Carthago !

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Carthago! is a game by G.M., louisxiv just made a site for it.

From Sammus’s Boast:

178: E58 – Maze and Traps

At the bottom of the steps was a five feet wide corridor, which immediately turned to the right. There was a narrow opening into a small chamber and a junction with options heading south, west or east. It looked as though we were in another maze.

Mago moved up past me to follow behind Amphius. The Greek labelled the junction 0 and the exits east, west and south, 1, 2 and 3 respectively. All was quiet and it was much cooler down here. Amphius led us East and after 20 or 30 feet there was an enforced left turn, and we headed north. After 20 or 30 feet we came to an enforced left turn which doubled back on itself and then through a series of right and left 180 degree turns gradually heading back to the west, until Amphius saw a door across the passage ahead of him.

As he advanced to the door, the floor suddenly collapsed beneath him – a whole length of corridor had dropped away into a pit. Amphius managed to grasp the threshold of the door, whilst I grabbed the narrow side of the floor which still remained, but I dropped my sword. Mago and Agripinus tumbled into the pit. Si'aspiqo almost followed them in, but Toxoanassa reacted quickly as the magician tottered on the edge and pulled him to safety. Agripinus had sprained his right ankle, and Mago was unconscious.

Amphius tried to raise himself up on the ledge and couldn’t but managed to grasp the edge and work his way around to where Toxoanassa was. Baal-Shaq hauled on Toxoanassa, and she grasped Si'aspiqo and helped him out. The pit was over 12 feet deep pit, as I could see by the light of Agripinus’s torch. I tried to work my way round the edge of the pit but lost my grip on the narrow ledge and dropped into the pit, where I picked up my shortsword.

The priest looked at Mago and saw he had a broken arm and possible internal injuries – probably broken ribs. He carried out a couple of rites to cure Mago’s wounds. Mago regained consciousness but was in a lot of pain. It hurt when he breathed, and his left arm was painful.

I climbed out with the help of a rope and joined the others, as we waited and watched Agripinus tend Mago. He set the arm and after another rite it no longer seemed broken. Mago gently and carefully massaged the ankle of Agripinus with his good hand and the ankle felt better. We lowered a rope and carefully hoisted Mago and then helped Agripinus out of the pit.

In the meantime, Amphius had climbed around the edge of the pit and checked the door. He decided that it was a fake door just carved into the stone.

We retraced our steps to the outside and after Mago had had a drink, Si'aspiqo put him into a restful and recuperative sleep. The rest of the day passed uneventfully and, in the evening, Mago awoke. He was still bruised but feeling much improved. Agripinus performed miracles at dawn to provide water for the animals and then a second one nearby to replenish our store of water. Agripinus also performed another healing rite on Mago, who now felt fully recovered.

We descended the steps once more and headed west along the passage previously marked 2. After 20 feet there was an enforced right turn, and after 20 or 30 feet there was a 180-degree left turn back on itself and we suspected we were close to where the trap had been. After another 20 feet there was an option on the right, closely followed by another option on the right which we labelled 4 and 5 respectively. We took the second option and there was an immediate no option left turn. After another thirty feet there was a no option right turn and after 10 or 15 feet there was an option on the left or the passage continued heading west. We labelled this junction 7 and turned right. This led down some stairs and as it levelled out, there was a door ahead blocking the passage.

Amphius was suspicious of a stone in front of the door, so we went back up the stairs and turned right at junction 7 and continued west along the passage. After 10 or 15 feet there was a no option right turn and then after 40 feet it came to a dead end. Amphius found nothing suspicious, but there was a narrow squeeze way on the left which opened onto a passage still heading north. We squeezed through it in turn, but it was particularly tight for Baal-Shaq and I. after 10 or 15 feet the passage turned to the right back on itself, then the passage ended but opened out on the left at 45 degrees into a 15 foot square chamber with an exit on the far side and an opening into a small 10 foot square room. Amphius checked the small room carefully and found no secret doors, so we headed back into the larger room. He found nothing here either and so we took the exit in the far wall which led back to junction 4.

Amphius led us right there, past junction 5 and then after 30 feet there was an enforced left turn and then after 15 feet it turned to the right and back on itself heading west. After 50 feet the passage turned left to head south and soon after the turn Amphius noticed something unusual in the brickwork on the left wall. He eventually found a mechanism for a secret door, which he opened.

From Sammus’s Boast:

177: E57 – Opening the Sphinx

Boujje told us that we would need to head to Tilaf, two or three days north of Fort Boujje and then turn northeast for about three days from Tilaf, where we would see a line of scree slopes or cliffs rising from the sand. Boujje explained that where we saw scattered rocks around and a large carved rock this was the place. People had dug in the rocks around there and although Boujje had been here he couldn’t find a way in. We would need Ajjer guides to trade for water at Tilaf as there was no water where we were going.

Si'aspiqo decided to join us on our trip, and we took two donkeys to carry water and a pony for Si'aspiqo to ride. Baal-Shaq spoke to the Ajjer guides and Bardis and Ibegi agreed to accompany us.

We set out at dusk on 17th April under a full moon. It was cloudy but the moon and stars gave enough light to walk. Amphius and Baal-Shaq were at the front and Mago and I brought up the rear. Ibegi guided the party, while Bardis took the opportunity to talk to Si'aspiqo. When we camped at dawn Agripinus carried out a ceremony and provided water for the animals.

During the day a hot wind rose from the south and a sandstorm blew in. The sandstorm blew out overnight and it poured with rain on 19th April. By dawn on 20th April the rain eased to showers, and it was cool, so we set out again. As the day wore on it began to dry out, soon day steam started to rise from the desert, and it became humid. The guides suggested we continue at night as we should arrive at Tilaf by dawn, so after a rest, we pushed on and arrived at dawn on 21st April. Our guides negotiated and refilled the watersacks. The weather cleared, and it was hot. We rested in the shade of date palms for the day and resumed our march at dusk. We marched under clear skies to the northeast for the night. All was quiet.

A hot wind from the south brought stinging sand, but we set out heading at dawn on 22nd April and camped for the next day, when the guides told us the next night’s march should bring us to the cliffs. Agripinus carried out two ceremonies but was unable to produce any water and the animals drank quite a lot of our supply. The guides collected locusts for tea. We set out at dusk on 23rd April on a fair evening with a warm wind from the east and, just before dawn, Amphius sighted a ridge line of rocks and then a larger rock a short distance from the cliffs. We soon came to a large rock 50 metres long and 7 or 8 metres high. Around us were bits of stones that might once have been worked. We made camp in the shade to the north and west of the large rock. Agripinus once again called on Tanit and this time was able to produce some water.

We started poking around amongst the rocks and then Toxoanassa, who had walked out to the east and looked back, called everyone over to take a look. We joined her and could see that one end of the large rock was shaped unusually. It was very weathered, so it was difficult to make out clearly, but might be a woman’s head with a mane or even a cobra’s head. The head was buried up to the chin. Si'aspiqo had seen something similar beside the Great Pyramid in Egypt and told us it was a Sphinx. Agripinus found a quiet place and communed with Tanit, while Si'aspiqo meditated.

Amphius looked carefully around the buried head and started to clear away some of the sand. Just below the neck he could make out linear carving. It might be a pectoral, clothing, or an architectural feature but most of it was buried.

Towards midday we met up again and reported. Toxoanassa and I had looked around the scattered rocks but found little of interest. The scattered rocks were in semi-rectangular shapes and might have been crude and worn huts or dwellings. Agripinus told us that this area had not always been desert, and that this was a burial place for the dark people. Si'aspiqo thought that this was an ancient temple of Amun, and that the Sphinx was at the head of a processional way. He had had a vision of the Sphinx looking to the east, with the processional way behind here to the west.

We had a break and then resumed an hour before dusk as it started to cool a little. Agripinus carried out two ceremonies at different places and produced some more water for the beasts and then for the rest of us. Si'aspiqo cast a protection from evil spell and set up a ward around the camp.

Amphius had dug down a few more feet and found some hieroglyphs in a square or rectangle on the sphinx, which continued down into the sand. In the top corners of the square were holes that were clogged with sand. Si'aspiqo inspected and translated the hieroglyphs. He told us it said something like:

“Under the shadow of this mighty (something) (someone) slept”.

I used a spade to dig more of the sand and Agripinus used a shield to push it away. The rectangle with hieroglyphs was about 3 feet wide and 6 feet or more down. Si'aspiqo made out more of the inscription:

“Somebody spoke saying look at my son Carfre, I am your father or grandfather, giving sovereignty over something, supremacy over the living. Behold something then check my perfect limbs or arms. The sound of the desert where I am laid has covered me”.

He couldn’t make out the next part but then it finished:

“heart’s desire to become real. Carfre made it so and leaves these words to speak truth to those who read them”

He called this an Egyptian stela.

Si'aspiqo cast a focus luck cantrip and then tried a fortune telling cantrip to read whether deciphering this inscription brought good or bad fortune and thought it was more good than bad. He read again but could make out no more and decided to sleep on it. Amphius cleared more sand and found parts of what seemed to be stone mounds to either side, while most of us rested.

Just before dawn Agripinus rose and carried out two more ceremonies to provide more water for the animals and completely restock our supply. Soon after the rest of us rose and Mago climbed up to the top of the Sphinx and thought there was still a lot of the Sphinx buried under the sand – there might be metres of sand. The mounds seemed like legs or arms reaching out from the head. Si'aspiqo spent more time investigating the inscription. Toxoanassa dug around the rectangular inscribed stone with a broken arrow shaft and found two more square holes at the bottom, which meant there was one in each corner of the stelae. Looking at the size and shape of the stelae, I wondered if it was a door. Amphius looked, and thought it was set into stone. He looked at one of the holes at the top; it was at least two inches deep. The other one at the top was similar.

Si'aspiqo thought the height of the day, midday might be significant. He said the inscription re-read something like:

“Carfre the mighty one was here, sleep at the moment when Ra reached the summit of heaven. Something spoke to him. Look upon me my son Carfre, I bestow … over domain and supremacy over the living. May protect my mighty limbs. The sand of the desert that has covered me. Save me, heart’s desire become real. Carfre made it so and leaves these words to speak truth to those who read them”.

Si'aspiqo set himself between the arms and waited for close to midday when he would meditate again.

Mago couldn’t see why the square holes would be there. They couldn’t be for handling it, he thought. Perhaps they were for precise setting, but he had never seen something like this before. I poked a broken shaft in each one, thinking they might trigger some mechanism. They went in several inches after wiggling more sand out. Two came back out easily, but two were stuck. Amphius took over and cleared out the two holes where the shafts had not stuck and tried to push them in further. When cleared he could see something like the edges of stone in the holes. If it was metal, he would have thought it might be a lock. He took all the shafts back out. They were notched as though they were stuck in something sharp. He used his tools to clear everything out of the four apertures. He took out his magic key and tried to open the one at the top right corner. There was a clunk and the sound of something cycling. He tried the bottom left hole, and the key jammed but then he freed it and it this time it turned with a click, again something cycled. He repeated the process with the lower right hole and again there was a click and cycling. He was concerned the large block might fall, so we all moved out of the way and as he turned the key in the top left corner he prepared to leap out of the way. It took a while to cycle, and he had time to move out of the way and then the stelae fell out and landed with a thud in the trench Amphius had dug. Ahead was darkness.

It was now mid-morning and our debt to Boujje was paid! There were stairs going steeply down into the rock. Amphius took a closer look and tapped firm stairs. He descended 40 feet down the stairs and I followed. Agripinus, Si'aspiqo, Toxoanassa, and Mago followed with Baal-Shaq at the rear with a torch. Si'aspiqo also lit a torch. At the bottom of the steps was a five feet wide corridor, which immediately turned to the right. There was a narrow opening on the left into a small chamber or junction with options heading south, west or back to the east. It looked as though we were in another maze.

Si'aspiqo appends:

I suspect Carfre may be also rendered as Khafre or Khefren, a pharoah of the ancient times to whom is attributed one of the large pyramid tombs of the northern Nile and, interestingly, the nearby Sphinx monument.

My best rendering of the stela’s glyphs, worn by the sands they are now face down in, is:

Khafre the Mighty One was here, seated himself under the shadow of this mighty work and slept at the moment when Ra was at the summit of heaven
…(then something about:)… this spoke to him …(something)… saying look upon me my son Khafre I am thy grandfather …(forebear?)… I bestow on thee …(something)… over domain …(or kingdom?)… and supremacy over the living.
Behold …(something)… may protect my perfect limbs
the sands of the desert which have covered me saved me
…(something)… heart's desire becoming real.
And so Khafre made it so and leaves these words to speak truth to those who read them.

—
Earlier, in dreaming of this place, I heard a female voice singing in the old Egyptian tongue, perhaps a hymn to, or invoking, Amun, the creator god.
I saw the Sphinx in the distance from a south-eastern perspective (which I then confused, upon waking, with my own direction of view, I since realise – such is dreaming).

A Timeline

1. On Calendars

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

2. The Tale of Months