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Carthago! is a game by G.M., louisxiv just made a site for it.
Carthago! is a game by G.M., louisxiv just made a site for it.
Thu 26th March ’26
7:15pm GMT
From: Sammus’s Boast:
By dawn on 20th September, the wind had died and blew lightly from what we guessed was west northwest, but it was difficult to tell on such a grey, drizzly day. The sailors on both ships were very tired, particularly on the Demeter’s Child. The ships closed up and the captains were able to shout across. Magus said to head for Macromeda, which he had originally been intending to bypass, but he thought was the nearest safe harbour. Agripinus cast an augury to determine if we were heading in a safe direction and got a positive result. At the end of the day both ships rigged lights to stay in touch through the night.
The next day there was more drizzle and the light wind blew roughly from the south. Magus muttered and the wind swept round to come from north or northwest and the ships sailed on together. Agripinus cast another augury and was less sure of the result but thought the direction seemed more right than wrong. The drizzle dissipated towards dusk, and we again rigged lights for the night.
September 22nd was a fine morning with a light wind from the south. Again, the wind veered to come more from the north and after a couple of hours we saw land ahead to the south. There was a debate as to whether we should turn left to sail east along the coast or turn right to head west. Agripinus cast another augury and thought we should head west. The wind veered to the east and blew us westwards. We sailed on together but soon the Demeter’s Child started to slip behind and lost our easterly wind. The Hippocampus had to circle, while the Demeter’s Child rowed to join us. Once the ships were back together again we sailed on. Soon Toxoanassa and then the rest of us could make out smoke ahead. Maybe it was a settlement but there did seem to be a lot of dark smoke.
As we got closer, Toxoanassa could see shapes near the shore ahead and soon Magus saw three ships heading our way and called on us to arm and get to battle stations. There were three ships close together, low in the water with no masts, maybe inshore galleys, similar to pirate ships we had encountered near Hemeroskopeion. Magus thought they were Libyan tribal galleys and that it was Macromeda ahead, where the pall of smoke could be seen. This was probably a Libyan raid. Macromeda was the easternmost of the Carthaginian settlements and the gulf between there and the first Greek settlement was all Libyan territory.
The three ships were about the size of Demeter’s Child, maybe a little longer, but smaller than the Hippocampus. Magus sailed for the middle ship, planning to ram it and break its oars. Sailors brought up stone ballast to heave into bottom of the attacking boats, the soldiers led by Shemesh lined the prow and Agripinus, Toxoanassa and I joined them. Magus’s plan was to stop the pirates climbing aboard the Hippocampus, whilst throwing rocks and missiles down upon them.
Toxoanassa drew her bow and Shemesh shielded her as she loosed her arrows. It looked like there were around 24 pirates on each ship with four stood up and the rest rowing. A couple of Toxoanassa’s arrows struck home on rowers on the ship to our right and we heard them cry out. Agripinus shouted a command in Numidian to the pirates to get back, but it had no obvious effect. Another arrow from Toxoanassa hit the helmsman in the ship to the right.
The centre ship and the one on the left were aimed at the Hippocampus, with the one on the right looking to pass us and head for the Demeter’s Child which was following behind us. We veered toward the centre ship, and they tried to pull in oars. As the ships closed, we threw javelins and three struck home. Toxoanassa hit the helmsman of the ship on the right with another arrow. As the Hippocampus struck the centre ship, I stumbled to my knees, but Toxoanassa was bowled over and jumped down into the galley to avoid falling in the sea. Agripinus and I leapt after her as the galley scraped along our starboard side. The pirates on the second ship drew their oars in and there was an exchange of javelins, the third ship rowed past towards the Demeter’s Child.
Toxoanassa ditched her bow and drew two daggers, as Agripinus and I landed nearby. A wave of pirates attacked us. Agripinus struck one and a blow bounced off his armour. Toxoanassa stabbed an unarmoured opponent with both daggers but was hit by an axe. I was faced by three pirates, one in armour, I hit him and his blow rang off my chainmail. More javelins were thrown from the Hippocampus into the pirates beyond us and more missiles were exchanged with the second galley. I hit the armoured man again, crushing his helmet and he went down, but I missed a swordsman with a second blow. I took a dying blow from the man I killed and a stab from a dagger. One of Agripinus’s opponents stuck his sword in the deck, while Toxoanassa stabbed again with her daggers and a pirate backed off wounded.
I hit the sword-armed pirate, while Agripinus hit another pirate, but took a blow from another opponent. By now the priest and I were side by side, but Toxoanassa was isolated. Some of her opponents were trying to grapple her, but she weaved and managed to get closer to us, although she took a blow from an axe. I crushed the swordsman’s head and helmet, and he went down and then I hit a pirate armed with a dagger in the guts and he too went down. Both Toxoanassa and I took blows, but now we were all side by side with Toxoanassa to my right and Agripinus to my left all with our backs to the guardrail.
A new pirate armed with a two-handed axe and in studded leather moved in and hit me, while Toxoanassa and a pirate closed on each other and Toxoanassa stabbed him. Agripinus exchanged blows with a pirate, and I hit the man with the two-handed axe hard and he looked tired, but he was a more accomplished fighter than the other pirates. Toxoanassa managed to throw her opponent to the floor, while Agripinus struck a pirate, who staggered back. Toxoanassa kept her opponent on the deck, although a javelin thrown from behind the front row of pirates narrowly missed her. The pirates were finding it difficult to penetrate Agripinus fine new armour.
A heavy blow from my shortsword crushed the skull of the axeman. My next opponent dropped his axe and backed away, and Toxoanassa stabbed the pirate at her feet. My opponents were now either all down or dropping back, so I slashed at the prone figure next to Toxoanassa and he stopped trying to get up. A rock was thrown from the pirates and struck Toxoanassa, and a pirate stabbed through Agripinus’s armour, but the priest ran him through.
More pirates moved forward and I hit one in the right arm, and he dropped his shortsword and tried to back away. I then hit an unarmoured man in the arm, and he went down and was no longer a threat. Toxoanassa closed and hit another pirate. He stabbed her back with his dagger, but he seemed badly wounded. Two more unarmoured men with shortswords approached me. Toxoanassa stabbed a pirate in the guts, and he slid to the deck, while Agripinus hit an opponent, but took a blow in return. I stabbed one pirate through the chest, and I heard him gurgling as he went down and then hit the other in the head and he collapsed.
I had a better view now and could see that there was a bowman to my right in the bows, with a shield bearer, protecting him. There were six men off to the left in a group, and a man with an axe and Greek armour and an armour bearer with a javelin. I guessed the man in Greek armour was the captain. A few javelins were thrown from the Hippocampus.
Agripinus struck his opponent and he and I pressed on towards the pirate captain, leaving Toxoanassa to face the archer. She threw an axe and struck the bowman, just getting past the shield of his protector. The bowman loosed an arrow but missed. I hit a man in studded leather hard, and another pirate hit me with a shortsword. Toxoanassa grabbed a shield and looked for more missiles. The bowman missed again. Agripinus hit a pirate in the head, and he backed out looking dazed. Toxoanassa found a stone and threw it but missed as did the bowman. I missed with one blow but then cut off the foot of a pirate and he collapsed shrieking, but his companion hit me. Another javelin struck one of the wounded and he went down. The captain was now pressing through the remaining pirates to get to Agripinus and I.
Toxoanassa found a javelin and threw it; it was shielded away, but the bowman missed again. I was tired now, so I began shielding. Toxoanassa found another javelin but missed again. This time she was struck by an arrow and wounded. I was hit again and was very tried but still unwounded. Agripinus hit a pirate, damaging his shield and the man staggered back. Two javelins hit the pirate, I was facing and he reeled but was still up. Toxoanassa shielded off an arrow, while Agripinus parried away two blows, but his own blow was also parried. Agripinus took a blow and missed wildly, while I shielded a blow and struck the leg off a pirate and he went down shrieking. Agripinus took another blow but cut off the head of his opponent.
The captain came forward armed with a two-handed axe, and faced up to Agripinus, while his armourer carrying a sword and a large shield, faced me. I shielded off a blow from the sword, and the leader and Agripinus both missed each other, while an arrow whistled narrowly past Toxoanassa. I missed wildly and shielded off a blow, but Agripinus struck the captain.
Toxoanassa narrowly avoided an arrow. I took a blow on the shield, and a fitting came loose, but the captain reeled back wounded after another heavy blow from Agripinus. I hit the swordsman and he and the captain both missed their blows, but Agripinus stuck his sword into the deck. Another arrow missed Toxoanassa, but a javelin from the Hippocampus hit the swordsman.
I shielded off the sword and Agripinus wrenched his sword out of the deck and parried an axe blow. Toxoanassa backed closer to me as the bowman and his shield bearer advanced towards us. The swordsman missed me; I lopped off his right arm and he collapsed. Agripinus then cut down the pirate captain. The Hippocampus seemed to be engaged with the second pirate galley and I assumed the third had been fighting the Demeter’s Child.
An arrow whipped over my head and Agripinus turned and advanced on the bowman and his shield bearer, with Toxoanassa and I flanking him. An arrow missed, but a second hit the priest and the archer dropped his bow and attacked with a two-handed axe. The shield bearer threw a javelin and drew a sword. I shielded a blow from him and the bowman now armed with a two-handed axe and Agripinus exchanged heavy blows. I hit the shield bearer and took a blow on my shield. The axeman started attacking savagely with no thought to defence and Agripinus took a blow to the chest and was staggered and looked exhausted. Toxoanassa hit the axeman with a dagger, and he looked exhausted and then I crushed the helmet and skull of the shield bearer. The axeman continued to attack savagely and Agripinus shielded. Toxoanassa closed on the axeman and stabbed him in the groin, and he fell to the deck gurgling. The remaining pirates, who were all wounded surrendered.
The ship we were on was drifting slowly away from the Hippocampus, and we could see the second pirate ship was trying to board from the stern of the Hippocampus. The Demeter’s Child was further off and was grappled with the third galley. I thought I could hear loud cheers from Simos, the master of the Demeter’s Child, and soon it was clear that the Demeter’s Child had taken the larger and more heavily armed galley.
I later learnt what had happened from my comrades on the Demeter’s Child. The third Libyan ship had passed close to Demeter’s Child, which had veered to try and avoid boarding. Alone, Diophanes had leapt aboard it!
Amphius had shouted to Mago “Let’s recover Diophanes and make for the Hippocampus”, and then across the water: “Diophanes – jump back on board”. But the ships were now a dozen paces apart, and it was far too far to jump; a man in heavy hoplite armour would sink before he could close that gap. He had to fight alone.
Si'aspiqo had blown through his fingers over and over again, using his arcane arts to fill the sail from a position towards the stern, and had provided a gentle downwind push to the ship. Mago had carefully steered the helm, so the ship had passed around the stern of the drifting Libyan galley and had then gradually come on to a parallel course some twenty or thirty paces behind its stern, and on its port side.
All the while, as Si'aspiqo had blown through his fingers, the wind had veered round to puff up the sail in a most unnatural way, and Amphius had shot over and over again at a group of shielding warriors at the stern of the galley. Some of his arrows had stuck from their shields and the side of the ship, while others had struck home. At the far end of the galley, the Libyan warriors had rushed in waves and throw javelins at the lone figure in scarlet and white. It had looked like he must soon be overwhelmed.
Time had slowed to a crawl, as the boat had inched round, and Amphius had shot again and again; the sounds of battle had grown muffled, and even the endless babble of Simos had died away to a drone. Diophanes had seemed invulnerable. His back against the deck-rail, blows had rained down on his shield but had been blocked or turned aside. On and on his great spear had flicked out, piercing armour and flesh before it had returned to an on-guard position. The pile of wounded men had heaped up around him, and their cries and moans had struggled across the water.
“Zeus! Zeus! Zeus!” Diophanes had cried, and the Libyans had crumpled before his glory. In a minute of mayhem, they had all gone.
The last four men in the stern had rushed towards him as he had advanced – too close for now for Amphius’ arrow fire – and had thrown themselves in desperation at the scarlet figure advancing towards them. They had swarmed briefly around him but had fallen one by one. Like a dream, the dark wave had broken upon the rock, and it had remained unmoved.
The muffled sounds of battle had grown loud again, and time had sped up to normal. Si'aspiqo had collapsed into a fit of coughing, and the sail had gone limp. Amphius had stood with an arrow knocked, hardly able to believe his eyes.
My comrades had seen nothing like it. Truly, this was an emissary of Zeus – albeit now covered from head to toe in blood and gore. His shield was rent and torn, and the plume on his helm had seen better days, but he stood with his spear aloft in triumph.
Simos cheered “Haaaa! The Gods be praised! Throw lines, throw lines – and pull us together!”
I took the weapons from the surrendered pirates, while Toxoanassa bandaged a wound in her side. The galley at the stern of the Hippocampus exchanged missiles with the Hippocampus and I saw rocks being thrown down into the smaller vessel. It broke away and was now rowing towards us. The Hippocampus was under sail, but the wind was blowing it away. Toxoanassa grabbed the dead archer’s bow and some arrows. I grabbed a javelin and a large round shield and Agripinus muttered a prayer blessing our endeavours and then he and I both quaffed healing potions.
The galley looked like it would hit bow to bow and then the pirates would be able to board in multiple places so Agripinus and I formed up in a defensive formation in the bows, where we could not be overwhelmed by numbers, with Toxoanassa behind us. It looked as though the Demeter’s Child was under sail and heading to join us but was a little way off still.
An axe man and a shield bearer and one more pirate formed the first wave on board. Toxoanassa loosed an arrow, but it was shielded off, but as they advanced on us, my javelin went past the shield and struck the bearer and a second arrow from Toxoanassa hit the axeman. One of the pirates threw a spear that stuck in my shield and hampered me. Toxoanassa braced Agripinus and I from behind as the onslaught began. There was at least a dozen more pirates coming on board behind the first three pirates, but as the fight began, we heard a crash from the other galley, as the Demeter’s Child rammed it in the stern and then we heard someone shouting a war cry in Greek.
I later learnt that once Diophanes had returned aboard the Demeter’s Child, the ship had immediately sailed to our aid. Once more Si'aspiqo had blown in his fingers as Mago had steered the helm, and Amphius had shot arrows against the Libyan vessel closing upon us. After they had started boarding us, Mago had steered the Demeter’s Child to ram the pirate galley in the stern, and the hero Diophanes had vaulted aboard.
The axeman struck his axe in the deck and Agripinus missed, as I thrust my sword through the heart of the shield bearer. I shielded away the dying blow from the dying pirate and a dagger blow from his comrade. The dying man was replaced by a pirate with a war axe arrived and a dagger blow got past my shield. Agripinus missed and the axeman could not get past his armour and shield. I realised that it was Diophanes that I could hear calling repeatedly to Zeus.
Agripinus and I shielded and then I hit the war axe man and rocked him back. He hit me hard, but I knocked him down dead or badly wounded. My opponents gathered to attack, and I knocked the remains of the spear out of my shield. A man with studded leather moved in and Agripinus and I shielded off more blows. I could hear more cries of Zeus and screams and gurgling from nearby.
I hit the man in studded leather and everyone else missed. The priest and I shielded off more blows and then Agripinus hit the axe man, and I hacked into the arm of the pirate in studded leather and he collapsed. I was now faced with two unarmoured men armed with daggers. There was a call in Arma of “man overboard” from somewhere, beyond the calls of “Zeus, Zeus, Zeus!” and more screams.
Amphius, I learnt had tried to follow Diophanes, but had slipped and fallen into the sea. Despite being encumbered by his armour and sword, he had struggled back to the side of the ship, grabbed a rope and hauled himself aboard just before the grinding of the ships would have crushed him.
I buffeted one of the pirates back with my shield but the other one closed. I killed him and the second pirate missed, while Agripinus hit the axeman again. Another pirate with leather armour and war axe moved in to attack me. Toxoanassa told us that she could see that a hoplite with a shield and plumed helmet was arriving from the other galley.
I shielded off another dagger and hit the man with the war axe and saw was tiring. I took more blows on the shield and the straps failed and I threw it down. One of the men behind the front rank suddenly had a spear through him. The man with a war axe fell back slightly and now I moved to attack as I no longer had a shield. The man with a dagger went down from my sword blow to the head and then the man with the axe followed him from another blow from my sword. Agripinus was still fighting the axeman, but he was quickly taken down with two spear blows from the hoplite and the only remaining, wounded pirates on their feet threw down their weapons. I called out “Zeus!”, then “Well met Diophanes”.
Diophanes was covered in head to foot with the gore of our enemies, his linothorax was completely red instead of white, the hide covering his shield was scarred, and the plume of his helmet was damaged, but he was unmarked and hardly even breathing heavily. Agripinus thought there was something unnatural about his grey eyes – an ice-cold gaze. He seemed to have a disdain for those he was fighting and seemed completely detached. Then Diophanes pushed past Agripinus and I and checked on the wounded Toxoanassa – looking deep into the eyes of his Andromeda. Crying “Artemis!” she looked straight back at his be-spattered glory, while behind him remained only the wreckage of battle.
There was cheering from the Demeter’s Child and the Hippocampus. The Hippocampus dropped its sail and then when the wind started to pick up in a new direction and it drifted back into contact with us and the Demeter’s Child. The field of battle was ours!
Party & company:
Met: (named persons)
Places:
Party Loot:
From: Sammus’s Boast:
As we recovered from our hangovers over the morning of 17th September, the Hippocampus sailed east with a fair wind under cloudy skies with intermittent rain. In the afternoon Magus explained to Agripinus that he had decided to leave Leptis that morning despite the weather as he had heard a rumour. Word reached him that the Melkart worshippers had been told by their High Priest that the Ketos had been sent by Melkart because of a lack of piety in Leptis and so a beautiful foreign maiden should be sacrificed to appease it. This conflicted with the Temple of Dionysus and their plan and Magus thought it best to leave rather than being drawn into any strife between the factions. Now we owed him a further favour. He had had no time to take on more passengers and there were now just us on board with the Greek merchant, Meliton, who was bound for Arsinoe. We were sailing for Macomeda and Magus didn’t like the look of the clouds and rain all around.
Despite the rain Amphius used a shortsword to hack the ivory teeth out and remove some hide from the Ketos head, producing 22 large ivory teeth, 72 smaller ivory teeth, and enough hide for two dozen thick belts. Magus admired the collection as the crew laboured to throw the great head overboard. “That is a lot of teeth – they make fine souvenirs”, he hinted. We offered him one of the large teeth and smaller teeth for each of his crew. When this was announced all the sailors cheered.
The next day, 18th September, was grey with drizzle, but the wind was in a favourable direction for us to sail along the coast eastwards. In the late afternoon Si'aspiqo and I both spotted a mast but there seemed something odd about it to us. Diogenes took a look and declared it to be damaged and ordered the helm to steer us towards it. Magus came on deck and we all put on armour. As we approached, we could see that it was a small galley with a broken mast. Figures waved from the ship and shouted in Greek.
A voluble Greek shouted
“Let the Gods be praised we need help, wind and wave have been against us, but Demeter will reward you for saving her child”.
He then said something about a festival in three days’ time and Amphius explained that Thesmophoria was a Greek religious festival for late harvest related to Demeter. It was held at the new moon which would be in three days’ time. The little verbose Greek then went on at length explaining that he was Simos the master of the Demeter’s Child and all about their misfortunes and praising us for saving him. Diogenes muttered:
“Is there no shutting this windbag up?”.
Magus gave his name and asked Simos to tie up alongside, explaining that we would help and swearing peace. Eventually the two ships were tied up alongside.
The small galley only had a short spar and a small stormsail up and there were not enough men to row, just Simos, three sailors and a man in a dazzling white and red linothorax. Simos introduced the latter as their employer – ‘the mighty Diophanes!’.
Magus climbed down into the Demeter’s Child and beckoned me to follow along with Shemesh. Simos introduced us to Diophanes, who was a slender boyish youth, with black hair, grey eyes, and very slim arms. He was unblemished by war and looked too thin for a soldier. However, he comfortably held a long-bladed hoplite spear, a dory; he had a languid look to him as he eyed me. Magus introduced me and Shemesh. The youth said that he was Diophanes, a servant of Zeus, and must follow the path set out for him until Zeus called him home to Olympus. He told us that he had been called to go to Leptis forthwith as there was a mighty deed Zeus wished him to do there, but the weather had been impeding their progress. He had unblinking grey eyes and his linothorax was dazzlingly white with a beautiful scarlet pattern. He reminded me of Boreas the Greek hero we had met in Emporion, who had claimed to be the foster son of the Goddess Nike and who we had similarly beaten to his quest.
Magus and I exchanged glances, but I left the talking up to him. Magus announced we had just come from Leptis, which had indeed been afflicted by a huge sea monster. He told Diophanes that there was a long story about this, but we should deal with the damage to Demeter’s Child first. Diophanes preferred to have the news first as this monster sounded like just the sort of thing Zeus would have in store for him. Magus explained that evil winds and misfortune had delayed him until others had taken up the challenge and slain the monster. Diophanes was surprised to hear this and asked how it happened and I admitted it had been me and I had played the role of Perseus to rescue Andromeda from the Ketos.
Diophanes was struck dumb, looking me up and down and then blurting out in astonishment:
“You were Perseus!”.
When he asked about Andromeda, all the crew stepped back to reveal who had played her and Toxoanassa nodded at him. Magus said she was in disguise and was an Amazon, assuring Diophanes that she was quite beautiful in a dress. I explained that the monster had been distracted by her and I had been able to use a great sword to remove its head adding that we still had the teeth, but the head had been recently thrown over the side. Diophanes moved close to me, looking me up and down and again exclaiming:
“Perseus!”, in astonishment. “I suppose you are Thracian”, he said and when I explained I was a Gaul, he just continued and said that the Thracians had given great service to Alexander.
He seemed crestfallen and thanked me very unconvincingly.
Magus invited them on board and Simos asked if we had anyone wise in healing arts, as he had one sailor wounded and another sorely wounded as well as having lost one overboard – for he had only three fit crewmen. Magos told him that we needed to make for Macomeda as it was the closest port and the wind was fair for the south. After discussion, Simos agreed.
Agripinus healed one sailor with a broken arm, re-setting the arm properly, and then the second sailor who had a concussion. Meanwhile Mago and Simos discussed what repairs could be made to the small ship. Both the mainsail and the back-up had been wrecked, so the small stormsail was all they had left. The ship was not really built for rowing but was ideal for small trading and carrying a passenger. Mago thought that if they could get into a harbour, he could put a new mast in, although a small port might not have a full-sized mast available. Magus suggested using the spar from our Artemon mast until we reached Macomeda. Simos was effusive with his thanks and then asked if we could make up his crew shortage from the Hippocampus – Amphius and Mago volunteered and when Magus suggested to Si'aspiqo that his knowledge of the weather might be useful the Kushite also volunteered and along with two more sailors; they all made their way over to the Demeter’s Child.
It was now dark and both ships burnt lights and hove to. The two ships tried to stay in formation despite the deteriorating weather and by rowing from time to time, we were still together at dawn. By now the wind had risen and the wind had veered to come from the southwest and was pushing us out to the open sea. Soon the rain mainly stopped and there were just showers and flurries of rain, but the wind rose to gale force and both ships ran before it. On board the Hippocampus, we battened down the hatches and tied down cargo and struggled to stay in sight of the other ship.
Agripinus asked permission from Magus who nodded and then the priest sang a rousing hymn to Tanit to encourage us all in our efforts to save the ship. The winds were now storm force, and we ran on before them for hours plunging into waves which broke over the deck. By now with the sea tossing the ship around, both Agripinus and I felt seasick, but still he carried on singing his hymn as I clung to the lifelines and lent a hand to the crew when needed. From time to time, we heard loud creaking from the hull, but there was no obvious damage. Now and then we caught a glimpse of a glimmer of light from Demeter’s Child a few hundred yards away, still running before the storm.
After around 10 hours the storm abated slightly, and Magus tried to get a little closer to the other ship. Then a great wave broke over the ship, and two sailors were washed across the deck from the port side and crashed into the starboard side of the deck right beside me. I grabbed the one who was unconscious and carried him to the cabin aided by another of the crew, while the other victim managed to reach the cabin unaided, but holding his hand and head. Some of the deck cargo needed re-securing.
The hull creaked a little more and some of the sailors were looking very cold and tired as the gale began to subside on the evening of the 19th September. It was approaching midnight when it finally blew out. Eventually a small light appeared to starboard, and Demeter’s Child pulled alongside during night. By dawn we were able to shout across and confirm that both ships had come safely through the storm.
Party & company:
Met: (named persons)
Places:
Party Loot:
From: Sammus’s Boast:
The Temple of Dionysus was manned, torches were burning and the High Priest, Palaemon, was busy making preparations. There was an open-air court with trees, shrubs and vines and I took the opportunity to practise with the harpe; it was surprisingly light and well-balanced and although patinaed with age, it was remarkably clear of marks or notches and sharp enough to shave hair. I rested for an hour or two to prepare for the ordeal to come.
Mago spent some time examining the manacles, working out how best to open them. It seemed to be an alloy of silver and another harder metal. There were square headed pins or screws, and he thought he would be able to unscrew them, but it would be very difficult indeed for Toxoanassa if she were wearing them. There was a long trailing chain. It was old and well-worn and there were quite a few pounds of silver in it. As she contemplated the chain and thought about just how big the jaws of the Ketos had been, Toxoanassa complained that Amphius hadn’t clearly explained the role of Andromeda to her.
Amphius bravely volunteered to be my shield bearer and went back to the ship, to collect his large Hoplite shield, along with some incendiary ammunition. On board he explained to Magus that we were going to take part in a ceremony where the priest of Dionysus would use the tale of Perseus and Andromeda and summon the sea monster and we were to kill it. Magus was surprised to learn that Toxoanassa had agreed to be Andromeda, but less so that I would be Perseus. Magus agreed to come along and watch but expressed his concern at the plight of Toxoanassa. When he and Amphius returned to the temple Magus was wearing a splendid bronze helmet. It was old and impressive, with a high plume, and cheekpieces and whirls in which Poseidon and sea creatures were cast. He also wore linothorax armour and greaves. With them were accompanied by Shemesh the Egyptian and one of his Greek mercenaries.
By now a large congregation of men and women had appeared. They were well dressed; the men wearing cloaks and the women all in scanty Greek dresses. As more and more arrived the men were all given torches and not long before dawn, bronze chains and manacles were given to every woman. Toxoanassa looked particularly beautiful in her chiton and her necklace; maybe she had make-up on, but I suspected, part of it was the glamour of the necklace.
Then large kraters of wine were brought out. Toxoanassa was the first to be served and then me. The wine was the best I had drunk since Kuku. With difficulty I managed not to drink so deeply that it might impair me for the trial I would face. The wine was passed on around the congregation, but I noticed my comrades refrained from partaking. Magus was taking a keen interest in all that was going on, and I saw him whispering his concerns to Agripinus, who seemed to be reassuring him. All too soon a faint light could be seen in the Eastern sky.
The temple courtyard was full as the procession set out, led by Palaemon with Toxoanassa/Andromeda beside him and then myself/Perseus with Amphius close behind, as my shield bearer. Behind me I could see the men holding their torches high and the women carrying bronze chains over their shoulders. The whole congregation were singing as we marched out. Agripinus was a few rows back and not far behind him were Si'aspiqo and Magus, but I saw no sign of Mago.
We wended our way a few hundred yards and heard the sea on both sides. The sky to the east had the first tinges of grey light. We followed the path along a narrow strip of land up to a rocky outcrop on which was set the low tower of the lighthouse. The crowd formed a large circle lit by torches, just below the lighthouse, and a choir of singing women waved their chains while a priest passed around them with a bowl. As Perseus I felt excited but slightly disconnected from what was happening and it seemed Toxoanassa as Andromeda had similar feelings.
Palaemon and two torch-bearers descended some steps or notches cut into the rock down towards the sea a dozen yards below and intoned loudly in Greek. He danced back up the stairs and took Toxoanassa/Andromeda by the chain and indicated Amphius and me/Perseus were to follow. Amphius stumbled near the bottom of the rough broken steps and ended on the edge of a tidal pool. Toxoanassa/Andromeda also almost fell and was held up by Palaemon. As we descended there was a surge above us as the crowd tried to get near the edge above for a better view.
Toxoanassa/Andromeda was manacled at the wrists and Palaemon linked the silver chain through a bronze ring set in a pillar of rock close to the edge of the tidal pool. The crowd above were singing and Palaemon shrieked out to sea in Ancient Greek maybe calling to Poseidon. Amphius set up his large shield on a stand in easy reach. The tide was out but was coming back in and dawn was close.
I learnt later that at this point Agripinus had prayed for a blessing on Toxoanassa. Si'aspiqo had found a little space off to one side of the crowd where there wasn’t such a good view, but where he was just close enough to target spells and had invoked a luck spell on himself and made ready to cast his protections.
Suddenly Toxoanassa/Andromeda called out a warning and I/Perseus saw ripples in the water. There was a rushing surge so fast that I/Perseus had no time to react and the Ketos hurled itself at the rock. Toxoanassa/Andromeda tried to dodge in her chains, but the massive teeth ripped her dress to rags, and she was left bleeding from several gashes; so nearly she missed being grabbed in the huge jaws. I/Perseus launched an all-out attack and cut deeply into the beast with the harpe and set it bleeding too, while the Ketos lunged from the pool and missed its bite at me. The harpe was much easier to wield than I had imagined and was obviously extremely sharp from the way it bit into the scaly hide of the monstrous beast.
Toxoanassa/Andromeda tried to keep away from the Ketos as best she could but was tightly held by the silver chains. Amphius drew two shortswords and by an effort of will overcame the fear exerted by the Ketos – it was not a problem for Toxoanassa/Andromeda and I/Perseus, undoubtedly because of the wine of Dionysios. Meanwhile Agripinus had invoked his arcane weapon and Si'aspiqo cast a spell against evil on Toxoanassa/Andromeda. I/Perseus struck deeply into the long neck of the Ketos once more with the two-handed harpe but missed with another blow as did Amphius with both his shortswords – but our luck held as so did the Ketos. At this point the arcane blade of Agripinus appeared as a sparkle in the air, but it too missed its mark.
Using his arts, Si'aspiqo had now cast his protection from evil on me. Maybe as a result the beast turned on Amphius as the Greek stabbed at it with his shortsword, but it missed yet again and I/Perseus struck deeply into the Ketos. Streaming with dark blood, the beast lunged at Amphius, who dodged but stumbled and the rows of sharp teeth in the massive jaws took a bite, as I/Perseus struck leaving a wound across the great face of the Ketos. Amphius too was now bleeding. I/Perseus struck another great blow, and it started to retreat into the water, but I/Perseus followed hacking into it with the harpe. Truly it might be a gift from the old Greek gods, for the Ketos collapsed in a pool of ichor and Amphius thrust his shortsword into its shuddering body.
I/Perseus hacked off the head with several more blows and could hear the crowd cheering wildly above. I/Perseus turned to them and waved in triumph. The sound of Palaemon singing the praises of Poseidon and Perseus resounded. One of the first to come down towards us was Magus, closely followed by Agripinus. Palaemon used a spanner to undo the bolts and release Toxoanassa and Magus assisted her away from the rock. Between Amphius and me we managed to drag the head out of the water. It was huge, with masses of large white teeth – dozens of pieces of ivory.
Agripinus carried out some healing and made sure Toxoanassa and Amphius’s wounds were cleaned. Soon Mago appeared – he was in worse shape than Toxoanassa and Amphius, as he was muddy and battered, having been trampled by the crowd in all their celebrations. I was unscratched. Agripinus spent some time healing Mago too.
With the help of some of the bronze chains, the crowd helped carry the huge head back into town. It was deposited at the foot of the Curia, an important looking civic building in the centre of the town where the people of Leptis came to marvel at the massive, scarred head with impressive teeth. There was an assembly in the city square where speeches of acknowledgment were made mainly in Greek. We were given our promised reward of four talents of silver (400gp) and were told we could take the head of the Ketos away with us.
Palaemon invited us to take part in a ceremony of thanksgiving and a celebration involving more wine than I could remember took place. The next I knew it was the next morning, and the ship was already heading out to sea. Magus had avoided the party and had made sure that the head of the Ketos had been loaded on board, where it was now set up at the prow, and he had made all preparations for a rapid departure.
I saw that Toxoanassa had made it back safely and she was now wrapped in a fine cloth blanket and being offered a cool water by Magus. The rest of my comrades were all safely aboard too, all with hangovers and only Mago and Amphius could remember getting back aboard the ship.
Party & company:
Met: (named persons)
Places:
Party Loot:
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