RomanQuest by Herbie Brennan Page A

player to throw that gets all the money in the pot and this little statuette of Venus -” He shows you a rather neat little ceramic figure. “ - which finishes the game so we can all go home.”
    â€œAnd that’s it?” you ask. Jactus really is simple.
    â€œNearly,” Quintus tells you. “Any player who throws five ones can claim a single coin from the pot. Any player who throws five of any other number - five two, five threes, five fours, five sixes - can claim two coins from the pot provided he barks like a dog because this move is known as the Jactus Canicula, the Little Dog’s Throw. For every round of play, each of us donates one coin to the pot and you donate one Life Point. Clear?”
    You nod dumbly. “Clear,” you echo grumly.
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    Well, this could turn into a bit of a mess and no mistake. As against that, of course, it’s a chance for you to earn a bit of gold. Play the game through, either with friends taking the parts of Quintus, Sextus, Septimus and Eric, or rolling the dice for them yourself. If the loss of Life Points kills you at any time, go to XIII . If you survive, take whatever winnings you’ve accumulated and disappear swiftly through the eastern door to LXXIX or the northern door to CXXXI .
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    â€œWrong!” exclaims Caligula delightedly. He looks thoughtfully into the middle distance. “Forced to eat yourself alive from the toes up, I think.”
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    After which painful experience, you can make your way to 13 .
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120
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    That’s it! That’s the name you’ve been trying to remember! Caligula!!!
    â€œCaligula? You want me to do something about Caligula?” you gasp in astonishment. The Roman Emperors were a fairly loony bunch, but Caligula was a nutter’s nutter. He had folks killed the way some people pick their teeth. Nobody was safe. Get within sight of him and he might take a notion to feed you to the lions for no reason at all.
    â€œHe is a very evil man. Something needs to be done about him.”
    â€œWas a very evil man,” you correct her. “He’s been dead nearly two thousand years. Nothing to do with anybody now.”
    â€œThat’s where you’re wrong,” says the wild-eyed woman earnestly. “Caligula set standards of government that have been an inspiration for politicians ever since. Why do you think the world’s in such a mess?”
    â€œHadn’t noticed,” you tell her.
    â€œTake my word for it,” she says. “Your world as well as mine will be a better place if you do something about Caligula.”
    â€œWhat do you want me to do?” you ask. “Kill him?”
    The sibyl gives a little laugh. “Good heavens no - that would make you no better than he was. I want you to go back in time before his birth and stop his parents ever meeting. There’s a particular point when you can manage that quite easily. If his parents don’t meet, he never gets born. It’s as simple as that.”
    She fixes you with a gimlet eye. “But we’ve stood here talking long enough. Will you do it?”
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    Last chance to back out (politely) at 80 . But if you really want to go ahead with this nonsense, you can take your chances at 20 .
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    â€œWrong!” exclaims Caligula delightedly. He looks thoughtfully into the middle distance. “Minced up and fed to lions, I think.”
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    After which painful experience, you can make your way to 13 .
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    Please select an option from the previous page.

122
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    Why this was marked on your map is a mystery. These buildings are Rome’s main grain stores, locked and guarded twenty four hours a day. There’s no way you can get in even if you wanted to - and why would you want to just to stare at a load