| STORY DESCRIPTION Jamie Watson easily recognizes spam when he sees it. He is a game developer who has developed many great games. But sometimes persistence pays off and after several very directed texts, he says, "What the hell," and clicks on a spam link that asks him "Are you man enough to compete in The Roman Games?" He follows the strange instructions and gets pulled into the domain of The Roman Games. This isn't virtual reality, this is an alternate reality which exists in a six-sided Roman amphitheater. People choose how to participate in these games, but it is still them.
He chose Gladiator, but each wall of the arena features a banner for Bare Handed Combat, Group Combat, Battle of the Sexes, Foot Races, and Gladiators. The participants in all of the contests... or combats... fight or race naked. The losers in the Bare Handed Combats end up as stallions or fillies in the chariot races. If they are not worthy to pull the chariots, they are thrown to the Gladiators as spoils of combat. Any losing stallions or fillies in the chariot races sufferr the same fate. In Group Combat, if your group loses, the winning group has you as spoils for a wild night of sex and debauchery. The same is true in the Battle of the Sexes and the Foot Races. The Foot Races aren't like other races. Instead Foxes race around the track hoping to not be caught by the pursuing hounds. Wolves chase rabbits, cats chase mice, lions chase lambs, and... for the hound, wolf, cat, or lion that can't catch their prey, The Hunters chase them.
Since the Gladiators fight last, Jamie, called Jamano in the domain of the Roman Games, gets to watch everythng unfold. He is especially interested in one of the young women whom he recognizes as Wanda Morgan, a curvy blonde who lives in the same apartment complex as he does. Wanda is tall, blonde, blue-eyed, and curvy. She wins the women's division of Bare Handed Combat, but can't outlast Alphonso, the winner of the men's division so she ends up racing as a lead filly in the chariot races. In an almost impossible turn of events, Eduardo's chariot, whom she is racing for, goes all the way to the final race with the emperor. And then... well that would be a spoiler.
All throughout the combats, the bookie nookies roam the stands taking bets and arranging for a little side action in the slack times. That sounds weird or even creepy, but as Petro continually reminds Jamano, "This is an alternate reality. You can't get pregnant or pick up any diseases and tomorrow morning there is no headache and no walk of shame back into your apartment." That perhaps is the best description of why anyone would willingly become a part of this strange alternate reality. |
