Pompeii, 79 AD: Sallyann Fellowes Is Trying to Get Killed

Pompeii, 21 August 79 AD: three days before Vesuvius erupts, comedian Sallyann Fellowes is back for a Death Wish Speed Run, where the goal is to lose fast. The rules are simple: forget the mission and get yourself killed as quickly and stylishly as possible. The Game Master is on hard mode and hands Sallyann a job anyway. A banker in the forum has seen her count money faster than his own clerk, and he needs her to find 8,000 sesterces that vanished from a dead wine merchant's estate auction before he has to pay the heirs in front of a magistrate. There are three suspects, a three-day clock, and one piece of knowledge nobody else in town has: the mountain is about to go. Sallyann plays a time traveller called Roberto, whose declared talents are spotting a liar at a glance and counting very, very quickly. Her interrogation style owes less to Poirot than to a pub car park at closing time, which is either the perfect way to lose fast or a very strange way to crack a case. In 79 AD Pompeii was a prosperous Roman town of around 11,000 people on the Bay of Naples, rich on wine, wool and garum, still patching up the damage from the earthquake of 62 AD, and hardly anyone thought of Vesuvius as a volcano. The eruption buried Pompeii and neighbouring Herculaneum under pumice and ash, and killed Pliny the Elder, who had sailed the Roman fleet out from Misenum to help. His nephew Pliny the Younger watched from across the bay and wrote the only eyewitness account that survives, dating it to 24 August, though a charcoal inscription found in 2018 has archaeologists arguing for October. Three days is a long time to stay alive when you are trying not to. CHAPTERS 00:00 Sallyann Fellowes is back 00:36 The Death Wish Speed Run rules 02:28 Choosing Pompeii 05:26 Pompeii, summer of 79 AD 06:43 A banker's missing fortune 08:40 Hunting the thief 19:02 What was a Roman fuller? 21:02 Three days until Vesuvius 31:36 Scoring the Death Wish Speed Run 38:54 Visiting Pompeii today -- Get in touch with us: 👉 Instagram:   / pastmasterpod   👉 Twitter:   / pastmasterai   👉 TikTok:   / pastmasterai   👉 Gmail: pastmasterpod@gmail.com Sign up for our newsletter 👉 https://pastmasterpod.com #pastmaster #althistory #chooseyourownadventure #podcast #timetravel #comedypodcast #RPGGames #ChooseYourAdventure #AlternativeHistory #ArtificialIntelligence