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Alea Iacta Story Hour: A Mythic Rome Campaign (Baby Announcement: 8/17)
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<blockquote data-quote="Orichalcum" data-source="post: 2075923" data-attributes="member: 3722"><p><strong>Alea Iacta VIII: Under Mud, Over Sea Chp. 10: Prophecy and Philosophy</strong></p><p></p><p>After puzzling over the riddles for some time, the cleverer members of the party realize that the answer to the first is the Latin letter M, while the answer to the second is Clio. While the third riddle continues to confound them, Cornelia and Llyr put their heads together and think about the fairly obvious strategy of the villa's owner in his previous riddles. As Llyr says, "Comrades, this is a man who made the password to his top-secret hideout his wife's birthday!" Considering the options of the nine Muses, and the existing answers of M and Clio, they realize that it is just barely possible that the man was arrogant enough to use the names of the nine holy inspirers of song and story to spell out his own initials, M-arcus C-alpurnius P-iso. Since there are two muses with C names, Clio and Calliope. that riddle needed to spell out the full name. </p><p></p><p>[OOG Note: The third riddle could be answered by the Greek letter pi.)</p><p></p><p>Carefully ushering everyone out of the room again, Llyr quickly taps in sequence the medallions of Melpomene, Clio, and Polyhymnia. As he finishes, the entire wall swings open, revealing a large, well-stocked library full of Latin philosophical scrolls behind it. While Marcus and Wena are still strangely uninterested in the library itself, Metellus brings them out a stack of scrolls and the group spends some time sorting through the most interesting ones. After extensive searching, the one most relevant to their current quest appears to read as follows:</p><p></p><p><em> <span style="color: Orange"></span></em></p><p> <em><span style="color: Orange"><strong></strong></span></em></p><p><em><span style="color: Orange"><strong>Being a Record of Karmouthis of Memphis</strong></span></em></p><p><em><span style="color: Orange"><strong>Priest of Thoth, grandson of Pharaoh Ramses XVII,</strong></span></em></p><p><em><span style="color: Orange"><strong>And His Journey Through the Gate of Thoth</strong></span></em></p><p><em><span style="color: Orange"><strong></strong></span></em></p><p><em><span style="color: Orange"></span></em></p><p><em><span style="color: Orange"></span></em></p><p><em><span style="color: Orange"></span></em></p><p><em><span style="color: Orange"> Karmouthis the Wise was the first in a hundred years who dared venture through the Gate of Thoth, for few returned, and those who did spoke little of what they had seen. And Karmouthis, when he came back, some weeks after he had gone through the gate, said naught ever again until his deathbed, when he told his grandson these stories, as they have been passed down in our family ever since:</span></em></p><p><em><span style="color: Orange"></span></em></p><p><em><span style="color: Orange"> “I had thought that I was wise, oh son of my son, but when I stepped through the Gate I knew that I was not wise, for there is no deception in the Kingdom of Thoth, and I stood revealed to all and to myself as what I was. I saw Egypt before me there, but not the crumbling and corrupt Egypt that is now, or even the mythical Egypt of the great Pharaohs of old, but the Egypt when Osiris was King of the Two Lands, where crops grew in abundance from the gift of the Nile, and and all that could be seen was peaceful and plentiful. A jackal-headed spirit appeared before me, and warned me not to speak idly, for he said that in the Kingdom of Thoth, true words could change not only the Kingdom but its pale reflection back through the Gate. And I realized then that our own land was but a shadow on the wall of the Kingdom of Thoth, twisted from what it should be by the evil wishes of men. </span></em></p><p><em><span style="color: Orange"></span></em></p><p><em><span style="color: Orange"> I wandered through the Kingdom and took delight and joy in what I found. For all was fertile, and all women bore children at their breasts, and the men were young and strong. The pyramids shone brightly, still encased in electrum, and served as houses for the great and wise who lived therein. The crocodiles swam through the papyrus plants, and the children danced on the backs of the hippopotomai. </span></em></p><p><em><span style="color: Orange"></span></em></p><p><em><span style="color: Orange"> Finally, I came to the Thebes of the Kingdom, to the center of it all, and found a great Temple, like ours, but far more beautiful, with gold and silver obelisks stretching high into the sky. And here, finally, I found another jackal spirit, and I asked him what I had long been contemplating as I walked through the glory of the garden valley of the Nile, “What word, then, defined this beauty and perfection, and who was it who spoke it?” The jackal spirit spoke directly into my mind, saying that he did so so as not to change the world. “Before Osiris was a God, he came here, with his consort Isis, and they spoke the word of Life, thinking of the fertility of the land and of its people. And he sacrificed himself for that Word, and went to rule over the Dead. And thus all here is growing and blooming, and even in your shadow of it, Egypt is the most prosperous and fertile land in the entire world. But it never changes, for it is always Life here, and never Death, and thus both the true Egypt and your shadow will never become anything new. But there is much joy in the growing nonetheless.”</span></em></p><p><em><span style="color: Orange"></span></em></p><p><em><span style="color: Orange"> I shook in fear at the idea of the power of such words, even though I knew that I did not have the power to enforce my will by speaking such a word, for I am not a God, but only a lowly priest of Thoth. But nonetheless I fell silent and left the Gate quickly, lest I should learn how to speak such a Word and change the beauty and glory of Egypt in so doing. And even now, I have kept my peace all these years in the shadow world, for words are still powerful here, and I did not wish to lead others to temptation. But I tell the story to you, son of my son, that it may not be lost forever, for it too is truth, and truth, like Egypt, should never die.”</span></em></p><p><em><span style="color: Orange"></span></em></p><p><em><span style="color: Orange"></span></em> </p><p></p><p>Heilyn and Wena immediately begin to ponder what sort of Words could be used to protect </p><p>Britannia, while Cornelia and Metellus wonder what Word, if any, defines Roma. I, personally, am certain that the word for the Ideal Form of Monkey is most certainly "Shast."</p><p></p><p>We returned safely to Cornelia's mother's house for the night with all of our treasure and rested peacefully, giving her one of the necklaces as a generous guest gift, which she highly appreciated. Then we sat and discussed till the next day what sort of questions we would ask the Sibyl at Cumae, and who was willing to give up their once-in-a-lifetime chance to ask a question about their own personal fate in favor of seeking answers that might benefit us all or even save Roma itself.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Orichalcum, post: 2075923, member: 3722"] [b]Alea Iacta VIII: Under Mud, Over Sea Chp. 10: Prophecy and Philosophy[/b] After puzzling over the riddles for some time, the cleverer members of the party realize that the answer to the first is the Latin letter M, while the answer to the second is Clio. While the third riddle continues to confound them, Cornelia and Llyr put their heads together and think about the fairly obvious strategy of the villa's owner in his previous riddles. As Llyr says, "Comrades, this is a man who made the password to his top-secret hideout his wife's birthday!" Considering the options of the nine Muses, and the existing answers of M and Clio, they realize that it is just barely possible that the man was arrogant enough to use the names of the nine holy inspirers of song and story to spell out his own initials, M-arcus C-alpurnius P-iso. Since there are two muses with C names, Clio and Calliope. that riddle needed to spell out the full name. [OOG Note: The third riddle could be answered by the Greek letter pi.) Carefully ushering everyone out of the room again, Llyr quickly taps in sequence the medallions of Melpomene, Clio, and Polyhymnia. As he finishes, the entire wall swings open, revealing a large, well-stocked library full of Latin philosophical scrolls behind it. While Marcus and Wena are still strangely uninterested in the library itself, Metellus brings them out a stack of scrolls and the group spends some time sorting through the most interesting ones. After extensive searching, the one most relevant to their current quest appears to read as follows: [I] [COLOR="Orange"] [B] Being a Record of Karmouthis of Memphis Priest of Thoth, grandson of Pharaoh Ramses XVII, And His Journey Through the Gate of Thoth [/B] Karmouthis the Wise was the first in a hundred years who dared venture through the Gate of Thoth, for few returned, and those who did spoke little of what they had seen. And Karmouthis, when he came back, some weeks after he had gone through the gate, said naught ever again until his deathbed, when he told his grandson these stories, as they have been passed down in our family ever since: “I had thought that I was wise, oh son of my son, but when I stepped through the Gate I knew that I was not wise, for there is no deception in the Kingdom of Thoth, and I stood revealed to all and to myself as what I was. I saw Egypt before me there, but not the crumbling and corrupt Egypt that is now, or even the mythical Egypt of the great Pharaohs of old, but the Egypt when Osiris was King of the Two Lands, where crops grew in abundance from the gift of the Nile, and and all that could be seen was peaceful and plentiful. A jackal-headed spirit appeared before me, and warned me not to speak idly, for he said that in the Kingdom of Thoth, true words could change not only the Kingdom but its pale reflection back through the Gate. And I realized then that our own land was but a shadow on the wall of the Kingdom of Thoth, twisted from what it should be by the evil wishes of men. I wandered through the Kingdom and took delight and joy in what I found. For all was fertile, and all women bore children at their breasts, and the men were young and strong. The pyramids shone brightly, still encased in electrum, and served as houses for the great and wise who lived therein. The crocodiles swam through the papyrus plants, and the children danced on the backs of the hippopotomai. Finally, I came to the Thebes of the Kingdom, to the center of it all, and found a great Temple, like ours, but far more beautiful, with gold and silver obelisks stretching high into the sky. And here, finally, I found another jackal spirit, and I asked him what I had long been contemplating as I walked through the glory of the garden valley of the Nile, “What word, then, defined this beauty and perfection, and who was it who spoke it?” The jackal spirit spoke directly into my mind, saying that he did so so as not to change the world. “Before Osiris was a God, he came here, with his consort Isis, and they spoke the word of Life, thinking of the fertility of the land and of its people. And he sacrificed himself for that Word, and went to rule over the Dead. And thus all here is growing and blooming, and even in your shadow of it, Egypt is the most prosperous and fertile land in the entire world. But it never changes, for it is always Life here, and never Death, and thus both the true Egypt and your shadow will never become anything new. But there is much joy in the growing nonetheless.” I shook in fear at the idea of the power of such words, even though I knew that I did not have the power to enforce my will by speaking such a word, for I am not a God, but only a lowly priest of Thoth. But nonetheless I fell silent and left the Gate quickly, lest I should learn how to speak such a Word and change the beauty and glory of Egypt in so doing. And even now, I have kept my peace all these years in the shadow world, for words are still powerful here, and I did not wish to lead others to temptation. But I tell the story to you, son of my son, that it may not be lost forever, for it too is truth, and truth, like Egypt, should never die.” [/COLOR][/I][COLOR="Orange"] [/COLOR] Heilyn and Wena immediately begin to ponder what sort of Words could be used to protect Britannia, while Cornelia and Metellus wonder what Word, if any, defines Roma. I, personally, am certain that the word for the Ideal Form of Monkey is most certainly "Shast." We returned safely to Cornelia's mother's house for the night with all of our treasure and rested peacefully, giving her one of the necklaces as a generous guest gift, which she highly appreciated. Then we sat and discussed till the next day what sort of questions we would ask the Sibyl at Cumae, and who was willing to give up their once-in-a-lifetime chance to ask a question about their own personal fate in favor of seeking answers that might benefit us all or even save Roma itself. [/QUOTE]
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