"Vixere" is the third mission of Rule Britannia.
A shamanic ritual goes so very wrong, and there's only one chance for escape.
Cast[]
- Petronius
- Samnium
- Maeve
- Aeneas
- Aoife
Plot[]
Dark Magic Bears Fruit[]
Aeneas, to the surprise of all of you, agrees to the sacrificial rites that bind his promise of surrender. But when he slays his lamb, Sam realises it is bleeding far too much... Maeve the Shaman realises their sacred space has been corrupted, and you must all run before the dark magic takes hold.
All of You[]
Maeve helps you crawl up onto the burial mounds, where the blood flood stops. But the sacred earth, instead of spitting the blood out, allows it to sink in. The burial mounds begin to shake and crack open, and horrendous corpses crawl out, biting and turning the Pictish people into similar creatures. Maeve orders you to follow her.
It is Far[]
Maeve leads you towards the sacred grove, which blood magic cannot touch. She realises someone has used their powers to bring back the dead, called revenants. She doesn't have the power to undo the magic, but the grove will at least keep you safe. It's a long way to go, so you need to keep ahead of the revenants.
We May Lose Them[]
The revenants are fast and tricksy, imbued with the powers of Maeve's tribes, who can move with nature. She knows a stream nearby, which should mean they lose your scents.
The Sacred Grove[]
Maeve thinks you have lost them, and tells you all the story of her wife, Orla, another shaman who would have had the power to stop the revenants. She tells you how Orla was killed by a Roman soldier, too far from their lands for her shamanic mark to be passed onto a new shaman. But Petronius cuts her story short when he realises the revenants are still following, so your only hope now is the sacred grove.
My Beautiful Children[]
Maeve can't figure out how the revenants have found you. Aeneas falls behind, and the revenants surround him. Only then do you notice that none of them try to kill him -- and he takes off his robes, revealing his tattoos glow blue. He was the one to torture Orla, Maeve's wife, and to find out the incantation needed to raise the dead. He tattooed it on himself so he wouldn't need to speak it aloud, he just needed to spill blood in a sacred Pictish place. Now that's done, he can build his empire of the dead. He sends his revenants after you.
We Can Stop Him[]
The revenants catch hold of Sam's tunic, but he rips the arm off to escape. The revenants shrink back in fear, and you all see that Sam's birth mark on his shoulder is glowing. Once inside the grove, safe at last, Maeve realises that Sam was born the same day her wife was murdered -- meaning her shamanic mark transferred to Sam. Only you can stop Aeneas now, if Sam chooses to take on his shaman powers.
Transcript[]
PETRONIUS: All this chanting and torchlit processioning - it reminds me of the Cult of Mithras meetings back home. Except those end with the sacrifice of a bull, whereas I'm pretty sure this one's going to end with the sacrifice of me.
SAMNIUM: No, it's alright. Maeve - the shaman - said there'd be a peace ceremony to seal the deal. A magic way to make sure Aeneas keeps his word once, well, you know, he's no longer a prisoner and terrified he's about to die.
PETRONIUS: Yes - it's the smearing us with blood I could do without. We look like Aeneas after one of his saffron baths. Uh- it's not- I mean, it's not human blood, is it?
SAMNIUM: Um... mm... no, I'm sure it isn't. Uh, look - there's Aeneas! Standing with Maeve in the stone circle. You holding up okay, Quin?
MAEVE: For the first time in our history, we have invited outsiders into these sacred grounds. Such is our commitment to this accord. There will be peace between our peoples! Bring forth the sacrifices.
PETRONIUS: Well, nice knowing you!
[lambs bleating]
Oh! Oh, it's lambs. Thank Jupiter.
MAEVE: Gaius Regulus Aeneas, we must bind our promise in blood. Once the ceremony is complete, our oaths will be unbreakable as chains.
[knife unsheathing, blood splatter]
Your turn, Aeneas. Take the blade.
AENEAS: Ah, I- I don't really like blood.
MAEVE: You must kill the lamb. Peace requires sacrifice, as all good things do.
[knife unsheathing, blood splatter, Picts cheering]
SAMNIUM: I can't believe it, Quin! I can't believe my plan actually worked.
PETRONIUS: Uh... Sam? Are lambs supposed to have that much blood inside them?
SAMNIUM: What do you mean? Oh. No- that's not right. The lambs dead, but it's still bleeding. A lot. Uh... well maybe it's part of the ceremony.
AENEAS: Why is there so much blood?
MAEVE: Who has used forbidden magic to pervert our rights?
PETRONIUS: Oh gods, Sam, the lambs are still bleeding. It's like a river of gore coming straight for us!
MAEVE: This place has been corrupted! We must leave, before the dark magic bears fruit. Everyone! Follow me.
SAMNIUM: Oh gods! The blood's up to our ankles, we're gonna drown in it!
AENEAS: My toga's ruined!
MAEVE: Follow me. Climb up here. These are the burial grounds of our most honoured ancestors, the blood won't dare profane such sacred ground.
PETRONIUS: You're right! Look, the flood of blood is subsiding- it's sinking right into the ground.
MAEVE: No, no! That shouldn't be! The sacred earth should spit it out, not suck it down!
SAMNIUM: Um, shaman? Um, are those burial mounds supposed to be shaking?
[cracking of earth]
PETRONIUS: Quin? There- there's a crack in the earth, by your foot! Is that... a hand?
SAMNIUM: Something's crawling out! A head, covered in maggots and soil - it's like... like some hideous birth!
AOIFE: Drest! That- that's Drest!
MAEVE: Epha, no! That is not Drest. Don't go near it! Don't touch it!
AOIFE: Drest! You've come back to me! Drest? No! No!
[AOIFE screams, revenant bites her]
SAMNIUM: He's biting her! Gods, it's- it's torn out her throat! What is that thing?
PETRONIUS: The woman it bit, she's... changing! Coming back to life, but- but wrong. Her skin's so pale, her veins like blue worms under her skin!
AENEAS: So much for your peace, shaman, you've led us all to our deaths!
PETRONIUS: All the mounds have opened up! Sam, behind you!
SAMNIUM: Agh! Get off me! Get it off me! Quin!
[revenant stabbed]
PETRONIUS: Well done, Quin! Straight through the heart! Wait... Oh, it's getting up again. How is it getting up again?
MAEVE: Sam, all of you! Follow me! Run!
[thunder crashing]
SAMNIUM: The moon - Quin, it's red.
MAEVE: Blood red. Blood magic. Someone has used our powers to drag the dead back from their rest! I don't know how it was done.
AENEAS: I don't care how it was done, I want to know how you're going to undo it!
MAEVE: We must go to the sacred grove. No magic can penetrate there.
SAMNIUM: When you're there, will you be able to send those things back where they came from?
MAEVE: I don't have the knowledge. Mine is the power of life and birth, it was my wife who presided over the rights of death and transformation. She told me once about the risen dead. She called them "revenants".
[thunder crashing]
PETRONIUS: Wait, did you see... just then when- when the lightning flashed? In the trees! Hoards of them, they're hideous! Like people who've been dipped in wax!
MAEVE: Everyone follow me. See the tree atop the mountain? That is the grove. It is far. Run.
MAEVE: This way. Keep up!
PETRONIUS: Oh gods, she's fast. But so are the revenants. See them, Quin? On the ridge above? Vaulting over rocks, dodging branches. Surprisingly nimble for dead people.
MAEVE: They belong to my tribe. We move with nature. The revenants have the strengths of my people, their bite infects others with the same evil magic. Only a lunatic would bring them to this world.
AENEAS: A lunatic? Like your wife? I can't help noticing she was nowhere in sight when this all happened.
MAEVE: Silence, Roman! My wife is dead, captured and killed by your people.
SAMNIUM: Shaman, above you!
[revenant snarling]
It's on her back! Pull it off Quin! Stabbing it doesn't work- [revenant decapitated] Oh. Oh, you could take its head off, looks like that works.
MAEVE: They will have our scent now, but if we cross the stream that runs west of here we may lose them. They're fast, we must be faster - follow me!
PETRONIUS: This water is very cold!
MAEVE: Now we've crossed the stream the revenants should lose our trail. Orla said they navigate by scent.
SAMNIUM: Orla was your wife, wasn't she? I'm- I'm sorry about what happened to her.
MAEVE: So am I. It's rare for shamans to love each other as we did. But when it happens, it's a blessing. She was funny and clever, full of love. But that didn't matter to the Roman who killed her. She was captured. I never saw her again. But I... felt her. I felt what they did to her. The pain and the moment she died.
SAMNIUM: I can't blame you for hating us.
MAEVE: Orla would have known how to lay the revenants to rest. When she died, a child should have been born with the sacred mark - a new shaman with her powers. But the child never came. I think Orla died so far away her spirit couldn't find its way back to mark her successor.
PETRONIUS: So it's our fault these things are going to kill us? Oh the revenants are still here. See their eyes? Like blue fireflies in the trees.
AENEAS: I thought you said we'd lose them!
MAEVE: Well I was wrong! Our only hope is the sacred grove. Follow me.
SAMNIUM: The revenants are right behind us- Aeneas! Run faster!
MAEVE: How did they find us?
PETRONIUS: Quin, go back and help Aeneas, he's fallen too far back!
SAMNIUM: No, it's too late! They've surrounded him. Gods! Oh, I can't watch. He's terrible, but no one deserves that.
[AENEAS screams, then laughs]
AENEAS: Oh. Oh, it's all been worth it just for the look on your faces!
PETRONIUS: The revenants are just standing there, they're not touching him!
AENEAS: I should hope not. I summoned them.
SAMNIUM: What do you mean? Why are you taking your toga off?
PETRONIUS: His tattoos, they're glowing blue. The same as the revenants' eyes.
AENEAS: Honestly, I thought one of you might've guessed by now.
MAEVE: You! You were the one who captured Orla! You killed her!
AENEAS: Yes, but I had to torture her for a very long time first. Until she told me the incantation I needed.
MAEVE: You monster!
AENEAS: It was very clever of me. I wrote the spell on my body so I wouldn't have to say it. All I needed was for blood to be shed at the right place by the right person - and you did that for me perfectly, Maeve.
SAMNIUM: Aeneas, you have to stop this. Think of your uncle, the Emperor!
AENEAS: The Emperor, yes - of an empire I will never inherit. So I'm creating my own. It will be the greatest the world has ever known, and the last empire. The empire of the dead- oh, oh! You'll be my first recruits! Take them, my revenants! My beautiful children.
SAMNIUM: Everybody, run!
[revenants snarling]
MAEVE: The grove - it's just ahead of us.
PETRONIUS: It's no good. The revenants are all around, we'll never make it. They've got your arm, Sam! Quick, tear off the arm of your tunic!
[fabric ripping]
SAMNIUM: What- what's happening? Quin? Why are they all backing away from me?
PETRONIUS: The birthmark on your arm is glowing. Blue. Like Aeneas' tattoos. I- I don't understand.
MAEVE: Run! Just a few more steps and...
[birds chirping]
SAMNIUM: This is it. This is the grove. Oh, thank the gods! It's so... so peaceful. Look I- I don't understand - my birthmark, why was it glowing? Why did it scare the revenants?
MAEVE: It is the mark of the Otherlands. The mark that Orla once bore. I never thought I'd see it again!
SAMNIUM: But why have I got it? I'm not... well, I'm not a Pict. Or a shaman.
MAEVE: Tell me, Centurion Sam, when were you born?
SAMNIUM: The Ides of March.
PETRONIUS: Oh! Unlucky.
MAEVE: Maybe. And what year were you born?
SAMNIUM: The fourth year of the reign of Emperor Trajan.
MAEVE: The year she died. The year and day. That's why her mark never came back to us - it found someone nearer. A baby boy. A Roman.
SAMNIUM: You're... well, you're... you're saying I'm a shaman?
MAEVE: If you choose - and you must choose. Do you see there below?
PETRONIUS: The lights.
MAEVE: Those are settlements. Thousands are gathered there, warriors preparing for the battle that I was trying to prevent. Now he's failed to take us, Aeneas will send his revenants to them. He'll massacre my people then march on to Rome. Aeneas means to give the world to death and only we can stop him.
Codex[]
Artefact[]
Ceremonial Dagger The blade appears to be hewn from marble, chipped and stained. If it weren't for the dimensions, it might resemble a tooth. Like a canine, only larger.
Supplies[]
The following supplies can be found in this mission.
(List may be incomplete.)
Apodesmos
Axe
Boots
Broken Arrow
Candles
Copper Coins
Dulcia piperata
Gladius
Gloves
Gourd
Longsword
Magical Herbs
Mess Kit
Plume
Rope
Salt
Scrap of Parchment
Silver Coins
Spade
Whetstone
Wild food
Trivia[]
- The mission title is in Latin and translates as "They Live".
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