Dom soon appeared back in his bed in Riverside, the sun was outside again and the room felt pleasant and warm, not cold and damp as it had when he left. He got out of bed, taking the fur covers from his body and headed to his personal chest where his clothes and armour would be.
Dom usually walked around Riverside in just his toga with his sword by his waist, however today he planned to launch the first Special Quest mission, so he grabbed his chest armour and put that on, as well as his greaves. He also grabbed his spear the Slaying Spear and felt it's weight in his hand. He felt prepared and grabbed one of the Golden Tokens from his chest before heading downstairs.
It was empty bar the noise of the chef's and bakers in the kitchen preparing food for the rest of the Village. He really needed to acquire a building which they could do this from, or several so that they could start their own businesses up. For now though that would have to wait, until either he gained some from Random Rolls, purchased some through a market or merchant, or Sostratus came up with a design himself. He also worked out that it should be time for the Architects Office to spawn a random schematic, so he needed to check on that as well.
He firstly headed out of the Town Centre and stood on the mosaic tile outside. He noticed that there was a lot of movement, with the Military zone packed with Warriors. The other zones also seemed very busy and there were many more houses than when he was here previously. It had only been just over half a day for Dom, but for Riverside over a day had passed.
"Good morning Lord." Dom heard Gregorios say from beside him, "I see you are ready for battle today."
"I am Gregorios." Dom replied, "I expect I need to be prepared, have I missed anything?"
"Mayor Lucius has passed me some messages to convey to you." Gregorios replied, "Firstly, Gan Ning was able to work with the Horse Trainer, Leon and Erastus, they have successfully captured the herd of horses and were able to tame some of them, with the rest following the leaders. The horses have been temporarily staying in the Donkey Stables with them, however Lucius said you could make that more permanent. Banas had assisted him and they were able to coerce the herd to come this way"
"That is fantastic news!" Dom said, excited to have another form of horse within Riverside other than the dedicated Steppe horses for the Horse Archers. "How did they get across the river?"
"With much hardship, but a temporary removable bridge has been set up. Sostratus and Lars had been working on it." He replied.
"I'll have to check it out!" Dom exclaimed, thinking this was great news.
"The second thing he mentioned was that they have decided on currency value based on the amount of loot that we have." Gregorios continued, "Not sure what this means, but I'm sure you do."
"I do." Dom replied with a smile. "It's good news for everyone."
"I always like good news." Gregorios stated, "The third thing was to say as you were due back today, he had kept all of the key members of Riverside within camp for you and what ever task it is that you are planning to do. They should all be gathered at the Heroes Hall."
"Very well, let's head to the Military Zone and meet up with them all then." Dom ordered.
They soon reached the Heroes Hall, where everyone was gathered outside. Some benches had been constructed and placed outside and the Heroes of Riverside where sat chatting merrily. Gan Ning was sat in light armour, playing with a small dagger in his hands whilst he chatted with Tomyris and Tomoe on the left side of the door. Tomyris wore Armour similar to the Hoplite, her small round shield by her feet with her short sword lent against it. Tomoe wore her full Samurai armour, with her helmet and Naginata placed by her side, the Naginata resting against the entrance to the Heroes Hall. They smiled and laughed at something and waved when they saw Dom approaching.
On the other side of the entrance was Subutai, he was wearing fur armour, with a metal chest plate. His bow was resting at his feet and Genghis was on his shoulder, gazing out at the Warriors that were stood nearby on the grounds in front of their Warriors Halls. He was sat with Lucius and Shang Yang, and they all seemed to be in deep conversation. Lucius wore a white Toga, whilst Shang Yang was in Daoist robes .
"Good morning Lord Lazarus." Gan Ning greeted as he stood up from his seat.
"Good Morning Gan Ning." Dom replied, before looking at the group who were all standing up, "And everyone else."
"How have the new divisions been going?" Dom asked Subutai after he finished greeting everyone.
"So far so good." Subutai replied, "We have started to move the forces in to different units to complete the current workload. Everything has been paused for the Special Quest launch, but yesterday was a productive day. I'll let the Major's tell you their news, however on my front we have agreed to create some forward encampments of horse archers so that we have warning of any approaching forces, whilst we build up our own forward army."
Dom looked towards the Major's, a term he would have to get used to. He first looked at Gan Ning who smiled back to him.
"We brought back the Red Horses yesterday and have created a full plan for our scouting over the next week or so. The expedition of the Underground Ancient City is even further, but is now mainly completed via the Civilians with Warrior support. We have taken some of the Miners with us who have been tunnelling a route through so we don't need to rely on the under water passage. I've also brought the Snake Eggs back and have them in my room, we need to decide what to do with them."
"Thanks Gan Ning." Dom replied, "That seems like a lot of progress. Who is next?"
"An outline for scouting has been created, I have been warned of the Bear and the Beasts so we will be taking it slow. We have created a brief outline of priorities with Lars, Wang Shu and Hua Tou on things to look out for." Tomoe responded.
"We have also done similar towards the Mountain." Tomyris added, "The Miner family that had previously scouted with some of the Hoplite have located some good stones for a quarry and a potential mineral vein. We just need to build a stone mining camp, so hopefully we can get the schematics soon."
"Thank you both," Dom responded, "Schematic wise we should have a random spawn with the Architectures Office, we also need to check in with Sostratus on his progress to see if he can start working on that next."
"Sostratus has designed some upgraded housing which Wang Shu is starting to implement now, he has also finished the bridge, a simple one has been built but upgrades will happen daily until it is fully secure and up to standard. Would you like to go to the Architects office before or after the quest?" Lucius replied, "We also have had some good progress on the first Trireme and Himilco expects it to be completed within the two weeks."
"Let's do it after, as we may have other good rewards and we can do them all together." Dom replied, "I would however like to check out these Red Horses and place them in the stables to replace the Donkey's."
"I was getting quite attached to the Donkey's." Lucius replied with a smile, "But I do agree that is a good idea, the final update is currency."
"Yes, Aristarchus, Lucius and Myself have sat down and we are ready to implement it. However it would be ideal if we could have a further source for when that eventually runs out. We'll need to manage the currency flow tightly in the first instance but we can roll it out at the end of the week." Shang Yang stated, "It would be good if we had some store schematics and more industry buildings, but things can start slowly."
"Ok then, lets go to the Stables first and then launch the quest." Dom stated.
"All of the Warriors are ready, what ever the mission, we should be ready." Subutai replied.
Dom arrived at the Stables and looked at the Red Horses that were currently placed inside it, forty of them, with at least thirty adults and ten foals. The Stallions were much bigger than the fast Steppe horses from the Horse Archers Stables, and Dom expected they would be jealous when they saw these mighty beats. They were as Leon had described, with ashen red skin and fire red tail and mane. The biggest was around three and a half metres long, with a length a height of just over two metres from hooves to ear.
"Beautiful." Dom commented as he approached them.
"They are stunning creatures." Subutai said from beside him, Gan Ning and Lucius had joined him, whilst the rest had stayed behind.
"System, Show Stats" Dom ordered.
[Red Hare
Beast Grade - A
A rare horse from ancient times, known as one of the fastest and strongest horses in history. Rode by famous warriors from history such as Lu Bu and Guan Yu. Lu Bu had it originally, one of the mightiest warriors of the Han Dynasty, after his death his horse was given by the Warlord Cao Cao to the general Guan Yu as a gift to try and win his loyalty. Guan Yu cared for the horse, and upon his death the horse was gifted to a General Ma Zhong. Due to it's sadness at Guan Yu's death, it starved itself and died several days later. These are the decedent's of that mighty steed who served those famous warriors.]
"Jackpot!" Dom exclaimed looking at the stats, "Gan Ning, ever heard of the Red Hare?"
"I've heard of the one that the famous warrior Lu Bu rode." Gan Ning said, shock on his face, "Is this the same one?"
"It is!" Dom replied with a smile, happy that someone could understand his excitement.
"That is a horse that can travel five hundred kilometres a day!" Gan Ning exclaimed, "I'm having one yeah?"
"We'll see." Dom winked, "System please replace Donkeys with the Red Hare as the stable spawn."
[Updating Stables of Riverside...Update Complete]
"Show stats!" Dom asked.
[Stables of Riverside - Red Hare
Stables Grade - S
Spawn Rate - 2 Animals per day (Can be upgraded with Village Growth)
Spawn Type - Horse - Red Hare
Stables Level - 1
The Stables are a spawn point for animals that can be tamed and ridden. Animals within the Stable can spawn their own kind through natural means. Stable animals can be replaced with wild tamed creatures if decided.]
"We receive two Red Hare a day." Dom said happily, "They have replaced the Donkey's."
"What will happen to the Donkey's?" Lucius asked.
"They are still here, so it may be worth setting them up small stable near the farmlands, it won't be an official building but it can at least give them a house as they will still be needed." Dom replied.
"Very well, that is a relief, I do quite like the little guys." Lucius said, "So who is getting the horses?"