RomanQuest (16 page)

158

 

You draw yourself up to your full height.

“No, sir, I am not,” you tell him with great dignity. “I apologise for intruding into your bedroom, but the fact is I am a young person from almost two thousand years in the future who was on holiday in your beautiful country when I was approached by a Sibyl who wished me to change the course of Roman history by stopping the birth of one of your Emperors who would otherwise appear in the future from your present viewpoint, but who was also part of the past from my viewpoint.” You draw a deep breath and continue, “To that end, the Sibyl asked Jupiter - the god, not the planet although you would probably have assumed that already - to transport me back in time to the relevant point in Roman history but he made a botch of it and dumped me in Pompeii in the middle of the games, would you believe, and on exactly the day the volcano was scheduled to erupt, although you wouldn't know about that since it's still some time in your future, but I managed to escape and find the Sibyl who renegotiated with Jupiter - the god, not the planet - and even though he seemed a bit cross because I called him stupid, here I am!” You give him the benefit of your most ingratiating smile.

“You're nuts,” he says and pulls a sword from under the covers.

You stare at him in astonishment wondering what sort of man keeps a sword in his bed.

 

The sort who worries about people creeping up on him while he's sleeping, I expect., and now he's hurtling forward to make sure you never do it again.. He has 40 Life Points and that sword does +5 damage, but the good news is he's still sleepy so you'll automatically get in the first blow. You may only want to incapacitate him in which case you should know that he will fall down unconscious if you can get his Life Points below 10, allowing you to leave this room by the western door marked
XXII
or the eastern door marked
VIII
. He, on the other hand, has no interest in incapacitating you whatsoever and will do his level best to ensure you leave this room feet first for
13
.

 

Please select an option from the previous page.

159

 

In the main baths (according to your Brief Guide) the Romans ended their ablutions by passing through two rooms known as a tepidarium and a frigidarium. As you'd guess from the names, the tepidarium was comfortably warm, while the frigidarium was polar bear territory. But here in the villa, the two rooms are combined. The southern half of the chamber is heated by dry air blowing from ducts in the floor and walls, while the northern portion is mainly taken up by a swimming pool that looks about as inviting as a melting iceberg.

You are about to return the way you came through the door marked CXXXXI when you notice a second door in the northernmost segment of the western wall. Unfortunately, the only way of reaching it is via an icy plunge into that swimming pool.

 

If you want to risk your death of cold in the pool, you can take the plunge at
11
. If you want to show a bit of sense, you'll go back the way you came through the door marked
CXXXXI
.

 

Please select an option from the previous page.

160

 

The sign definitely said gelati, but there's not an ice-cream parlour in sight.

You're standing by a fence that runs the whole way round a still, deep lake. The summer air is filled with the hoarse sounds of tiny bullfrogs, each one making more noise than you would ever have believed possible.

And across the broad expanse of water is something that's even taken your mind off the high heat of this Italian summer. Leaning out to peer into the lake is a near-naked giant.

He is broad shouldered, heavily muscled and bearded. Even though he is kneeling by the water's edge his bowed head towers above the tallest of the tall trees in the copse around him.

Without a doubt this must be the Colossus of the Apennines, the very statue your parents dragged you into this park to see. They're still wandering about trying to find it and now you've practically tripped over it while looking for an ice-cream stand.

“It's actually a fountain, but I'm afraid they're having trouble with the plumbing,” says a quiet voice behind you. You turn to find yourself looking into the mild blue eyes of an elderly scholarly-looking gentleman. He shrugs. “But
sic friatur crustum dulce
, as they used to say round here.”

The phrase sounds oddly familiar. “What's that mean?” you ask him.

“It's Latin for That's the way the cookie crumbles,” he smiles.

You watch him as he walks away.

 

 

Finis

Make Your Choice

 

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The End

 

Thank you for playing! If you enjoyed this book, look out for more Herbie Brennan adventure books from Andrews UK.