"It would be an honour!" Ling Tong replied, excited at the option to prove himself after missing the Battle at the Infinity Plains. Sun Ce nodded towards Ling Tong in agreement, happy for the young warrior and son of his friend to get this opportunity.
"Very well, Centurion Phillip and Centurion Trojan will lead the Plataea detachment if a ship or two can be purchased. General Ling Tong will be in charge, with Spartans Alpheus and Maron as the guides and negotiators." Dom declared after speaking with Xun You and Zhou Yu. "You will also be provided with gold, with the target to bribe Hoplite from both sides, Pausanias and any other Generals or Commanders you plan. You are not to engage in Battle and this is a fully democratic mission."
"Do you mind if I go as well?" Andrew asked politely, "I want to see if there are any other opportunities that we could potentially jump on. I have heard good things about the Immortals and we may learn a thing or two."
"You don't need to make excuses Andrew, of course you can go!" Dom replied, understanding why his friend had asked, but knowing that Andrew would do what he wanted regardless. "In the past we have been able to bring families, promote that to them as well and see if it happens. There will also be a camp marching with both forces, see if we can sneak in and do the same recruitment there."
"If we can get another ship, I will head to the Persian lines." Andrew put forwards with a worrying grin.
"Can we take some of the Centurion Meng Ai's Wudang Archers and some of Centurion Balius's slingers?" Ling Tong asked, "They can help us with the land and potentially find us some opportunities."
"Centurion Balius will go with you and look after the small detachment from those forces." Dom replied, with Centurion Balius nodding his head in agreement, also excited for the opportunity to further prove himself.
"The rest of us will head to Samos, and then Battle at Mycale. Artemisia and Crassus are in charge of recruitment, whilst Sun Ce and Gan Ning the fleet in Battle. Our target is new Ships, new Crews and Xanithippus and Pericles." Dom declared confidently.
After Dom finished, the Generals began looking at the map and planning different tactics. Centurion Hector and his Titanaconda's would separate from the unit and attack from behind enemy lines, they would also send a lone rider to the Ionian's with a warning note and an offer to swap to Dom's side. The Ionian's had plenty of Town's and Cities across the coast, so there was a small hope of a large recruitment at best, or another ally in the battle at worst.
Centurions Octavian, Septimius, Chariovalda and Meng Ai would stay with the the main forces, but would split across the different captured ships as the battle progressed. They all had different roles assigned depending on if it was a sea battle or a land battle. The other Hoplites and Spartans in the room explained some of their own connections and recruitment opportunities of friends and families, as well as different aspects of the terrain, sea and weather during this time frame.
The Hoplite Cleon put forwards the option of potentially heading to Athens to find the families of the Hoplite that were in Riverside, with the hope he could bring a large number home with them. Leonidas the Spartan said the same thing about the Spartans, but felt they had less chance of success. Dom agreed and put aside separate funds for some ships to travel there. He felt that their chance would be low as Athens would be on guard, but he was hopeful that they could get there and bring some home. Centurion Alexander would travel there to do this hopeful mission that would have huge impacts for his Warriors. They would also take a selection of senior Hoplite on this trip, with some letters from those that would be involved in the battle or hadn't made it on to the list for this Mission.
Cleombrotus also put forwards that they would have allies fighting at Plataea that some of their men were close with, so they would support the Centurions Phillip and Trojan. They were also skilled and new the geography from their travels so would be good guides through the mountain paths.
There was excitement in the room at the thought of extending the battlefield out, but Dom's priority was still the Naval clash at Samos and Mycale. Zhou Yu and Xun You would prioritise the last few items, whilst Xun Yu would support them by getting gold transferred from the Bank and food supplies arranged for the forces.
The meeting continued for a couple of hours, with separate plans put in place depending on how the situation developed. There was no guarantees they would arrive in time to head towards Athens, Sparta or Plataea. There was also no guarantees that any player would sell a ship to them, but they had plans in place for all eventualities.
Dom outlined the bottom line was a sea victory and the capture of enemy ships without loosing their own, where as their best case scenario was recruitment across all fields of battle and victories as well. All Shields in the forces now had the Sabre Tooth Tiger on them, with the different units, however Xun You had also arranged cloaks and scabbards to have the same, so that all units could be recognised as their forces if they met any other players. The hope was that as a Top Lord, once players realised that these Warriors were part of Lazarus's forces, they would treat them better to try and curry favour with him. This wasn't Dom's idea, but Kai's.
.....
"That was an intense meeting." Andrew exclaimed as he left the Palace with Dom, Kai, Crassus and Xun Yu. They had left Xun You, Subutai and Zhou Yu to finish preparations, whilst Andrew and Crassus wanted to show them their purchases. Andrew also wanted to introduce Dom to those he had brought with him, especially the other players.
"They normally are." Crassus laughed as they headed towards the warehouse near the docks, where Helena had been instructed to unload the ships.
"The Battle of Mycale is important for our growth." Xun Yu explained to them, the sun now on it's descent after a long day of meetings. "Our Southern side is in need of reinforcements and we need a Defence Fleet. We also have the River Fleet under Ling Tong that is expanding, hundreds of ships and tens of thousands of crews are needed."
"That is some big ambition." Kai stated as he turned to Dom who shrugged his shoulders in response.
"We started as a Town and I am a Lord, we are now nearly a Kingdom with five Towns and our Capital. We also have another four that are about to be formed, so that will take us up to ten. We have thousands of Warriors across our armies, but every time we think we are there, another enemy appears." Dom explained to them both as they walked, them both listening intently. "There are two Cities to our north that are in conflict, as well as a much larger enemy far to the south. We are not sure what fully lies inland, but we know that their is a lot of slavery. There is also the other elements of the world you haven't seen yet."
"What do you mean by other elements?" Andrew asked him as he thought of all of the adventures they could now go on.
"We found the remains of these large humans, these are the ones that we procured a lot of our gold from." Crassus stated as he looked towards Dom and could see him smiling and nodding in response for Crassus to explain the situation. "We have found two of these Cities so far, which we refer to as the Underground Ancient Cities."
"Underground Ancient Cities?" Andrew asked as he turned to Dom who was walking slightly behind him.
"Three of the Cities we have found so far are underground, and we are aware of a fourth. Three of these we believe are all related to these large humans that we call the Type Two humans, but they seem to have been dead for centuries." Dom explained as they walked through the market, with Andrew and Kai looking around in interest.
"What about the fourth?" Kai asked as they stopped at a stall and purchased some local delicacies.
"Human's mainly." Dom replied as he began to take a bit out of some food.
"Mainly?" Kai asked again, this time looking towards Crassus and Xun Yu for a better answer.
"There is another Human sub species we have discovered, which we have named the Type Three's. We have had several clashes with them, including at the fourth Underground location. They are exceptional hunters." Xun Yu explained, before continuing. "We have some bodies that we can show you if you would like."
"Can we save that for another day?" Andrew asked as he looked at his food and wasn't sure if he wanted to keep eating it. "What do they look like?"
"Grey skinned, pointed teeth and ears. They are tall but their bones are much thinner." Crassus stated as they arrived before the Warehouse. "They don't seem to have their own weapons and what clothing or weaponry they have seems purchased from elsewhere."
"They also eat us. We found them keeping humans as cattle, and they seem to have some intelligence at a senior level as there is some evidence that they have purchased slaves." Xun Yu continued.
"Damn, you could have warned us that we have potential giants and dark elves or goblins to fight!" Andrew exclaimed to Dom as they stopped at the Warehouse.
"We have Papaver and the unexplored lands to the South, politics to the North and unexplored lands with potential Type Three's to the West. There is a lot of battles to come." Dom grinned back at him as Crassus tapped on the Warehouse door that swung open.
Inside the Warehouse were around three hundred people, sat around on crates eating food and drinking drinks. The crates contained goods that Kai and Andrew had brought with them, whilst the people themselves looked at Andrew and Kai in anticipation.
"Everyone, this is Lazarus. Our friend and the Lord of this Kingdom which we are now in the service off." Andrew explained as Dom, walked in with his Batavi Guards behind him. Actumerus had stayed behind with Gregorios and Trojan, "Lazarus, these are our forces that we have collected in our journey!"
"Thanks for having us Lord Lazarus!" One of them shouted enthusiastically, "Black Hawk said that we were going to join up with his friend, but we were not expecting this!"
Black Hawk was Andrew's game name, whilst Kai's was Hungry Dragon. Dom hadn't been able to go by his normal game name for some reason, but part of him was grateful for it when he saw Crassus begin to snicker in response.
"Let me introduce you to our Leadership!" Kai interrupted, calling over a few of them. There was seven of them who came forwards; two very tall and muscular men with pale skin, one had a moustache whilst the other had a beard, they both had large hammers in their hands. There was also an attractive man with black hair, who wore a animal skin vest. There were two women, one tall and slim with a bow on her back, and another who was shorter with a blade on her waist. The last two were less rememberable, with regular features, one had short blonde hair and blue eyes, where as the second had dark brown long hair.
"These are Sebastian and Virgil, two brothers who I thought were the tallest I had met until I saw the guards behind you." Andrew laughed, "The good looking one is Hugo and the two lovely ladies are Jade and Sabine. The other two are Arvin and Fritz."