Taimhotep's Song

Taimhotep's Song was a virtual representation of one of Bayek's genetic memories, relived by Layla Hassan through the Portable Animus HR-8.

Description

Taimhotep implores Bayek to help her in the preparation of a ritual to protect her unborn child.

Dialogue

Bayek found Taimhotep singing and weeping on a bench in the gardens of the Temple of Ptah.

• Taimhotep: (How loved you are in your house of life, Your inner shrine of being! You little seed, Sprouting with the absence of the flood That follows the moon. Your ka endures, My strength feeds your joy, Your heart's stir directs me on the path. I am she who wills the shape of your breath, Who sings your name into life.)

Bayek approached her, kneeling in front of her.

• Bayek: Why do you weep? Your curse is lifted.
• Taimhotep: You have lost a child, so you should understand that a mother's fear never ends.
• Bayek: Nor does a father's rage.
• Taimhotep: Fear and rage are fair replies to life's fragility. Please, leave me to my tears.

Taimhotep's maidservant Mara arrived and asked Bayek to follow her.

• Mara: Neb, if you will follow me? We must give her privacy.

Bayek asking Mara for advice

Bayek and Mara left Taimhotep at the bench.

• Bayek: Is there anything I can do to ease her?
• Mara: Hmm. She has found a ritual of protection in an ancient scroll. Only a few ingredients remain to be—
• Bayek: I'll find them.

Bayek turned to leave. Mara rushed to stop him.

• Mara: Wait, neb! An impatient soul is a troubled one. My lady needs parts from fresh-killed sacred birds. And would you kindly bring a fertility talisman in blue faience? There is a shop south of the temple basin where such items may be found.
• Bayek: I will meet you on the road to the pyramids afterwards.
• Maid: May you prosper.

Bayek left the temple and made his way to the shop.

• Bayek: I will get the ritual item first, and then hunt down the birds.

Bayek arrived at the shop, but found it to be an abandoned tomb instead.

• Bayek: An abandoned tomb? The maidservant said there was a shop here. Strange place for a shop.

Bayek speaking to the owner

Bayek navigated his way ever deeper into the tomb and was eventually greeted by the shop owner.

• Owner: Ah, neb! Welcome to my humble shop.
  Seeking magical runes? Statuettes of uncommon value?
  A Medjay! How surprising.
  I have not seen your kind in some time, Medjay.
• Bayek: We are a rare breed. As are merchants who set up shop in a tomb.
• Owner: My customers appreciate privacy.
• Bayek: They do not seem to appreciate variety.
• Owner: My customers know I can provide what they seek.
• Bayek: I hope you can do the same for me. May I have a look around?
• Owner: But of course! I'll leave you to browse.
  Excuse me, but I have some business to attend to. I'll be back soon.

The shop owner left the shop. Bayek browsed around and discovered an inventory list, with the talisman listed on it.

• Bayek: An inventory. The talisman in blue faience is listed here.

New Inventory

18 sekhem-style sistrums
1 death collar, gold with lapis beads
2 ankh-shaped mirror cases in gold leaf
1 nursing Iset statuette in a alabaster
1 fertility talisman in blue faience
3 birth bricks with depiction of Hathor
20 wax figurines (female)
30 wax figurines (male)
5 ostraka (burial chamber of Djoser)
45 Demotic spell papyri (various)

• Bayek: I should keep looking around.

Bayek found a stone tablet.

• Bayek: "And in the second chamber lie the worldly goods of Horapollo and Shesh, to protect them and provide them sustenance." The message is incomplete. I wonder what the rest of it says.

From above, the shop owner's voice echoed.

• Owner: Seeking magical runes? Statuettes of uncommon value?

Bayek found several vases.

• Bayek: Nothing of value in this room. Why would the merchant sell such cheap goods here? She is hiding something.

Bayek discovered a movable shelf behind a curtain. He pushed the shelf inwards and discovered a hidden room.

• Bayek: The merchant did not want me to see this part of the shop. These goods must be stolen.

Bayek finding the talisman

Bayek found the talisman and recovered it.

• Bayek: A fertility talisman. Taimhotep will be pleased.

Bayek turned to leave, but he was ambushed by bandits.

• Bandits: You've browsed long enough, Medjay!
  You're scaring our customers!

The Medjay dispatched the bandits, and left. He proceeded to hunt down some of the sacred birds Mara had mentioned. From the flamingos, he claimed their tongues.

• Bayek: The maidservant said they want its tongue.

From the herons he took some feathers.

• Bayek: I will take a few feathers for Taimhotep's ritual.
  That is all the items. Now to meet Taimhotep on the road to the pyramids.

Bayek made his way to the meeting point. He found Taimhotep sitting on a bench at the western gate of Memphis.

• Taimhotep: Bayek of Siwa! Come closer.
• Bayek: I have found what you need, Taimhotep.
• Taimhotep: The Seer spoke truth when he named you Deliverer. My ritual must be performed in the moon's shadow, at the base of the pyramid of Djoser. Will you guard me and my maid until it is done? There may be dangers on the road as well.
• Bayek: Gladly.
• Taimhotep: Then let us ride to the pyramid, and wait until the night unfurls in splendor.

Bayek escorting Mara and Taimhotep

Bayek, Taimhotep and Mara mounted a camel and they begun their journey.

• Bayek: This is uncertain country. Why not bring more guards?
• Taimhotep: My ritual must remain private.
• Bayek: Is that also why we travel off the main road?
• Taimhotep: Yes. It is less safe, but more secret.
  The lack of a son lowers my husband in the esteem of the people. And if they knew of the babes I have lost, his ability to compel the gods would be called into question. There are whispers against him already. My troubles bring shame to him, and to me.
• Mara: Nebet, it is not your fault—
• Taimhotep: Hush, Mara. I know you mean to be kind, but the scrolls are clear. The woman is the carrier of the child's sex.
• Mara: I do not believe that, nebet.
• Taimhotep: (sighs) Mara... we have had this conversation before. Let's be quiet now, in case our voices carry to unfriendly ears.
• Bayek: Good idea.

Bayek, Taimhotep, and Mara encountered bandits of the funerary complex outside the pyramid. Bayek eliminated them and they continued their way. A while later, they arrived at their destination, at the foot of the pyramid. They dismounted.

• Taimhotep: We are here.
• Bayek: My sword stands between your ritual and any who threaten it.
• Mara: Ptah's blessing on you.

Mara performing the ritual with Taimhotep

While Taimhotep and Mara reached the ritual location, and prepared to perform it, Bayek kept watched over them from afar, and reminisced.

• Bayek: Every morning of my childhood, my father and I spoke the Prayer of the Medjay, a promise to those in need.
  "I am a Medjay. I am a feather in the eagle's wing... a living dagger, plunged from the sky into the heart of chaos. I am a truth unknown... a scabbard unfilled... a son of the Nile... and a defender of the people. You cannot kill me, for I walk among the dead. Come forth by day, and I will guide you home."
  My son should have learned this prayer from me.

Outcome

Bayek helped Taimhotep and Mara to prepare for a protective ritual, and then accompanied them to the Pyramid of Djoser, where they successfully performed the ritual to protect Taimhotep's unborn child.

Trivia

• A cyan hippopotamus statuette can be found in the shady merchant's hidden room. This may be a reference to William the Faience Hippopotamus.

Gallery

• 
  Bayek finding a weeping Taimhotep
• 
  Bayek trying to console Taimhotep
• 
  Mara leading Bayek away
• 
  Mara guiding Bayek on the ritual items
• 
  Bayek finding the shop
• 
  Bayek investigating several broken jars
• 
  Bayek finding an opening
• 
  Bayek ambushed by bandits
• 
  Bayek speaking to Taimhotep at the meeting point
• 
  Bandits ambushing Bayek and the women
• 
  Bayek, Mara and Taimhotep reaching the site
• 
  Mara and Taimhotep at the ritual site
• 
  Mara performing the ritual
• 
  Bayek looking at his Medjay prayer book

References

• Assassin's Creed: Origins