After introductions, Huang Zhong dismissed the Warriors back to training, which they reluctantly did. The senior Heroes also dispersed after Andrew and Kai looked at them with mouths agape, Dom couldn't wait until they met some of his Generals who were currently on the edges of the Kingdom. The Military Heroes heading towards the Town Centre to continue discussions and planning for the Battle of Mycale, with the meeting organised for later in the day when all of those required had arrived.
Dom decided to take Andrew and Kai on a small tour, whilst the ships disembarked their goods, before catching up with Crassus, Andrew and Kai to go through the purchases at Helike and to see what they had brought with them from their travels.
Xun Yu joined them on the tour, one of Dom's closest friends from the characters within the game. Andrew wasn't aware of who Xun Yu was, but Kai was delighted to speak with the young version of a key member of the Three Kingdoms period. The two of them both walked around with their mouths agape as Dom showed them the different Warriors Halls and explained how they worked, whilst the Workshop and Shipyards were also very impressive.
Andrew was very interested in the Blacksmiths, and was excited to see if he could get a sword created for him by a Ou Yezi, especially after Dom drew his Zhan Lu and let Andrew have a feel of it.
"Do you have any other Legendary Weapons?" Andrew asked Dom with a serious expression as they left the blacksmiths area and headed towards the opposite side of Riverside where the Shipyard was based.
"I do, but I can't give you one." Dom explained whilst Andrew looked back at him with a raised eyebrow. "I only have my sword and my Slaying Spear."
"A Slaying Spear?" Andrew asked him, not being a big fan of Spears himself.
"She's called the Rhongomyniad and is King Arthur's spear." Dom explained, as Andrew's mouth dropped at the explanation, he hadn't heard of the Rhongomyniad, but he definitely knew who King Arthur was.
"He also has the Harpe, a legendary Greek Sword, but his wife Lady Sun wields that currently." Xun Yu added with a cheeky smile, grateful that Dom had included him in this small trip around Riverside with his friends. They were only escorted by Dom's guard which made Andrew and Kai slightly uncomfortable at first at the size of the giant Batavi's, but they were now used to it.
"You chose your wife over your best friend?" Andrew said in fake hurt, whilst Kai rolled his eyes and asked Xun Yu some questions about the layout of the City, hoping to give his brother some advice when he spoke to him next in the real world.
After arriving at the Shipyard, they watched as Himilco and his teams finished the light upgrades to the Sibylla, with two other ships currently being built. Andrew rubbed his hands against the side of one of the newly built Trireme that was around sixty percent complete with intrigue.
"You need to decide what you want to do now you are here." Dom laughed, "I'll tell you about it all later, but there are many different fronts if you want to be involved in the battles or you can stay here and get involved with some of the management."
"I'd like to learn more from Crassus and help with the trade." Kai stated as he watched on from the side, whilst Andrew looked in deep thought.
"I thought we would be going of to battle together, but it seems the roles are very different than I expected." Andrew replied as he continued to stroke the fresh silver wood on the side of the ship. "How many ships do you have building at once?"
"We have three shipyards with different levels of output." Himilco commented from beside Kai, a new character for them both to get used to, but they felt comfortable around the people within the City that Dom had built. "There are different fleets with different needs, whilst our output is good, we struggle with crew's to fill them, which is why we are keeping space for upgrades as they come through."
"Have you brought any modern ideas forwards for the upgrades?" Kai asked, whilst Himilco listened on in silence, he looked at Dom with keen eyes.
"I hadn't Kai, I was hoping you could help with that." Dom replied honestly, he felt he was good with his people, strategy and military skills. Andrew was better than him fighting, whilst Kai was much more intelligent.
"I will do some research later and see what I can come up with." Kai explained, before turning to Himilco. "What access to materials do we have?"
"We have multiple mines as well as the lumber yards, a lot of the materials are new to me. We have the Silver Wood from the Silver Forest, Red Wood from the Red Woods and many different materials from the mines." Himilco explained, his experience in ship building and not the other aspects of the Kingdom. He turned to Xun Yu for some support.
"Ou Yezi has a good understanding of the metals and their different nuances, however we do have a group of Elite Villagers who are a combination of Philosophers and Experts in their fields. It may be worth inviting you to meet them when they are back together." Xun Yu commented, which Kai seemed excited to be involved in.
"You will like them Kai, there are some very interesting people there." Dom smiled at him.
"I can't wait!" He exclaimed, his thoughts of having to work hard on creating trade routes and building up an economy for Dom now disappearing as other ideas came to his mind.
"Can you tell me about your other battle fronts?" Andrew asked, turning the conversation back round to him.
After leaving the Shipyard, a runner came from the Palace to inform them that Subutai was ready for them to discuss the upcoming Battle of Mycale. Dom explained that they would have to discuss their purchases afterwards.
.....
Dom entered the hall of the Palace, with Andrew and Kai whose mouths were still wide in surprise at everything they saw as they travelled, especially at the quality of the Palace and it's extremely high ceiling in the hall. Xun Yu came with them as well, not originally invited to the meeting but deciding to attend so he could support Xun You with any logistics for the next important Battle for the Lazarus Kingdom.
Dom headed towards the top of the table, and noticed that there wasn't space there for his friends, with Subutai subtly creating space in the middle between the Heroes and the Centurions. Andrew and Kai didn't seem to mind as they took the seats, their eyes to excited to see the room full of powerful looking Warriors.
Dom sat at the top of the table, with Subutai and Xun You on each side of him. Space was made for Xun Yu to sit beside his relative, whilst Zhou Yu was beside Subutai. Crassus had also been invited and was sat near them, with Gan Ning, Ling Tong, Sun Ce and Artemisia. Dom wasn't sure when Artemisia had arrived throughout all of the chaos of the day, but was glad to see she was here and her knowledge would be key.
There was also a large number of Centurions, including the Hoplite Centurions of Alexander and Philip. As well as the Legionary Centurions of Octavian and Septimius. Centurions Meng Ai of the Wudang, Balius of the Slingers, Hector of the Titanaconda unit, Chariovalda and Actumerus of the Batavi Warriors and Guards. The final two Centurions were Cato of the Bellona and Elon who would temporarily captain the Sibylla.
Thucydides was also there, his knowledge of the aftermath of this stage of history key. There was also a selection of key Hoplite and Spartans in the room, including Leonidas, Cleombrotus, Gregorios and Trojan that Dom had spent a lot of time with a different stages. There was also some other's who introduced themselves, Cleon, Haemon, Deimos, Maron and Alpheus.
Andrew and Kai sat amongst them all, wondering what preparation had gone in to the battle and how they could be involved. Kai had decided that he would not fight if he could avoid it, and was happy to see that Dom had plenty of Warriors at his disposal.
"Welcome all, thank you for all coming, especially those that have been on the edges of our growing Kingdom." Dom began, with the Spartans, Hoplite and Centurions banging their chests with their right fist as a salute to their leader. "I will hand over the meeting to Xun You as our chief strategist."
"Thank you Lord Lazarus, firstly, welcome our new friends in Andrew and Kai. I look forward to speaking with you both later to see how you can fit in to our Military. Lord Lazarus has been high of praise of you both and I look forward to seeing how you perform." Xun You began, with Andrew and Kai keeping themselves quite. The realism of the game felt the same to them as it did Dom and they fully tried to play the game in the roles that they had. "Lord Lazarus, are we aware if we can take both the Bellona and the Sibylla yet?"
"Now that Andrew and Kai have arrived, I will check." Dom replied, "System, can Andrew take the Sibylla as a separate Mercenary group that is under contract with Riverside?"
[Yes, Mercenary and Merchant Guilds can attach themselves to Kingdoms, but still be involved in Quests.]
"Yes we can." Dom explained, whilst thinking more on what they had said. Dom wondered if they could set up a separate Merchant Guild for Kai, or if there wasn't much point in having Andrew as a Mercenary Guild and just fully enrolling him and his men in to his forces after the battle. He also had a sudden thought on the long term impacts on this and realised that non Lord Players could have a much bigger impact on the Lord vs Lord landscape in the future.
"Great, then that makes this all much simpler. The Bellona and Sibylla have been upgraded with Ballista, reinforced rams and reinforced shields upon their decks. Both ships have space for a Titanaconda unit as well, which we have multiple thoughts on how to effectively use." Xun You explained, as Andrew thought back to the giant snakes he had seen earlier when they had been racing against the Bellona. "The Bellona will be the flagship with General Gan Ning in command, whilst the Sibylla will be temporarily leant to our new arrivals, but Lady Artemisia will be in overall command of that ship as it is hers. General Ling Tong will support Lady Artemisia onboard, whilst Lord Lazarus will support General Gan Ning. Are there any questions before I move on?"
Dom looked towards his two friends, who both just nodded that they were happy with everything that had been said so far, Artemisia seemed to already know her role and was glad to see that she would still be in charge of her ship, which she was reluctantly taking. Dom understood why Gan Ning was in overall command and was happy to deputise for his friend, who had much more experience.
"I will also be in attendance, but I believe that Lady Artemisia will be our face whilst I will be onsite for any quick changes that are needed due to any deviance from the original plan." Zhou Yu commented as Xun You nodded towards him to begin talking. "Thucydides will explain how the battle happened based on his knowledge, and then we will discuss how this can change with the impact of ourselves and others that will be in attendance. The knowledge from our Greeks in the room will also be key and I hope that together we can outline a plan with multiple routes before we leave this room today."