RomanQuest Read online

  Title Page

  ROMANQUEST

  by

  Herbie Brennan

  Publisher Information

  Published in 2011 by

  Andrews UK Limited

  www.andrewsuk.com

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published, and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  The characters and situations in this book are entirely imaginary and bear no relation to any real person or actual events.

  Copyright © Herbie Brennan

  The right of Herbie Brennan to be identified as author of this book has been asserted in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyrights Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  Introduction

  Who’d have thought your taste for ice cream could lead to so much trouble?

  Who’d have believed the woman with the mad eyes could be anything except a lunatic?

  Who’d have known one small three-letter word could plunge you into the most terrifying adventure of your life?

  Everything was going for you. Even the gods were on your side. But with friends like that, who needs enemies?

  In this incredible new solo gamebook you will fight for your very survival in the most warlike and bloodthirsty culture in the history of humanity .

  Plunged through time by a divinity whose mind is definitely on other things, you ...

  Face death in a Roman arena ...

  Face destruction in a natural disaster ...

  Face the most monstrous of all the ancient monsters, an Emperor so insane that he went to war with the ocean and made his horse a Senator.

  You went to change history. But can you even survive the Quiz of Death that’s the only way you can complete your ...

  Roman Quest

  Important: Read This First

  You can’t just read this book - you have to live it.

  To do that, you’ll need pen and paper and a couple of dice. You’ll also need to learn the game play system.

  Of course, you may have done that already. You may have played another of the books in this series. In which case you’ll know exactly what to do.

  But if this is your first book, turn now to the section headed GAME PLAY SYSTEM.

  Otherwise, you can turn to 1 and get straight on with your adventure...

  Game Play System

  Here’s what you’ll need to survive this book.

  Life Points

  To get your starting Life Points, roll one of your dice and multiply the result by ten. This will give you a Life Point figure between 10 and 60. You’re allowed to do this three times and pick the best score out of the three.

  Fights

  First attack: In any combat situation, it’s important to find out who gets in the first attack. Roll one of your dice. Score 4, 5 or 6 and the first attack is yours. Score 1, 2 or 3 and your opponent gets to go first.

  Striking blows: Roll both dice to strike a blow or use a weapon. Score 2, 3 or 4 and it counts as a miss. Anything else is a hit and the score comes off your opponent’s Life Points. Throw the dice for your opponent in exactly the same way. Any hits scored by him come off your Life Points.

  Weapons: If you (or your opponent) are using a weapon, it adds extra damage to a successful hit. The amount of extra damage is given with the weapon. For example, if you find a pistol (+5), it means each time you successfully shoot somebody with it, you add 5 to the damage shown by the dice.

  Ammunition: Firearms are useless without ammo. You’ll be told when you find a weapon how much ammo it contains. Once you run out of ammo, you score no extra damage when using a firearm.

  Healing

  Medicine: You can find all sorts of medicine in these adventures. Each time you do, using it will restore Life Points. You’ll be told how to calculate the number of restored Life Points with each medical pack.

  Rest: If you can’t find medicine when you need it, you can always take a chance on resting. You can rest any time and as often as you like. To do so, throw one of your dice. Score 5 or 6 and you can add that number to your Life Points. But if you score 3 or 4 you have to deduct that number from your Life Points because you were attacked in your sleep. Score 1 or 2 and you rested without being attacked, but were too nervous to restore any Life Points.

  Death

  When your Life Points come down to zero, you’re dead and have to start the adventure again from the beginning. Same applies to any opponent you’re fighting.

  Money

  Keep a careful note of any money you may earn/win/find/purloin during your adventure. It could be useful for buying things or (occasionally) bribery.

  Experience

  Every time you win a fight (and in a few other special circumstances as well) you earn yourself one Experience Point. Keep careful note of the total, because 10 Experience Points gives you a Special Life Point. Special Life Points are added to your total just like ordinary Life Points and are lost in fights just like ordinary Life Points. But there are some important differences between Special Life Points and ordinary Life Points.

  If you’re killed during an adventure, you can add all your Special Life Points to your score when you’re rolling up your Life Points for the next try.

  You can add Special Life Points even if you score the absolute maximum of 60 when you’re rolling your Life Points. So if you have earned 6 Special Life Points and score 60 on your Life Point roll, your final Life Points will be 66.

  You can carry Special Life Points with you into any other book in this series and add them in when you’re rolling up your Life Points for each adventure.

  Absolutely Anything Roll

  From time to time during your adventure, you might want to try to do something weird or spectacular. To find out the result, use the Absolutely Anything Roll. Throw both dice.

  •Score 2 and you failed to do what you tried to do and killed yourself in the attempt.

  •Score 3, 4 or 5 and you failed to do what you tried to do and can’t try again.

  •Score 6,7, 8 or 9 and you failed to do what you tried to do but can try just one more time.

  •Score 10, 11 or 12 and you succeed.

  Use The Links!

  Most e-book readers will let you use the interactive links in each section to take you to your destination.

  1

  The sign definitely said gelati, but there’s not an ice-cream parlour in sight.

  You’re standing by a fence that runs the whole way round a still, deep lake. The summer air is filled with the hoarse sounds of tiny bullfrogs, each one making more noise than you would ever have believed possible.

  And across the broad expanse of water is something that’s even taken your mind off the high heat of this Italian summer. Leaning out to peer into the lake is a near-naked giant.

  He is broad shouldered, heavily muscled and bearded. Even though he is kneeling by the water’s edge his bowed head towers above the tallest of the tall trees in the copse around him.

  Without a doubt this must be the Colossus of the Apennines, the very statue your parents dragged you into this park to see. They’re still wandering about trying to find it and now you’ve practically tripped over it while looking for an ice-cream stand.

  The Colossus is something else. You knew it was going to be big, but nothing prepared you for its actual size. The thing is enormous.


  You drag from your pocket the battered copy of A Brief History of Ancient Rome your father bought you at the airport, but quickly find there’s no reference to the Colossus in there. Trouble is, this park isn’t really ancient - it was laid out during the Renaissance, long after the Roman Empire fell.

  You exchange the book for the garish little tourist leaflet you were handed when you bought your ticket and discover that the Colossus is actually a fountain. Water would cascade over those broad shoulders into the lake if only the plumbing was in working order. (As it probably will certainly have been by next season, the leaflet assures you in fractured English.)

  According to the leaflet, most of the park was like that when it was part of a Medici family estate. There were so many water-driven statues everywhere that twenty plumbers were kept permanently on the payroll just to keep them operational. Only the Colossus still works now. Sometimes.

  But even without water, it’s an impressive sight. The face looks ancient as Time. The great feet seem firmly planted on the earth. The -

  The bullfrogs have gone quiet.

  Behind you in the little wood, the birds have stopped singing in the trees.

  Everything is deathly silent.

  You feel the small hairs prickle on the back of your neck as you slowly turn to find out what has happened.

  “Yipes!”

  You jump back in alarm. A wild-eyed woman in a plain white linen robe is standing so close behind you she could reach out to strangle you without even straightening her arms.

  Her mad eyes lock on your own. “You have to help me!” she says in the weirdest Italian accent you have ever heard.

  If you’re seriously thinking of getting involved with this refugee from the funny farm, turn to 140. If you’d prefer to keep searching for that Gelateria, you can tell her (politely) to go jump in the lake at 80.

  Please select an option from the previous page.

  2

  The politician shrugs his shoulders. “If it was up to me I’d let you go,” he says, “but as you can see my hands are tied.” He sits back comfortably in his chair. “Another fight!” he commands grandly. He gives a wicked grin. “This time with Brutus!”

  At once the crowd begins to chant wildly, “Brutus ... Brutus ... Brutus ...”

  You look around quickly to see what this Brutus character is like. The gladiators already in the arena step back respectfully as a monster of a man emerges from the archway. He’s six feet six inches tall and built like a brick outhouse. The sword he’s carrying is far longer than the traditional Roman short sword and looks sharp enough to split your hair before it splits your head. He grins broadly and waves to the cheering crowd.

  Then he turns to you. “Ut Gallia cum Caesar, in tres partes dividavi!” he threatens unintelligibly.

  You thump your Mercury Phone hearing aid. “I’m going to hack you up into three parts like Caesar did to Gaul!” it translates belatedly.

  Unable to think of any suitable Latin reposte, you flip him the bird and go directly into fighting mode.

  This one is bad news all the way, I’m afraid. The overgrown brute has 60 Life Points and that sword of his was made from Damascus steel so it can hack bits out of you at the truly frightening rate of +10. Worse still, the full body armour gives him -10 protection. In the unlikely event that you survive the encounter, you can find what fate and the crowd have in store for you at 56. Otherwise you can only find out what death has in store for you at 13.

  Please select an option from the previous page.

  3

  Entrance to the villa is by way of a suspended terrace into a large, semicircular courtyard. You are met by a young man holding several sheets of papyrus who conducts you into a black-walled tablinum (living room, mutters Mercury in your ear) decorated with several paintings done in the flat, bright Egyptian style.

  The young man glances at his papyrus then intones solemnly, “Are you prepared for your Initiation?”

  You’re getting in deeper and deeper here. If you’re not careful you’re going to end up in the Res Nova Mundi (News of the World) under a heading like MIDNIGHT ADVENTURER PERISHES IN GRAVEYARD ORGY. If the volcano doesn’t get you first, of course. But if that’s your bag, you can continue with this dangerous course by saying YES at 39. As against that, if you say NO now, you can slip back to 150 and select another destination before anybody really notices.

  Please select an option from the previous page.

  4

  It’s a boiler house. Since these old Romans are obsessed with bathing, they must need a place like this to drive their steam rooms and make sure there’s always an adequate water supply.

  You are about to turn and leave when it occurs to you that you’ve been less than thorough in searching the various rooms of this villa, so you make a belated search here. But it turns out to be a dumb idea that produces nothing.

  Leaving you no option but to return the way you came to CLIII.

  Please select an option from the previous page.

  5

  It’s all happening here and that’s for sure. You’ve wandered into a part of the city built in a small closed valley ringed by the Seven Hills and by the look of all the activity around you, this is the busy heart of Rome. There are shops and open markets lining both sides of the valley, imposing buildings all around and two open spaces in the north west corner. The din of the crowds is almost deafening.

  “’Scuse me?”

  You turn to find a runny-nosed urchin standing at your elbow. “Yes?”

  “You look like a yoke - like a visitor to our city,” he says. “Would you like to hire a guide? Very experienced, very cheap.”

  “Would this guide be you?” you ask him.

  “It would,” he grins. “Name’s Titus. Tell you all you need to know, show you everything you need to see for just five denarii. Half an hour with me and you can tell all your haysee - all your rural friends how capital life is in the capital. Might even find you a decent toga - that gear you’re wearing is dead out of date. What do you say?”

  Good question. If you’ve even one gold aureus left from your Jactus game, you can afford five denarii with change to spare. But do you want to waste money on this brat? He may know as much about Rome as the average hedgehog. You can decline his offer right now and make your own way through the city with the help of your tourist map at 25. You can shell out five denarii like a sacrificial lamb and hear what he has to say at 37 or, if you don’t happen to have any money, you can tell him you’re skint at 91.

  Please select an option from the previous page.

  6

  Here, wait a minute - you’ve absent-mindedly walked back into the Amphitheatre and by the sound of the crowd, the games are still going on. Fortunately you haven’t walked into the arena.

  Yet.

  But you certainly can if you want to - walk into the arena, that is - and who knows you might earn yourself some more money if you don’t get yourself killed. The tunnel to the arena opens out at 27. A safer option might be to head for the auditorium and watch the games for a while at 61. But the safest and most sensible of all is to get back to 150 and select another destination from your city map before this place is buried.

  Please select an option from the previous page.

  7

  To your astonishment, the wild-eyed man bursts into tears.

  “What’s wrong?” you ask, appalled. “You won the bet!”

  “That’s what’s wrong,” he wails. “If I win a bet, nobody will bet with me again and I’m a compulsive gambler.” He brightens suddenly. “Tell you what - double or quits.”

  “Double or quits?”

  “You get everything back and a tour of the Imperial Palace if you win.”

  “But I’ve nothing to bet!” you protest, remembering he’s just won everything in you
r pocket.

  “Bet ten of your Life Points,” he suggests. “I’m an Ancient Roman - we enjoy watching people die by inches. In fact, you can keep betting Life Points until you do win. Assuming you survive, that is.”

  You don’t have to take this macabre gamble. You can just as easily give him the fingers and walk right out of the Circus Maximus this minute to pick another destination from your tourist map at 25. But if you want to, you can keep gambling your Life Points in blocks of ten until you either win, decide to give up or die.

  If you decide to gamble, roll two dice. Score 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 and the Greens win, in which case you lose ten Life Points. If this kills you, go to 13. If it doesn’t, either bet again or leave for 25. Score 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 or 12 and the Blues win, in which case so do you and you may turn to 94.

  Please select an option from the previous page.

  8

  That’s better. That’s definitely better. You haven’t ended up at the point of some gladiator’s sword or on top of an erupting volcano. You’re in a comfortable little room that actually seems to have underfloor heating, exactly the sort of surroundings you’d expect if you were successfully transported to some quiet corner of an upper crust Roman villa where two aristocrats were about to get married.