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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BoldItalic" data-source="post: 7358369" data-attributes="member: 6777052">They appeared to be heading straight for none other than…. Herculaneum. It seemed a prosperous Roman town, nestling under a nearby mountain and with streets leading down to a bustling seafront. It was breakfast time when they moored in the harbour, and the aroma of freshly-baked bread filled the air.The DM called for a History check, but didn't explain why.Jeli cast Detect Date and Time and came up with 24[sup]th[/sup] August AD 79. For some reason that seemed significant but she couldn't remember why and none of the others could solve the mystery so they forgot about it. There were more pressing matters to attend to."You are my accompaniment tutti al fresco," announced the Inspector as they set off in the ships' boat towards an imposing looking building on the seafront. There they met a tax collector who, fortunately spoke fluent common. Herewulf had the impression that the Collector seemed to know them, or at least to know of them, but he couldn't think how that could possibly be. It wasn't a good day for Insight rolls.Setting aside her broad-brimmed hat and fan, the tax collector pulled out an impressive-looking scroll and unrolled it. "You are assessed at one million sesterces," she announced with satisfaction. "You have 24 hours to pay, or you will all go to the circus.""Sesterces are copper pieces, aren't they?" wondered Sam. "That's about 25 cart-loads you're asking for. Do you accept gold instead? How about ten thousand aureii?"Char-Ging, for it was as you might have already guessed, none other than she, was taken aback at the casual way that Sam spoke of such huge sums of money. These were impossible amounts. They weren't supposed to be able to pay, they were supposed to be sold into slavery because they couldn't pay. Slaves were useful. All you could do with a cartload of money was hope it wouldn't get stolen. These people weren't playing the game."Very well, twelve thousand aureii of recent coinage bearing the head of the emperor Nero, bless his recent memory. By tomorrow." decided Char-Ging. She secretly knew that Nero had only minted seven thousand altogether so they couldn't possibly come up with them. She gloated inwardly. It was all going her way, this time."We can do that, certainly," agreed Sam. "Shall we bring it here in a hand-cart?""Yes, that will be acceptable. There is, of course, a tax on the use of hand-carts." There was just the slightest of quavers in Char-Ging's voice now. This diminutive pirate seemed so very sure of herself. Still, she thought to herself, if they do somehow come up with the money, we can always ask for more."Sam," asked Od after they had left the building, "What exactly do you have in mind? You know we've hidden all the gold and it wasn't roman coins anyway.""I've remembered what day it is. Around lunchtime, Mount Vesuvius over there is going to explode and bury the next town in ash. People here will panic and we can offer a few dozen of the richest ones safe passage out of the area on the Phase Rider, at a suitably exorbitant price thus making a handsome profit. By tomorrow the tax office won't be functioning and, with any luck, that tax collector will have died horribly inside it.""Are you sure about this?" asked Herewulf, "It seems so peaceful here. Shouldn't we warn the townspeople?""if you like, but they won't believe you.""About lunch time, you say? We've just got time to ...."</blockquote>

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