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Story Hour
Alea Iacta Parthia: Render Unto God (A Mythic Rome D&D 3.5 Storyhour) Chp. 5.; 6/22
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<blockquote data-quote="Orichalcum" data-source="post: 3596264" data-attributes="member: 3722"><p>To be fair, Quartz, it is early April. They've got a few days in these particular circumstances.</p><p></p><p>***</p><p>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."</p><p></p><p>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."</p><p></p><p>"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.</p><p></p><p>"Fine," Cornelia sighed. "Let's go off to the infirmary and mortuary."</p><p></p><p>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. <span style="color: DarkGreen">"Do you speak Aramaic?"</span> Shlomo smiled, but Heilyn looked blank. <span style="color: Teal">"Hebrew?"</span> Shlomo nodded, and Heilyn looked even more confused. <span style="color: Lime">"Greek"?</span></p><p></p><p>Heilyn's eyes lit up a little at the last one. <span style="color: Lime">"Small Talk Greece!...Sorry, translation spell dead now."</span> he answered. Shlomo responded slowly, <span style="color: Lime"> "I speak the common Greek, yes, though not very well." </span></p><p></p><p>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."</p><p></p><p>Heilyn nodded. "We agree there," he said in Latin. "I am from Britannia, a civilized land."</p><p></p><p>"Where Britannia?" Shlomo asked, in halting Latin. </p><p></p><p>"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.</p><p></p><p>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."</p><p></p><p>Shlomo's eyes widened in surprise, as he answered in Greek. <span style="color: Lime">"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." </span></p><p></p><p>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?"</p><p></p><p>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!"</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>"Huh," he shouted across the room, "well, this one's interesting. Massive burn marks."</p><p></p><p>"What kind of burn marks?" Shirzad shouted back.</p><p></p><p>"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.</p><p></p><p>"What about the other ones?"</p><p></p><p>"Well, this second one has some scorch marks on one side, but he died from all these wee gashes in his chest."</p><p></p><p>"Wee gashes?" Shlomo asked for a more precise translation from Shirzad. "Do you mean many cuts with a small weapon?"</p><p></p><p>"Aye, a sharp one, mebbe a bit curved at the edges?"</p><p></p><p>"Would a weapon like this have done it?" Shlomo pulled out an elegant, extremely sharp foot-long dagger with a slight curve.</p><p></p><p>Heilyn stalked over, hands dripping with blood and entrails. The Guard and Magus recoiled. </p><p></p><p>"Aye, perhaps. Is it some special dagger for Temple Guards, then?" he asked, always interested in new types of weapons and armor.</p><p></p><p>"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."</p><p></p><p>"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!"</p><p></p><p>"Please, no closer, master Heilyn!" Shirzad gasps. "We will already need to be purified somewhat!"</p><p></p><p>"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.</p><p></p><p>"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.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Orichalcum, post: 3596264, member: 3722"] 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. [COLOR=DarkGreen]"Do you speak Aramaic?"[/COLOR] Shlomo smiled, but Heilyn looked blank. [COLOR=Teal]"Hebrew?"[/COLOR] Shlomo nodded, and Heilyn looked even more confused. [COLOR=Lime]"Greek"?[/COLOR] Heilyn's eyes lit up a little at the last one. [COLOR=Lime]"Small Talk Greece!...Sorry, translation spell dead now."[/COLOR] he answered. Shlomo responded slowly, [COLOR=Lime] "I speak the common Greek, yes, though not very well." [/COLOR] 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. [COLOR=Lime]"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." [/COLOR] 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. [/QUOTE]
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