Alea Iacta Parthia: Render Unto God (A Mythic Rome D&D 3.5 Storyhour) Chp. 5.; 6/22

For fans of the on-hiatus Alea Iacta Story Hour (http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=49805), I present a sequel/offshoot campaign, Alea Iacta: Parthia, that's running about once a year and about to have its second module.
This game takes place about 5 years after the current end of the main Alea Iacta campaign, with some old characters and some new ones. The SH will be in the format of letters from our old friend, Shast the Monkey, to his former "partner," Meloch the Pygmy, now peacefully raising a large family back in North Africa.

For newcomers, here's a teaser:

It is the 30th year of the reign of the great Roman Emperor
Lucius Mamercus Aemilianus, who is currently embroiled in a long, slow
war against the Parthian Empire in the East. In the politically tense
province of Judaea, local authorities have asked the Roman garrison
for help. Somehow, someone is stealing the tithes sent by Jews in Rome
before they arrive at their intended destination, the Temple in Jerusalem.
In the interests of maintaining security and justice, the procurator has assembled a
diverse group of interested locals and Roman citizens to find out just
what, in Caesar's name, is happening to God's money.

(For history buffs, this game takes place in an alternate, mythic
Roman Empire in approximately the early 2nd century CE. Magic and
prayers to all popular deities are effective to a limited extent, but it is a low-magic world. For the purposes of this game, the most relevant historical changes are a negotiated truce in the First Jewish War leaving Jerusalem and the Second Temple relatively
intact, if still full of conflicting religious groups. Christianity,
partially consequently, is a popular but minority sect of Judaism,
with comparatively few non-Jewish converts. The James faction won out.)

So, this will be a relatively short, but sweet SH, hopefully fun for old Alea fans and a good intro for new folks interested in a blend of history and D&D.

First Post: Did Those Feet In Ancient Time

Dear Meloch,

I know you can't read this, but hopefully you can pick up enough sestertii with your juggling fireball act to pay a scribe to read it to you. Heilyn the smith sends congratulations on the birth of the triplets; I advise you to groom them and bathe them every other day, at least. Don't worry, Cornelia still doesn't know you're alive, and we left her mother back amusing herself in Roma with a new Praetorian guardsman as her lover.

Where are we, you may ask, and why is Heilyn the smith with us? I write from Jerusalem, in the province of Judaea, a small, unimportant, impoverished place on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, between Syria on the north and Egypt on the south and with the Parthians and some free kingdoms to our east. Quintus Caecilius Metellus Minor, Cornelia's noble husband, is off commanding a Legion (the 9th, which you may recall from our earlier adventures) in the war against the Parthians, under the command of the Emperor.

He did not think that it was safe enough to bring his wife and young daughter (Caecilia, whom I wrote you of in the last letter, the one who pulls tails, and I think she may have her mother's magical talents) to the army camp itself. So he found us a nice house to rent here in the relatively civilized city of Jerusalem, only two weeks' journey from the frontier, where he can visit occasionally. I say relatively civilized because at least they have a bath, but it's much more chaotic than Rome or Athens. Fistfights are constantly breaking out in the streets, over obscure points of religious doctrine. The locals say they all worship the same God, but they seem to do so in many different ways.

Oh, and Heilyn? Well, he showed up, sweaty and bedraggled, on the doorstep ten days ago, asking for hospitality, and of course the mistress gave it. Apparently, he's still trying to figure out how to make a lightning bolt, so that he can repay his debt to Mercury after destroying half of Mercury's temple and stealing Lugh's cap (back) from him. So he's been wandering all over the Empire trying to find experts in light and fire magic who can teach him how to permanently trap lightning in a metal form. He claims to have had some trouble, because, well, when the God of Travelers is peeved and impatient with you, travel is not an easy and carefree adventure. He's in Judaea because he's heard that the Parthian Magi are experts in fire and spirit magic, and so he's hoping to find one to discuss magical theory with. Of course, almost all the Parthian Magi are currently trying to kill Metellus and his Legion, so I don't know how well theory discussions will go with them.

But Heilyn isn't the worst of our visitors. He doesn't even smell that bad anymore, after Cornelia asked him to take a long bath. Our real problem arrived five days ago. Apparently, Valeria Maxima, Metellus' mother and Cornelia's mother-in-law, decided to go on pilgrimage to the temples of Isis in Egypt to assuage her grief after Metellus Major's death two years ago. Having toured Egypt, she reasoned that Judaea was just next door, and she could pay a long visit to her son's family and get to know her granddaughter better.

I think if Cornelia hadn't sworn never to cast Suggestion on any of Metellus' family, she'd have convinced Valeria Maxima to go on a tour of Germania by now. She's both overprotective and meddlesome, and Cornelia feels she can do nothing right. Besides, she keeps muttering about new rites of Isis that she's learned, and that seems potentially dangerous.

Take this morning, for instance. Cornelia received a highly confidential communication from the Governor, requesting her presence and that of any of her "allies," and mentioning that Cimbrus Caesar had recommended her family as skilled in the investigation of...unorthodox problems. Valeria Maxima read the scroll over her shoulder on the breakfast couch and insisted on coming along, on the grounds that she needed to be able to protect her hapless, naive daughter-in-law from any political problems or intrigue. I think she was just bored. Cornelia requested that Heilyn and I accompany her, as, of course, we are actually experienced in dealing with "unorthodox problems." Heilyn grumbled a bit, but as she is providing him free lodging, food, and useful contacts, it seemed expedient for him to cooperate for now.

Well, the courier is about to leave for the port of Jaffa, which has just opened up again to the early spring ships, so I'd better entrust this scroll. I'll send more scrolls to tell you if anything exciting develops from this summons.

If you are well, I am well.

Shast the Monkey

Extraordinary happiness! Welcome back, Orichalcum. It's good to see more posts in your excellent setting. How often do you see this sequel getting updated, and is the original thread dead or just sleeping soundly? Is this the same group of players?

Sorry, ENWorld was down yesterday when I tried to post. I'll do the second chapter later, but for now, an answer to questions!

Fimmtiu said:

Extraordinary happiness! Welcome back, Orichalcum. It's good to see more posts in your excellent setting.

Thank you! It's good to be back!

How often do you see this sequel getting updated,

Click to expand...

My goal is every other day, with a total of about 20-25 posts for this session. The goal is to finish by July 20th, when I'll run the second session, and then I'll post that in August and September, barring unforeseen circumstances.

and is the original thread dead or just sleeping soundly?

Click to expand...

Just sleeping soundly; the original players are now in England, San Francisco, New York, Long Island, Boston, Chicago, and elsewhere, so getting together for a session is a bit tough. Someday, though.

Is this the same group of players?

Click to expand...

Some are the same, some different. Cornelia and Heilyn were played by the same folks as in the original campaign. CerebralPaladin, Marcus' player, decided to start a new character, who you'll meet shortly and is, I think, a great success. I actually ran this module twice so far, with an entirely new group of players (playing the same characters) at AnonyCon 2006, but for this SH I'm largely basing it on the first session. The other two players are actually Fajitas (of Welcome to the Halmae)'s mom and dad, great gamers in their own right - it's a small ENWorld!

Chapter 2: Clouds Unfold

Dear Meloch,

I'm sure you'll be curious to hear what happened after we all trooped off to the palace. The palace of the Governor was more of a legionary fort than a luxurious dwelling, but the Governor had ornamented the reception hall with local textiles and inlaid marble, so as not to offend some of the Jewish sects who were opposed to the artistic representation of people or animals - strange folks, these Easterners.

As we were led past the many guards, Cornelia whispered to Heilyn, "Gaius Ligurius, the governor, just arrived a few weeks ago. He's young, but said to be very honest, although not especially bright. There's some scandal connected with him, which is why he isn't on the frontier, but I haven't been able to ferret out what it is yet."

Gaius Ligurius, an average-looking dark-haired young man with a beaky Roman nose, sat rigidly upright on his wooden white curule chair. Standing next to him was an older, bearded man, dressed in the most colorful and shiny collection of garments I've seen in years. He wore a full-length blue wool cloak over a white linen robe and a multi-colored wool sash. Around his back was attached a sort of cloth square, woven from gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread and ornamented with onyxes. His front was covered with an elaborate golden breastplate adorned with four rows of 12 different gemstones, and his head was covered by a white turban adorned with a golden plate inscribed with some Hebrew letters. I wanted to leap over to his shoulder and start playing with the shiny gems, but Cornelia kept a firm hold of my tail. He had a serene, kindly expression on his face as he gazed intently at all the humans, clearly evaluating them.

The other two occupants of the room, besides the guards, were equally striking. One was a tall man in his 30s dressed in the uniform of the Temple Guard, every piece of metal burnished and every fringe in place. The other was a man somewhere in his twenties with an even longer beard than the shiny guy, trimmed to a point. He wore a tall pointed red hat and lengthy yellow and red robes over flowing pants, all of which looked like they had seen better days. He too, looked at us, more skeptically.

The Governor coughed politely to draw our attention. "Domina Cornelia, Domina Valeria, Master Heilyn, allow me to introduce you to the Kohen Gadol, Simon Ben Elieazar." He gestured to the shiny man. "The Kohen Gadol is the chief priest of the Jews, and he asked for my help recently on a matter of Temple business, a matter which I fear we have sorely let him down on."

The Kohen Gadol shook his head gently. "No, my friend, you should feel no guilt. It is I who mourn for the lives of your lost innocent soldiers. Had I known the dangers that awaited them, I would never have asked for your assistance. Better the money should be lost than so many cut off in their prime or forever mutilated."

"Yes, well, we're getting a bit ahead of ourselves," Ligurius answered. "The Kohen Gadol has also brought one of his most trusted guards, Shlomo ben Eliahu, to serve as a liasion to the Jewish community in this matter. Finally, this man (pointing to Master Pointy-hat) is Shirzad son of Sheherzerad, one of the three magi of the court of Parthasmaspates, the exiled King of Kings of Parthia who has taken refuge here in Jerusalem with us until the Emperor has restored his throne to him. We have asked for Shirzad's cooperation because there are some possible indications of Parthian magic being used in this attack on Roman and Jewish interests."

Heilyn, impatient as usual, spoke up. "Exactly what happened here, Governor? It's a wee bit unclare to me, you see?"

Gaius Ligurius nodded, realizing his mistake. "Briefly, two days ago, a caravan containing the Jewish inhabitants of Rome's Passover tithe to the Temple , some thousands of sestertii, was ambushed between the port of Joppa and Jerusalem. Some sort of bright flash blinded or killed an entire century of Roman legionaries guarding the caravan."

The Kohen Gadol adds, "If the money is not returned to the Temple before the beginning of Passover in five days, those worshipers will not have fulfilled their religious obligations. Time is of the essence, as is seeking justice for the slain."

Chp. 3: Our Clouded Hills

Shirzad stroked his beard, asking thoughtfully, "So, what kind of caravan is this, and what precautions did you take?"

The Kohen Gadol nodded thoughtfully, "You must understand, Magus, that Jews are required to tithe suitable sacrifices to the Temple here in Jerusalem. Traditionally, these would be suitable lambs, kids, and so forth. But many of our people have emigrated across the Empire, and the logistics of shipping 40 lambs from Roma or Ephesus to Jerusalem would be complex and extremely expensive. Therefore, one of my predecessors made a dispensation, allowing Jews outside Judaea to pay their tithe in coin, which we then use to buy sacrifices and support the priests here. Every 4 years, a special extra tithe is given prior to Passover, which begins in a few days. The ships laden down with tithes sail to the port of Joppa, where they are met traditionally by Temple Guards and escorted along the day-and-a-half journey up the foothills to Jerusalem.

Last fall, two loads of tithes, one from Ephesus and one from Roma, were stolen as the caravan made its way from Joppa to Jerusalem, we presume by bandits. There was no trace of the wagons or their guards remaining. The first tithe ship after the winter storms was due to arrive in Joppa four days ago. Worried about further banditry, I requested the assistance of the Governor and your legions."

Gaius Ligurius smoothly takes up the tale. "I assigned a century of troops, led by Centurion Lucius Valerius Plancus, to carry out the mission."

Both Valeria and Cornelia gasp slightly; Plancus is a client of the Metelli family, and has been to dinner once or twice at the household. He seemed to be a nice, earnest young man, determined to earn fame and fortune through military service. As a client, he is also their responsibility.

Ligurius looks sharply at them, and then continues, "Plancus led his troops slightly outside Joppa and then went into the city to meet the ship captain with a decury of ten, attempting to avoid publicity. They arranged to pick up the cargo from the captain after dawn the following morning. The transfer went smoothly, and Plancus and his men traveled all day into the foothills, along the Roman road. Shortly before sunset, they stopped to make a proper fortified camp. At some point during the setting up, they saw some sort of bright flash, and, according to the survivors, they were instantly blinded. They heard some tumult and noise of fighting, and then, after a few minutes, silence.

Sometime around noon of the next day, one of the scouts finally managed to wander into the next village, Emmaus, about three hours' walk from Jerusalem, by dint of feeling the Roman road with his sandals. The village sent a message to Jerusalem, and we sent another century to investigate and bring back our men. They found 82 blinded soldiers, including Plancus, exhausted, hungry, and with fierce headaches, but otherwise unharmed. They also found eighteen corpses, some with scorch marks on them - and the tithe wagons were missing. They searched the hills quickly, but found nothing, and deemed that the priority was in escorting our wounded and dead safely home."

"An understandable concern," Cornelia says politely. "Can we talk to the survivors?"

"Yes, they're in the infirmary," Ligurius answers. "You're also welcome to investigate the site and talk to anyone else you deem necessary."

"Can I look at the corpses?" Heilyn pipes up.

Both Shirzad and Shlomo gaze at him in disgust, and Valeria barely hides her disdain.

"Certainly," Ligurius responds after a pause. "They're in the mortuary, next to the infirmary. But they'll need to be cremated soon; the Jewish authorities are sensitive about unburied corpses."

Rah! Rah! Rah!

Unburied corpses in a hot land = rotten!

To be fair, Quartz, it is early April. They've got a few days in these particular circumstances.

***
Noting that Shirzad and Shlomo were staring somewhat at Cornelia and her companions, Ligurius decided to speak one last time. "Domina Cornelia, I asked for your help in this situation because Cimbrus Caesar himself informed me that you and your allies were the emperor's chosen agents for missions dealing with...unnatural occurrences. I do not know what killed these soldiers and stole the caravan, but it seems assuredly unnatural."

Cornelia responded calmly, "Thank you for your trust. Both Heilyn and I do have some experience in such matters, and we'll be glad to assist, especially to avenge the honor of Centurion Plancus, my husband's client. My mother-in-law will of course be remaining at home, as we could not possibly ask her to travel out into the wild foothills of Judaea."

"Nonsense," Valeria Maxima replied tartly. "Do you think I'd let my innocent daughter-in-law out there in the wilderness by herself? I need to protect you and your virtue!" It seemed clear to me and Heilyn that Valeria was more interested in escaping boredom than protecting Cornelia, as she'd made several acerbic comments about Cornelia's "virtue" before and after the marriage.

"Fine," Cornelia sighed. "Let's go off to the infirmary and mortuary."

Heilyn, Shlomo, and Shirzad walked off at a faster pace than the litter-borne women, so they reached the mortuary first. Shirzad paused for a moment and turned to the large red-headed smith and the tall, lanky Temple Guard. "Do you speak Aramaic?" Shlomo smiled, but Heilyn looked blank. "Hebrew?" Shlomo nodded, and Heilyn looked even more confused. "Greek"?

Heilyn's eyes lit up a little at the last one. "Small Talk Greece!...Sorry, translation spell dead now." he answered. Shlomo responded slowly, "I speak the common Greek, yes, though not very well."

Shirzad paused once more, and sighed, before resorting to his perfect patrician Latin. "I know the tongue of the Romans as well, though it is a simple and savage language."

Heilyn nodded. "We agree there," he said in Latin. "I am from Britannia, a civilized land."

"Where Britannia?" Shlomo asked, in halting Latin.

"Far north and west, across the great Ocean. It is a green land, full of tree and river spirits." Heilyn answered, longing clear in his voice.

Shirzad said in both Latin and Greek, alternating quickly between the two tongues as he spoke in turn to both Shlomo and Heilyn, "I believe that it would be highly useful for me to have knowledge of the state of the corpses. However, I naturally cannot desecrate myself by physically examining them."

Shlomo's eyes widened in surprise, as he answered in Greek. "I did not know that the Parthian Magi also followed the Law in this manner! I too would be rendered impure and require extensive rituals of purification were I to touch a corpse, but I would like to use the powers of God to examine them from a distance."

Heilyn shrugged, and said in Latin, "I don't know what Master Shlomo or you are complaining about, dead is dead, but I can certainly muck around with the bodies. No worse than skinning a pig, is it now?"

Shirzad translated, and both he and Shlomo looked a bit horrified and moved a step farther away from the smith. "Well, no, exactly, it is very much like skinning a pig. That's the issue!"

While the three men still failed to really comprehend each other, they agreed to let Heilyn go into the mortuary room and report to Shlomo and Shirzad, who stood at the far corner of the room with their noses and mouths covered by veils that Shirzad took carefully out of a pocket. Heilyn undertook a detailed examination of three of the eighteen corpses.

"Huh," he shouted across the room, "well, this one's interesting. Massive burn marks."

"What kind of burn marks?" Shirzad shouted back.

"Fire, not lightning, definitely - chars the skin differently, see? I canna tell magic or not, though, but it got him all at once, there's not much flesh left but his right arm, which is untouched. So I dinna think he fell into the campfire," Heilyn concluded.

"What about the other ones?"

"Well, this second one has some scorch marks on one side, but he died from all these wee gashes in his chest."

"Wee gashes?" Shlomo asked for a more precise translation from Shirzad. "Do you mean many cuts with a small weapon?"

"Aye, a sharp one, mebbe a bit curved at the edges?"

"Would a weapon like this have done it?" Shlomo pulled out an elegant, extremely sharp foot-long dagger with a slight curve.

Heilyn stalked over, hands dripping with blood and entrails. The Guard and Magus recoiled.

"Aye, perhaps. Is it some special dagger for Temple Guards, then?" he asked, always interested in new types of weapons and armor.

"No..." Shlomo responded, a bit of hesitation in his voice. "These daggers, sicae, are very popular here in Judaea. We adapted them from the Roman gladiatoral weapon. It takes a great deal of skill to wield them against a soldier with a sword and shield, however; I am a specialist, and I could do it, but untrained, they are simply daggers."

"Well, I dinna mention the most intairesting thing about this body. Look here!" Heilyn goes back to the corpse, fumbles around for a second, and then walks back to the other two. "Look at his eyeball!"

"Please, no closer, master Heilyn!" Shirzad gasps. "We will already need to be purified somewhat!"

"Aye, whatever, but do you see? His eye - it's fine, as far as I can tell. No trace of the white that marks a blinding. And the same is true on the thaird corpse, who died from a chest full of arrows," Heilyn explained.

"So, either whatever blinded the survivors leaves no physical trace, or these dead men were never blinded at all," Shirzad said, agreeing with Heilyn's deduction.

Chp. 5: Bring me My Bow

Meanwhile, the ladies Cornelia and Valeria were visiting the eighty-two blinded survivors in the infirmary. Naturally, they went first to the private room of L. Valerius Plancus, the Centurion and their client. The brown-haired, muscular young man was sitting dejectedly on a military cot, wearing a long tunic. As they came quietly in, he turned his head in a panic towards the door.

"Who's there?" he cried out, fear evident in his voice, his whitened eyes unable to locate them.

"Cornelia , the wife of Q. Caecilius Metellus, and his mother, Valeria Maxima," Cornelia softly responded. "We were so upset to hear about your misfortune."

"Misfortune - is that what they're calling it?" Plancus murmured bitterly. "Incompetent disaster, better say. My entire century is destroyed because I didn't take enough precautions."

"They're not all dead," Valeria reassured. "Most are just blinded."

"And what use is a soldier with no eyes to the Legions, madam?" he answered, politely but with brutal honesty.

"The mysteries of Isis might be able to restore your sight," Valeria intoned.

"I am not a member of your cult, my lady."

"You do not need to be to receive the All-Mother's blessings, Plancus," Valeria answered, a little tartly in response to the term "cult."

Cornelia intervened in the burgeoning religious dispute. "Plancus, I'm sure you weren't incompetent. Can you tell us exactly what happened?"

"Of course, domina. I had arranged with the ship captain at Joppa, a man named Captain Kantharos of the Neptune's Gleam, to tell the port authorities he was carrying a cargo of dates from Egypt, so as not to arouse gossip. We left slightly before dawn, with ten of my men helping carry the gold to the wagon, and then met up with the rest of the century outside of Joppa. The day's travel was uneventful, and I had riders scouting ahead and to the sides the whole way. We camped about 13 miles away from Jerusalem, a few miles away from the village of Emmaus. I considered stopping in Emmaus but didn't want to risk idle tongues or thieves among the local inhabitants.

We were making up the camp according to the regulation handbook - I've never actually made a camp before, but of course I've been trained in the theory," he confesses, a little embarrassed. At this point, Shirzad, Shlomo, and Heilyn slip in and introduce themselves, having finished their business with the corpses.

"In any case, a sudden bright white flash lit up the sky, coming I think from the hills to the west of the valley where our camp was, although I'm not sure about that because of the shock. My eyes felt like they were on fire and then I was plunged into utter darkness. I assumed, of course, that it was only me, and called out to my men to stay calm, and for someone to come over to me. But I don't know if any of them heard; they were all screaming and crying out and praying to Asclepius and Mercury."

"Why Mercury?" Heilyn asks, a little sensitive about that particular god.

"Oh, well, I mean Hermes really, but they're all the same, right? Ever since Hermes stole Argus' 100 eyes, he's been a protector of eyes and a remedy against eye disease." Plancus answered, and then continued his story.

"Very quickly, I heard arrow fire, although not near me. Then there were three loud explosions, and the smell of sulphur, and more screams. There was the noise of combat, briefly, and I think the sound of the wagons moving, and then..nothing except the cries of my men. I tried to make my way over to those crying out in pain, but I kept stumbling and tripping, and by the time I found one, he was already dead. I sent our scouts out on hands and knees , following the cobblestones of the road in both directions, looking for help. And then, we sat down, and waited, and prayed, till the Legions came to rescue us, for what good it might do," Plancus ends, bitterly.