SPQR: The Empire’s Darkest Hour – Game Start
GAME START
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Just Hints
Sewer: Examine the machinery.
First room: If it’s broke, fix it!
Second room: Reading is fundamental.
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Spoilers
Sewer: You are in a sewer; ahead of you is a gate with a ladder
behind it. To open the gate, click over to the crank. Pick up the little
handle and place it in the hole on the top of the crank. Then click to
turn the crank until the boat rises; continue until it stops. The gate
should now be open; go up the ladder and turn the door handle.
Useless things to play with: the brazier to the left of the crank (pick
up the coal on the floor, put it in the brazier, and watch the flame flare
up); the skeleton on the wall (running the cursor over the missing thigh
bone area produces a "click" — but remember this for the endgame).
Cornelius’s Office: At the model city, click on the fallen buildings
to pick them up; a scroll pops up; read it, and click on the picture to
run the little mini-video that shows you where Cornelius’s desk is. Picking
up the little buildings also opens the door to the next room, where Cornelius’s
desk is. Go to the desk, read all the scrolls and the note, click on the
box to open it (you can’t open the box until after you’ve clicked on the
note), and get the crank. It will fly over to the Navitor.
You might also want to play with the four machines a bit; each one is associated
with a season. Ver=Spring; Aestas=Summer; Autumnus =Autumn; Hiems=Winter.
Notice that there are also doors marked "Ver" and "Autumnus".
This will give you an idea of what to do and where to go when you need
to restart the Navitor after its seasonal breakdowns
in March, June,
September, and November.
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The Navitor
Start the Navitor by pulling the crank to the right. Here’s how it works:
Time. The crank can be manipulated to slow down or speed up the
passage of time; slower to the left, faster to the right. All the way to
the left brings you back to Cornelius’s study; pull to the right to restart.
All the way to the right will go extra fast if you hold it there; very
useful for advancing to the next date that something will be open if you
don’t feel like wandering around waiting for time to pass automatically.
Keep it at a slow-to-moderate pace at the beginning, until you’ve familiarized
yourself with the Forum and done everything you need to do the first month.
You cannot go backward in time, unless you reload a saved game (see below).
The center ofappears. Like the Acta, you can go backward or forward (look
for the furled edges), but not beyond the date you’re at. Scrolls contain
textual and visual clues to minor and major puzzles, as well as giving
an idea of each character’s history and personality, and his or her possible
motives for being the Calamitus.
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THE UNOFFICIAL S.P.Q.R.TM
WALKTHROUGH
for CyberSites’ "S.P.Q.R.TM:
The Empire’s Darkest Hour" on CD-ROM
by Venusta
New! Each
section contains a "Just Hints" area for those who don’t want
to be totally "spoiled." Just go to the section you want help
with, and click on "Just Hints" for subtle hints or "Spoilers"
for a complete walkthrough for that section’s puzzles.
- Introduction
- Game Start
- January
- February
- March
- April
- May
- June
- July
- August
- September
- October
- November
- December
- Endgame
- Things Not to Bother With (Semi-spoilers)
- Acknowledgments
- Links to Roman Citizens’ Sites
INTRODUCTION
It is 205 A.D., and Septimius Severus reigns over the vast Roman Empire.
But an oracle has predicted disaster: the Calamitus, a clever saboteur
whose mission is to destroy Rome. The ingenious inventor Cornelius has
summoned you to identify and foil the Calamitus. He has put at your disposal
his Navitor, a prototype device allowing you to travel about the city at
will, find the necessary clues, and save Rome from destruction. (See Game
Start – The Navitor for the workings of this technological marvel.)
You must accomplish this task within the space of a year. But the Calamitus
is very slippery, and there will be various acts of sabotage throughout
the year that you must investigate. There are five suspects, whose notebooks
and journals you will find and read along the way; one of them is the Calamitus.
This Walkthrough will help you get the clues you need, zero in on the correct
suspect, and stop the Calamitus in time to preserve the Empire.
Saving your game and quitting: Remember that you can save your
game at any time by pressing ESC, pointing your cursor at an empty space
on the list to highlight it, and clicking Save. The saved game will indicate
the location and date at the point you saved. To load a saved game, press
ESC, highlight it, and click Load. You can overwrite an old saved game
by highlighting its entry and clicking Save; you’ll be asked to confirm
that you want to overwrite it. "Exitus" exits this window and
returns you to the game at the point you saved it; "Quit" quits
the game.
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This Walkthrough was the result of hours of play, but by no means my
own alone. Many thanks to my fellow Citizens of Rome, whose cleverness
in solving the puzzles they generously shared with me and other desperate
gamers by responding to our cries for help on the Rostra of the S.P.Q.R.TM
on-line version and GT Interactive
Software Corp.’s S.P.Q.R.TM Forum.
Special thanks to Birba, who helped me realize that I had not yet lost
the game!
Please please PLEASE send your comments, suggestions, and especially
corrections to me at .
Thanks to those who have already helped me avoid too much embarrassment.
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Players of the online version of S.P.Q.R.TM
have formed a tight-knit community of Roman citizens, whose expertise de
rerum romanae is well represented on the World Wide Web. Visit these
sites to enrich your Roman experience:
When in Rome, do as the Romans do and visit FeAudrey’s SPQR
Companion Page, chock full of resources on ancient Rome and the S.P.Q.R.TM
on-line version, including links to esteemed fellow citizens’ sites.
L. Aelius Stilo’s comprehensive and scholarly Encyclopaedia
Romana is an invaluable compendium, updated in installments, of Roman
history.
Make yourself at home in Rome with M. Didius Festus’s lovely Domus,
where you can see how the ancient half lived.
The Women of
Rome are celebrated in Livia Drusa’s beautiful and informative site.
Cave canem at Canis Venaticus’s witty version of S.P.Q.R.TM,
The Adventures of
Canis Venaticus in the Roman Republic and Empire as Related and Embellished
by Fredericus Pinguinus.
The Unofficial S.P.Q.R.TM Walkthrough
© 1997 Linda Cantoni.
S.P.Q.R. and S.P.Q.R.: the Empire’s Darkest Hour are trademarks of CyberSites,
Inc. © 1996 CyberSites, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Regina Opera Home Page
JANUARY
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Just Hints
Where are the scrolls? Ask someone with a map.
Getting the scrolls:
Verania: Under your nose.
Lucius: Drinking and boating DO go together — count on it!
Gordian: Pick one from column A, one from column B, etc. — but get
it right from the ground up. (See Lucius’s notebook.)Xanthus: A stone is a many-sided thing. (See Gordian’s notebook.)
Sibyl: Mirror mirror on the wall . . . . Monkey see, monkey do. (See
Sibyl’s notebook.)
The strongbox:
The twins have the key, and the box.
In Gordian’s journal, between a nag and an inconvenience lies a security
precaution, especially on January 22nd.Trust Gordian — he knows all the angles.
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Spoilers
You’ll find yourself in the Forum, behind the Arch of Severus, on the
first day of the year, Kal. Jan.
1. Get all five scrolls:
Locations are marked on one of the maps in Gordian’s notebook.
Verania – under the Arch of Severus — you’ll see it as soon
as you get to the Forum from Cornelius’s study. Verania is the Vestalis
Maxima, or head of the Vestal Virgins.Lucius – upstairs at the Wineshop (just west of the Senate House).
Go to the cabinet with the two levers and set both at VII. (The clue to
this is at the bottom of the stairs — if you click on the tree in the
boat picture, grapes appear; click on the grapes, and dolphins appear.
There are 7.) The cabinet opens, revealing Lucius’s scroll. Lucius is the
drunken son of a Senator, now a sort of private eye. Notice the wooden
soldiers on his desk. Useless things to play with: the box by the stairs
(which opens to reveal an animated helmet); the items on his desk; the
other pictures in the wineshop downstairs.Gordian – up the Stair of Sighs in the Tabularium (next to the
Tullian Jail), left, straight twice, and through the door to the right.
Pick up the compass, which draws a circle and opens a door to the center
office (Gordian’s). Behind his desk is a picture of four columns with four
boxes. Click to see the names of the column types; then click and drag
to put them in the boxes in the right order from the ground up: Doric,
Ionic, Corinthian, Composite. (Clue in Lucius’s notebook entry on the Colosseum.)
A gate to the right of the desk will open; go into that room and get Gordian’s
scroll. Gordian is the Curator Fori (curator of the Forum) and a prominent
engineer. Useless things to play with: the other pictures on the walls.Xanthus – the third of the offices in the Tabularium. At the
desk, place the stones in the numbered grooves according to the number
of sides each has (i.e., the pyramid has four sides, so place it in the
groove marked "IV" – clue in Gordian’s notebook). You’ll hear
a click; turn around and click on the cabinet door to get his scroll. Xanthus
is a foreigner working for Gordian.Sibyl – go to the alley next to the Temple of Vespasian. Turn
the skull to open the curtain. On the table to the right is a note saying,
"Who is the greatest Sibyl of them all?" Turn to the left wall
(which says the same thing in Latin) and click on "Roma" on the
map. The back curtain will open. Look at the box on the table to the left,
then repeat the sequence of skulls in the dishes to the right (i.e., the
third dish should be empty). The box will open — get the scroll. (Clue
in Sibyl’s notebook on Dreams.) Sibyl is a fortune teller. Useless things
to play with: the Zodiac wall; the things on her tables.
2. Open Gordian’s strongbox:
A. Find the key to Gordian’s Taberna. Gordian tells in his scrolls
of finding a mysterious document, possibly belonging to Xanthus. On Gordian’s
desk in the Tabularium is a notebook with "Castor and Pollux"
written on it. Turn the pages to find a key. Click on it; it will automatically
go into your storage cabinet.B. Find Gordian’s Taberna. Go to the alley on the west (Basilica
Julia) side of the Temple of Castor and Pollux, where you will find a locked
green door. Click on the key in your storage cabinet to open the door (the
key remains in your storage cabinet in case you want to go back). You’ll
see a strongbox with a combination lock and two other closed wooden boxes.C. Open the strongbox. Enter XXIII on the
strongbox by turning the wheels so that the numbers appear in the second
set from the top, leaving the last number blank. (Clue to number: Gordian
has a "hidden scroll" for a.d. X Kal. Feb. — his scroll doesn’t
unfurl on that date, and if you click on the furled scroll on a.d. X Kal.
Feb., you get his previous scroll for a.d. XIII Kal. Feb., called "The
Nag." Notice, though, that on a.d. X Kal. Feb., the upper right corner
of "The Nag" scroll is turned down, indicating another scroll
after it. Click on the corner, and you’ll find a scroll entitled "A
Security Precaution" with a picture of a column, a circle over the
column, and a number at the right. Point at the small circle at the bottom
of the larger circle and drag it down until it reaches the bottom of the
column. A right angle appears and the number changes to XXIII. If you’re
past a.d. X Kal. Feb., Gordian’s next scroll is "An Inconvenience"
on a.d. VII Kal. Feb., and you can flip backwards to "A Security Precaution"
from there.) Press the button to open the box. Then pull the left lever
("sinister"=left). This opens the box to the left. Pull the left
lever and go to the third box. Pull the right lever ("dexter"=right)
and go back to the strongbox. There, you will find a partial list of ways
in which Rome can be destroyed, presumably written by the Calamitus. This
is a preview of the acts of sabotage you’ll be investigating over the next
year.
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FEBRUARY
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Just Hints
Treasure lies beneath your feet.
You pay your money and you take your chances.
Every picture tells a story. (See Verania’s notebook.)
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Spoilers
The Lupercal Cave (a.d. XV Kal. Mar.)
The scrolls and Acta report vandalism at the altar of the Lupercal Cave
during the Lupercalia festival. Enter the Lacus Curtius well in the center
of the Forum. Pick up one of the coins. Turn right; you’ll see a loose
brick. Click to break a hole open. To the right is Xanthus’s lair (nothing
important there, but you can play with the wooden horse picture); go to
the left. At the big stone block, turn left to find an open passageway.
Follow it to the end (past another block) and turn right. Go up the stairs
and to the right to exit; you’re under the Arch of Severus (if you turn
back around toward the left, you’ll find a staircase leading up to the
top of the Arch, where there are some lovely views of Rome. In December
there will be a clue there). Go east through the Forum and turn right (south)
at the Temple of Vesta. Go up the stairs (this is the Via Nova) until you
see a slot. Click on the coin; it flies into the slot and you’ll be transported
up the hill. Go through the doors in front of you and down into the cave.
At the altar, rearrange the tiles in the chronological order of the story
of Romulus and Remus — babies, wolf, twins, man wielding sword, dead man,
victorious man (clue in Verania’s notebook). Then click on the final picture;
the altar box will open, revealing a wooden horse, a stone key, and a scroll.
Click on all three. Note that the scrolls you find in the monthly puzzles
will name the "useful" item you’ve found (here, it’s the stone
key) — the other item is a clue to the identity of the person who left
it there (see ENDGAME). These scrolls also
give a hint as to how this person would destroy Rome; click on the picture
in the scroll to run an animation of how it would be done.
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MARCH
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Just Hints
Restarting the Navitor: You’ll get it by hook or by crook in Spring.
The puzzle: Get thee behind me and figure out the difference between
then and now. Then light my fire!
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Spoilers
1. Restart the Navitor.
It is now Spring (Ver), so on Kal. Mar. the Navitor breaks down and
you’re back in Cornelius’s study. Go to the double doors at the back of
the study (to the right of the Navitor) and click on the handle. A note
appears under the door with a code number (59). Go to the Ver table (to
the right of the Navitor), enter LIX on the box, and take the machine piece
out. Insert the piece between the crank and the vents and run the machine.
A slot opens along the table edge; pull the knob. Find the door marked
"Ver" by going to the left of the Navitor, and then to the right.
Go in, climb the ladder, and attach the hook to the bellows. The Navitor
will now run; go back to it, pull the crank to the right, and find yourself
back at the Arch of Severus.
2. The Vestal Flame (Id. Mar.)
The scrolls and Acta report the Eternal Flame going out. Across from
the back of the Temple of Vesta is a set of doors. Go through and get the
lens holder. Turn around and pull the lever by the door; a back door to
the Temple opens. Slide the upper wooden knob to enter "Kal. Mar."
— the date of the old New Year and when the Vestals relight the flame
— at the top. With the lower knob, enter the number of days between Kal.
Mar. and today (if today is Id. Mar., enter XV). Pull the lever; a little
door at the bottom right opens to reveal a lens. Click on it and enter
the front of the Temple. Attach the lens to the holder above the brazier;
the flame lights up the Temple, revealing on the side a skull, a vial,
and a scroll. Get them.
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APRIL
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Just Hints
Play the ancient fiddler.
The right isn’t right, but be quick.
Patience is a virtue when you want to leave.
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Spoilers
Temple of Antoninus and Faustina/Water Organ (Pridie Id. Apr.)
This temple is at the northeast end of the Forum, just past the Temple
of Caesar. Inside the temple is a pump and an organ. Pull the pump lever,
then go to the organ and slide the knobs on the doors to open them. You’ll
see that you need to enter a four-letter word. Press the 8th,
9th, 1st, and 2nd keys, spelling "NERO".
(Clue: this is referred to in scrolls and notebooks as "Nero’s water
organ," and if you press all twelve keys in order from left to right
it spells out "ROMA INCENDIT" — "Rome burns".) VERY
QUICKLY click to the LEFT (there’s a niche there) — the back wall is opening.
(Although it appears that the opening is to the right, all you’ll find
on the right side is a soldier statue, which doesn’t help you very much.
If you miss the left-hand opening, just start over and enter NERO again.)
Inside you’ll find a wooden soldier, a piece of marble, and a scroll. Get
them, turn around, and wait until the niche turns into a door, which leads
out to the back of the temple. If you try to exit too soon, you’ll wind
up back in the organ room, and you can’t get through the front doors; the
head of the horseman statue turns to look at you (shades of "Jason
and the Argonauts"!). You can retry all of this if you don’t get it
right the first time.
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MAY
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Just Hints
What really weighs what — and where?
Remember your multiplication tables.
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Spoilers
Aerarium/Weights (a.d. XIV Kal. Iun)
The Acta and scrolls will tell of a break-in at the Aerarium and the
possibility that the weights were tampered with. Go to the alley on the
east side of Castor and Pollux (not the one where you found Gordian’s strongbox
in January, but the other side). Go through
the Aerarium doors on the right and go around to the back of the room (right,
ahead, left, ahead, left, left). You’ll see a scale, a lever, some numbered
weights, and a funnel marked "XXXV" (35).
Hang the weights in this order: I, II, V, IV. Pull the lever so that
sand flows into the scale pan, until the scale is even (if you go too far,
just keep letting the sand flow until the pan dumps itself, then pull the
lever to start again). Remove the pan and pour the sand into the funnel.
A niche above the funnel opens, revealing a stylus, a weight, and a scroll.
(Clue: in one of the scrolls or Acta, there is a reference to the weights
being tampered with. IV is debased by 1/4; and the hooks increase in multiples,
i.e., 1st=x1, 2nd=x2, 3rd=x3, 4th=x4. Thus, the 1 1b. weight on the first
hook is 1 lb., the 2 lb. weight on the second hook is 4 lbs., the 5 lb.
weight on the third hook is 15 lbs., and the debased 4 lb. weight on the
fourth hook is 15 lbs. Total: 35 lbs.; you have to put 35 lbs. of sand
in the funnel to open the niche.)
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JUNE
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Just Hints
Restarting the Navitor: Optimum is best where Spring leads to Summer.
The puzzle:
The Sacred Grove holds many secrets. Can you dig it?
Was this the face that launch’d a thousand ships, And burnt the topless
towers of Ilium? (See Verania’s notebook.)A very jarring situation.
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Spoilers
1. Restart the Navitor:
On Kal. June the Navitor breaks down. Again, get your clue (19) from
under the double doors. Enter XIX on the box at the Aestas table (left
of the desk), get the piece, attach it to the side of the rocket launcher,
run the machine, and pull the knob. Enter the Ver door and find the Aestas
door to the right. Get the water running by clicking on the wheels (the
right one first) until the level is at OPT. Back to the Navitor.
2. Sacred Grove/Palladium (a.d. III Id. Iun.)
The Acta and scrolls report the theft of the Palladium, a small sacred
statue kept hidden in the House of the Vestal Virgins. Go to the Sacred
Grove behind the House of the Vestal Virgins (to the southeast) by going
up the Via Nova and making a left at the fountain. Go straight and turn
right at the gates. Go through the gates, turn around, close the right-hand
gate, and go through the secret door. Get the shovel, turn around, close
the door, and go through another secret door at the left. Go upstairs,
straight up the hill, left, straight, three rights, and find the grass
patch that looks disturbed. Click on the shovel to dig up the Palladium
(a small statue of a woman). Then go left and straight down the hill to
the other exit (not the one you came in). Go down the stairs, turn right,
open the door, go in, turn around, close the door, and click on another
door to the right to exit.
Turn left and go through the back door of the House of the Vestal Virgins.
Put the statute in the niche. You’ll hear a door open. Go through the door
and press "Troia" on the map (Verania’s notebook tells the story
of Aeneas bringing the Palladium to Rome from Troy; the scrolls and Acta
tell of its theft from the secret jar it’s usually stored in). Find the
room with the jars. Pull the jars to the right, then the left, which sends
a jar to the next room (the button rearranges the jars in case you make
a mistake). Go back to the niche and click on the Palladium, which flies
over to the room with the single jar in a groove. Click on the jar. Look
up to find the Regia capstone (marked "V"), an acorn, and a scroll.
Exit by going back up the stairs and out to the Grove gates; you can also
exit by going through the small wooden door into the House of the Vestal
Virgins.
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JULY
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Just Hints
What comes up, must come down, then go out, then go up.
Veni, vidi, vici — chronologically. (See Gordian’s notebook.)
If heat makes things bigger, then cold . . .
Go with the flow of hot to not so hot.
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Spoilers
Temple of Caesar/Baths (a.d. IV Id. Iul.)
You’ll read about the flooding of the Temple of Caesar due to a malfunction
at the nearby Baths. Go to the temple (east end of the Forum) and insert
the stone key into the altar in front. Pull it right, then left, revealing
an unlit torch. Light the torch at the flaming torch to the altar’s left.
You’ll be transported inside. Go down to the pot and release all the water
by pulling on the handle at the bottom. When the pot rises, go up, turn
so you’re facing the pot, and look up. Attach the rope hook to the pot
hook, which sends you out of the temple, but opens the main temple doors.
Go up to the main doors and enter. At the map, press Gallia, Aegyptus,
Asia, Africa (clue in Gordian’s notebook entry on Julius Caesar — the
order of his campaigns.)
Go through the gate at the right of the map. You’ll find yourself on
the other side of the room with the pot. Go through the tunnel and enter
the barrel-shaped door. Pick up the bar in the sunken area and bring it
to the Frigidarium; dip it in the water to cool it down and shrink it.
Go to the pump room and attach the bar to the pump by placing the center
over the brass knob between the pumps. On the left (marked "Intro")
press "C"; on the right ("Exitus") press "T",
which drains water from the Calidarium into the "Tepidarium"
(i.e., the sunken area you saw before). When the Tepidarium is full, enter
the Calidarium and look into the tub — it should be empty except for a
gold box. Open the box and get the curved wire, wooden horse, and scroll.
(Clue to all this is in the scrolls — complaints about the temperature
of the baths.) Examine the scroll carefully and play with the animation;
you can’t take it with you and you can’t re-open that gold box once you
leave the room. Note that turning the animated valve clockwise shuts the
flow of water off; counterclockwise turns it on. This is relevant to one
of the possible endings.
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AUGUST
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Just Hints
Can cows swim?
I shot an arrow into the air, it fell to earth with a bang over there.
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Spoilers
Tiber River/Crossbow (a.d. IX Kal. Sep.)
You’ll see reports that someone has flooded the cattle market down by
the Tiber. Go down to the river by following the street to the left of
the Temple of Saturn until you hit some wooden machinery (to the right
of which is where Gordian’s temple is being built — you can check on its
progress periodically). Click on the machinery and continue to the river
steps. To the left is the flooded cattle market mentioned in the scrolls
and Acta — playing with the animals does nothing important, but it’s fun.
Downstairs, you’ll see a bunch of junk and a box marked "Explosive."
Go back up the stairs and continue to the bridge; make a left. On the left-hand
railing is a crossbow. Click on the wire thing you found in the Baths and
it will attach itself to the crossbow. Click on one of the arrows to "load"
it. Watch the wind indicator to the right, and try to fire at the spot
near the temple in the distance (where the junk is). Keep trying until
there’s an explosion; a wooden horse, a "water key", and a scroll
come flying down.
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SEPTEMBER
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Just Hints
Restarting the Navitor: Get the connection in Autumn.
The puzzle:
Whaddaya got that Vespasian ain’t got?
Crawlin’ through the wreckage.
Jupiter has something to relay.
Find in the light going up what you couldn’t find in the dark going
down.
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Spoilers
1. Restart the Navitor.
The Kal. Sep. breakdown brings you back to Cornelius’s study., go to
the double doors and get the note with the code number: 95. Go to the Autumnus
table to the right of the desk, enter the XCV in the box, get the piece,
attach it to the bolts, run the machine, and pull the knob. Find the Autumnus
door to the left of the double doors. Set the switches at 1 down, 2 and
3 up, and 4 down. Remove the fuse from the bolts at the left to make the
electrical connection; you’ll see blue sparks. Back to the Navitor.
2. Temple of Vespasian/Finance Office/Relay Station (Id. Sep.)
You’ll hear about an explosion at the Finance Office, allegedly caused
by a thunderbolt from the Temple of Jupiter. At the corner of the Temple
of Vespasian, at the alley near Sibyl’s taberna, is a stone map with "Id.
Sep." carved into the missing map area. Click on the marble piece
you found earlier to fill it in. The door at the end of the alley opens.
Enter and go through the door to find the burning Finance Office. Go out
into the rubble, turn right, look down, and get the fuse attached to the
wire. Turn around and go straight up the stairs, which transports you to
a hill behind the Tabularium. Go left and up the stairs toward Jupiter.
Look for a golden door with a wire leading down from the Temple of Jupiter.
Open the door and follow the wire down the stairs, press the button to
open the door, go down the hill, and go to the right, where you’ll see
a small building (the Relay Station). Enter the building and click on the
fuse to attach it to the connector on the left (this lights the stairs
you just came down). Go back up to the stairs and look in the right-hand
wall (as you’re going up) for a wooden niche, where you’ll find a second
fuse. Get it and return to the Relay Station. Attach the second fuse to
the first, then pull the fuse on the right over so that it attaches to
the ones on the left. At the left of the room, you’ll see a switch; throw
it, and the big box opens. Get the arch form, soldier, and scroll.
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OCTOBER
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Just Hints
Spell it, outside and inside.
Who conquered what? (See Gordian’s Notebook.)
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Spoilers
Regia/Shields (a.d. XIV Kal. Nov.)
The Acta and scrolls report tampering with the sacred shields of Mars
at the Regia. Enter the Regia (near the Temple of Vesta). On the floor
to the left is a circular inscription; click on the "capstone"
you found earlier. This opens the courtyard door. There are three circles
on the ground here; each has three rings. Move the rings on each circle
so that each forms a letter: PAX. (There’s a fun animation on one of the
blank niches here, by the way; move your cursor over the figures to see
them twirl.) This process opens a second door; enter it, open the cabinet,
and solve the anagram puzzle: BELLUM ET PAX (war and peace). This
opens yet another door, to the shield room. Hang the appropriate shield
on each emperor’s name (clue in Gordian’s notebook on Emperors): Arabia
on Severus, Gallia on Julius, Egypt on Augustus, Britannia on Claudius,
Dacia on Trajan. A hole in the floor opens up. Go down and get the acorn,
Regia tunnel key, and scroll. Open the door, and you’ll find yourself in
the House of the Vestal Virgins.
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NOVEMBER
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Just Hints
Restarting the Navitor: See Cornelius’s sketch and go from Spring to
Winter.
The puzzle: Rebuild, and add your own touch.
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Spoilers
1. Restart the Navitor.
On Kal. Nov., it becomes Winter. This one is complex; there’s a sketch
of part of it in one of Cornelius’s scrolls. Again, at the double doors,
get the note with the number code (41); go to the Hiems table at the left
of the Navitor, enter XLI, get the piece, attach it next to the similar
piece on the right of the machine, run the machine, and pull the knob.
Then go through the Ver door to find the Hiems door at the left and the
final machine. Each of the three levers has three positions; the big one
on the left (marked A in Cornelius’s drawing) goes from left to right,
I II III; the next (B and C) go from down to up, I II III. Put A at II,
B at III, and C at II. Then press the button (D) and WORK QUICKLY: B at
II, C at III, B at I, A at I. If the machine dies down before you complete
the second sequence, just start over. When it’s running, go back to the
Navitor.
2. Gordian’s Temple/Arch (a.d. XVI Kal. Dec.)
You’ll see references in the scrolls and Acta to the building and destruction
of Gordian’s temple. Go to the building site (south of Saturn, near where
you entered the Tiber area). You’ll see a toppled arch and a crane with
a lever. Rebuild the archway by clicking on a piece to get the crane to
pick it up, rotating the piece with the lever, and clicking on where you
want it to go. Start with a rectangle at the bottom left space, a square
at the bottom right, a rectangle to the left, a square to the left, a rectangle
to the left, a rectangle with a curve on its right side to the left, and
a rectangle with a curve on its left side to the right. Then get the big
wooden arch piece, rotate so that the straight side is on the bottom, and
put the piece on the top. Then add the small arch piece, rotate it, and
place on the right side; click on your arch piece and put it on top. Then
add the small curved pieces and, finally, the keystone. When it transforms
into a completed archway, click on the top of it to go through into the
building site. Among the rubble, find the axe, a wooden soldier, and a
scroll. You’ll notice when you look up that a wall has opened just beyond
this area; this is the Elements Door, but don’t try to solve that one until
you’ve completed December‘s puzzle and are
ready to proceed to the endgame.
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DECEMBER
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Just Hints
On top of old Severus, all covered with clues . . .
The glittering monument has got your number.
You can run rings around Saturn.
Able was I ere I saw Elba.
Be forceful with the statue — if you choose.
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Spoilers
Temple of Saturn (a.d. IV Id. Dec.)
You’re in the home stretch now. You’ll see references in the scrolls
and Acta to the robbery of gold from the Aerarium. But you won’t be using
the same entrance as you did for the weights puzzle in May.
Go underneath the stairs of the Temple of Saturn and click on the vault
door there. The combination is CLXV. (Clue: go to the top of the Arch of
Severus using the stairs at the end of the Lacus Curtius tunnels, only
when you get out, turn around again and you’ll see a staircase going up.
At the top, you’ll see a gold circle and batons, as well as graffiti saying
"Cumae." Cumae was conquered in the year CLXV, as you’ll see
from the inscription on the Golden Milestone near the Aerarium vault door.)
Go to the planetary map and get the ring of Saturn. Go out and up Saturn’s
front stairs. Click on the ring; it reappears on the doors, which open
when you click on them. To the left is an anagram/palindrome puzzle. Solve
it by picking up each letter and running it over the board until it magically
appears in several places. Or, enter, from top to bottom (or left to right),
ROTAS, OPERA, TENET, AREPO, SATOR. Go to the statue; what you do now will
determine the ending of the game:
1. Ignore the statue and proceed to ENDGAME.
(I prefer the ending that results from this one.)
2. Click on the panel beneath the statue to open it slightly, then click
on your axe to get it out and click on the axe again to break the panel
open. Get the wooden soldier, bone, and scroll. Proceed to ENDGAME.
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ENDGAME
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Just Hints
Brave the elements.
Not all woods are created equal. (See Gordian’s notebook.)
Go out with a bang, but don’t give up!
Who left the most toys?
If I were Calamitus, I’d enjoy Winter, where:
I could be rather cutting,
OR
the shinbone’s connected to the . . .
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Spoilers
Must be completed before Kal. Jan.!
1. Identify the Suspect.
To help identify your suspect, the final scrolls of all five characters
will open simultaneously at some point during Saturnalia (after Id. Dec.).
Each describes what he/she would do if he/she were the Calamitus and how
to stop him/her. Check to make sure you have all the items they mention:
the axe (Lucius — but if you used the axe in Saturn, make sure you at
least have the bone), the Regia tunnel key (Verania), the "water key"
(Xanthus), the vial (Sibyl), and the counterweight (Gordian). Then look
at the bottom shelf of your storage area; here are all the soldiers and
horses etc. that you haven’t had any apparent use for. But each different
item is a symbol for each character, and Cornelius said in one of his scrolls
that the person associated with the greatest number of crimes must be the
Calamitus. The soldiers stand for Lucius (on his desk in the Wineshop),
the acorns for Verania (on her desk in the House of the Vestal Virgins),
the horses for Xanthus (on his table in the Lacus Curtius lair), the skull
for Sibyl (in the back room of her taberna), and the stylus for Gordian
(on his desk in the Tabularium). If you used the axe in Saturn, you should
have 4 soldiers, 3 horses, 2 acorns, 1 skull, and 1 stylus. Lucius,
then, is the Calamitus. If you didn’t use the axe, you’ll have 3 soldiers,
making Xanthus look like a likely suspect too, but Lucius is the
man. If you stay in the Forum long enough before going on to the next step,
Sibyl exonerates herself in a final scroll, in which she says that Cornelius
speaks through her "from beyond."
2. The Elements Door.
Go back to Gordian’s destroyed temple site (through the rebuilt arch)
and straight ahead to a courtyard. To the right is Cornelius’s Elements
Door. You’ll need to click twice on each of two of the panels and once
on each of the two remaining panels — it doesn’t matter which ones. For
example, click twice on the first panel (upper left), once on the second
(upper right), twice on the third (lower left), and once on the fourth
(lower right). (Clue in Gordian’s "Measures" notebook on the
properties of wood — he mentions what the door is made of, and in the
chart of woods, the number of times "max" appears is the number
of times you click. There’s also a clue in the final scroll in Saturn,
assuming you used the axe and got it.) Turn the door handle and enter.
The Navitor promptly shuts down and explodes, scattering the five "stop
the Calamitus" items on the floor, along with the first initial of
each character’s name.
3. Stop the Calamitus.
Clicking on the initials will re-play the "If I Were Calamitus…"
messages. Click on your suspect’s item to pick it up.
A. Lucius. If you’re going with Lucius (as you should, but the
other endings are fun to see), click on the axe or bone. You already know
from his "If I Were Calamitus" message that he plans to blow
up Cornelius’s manure boat in the sewer (the one you cranked up at the
game start, and which powers the Navitor),
and that you can stop him by cutting the boat free with the axe. Go through
the wrecked Ver door and to the left through the old Hiems door, where
the conveyor belt is, and click on the belt. You’ll be transported to the
sewer — the same sewer you entered the game from. If you chose to keep
the axe, get over to the rope holding up the boat and click on it. The
axe cuts the rope, sending the boat out of the sewer and into the Tiber,
where it blows up. This ending I like best; you’ll see the ancient Forum
morph into the way it looks today, in modern Rome. If you went for the
bone, go over to the skeleton and click on the missing thigh. The wall
crashes forward, knocking the boat out of the sewer. This transforms Rome
into an ancient technological Utopia — the ending Cornelius would have
liked, I think.
B. Xanthus. He’s not the right man, but his ending is fun. Click
on the water key and go out through the courtyard. You’ll be transported
all the way up the Via Nova stairs and through those mysterious wooden
doors you couldn’t do anything with. This is the Valve House. Click on
the machine and the water key appears. Xanthus says that he can be stopped
by rotating the water key "in the opposite direction" until it
runs off the teeth. Remember the scroll in the Baths. If you turn the key
counterclockwise, it causes a flood, and Byzantium takes over. If you turn
it clockwise, Rome burns, the Goths take over, and Xanthus is made king.
C. Gordian. Click on the counterweight and try to go out the
courtyard door; you won’t even make it, for Rome burns, the Goths take
over, and Xanthus is made king.
D. Verania or Sibyl. Click on their respective items; as with
Gordian, you won’t make it out the door. Rome burns and Byzantium takes
over.
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THINGS NOT TO BOTHER WITH
(Semi-Spoilers)
Places you can see but can’t get into: The Senate House, the Temple
of Concord, the Tullian Jail, the Temple of Castor and Pollux, the Cloaca
Maxima (no, not even through that grate in the Lacus Curtius tunnel!),
the alcoves along the Via Nova, the Tiber River, the Temple of Hercules
(at the Tiber); the pool in the House of the Vestal Virgins, the Temple
of Jupiter.
Places you’ve heard about but can’t get into: The Valve House (except
during the Xanthus ending), the cistern under
the Regia, the Imperial Palace, the reservoir on the Palatine Hill, the
mundus, the Field of Wickedness (where Verania was buried alive), the Colosseum.
Places you can get into but that hold nothing of importance (except
possibly generating notebook entries): The Basilica Julia, the Basilica
Aemilia, the Rostra, the top of the Arch of Severus (unless you really
need that clue to the Aerarium door in December).
Things that do nothing: The gates, stone blocks, and grate in the Lacus
Curtius; the mysterious wooden doors on the stairs of the Via Nova — they
only open for the Xanthus ending.
Things you can play with but that do nothing important: Most of the
items on the characters’ desks make some kind of appropriate noise when
you click on them; the chains across the doorways in the Lacus Curtius
tunnel rattle, and some of the closed gates make a clanging sound; the
livestock in the Cattle Market make barnyard sounds; wall pictures not
mentioned above often display some kind of fun animation.