World Conquest Online

"Their Town was called ’Nakbe" and from our conversations with her, they don’t seem as developed as anyone else we have met so far. Her name is Itzel and she seems to be in her early twenties." Guo Sheng began. "She explained that they were attacked a few months ago by strange monsters in the night, as punishment from the gods. They killed a large amount of the Warriors and the weak, caging the rest of them as cattle. They are being used as either breeding stock to create more monsters, or to create more food. Often locked away for days at a time with little access to scraps of food or water."

"Supposedly a group of them did escape in the initial attack, we believe these may have been those found at the Tree of Death that you have mentioned before." Lu Fang added. "My men informed me that according to Itzel, they often bleed people alive in spiked cages, so they can drink their blood."

"Recently, the majority of the monsters had left and hadn’t returned. She worked with her elder brother to create an opportunity to escape when they were being moved from their caged area to another. I suspect the spiked cages Lu Fang is referring to." Guo Sheng continued, "Supposedly her brother sacrificed himself so that she could run, where she eventually ran in to our Spartans."

"She is malnourished, and is covered in horrendous wounds from torture." Lu Fang explained, "She is very strong to have been able to survive in that place, but I am not sure if she will come back from this."

"We believe that they are located in this final tile." Xun You stated, taking over the conversation. "She has provided our men with little information on the enemy numbers, but we have to prepare for the worst."

"They need exterminating." Gan Ning spat as he spoke, "I will prepare my men and destroy them immediately."

"Wait." Subutai commanded, his tone angry. "I agree, but we can not be rash. What else do we know?"

"Little." Xun You replied, "According to Lu Fang and Guo Sheng, she is not in a position to answer any more questions and we need to get her medical help. Lu Fang has ordered his Spartans to explore the site as stealthily as possible and once they return we can create a plan."

"We will take her back to Riverside today." Dom commanded, "Hua Tou and Phoebe can then care for her. In the mean time, we need to create a sound strategy so that we can finally eradicate them from our lands."

"I will order Sun Ce to bring his men to the East of the Forest near Tongpai Town." Subutai stated, pointing at the map. "Whilst I will bring the Cities forces north from Riverside."

"I agree, Tomyris can attack from the West, whilst Gan Ning can disembark his troops from the North." Xun You agreed, "They will be circled and none can escape."

"I will get three Trireme pulled back and ready." Gan Ning replied.

"Guo Sheng and Lu Fang can start preparing the men." Tomyris smiled with an evil grin, "We won’t let any of them escape."

"How many days do we need to wait?" Dom asked eagerly, not wanting to miss this opportunity.

"Three days." Subutai said as he counted on his hands. "Sun Ce will need that long to be informed, then prepare and then march. It also will allow the Spartans to get as much information as possible."

"In that case, we should recall Tomoe, she can join you from the South." Dom replied, "I’d be more comfortable if we had our strongest people involved."

"Agreed, I will head back with you and dispatch orders." Xun You agreed, "I’ll also arrange a ship to bring Percennius and his men from Westwood Fort. Huang Xin can manage it with some Hoplite and Horse Archers in their absence. I want at least one thousand of the Legionaries, five hundred of the Hoplite, all of the slingers, half of the Forbidden Guard and all of the Batavi to be involved in this."

"Those numbers make sense, 500 hundred warriors each. Tomoe can work as my deputy and I’ll send Xun Yan to cover Sun Ce’s area, as he’ll need to bring Hua Rong with him." Subutai added.

"Very well, in three days we will destroy these Type 3’s and try and rescue what is left of the people of Nakbe." Dom ordered. "I really wanted to visit more of Mountview Fort and see what you guys had done, but it seems that we need to get a move on so orders can be sent and Itzel can be returned to Riverside."

"I need thirty minutes to prepare orders and a plan for those here." Xun You explained, looking over to Tomyris and Gan Ning who were currently looking at the map. "Is there anything else that we need to discuss and I will get straight to it."

"Yes there is, but it’s not urgent for now." Subutai explained, "Lord Lazarus intended to use a Golden Token in three days, which we will now have to postpone to after this battle."

As the mention of this, both Tomyris and Gan Ning looked eagerly at Dom. Lu Fang and Guo Sheng also looked keen, but understood that there were a lot of more experienced Generals within the ranks of Riverside.

"We will need to recall Gan Ning, Tomyris and just in case it is a Naval Mission, I also want the Galatea, Sibylla and Enyo returning to Riverside for it." Dom ordered. "I also want a detachment of each units best Warriors so that we can have our strongest ready for what ever the mission may be."

"I can recall those ships, but it may leave us a weaker presence on Tongpai Lake." Gan Ning explained, "It would leave us with three Trireme and a Bireme. None of our competitors have Military Ships currently, but we are trying to show a strong front."

"I will move some of our other ships around so the loss isn’t overly felt." Xun You replied, "They are under crewed, but it is more of an intimidation factor than anything else. I’ll send all of our Bireme to Serenity and bring two of Sun Ce’s Trireme here."

"That would reassure me." Gan Ning replied honestly.

"So does this mean I finally get to go on one?" Tomyris asked eagerly, the earlier tension of Nakbe gone.

"Yes, as long as the numbers make sense." Dom agreed. "If we can only take a handful, then we will need to relook at it. But we have been able to take a good amount on missions so far."

"It is exciting, but we need to defeat those at Nakbe first." Subutai intervened, bring everyone back to the main topic. "Do we have any idea how they arrived here in the first place, as none of our findings show us any information about how they got to this continent."

"Our evidence from the battle at Tongpai Town shows that they are definitely running from something themselves, however their prolonged period at Nakbe shows that they are not rushing as much as we expected." Xun You replied, "I am thinking they were using Nakbe as a resting point, to strengthen their troops, with Tongpai as their next destination."

"From the battle at Tongpai Town, they did not seem to have any experience in the water. The town was on fire but we didn’t find many that had tried to escape via that route." Gan Ning added, "So they mustn’t have travelled via the River."

"Then it must be the caves." Tomyris argued, "That is the only route they could have taken, the caves must travel under the river and the network further in to the mainland. We are not in a position to explore them fully yet."

"Then these caves are a risk." Dom accepted, "For now, we need to have them fully blocked and the area guarded. This could potentially be our weak point in future."

"We need to find a way to search and cleanse them." Subutai agreed, "However, I wouldn’t overly worry for now."

"The evidence shows that these are the last of them." Xun You stated, agreeing with Subutai. "I doubt their would be any remnants coming through the caves. Our only worry should be what they were running from."

"More to think about, but first we shall deal with Nakbe." Dom explained, finishing the conversation. "We were looking to explore further to the west in the future, maybe we can incorporate these together. For now, let’s deal with our current problems."

"I will go check over this woman escapee, let me know when you are ready Xun You." Subutai ordered as Dom finished speaking.

"I will do." Xun You replied as Subutai motioned for Dom to follow him out, leaving Xun You with the four Generals.

.....

Dom and Subutai had walked around the Fort, meeting with some of the Warriors and Civilians that were based here. The Fort was growing quickly and the majority of people here seemed to be in high spirits. It was well organised and there was constant work taking place with rotating shift patterns.

After exploring, Subutai led Dom back to the Bireme, where Itzel had been placed on a hastily made straw bed on the deck. Two Legionaries were sat with her and giving her basic aid whilst Xun You stood beside them looking over her.

The Bireme soon left Mountview Fort and made it’s way back south and then east towards Riverside, where hopefully Hua Tao or Phoebe could heal her and over the next couple of days they could get more information from her that could help Xun You and Subutai better plan the attack.

"Ideally we need a good idea of the Town’s key locations and then we can create a better route plan for our armies to march." Xun You had explained as they travelled. "If not, what ever information the scouts can gather will help, but I have warned the Generals to cautious as we don’t want to make them overly aware of our presence."

"I would be surprised if they weren’t already aware." Subutai had countered, "Their army defeated, the forest around them being crumpled. We should have just burnt the Silver Forest to the ground."

"That would have been an extreme choice." Xun You countered, "with this final push, we can be confident in the north."

"And hopefully get some good rewards from it." Dom agreed. He hoped to rescue the residents of Nakbe, but he definitely wanted their Town Centre cube. What ever was left at Nakbe would not be worth saving and it’s location wasn’t remote. Any survivors would need a fresh start and Dom was desperate for more Town Centre cubes.

....

The sun was still in the sky when they arrived back in Riverside, but the moon could be seen on the horizon. Itzel had remained unconscious during the journey back, she was breathing but her temperature was high and her body covered in sweat. She was quickly offloaded and handed over to Phoebe who was the nearest to the docks when they returned.

"You have done a good job." Phoebe praised the two Legionaries who had been caring for her. Part of the initial training of each Century was to have some members who were specialised in further care. Hua Tou and Phoebe had been branching out and trying to train more Warriors and Civilians in first aid and advanced first aid. "Please bring her to the Doctors immediately, we need to get her cleaned again and provide her with some salves."

"Please can you let us know when she wakes up." Subutai asked as Phoebe began to head away.

"If she wakes up I will let you know." Phoebe replied, "Her body has done through a lot, she needs rest and the favour of the gods."

"I know you will do the best that you can, in three days we will be attacking the place she has escaped from." Subutai explained. "We need as much information as possible so we can rescue her fellow townspeople." 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"I will let Hua Tou know, if there are people to be rescued then we will need to prepare." She replied, a tinge of sadness in her eyes as she looked at Itzel again, before some anger appeared on her face. "Don’t let any of those monsters survive."

"I won’t." Subutai promised as he walked up to Phoebe and squeezed her shoulder in comfort.