World Conquest Online

"What is the plan then?" Dom asked, looking at Tomoe.

Tomoe looked happy that she was now able to speak, she was given the role of a Commander in this new city, and had been given their trust from the outset.

"I will create a scouting line similar to a hunting party. Two men in a group, travelling fifty metres from each other, so within regular communication range. One Legionary and One Hoplite, so their is long range and short range if they come under attack by any beasts similar to the Bear or Tigers." She started, "I will create a combing pattern and we will create a zig zag pattern as we scout, rather than heading directly forwards. It would be ideal if we can then create forward outposts as we go."

"By having the four directions taken in this way." Subutai explained, "All Commanders will be within close range to Riverside and any action that is needed. We will all take a sub commander from the lead Warriors. I’ll take Alexander, Tomyris will take Octavian, Gan Ning will take Banas and Tomoe will take the newly arrived Pullo for now."

"How will you split the troops?" Dom asked.

"I intend to create four evenly split armies eventually, but for now I’ll take the main amount of warriors. Gan Ning will take a large portion of Cavalry and Legionaries. Tomyris will take mainly Hoplite, and Tomoe will take a mix of both. The forces will be split with 50% coming with me, 20% with Gan Ning and the other 30% being split between Tomoe and Tomyris." Subutai replied, "Once we have further quests and a larger force, we will reconvene and redistribute. I am taking the most as my command will be the first line of defence for Riverside."

"This all sounds great to me." Dom replied, "My priority is the collection and taming of the Red Horses and the completion of the exploration of the Underground Ancient City. We also need to come up with the defence plans against Tongpai Town." 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"Sostratus has began designing a bridge to combine both Riverside and the water on the other side. His key task is making the bridge either tall enough or movable to we can allow ships to travel through. Once this is done, we have discussed building some simple housing across the River so that scouts and travellers have places to stay that aren’t directly inside Riverside. Now that we have the Market and possible arrival of Merchants we had to start thinking long term with this." Subutai continued, "Shang Yang has devised a Military Ranking system, that is split in to twenty levels."

"That seems a bit excessive at this time." Dom replied seriously.

"Agreed, but it is just a draft for now and he is planning for the future." Subutai said, "It goes from recruit and trainee at the entrance level, then following the Legionary ranks of Warrior, with different gradings until they are either a veteran or become a junior officer, then through the junior officer ranks such as Optio and Centurion. Currently we have Octavian, Banas, Alexander and Pullo at this Centurion level. With Warriors like Gregorios as a Veteran Warrior. As the forces grow, I would expect those to all move up the ranks as they control more Warriors."

"And what about senior officers?" Dom asked.

"Here we move to more of Shang Yang’s knowledge." Subutai replied, "We have Lieutenants and Captains, which are the same as Optio and Centurion, but have decided to leave those two ranks as Naval versions, with Warrior changed to Marine for Naval units. We then move to Major, Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel, Lieutenant General, General, Vanguard General, Vice Commander and then Commander in Chief."

"That is a lot of ranks to remember." Dom grumbled, "And it seems difficult to contain them all currently."

"Above Commander In Chief is also Great General, who is chosen by the Lord when multiple armies are dispatched." Subutai continued, "And of course you’ll always be the most senior when it comes to decisions. Beside these ranks, there are also roles such as Strategist, Logistics, Guerrilla and Provisions"

"So how does that look now?" Dom asked, "As you are my Chief Commander, so are you the Commander in Chief in this Hierarchy?"

"With our force size, you could say that Riverside is a small province at a push." Subutai responded, "We may feel we have a large area, but it’s small in the scheme of things as is our population. So I would be the Colonel which according to Shang Yang is like the military leader of a small province. Tomoe, Tomyris and Gan Ning are all therefore Major’s. Making Alexander, Pullo, Banas and Octavian as the Centurions. It is enough for now, and it gives us lots of growing room without having to do a restructure when we have thousands of Warriors."

"It also gives us the opportunity to promote worthy Warriors, as well as ourselves." Tomyris commented as she looked over the map. "Now these are the key things that we needed to discuss with the Military growth of Riverside, as we have nearly thirty new people joining us a day, which is a rapid growth. If there is no further growth, we will have nearly two hundred and ten Warriors a week, which is nearly three full units of eighty."

"A Century as you call them, of Hoplite, Legionnaires and Horse Archers a week." Tomoe added, "A mighty force in no time."

"It will be." Subutai replied, "However, we have outlined our plans, but what are yours?"

"Other than the things mentioned earlier, we need to upgrade one more building to level 2 so that we can upgrade Riverside’s Town Centre." Dom replied, "I also feel that with the quality of Warriors we have, we should be able to use our first Golden Token."

"That would be good, as I expect the rewards will be useful." Subutai agreed, "It may be worth waiting until tomorrow when Gan Ning is here. Or will it be best to wait two days until you are fully available?"

"Let’s wait two days then." Dom agreed, "It will allow you all to get your basic plans in place for your new units."

"What’s a Golden Token?" Tomoe asked.

"It allows us to launch a special mission, where myself and a selected number of members of Riverside, depending on the quest, are transported to an alternate map to complete a quest. We have no more information than that currently." Dom replied.

"That sounds exciting, count me in!" Tomoe grinned.

"We don’t know the quest type yet, it could be anything, military or domestic orientated." Dom replied seriously.

"That’s fine, count me in." Tomoe repeated, her smile getting wider. She had the look of someone that was never told no, and Dom as the Lord should use this as an opportunity to put his foot down and show who was the boss.

"Yeah ok sure." Dom replied, forgetting about showing her who was the boss. He then turned to Subutai.

"I’ll leave you all to plan the finer details, but I’ll definitely join some of these scouting trips!" Dom said, "I’m interested to see this world and what we can find."

"Of that I am sure." Subutai replied seriously as he went back to his map. .

Dom left his Commanders and headed outside the Town Centre, he realised that he didn’t have long until he had to log out, but when he returned he would be doing his first Special Quest, which was exciting. He wondered what time of Quest map he would be sent to and what type of group he would need to take with him.

The rain was heavy now and it seemed that even Wang Shu and the builders had stopped construction on houses for the time being. Most people had gathered inside buildings and were chatting, rather than doing their daily tasks, which Dom agreed with. Dom’s guards were also getting battered in the rain, and their usual happy smiles had gone as they were used to the warmth.

He headed towards the Dock and the Shipyard where Helena and her family would be, as he expected they would continue regardless of the weather. As he approached he noted that there was a gathering at the Shipyard, so he head inside.

He was greeted by Lucius, Himilco, Helena, Lars and Lar’s Daughter Aase who were all gathered around the table with the Trireme plans. Inside the Shipyard there was a collection of different labourers moving pieces of wood or preparing some in other areas. Some of the Labourers Dom recognised were from either Wang Shu or Lar’s teams, whilst some others were Shang Swordsmen Militia.

"Hey everyone!" Dom greeted as he reached the group at the table.

"Hey Lord Lazarus," Helena greeted back, "Seeing that the weather has turned, everyone decided they would get busy in here where it is dry instead."

"It’s a good idea!" Dom agreed.

"It is." Lars replied, "However it does mean other tasks will fall behind."

"It’s won’t be raining for long." Himilco commented.

"The way the clouds are moving, it should stop within the next couple of hours." Helena agreed.

"So how is everything going?" Dom asked.

"Aase here is going to take over construction of the second Trireme in the second section, whilst I continue with the construction of the first." Himilco stated, "She can then copy the steps that we take as it’s her first ship build, but from her and Lar’s comments I have trust that it will be as good as mine."

Dom turned to Lucius, who seemed a passenger in the conversation rather than the leader for once.

"I’m just here to get out of the rain." Lucius commented, noticing Dom’s look. "I need to head to Aristarchus, but the talk of building ships was to interesting to miss out on. We will need to keep a dedicated team in here, both Lars and Wang Shu have offered up a couple to be here permanently until we have enough man power, and the Meng Gao has sent thirty of his men to help whilst things are set up."

"I’m thinking of getting some of Meng Gao’s men to join the Legionary Training Camp attached to the Warriors Hall." Dom stated, "Not all, but if we could send twenty as an initial batch whilst the rest help in other tasks and guard related tasks."

"I’ll speak with him and have him send the best twenty, he’ll probably be one of them." Lucius agreed, "I best head to the Town Centre then!"

Lucius bid everyone goodbye and left the Shipyard and headed out in to the rain. Helena and Himilco continued their conversations with Lars and Aase. Dom looked around and was impressed with the way all these different people from different communities were helping each other build the ship yard.

"Helena! come quick!" Dom heard from the entrance, and saw that it was Atzi, one of the two ex slaves who had come from Gluttonous Chief’s Village. Gan Ning had claimed them as his prize, so that he could guarantee they were free women when they arrived. They had been living with Helena and her Daughters since they arrived.

"What is it?" Helena shouted as she headed towards Atzi.

"It’s Ophelia!" Atzi shouted, "Her fishing boat had capsized in the water and no one can see her!"

"Ophelia!" Helena yelled as she ran out of the Shipyard, followed by Dom and Himilco who ran after them both. Dom’s guards also ran, using their long spears shafts to make sure that the paths were kept clear.

They quickly ran, getting soaked as the rain came down on them heavier. They ran faster than they normally could, fear and panic in Helena and Atzi as Atzi explained what had happened. The Calm River had suddenly gained a current with the heavy rainfall and Ophelia who was pulling in a large fish at the time was caught off guard and plunged in to the water, her boat also flipping over as she did so.

They reached the edge of the Dock, Dom not realising how they had got here so fast and noticed that Tayanna and Helena’s other daughters were stood at the edge looking in to the water. Dom realised that the Daughter he spoke with wasn’t there and that she must be Ophelia, and a sinking feeling hit him in the chest.

"We can’t see her!" Tayanna shouted, "She could be anywhere!"

"Get me rope!" Himilco ordered, and two of the fishermen who were stood nearby also looking ran in to the warehouse to grab some. They soon re-appeared with two long ropes that were being dragged as they headed back. Himilco grabbed one of them and began to create a loop that he tied around his waist. "Tie the other end to something and hold it tight please!"

He then ran to the edge of the Dock and dived in and began to swim towards the capsized fishing boat. The current was hard and it was obvious that he was struggling against the tide. Dom looked and saw that their was another rope that was brought out. He quickly grabbed it and tied a loop around himself, having learnt rope skills at Military College.

"Hold this one as well!" Dom ordered his guards as he threw off his sword, but keeping his jewelled dagger and ran towards the edge and dived in after Himilco.

"Lord no!" Everyone shouted, realising that Dom had also jumped in.