(Episode 6.3.a Mission Assist HUD)

>Outside of Stabiae, August 79 CE<

When you wake up after the immersion, Sextus looks at you expectantly. “dēbēmus īre!”, inquit. He explains, "It didn't make sense to me that the Potentēs would put both the clue and the solution in Herculaneum, so I did some reading while I was waiting for you to wake up. Sure enough, I found a note made by one of my predecessors that Gāius Cilnius Maecenās had sent a team of Potentēs to Stabiae about a year before the battle of Actium for reasons we have never known. So there's a chance that Stabiae contains the next piece of the puzzle, and it's just as well that we leave, because things don’t seem right here in Pompēiī. fūmus ē Vesuviō surgit.”

terra tremit. Sextus leads you hurriedly through the streets of Stabiae, in hopes of finding the other inscriptions mentioned in the Herculaneum inscription.

Thankfully, the terror of the mountain has spread through the town, and the streets are deserted as citizens race to the harbor in a futile attempt to escape; you reach the eerily empty forum unscathed.

Sextus unrolls his copy of the inscription you retrieved from Herculaneum. In a moment, he gives a cry of surprise as he looks at a stone here in Stabiae.

“ecce!” inquit Sextus. vōs vocat, et mōnstrat locum in lapide. vidētis sīgnum nitidum. numquam vīdistis sīgnum simile. trēs sagittae sunt in lapide. sagittae habent cuspidēs ad terram, sed quisque sagitta habet cuspidem in parte differentī.

sub sagittīs est inscrīptiō: INFOROSTABIAENECESSEESTVOBISQUAERERE

Sextus nunc est ānxius. “est īnsidia! Sociētās Potentium dēsīderat mala. cēlant viam ad Lapidem, quod dēsīderant potentiam, et dēsīderant omnēs amāre potentiam. Potentēs popularēs ōdērunt et optimātēs amant. dēbēmus Sociētātem vulnerāre! We must be very careful, for I believe they are trying to make us like them, and to lure us into joining them!"

Prompt: While you interpret the arrows, and attempt to follow their instructions, assure Sextus that you understand his concerns about the SP.