IC-Ep 3-Sacrifice(Everyone else)

[Mr. Handy]

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

The captain of the guard led the way past the statue of Anubis into the altar room, followed by Decius, Aricus, and Spurius. The gladiator had a minor wound, but Spurius had a nasty neck wound. They were followed by two more guards. Some distance behind them, in the antechamber, out of view of those in the altar room, two more guards approached the archway. Elizabeth. Titus, and Artemis were behind them.

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. Caelia lay on her back upon the altar, her wrists and ankles bound to the four horns. Akana stood over her behind the altar, carrying a lit torch, and another guard was present. 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.

"We have captured three more prisoners, Akana," announced the guard captain. "The rest were slain in battle. We have also taken some casualties."

Akana's eyes narrowed, and she took out a pugio from underneath her robes, holding the point above Caelia's heart. "Not another step, or she dies!" she shouted, glaring at the new arrivals. "What treachery is this?! When you take prisoners, it is customary to disarm them!"

Spoiler:

[b]Akana[/b]'s Spot Hidden roll (25% base skill): [dice]0[/dice]

[andyw666]

Spoiler:

What sort of distances are we talking for this room? Does [b]Decius[/b] have more chance fining a few arrows or could he run to Akana in a round?

[andyw666]

Decius throws off his cloak, confirming that he is armed and armoured, and again uses his loudest battlefield voice. "Stop! Your fight is lost! We outnumber you and there is nowhere to go! Surrender now and you will not be mistreated. I will deliver you to Senator Germanicus who will see you get a fair trial."

"I have a lot of blood on my hands today and would prefer no more be added. But by all the gods, if you harm that lady, I will slay you here and now."

Decius draws bow and arrow.

[aine]

Caelia is surprised to see the fierce Egyptian guards subdued - now how did they do that? Then all her focus is on the pugio suddenly held firmly above her. "A sacrifice without the correct incantations and procedure would surely be a waste!" Caelia mutters, there are only seconds in which to act; the ropes are well tied but if she can just move her hand so and carefully slice at the rope with her hidden scalpel while Akana is diverted...

Spoiler:

(15%) roll: 20

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Titus can do little but try to distract and confuse the madwoman before she can take an innocent life.

"Great Thoth!" he shouts. "Master of law and wisdom! Behold the blasphemous behavior of one who claims to serve you!"

[Mr. Handy]

Elizabeth and Artemis followed the two remaining Egyptian guards and Titus carefully into the altar room.

Caelia gripped the hidden scalpel in her mouth and sawed through the rope binding one of her arms, freeing it.

"We shall see who Thoth believes to be his true follower when he arrives!" declared Akana imperiously. "I think I know how a fair trial would go, so I will not be surrendering - but you will if you have any sense. Caelia Alba is correct that it would be wasteful to sacrifice her without the proper rituals, so I hope I do not need to waste her. Drop your weapons, all of you. You have until I finish chanting." With that, she began to sing in Egyptian, invoking the names of Thoth and Anubis.

Spoiler:

[b]Decius[/b], you are fast enough and the chamber is small enough that you could charge her and attack with your sword before she attacks, but you'd be better off with the bow, which gives you a better chance to hit and does the same damage. I reviewed the rules, and the damage bonus is only halved for thrown weapons. Bows get the full bonus. [b]Caelia[/b], [b]Akana[/b] is sufficiently distracted by the others that she doesn't notice what you're doing. I'll count that roll as a Knife roll, which succeeds. Now that you have a free hand, you can saw through one rope per round without having to roll anything.

[andyw666]

With one fluid motion, Decius draws his bow, raises it to eye level and lets fly.

Spoiler:

Bow skill of 75% and he rolls... [dice]0[/dice]

Spoiler:

[dice]1[/dice] + [dice]2[/dice] For a total [b]7[/b] damage

[Mr. Handy]

The arrow struck Akana full in the chest, and she fell backwards, dropping the pugio and the torch and lying motionless and bleeding on the floor. Aricus, Decius, and one of the guards rushed forward and cut the remaining bonds, freeing Caelia from the altar.

"Don't you know it's rude to not invite everyone to the party?" called Story in the distance.

Elizabeth brightened to hear his voice. "Story, we're in here!"

"I will go retrieve your friends," said Awan. "All of you remain here until I return. I won't be long." He returned back through the archway through which they had entered this room.

Spoiler:

[b]Akana[/b]'s Dodge roll (26% base skill) to avoid the arrow: [dice]0[/dice] [b]Akana[/b]'s CON x 5 roll (50% stat) to stay conscious: [dice]1[/dice]

[andyw666]

Decius looks repulsed by his own action.

Turning to Caelia, he says, "Lady, are you hurt?" His eyes turn back to Akana. "I had no choice, I had to shoot or she would have slain you. I have never before attacked a woman though. And gods willing, will never do so again."

[aine]

"That was quite a brilliant shot in this dark chamber, Decius, thank you. I hope you are not haunted for too long; she was an evil mistress who enjoyed a dark path; who knows how many others have died under her knife already." Caelia climbs off the awful alter with a shudder, "The crocodiles have missed their dinner of entrails and eyeballs thank goodness." She mutters and bends down to check if Akana is truly dead. She then turns to the Egyptian guards, "I saw one of you was badly wounded - can I help him now? And Spurius, I'd better have a look at your neck."

Spoiler:

(70%) rolls: 39, 66

[Ritterton]

Artemis had stepped into the lower chamber in time to watch the Decius's arrow fly remarkably true. As Lady Cealia freed herself, he came up to Decius. ["Fortuna favored you. You did what was needed to help the Lady in her time of need, well done."

Artemis patted Decius on the back and then watched Awan leave after hearing Story's voice. It was becoming obvious to him that the nature of the underground area was much larger than he had expected. He looked about the temple they were in trying to get a sense of the space and if there was more hidden in the shadows.

Spoiler:

Looking about - spot hidden? Against 25 [dice]0[/dice]

[andyw666]

Decius nods his thanks to both Caelia and Artemis.

To Caelia he adds, "Lady, I am impressed that as you were being sacrificed, and secretly trying to escape, you were criticising that woman on her sacrifice technique. Good work!"

[Mr. Handy]

"She made it" cheered Brook in the distance. "Careful! There are guards in here!"

"I have come for the prisoners!" proclaimed Awan from the same direction. "Stand aside!"

Caelia found that Akana was still alive, though badly injured and unconscious. She bound Spurius's neck wound, stopping the bleeding, and helped one of the guards, who had a slight injury from a pilum.

"The injured guard remained up above," said the guard as she helped him. "There is another one up there too who broke his ankle last night. Thank you, my lady. Please accept my apologies for the way you were treated."

The only other thing of interest Artemis had noticed was the other archway at the back of the chamber leading further onward.

Spoiler:

[b]Caelia[/b], please roll 1D3 to see how many HP [b]Spurius[/b] recovers.

[Ritterton]

"hmhm, it goes further back, why?" Artemis asked aloud as he realized that there was another arch behind the alter. He turned to one of their new allies and asked, "What lies behind the archway there? Do we need to secure that way?"

[Mr. Handy]

"I know not," said a guard. "We are not allowed back there. It is forbidden. The captain did say we should wait for him to return."

[Ritterton]

"Yes, yes, he did, but it seems a bit odd that this cavern would continue past this place. I mean what would you want to put behind a temple?" Artemis said as he took a few steps closer to the alter that had been the focus of events moments ago.

[aine]

Caelia says to Decius as she applies a salve to Spurius' neck, "It was the only way to keep my mind off what seemed about to happen. If you all hadn't turned up, Akana was planning to cut out my eyes, entrails and other bits and feed them to the crocodiles in the name of Thoth. Has anyone gone to Caesar's residence to see if he is okay? Where's Nefertiri?"

She frowns, "I'm sorry Spurius, I only have a very small amount of this salve with me; you'll have to come to the clinic later for me to finish the job." She scrapes out the last in a tiny phial.

"I don't know what's behind the alter but knowing Scaevola, it won't be pleasant. I think I'd rather not look myself. Akana is unconscious; you might want to restrain her in case she wakes up." Caelia does a brief job of patching Akana up but her heart isn't really in it and then says to the Egyptians, "Can you take me to the wounded upstairs?"

Spoiler:

for Spurius: 1hp. First aid on Akana (70%) roll: 62

[andyw666]

Decius nods and ties Akana's hands and feet with strips of torn toga. After a pause for thought, he gags her too (she is a witch).

"Lady, Nefertiti and her men have gone to see to Caesar's safety, joining up with General Germanicus I guess."

[Ritterton]

"Well, Lady Caelia, I fear that Scaevola's plot is still unfolding and that we have not fully understood all that he had available for it"Artemis held the mace at the ready as he attempted to peer beyond the alter and take in the arch.

Spoiler:

If there is a nearby torch, Artemis would try to use it to help send light towards the back of the chamber and the arch.

[Mr. Handy]

Caelia snapped the arrow and pulled out the two halves, then applied salve and bandages to Akana's wound. "There is no need to tear a toga," said Aricus. "There are ropes aplenty here that are perfectly serviceable. Let us tie Akana to the altar. See how she likes it." With help from Decius, they bound her securely and gagged her. She awakened, groaning, her eyes wide with terror as she struggled in vain.

Artemis picked up the torch that Akana had dropped and looked through the archway. Beyond it he could see a table with some objects on it in the middle of the room and shelves lined with papyrus scrolls on either side, extending into the distance.

"Caesar is in danger?!" exclaimed one of the guards. "The wounded can wait. We must do what we can to help him! Our Queen would be terribly upset if anything were to happen to him!"

Spoiler:

HP recovered by [b]Akana[/b]: [dice]0[/dice] Everyone is moving to the thread linked below:

Freedom