Episode 9.2.a
>Villa of Septimus, Southwest of Londinium, Britannia, 81 CE<
Someone knocks at the door.
Septimus goes tense. "Hide," he breathes. "Quickly."
From the storeroom you can hear him at the door. There is a pause, and then his voice comes back through the house, loud and astonished.
"Mehercle! Come out, Recentii! Come out!"
At the door, beside Septimus, stands Tiberius Caecilius Iucundus. He is taller than you remember, and older in the face, but it is Tiberius past any doubt.
"Recentii!" he says. "How long it has been! When I came to Salvius's villa, the whole household was shouting about runaway slaves, and when they described them to me I could not believe it at first. But every detail fit, and then I knew. It was you. I have come to bring you back to Salvius's villa and put this whole business right.
"And I have so much to tell you. I thought I would never see you again, and that grieved me, because in Egypt I found something that can only belong to that Lapis you were hunting. A sheet of papyrus, written over with strange signs. I will show you when we are back at Salvius's.
"But first, tell me something. I am new to Britannia, and I do not think Salvius is being honest with me about how things stand here. What do you know of Roman affairs in this province?"
Prompt: Tell Tiberius about the political and military situation in Britannia. Consider the governor Agricola's campaigns in the north, the client kings, and why a man like Salvius would be nervous.
