IC-Ep 3-Trapped(Caelia only)

[Mr. Handy]

Scaevola's Villa- southwest of Rome, Italia
Mid-morning- March 15, 44 BC

The guard who wasn't holding on to Caelia slammed down an iron bar into its holders with a resounding clang, thus barring the gates.

"Stay at the gates in case of trouble," said the guard who held Caelia by the arm. "I'll take her to Akana and send another guard to back you up."

[aine]

Caelia turned her head away from the gates; she was on her own. Trying to ignore visions of crocodiles eating her entrails and other unwelcome thoughts, as promised by Scaevola, she hoped her incarceration would be rather more mundane. She also hoped the others were high-tailing it back to Rome to protect Caesar. She allowed the guard to take her further into the villa without resistance but kept a good look out for any signs of the other prisoners or rescuers.

[Mr. Handy]

As Caelia's captor led her down the long colonnade and past the statue of the Sphinx, still gripping her arm, the physician looked back and saw her friends trying to come to the rescue. Decius and Artemis, two of the cavalrymen, pulled themselves to the top of the wall at the left front corner of the estate. At the same time, Spurius and Aricus reached the top of the wall halfway between the corner and the gate. However, Spurius lost his grip and fell backwards behind the wall, out of sight. Caelia's guard gestured at the men climbing the wall. "Get them!" he bellowed in Egyptian. The two guards in front of the villa entrance rushed off towards the two cavalrymen, while the one in front of the gate hurried towards where Aricus was scaling the wall, all of them drawing their swords.

[Mr. Handy]

Caelia looked back and saw an incredible sight. Aricus stood up on top of the wall and drew his gladius and shield. Then he let out a ferocious roar that she could hear even from this distance and leapt upon the guard below him, knocking him to the ground with his shield and stabbing him in the chest with his sword at the same time. The guard fell, dropping his khopesh. Decius clambered down. Artemis dropped his pila within the walls and lowered himself to the ground. They barely had time to grab their weapons before the guards rushing themgot close. That was the last she saw before the guard gripping her arm pulled her into the vestibulum.

[aine]

Caelia could not believe the ferocity of her friends, she just hoped it would see them through but there was nothing she could do to help other than keep her own guards occupied. "Where are you taking me? To the secret rooms below the statue of Anubis? "
She asks in a loud Roman voice.

[Mr. Handy]

"That is up to Akana," said the guard in Egyptian, pulling her into the atrium, where Akana stood at the far end. "Akana, there are intruders climbing the wall! They must be friends of this treacherous woman."

"We must bring her below," said Akana. "I shall awaken the night guards." With that, she ran down a corridor at the rear of the atrium.

[aine]

Realising there was no point in subtlety anymore, Caelia shouted as loud as she could, "Help! Help! Under the statue of Thoth! Under Thoth!" And prayed that that someone would hear her.

[Mr. Handy]

The guard tightened his grip and hauled Caelia across the atrium. "You shall pay the price for your betrayal," he sneered in Egyptian. "You know what will happen to you." As they reached the entrance to the corridor, she could see that Akana was already through it and in the peristylium.

[Mr. Handy]

Akana knocked on the nearest of the three doors on the right side of the garden and pulled it open. "Wake up!" she ordered. "Arm yourself and wake your comrades! Intruders are here, and you must slay them!" Then she proceeded to the far end of the garden, towards the exedra where the secret stairway lay concealed. The guard pulled Caelia through the corridor and into the garden.

[aine]

Caelia was filled with a terrible fear of that ghastly alter below ground and struggled in vain to escape, "Help! Help!" She cried and then strained to hear what was happening back by the wall. "Where are the other prisoners? Have you killed them too?"

[Mr. Handy]

"They live," said Akana, glancing back as she entered the exedra.

Another guard emerged from the door that she had opened, carrying his khopesh and rubbing his eyes with his free hand. He pounded on the next door and opened it. "Wake up, intruders!" he called within in Egyptian.

As Caelia's captor dragged her onwards into the exedra, she could see two more guards running into the corridor behind her from the atrium, one of them grievously wounded. "Hurry, they're past the Sphinx!" the uninjured one called.

Akana had taken a lit torch from one of the indoor garden's wall sconces while two more guards present there had moved the large planter aside to reveal the secret stairway leading into darkness.

OOC,[b]Caelia[/b], please roll Listen.

[aine]

Caelia saw the wounded guard; the rescue attempt must be making some headway at least, she dug her heels in and struggled. "Please stop! Let me help this guard, he's badly wounded; I'm a surgeon and if he's not tended to immediately you might lose him." It didn't matter that he was the enemy, it was necessary to help him.

listen,(25%) roll: 09

[Mr. Handy]

Caella heard Elizabeth's voice in the distance calling: "Story! Brook! Lucius! Caelia! Can you hear us? Where are you?"

This was shortly followed by Decius letting out a tremendous battle cry and shouting "With me, troops, they're on the run now, but they'll rally if we let them! Quickly!"

"There's no time," said Akana in Egyptian. "Your friends are too near. Get her below," she said to the guard holding Caelia. "You two hide the entrance, then join the fight," she added to the other guards.

The guard overcame Caelia's resistance and forcibly pulled her down the stairs, clamping a hand over her mouth to keep her from warning her friends. Akana followed, and the planter was moved back into place behind them. Before long, they reached the chamber at the base of the stairs.

"Nobody will find you down here," Akana said to Caelia as she followed her and her captor into the altar room. "Scaevola may have been blinded by his infatuation for you, but I saw through you. Did you really think you could supplant me?"

OOC,Resistance Table roll (Guard's STR 13 vs. [b]Caelia[/b]'s STR 9: 70% chance) to drag [b]Caelia[/b] down the stairs without help: [dice]0[/dice]

[aine]

Caelia struggles as hard as she can, even trying to kick the plants and displace the soil in the planter in the hope of leaving a sign of her struggle. She doesn't have a chance to reply to Elizabeth unfortunately. Once below, she conserves her strength for the ordeal ahead. She straightens herself out and brushes down her stola.
"I can't think of one reason I'd wish to supplant you, whoever you are. You can't be that important in Scaevola's mind else I'd have heard of you." Caelia replies haughtily. "It must be dire having to spend most of your time below ground in these damp caves. You yourself must be infatuated with Scaevola to ever put up with this lifestyle."

[Mr. Handy]

"I spend most of my time in the villa above," said Akana, "and I am not infatuated with Scaevola. I love him, and he loves me. I am his apprentice, and he has taught me much of the ways of magic." To the guard she said. "Hold her down on the altar." As she went over to a corner of the room to collect some ropes, the guard pinned Caelia on her back on the altar, holding her down.

OOC,[b]Caelia[/b], you may roll Kick to see if you were able to dislodge some dirt from the planter.

[aine]

While Akana was busy and the guard was holding her over to the alter, Caelia attempted to retrieve a scalpel from her robes to it was easy to hand but hidden once she was lying on the cold stone.

rolls,Kick (25%) roll:34. Prepare knife roll: 12 (Not sure which is the best skill to apply this to)

[Mr. Handy]

Akana placed her torch in a sconce and returned with the ropes. While the guard held Caelia's wrists down, Akana bound them to the horns tightly. All of Caelia's worst fears from the last time she lay on this altar were coming true, and this time she would not simply be allowed to get up and walk away. Still, she had her scalpel hidden. It would be hard to reach and use with her arms tied, but she might be able to grip it in her mouth if nobody was watching her and use it to saw through one of the ropes to free one arm, with which she could later untie herself or cut the other ropes. It was the only hope she had, and she couldn't help but cling to it.

OOC,That would be a Conceal roll, which has a base skill of 15% and therefore succeeds. You manage to hide one of your scalpels where you can reach it, and they won't find it.

[aine]

Caelia would only have one chance of escape and even that was very slim. She waited quietly conserving her strength, she felt the reassuring shape of the scalpel in her hand but her heart was pounding, her skin felt clammy and her mouth was parched. She wondered how the rescue was going up in the gardens, even if they overcame the guards, what chance did they have of finding the hidden entrance? She tried to remember who she had given the clues to last time but her head was woozy from fear.

[Mr. Handy]

Caelia heard a girl's scream in the distance. It was coming from back the way she had come and through the other archway, through which she had never gone.

[aine]

"who's that? What's happening?" Caelia tried to turn her head; was the girl upstairs or further into the rooms? Maybe it was Elizabeth's friend. Caelia took a deep breath and shouted, "Help!" as loudly as she could.