Play@YSDC

Forum Romanum- Rome, Italia
Mid-Morning- March 15, 44 BC

Artemis Gaius Sylvius, Spurius Papirius Valens, and Marcus Sabinus found themselves in the Forum, feeling like they had only gone to sleep a moment ago. Though they knew it was morning, the sun had gone completely dark. In their hearts, they knew the worst had happened even before they had seen some of their other friends enter the Temple of Venus leading a makeshift litter bearing the dead body of Julius Caesar, his arm hanging over the edge. Claudius and two other slaves bore the litter, while Senator Germanicus led the entourage, along with Caelia Alba, Titus Iunius Philo, Decius Lupus, and Aricus Callidus Gladio. By the time the three of them caught up to the larger group, they had already entered the temple and were in conversation with a beautiful priestess.

Artemis watched in total frustration and anger as the body of Caesar was taken up into the Temple of Venus well forward of where he and his colleagues had entered the Forum. "After all of it, we failed him, we are to late and the Republic is undone." Tears welled in his eyes as he made his way through the various swirling of people in the Forum. Artemis recalled past campaigns, setbacks and advances that had helped him gain his greater respect for the General. Artemis moved through the remaining people catching portions of their conversations and laments.

He mounted the stairs and took them two at a time. When he entered the Temple, he blinked a few times to let his eyes adjust and he could see his colleagues gathered around the most beautiful of women wearing the dress of a priestess. "So it was all for naught, Lady Caelia?" Artemis whispered as he joined the group.

"It was." Caelia whispers sadly. "Artemis, we failed him. And the perpetrators have fled into the crowds; there was a flood of senators running from here, we were just too late." She looks up at Artemis with a tear stained face,
"There are many small wounds but there was only one that delivered the mortal blow; struck with conviction straight through his heart." She shakes her head and looks up into the dark and tremulous sky, "Look, even the sun is mourning his passing."

She turns to the priestess, "Please, what does it mean; will the sun come back?"

Horrified but not surprised by the ghastly murder, Titus studies the heavens for any indications of what the disaster will portend. The darkening of the sky is obviously a sign of the gods raging against the assassination. He hopes to find some sign of hope in the sky that Rome will be able to survive.

Germanicus turns to Claudius and speaks sternly.

"Quickly, send for Marcus Antonius to come here and dispatch a messenger to my wife and tell her to seal the gates and bar all visitors save Jupiter himself."

"Senator, didn't the Consul stop the murderers? He said he would have men with him and be prepared to intervene?" Artemis' shock and bewilderment continued to resonate within his voice.

Claudius sets off to do as bid. He heeds the urgency of his Master's tone as he finds two slaves to dispatch his messages.

Germanicus shakes his head gravely.

"I believe the Consul, just like myself, was delayed by cruel Fortuna."

"The sun shall return, my lady," said the priestess, "but noble Caesar is now with the gods."

No sooner had the slaves stepped outside than one of them returned, followed by Marcus Antonius, out of breath from running, and his entourage of lictors and servants. He let out an agonized wail when he saw the body of Caesar. He lowered his head, tears streaming down his cheeks. For once, he seemed at a loss for words.

Titus stared at the darkened sky. It seemed extremely odd to see stars in the daytime. Apparently they were always there, but the sun would normally outshine them. The brightest of the stars was Venus, and she was positioned directly over her temple.

OOC,[b]Titus[/b], please roll Science(Augury).

Fearfully, Titus looks to the skies for guidance as to what this strange appearance of the stars foretells.

Lupus shook his head gently, feeling as though he had been walking in a dream or nightmare fog from which he could not escape.

"Scaevola! We must stop him; if we hurry he'll still have Caesar's blood on his hands." Caelia turns to Germanicus, " We learnt that Senator Scaevola is a leader of the Brotherhood; it was his plan to kill Caesar personally and if he did it ritually with a special knife he would somehow gain magical powers; all in the name of Thoth and the Sphinx. Now he has succeeded there is no telling what evil havoc he intends on!"

Germanicus walks over to Marcus Antonius and embraces the man like a brother.

"We were unable to save him, but what strength we have should be used to save Rome from the jackals that have brought down our truest friend."

The senator turns his attention to Caelia.

"Scaevola? He has already wrought the worst he could and brought about the blackening of the Sun. What other evil has he in store then?"

Caelia Alba stares up into the black sky and says bitterly, "This is only the beginning; Scaevola and his followers worship Thoth and the Sphinx. They are preparing for the day when the stars are right and Thoth will descend to rule the world with the Brotherhood as his servants. By killing Caesar with this magical dagger, Scaevola has been given untold power; a 'magician' with which he'll further the Brotherhood's heinous designs. I know all this because I took Scaevola's initiation ceremony and became one of the Brotherhood. "

Titus dares to interrupt. "Tell us more of this Brotherhood, and how it may be thwarted."

Marcus Antonius slowly recovered from the shock. "I was too late..." he mumbled. "His body should be taken to his house, to Calpurnia. I...I must go now." He extracted himself from Germanicus's embrace and hurried out of the temple.

Artemis shook his head in disbelief as the Consul left the temple and the dead body of the leader of the Republic.

"What will we do now? The City will be in a panic and that will not make any effort to avenge poor Caesar easier by anyone. Where were the others we started the evening with? " Artemis asked as he looked about those who were inside the temple. The beauty of the place was lost on the signifier as he tried to identify people in the crowd.

"Calpurnia? Yes, poor Calpurnia...Antonius! Wait, don't act rashly! Come to my mansion at noon and we shall take council!"

Germanicus looks on as Marcus Antonius leaves.

"Prepare to bear Caesar's body to his home..with Venus's blessing, naturally."

He looks at the priestess for a moment and then to those present.

"The time has come for all under the sun to make a choice. The enemies of the Republic will move swiftly now to seize what power they can and to eliminate all those that were Caesar's friends. If you walk out with me then you will become their enemy. If you choose to stay, you will become mine, for I intend to avenge myself upon his killers."

"Well, General, we have seen worse odds I am certain," Artemis said with a bit of a smile. "It does seem like a good time for a walk outside, so let's go and see how now we can try to save the Republic our Caesar died for."

Lupus' violently scarred features looked thoughtful. How can I help here?

"General, I am with you."

"I've spent years tracking men and beasts in the wild. Tracking is just reading a story of what has happened. The great city is much different of course, but I may yet be able to make some sense of the bloody footprints in the Theatre of Pompey, perhaps read that story. If there was perhaps one who did not act with the many, that man may be the ring leader?"

"With your leave, I shall head back to the bloodied Theatre."

"I am with you, Germanicus. Tell me how I can best help. If it means returning to the temple of the Brotherhood under Scaevola's residence then so be it." Caelia stands resolute.

Germanicus manages a sad smile and nods.

"My heart is strengthened by your ardour, though my spirit is much troubled by what has transpired."

He turns to the priestess and gives her the ornate gold ring from around his thumb.

"Sacrifice to Venus so that she might guide our hands and hearts in avenging Caesar's murder. We have a great work before us and we shall be in need of her support before too long."

"And now, friends -for we are made such by Fortune and spilt blood- we shall make the first moves against our enemies. The assassins will want to present themselves to the people as the champions and liberators of Rome. It is vital that we seize that bid from them.
I pray that Marcus Antonius comes to my house at noon, it would be unfortunate if our strength was divided. And so all of you should meet me there too, but I need you to go into the City first. Go with open ears and a quick tongue, remind everyone of the good things Caesar did: lowering the cost of living, securing the grain supplies, limiting the power of the aristocracy. Make sure they understand he was the people's champion against the Optimates.

He sighs deeply and looks with sad eyes towards Caelia.

"That much for the mundane then and again I am forced to see you descend into the lion's den, my dear Caelia Alba. White your name and arms may be, but your heart's blood is fiery red. It is essential that we find the extent of this conspiracy and you, it appears, are close to its roots. Find out what the role of this Brotherhood is, if they are the architects of this foul plot, or merely profiting from it. Give me names, Caelia, and I will make them bleed. If you are in need of aid, send me an invitation for lunch and I will move the heavens to come find you. If you are asked to lure me to a place, add to the invitation that you'll make wine-boiled octopus. Scaevola knows it's my favourite and won't suspect a thing."

He claps his hands and smiles at the two soldiers.

"I am sure we'll able to make use of your tracking skills soon enough, Lupus, but now I need you and Artemis on the streets.You have your orders, men, back at my mansion at noon!"

"Lupus, let's look for the veterans of the legion, those that Caesar was loyal to and helped get home from the battle fields. We need to talk to the about the greedy men, these murderous Optimates, trying to create their own kingdom here in Rome." Artemis smiled and nodded at the Senator. "Let us spend a few coin buying drinks to toast Caesar, Marc Anthony and our good General, I mean Senator Germanicus. We will find friends, Senator, ones you will find to be of great use.

Artemis nodded at the Senator again with a deep smile, saluted the veteran officer, and pivoted to leave with Lupus. Artemis adjusted his clothing and the fibula that held the cloak in place. He took a deep breath and stepped back out in the Forum.

Marcus slowly steps into the crowd, still shaken by how abrupt all these events were, and what a turmoil this was.

"So it seems despite everything we were too late... I won't accept this, please tell me in what I can be of assistance, perhaps I can go with you, Lady Caelia, they won't suspect a lowlife thief like me being with the authorities." He says as he looks at her, with his signature grin gone, his eyes filled with determination, as he closed his fists with great strength.

"Perhaps you could use me as an excuse for coming back, bringing a new "follower" to the brotherhood." Marcus said as he raised his head. "The more we can attack them from the inside, the better. They won't know what hit them."

Caelia watches the soldiers stride away into the crowd and then turns to Germanicus, "Thank you Senator, knowing I am in your thoughts will help bolster my resolve in the lion's den." She smiles,"Really? Boiled Octopus? It is a good plan though; rescued by cephalopod. I shall start back at Scaevola's residence, after returning home to don something more suitable than this frivolous and blood stained affair."

She takes the senator's hands, "I think you may have the harder ordeal keeping the Rome's politics from sinking into chaos; the Gods know how we to survive now, even without Scaevola's machinations. Good luck Germanicus, dear friend." She kisses him lightly on both cheeks and then turns away into the crowd, motioning Marcus to go with her.

"So, you are a thief? And there I was thinking you were an actor from one of Livius Andronicus' comedies." She walks swiftly, forcing the red headed man to keep up.

Lupus marched out with Artemis.

"Right, so our plan is to visit taverns and speak to the old soldiers? As luck would have it, I have a passing knowledge of the taverns of Rome. And I certainly feel like an old soldier today. Let's cause some mischief." Lupus claps his colleague on the shoulder.

Glancing back, he calls, "We shall see you at noon, General."

'Aye Lupus, let's have some fun. Lead on my friend. For there are thirsts to quench, and brothers to find." Arty said with a bit of a sigh, but Lupus' willingness to help and his knowledge of Rome's watering holes, there was a thread of hope laced within his words as well.

Germanicus saluted the soldiers and watched as Caelia and Marcus left, before turning towards the priestess.

"I trust Caesar can remain under the vigil of Venus until we have made preparations to transport his body to his house?"

" Claudius, go to the office of the heralds with all the haste you can summon from your deformed body. Have them announce in all the suburbs of the City that the body of the hero of the people, Gaius Julius Caesar, will be transported in procession from the Temple of Venus Genetrix to his house at the tenth hour of the day. In honour of Caesar's passing, all grain rations in the subura will be doubled for today."
"Next, messengers should be sent to all senators that the Senate of Rome invites all its upright members to join in the procession. Go now and meet me at Caesar's house. I feel, I may have a few things to explain to Calpurnia."

Claudius is anxious about leaving his master in the current circumstances.

“Master, of course I will do your bidding, but I fear for your safety” he mutters uncomfortably, shifting from foot to foot.

Germanicus slaps Claudius with a resounding backhand and scowls.

My safety is inconsequential when the very existence of the Republic is at stake! Go and do as you are told.

Claudius stumbles off to do as he is bid. His cheek smarts from the blow he received.

"A pox on him and his republic" he mutters. "I hope it does all fall. What good is it anyway?"

Caelia strides through the streets; many people are wandering around aimlessly, exclaiming about the dark sky; the torch lighters have been roused from their sleep to relight the street torches but it is still dark and shadowy in many places. She occasionally looks back to see if Marcus is following her. She plans to stop at her house, get changed and then head straight to Scaevola's residence.

OOC,They don't actually have torches or lamps in the streets of Rome, due to the risk of fire. [b]Germanicus[/b], [b]Claudius[/b], [b]Titus[/b], and [b]Decius[/b] are moving to the thread linked below:

Awakenings

OOC,[b]Caelia[/b] is moving to the thread linked below:

The Messenger

OOC,[b]Aricus[/b] is moving to the thread linked below:

Morituri Te Salutemas

OOC,Everyone else is moving to the thread linked below:

The Morning After