Flies and Tigers

"This is a Black Cube, used to spawn 1-5 Villagers of varying quality to Towns. This can only be used by Lords or their representatives. Its a great tool to increase your Villager count." Announced Petunia, as she held the familiar black cube in her hand that Dom had seen several times already. 

Dom wasn't sure if he should get involved with this item, he had received several of them and had a steady influx of Villagers daily. He could easily win it, but it's actual impact would be minimal to the growth of Riverside. 

"It's not worth it." Xun Yu said before Dom could. "Minimal impact and it will reduce our prestige if we as a leading town were to compete. People would look at us as petty and beneath our stature." 

Crassus nodded his head in agreement, before turning to Johannes and asking for a cup of wine whilst the beginning of the auction took place. Whilst this happened, Dom turned to look down below at the auditorium to see the reaction from the crowd.

"This is a great item!" One person exclaimed, they wore a strange rattan outfit and had a feather in their hair, "I really need an increase in population!"

"Give me some face, I need this one." Someone else shouted back, wearing a white Daoist robe.

"I got one of those from a mission reward." Another person said, wearing a green Daoist robe, "It was very helpful, I got a Grade C Villager!"

Petunia gently raised her hands, asking for silence whilst the two young men beside her took the black cube and placed it on the lavish fabric covered table.

"We will open the bids for this item at five gold coins." Petunia announced, "Increments must be with a minimum of one gold coin. Please raise your card and announce your bid, please also be polite, we the Auction House do have the right to remove people who do not follow the common courtesy expected in our institution."

Dom turned to Crassus whose fingers were tapping against his cup and his eyes were closed.

"Depending on the market you could buy five slaves for a gold coin." Crassus stated, before Dom had chance to ask the question he was thinking, "So for five gold coins you could buy around twenty five slaves or up to five loyal villagers."

"So if we spent all of our gold, we could buy millions of slaves." Dom replied with a raised eyebrow, thinking this was unrealistic.

"We could, I'm not sure were I could buy that many slaves, or even if it was possible. Regardless it would be a terrible idea." Crassus replied seriously, as he opened his eyes and looked at Dom, "I once put down a slave revolt and it was gruesome. We had to crucify thousands of slaves, they lined the roads on both sides towards Rome. Lots of good people lost their lives for no reason fighting in that revolt, soldiers, farmers and normal people who just wanted to live a good life."

"What if they were granted freedom?" Dom questioned, "Would a large amount of slaves be an option then?"

"Then they wouldn't have earned it, and therefore they will not be as integrated in to your civilization." Crassus responded. "Being given things for free without earning them will reduce the effectiveness and effort of the people. The ones we already have are enough, they can integrate successfully and then we can repeat the process of earning their freedom. A large influx would be terrible."

"Slow and steady." Xun Yu added, "Such a large influx is detrimental as it can't be managed effectively. I do not think this is the right place to discuss the pro's and con's of slavery though." 

"So how much is this Black Cube worth?" Dom asked Crassus, changing the conversation back to the auction.

"It is dependent on your needs, for us it is worth between five and ten gold, for someone who is in desperate need it could be worth one hundred gold." Crassus replied, taking a sip of his drink as Dom turned back to the Auction House.

"Five Gold Coins." Someone on a bottom row shouted, they wore a brown bear skinned coat and a grey fox skinned hat.

"Six!" Another shouted soon after, wearing a thin fabric vest top and had exposed arms.

"Seven!" The bear skinned coat Lord shouted back.

"Eight!" A new person shouted, they wore a long blue dress with swirling white patterns.

Dom enjoyed watching the bids below, realising that this wasn't his time to get involved and he should just watch and enjoy.

"Nine!" The bear skinned coat Lord responded, "Give me some face!"

"Ten!" Another replied, wearing a bronze cuirass. "Why not give me face."

For the lower level Lords, ten gold coins was a large amount at this stage of the game, and a big investment for them to purchase something so early in the auction. Some of them may only be able to win one item, so the early competitiveness on such a simple item made Dom realise how lucky he had been so far.

"Twenty gold coins!" The rattan wearing Lord from earlier shouted.

There were lots of exclamations in the crowd at the large jump, but Dom felt it was a good idea as the Black Cube would have continued to go up in price and the Rattan wearing Lord may have not been able to afford it then.

"Any further bids?" Petunia asked, a slight smile on her face as she looked around the crowd.

Dom looked down and saw that there were a few groups whispering to each other, but no one seemed to want to bid any higher for this item. 

"Then with no further bids, going for twenty gold coins. Going once, going twice, going three times." Petunia stated, "Sold to the Man in Rattan Armour."

There was a slight round of applause for the Lord who bought the first item, who sheepishly sat down as those sat near him congratulated him on the purchase.

"The flies gather around the scraps of the feast. Buzzing in excitement at their find" Xun Yu commented, "but their feast is just the castaway meat from a rotting carcass that the Tiger has devoured and left behind. A piece of meat that if eaten, would just leave an upset stomach for anything else."

"Let's make sure we are the Tiger then, and not the flies." Crassus stated, taking another sip from his wine as Petunia pulled out the second item. 

Dom laughed inside as the second item was pulled out, he turned and saw that Crassus and Xun Yu both had slight smiles on their faces as well.

"This is another Black Cube." Petunia announced. Causing lots of whispers in the audience below.

"As with the last one, bidding will start at five gold coins."

"This one will go for more." Xun Yu stated.

Down below, the audience had sat forwards and preparing themselves to bid.

"It's mine this time!" The bear skinned coat Lord stated.

"How many are there?" The Lord in the blue dress asked, but seeing that the auctioneer Petunia didn't answer the bids started.

"Five Gold Coins!" The first bid was made.

As Xun Yu said, after a few rounds of bidding it sold for twenty four gold coins, slightly more than the last one.

"If any more come up, they will be around the same value now." Crassus confirmed, "Maybe slightly more, but they have a confirmed value now in the eyes of the Lords."

The next three items were also Black Cubes and each sold for twenty five, twenty four and twenty seven gold coins each.

Soon the next item was brought out, it was a small wooden cart that had a thick cloth covering it. It was pushed on to the stage by Petunia's younger colleagues, who placed it beside her on the stage. She grabbed the cloth and pulled it away firmly, showing the contents of the cart to the crowd.

"Are those what I think they are?" The bear skinned coat Lord exclaimed, excited at every item that had come up so far, but having won none.

"If you think they are, they are." The blue dressed Lord laughed back.

"Yes those are definitely weapons." The Rattan Lord who won the first item stated.

"Here is a cart of thirty bronze age spears. These can be used for hunting or fighting. These could be a great upgrade to any low grade spear force, the creation of an elite unit, or extra defence for your Villagers." Petunia announced.

Dom had no interest in this item, as Riverside had it's own blacksmith that forged weapons, as well as four different Warrior Halls that were of a higher level. He did however see the benefit for a lower level player that only had limited strength or numbers.

"This is an important item for small towns." Xun Yu stated, "We have many military options, but a cart of spears for a small town could be the difference between life and death."

"Unless it is us who are coming, then they are useless." Crassus laughed, taking a sip from another cup of wine.

The bids soon started, with the spear cart eventually selling for thirty gold coins. Dom felt a gold coin per spear was expensive, but he had different luxuries.

As Johannes had hinted at earlier, none of the top players in the VIP rooms had placed any bids as of yet, showing that they also had wealth and higher standings.

More items appeared and were bid on, such as more carts of weapons, low grade armour, materials and even food. Even though Dom could afford all of the items, they didn't interest him enough to ruin his prestige as they were all basic items that Riverside either had a lot of or had little interest in. He had been tempted at times, especially when some bow's came up for hunting, but Xun Yu had shaken his head.

Xun Yu had been watching the crowd and the other VIP boxes, trying to get a good read on the competition. Crassus on the other hand had been calculating the different values the items had so as to better implement currency in to Riverside.

"Our last item in the first part of the Auction is this." Petunia announced as her two helpers brought on to the stage a green building spawner cube.

Dom sat up and showed interest at this, as he was always in need of a variety of building types.

"This is a building spawning cube, which will add a fully built building to your town. This is a specific building type, rather than a random one that some of you may have come across." Petunia announced.

"I need this!" A Lord sat in the middle tier said, the first from someone of a slightly higher quality. The Lord wore a broad brimmed hat and wore leather armour.

"You are not the only one!" A female Lord in a red dress with black swirls on it replied.

Petunia smiled before continuing, "This is for a D grade dock, a building that if you are near the water, could give you access to new food resources and transport potentials. We will start the bidding on this item at thirty gold coins, with Increments of five gold coins."

Dom sat back, having no need for another dock currently, and thinking a D grade dock for someone else would be a great asset. As Dom sat back however, Xun Yu sat forwards, looking around seriously.

"So the game is now set to begin." Xun Yu said with a smile, as Crassus and Dom shared a confused look.