Episode 14.2.a
>The Praetorium of the Societas Potentium, Aegyptus, 80 CE<
"Good. Good," says the probator. "Keep it always in mind how Cicero died for his opinions, and how shamefully. They nailed his hands to the rostra, and his head with them, and his tongue, on the very platform he had loved above everything in the world. And Caesar? Whatever Caesar said in public, he never truly fought for either party. He fought for Caesar.
"Yes. You are ready. And now the door to the Lapis appears!" He is smiling as he says it, though not at you.
The floor shivers under your feet. On the far side of the court, in a wall you would have sworn was solid rock, a stone door swings open on a chamber you have never seen. You had been sure of that wall. In the praetorium of the Potentes, being sure has not counted for much.
Before anyone can move toward it, Marcus comes running across the court with a crowd of armed guards at his back.
"Recentii!" he shouts. "I owed you a great deal already, and now this. You have led me to the hidden chamber!"
The probator did not expect to see Marcus here, and for an instant it shows in his face. He steps back into the shadow between two columns, slowly, and then you cannot see him at all. There is no time to wonder where he has gone.
"I searched for this chamber," Marcus says, "and I never found it. You found it for me. Now you will serve me, as slaves serve their master. Swords, I see, and spears. You think you can fight? It makes no difference. Guards, take these children!"
The guards come on.
Prompt: There is no way out. The guards are many. Fight for your lives!
