Pompeii, 79 AD - 10:47 AM
The first tremor jolts you awake. Your wool-stuffed mattress shifts sideways on its wooden frame as the frescoed walls of your cubiculum crack. Through the thin linen curtain, you see Aelia—your wife of five years—already standing in the atrium, her saffron stola stained with olive oil from this morning's cooking. Her bare feet slap against the mosaic floor as she runs toward your room.
"Gaius! The mountain—"
Another quake. Terracotta oil lamps shatter. Your son Marcus (6) wails from the adjacent room, his voice competing with the groan of the villa's limestone walls. Ash begins falling through the compluvium opening—fat gray flakes that stick to Aelia's braided hair like diseased snow.
Volcano Status

  • Plume height: 15 miles (stratosphere reached)
  • Pyroclastic surge distance: 2.3 miles from your home
  • Ashfall rate: 6 inches/hour
  • Time until lava reaches threshold: 2h 53m
    You scramble into your tunica, the rough wool scratching your thighs. Through the shuddering house, you see Vesuvius through the courtyard—a monstrous black column blotting out the sun. The air reeks of sulfur and fear.
    Aelia grabs your arm, her nails drawing blood. "The children—"
    Family Status
  • Aelia (22): Panic Level 8/10, grip strength 42 psi
  • Marcus (6): Crying, respiratory rate 40 breaths/min (ash inhalation risk)
  • Livia (3): Silent shock, clinging to Aelia's stola
    You burst into the children's room. Little Livia sits motionless on her straw pallet, clutching a rag doll. Marcus hyperventilates at the entrance of the room. The ceiling creaks under accumulating ash—12 pounds per square foot and rising.
    "Gather provisions!" you bark, throwing open a cedar chest. Aelia stuffs a leather satchel with hard cheese and figs, hands trembling. Outside, the neighborhood erupts in chaos—screams in Oscan dialect, the crack of collapsing insulae, the guttural roar of the mountain.
    Environmental Hazards
  • Air temperature: 118°F (rising 3°F/minute)
  • Visibility: 27 feet (decreasing)
  • Structural integrity of home: 68%
    A burning pumice stone crashes through the roof, ignecting a tapestry. Marcus screams as flames lick his tunic. You beat out the fire with bare hands—second-degree burns on palms.
    "To the harbor!" you choke through ash-clogged air. But as you reach the threshold, the street confronts you:
    A neighbor's corpse lies half-buried under rubble, his face frozen in a rictus. Pack mules stampede past, intestines trailing from a ruptured belly. From the north, a wall of superheated gas rolls toward Pompeii—600°F death moving at 70 mph.
    Aelia vomits bile. "We'll never outrun it."
    Livia chooses this moment to speak her first sentence: "Pretty fire."
    Time Remaining
  • Pyroclastic surge ETA: 8 minutes
  • Lava flow ETA: 2h 41m
    What do you do?
  1. Flee south toward Herculaneum (open road but longer exposure)
  2. Shelter in the hypocaust (limited oxygen)
  3. Run for the Villa of Mysteries (stone structure 0.4 miles east)
  4. [Write-in action]
    (I'll continue the simulation once you choose. Every decision alters survival probabilities. The physics model tracks each family member's hydration, burns, and ash inhalation in real time. Want me to proceed?)
Edit

Pub: 21 Feb 2025 14:17 UTC

Edit: 21 Feb 2025 14:28 UTC

Views: 32