This article contains content from pre-release sources that may or may not be reflective of canon upon release. This article therefore likely contains spoilers.
When a violent storm whips up during a speech by Romulus, a handful of killers take advantage of the chaos to try to assassinate the monarch. Aided by the Witnesses, the King escapes, and leads them to the Temple of Uni, where Romulus intends to hide the Sword of Eden that the conspirators want to take from him along with the crown. There, the characters enter the underground hall of an Isutemple to face a supernatural and unexpected guardian, learning dark secrets and bitter truths.
Intro
After sabotaging the Priest of Uni's ritual, you find yourself at the Palus Caprae on Campus Martius, where the King is speaking to his troops. The city's most influential patricians are present—you think you recognize some of them from the temple. After a while, the clouds that had been stifling the seven hills over the past few days break into a sudden, violent storm above the parade ground. Everybody scatters for cover.
Key objectives
The Witnesses must protect Romulus and avoid getting killed themselves in the attempt. The heavy rain and mist make it difficult to fight back the killers, as well as covering their escape.
Amidst the chaos, killers wearing dark tunics and bronze masks emerge from the mist, armed with bows and daggers. Their target is clearly Romulus. They approach menacingly, bowstrings taut. It looks like your actions at the temple were not enough to stamp out this conspiracy. The King of Rome is in danger!
Challenges
Arrows of Uni: Hissing arrows fly through the mist. All Witnesses must make a Reaction check to avoid being injured. It is necessary to make at least 2 Approach checks with 1 Raise to eliminate the Archers.
Daggers of Uni: The killers—armed with short, vicious blades—are set on targeting Romulus, but everybody in their way instantly becomes a target. Defeating the Daggers of Uni requires at least 3 separate Approach checks.
Weaknesses
Protect the King! (minor): There are still a number of loyal guards nearby, and a Witness might leave the combat to muster a handful to the King's side, turning the tide of battle in his favor. In this case, only 2 Approach checks are required to defeat the Daggers of Uni Challenge, and the Approach checks made to overcome the Arrows of Uni Challenge require no Raise.
The Cultists of Uni want to end Romulus' reign and seize the Sword of Mars. By now, it is clear that they have poisoned the minds of many patricians and senators, and the King has no choice than to take drastic action: Romulus leads the Witnesses to a mysterious underground temple beneath the Temple of Laran. Beyond a secret door known only to him is an Isu Vault hidden dozens of feet below the surface. However, neither the Witnesses nor the King of Rome know that a fierce beast lurks in the shadows of the vault, waiting for them.
The wind dies down and the mist clears, allowing you to see a few feet further than you did moments before. The rain, for its part, shows no sign of abating, your path now a veritable quagmire. Following you should at least prove impossible. The small steps of the Temple of Laran appear before you once again, leading to welcome shelter. Inside, the abandoned bronze masks still lie on the cold ground, as does the body of the Priest of Uni.
Under your questioning gaze, Romulus advances with a decisive step towards a wall, feeling it with his left hand until he locates a particular carving. Sighing, the King draws his sword, inserting its pommel into the carving. With a resounding "click", geometric lines glow an intense yellow, a loud noise of grinding stone echoes through the temple and a secret door opens diagonally in the wall. What lies beyond is alien to Roman technology in every way. The King of Rome enters the dark, smooth tunnel behind the door and descends into the Earth's belly, down to an immense circular hall beneath a 25-foot-high dome. Perfectly square monoliths rise around the hall's perimeter, each bearing indecipherable geometric shapes and glimmering with a soft bluish glow.
Before you have taken in what you are witnessing, a terrible growl breaks the air. Two glowing yellow eyes blink open. A massive, snarling shape darts toward you, swift and lethal as a predator.
Challenges
Face the Fury: The creature that attacks the Witnesses is so fast that they fail to give it a good look, before they react instinctively and try to dodge its furious attacks. On a failure, a Witness automatically triggers the Brutal Combat Setback.
Howl of Terror: The creature lets loose a deafening howl that threatens to burst the Witnesses' eardrums.
Weaknesses
Animal Companion (minor): If a Witness has the Animal Companion Skill active, their faithful friend warns them of the ambush just before it's too late. In this case, a Witness has 1 Free Raise when facing the Face the Fury Challenge and does not automatically trigger the Brutal Combat Setback on a failure.
After the confusion of the initial attack, the Witnesses finally see what confronts them: a humanoid creature about 10 feet tall, with a massive, sinewy structure covered by dark, shaggy fur and tatters of ancient clothes. The beast's huge hands end in tremendous claws, and the head resembles that of a giant wolf with glowing yellow eyes.
The air quivers with an eerie silence as you confront this beast that straddles the realms of myth and reality. The monstrous being, a grotesque hybrid of man and wolf, clenches its claws, ready to rend and tear once again. However, it stands still for a moment to let you look at its figure. And so you do, and your eyes stare at that beast long enough to understand it's not just a bad dream. No, you just stumbled upon one of the terrors from Etruscan and Latin legend: the dreaded Versipellis, commonly known as a werewolf.
Challenges
Mighty Foe: The Versipellis is a formidable adversary, able to quickly regenerate its wounds. Defeating it requires at least 3 separate Approach checks with 1 Raise. Also, if a Witness fails this Challenge, they automatically trigger the Brutal Combat Setback.
Lethal Blow: Once the Mighty Foe Challenges have been completed, it is time to inflict the coup de grace. This requires at least 2 separate Approach checks.
Weaknesses
Once Were Brothers (major): The monster is actually Remus, the twin brother of the King. After a few moments of horrified stupor Romulus recognizes him, and he and the Witnesses can try to snap him out of his beastly curse. In this case, the Witnesses immediately achieve the Defeat the Guardian Key Objective.
Debrief
"All these years... enough! Mars! I refuse your gift! I renounce my revenge! I renounce hatred! I renounce this corrupt existence. As I finally take my last steps toward Avernus." The voice of Remus echoes in the hall as the monster calls for surrender and falls to his knees. The creature collapses heavily on the ground. As if a ritual or a curse were breaking, his unnatural eyes change to a warm hazel color, while its feral limbs slowly return to those of a young man. A thin line of blood trickles slowly from the fallen body towards the Witnesses' feet. As the Simulation starts to fade out, you can see the Witnesses picking up the body of Remus, setting him on the altar at the center of the hall, before placing the Sword of Eden back in his arms.
Notable NPCs
Remus
Born alongside his twin brother Romulus, Remus shares a mysterious origin story shrouded in myth. In life, Remus had an undisciplined spirit, constantly challenging the status quo and questioning authority, and a deep sense of justice and a burning desire for equality, all traits that later inspired the remorseful Romulus during his reign and eventually led him to found the Shields of Mars.
Supplementary material
In this Sequence, Romulus is a key character in the storyline related to the Piece of Eden that the Descendants are investigating. He is also an available Witness of the Roman Kingdom Time Frame. If a Player selected Romulus as the Witness for their Descendant, the Reader can make them aware of the following information whenever they deem it appropriate (the Reader can also decide to impart this information to the Players in another way they see fit).
The vault beneath the Laran Temple is where, thirty-six years earlier, the Isu Mars personified in front of the twin brothers Romulus and Remus and gave them his Sword of Eden. The two young men argued over who should bear the weapon, and their discussion quickly turned to blood, Romulus eventually stabbing his brother with the Sword of Mars.
Romulus fled from the temple with the weapon and never returned. He used its powers to conquer and build. However, he never knew that the Isu Mars manifested again to his dying brother, offering him an Atlantis Artifact, a gift that would save his mortal life, at the cost of diminishing his free will and turning him into a Versipellis, an immortal wolf man with superhuman strength.
The cursed Remus is the Guardian of key objectives 2 and 3, still under the influence of the Atlantis Artifact. However, if the Reader wants to connect this Simulation to the Champions of Eden Storyline (see page 86), the Isu gift to the dying Remus could instead be the Ring of Moon Piece of Eden (see page 173, the Animi Network Card deck or the Assassin's Creed RPG App).
In this scene, the players identify the Shard of Eden they have seen while participating in the World War II Simulation Sequence as the pommel of Romulus' sword, which he uses as a key to open the door to the Isu Vault.
