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Carthago! is a game by G.M., louisxiv just made a site for it.
Carthago! is a game by G.M., louisxiv just made a site for it.
THURSDAY 7th May ’26
7:45pm for 8:00pm BST
From: Sammus’s Boast:
The 2nd October started with drizzle, but soon we had a sunny day with a favourable wind, as we sailed towards Apollonia. In the afternoon we saw a school of small whales, which the sailors called Ziphius. Magus said that these were Poseidon’s own livestock and therefore a good omen. The coast was in sight by dusk, and he hoped we might reach Apollonia the next day. We sailed on slowly overnight as it was a just few days from the full moon.
During the first part of the night, I was awoken from dreams, where I thought I heard someone calling for Diophanes. As I headed up on deck, I saw him just ahead of me also hurrying on to the deck and Si'aspiqo following close behind me. I could smell the sea and seaweed strongly and there was a cool sea mist now gradually dissipating. We found the rest of the party in the prow, sweeping some stinking seaweed over the side. I learnt that just before midnight, the wind had died away and a cold mist had descended over the ship, muffling sound. Magus had ordered the sails taken in, as the fog was too thick to see the length of the ship, let alone sail on.
On watch in the prow, Toxoanassa and Amphius had felt the hairs on their necks rise as two undead climbed onto the ship and had attacked them. Toxoanassa had shot several arrows without effect, for it seemed that normal iron would not bite their undead flesh. After a moment frozen in fear, Amphius had snatched out his Spartan blade of cold steel and had struck at the undead as more had climbed aboard behind the first wave. The stench of rotting seaweed had been rank, but their cries of alarm had been muffled in the eerie mist, and no-one had come swiftly to their aid. In the stern, Agripinus hearing the faint cry of a woman had warned Magus that a Siren was calling from the mist, before marching towards the stern with Mago close behind covering his ears. Out of the mist an undead warrior had loomed and struck at Agripinus, but Mago had slipped behind it and stabbed it with his Egyptian dagger. It had struck home, as it too is cold steel from long ago. Agripinus had flourished his holy symbol and had called on the grace of Tanit to send the evil dead back to the Deep. The undead had quailed before his holy words, some jumping over the side and one collapsing into a pile of rotten bones and seaweed.
And so, the attack had been repelled, and Amphius found only a decent quality, very slightly rusty shortword and two daggers amongst the weed.
When the sea mist dispersed, all we could see around us was the sea, with no sign of where the undead may have come from other than the depths. Diophanes called them the sea dead and said they were not from the underworld but from the deep sea. The rest of the crew arrived at the prow and were happy that the incursion had been dealt with. They helped sweep the remaining rotten seaweed back into the sea. The rest of the night was uneventful.
The next morning, 3rd October, saw thin clouds and sunshine, with a fair wind from the southwest. We sailed along the coast and in the mid-afternoon Magus pointed out a lighthouse that marked the harbour of Apollonia ahead. The wind backed to come from the northeast as we neared Apollonia, and we were able to sail straight into the outer harbour. Apollonia was a large town with some substantial buildings. Magus chatted to an official and just before dusk we rowed through a channel into the inner harbour and moored at one of the quays on the south side of the inner harbour. The channel was lined with a wall on one side and several small towers on the other and there was a wall all around the outer harbour. There were military slipways to the west of the inner harbour, more slipways to the north as well as the commercial quays to the south where we moored. Apollonia was the harbour for Cyrene, which was about 10 miles inland and it seemed to be a busy commercial port.
Magus hoped to sell some cargo here if he could get a good deal on things to trade on in Alexandria, but it would depend on the market tomorrow. We might be here for a week if he traded or just a couple of days if we sailed straight on. He spoke confidentially to Agripinus and Si'aspiqo about the scarab from the pirate loot, telling them that Ptolemy wanted things like that in Alexandria. Giving it to him would be a big gift and he would give something valuable in return to show his worth.
He added that Magus was King here, a Macedonian, and that he would also like that sort of thing so we had a choice – we could gain the favour of either Ptolemy or Magus. Captain Magus also mentioned that Magus had become king of Cyrene sometime after the disgraceful murder of his predecessor Ophellas, who was killed by Agathocles the Tyrant of Syracuse some 40 years ago during his war with Carthage.
Magus and Toxoanassa stayed on board for the evening, but I went with my other companions into the town and headed down the main street, looking for a suitable place to have a meal. Amphius soon found somewhere suitable.
We enjoyed a tasty feast with decent wine and delicious, freshly baked bread. We spent the evening listening to rumours :
Party & company:
Met: (named persons)
Places:
Party Loot:
From: Sammus’s Boast:
The night of 29th September passed quietly, and we sailed on the next morning towards Arsinoe through more drizzle but with a favourable wind. That night during red watch a siren was heard, but no-one was lured away. In the morning Si'aspiqo mentioned confidentially that Diophanes spoke with the voice of Zeus to it and this had prevented Amphius from being lured away.
The 1st October had more drizzle with a northerly wind, which soon switched to come from almost directly westwards and the ship sailed east. After a few hours land was spotted and, in the afternoon, we landed safely in the harbour at Arsinoe.
Here Meliton the Greek Merchant the remaining passenger apart from Mago, disembarked and his boxes were unloaded. It was a small but well-established town. I went ashore with Amphius, and we explored a modest and mundane market and then went for some food and wine. I met up with an attractive, dark-haired Greek girl and we soon left Amphius on his own. After a while, I later learnt, he noticed my absence and went looking for me, but, unable to find any trace, he returned to the ship to see if I was there.
After an enjoyable time with the girl whose Greek name I didn’t quite grasp, I awoke in her bed and realized all was dark; it must have been after midnight, and I was probably late returning for my watch. My companion gave me a small candle to light my way and gave me garbled directions in Greek. Unfortunately, the candle soon guttered out, and I realized I must have misunderstood the directions. All was dark and quiet around me, and I had no idea where I was. Surmising that going downhill must lead to the harbour, I tried to follow any paths that led down but was very relieved when I spotted the light of a couple of torches and found that they were being held by my comrades who had come in search of me. Amphius led us back to the ship, where I apologized sheepishly to Diogenes for my tardiness.
We set sail first thing on the morning of 2nd October on a clear sunny day, with a favourable wind, heading for Apollonia, the port of Cyrene.
Party & company:
Met: (named persons)
Places:
Party Loot:
From: Sammus’s Boast:
From the pirates we had the following weapons and armour that might be traded: 15 daggers, 13 light axes, 19 shortswords, 7 longswords, 2 handed bronze two-handed Egyptian axe, 1 bow and quiver, 3 large shields, and a set of well-worn linothorax armour. There was also a ring with a yellowish stone, a silver headband with freshwater pearls, a gold wristband, and several brooch pins, which were thought to be worth about 150gp in total. There was also the magical scarab, which was considerably more valuable.
We set sail towards the Pentapolis on the morning of 23rd September. The Demeter’s Child following the Hippocampus, with Si'aspiqo, Amphius and Mago onboard. The Hippocampus sailed slowly east of northeast, enabling the Demeter’s Child to keep pace. We were now out of sight of land and the Hippocampus tacked east for a while before the wind changed to come from north and we sailed on southwards to the Libyan coast. After about an hour and a half we reached the coast and tacked back and forth, and the wind veered to come from the southwest and we sailed east along the coast looking for vegetation. Soon Toxoanassa spotted a golden beach with a clump of vegetation nearby and the Hippocampus sailed almost into the breakers and dropped anchor and was soon followed by the Demeter’s Child.
Magus thought there should be water there, so Amphius and Toxoanassa went ashore to investigate. They found a small seasonal watercourse, now dry, with green plants stretching inland with multiple abandoned small campsites from different times nearby. They dug down with some driftwood for a couple of feet and found that at this level it was still damp.
Agripinus then went ashore and carried out multiple ceremonies to bring forth water, and the ships had enough water to sail on. During this time, Magus went over to the Demeter’s Child and discussed plans for the loot and where they would sail next with Simos. After a while they shook hands and then, there was an all hands briefing.
We learnt that Simos would take all the weapons and half the silver down the coast to a tribal settlement and trade weapons there before sailing along the coast to Berenica. Hippocampus would take the rest of the loot and make directly for Berenica. My comrades and I were given a choice of which ship to take, and we all decided to remain on the Hippocampus. Soon to our surprise, Diophanes and his equipment were transferred aboard the Hippocampus as he had chosen to sail with us, maybe due to the charms of Toxoanassa I suspected.
The morning of 24th September was cloudy with the first signs that the weather might break. The wind blew from north of west, which was good for Demeter’s Child but not for Hippocampus. Soon after we parted ways, our wind shifted to come from the southwest and we sailed east for the day. It was dark overnight, so the ship just drifted and in the morning the wind blew briskly from just west of north with heavier seas. The wind soon shifted to come from the west and we sailed on east. Si'aspiqo and I spotted one very large fish chasing the prow of the ship, which was soon joined by several more. They were identified as porpoises and they stayed with the ship most of the day and were thought to be a good omen.
The next morning Si'aspiqo reported to Magus about a dream he had had overnight about a battle, but Magus was unconcerned as it seemed far off. Magus felt a change in the air with wetter weather on the way. We sailed on for the day with the wind having shifted favourably from its prevailing direction and we collected some water from the occasional showers.
We sailed on quietly the next day in more damp weather, the only incident of note coming when I nearly fell overboard while relieving myself over the side. I managed to hang on tight until a knotted rope was thrown, and I pulled myself back on board with help from my comrades.
On the morning of 27th September, the wind blew from the northeast, which was the wrong direction, but it soon backed to come from the east and we tacked north. Si'aspiqo used the conch to predict rain was on its way. The magician later saw a dark shape in the water and soon discerned a triangular fin following us. It disappeared and reappeared three times and looked to be a very large shark. Magus thought it was following us and did not think this was a good omen, as he could think of no reason it would be following us. Agripinus wondered about the servants of Melkart being on our trail.
The following morning the wind blew from the southwest and soon there was a cry of land ho! Within an hour Magus reported that the harbour of Berenica was just ahead and was very pleased with his navigation. The harbour here was shallow and difficult to enter but with a favourable wind, we made it safely into harbour at the first of the Pentapolis.
Soon my comrades and I went ashore to investigate. The city was originally called Esperis but had recently been renamed Berenica for the daughter of Magus, King of Cyrene. There was an old part, but the new area of the city was being developed and supervised by Berenica. We could see the new temple of Apollo, which was still under construction. We looked around the market, and Mago found the edible plant silphium, and bought a sack of it. Si'aspiqo found some corners where signs were not in Greek, but he thought in Hebrew, from some sort of Middle eastern cult, near Tyre and southern Lebanon. I found someone to repair my heavy shield. Back on-board ship, I spoke to Diophanes and asked where he was headed. He didn’t seem sure and mentioned following where the winds of fate blew but did mention that he had not been to Scythia.
That night Amphius went to listen to rumours in town and I went with him. We learnt that they were proud of the new temple and that Berenica was the most important person here and was carrying out a vast modernization. Money from the Ptolemys was mentioned and we learnt that King Magus’s wife was from the East, called Apama, but Greek rather than Persian – a Seleucid. Magus was related to Ptolemy. There was some skirting around arguments between Cyrene and Alexandra, but it was said not to be a problem now. Magus had been King for over 10, maybe 15 years and Berenica was in her 20s. She was personally involved in the refurbishment. We returned to the ship quite late after an entertaining evening.
The ship had been reprovisioned and Magus planned to set sail for Arsinoe that morning, 29th September, providing the weather was fair. Si'aspiqo used the conch and thought there would be rain, but no storm. The wind was from the southwest, but it reversed, briefly, while we sailed out of harbour and then swung back to come from the southwest and we sailed along the coast on a grey, drizzly day in poor visibility. We sailed north along the coast, and then slowly turned to the east and hove to at night.
Party & company:
Met: (named persons)
Places:
Party Loot:
Last night I dreamt I went up to the bow again.
There standing the night watch is not my comrade, Amphius of the Night Eyes, but the hero of Zeus, Diophanes. His eyes too show strangeness, and his face is older, purer than the young warrior we see in daylight. I am, for a moment, tongue-tied, struck dumb by the weight of an immortal glance.
“There is something about you I can’t place,” the god-in-Diophanes says, “a perfume of the desert. Strange. Whom do you worship?”
“I pay respect to all the gods.” I reply, truthfully.
The god presses me. “None in particular then?”
“There is one to whom I am bound, obligated. An old god known as Astarte, in an aspect of one imprisoned, ‘Astarte Enchained’. Of the east, I understand.”
The god reflects for a few moments. “Kórē… Kórē… You seek Kórē, or she seeks you. Kórē… My daughter. You were a long way from our temples.”
“I believe she travelled with the Phoenicians, a long time ago. Or the Sumer people long before that.”
“It is a long time ago. But there are islands here where her shrines are remembered. You could seek her. Ask in Crete. Head northwards, if you seek Kórē.”
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