Some time ago Eirik and I arrived in Pompeii, after a four year journey that had led us through Britannia, Gaul, parts of southern Germania, and finally into the Empire itself as we were following the traces of Eirik's son, ▶ Olaf, who went missing, abducted straight out of his village way up in the northern outskirts of Germania. We learned that he was sold off as a slave, so we hurried after him.

When we finally reached Pompeii we were in good spirits since we had reliable information that the youth was actually living there. We paid a visit to the local slave dealer, ▶ Sextus, who - despite our misgivings - turned out to be a kind and reasonable man; moreover he turned out to be the lover of Olaf's current master.

Life had treated Eirik's son comparably gently, his former masters hadn't been too rude, and his current owner, an aesthetic-minded young Greek by the name of ▶ Philandros, immediately set him free when he learned that members of Olaf's family were alive, since he'd grown very fond of him. A notion Olaf enthusiastically returns.

For us, Eirik and me in particular, it wasn't the happy reunion we had had in mind; on the very moment we finally laid eyes on his son we were arrested by Imperial soldiers and charged with treason. Of course we did no such thing. The Gods smiled on us, though, and sent us help in form of our long-time friend Idris.

His appearance was quite unexpected, yet thoroughly welcome as you can imagine. He took our captors down, and since that ill-fated day we're in hiding. First at Idris' small and rundown room next to a questionable dive at the harbour, until Philandros offered us shelter at his luxurious and spaceous town villa.

Hopefully our days as suspects will be over soon; I met a remarkable young Greek, ▶ Hylas, at the Triangular Forum, and it turned out he's working for a Sicilian, ▶ Felix, who happens to be an investigator, and quite a competent one at that. We were happy and relieved to learn that he was willing to take up our case, and since I've met the two of them I'm feeling quite confident again.

Much has happened since then, which I will describe in my new ledger which is stored in our ▶ Quarters at Rufio's Villa Rustica. Yes, we've also found Rufio - or he found me - or whatever.