The Challenges Ahead

Dom awoke at the sound of the Military Guard changing, the exhaustion from the last day gone as he prepared for his return to Riverside. He sat up, the sleeping arm of Meritamen spread across his chest. He gazed down at her peaceful face as he mind ran back to the events of the previous night. From her joining him in the bath to later joining him in the bed. He had broken many of his own rules, getting emotionally entangled with a game character. He didn't regret it though, clarity in his mind that he would make the most of the opportunity that World Conquest Online had given him, to grow in to a strong and capable leader.

He moved her arm gently as he went to slide out of the bed, the thin blanket hiding little of Meritamen's sleeping form. He looked across the room, a slight bit of light peaking through the shutters and illuminating parts of the room. His armour was neatly placed where Meritamen had removed it before his bath, but the usual cleanliness he was used to was gone, her clothes still where she left them when she joined him.

He wouldn't have long before the Commander's joined him for their morning meeting and he didn't want to appear with dirty armour. Quietly, he slid from the bed and made his way towards his black chest piece, finding some cleaning materials placed near an armour rack that was behind the door and he had missed the day earlier. Dom was impressed once again by the room and was grateful for the effort Xun Yu had put in to setting up the camp as a more permanent location.

He heard Meritamen roll over in the bed, she sheets rustling as she pulled them close to her neck for additional comfort, her left leg now exposed.

Dom quickly and quietly gave his armour a clean, it wasn't perfect but most of dust from the travelling was gone, before dressing himself.

He slowly made his way out of the room in to the Command Room, where Subutai was sat waiting for him, his eagle Genghis was on his wrist eating some meat strips that it seemed to be enjoying thoroughly.

"Turn around one moment." Subutai said with a light laugh, as he placed Genghis down gently on a perch that was placed near the wall. 

Dom did as instructed, not sure what Subutai wanted, but having full trust in his General. Subutai approached and Dom felt a tightening around his chest as Subutai tightened the straps on his armour. 

"You missed a spot." Subutai commented as he pulled out a piece of cloth and wiped a mark from Dom's shoulder.

"Thanks." Dom replied as he turned and saw a slight grin on Subutai's face.

"It's ok, you should have just left it dirty and I would have cleaned it for you." Subutai laughed before heading back towards his seat where Genghis was sat. "Will Meritamen be heading back to Riverside with us?"

"I assume so." Dom replied with a shake of the head and a smile on his face, as he headed towards the map in the middle of the room. He hadn't been able to see it clearly the night before, but it was like a miniature version of the Map in the Map Room back in Riverside. The most eastern point was Riverside, with the western point being the Shimmering Sea. The southern point was the Calm River and the northern point spread all the way to Tongpai Town. The area around Tongpai Town wasn't clearly marked yet, but now that they had claimed it, Dom felt this Map would be complete soon.

"It's impressive isn't it." Subutai commented, "Xun Yu has done a good job in getting this set up whilst we have been absent. We have a central point from here to direct forces to any of the points on this map, with each being a days ride away at most."

"So once we claim more area, we could have Military Camps in other areas with a similar geographical covering." Dom questioned. Thinking that this would mean that they had centralised troops across the area that Riverside covered.

"That is the plan." Xun Yu commented as he appeared through the front door to the Command Centre. "Once we have taken over more area, we will build more of these. I intend to have one set up near the Ancient Underground City as a central base for the south of Riverside. A northern one near Tongpai Town once we are ready and one to the east near the mountain once Tomyris finishes her exploration."

"Which will be soon, if you stop starting wars and pulling me away from it." She said as she also entered the Command Centre. Behind her were Crassus, Lu Fang and Tomoe.

"Honestly, we do need to prioritise that now." Xun Yu added, "The Silver Forest and the Mountain to the East are now the only unexplored areas that are surrounded by the River Fork that heads towards the Tongpai Lake. Once we have these areas searched and claimed, we will have a huge portion of land and resource."

"We will also need to search in case there are any remnants of the Type 3 Humans that attacked, we only discovered bodies of male and females, there was no clear manufacturing and most items they wore seemed scavenged. They must have a base of operations in that area." Subutai agreed. "Gan Ning is going to continue to search the coast of the River, I propose that he and Tomyris work together to search the forest."

"I would like to help as well." Tomoe interjected, a personal vendetta inside her to rid the world of the Type 3 Humans, after her first interaction with them. "Tomyris can approach from the south, Gan Ning from the north and the west, I'll come in from the east, using Tongpai Town's old Military Camp as a base."

"We need to make a plan with Tongpai Town before we use that location as a base." Xun Yu said, heading over to the map, the rest following his lead and also gathering around it. "We do not have the military strength to explore in all four directions and defend the lands we have gained. We are now aware of the cities beyond Tongpai Lake, if they come, which they will as we have their emissary as a prisoner. We need to be able to come up with a solution for that situation."

"It's simple." Meritamen said from the Command Centre Bedroom door. Dom turned to see her enter, the light from the Bedroom reflecting around her so that she glowed, she was dressed regally and Dom wondered how she had woken and made herself look so appealing in such a short period of time. "We introduce ourselves to them first."

She walked over to the map beside Xun Yu, who took a step back to allow her to pass. It was a subtle gesture, but she was showing that she had the authority in the room. Tomoe looked at her with a complicated look, that only flickered across her eyes for a short moment before she looked down to the map herself.

"From the information we have gathered from the residents of Tongpai Town and the emissary, who most of the Tongpai Residents do not know about I must add, none of them have a naval force. Their only advantage is that they have been based here for a long time, however they only have merchant and fishing ships." Meritamen started, before pointing at Tongpai Town. "We base some of our naval strength here, explaining that we have discovered the remains of Tongpai Town and that we are clearing it of the enemy forces. For a shock factor we can deliver some of the enemy corpses."

"So we take the lead in the conversations?" Crassus asked, his hand on his chin that had grown stubble from the last few days. "That is a great idea, we could even use our Naval force to claim tribute from them."

"I agree." Subutai stated. Dom stood and listened, trying to understand where they were going with this, they didn't have much of a naval force currently so it would be a stretch to show Naval Dominance.

"Crassus, can you get more Bireme if you head north again?" Xun Yu asked seriously, his mind thinking of similar issues to Dom, but with solutions already forming in his mind.

"I'll take the captain of the Bireme with me, he had some relationships with the other captains and he has declared how happy they are to have joined Riverside. We also have a huge number of new crew members from the merchant ships we have claimed from Tongpai Town who we can repurpose and train." Crassus replied, his fingers moving as he made some calculations. "We need to purchase some Bireme, if possible. We also need to get more Trireme built as these are an upgrade and more imposing."

"Did we get any upgrade tokens?" Subutai questioned, "It could be ideal to upgrade the shipyard."

"We don't have enough ships." Dom argued back, agreeing with their thoughts in principal, but not understanding how it was possible logistically. "We need the ships based at Riverside to protect the mouth of the River where it meets the sea. We need ships to support the exploration of the north west of Riverside within the River. Then we need a third group to dominate the Tongpai Lake. We won't be able to build or purchase enough to do all three, and we don't have the military resource to populate those ships, whilst doing everything else."

"We need to take risks." Meritamen stated seriously, silence now in the room as she argued back, rather than advice like the Heroes of Riverside normally did. "If we don't take risks, we will loose this opportunity."

"It isn't time for us to appear yet." Dom said sternly, "I don't disagree, but we need to prioritise. We only have four War Ships, once the next Trireme is released we will have five. We need at least one Trireme and two Bireme at Riverside, that would mean Gan Ning has one Trireme and one Bireme plus some Merchant Ships as a base for his north western expedition. That leaves us with Merchant Ships to start Trade with the wider Cities on the coast as well as monitor the Lake if we decide to appear here now. Purchasing and training will take us weeks. We need to think of another plan."

Meritamen didn't argue back, instead looking down at the map again, her mind clearly thinking of something else. Subutai and Xun Yu shared a look, whilst the rest of the Heroes in the room stayed silent. Dom wished Gan Ning had been there to break the silence.

"There is also the other fork in the River that needs exploring." Xun Yu added, "As well as looking at the wider Geography of this peace of land we are based in, there is too much land and not enough troops. But if we pull ourselves back too much now, we risk not being able to take it all back."

"Then we need to grow quicker." Subutai agreed.

"Much quicker." Crassus added, "We can't have a situation with an unknown enemy being within our borders again."

"That won't happen again." Tomoe declared.

"We will do what is needed to defend and grow Riverside." Tomyris promised.

"I'll help where needed, it's an honour to be part of this." Lu Fang added.

Meritamen looked towards Dom, a smile on her face as if everything had happened as she had planned.

"Then Lord Lazarus, what should we do?" She asked, as if showing Dom the way to being the Leader he needed to be.

"I think this plan has merit, but we don't have the resource." Dom stated, deciding to lead from the front. "We don't know what our rewards are fully yet, but we do have a large amount of new civilians to settle. We also received the Tongpai Town City Spawner to create a new Town, which we need to decide on the location. I think we need to get all our senior members together in Riverside to come up with a proper strategy for the long term. We need to finish exploring the south, our own area that we have declared is ours from everything within the area of the River from the Sea to Tongpai Lake, through to the Mountain range we have heard about on the coast. This is a huge amount of land and we have a lot to explore, claim and develop. Our biggest border is water, so I agree we need to invest in the Navy, but our Military isn't big enough to defend Riverside, let alone everything else."

Heads nodded at the huge enterprise they were undertaking, not just in the growth of Riverside where they all lived, but the area of land that would become more than just a simple Town in the wilderness. 

"Then let's head back to Riverside." Dom announced, "Let's celebrate our victory here, for we have bigger challenges ahead after."