LotS/The Story/Aphrodisian Anabasis/Lupanar
Lupanar
You yank one of the double doors open, shove it aside, and run down the corridor. But you come to a sudden stop in front of the painting of Venus, when the wheeled robot rolls out from the adjoining passage.
"Halt!" it says.
"Get out of the way!" you yell.
You move to go round it. One of its thin arms shoots out, blocking your path.
"Halt!" it repeats. "I saw you commit acts of vandalism / theft / assault / battery / rape / murder / counterfeiting -- select as applicable -- on the security monitors. Please remain here until the appropriate authorities arrive."
The Princess' boot lashes out, and the robot's eyes fly from its head in a shower of sparks. They clatter in the hallway several paces behind it. Its spindly arms fall inert at its sides.
"Come on!" she says.
The two of you run down the corridors, each one just as deserted as when you passed along them the first time, until you reach the room where you left the others.
You glance at the Princess, gesture for her to step back, and throw the door open -- noting from its weight that the wooden façade is covering dense metal. A merry jingle greets you.
Telemachus is sat in front of the holo-screen, playing an ancient videogame -- his back to you. The others are occupying some of the chairs and couches, and turn as you enter. They jump to their feet as soon as they see the expression on your face. The prince looks round a moment later, and follows suit.
"We need to leave," you say. "Now."
"So, what do we do?" Talia asks.
Flames dance around the wreckage of the limo shuttle, an army of flickering beings celebrating its demise.
A search of the surrounding area yielded no sign of the person responsible, or anyone else for that matter. And your attempts to contact Thalatta Spaceport met with no success. Unless a remarkable conjunction of coincidences has taken place, whoever orchestrated the limo's destruction must also have blocked communications with the Consortium's people.
"We have to make our own way back," the Princess replies.
"If that poorly engineered and laughably programmed robot contacted Thalatta, Contella would have sent their operatives to assist us," Lu Bu says. "But that doesn't mean it didn't contact anyone else."
"He's right," you say. "For all we know, every gang in Hedon might be after us for what happened in there."
"Then we should probably get out of here before they show up." Talia looks over at the brightly lit buildings across the river. "We might be able to lose ourselves in the city, and get to the spaceport before anyone notices us."
"If not, we're going to have to chop our way back." Ragnar grunts, and brandishes his axe. "Suits me just fine."
You're wary as you cross the bridge, your weapons at the ready. It would be the perfect time for an enemy to ambush you, with nowhere for you to escape -- unless you chose to dive into the river.
But you see no one, and breathe a sigh of relief as you come to the end. Now at least you have a whole city at hand, full of cover and potential paths by which you might evade any hostile forces you encounter.
There's an expanse of grass ahead of you, dotted with trees that sway in the moonlight. Further ahead you see marble buildings -- or at least buildings fashioned to resemble marble. It's a beautiful scene, though you don't have the luxury of enjoying it.
"This is Lupanar," you say, remembering the map of Hedon you saw.
"A place which attempts to emulate the debauchery of Earth's ancient Rome," Lu Bu says.
The Princess turns to Telemachus.
"Put your goggles on, please."
"Come on! Don't we have more important things to deal with right now?"
"Telemachus..."
"Fine..." The boy sighs, takes hold of the goggles, and pulls them down from his forehead until they rest over his eyes.
You move onwards, towards the marble cityscape.
Do Ut Des
Something comes to you over the rustle of leaves and branches, and the noises of revelry from further ahead. It sounds like someone moaning in agony. A woman.
You look to the others, and they ready their weapons in anticipation. Together you slip into the nearby copse of trees and bushes that's hiding the woman from sight. Better to approach from cover, rather than out in the open.
The lower portion of a fluted marble column comes in sight through the gaps in the foliage, resting in the middle of nowhere as thought it were the lone remnant of a temple from a prior age. There's no sign of anyone around it. But the moans are coming from higher up...
You emerge from cover, and see the upper half of the pillar. A metal bar runs through it, forming a T-shape. A woman in a short black tunic is fastened there, her wrists bound to the metal bar with ropes, her ankles tied to the marble -- making her body emulate the edifice's shape.
Her moans end as she sees you, and her eyes widen.
"You!" she says. "You're the ones they're looking for!"
She stares around with sharp jerks of her head, as though making sure no one else is present.
"Cut me down! Please!"
She looks towards the marble buildings.
"Hurry!"
"Who are you?" the Princess asks.
"I'm a slave-girl. Caligula did this because I spilled a cup of wine on her. Just get me down!"
"If she remains there, her death will be slow and painful," Lu Bu says. "The manner of her crucifixion is inexpert, but will eventually prove fatal."
"I can help you!" the woman wails. "You need to get out of the city, and I can help!"
"You said people were looking for us." You glance around as you speak, but there's still no sign of anyone else close by.
"Some of the Praetorians. They know you killed Metella. Caecilius is out for blood! She was his wife."
"The woman at the meeting?" you ask, recalling the delegate in Roman garb. The Princess must have shot her during the fracas.
"Yes! But I know my way around Hedon. I can get you past them. But you have to cut me down!"
You look to the Princess, and she nods. Whether she can really be of any use to you or not, you can't leave her to die up there.
Veni, Vidi, Risi
It's easy enough to reach her bonds by standing on Ragnar's shoulders, and in a few moments you're passing her down to Talia.
The woman sags against the gunslinger for a moment, as you come down. Then she throws herself at Ragnar, wraps her arms partway around his broad chest, and begins to shower him with kisses interspersed with semi-intelligible cries of gratitude.
"About time I got my share of the rewards around here," he says, a wide grin on his face.
"I'm Claudia," she says, after bestowing one final kiss on the Niflung.
"And we're dead if we don't get out of here," Talia says. "So if you're quite done..."
"Can you walk?" the Princess asks.
"My legs are sore, but I can manage."
"I could carry you," Ragnar says.
Talia rolls her eyes.
"What's our best way to Thalatta?" you ask.
"We need to head towards Anguish. It'll be easier to disappear in there."
"Which way?"
She points towards the expanse of marble buildings.
"The streets must be full of people," Talia says. "You can hear them from here."
"It means we can slip through the crowd," Claudia replies. "We just need to avoid the Praetorians."
You have little choice, other than to take the advice of someone who hopefully knows how to navigate Hedon. So you follow as Claudia leads you towards the buildings.
As you draw nearer, you see the architecture in all its dubious glory. The marble facades are painted, in colors ranging from a subdued blue on one building to a riot of reds and greens on another.
"Looks like someone vomited on them," Ragnar says.
An arched gateway brings you to a wide open space between the colorful structures. It's filled with men and woman in various states of Roman attire -- from elaborate togas and cloaks to nudity offset only by a mask or laurel wreath. Most have wine cups in their hands, and from the looks of the gathering before you the nectar of the grape has been flowing for hours upon hours. Many are embracing, kissing and fondling each another in complete nonchalance at the public nature of their affections.
You look at Telemachus, to make sure he's still wearing his goggles.
A few people glance in your direction, but no one seems to pay you any attention. If your garb and weapons trouble them, they give no sign. In a place like Hedon, they've probably seen much worse.
"It should be easy to slip through here," you say. "We-"
"Hey!"
Telemachus' cry is followed a moment later by a flash of laser fire. You turn in time to see him snatch his weapon back from Claudia's hand.
There are screams.
You glimpse a man in a black cuirass shaped in an archaic Roman style, as he disappears into the press of people -- clutching his arm.
"That's Caecilius!" Claudia says. "He was about to shoot!"
Much of the crowd is fleeing for the buildings, shouting and screaming. But other men and women stay where they are, drinking and groping, lost to the world in their hedonism.
The blare of trumpets echoes across the marble rooftops.
"Great." Talia sighs. "Looks like we're going to have to fight after all."
The others ready their weapons. Lu Bu pulls out the pieces of his martial attachments from various bodily compartments, and assembles his sword and claw with remarkable speed and dexterity. Telemachus has his laser pistol in one hand. His other is clutching the rectangular device he was holding back in the Contella embassy. You never did get round to asking him about that...
You're about to call for your companions to run for cover, when your enemies start pouring into the square before you. And instead you stare.
"Ha!" Ragnar gives a bellowing laugh. "This is what passes for security around here?"
Men and women dressed like Roman legionaries are forming up their ranks. Each one carries a sword or spear, and has a shield on their other arm. It appears that Lupanar's inhabitants take their faction's theme very seriously.
"A load of prostitutes with swords and shields..." Talia says, laughing. "Doesn't seem fair to just gun them down."
"I'll try talking to them," you reply.
Testudo Terribilis
Given how obsessed these people are with their adopted Roman heritage, you realize that you might be best served to adapt yourself accordingly. So you scour your mind for traces of knowledge left by your childhood schooling and later studies, until something suitable floats to the surface of your thoughts.
"Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears..." you begin. And since the pseudo-soldiers arrayed before you remain there, listening instead of attacking, you believe it's working. So you continue.
It's only when a woman appears, struggling to fit her chest into a golden breastplate, that you understand the reason for their inaction. The moment she falls into their midst, she cries out, and the formation begins to move.
The soldiers in the middle ranks raise their shields above their heads, as though creating a roof of bulwarks over their unit. There's a humming sound, and white light flashes across the face of each shield.
"Fire!" you shout.
Your weapons open up. But at the same moment a dome of shining white energy appears around the legionaries. Your shots strike its surface, and each blast is thwarted -- dying in a bright flash of light.
Purple lasers lance out from within the dome, from barrels concealed within the bosses of their shields -- and these pass through the barrier as though it weren't there.
Great. Just great...
Cave Mechem
You all move and fire, falling back in search of cover as the legionaries march towards you -- their feet pounding the ground in unison, purple lasers flying from their shields.
To your right the Princess darts aside, narrowly avoiding one of the beams. Their accuracy is low, firing as they are from that rigid formation. But the barrier is absorbing most of your shots, and few of your own attacks have so much as scratched the shields beyond.
On your left, Telemachus is fiddling with his oblong gadget as he backpedals. You grab him, and pull him behind a stone archway.
"What is that thing?" you ask, before leaning round the corner to take another shot at the shining dome.
"It's..."
He trails off, as you hear the whoosh of rushing thrusters -- audible even over the weapons fire and stomping feet.
Then comes the almighty collision.
"I worked on my mech with Wilex," he says. "We improved the autopilot."
"I see..."
The dome is collapsing, the field of energy falling apart as shield-bearing warriors tumble like skittles before the heavy mass of metal that's crashed into them.
You raise your weapon as your companions renew their fire.
Caligula
"Vae victis," Lu Bu says, looking at the broken bodies and shattered shields strewn across the ground.
"Why what now?" Ragnar asks.
"Never mind."
Some of the legionaries are scrambling away, and you signal for your companions to hold their fire. There's nothing to be gained from shooting them down.
There's a click as the cockpit canopy of Telemachus' mech closes. Good. The young prince is much safer inside, and much deadlier as well. If you have to fight your way to Thalatta, you'd rather have him in there.
You continue through the streets of Lupanar, catching sight of scurrying figures in togas and tunics who run down alleyways and into buildings as you approach. Others steal glances at you over their window sills, before ducking back out of sight.
Claudia leads you down a winding route, twisting between the painted marble buildings. But as eclectic as the path is, it seems to be a good one -- you encounter no more of the legionaries. It's only as you see the end of Lupanar, where it gives way to an expanse of grass separating it from the distant spiked towers of Anguish, that you realize you're not yet done here.
Armed men and women appear from within the gloomy depths of a columned building, a grand edifice constructed in the style of an ancient temple. They march out between two flaming braziers that burn on either side of its entrance, beneath a frieze of metopes depicting lewd scenes which may have stemmed from mythological tales -- or else from the sculptor's indecent imagination.
A tall woman strides at their head, attired in a purple crested helmet and an armored costume that displays more flesh than it protects. A strange weapon blazes in her right hand, a sword with a blade comprised of green and yellow tongues of fire that writhe like burning serpents. On her left arm is an oval shield. Embedded within its surface is a holographic screen, upon which a maenad and a satyr drink, and dance, and play, and... Oh.
"Time to render unto Caesar," the woman says.
Her minions bang their blades against their shields in perfect harmony, sending their synchronized din clashing out across the night air.
"Pedicabo ego vos et irrumabo!" they shout.
The words, in what you assume must be Latin, are meaningless to you. But you hear a gasp from the Princess, and an outraged humph from Lu Bu.
A purple glow appears around the warriors' swords as they and their mistress charge.
Caligula falls to her knees, and gazes into your eyes.
"Vivo!" she cries. Then she collapses, her helmet falling from her head and clattering on the ground.
"Are all the women on Cythera this crazy?" you ask.
"The men too," Claudia replies. "It's-
A trumpet's call echoes in the distance, followed a moment later by the far-off sound of pounding footfalls.
"Let's go!" she says. "They won't follow us into Anguish -- Agony and Ecstasy would never allow a rival army to come marching through there."