 

You take to your heels like a startled rabbit. At once the guards take off after you.

 

Make an Absolutely Anything Roll to determine whether or not you escape the guards. If it kills you, go to
13
. If it fails, turn to
38
. If it succeeds you can get back to your tourist map at
25
and select another destination.

 

Please select an option from the previous page.

103

 

“You got any weapons?” asks Marcus.

You nod.

“Well, give them to me,” he demands. “Same goes for armour.”

The gladiators who were fighting each other a moment ago are now gathered around you, so you've no alternative but to obey. In a moment you're standing vulnerable and helpless in the middle of these louts. Marcus hands you a wooden sword.

“You'll use this,” he says.

You look at it in horror. “Gee, thanks.”

“Your opponent is Cassius Brutus Trajan,” Marcus tells you. The close-cropped character with the squint smiles and nods. “All you have to do is survive six rounds with him. Kicking, scratching, gouging and stabbing in the back is all allowed. Now off you go and show us what you're made of.”

 

What you're made of is a lot of soft stuff that could get very hurt in the next few minutes. Cassius Brutus Trajan is carrying a +5 sword made from real steel. Your little Mickey Mouse wooden weapon hits at a measly +½
. If your cross-eyed opponent kills you inside six combat rounds, go to
13
. If you survive for six rounds, or somehow miraculously kill him before then, you can find out what happens at
128
.

 

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104

 

“Wrong!” exclaims Caligula delightedly. He looks thoughtfully into the middle distance. “First I'll have you skinned, then strangled, hanged, beheaded, baked, ground up then sprinkled on the sacred flame of Jupiter's Temple, I think.”

 

After which painful experience, you can make your way to
13
.

 

Please select an option from the previous page.

105

 

The happy sound of childish laughter rings in your ears as you approach this building. Youngsters are playing in the courtyard outside exactly as they might do at a school in your own time. Standing to one side is a tall, grey-bearded man holding a bell.

He glances at the nearby sun-dial and rings the bell. At once the children stop racing about and file obediently back into the building.

The grey-bearded man glances across at you. “Are you coming to join us?” he asks in a thick Greek accent. “You look as if you could do with a bit of education.”

 

Well, maybe, but unlike your own time, school is definitely not compulsory while you're adventuring. If you want to join this grey Greek pedagogue, take your place with the youngsters at
88
. If not, return to your map at
150
and select another destination.

 

Please select an option from the previous page.

106

 

“Wrong!” exclaims Caligula delightedly. He grins wickedly. “Only kidding. Now, your next question in the Quiz of Death is this: Who was the Emperor who followed Octavian? Was it Augustus? Was it Tiberius? Or - careful now, this may be a trick question - was it me?”

 

These are getting harder. If you think it was Augustus, turn to
92
If you think it was Tiberius, turn to
84
. If you think it was Caligula, turn to
68
.

 

Please select an option from the previous page.

107

 

This looks like an overblown cloakroom. If you were feeling posh, you might call it an annex to the main hall, the sort of place where slaves would take your cloak in the winter or wash your feet after a long journey, maybe even hand you a cheering goblet of wine-dark wine.

But there are no slaves here at the moment. Nobody at all in fact. The room is empty.

 

It's also only got one door, the one in the eastern wall marked
LXXXXVIII
.

 

Please select an option from the previous page.

108

 

“Have at you, Monster!” you yell, hurling yourself upon him. “It is my destiny to rid the world of your foul presence, as instructed by the Sibyl and abetted by the great god Jupiter.”

“Assassins!” screams Caligula. “Guards! Aid your Emperor at once!”

At which a crack troop of Praetorian Guards (every one of them a Hun) races into the temple to fall on you like an avalanche.

In the brief instant before your lights go out, you find yourself wondering how you could have forgotten the Emperor was guarded at all times.

 

Get hold of a good papyrus text on memory training (I can recommend Memory by Herbie Brennan, published by Scholastic, London, 1997) and study it at
13
.

 

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109

 

“Wrong!” exclaims Caligula delightedly. He looks thoughtfully into the middle distance. “Forced to eat yourself alive from the toes up, I think.”

 

After which painful experience, you can make your way to
13
.

 

Please select an option from the previous page.

110

 

The grey-haired man looks down at you and gives a quirky little smile. “Looks like you have to fight again.” He reaches into a fold of his toga and extracts a small leather purse which he tosses down to you. “Perhaps this will help.”

As you stoop to pick up the purse another gladiator lumbers over. “Looks like it's you and me, babe,” he growls. With which he launches a blistering attack on your unprotected body.

 

There's good news and bad news here and you definitely need to get the good news first. That leather purse you just picked up is full of Greek healing herbs (the Romans mostly leave medicine to the Greeks). Roll one die to find out how many doses you can squeeze out of them: each dose will restore a double dice roll of Life Points up to your natural maximum.

The bad news is that your second opponent has 50 Life Points, a +5 sword and body armour that deducts 5 from any blow you score against him. If he kills you, go to
13
. If you survive rob the corpse of that useful body armour and stagger off unsteadily to
70
.

 

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111

 

“Pro stercorem non tempus habeo!”
your Mercurial translator shouts as you tell the louts you've no time for this crap. “Get out of my way or eat steel!”

Rather pleased with your turn of phrase, you hurl yourself upon the close-cropped character blocking your way.

 

Thus giving yourself first strike automatically. And you'll probably need it since the goon has 50 Life Points and is carrying a +7 sword. If you survive the fight, go to
155
. If not, find your way to
13
.

 

Please select an option from the previous page.

112

 

Something wrong here. According to your Brief History of Ancient Rome, this should be the Pantheon, but it doesn't look at all like the picture in the book. That shows a circular building with a dome that was supposed to be the biggest in the ancient world. What you're looking at now is a rectangular temple with a gabled roof supported by a colonnade.

“Excuse me,” you ask a passer-by, “but this isn't the Pantheon, is it?”

“Certainly is,” he tells you. “Lashed up by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, as I recall, and as nice a little temple as you'll find in Rome.”

You check the Guide again and find the answer to the mystery in a footnote. The Pantheon in the picture is the one rebuilt by the Emperor Hadrian! What you're looking at now is the original - a wholly different building altogether!

Feeling rather pleased with yourself, you stride up to the imposing bronze double doors, only to find them locked.

 

That's irritating, but what can you do? Except possibly return to
25
and select another destination from your map.

 

Please select an option from the previous page.

113

 

Oops, you've just walked into a group of soldiers playing dice. They look up as you enter.

“Who are you?” one asks.

“What do you think you're doing here?” asks another.

“Did anybody ask you to wander around the boss's house?” demands a third.

“Why are you wearing funny clothes?” frowns a fourth.

“Nobody, nothing, no and they're the only ones I've got,” you tell them quickly. “Well, I'll just be going now.”

The largest of them climbs to his feet. “No you won't,” he says. “I'm feeling bored so I think I'll beat you to a pulp.”

 

There you have the mindset that created the Roman Empire. But enough of philosophy. This big clown has 60 Life Points and is so muscular that he strikes with +1 using just his bare hands. If you are using a weapon, he will pull a dagger that strikes at +3. The only good news is his three friends won't come to his rescue even if you kill him, this being in the nature of an impromptu sporting contest. If he kills you, go to
XIII
. If you survive, one of the soldiers will give you some army issue salve which will restore a double dice roll of Life Points six times running before running out. With this little gift you can depart from the northern door marked
XXXXVIII
or the western door marked
LXXIX
.

 

Please select an option from the previous page.