Episode 12.2.a
>Alexandria, Aegyptus, 80 CE<
You are deep in your reading when loud voices come from the gate. Tertius is out of his chair at once, because you can all hear who is shouting. It is Tiberius. "I want to see whether they came here!"
Tertius pushes you back against the wall and goes to find out what is happening. When he returns he speaks in a whisper. "I've paid the guard. He'll let no one in. But Tiberius hasn't come alone. There are men with him, and they sent him here. Potentes, I think. Where did the map come from? That's what they want to know."
Then the ground begins to move.
"We have to get out, and. . ." says Tertius. And he is gone.
"Mission Control here," you hear in your ear, and the voice is not quite steady. "Operatives, please rem. . ."
The voice cuts off. In the same moment the ground heaves, and there is a great noise: part of the Musaeum's wall has come down. The air turns black and fills with darkness, and in the darkness you see the shape of a man standing in front of you.
A voice speaks inside your mind. "We have to get away from here." It is Sinistrus.
"It appears the TSTT has lost track of you completely," Sinistrus says, "so I can risk invoking some code that I wouldn't otherwise have access to. . ."
Behind you, you hear Tiberius and his companions. The dust makes their breathing hard, and it is getting nearer. Everything is bright and blind at once: part of the roof has fallen. In a moment Tiberius will see you, and the ground is still shaking hard. . .
"Here," says Sinistrus. "Your next training. Enjoy! And don't forget what's really important about this LAPIS nonsense!"
It is a hot day in the fields of Italy. You are standing to one side while two Romans talk together. Both are in armor, and the crests on their helmets tell you they are commanders.
"There!" says the first of them, the prouder one. "He had the Lapis on the back of an elephant!"
The other, a plainer man with the country in his voice, answers, "They say he had it on an elephant. At the battle on the Ticinus."
Prompt: Find out what's going on.
