Play@YSDC

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

Awan returned, escorting Story, Lucius, and Brook. The room was a vast square chamber. Murals and carvings, all Egyptian-themed, covered the walls. Some of them were rather disturbing, depicting people being sacrificed to the gods, Thoth being prominent among them. There was also a large idol of Thoth, the same size as the one of Anubis, in the center of the chamber. At Thoth's feet stood a sandstone altar on a raised platform with horns rising from the four corners. Akana lay on her back on the altar, her wrists and ankles tied to the horns on its corners and a gag in her mouth. She was badly wounded, but her wound had been treated. Another archway led onwards from the rear of the cavern. All of these underground rooms lay beneath the villa. It would have been expensive in terms of both time and labor to have them constructed, but Scaevola was surely not without those resources.

Elizabeth was here, and she looked overjoyed to see her friends. Also present were Caelia Alba, Titus Iunius Philo, Aricus Callidus Gladio, and the three cavalrymen: Decius Lupus, Artemis Sylvius, and Spurius Paprius Valens. Additionally, there were five Egyptian guards here. Artemis held a lit torch and was peering through the archway at the rear.

"Lady Caelia, it seems this is the Senator's library with a whole group of scrolls," Artemis said aloud as he peered back into the back of the temple.

Decius turns to Awan. "Thank you Awan," he gestures to the freed prisoners.

"Your man referred to the queen being worried about Caesar and needing assistance. I'm probably being a bit thick headed but I did not realise you or your men cared so much about Queen Cleopatra's opinion?"

"You are most welcome, Decius Lupus," said Awan, "Cleopatra is our Queen. She is the mother of our people. Why should we not care?"

Decius considers this news.

"And how do you feel about the queen's servant Nefertiti?"

"I do not know her well," said Awan. "She seems a loyal enough servant to the Queen."

"I would say she has her own agenda." Caelia says and notes Decius' expression. "Call it a woman's intuition if you like. Either she is Caesar's secret mistress or she loves him from afar or maybe it is for a more sinister reason. That, I don't know."

Caelia glances towards the room of scrolls, "Scaevola must have a wealth of knowledge here." She says, her eyes bright. "One might say burn it but what a waste that would be." Caelia has spent most of her life seeking such knowledge, traveling to Greece and Egypt many times. She has an almost hungry look in her eyes.

"If it is dark knowledge," said Awan, "it should be burned." He raised his torch. "Do not succumb to the temptation. There are things I have seen that no man should see."

Brook heads over to Elizabeth and hugs her. "I'm so glad you're allright."

Elizabeth wraps her arms around Brook and hugs her back. "Thank you, Brook," she says. "I'm glad you're okay too!"

Story looks around at everyone and smiles at Elizabeth and gives her a thumbs up before turning his attention to the larger group as he says, "Excuse me. Not to be a downer in this moment, but unless I'm missing something what are we going to do about Scaevola's beastmen in the room with the fine accommodations that the three of us just came from? There's nothing stopping them from walking in here and slaughtering us all."

"They will not leave their chamber unless something happens," said Awan, "or if they are ordered by their master. As far as they are concerned, I am carrying out his orders. You are right to be concerned, though. He could return from Rome at any time, and we must make haste to leave. I know he has a secret way in and out of the villa. Perhaps it is through the archway at the back."

Decius' attention is certainly drawn by the word "beastmen".

"Beastmen? Are they any relation to the giant sphinx in the front garden? But let's head through this other exit, perhaps it is the secret escape route?"

"There is indeed a connection," said Awan, leading the way through the archway at the back. "Senator Scaevola calls them the children of the Sphinx."

The room beyond the archway was long and relatively narrow. It was lined on both sides by shelves filled with papyrus scrolls. In the middle of the chamber, though with room to go around them, were a table and a writing desk. Lying on the table were three knives of excellent quality and a small, thin object that looked like some kind of magic wand. At the far side of the room was another archway, beyond which was an upward-sloping tunnel.

Story/Elizabeth/Lucius/Brook,[b]Story[/b] and his companions recognized the knives as the ones they had found in Dunwich, and the wand was [b]Story[/b]'s sonic screwdriver.

Story walks over to the table and picks up his Sonic Screwdriver. He looks it over, tests it, and then puts it safely into his pocket. Feeling complete he turns and hugs Elizabeth while whispering in her ear.

Elizabeth,[color=#0000FF]"You are a dear friend. I'm glad you made it out safely and got help. Forgive me for the horrors of this day."[/color]

Elizabeth whispers back to Story.

Story,"There's nothing to forgive," [b]Elizabeth[/b] whispered. "Everything worked out okay, and I'm just glad that you three are all right."

OOC,The spoiler button won't open when there's an apostrophe in the title. You should edit your post to just say "[b]Elizabeth[/b]" so that her player can open it. I was able to see what was inside it by quoting your post.

Decius draws his borrowed khopesh (he's secretly getting a bit fond of it) and approaches the further archway and the tunnel heading up.

"What do you mean beastmen? Artemis continued forward into the room of scrolls and carried the torch held aloft. He looked about the room. He paused, pkaced the mace on the table, and lifted up one of the knives. He examined it and tucked it into his belt just in case. He grabbed the mace handle and continued forward with torch and mace.

"Um," says Elizabeth to Artemis, "those knives belong to my friends. I have one just like them. They must have been taken from them when they were captured."

Awan joined Decius at the far end of the chamber. The tunnel continued upwards into darkness. A fresh breeze was coming down it.