Spot the paragraph where Kallyr actually means what she says -
the one where she's not deliberately trying to mislead at least one member of the audience.
Hint: yes, "the" paragraph. Singular.
The first one. The one where she's giving orders to the troops. As far as I can tell, every other thing she says or
does in the entire plot is intended to mislead someone, in some way. So if you think her motivations and reasoning are a
bit odd in places, that's because she's lying about what they are.
"everyone knows that..." is, obviously, a code phrase, meaning "it's completely untrue that..."
What's the other code word here, and what does it mean?
"Careless". It means "got by your own side." As used in her comment on her own capture (which was Elusu's fault),
and several times about Rulf. Insterid got the reference, no-one else present did. And for extra marks, who, in an entirely different document, applied it to Euglyptus?
That's a King of Sartar reference: Denseros, writing CHDP. In 1613 (see, it was linked!):
"Euglyptus was shocked. He was also careless, and he was found dead of a surfeit of sugared eels.
The generals mourned his passing and welcomed the new general who came to command them."
Who else in real history got taken out by a roof-tile to the head?
Pyrrhus of Epirus (319-279 BC).
Major Greek hero, gave his name to the Pyrric Victory, and used Flaming Pigs in battle.
Conquered most of Greece, invaded Rome and won.
Hannibal, when asked who was the greatest general ever, put Pyrrhus in the top three.
But, while visiting a friend in Argos... "in the street fighting Pyrrhus was stunned by a tile hurled from a roof
by an Argive woman. While he was only partly conscious, one of Antigonus' men recognised him and killed him."
Fortunately Gemellus wasn't quite that decisive.
Spot the phrase that's a tribute to "The Widow's Tale"
"Waste of a good horse"
And the location that's a tribute to "Helden".
OK, this was pretty distant and vague. In "Helden", the hero and heroine spend the night in an abandoned stead.
He discovers afterwards that it used to be hers and her husband's, before she was widowed.
The stead this lot use as a base was Olava's, before she was widowed.
You do know the modern name for Tabula, don't you?
Backgammon. Played by the Romans, all the way through the Middle Ages,
and had the doubling cube introduced in 1920s America.
What were the two songs Elusu was singing?
"We like the moon" is a bit of Flash, linked to from Nick Brooke's Songbook.
Yes, it does worry me that Elusu apparently has Internet access!
The second one that got stopped in a hurry was
"Raise the tribes for Starbrow", by John Hughes.