Carthago !

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Carthago! is a game by G.M., louisxiv just made a site for it.

From Sammus’s Boast:

182: E60 — Right Said Amphius

It was mid-morning of the 26th April. Agripinus carried out a ceremony to get some water — his first attempt did not produce anything but two more, in different places, produced enough to water the animals and top up our stocks. There was enough for Agripinus to bless three bottles of holy water to take back down below the sphinx. We rested until dawn.

The guides reported that rations were getting low, we had just enough to get home but no spare. However, Agripinus was confident he could stretch our rations with the help of Tanit. It was another hot, dry, fair day, with a cooler wind from the north. We discussed whether we should open the tomb. Si'aspiqo had reservations, as it had been useful in the past to be able to talk to undead spirits and assure them, that we were not tomb robbers. I was keen to open it as any talking with undead that I did was with my sword. Baal-Shaq and Agripinus had no reservations and Toxoanassa agreed.

Leaving Mago with the guides, Amphius led myself, Agripinus, Si'aspiqo, Toxoanassa and Baal-Shaq back down the stars. Agripinus powered up his orb with the light of Tanit. We headed west along the passage marked 2 and followed these past junctions 4 and 5 and then past the secret door marked 12. We carried on following the passage past junctions 11 and 10 and then circled an area where Sammus suspected there might be another hidden chamber. We turned left at junction 9 to complete the circuit, but Amphius found nothing. We then returned to the secret door and Amphius opened it and led us into the chamber with the plinth.

Si'aspiqo copied the markings on the plinth and made some notes, while Amphius inspected the stone jars. The Greek found some nicely made stone anthropomorphic figures, which he and Si'aspiqo decided were shabti. I thought they were a good size for throwing down on the enemy at a siege.

Amphius inspected the plinth. There were two small holes a little below the horizontal crack, which looked like it was the lid. They were on the north and south faces at the eastern end of each. Amphius checked for traps and hiding places or mechanisms but nothing. It felt solid, he said. Si'aspiqo set up a protection across the exit marked 13, while Agripinus chanted a blessing, then Amphius tried his magic key in one of the holes, but it did not engage with anything.

No light shone through the holes when Agripinus held his orb over one of them. He peered in and saw a dusty surface, which might be wood. We guessed there was a wooden coffin or sarcophagus within. Si'aspiqo thought the holes might be part of the rites of Egyptians, but couldn’t remember what the significance was, maybe an exit for the soul?

Amphius tried to see if he could insert the shovel in the horizontal line, but it was a very narrow gap. Si'aspiqo had two axe heads and Amphius drove them in, either side of a corner, which raised the lid high enough to insert the shovel. I tried to lever off the lid with the shovel, but it slipped out of the crack. Fortunately, the axe heads remained in place and Amphius tapped some silver coins in place and then the shovel and I gave a mighty heave.

There was a grinding noise as the whole top rode up over a tiny lip and opened several inches. Baal-Shaq, Toxoanassa and Agripinus all helped me, and we pushed it 6 inches, opening a triangular dark hole, into which the shovel dropped. With the light from the orb, we could see there was something under the lid — the corner of a large box. We all joined in and managed to push the lid further.

This gave a little more room and Amphius was able to rig a rope. Baal-Shaq and I pulled on either end of this, and the rest pushed, and we managed to get it slightly further. I gave another mighty heave, but this time I managed to pull the rope from Baal-Shaq’s hands. Si'aspiqo could now see something inlaid in the wood, maybe ivory, and could discern feet at the western end of the wooden box. The lid now moved askew, by about 20 degrees. Amphius set up two loops of rope so we could pull it so that it would topple off the plinth. We continued to pull and at one-point Si'aspiqo sprawled on the floor. Eventually the lid balanced near the edge and then slid off with an almighty crash. It ended up jammed on the floor leaning against the plinth.

Agripinus raised his orb, and we could all see a coffin inlaid with ivory and jet, with signs of paint, showing the symbolic features of a woman in repose. There were no handles, but Amphius rigged rope around each end, and we all leant in and pulled. Now Amphius could get loops of rope under the coffin. We got the feet end out first and then pulled the whole thing out of the north edge. Baal-Shaq lost his grip one one end, and it landed on Si'aspiqo’s leg. The coffin made a crunching noise but was still in one piece.

Amphius re-rigged the ropes to try to carry it outside, while Agripinus tried unsuccessfully to cure the magician. Looking back into the empty plinth we could see painted hieroglyphs and that the holes had symbolic eyes. With some difficulty we manoeuvred the coffin through the narrow exit marked 13, but it then crashed to the floor and splintered as part of the rigged rope slipped off. Amphius broke up the coffin and put the pieces back in the plinth, apart from the mainly intact lid . The mummy was laid face down on the lid and we took it out through the secret door and along the corridor to the left. We turned left at junction 10 and then made our way back to the stairs and up to the outside world. Under the brilliant sun and desert wind we shook off the grey dust of the tomb, which had swirled everywhere as the coffin was upended.

Amphius fetched some blankets and wrapped them around the mummy before we took it out into the sun and back to camp around midday. Mago massaged Si'aspiqo, and then we removed the blankets and looked at the bandage-wrapped figure of the priestess. Agripinus put a ward from evil around it and then Si'aspiqo cast detect magic. He told us there was one hit at the waist and another on the chest from his spell. Using a dagger, and starting at the waist, Amphius peeled away the bandages, which changed from black to brown to grey as he worked through the layers. Soon there was a gleam of gold and semi-precious green or blue stone: the handle of a dagger. Once it was clear, Amphius removed it from the crumbling sheath of leather, revealing a blue-grey metal blade. He then removed bandages from the chest and as he did so, dust blew from the wrappings and Si'aspiqo noticed there were markings on the bandages. Eventually a thick gold wire necklace was revealed with polished round stones of different colours. Finally, he found a pair of bracelets on each arm, which he removed, and then he rewrapped the mummy in the bandages.

We then carried the mummy back down the stairs and placed it back in the plinth. As we left, Amphius jammed two axe heads in the secret door to make it difficult to open. We retraced our steps to the outside world and rested for the remains of the day. Once more we had to shake off the grey dust of the tomb from our shoes; Amphius was covered after his unwrapping and re-wrapping the mummified priestess and took some time to rid himself of the resinous smears and dirt of the coffin. Fortunately, we had enough water to waste a little on washing ourselves clean. Agripinus carried out some healing on Si'aspiqo.

We packed up camp quickly so we could leave at dusk and just before we left Agripinus called on Tanit to supply water and the animals got a good drink before we set out. It was a fair night with stars above us. It soon became apparent that Si'aspiqo’s wracking cough had returned and I was coughing too — probably because of the dust that had blown around when the mummy was unwrapped.

A Timeline

1. On Calendars

I set as the era the year of the accession of the Pharaoh Ptolemy II, son of Ptolemy, so we begin in the year 18 of that reign, and I use a simplified system of twelve months with no regard for the multiple systems of intercalary days, weeks, months or moons of our own various cultures nor those we have passed through. I shall use the month names used by the main story-teller, a Gaul, Sammus the Strong, but number them to disambiguate their order.

–Si'aspiqo

2. The Tale of Months