Here is is :
http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B01DV7TKK4
Just been set up...
Tuesday 12 April 2016
(G270 08/04/2016 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF, Mira, Guru)
DAY 247 (13 Uktar)(November) cont ...
With complete disregard for the consequences Basil put his undead turtle lover into his Bag of Holding. There is a sentence I don't think has ever been written before in the history of Faerune!
I really feel as if we need to get out of here. I have my wife, my cousin and my old faithful family retainers all bound up in this enterprise, it's like half of my nearest and dearest are now in incredible danger and for what? I'm starting to think, whether I'm a druid or not, the Vast Swamp will just have to take its chances!
The people involved are a real mixed bag as well, not ideal when what is needed is careful planning and caution, Lavinia, Sylvia and Shump will pretty much do what I say, and Falo-han to a certain extent, but the rest of them are predictably unpredictable.
Well, Basil is nuts, that's about the size of it, but he at least believes in the mission. Mirabella was sound, but since the lycanthropy bite she's gone off the rails as well. Drashnag is largely on side, but has no idea of planning or strategy and just does his own thing during combat. Yli seems ok, I'll grant him that, but he seems to be happy to let the chaotic ones do their own thing and go with the flow.
As you can see, that is a lot of 'buts'.
Basil, then, was playing with forces beyond his ken when he put the turtle inside the magic bag. At least he tied it up in it's shell first, but such a strange and powerful being is a dangerous thing to put inside a Bag of Holding. I've heard of activity like that ripping holes through to other dimensions. That's the last thing we need.
It was still morning when we decided to try the eastern path from the last ledge we were at. This time everyone decided to come along, I think Mirabella and Lavinia were getting bored of hanging out in the 'Fortress'.
Mirabella scouted ahead, then came back and told us she had found a cavern with a black sand beach in it, with water to the south and a lamp lit cave entrance to the north. From the cave she could hear the murmur of conversation.
From where we were I started thinking up a plan, along the lines of laying and ambush then luring them out, and had just started explaining,
'Now, here is how I think we should approach...No, Drashnag! Come back!'
The half orc, not bothering to wait for a translation charged down onto the beach and straight into the cave with most of the party following him. Basil pushed me aside as he rode past saying,
'It's ok guys, I'm riding a snake!'
Yli was the first at the entrance and started firing arrows at the enemies within. Crossbow bolts were fired back in return.
En masse, the party congregated at the entrance of the cave, all idea of strategy firmly thrown out of the window. Something inside gave a terrible howl and Drashnag came running back out of the cave, followed by Falo-han. Lavinia and Rolanda joined them in their fearful dash back up to the ledge. Seeing my wife disappear off into the darkness I ran after her.
From what I gather the fight in the cave was over quickly. Two warrior types were killed off, one by an arrow fired by Yli and the other by a lightning bolt from Basil. Their was a female priestess in there as well, who Sylvia killed with a Hypothermia spell. The howling beast disappeared although Yli did catch a glimpse of a shadow moving east from the cavern.
Meanwhile I caught up with my wife, turned into a brown bear and tried to grab her. She was too wriggly though and escaped my clutches. Her and Falo-han ran north, there was no danger there anymore, so I checked south, where Drashnag and Rolanda had gone.
After less than a minute the effects of their fear began to wear off and everyone came back to the cave. Drashnag reported he'd been frightened by something he'd seen in his direction but was very vague on the details. Even for a half orc Drashnag is pretty hostile when questioned.
I learned later that everyone at the cave had joined in the combat except Mirabella who just stood and watched. I didn't bother questioning her about it either. After days and days of this I'd come to the conclusion it was better to leave the weirdos to it, which was a pity, considering what happened next.
The cave had a narrow entrance, it was much more defensible than the 'Fortress' so we all went up there and brought all our gear and loot down.
After that Mirabella scouted east from the cave and was killed by the dragon.
Shame really.
Saturday 9 April 2016
(G269 01/04/2016 via Roll20 - JF(GM), AP) 48
(G269 01/04/2016 via Roll20 - JF(GM), AP) 48
DAY 127(sat) cont ...
The Caco was now in orbit around the planet of Huroc once more, the initial expedition proving to be somewhat less than 100% successful.
The crew were tired, but happy to have all returned in one piece although it was mildly concerning that Adam, the ship's AI had gone off line. The last report had given his avatar's position in the city, but now the whole core had shut down and no one could figure out how to boot it back up again.
How this was going to affect the running of the Caco remained to be seen.
They had plenty of work to do though, all the scanners were offline and it took four hours to get them back again.
At 2000 hours, their work was interrupted when they were hailed by the Burung Mera ANTO ship, the Gallactico. The Gallactico had been commissioned by a media production company (ANTO) to find out what was being done by Star Fleet to restore Mioen.
Although she was not quite the sensation she had been when she was alive and on their home planet there was still enough interest to sent out a ship. The programme they were filming was called 'Mioen Hunters' and the executive producer, Avril Yelmo, requested to do some interviews with the crew of the Caco.
Kirk agreed as long as they helped with his mission. The Gallactico was much larger than the Caco, about half the size of Voyager and they offered to help with sensor scans, drones and any other request that seemed reasonable.
He talked to the crew and told them,
'Let's try and make Starfleet as good as we can.'
The interviews were scheduled for the next day.
In his cabin, pondering the situation before sleep, Kirk deduced that everyone on the crew were behind him except Dell and Murphy. Dell regarded Kirk as too much of a maverick while Murphy had probably an even lower opinion of him and tended to be too honest for his own good, though not as bad as Adam.
The others, Paterson and Celes idolised him.
DAY 128(sun)
Kirk woke up feeling really sick and feverish. He dragged himself to medbay and had Murphy look over him. Although not a doctor, Murphy had studied anatomy and medicine.
Kirk had some sort of virus from the planet and Murphy recommended he was quarantined until he was better or risk passing it on to the rest of the crew. He looked over the data himself, and between them they decided on a general course of pain killers and fever calming medicine. Kirk then took the precaution of putting on an environment suit so he could still wander about the ship.
At 0900 a shuttle arrived and picked up Paterson and Murphy. They did not return until 1400.
When asked how it went, Paterson replied,
'It wasn't what I expected. The Burung Mera that did the interview was kind of sarcastic and off putting. He asked awkward questions.'
To the same question Murphy replied,
'I just told the truth.'
It was Kirk and Dell up next and although he was still ill, Kirk took off his environment suit and toddled over to the Gallactico.
The interview was conducted on a set made to look like a comfortable living room. Kirk was put into make up, then introduced to Set Artlee, the Burung Mera that would interview him.
It lasted for several hours and the full transcript is available elsewhere but a selection of highlights are show below;
'Where are the remains of Mioen?'
'It was unfortunate, but necessary to leave her body behind on the Numiri home planet.'
'Have any attempts been made to recover her body?'
'No, not that I am aware of.'
After discussing Kevek and the fact that Mioen's spirit was being carried by him, Set went on to ask,
'What are you hoping to achieve here on Huroc?'
Kirk explained about the Katric Arc and how they hoped to transfer Mioen into it so that Kevek would not suffer spiritual destruction.
'Have you found one?'
'No.'
'What are your feelings towards the Vulcans?'
Kirk was as upbeat as he could be, but drone footage was shown of the firefight in the mountains.
'Ah yes' admitted Kirk, 'The AI we were using to communicate with the Vulcans, well, it didn't malfunction exactly, but a lot was lost in translation and this lead to misunderstandings.'
'Is this how Starfleet normally conducts diplomacy?'
'No. Due to the nature of the planet our normal translation methods were unavailable.'
'What do you plan to do next?'
'Scan the planet, find the Katric Arc. Try and find a way of communicating properly with the natives.'
'Then what?'
'That's stage two!'
At 1700 Kirk and Dell returned to the Caco and found that Webble had succumbed to the Huroc Fever. She had less to do on the ship so it was decided to keep her in the med bay until she recovered.
Kirk requested that the Gallactico scanned the planet and received the following report, here presented in summary;
x2 warp-jammers - Emitters at the poles bounce anti-warp <untranslatable> rays off the atmosphere or <untranslatable> <untranslatable>.
- uses the planets electro magnet field to be propagated around the planet. They are buried under the planets surface
x50 comms-jammers - scattered around the planet, each has a five hundred mile radius. Also buried.
Each can be pin pointed to 100 metres.
Kirk needed more information though and asked them to continue scanning over night and they agreed. He then took his medication and went to his cabin.
Dell spent all night returning the thruster to their original configuration.
DAY 129(mon)
Kirk arrived on deck at 0900. He felt a lot better, but Webble had taken a turn for the worse.
More information from the Gallactico had arrived.
The 'warp jammers' were huge, about the size of a village and buried three miles deep, under the rock and ice at the planet's poles. They were shielded.
The 'comms jammers' were buried and shielded, at about 200 metres, were room sized and all had temples constructed above them. Life signs were detected at the temples.
The jammers were identified as 'Preserver Tech' and as such was more advanced than even Starfleet. They couldn't get any communications down to the planet, the ANTO probes they used were autonomous and had limited AI functions.
Kirk thanked them and thought he might have a go at the warp jammers first. He instructed Paterson to take them over the north pole and then had the phaser cannons set to a light yield and started boring a hole into the planet.
The ice melted off straight away and the rock was vaporised at a rate they calculated to be roughly at 5 metres per second. Thus, after five minutes the phaser cannon had cut about half way.
The hole was 6 inches in diameter.
Kirk ordered the second cannon be used for the rest of the bore and was about to start again when they were hailed by the Gallactico,
'What are you doing?', demanded the captain.
Tempting as it might have been to say, 'What? I'm just drilling a hole in a planet?', Kirk actually replied, 'Attempting to take out the warp jammers.'
'My science officer has reservations. Don't do it!'
'Why not?'
Another Burung Mera appeared on the screen,
'Have you considered the consequences at all? Turning your phasers on a planet is not something to do on a whim!'
Kirk broke the connection and turned to Murphy for advice,
'Well captain, we've not looked at all at the planet's characteristics. We don't know how it's surface is made up so their is the potential to trigger an earthquake. If the warp jammers are linked to the planets electro magnetic field then there is a chance we could affect that. The poles could swap, or we could diminish it in some way that would leave the planet vulnerable to the solar wind.'
'Right. Fine.'
Kirk gave up ob the idea and two hours later the Burung Mera science officer gave them his data which confirmed
Murphy's suspicions.
Kirk and Dell spent the rest of the day on an item they christened as the 'Jammer-jammer', made from primarily replicated parts, they hoped it would nullify the anti-communications field on the planet. It was about the size of a suitcase and weighed 15 kilos.
They carried out the work in the med bay so that Kirk's illness was not an issue to the rest of the ship.
DAY 130(tue)
By 0900 hours in the morning they had finished the 'Jammer-jammer'. Murphy told Kirk that he was clear of the fever, but that Webble still had some way to go.
Kirk and Dell then slept to 1300.
Kirk asked the Gallactico to build them a probe big enough to carry the 'JJ01' and they said they would have something for them by the next day.
Kirk and Dell spend the rest of the day working on the operational issues that the MATSE system had with Zero-G combat and smoke filled rooms.
At 1600 they were contacted by Voyager asking for a report. They were then told that they needed to wrap things up within the next couple of days as Voyager wanted to leave the area.
Kirk muttered to the rest of the crew that Voyager could just come and help them, but when Paterson said, 'With what though? Transporters don't work on the planet either. I don't think there is much they could do that the Caco and the Gallactico can't', he realised it was best that he carried out the mission to the end without any help from his superior officers.
DAY 127(sat) cont ...
The Caco was now in orbit around the planet of Huroc once more, the initial expedition proving to be somewhat less than 100% successful.
The crew were tired, but happy to have all returned in one piece although it was mildly concerning that Adam, the ship's AI had gone off line. The last report had given his avatar's position in the city, but now the whole core had shut down and no one could figure out how to boot it back up again.
How this was going to affect the running of the Caco remained to be seen.
They had plenty of work to do though, all the scanners were offline and it took four hours to get them back again.
At 2000 hours, their work was interrupted when they were hailed by the Burung Mera ANTO ship, the Gallactico. The Gallactico had been commissioned by a media production company (ANTO) to find out what was being done by Star Fleet to restore Mioen.
Although she was not quite the sensation she had been when she was alive and on their home planet there was still enough interest to sent out a ship. The programme they were filming was called 'Mioen Hunters' and the executive producer, Avril Yelmo, requested to do some interviews with the crew of the Caco.
Kirk agreed as long as they helped with his mission. The Gallactico was much larger than the Caco, about half the size of Voyager and they offered to help with sensor scans, drones and any other request that seemed reasonable.
He talked to the crew and told them,
'Let's try and make Starfleet as good as we can.'
The interviews were scheduled for the next day.
In his cabin, pondering the situation before sleep, Kirk deduced that everyone on the crew were behind him except Dell and Murphy. Dell regarded Kirk as too much of a maverick while Murphy had probably an even lower opinion of him and tended to be too honest for his own good, though not as bad as Adam.
The others, Paterson and Celes idolised him.
DAY 128(sun)
Kirk woke up feeling really sick and feverish. He dragged himself to medbay and had Murphy look over him. Although not a doctor, Murphy had studied anatomy and medicine.
Kirk had some sort of virus from the planet and Murphy recommended he was quarantined until he was better or risk passing it on to the rest of the crew. He looked over the data himself, and between them they decided on a general course of pain killers and fever calming medicine. Kirk then took the precaution of putting on an environment suit so he could still wander about the ship.
At 0900 a shuttle arrived and picked up Paterson and Murphy. They did not return until 1400.
When asked how it went, Paterson replied,
'It wasn't what I expected. The Burung Mera that did the interview was kind of sarcastic and off putting. He asked awkward questions.'
To the same question Murphy replied,
'I just told the truth.'
It was Kirk and Dell up next and although he was still ill, Kirk took off his environment suit and toddled over to the Gallactico.
The interview was conducted on a set made to look like a comfortable living room. Kirk was put into make up, then introduced to Set Artlee, the Burung Mera that would interview him.
It lasted for several hours and the full transcript is available elsewhere but a selection of highlights are show below;
'Where are the remains of Mioen?'
'It was unfortunate, but necessary to leave her body behind on the Numiri home planet.'
'Have any attempts been made to recover her body?'
'No, not that I am aware of.'
After discussing Kevek and the fact that Mioen's spirit was being carried by him, Set went on to ask,
'What are you hoping to achieve here on Huroc?'
Kirk explained about the Katric Arc and how they hoped to transfer Mioen into it so that Kevek would not suffer spiritual destruction.
'Have you found one?'
'No.'
'What are your feelings towards the Vulcans?'
Kirk was as upbeat as he could be, but drone footage was shown of the firefight in the mountains.
'Ah yes' admitted Kirk, 'The AI we were using to communicate with the Vulcans, well, it didn't malfunction exactly, but a lot was lost in translation and this lead to misunderstandings.'
'Is this how Starfleet normally conducts diplomacy?'
'No. Due to the nature of the planet our normal translation methods were unavailable.'
'What do you plan to do next?'
'Scan the planet, find the Katric Arc. Try and find a way of communicating properly with the natives.'
'Then what?'
'That's stage two!'
At 1700 Kirk and Dell returned to the Caco and found that Webble had succumbed to the Huroc Fever. She had less to do on the ship so it was decided to keep her in the med bay until she recovered.
Kirk requested that the Gallactico scanned the planet and received the following report, here presented in summary;
x2 warp-jammers - Emitters at the poles bounce anti-warp <untranslatable> rays off the atmosphere or <untranslatable> <untranslatable>.
- uses the planets electro magnet field to be propagated around the planet. They are buried under the planets surface
x50 comms-jammers - scattered around the planet, each has a five hundred mile radius. Also buried.
Each can be pin pointed to 100 metres.
Kirk needed more information though and asked them to continue scanning over night and they agreed. He then took his medication and went to his cabin.
Dell spent all night returning the thruster to their original configuration.
DAY 129(mon)
Kirk arrived on deck at 0900. He felt a lot better, but Webble had taken a turn for the worse.
More information from the Gallactico had arrived.
The 'warp jammers' were huge, about the size of a village and buried three miles deep, under the rock and ice at the planet's poles. They were shielded.
The 'comms jammers' were buried and shielded, at about 200 metres, were room sized and all had temples constructed above them. Life signs were detected at the temples.
The jammers were identified as 'Preserver Tech' and as such was more advanced than even Starfleet. They couldn't get any communications down to the planet, the ANTO probes they used were autonomous and had limited AI functions.
Kirk thanked them and thought he might have a go at the warp jammers first. He instructed Paterson to take them over the north pole and then had the phaser cannons set to a light yield and started boring a hole into the planet.
The ice melted off straight away and the rock was vaporised at a rate they calculated to be roughly at 5 metres per second. Thus, after five minutes the phaser cannon had cut about half way.
The hole was 6 inches in diameter.
Kirk ordered the second cannon be used for the rest of the bore and was about to start again when they were hailed by the Gallactico,
'What are you doing?', demanded the captain.
Tempting as it might have been to say, 'What? I'm just drilling a hole in a planet?', Kirk actually replied, 'Attempting to take out the warp jammers.'
'My science officer has reservations. Don't do it!'
'Why not?'
Another Burung Mera appeared on the screen,
'Have you considered the consequences at all? Turning your phasers on a planet is not something to do on a whim!'
Kirk broke the connection and turned to Murphy for advice,
'Well captain, we've not looked at all at the planet's characteristics. We don't know how it's surface is made up so their is the potential to trigger an earthquake. If the warp jammers are linked to the planets electro magnetic field then there is a chance we could affect that. The poles could swap, or we could diminish it in some way that would leave the planet vulnerable to the solar wind.'
'Right. Fine.'
Kirk gave up ob the idea and two hours later the Burung Mera science officer gave them his data which confirmed
Murphy's suspicions.
Kirk and Dell spent the rest of the day on an item they christened as the 'Jammer-jammer', made from primarily replicated parts, they hoped it would nullify the anti-communications field on the planet. It was about the size of a suitcase and weighed 15 kilos.
They carried out the work in the med bay so that Kirk's illness was not an issue to the rest of the ship.
DAY 130(tue)
By 0900 hours in the morning they had finished the 'Jammer-jammer'. Murphy told Kirk that he was clear of the fever, but that Webble still had some way to go.
Kirk and Dell then slept to 1300.
Kirk asked the Gallactico to build them a probe big enough to carry the 'JJ01' and they said they would have something for them by the next day.
Kirk and Dell spend the rest of the day working on the operational issues that the MATSE system had with Zero-G combat and smoke filled rooms.
At 1600 they were contacted by Voyager asking for a report. They were then told that they needed to wrap things up within the next couple of days as Voyager wanted to leave the area.
Kirk muttered to the rest of the crew that Voyager could just come and help them, but when Paterson said, 'With what though? Transporters don't work on the planet either. I don't think there is much they could do that the Caco and the Gallactico can't', he realised it was best that he carried out the mission to the end without any help from his superior officers.
Tuesday 5 April 2016
(G268 18/03/2016 via Roll20 - JF(GM), AP, MI) 47
(G268 18/03/2016 via Roll20 - JF(GM), AP, MI) 47
DAY 127(sat) cont...
Feeling rather isolated and vulnerable, Kirk tried to contact the Cacophony, but could only get static. He shot up a red flare, but he didn't hold out much hope of that achieving anything.
Rather than going any further forward he decided to flee back the way they had come. The riders followed, but out of musket range, keeping their eyes on Kirk and his followers. Kirk found though that he was being slowed down by Marion and Guyus, so decided to send them on back to the south while he waited where he was to see how the riders responded.
One of the riders rode off to the north east while the others stopped, rested their mounts and watched Kirk. He then decided to go around them and keep walking north. The riders, again, followed him from a safe distance and he carried on up into the mountains for another two hours.
He tried to get a message through to the Caco and eventually a subspace burst was returned to him, telling him that there was a small group of vulcan soldiers at the spaceship and that Adam's avatar was captured and being held somewhere in the nearby city.
Kirk's situation was getting a bit more serious though as six more, better armed, riders appeared, dismounted and began advancing on him. They came up on his position and he shouted at them to leave him alone then shot twice over their heads.
While all this was going on he saw something swoop down about a hundred metres to his east and then a bang like a small grenade going off. He didn't know what it was and forgot about it, concentrating on his more immediate worries.
The vulcan warriors started firing on him with their long muskets. They were not hugely accurate weapons and slow to load. Kirk activated his personal shield generator and found that was enough to protect him from all but the luckiest shots.
He in turn fired back with his Desert Eagles, trying his best to only injure his pursuers by shooting them in the legs, but often they were hidden behind rocks and this difficult. On two occasions they rushed him and tried to bring him down with the butts of their muskets, but Kirk ran off as fast as he could to hide behind another set of rocks further up.
After a long chase though, the Vulcans were all so badly injured they could not continue, one was in need of urgent medical attention so the others took him back down the mountain. Kirk continued on to the Caco where three vulcan warriors were. They gave him a wide berth and he entered the ship.
The crew were reasonably pleased to see him. After some discussion with Dell they decided that using the impulse engines might work, although this was still warp, it would be low enough powered to avoid the effects of the anti-warp field. The other option was to reconfigure the thrusters. The fact that using warp of any kind might destroy the ship made them opt for the thruster option.
Adam, for some reason, was now offline and unavailable to help.
Even so, they still managed to find out that the anti-warp field extended up about six miles, it seemed to use Tropospheric propagation, so beyond that part of the atmosphere the warp engines would become safe to use. All they needed to do was go straight up using the thrusters, just like an early space age rocket.
They started work on this and after three hours, at 1700 hours, the modifications were finished. Kirk had to go outside to do about an hours work, but the Vulcans had not arrived in enough force to risk attacking him. He did notice, though, a small drone, about the size of a football, hovering about and watching him from a distance. He used his MATSE to look closer and saw that it had 'ANTO Productions' written on the side of it in the language of the Burung Mera. He suspected this was what he had seen eariler falling and exploding just at the start of his firefight.
Once the modifications were finished, Paterson fired up the engines and gave it a go. Using the thrusters of the Caco to go straight up into the atmosphere she said, 'Felt like trying to drive a shopping trolley with a bunch of fireworks strapped to the back and a pair of oars for steering.'
At about one mile up the Caco tilted over and stalled, but as they plunged back down to the planet Paterson, by some miracle, saved them all and wrestled control of the ship again.
She was terrified and sweating by the time they made orbit, but somehow they had managed it. The others gave her a round of applause as she leaned back in her seat and took her shaking hands off the controls.
Monday 4 April 2016
THE FIRE THAT NEVER DIES
THE FIRE THAT NEVER DIES
Blessed sleep! She had been asleep. For how long? An hour or maybe two, it was still dark. She had always enjoyed her rest, but recently she had not been sleeping well.
She sighed and lay back again. Her hair was still in six braids when she had lain down, but a servant had come in and loosened it while she slept.
It wasn't nightmares keeping her awake, or visits from demons, she reflected. It was a sense of foreboding and despair.
Her world was ending. Soon Theodisius would close the Temple of Vesta and her role in Roman society would effectively come to an end. There had been years of politics and religious debate. The two were one and the same in the Forum. Religion was politics and politics was religion.
She was tired of it all, so very tired, but her tiredness had not led to sleep lately. Perhaps when the Temple was finally closed it would all be over? Maybe then she would know sleeps gentle comforting embrace once more.
After half an hour she rose and dressed. She knew there would be no more sleep tonight. Better to do something useful, there were mountains of paperwork to sort through. Because of their incorruptible character Vestal Virgins were entrusted with wills and other legal documents. They needed sorted, cataloged, indexed.
Ready to be handed over to whoever came after her, although she had know idea who that might be. She was, above all things, a servant of Rome.
The Temple to Vesta was right next to the House of the Vestal Virgins on the Forum. Even though the Forum was safe, she took a guard with her. If it had been an official visit then a lictor would have accompanied her, but for this a palace guard would do.
She knew this one by name.
'Come, Martinus. We will go to the Temple and attend the flame.'
He smiled and nodded, 'Yes, Coelia Concordia.'
She tolerated the use of her name at this time of night although he should have addressed her as Vestalis Maxima. Just another sign of my loss of power, she supposed.
It was a clear starlit night. There were lights on Capitoline Hill. The Temple to Jupiter was up there, not under any political threat. Not yet anyway.
There were still people about, the Forum never truly went to sleep, but it was a very short walk from the Atrium Vestae to the Temple. Behind the Temple to Vesta was that of of Castor and Pollux and ancient building still standing after being ravaged by fire four hundred years ago. She wondered how much longer the Temple to Vesta would stand.
It was a much smaller round building its entrance facing east to symbolise the link between Vesta’s fire and the sun. The guard pushed the door open for her and she stepped inside to where the sacred flame burned at the rear of the building's only chamber. A lone figure sat dozing at the hearth, casting a long shadow across the floor. The Temple was warm and inviting.
'Greetings, Aemilia.'
The young woman sat dozing on the stool roused herself. Once, there would have been six Vestal Virgins to attend the sacred flame, now there was just one, Coelia Concordia. Aemilia was named after one of the first Virgins, but was no more than an attendant, the daughter of a freeman.
'Good morning, Coelia.'
She could see Coelia was not dressed in her infula or suffibulum. The last Vestal Virgin wore only a simple palla over her robes, and besides it was the middle of the night.
Aemilia could be familiar with her in this dark and hushed environment without fear of censure.
'No sleep again?' she asked with a smile.
'No. Not with knowing what will soon happen.'
The young woman shuddered, a true believer, 'The Temple closed? It isn't possible!'
'I assure you it is. It is a matter of days. Theodosius will issue another of his decrees and the Temple of Vesta will be no more. The Vestal Virgins will be no more.'
Aemilia pulled her shawl tighter, 'I don't like Christians. I never said any words when everyone had to. I was just a little girl.'
Coelia knew that she referred to the Edict of Thessalonica, that ordered all subjects to swear faith with the Bishop of Rome. Coelia had not done so either, but that had been part of a political deal. It always came down to politics in the Forum.
'Well, times change', said the older woman, 'We have been a thing of the past for a hundred years. It suits the Empire to be Christian and Christ dislikes the pagan gods.'
Aemilia sniffed back a tear, 'But the sacred flame has burned for a thousand years.'
Coelia knew that this was not strictly true, but said,
'The flame is a symbol, something that used to mean something to Rome. Now Rome no longer needs it. No longer needs me.'
Aemilia pulled a face, 'Well, they are ungrateful then. The sacrifices you made.
The service you have offered. The gods always co-existed. Why can't the Christians just leave you alone?'
Coelia warmed her hands by the fire, 'It was all given with a glad heart. Vesta gives all her gifts freely. The world is a different place from Augustus's day.
Now, where is the stack of writs I was looking at the other day? It was in no kind of order at all.'
'You may as well just throw it all on the fire.', grumbled the younger woman.
Ceolia said nothing and took the first bundle of reed paper from the pile she had located in the gloom.
Ah, the last of the land contracts, I should be able to get through all of these tonight, she thought.
'You can go home Aemilia', she said finally, 'Have Martinus escort you. I will see it through to the end. I will be alone with the flame and my goddess until Theodisius comes with his men to put it out. It will not be long now and I'm in no danger of falling asleep long enough to let it go out.'
~~~
Sleep! She sat up. It was still dark. No more than an hour. That was good. Where
once she had prayed for sleep, now she shunned it.
'Sleep? I mustn't sleep!', she gasped and lay back again. She's spent the last three days at the Temple sorting out paper work. It had really been a pointless task, but she could not have left it undone.
When they'd come she was dead on her feet, but still working. As the men came to carry the Temple goods away and close it up she let the last piece of paper fall from her hand and had said, 'So this is it?'
Not the most momentous thing to have said she realised, but those were her last words inside the Temple of Vesta.
Now she walked through the chambers of the Atrium Vestae, the Palace of the Vestal Virgins, like a ghost. She knew they would never ask her to leave, but it had grown to be a tomb now, the last of her order living out her days in ignored solitude, never again to play her part in the state affairs of Rome.
Coelia knew that one day, they would come for her, and, politely at first, ask her to profess her faith in Christ to the Bishop of Rome. She was resigned to that, in some ways looked forward to it. She would be a person again, not a ghost, a figure in the church, the only church now, and someone involved in the life of Rome once more, even if in a way a hundred-fold more meager than when she had been a priestess of one of the most powerful religions in the Empire.
But that was not this day, or any day soon.
Much of the House of the Vestal Virgins was shut up now, she only needed a few rooms and a handful of servants. From her upper story window she could see all the way down the length of the Forum, to the Temple of Concord, which was now used by the Christians as a place of burial.
She had walked over to the window now and her eyes wandered down to the Temple of Vesta below. There was no light there, the sacred flame did not burn their any longer. The sun was starting to creep up behind her and casting a long shadow across the roof. There was one flame that would last all eternity, she reflected, Vesta would live on in sunlight.
The Goddess would never turn from Rome, even if Rome turned from her. She would shine her light down on the good and the wicked alike. She would never try and separate them out into saints and sinners, judging and damning them. The goddess was better than that, she shared her warmth and goodness with all equally. The Christian God was mean spirited and petty in comparison.
'Well, she's not gone from this world completely', whispered Coelia to herself,
'Not yet anyway.'
She walked from the window and put another log on the fire in her room. Her secret, and the reason why she now welcomed insomnia, was that the fire that burned here in her chambers in the Atrium Vestae had been transfered from the Temple to Vesta by night and by cunning, just before it had been officially put out by Theodisius's men. In effect it was the only part of the sacred flame that
remained.
She would attend it night and day from now on, feeding it, keeping it alive, alone and forgotten until one day she feel asleep long enough for it to go out. Then she would awake, look over the cold ashes for a long while, remembering the old days for as long as she felt proper, but then, eventually, throw her palla over her shoulders and leave the House of the Vestal Virgins, never to return
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