Episode 3.1.a
>Caecilius's Villa, Pompeii, Italy, 79 CE<
The tablīnum smells of fresh wax and lamp oil. Caecilius is at his desk with a slave beside him, dictating steadily, and the slave's stylus moves across the tablet with the practiced speed of someone who has done this every morning for years. Neither of them looks up when you come in, but Caecilius raises one finger: wait.
He finishes his sentence, sits back, and nods the slave out of the room.
"Salvius," he says, by way of explanation, gesturing at the tablet. "is my brother-in-law. He is stationed in Britain, which is wet and cold and very far away, and he writes to me asking for news of Italy. So I send him some." He sets down his own stylus and folds his hands. "Today there is real news to send. The emperor has died recently."
He says it plainly, the way he would say that a cargo ship had come in late: a fact to be noted and accounted for.
"Vespasian ruled for ten years. A soldier's emperor, steady, not given to drama. His son Titus has the throne now." He pauses, weighing something. "A new emperor is always a question worth asking. I am asking it."
He looks at you as if you might have something useful to contribute.
Prompt: The Demiurge wants to gauge what Caecilius knows, and whether he has any connection to the people hunting the Lapis. Find out as much as you can about the Emperor Titus. Note: Caecilius is more forthcoming when he thinks you already understand the basics, including who Titus's father was and what kind of man Vespasian was.
