IC-Ep 1-A Royal Audience(Everyone else)

[Mr. Handy]

Cleopatra's Palace- Rome, Italia
Morning - March 14, 44 BC

Story and his comopanions, accompanied by Caelia Alba, Artemis Gaius Sylvius, and Spurius Papirius Valens, made their way through the majestic front entrance to the palace. The inside was even more splendid than the outside. The floors were decorated with mosaics and the walls with murals. Statues with a decided Egyptian theme were also prevalent, including several that had the body of a man and the head of an animal. There was one with the head of a cat, another with what looked like a dog's head, and a few other forms. None of them had the head of a snake, however. The statues were inlaid with gold and precious stones. The group proceeded straight ahead as instructed, and soon everyone came to a lavish antechamber and caught up with Titus Iunius Philo. The augur had walked slowly, so he had only just arrived himself. Two more Egyptian guards flanked a pair of mahogany double doors at the far end of the chamber. In one corner stood Adelphus, speaking with an Egyptian woman in hushed tones. She was not Cleopatra. While her clothing was made of expensive and rare silks from further east than Egypt, she was clearly a servant here, albeit a prominent one.

Spoiler:

Everyone, please roll Listen.

[aine]

Caelia looked around in wonderment at the beauty and lavishness. She recognised some of the statues; Bastet, Anubis and Thoth amongst others.

Spoiler:

listen (25%) roll: 14

[yockenthwaite]

Elizabeth rolling Listen (stat 38%)

yockenthwaite rolled 1d100:
71

[jaysun81]

Story takes note of Adelphus in the corner with an Egyptian woman.

Spoiler:

Listen 34% - [1d100] = 18

[Mr. Handy]

Spoiler:

Lucius's Listen roll (50% skill) to overhear Adelphus and the Egyptian woman:

Mr. Handy rolled 1d100:
88

Spoiler:

"It's all right," said the woman in Egyptian to Adelphus. "The important thing is that you got away from that gladiator. Do you know who might have sent him? Who is his master?"

"I recognized him right away," said Adelphus. "He's famous. His name is Aricus Callidus Gladiio, and he earned his freedom in the arena. From time to time he will venture back in for a fight. In fact, Brutus Albinus just recruited him for tomorrow's games in the Theater of Pompey."

"This could be bad. Do you think Albinus is one of the assassins?"

"In truth, I know not, but now that you mention it, he does seem suspect. This may be our only lead, but we dare not show our hand. If he is involved, he is clearly not the only one. I saw many knives in my vision, not just one. What can we do, Nefertiri? We are running out of time!"

"Be calm, Adelphus. We have a day, and anything can happen. You dare not show your face in the city for the rest of the day, but I can still move about. Tonight I shall send a dream to Calpurnia in an effort to warn her."

"Calpurnia?" Adelphus gave her a skeptical look. "Why would Caesar listen to his wife? It is your mistress he loves."

"He loves her, yes, but he respects Calpurnia and trusts her. He would not heed his own dreams, but he may heed hers. He is a great man, but he is confident, stubborn, and thinks himself invincible. Those qualities that make him an excellent leader also make it harder to save him. As long as we can get Caesar to stay home tomorrow, he will be safe. We know that it happens tomorrow, and we know it will be in or around the Forum. If Caesar does not go, he will live. The danger will have passed, and the vision will be broken."

"Can it even be broken? I have never had a vision fail before."

[Ritterton]

Ritterton rolled 1d100:
60

OOC:   typed out on my cell phone something similar three times while visiting my 89 yr old grandmother, and her connections here at home are problematic..lost them three times. so, adding it even with the info from Handy...Make that four times....as my own laptop apparently decided to self edit the story. LORDY!

Artemis was in awe of the opulence of the temple-palace of the Queen of Egypt. Columns of marble and gold with ochre red paint almost hid from the light of the gold, ebony, ivory and bejeweled statues. Artemis tried to hear the lady in up ahead of him as she whispered the various names, but lost his attention as he came abreast of life size statue of a falcon headed deity holding an oval topped T. He stopped and studied the head that was made of gold, ivory, and fine woods. He studied the face, the pose and the adornment.

"He is Horus, son of Osiris and Isis, the battler of darkness," the guard whispered in his deep timbre. Artemis turned and caught the guard's face and noticed that his was pointing to the most exquisite of female forms that was the one statue that did not have an animal head, rather she wore a large headdress of a disc held between horns. Artemis had never seen anything so ornate in its bejeweled
adornments that followed a truly sublime feminine form. "The Queen herself was the model for that statue," the guard's rich toned whisper interrupted his As he studied the statue of fine wood, gold, and jewels criss-crossing the body. Artemis felt his face flush and he quickened his pace hearing the chuckle coming from behind him which only made him blush even more so.

He came up behind the group he had had the good fortune of falling in with. As he did so, he saw an older man bow slightly to a woman finely attired and beautiful in her own right, but not of the same beauty of the statute that had captured his thoughts moments ago. They were conversing and while he caught the name of Caesar and his wife Calpurnia, Artemis could not understand the language. The older man bowed slightly and started to turn as the group came to a stop. The woman was finely dressed and wore gold and small jewels, all of which exceed any value that the retired soldier had ever seen in his life.

[Mr. Handy]

Spoiler:

I'm sorry you had to go through all that. You failed the Listen roll, so you do not hear anything that Adelphus and the woman are saying, not even the names. Had you succeeded at the roll, I would have created a separate spoiler button for you listing the names they spoke. Since you don't speak Egyptian, that's most likely all you'd have gotten, but I would have given you the chance to roll against the base Other Language skill at 01%. In any case, you should not have opened the spoiler button above, as your character's name is not on it. Also, please refrain from putting words in an NPC's mouth. If you wish to speak to an NPC, you may do so, and I will have them reply.

[dustakr]

Spoiler:

dustakr rolled 1d100:
18

Spurius was lagging behind on each turn with group, considering he was on his own at mercy of guards in this big palace..he quickly catches up with group again..meanwhile he recognizes old man Adelphus from that far distance...

[Mr. Handy]

Spoiler:

Spurius could hear the two conversing in Egyptian. While the language was unfamiliar to him, he could clearly make out the names they referenced. Adelphus mentioned Aricus Callidus Gladio, tha gladiator they had met in the Forum, and both of them mentioned Brutus Albinus, who had been there too. Adelphus referred to the woman as Nefertiri, and they also discussed Calpurnia, the wife of Julius Caesar, and Caesar himself.

Spoiler:

Spurius, you may roll Other Language: Egyptian, which has a base skill of 01%, to see if you are able to understand anything further.

[Thorn]

Brook listen 45 %

Thorn rolled 1d100:
6

[aine]

Caelia turns very pale as she listens to the old man and the Egyptian noble woman. She looks around to see if anyone else had heard them and she catches Story's eye. The Queen was unlikely to wish to be bothered by the group when something much larger was at stake. But then maybe they could help;although they'd have to tread carefully not be suspected as spies - or worse.

[Mr. Handy]

Spoiler:

Brook could tell that both Adelphus and the woman he called Nefertiri had the same accent, and a very odd one at that. It did not sound quite like anything she had ever heard, before or after she had started traveling in the TARDIS. The difference was subtle, but she could detect it. Though the voices sounded human, or at least a very good approximation, there was something just a little off about them.

Spoiler:

Brook, you may read the spoiler button above that was originally labeled just for Story and Caelia. In addition, you get the information described above.

[dustakr]

Spoiler:

dustakr rolled 1d100:
90

[Thorn]

Brook looks to Story, frowning a little at what she'd picked up from the hushed conversation. "Quite a moment in time..." She moves closer to Story, speaking quietly. "I'm not sure they're from around here..."

[yockenthwaite]

Elizabeth looks quizzically, as she sees Brook speak quietly to Story.

[jaysun81]

Shifting his attention to Brook, Story says, "Agreed... though I must confess, I'm unsure how to proceed at the moment."

[Mr. Handy]

The servant woman continued to speak briefly in Egyptian, then stopped when she looked at the large group of people who had entered the chamber.

Spoiler:

"I don't know," said Nefertiri, "but we have to try. Wait, who are these people?"

Spoiler:

Titus Iunius Philo's Listen roll (25% base skill):

Mr. Handy rolled 1d100:
72

[aine]

Caelia bows to the Egyptian woman and speaks to her in Egyptian,

Spoiler:

(roll: 24) (Status roll: 61)"Madame, may the light of the heavens shine on you always, I am Caelia Alba, daughter of Caelius Albus Graecus, last year I had the honour of delivering the first son of Kemsiyet, companion of the royal household, may it be forever fruitful, here at the palace. I bring my friends who have news from the southern Delta, if you wish, they can introduce themselves. But I think you may already have had the news. In which case, may I offer our assistance? And would madame condescend to speak in Roman so that all may understand?"

[Mr. Handy]

The Egyptian woman smiled at Caelia and switched to Latin. "Your reputation precedes you, Caelia Alba," she said. "You are always welcome here in the house of the great Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile. I am Nefertiri, body servant to Her Majesty. Any friends of yours are friends of ours, and any assistance you can offer would be most welcome."

[aine]

Caelia Alba turns to her companions, "Nefertiri has already heard that there is a plot to assassinate Caesar, so our news is in fact old news." She smiles wryly at Story and hopes that the others will take the hint, shocking though it is. "I have vouched for you so I put my trust in you all and have offered our assistance, if that is still acceptable to you?"