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S.P.Q.R. - The Empire´s Darkest Hour
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
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
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 view "Just Hints" for subtle hints or view "Spoilers"
for a complete walkthrough for that section´s puzzles.
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.
Game Start
Just Hints
Sewer: Examine the machinery.
First room: If it´s broke, fix it!
Second room: Reading is fundamental.
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 thighbone 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.
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 of the timebar indicates
today´s date in ancient Roman reckoning: "a.d." stands for "ante
diem," or days before; "Kal." stands for Kalends, the first day of
the month; "Non." stands for Nones, the 5th or 7th day of the
month; and "Id." stands for Ides, the 13th or 15th day of the
month. "Pridie" stands for the day before, i.e., the "eve" of the
Kalends, Nones, or Ides of the month. Thus, for example, "a.d. XII
Kal. Aug." is 12 days before the 1st of August -- in other words,
you´re in July, but past the Ides (or middle) of July. Nearly all
of the places you have to visit to solve the puzzles will have
specific opening dates (e.g., the Regia sign says "Apertus XIV
Kal. Nov.", which is in October). Some dates will be indicated in
the scrolls or Acta. You cannot get inside the place to solve the
puzzle until on or after the specified date.
Calendar: The scroll just above the timebar brings up a visual
clue to where you´ll need to solve that month´s puzzle. There is
one major puzzle each month (in addition to many minor ones).
Press the button to the right to go forward and get a preview; the
one to the left moves backward.
Info. The nameplates contain the characters´ notebooks, containing
useful historical information about all aspects of ancient Rome,
as well as clues to some of the puzzles you´ll encounter as you go
along. To get a table of contents, click on the initial on the
bottom left of the notebook scroll. To move forward in the
scrolls, click on the right; backward, to the left. The "Exitus"
button exits the notebook. When a name is lit, click to read the
notebook entry; it may contain clues. You can read the notebooks
any time, even when the name isn´t lit.
Storage: Most of the non-scroll items you pick up (i.e., those not
to be used immediately) will be stored in one of the two cabinets
at the bottom left and right of the Navitor. The doors move down
to open and up to close.
Maps: The storage doors, when closed, have two maps. The one on
the left is architectural, and allows you to click on individual
buildings to see their layout. The one on the right is of the city
itself. The places you visit are marked with circles; a flashing
circle is where you´re at now. You can hyperjump from one place to
another by clicking on a circle near where you want to be. The
names of the places are indicated at the bottom of the map as your
cursor moves over them. Look for the turned-down edges indicating
that you can turn the page to see more maps. "Exitus" exits.
Compass: Bottom right. For use in conjunction with the city map.
Shows you which way you´re facing.
Acta Diurna: Bottom left. Dated official mouthpiece of the
Emperor; flashes when there´s a new one. Can contain clues and
indications as to when an important festival will be or when and
where a crime you need to "investigate" was committed. Can be read
anytime, even when not flashing, and you can go backward and
forward (click "Retro" for backward; click on the right to go
forward) but you cannot go into the future. Some Acta go beyond
one page -- look for a "Cont." button. "Exitus" to exit.
Scrolls: Each character´s dated scrolls are stored on the
five-slot shelf below the viewer. (See January for where to find
all five.) A new scroll is indicated when it unfurls; click on it
to read it. You can read scrolls even when they´re furled; click,
and the most recent one appears. 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.
January
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.
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.
February
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.)
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.
March
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!
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 backdoor 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.
April
Just Hints
Play the ancient fiddler.
The right isn´t right, but be quick.
Patience is a virtue when you want to leave.
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".)
VERYQUICKLY 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.
May
Just Hints
What really weighs what -- and where?
Remember your multiplication tables.
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.)
June
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.
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.
July
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.
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.
August
Just Hints
Can cows swim?
I shot an arrow into the air, it fell to earth with a bang over
there.
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.
September
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.
Spoilers
1. Restart the Navitor.
The Kal. Sep. breakdown brings you back to Cornelius´s study.
Again, 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.
October
Just Hints
Spell it, outside and inside.
Who conquered what? (See Gordian´s Notebook.)
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.
November
Just Hints
Restarting the Navitor: See Cornelius´s sketch and go from Spring
to Winter.
The puzzle: Rebuild, and add your own touch.
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.
December
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.
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.
Endgame
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 . . .
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 Wine shop), 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 court yard. 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.
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.
Acknowledgments
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 lcantoni@msn.com. Thanks to those
who have already helped me avoid too much embarrassment.
Links To Citizens´ Sites
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, (www.techinter.com/~feaudrey/spqrcmpn.htm) 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
(cgi.pathfinder.com/@@sWRDEgcAK6luxzeD/cgi-bin/boards/read/76/85)
is an invaluable compendium, updated in installments, of Roman
history.
Make yourself at home in Rome with M. Didius Festus´s lovely
Domus, (plaza.interport.net/logomanc/domus/about.html) where you
can see how the ancient half lived.
The Women of Rome are celebrated in Livia Drusa´s
(www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/2116/) 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.
(langmuir.physics.uoguelph.ca/~freddy/)
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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