The Drachmae of Romance was a virtual representation of one of Kassandra's genetic memories, relived by Layla Hassan through the Portable Animus HR-8.5.
Description[]
Kassandra was drawn to a conflict between Makar and Lelex, along with Herodotos at the Sanctuary of Olympia in Elis, Greece.
Dialogue[]
Behind the Temple of Zeus, outside near its balcony, Kassandra overhears two men in an altercation, with Herodotos trying to mediate.
- Lelex: I never believed even you could sink so low.
- Makar: Don't act pious with me. I should break your neck for this.
- Lelex: That's right. Show your true colors. You Dorians are nothing but thugs.
- Makar: Why you Ionian...
- Herodotos: Please, stay calm. Remember the truce!
Kassandra approached them.
- Herodotos: Kassandra please, if these fools break the truce...
- Lelex: Thief!
- Makar: You're one to talk, you double-dealing dog.
- Kassandra: If you don't stop, I'll kill you both to preserve the truce.
They both stopped silent.
- Kassandra: Now if someone can tell me what's going on...
They went back to shouting at each other.
- Makar: This dishonorable cur stole from me.
- Lelex: You call me a thief? You're the thief!
Kassandra interrupting the two men
Kassandra interrupts them.
- Kassandra: Enough. I'll ask the questions.
(If players choose "What's going on, Herodotos?")
- Kassandra: Herodotos, what's all this about?
- Lelex: This scum robbed me!
- Makar: Scum! I'm from an honorable family. Only a lowly Ionian would steal.
- Kassandra: I said Herodotos!
- Herodotos: Er, yes. It seems both their treasuries were breached, and their valuables stolen.
(If players choose "Why are you accusing each other?")
- Kassandra: If there's been a theft, why do you suspect each other?
- Lelex: Because this...
Herodotos quickly interrupts.
- Herodotos: It's a matter of blood. Makar is from an eminent Dorian line. Mighty warriors, but rather austere...
- Herodotos: While Lelex is from Ionian stock, a grand tradition of artists and philosophers—
- Makar: You mean philanderers.
- Kassandra: Both sides are important.
- Makar: Spoken like a true Ionian.
(If players choose "You must honor the truce.")
- Kassandra: It seems unlikely they would rob each other at the same time.
- Herodotos: You have to find out who stole their drachmae. I can't believe they would do this to each other. Whatever their issues, they've always respected the Olympic truce.
- Kassandra: I'll find out what happened and protect the truce.
- Lelex: If you prove it's Makar, I will reward you well.
- Makar: As will I, if you bring me evidence of Lelex's double dealing.
- Kassandra: And what if it's neither of you?
- Herodotos: Then they will both reward you.
Lelex and Makar looked at each other.
- Lelex: Very well.
- Makar: Agreed.
Kassandra returns.
- Herodotos: Please, if the mystery of who robbed Lelex and Makar isn't solved, I fear there will be bloodshed.
Kassandra left north of Olympia to the Treasuries. She approached an open vault with a guard anxiously walking back and forth. She talked to him.
- Kassandra: Did you see anything?
The guard speaks nervously.
- Greek Soldier: No, nope, not nothing. Far less than anything.
She moves in closer.
- Kassandra: So you saw something.
Kassandra speaking to the guard
- Greek Soldier: Well, only if you count torches. But they crept up on me, they did. Must've been at least thirty of them.
Kassandra replies sarcastically.
- Kassandra: Torches crept up on you? If there were thirty of them, why isn't the ground stomped flat?
- Greek Soldier: Er... doeskin sandals, very soft. Don't leave a trace. Anyway, hard to tell how many, as I was unconscious.
She glares at him.
Kassandra becomes assertive.
- Kassandra: Tell me the truth, or I'll beat it out of you. Are you the thief?
The guard becomes scared.
- Greek Soldier: No, please. Look, it wasn't me. I fell asleep—didn't see anything apart from the torches.
Kassandra pretends to be friendly.
- Kassandra: It's all right if you ran. Fear can change a man.
- Greek Soldier: I wasn't afraid, I was asleep... Oh, I mean...
- Kassandra: I won't tell, but did you see anything?
- Greek Soldier: No... Except...
- Kassandra: Yes?
- Greek Soldier: Some torches, heading east.
- Kassandra: And you didn't investigate?
- Greek Soldier: I didn't want to leave my post.
She is baffled.
- Kassandra: But you'd already been robbed!
- Greek Soldier: If I deserted my post, I'd be charged with dereliction of duty.
Kassandra shakes her head.
- Kassandra: Then I'll let you get back to work.
She approaches the open vault and examines the doors.
- Kassandra: These crypts have been opened. There's no sign of forced entry.
Kassandra moves away and looks around, then she spots a tablet beside the vault on the ground in front of a tree and read it.
- Kassandra: Hmm, a note. "Take all that you can carry, and meet me at the ruins where we first consummated our love. Soon we will be free."
She left the area and concludes to herself:
- Kassandra: I've heard talk of ruins outside the city, and from what the guard said, the torches were heading in that direction.
Kassandra called Phobos and rode east of Olympia to an old, ruined house surrounded by rocky cliffs and slopes of the mountain. She scouted with Ikaros and found them.
- Kassandra: I found the thief.
Kassandra finding the thieves
She climbed to an opening underneath, then entered the next room where the thieves are. Both man and woman, talking and holding each other's hands, were unaware of Kassandra until she approached them.
- Kassandra: So, thieves, I finally catch you.
The woman speaks apprehensively.
- Laneira: Please, we're not thieves.
Kassandra moves in closer and points at them.
- Kassandra: Yet here you are with stolen goods.
The man puts his hands up defensively.
- Menon: You don't understand, this is rightfully ours. It's our inheritance.
(If players choose "What do you mean, inheritance?") Kassandra briefly looks at the chest nearby.
- Kassandra: How can this all be yours?
- Menon: It belongs to our families—by blood it's rightfully ours.
(If players choose "Why did you take it?")
- Kassandra: If it's already yours, why not wait? Why steal everything now?
- Laneira: We wanted a new life. One where we could be free, and our love doesn't have to hide in the shadows.
(If players choose "Tell me who you are.")
- Kassandra: Who are you, exactly?
Makar and Lelex joins in.
- Makar: They are my daughter and his son!
The woman is surprised.
- Laneira: Pater!
Lelex moves closer from behind, addressing his son who is also surprised.
- Lelex: This is how you repay me for raising you? By running off with some woman squirted from my enemy's loins?!
- Kassandra: Why not put aside your feud, as your children have done?
Kassandra remarks on the situation.
- Kassandra: This robbery has brought you together. Lelex, Makar, you worked together to find out what happened to your drachmae.
- Makar: Actually, the guard told us.
- Lelex: And his family stole my money.
- Makar: As yours did mine.
Kassandra briefly pinches the bridge of her nose.
- Kassandra: But think how much you could achieve working together.
- Makar: You're a misthios. Carry out your duty and kill the thieves. I will pay you handsomely.
- Laneira: Pater, no!
- Lelex: I agree. I will match Makar's price on this. Do what you were hired to do.
Both Laneira and Menon moved back a little. Kassandra asks the men in disbelief.
- Kassandra: You would kill your own son and daughter?
Makar chuckled and asks Kassandra impatiently.
- Makar: We have other children. Now, are you a misthios or not?
Kassandra moves closer. They moved back, afraid.
- Kassandra: I will not slaughter innocents. Your families would stand a better chance for the future without the both of you.
Lelex and Makar dead
They hurriedly looked for something to use as a weapon, but she dispatches them quickly. A moment later, she sheathes her weapons and appear to mull over their deaths.
- Laneira: I didn't want it to come to this, but now we can forge a new future for our two families—one built on love.
The man and woman moved and hold each other close, looking at each other's eyes.
- Kassandra: I wish you luck with that...
Kassandra resigns.
- Kassandra: A contract's a contract.
The couple accepts their fate as Kassandra executes them. After a moment of silence:
- Makar: Good, the matter is settled.
Lelex appears remorseful.
- Lelex: I wish [there] could have been another way.
- Makar: There wasn't.
Kassandra clenches her fists while they look at their son and daughter's corpses for the final time.
- Kassandra: This blood is on your hands, not mine. May the gods forgive me.
Makar nonchalantly gives Kassandra her reward.
- Makar: The gods don't care what we do. Here, take your drachmae. It was well earned.
Outcome[]
Kassandra found the thieves, and resolved the matter.
Gallery[]
