Dom, Crassus and Xun Yu returned to Riverside through a portal from the Auction House, they returned in a quiet Town Centre which was dimly lit. Sat on a table at the end of the hall were Lucius, Tomoe and Meritamen who seemed were eating and drinking whilst waiting for Dom's return.
"We didn't think you were coming back." Meritamen joked as she saw them return, "How did it go?"
"It was a big success I think." Dom replied as he looked at his two senior advisors for their opinion.
"It was a success in many ways." Xun Yu commented back, "We made lots of purchases and made some initial connections to other Towns across the wider world."
"Come take a seat and tell us more." Meritamen offered as she pointed to some empty seats beside her.
As Dom headed over towards her, another portal opened behind them. From it walked out the ten Concubines from Emperor Ashoka's Harem that Crassus had bid for, they each carried the other successfully won items in their hands, bringing with them a huge boost to Riverside's growth.
"Oh it does seem you were successful." Meritamen teased as she saw the attractive women appear one after another. "Wow, ten of them, very nice!"
Dom blushed and was about to respond, however the portal closed and the lead woman bowed her head low. She was tall and slim, with dark tanned skin, shining black hair and deep black eyes.
"I greet the Lord." She said loudly, "We are here at your command. We have brought with us your other winning's and hope that you will use them well."
"Welcome!" Meritamen said to the lead woman, as she looked her up and down and nodded her head in approval. "I am Meritamen, the Lord's wife."
The ten women bowed their heads to her, understanding that Meritamen was trying to show them a hierarchy within Riverside, and that their place was below hers. The majority of them took it well, however the lead concubine had a challenging glint in her eye.
"I think you have the wrong idea." Dom announced, interrupting the conversation before it continued down a route that was dangerous. "Welcome to Riverside, we have brought you here to help us with our growing expansion. We are in dire need of talented individuals, and my esteemed advisor explained that you may be able to assist."
Meritamen rolled her eyes as she stood beside Dom, still showing her seniority and trying to stamp down any rebellion in advance.
"Do we not please you my Lord?" The lead Concubine said.
"Ha, I knew this would happen." Crassus laughed from the side, "Do you mind if I step in here?"
Dom shrugged his shoulders as he saw that Meritamen had now linked her arm around his and pulled herself close to him, whilst Tomoe, Lucius and Xun Yu all shook their heads with a smile at the scene.
"It was my idea to bring you here, I am under the impression you will all be educated and able to read and write?" Crassus stated.
"That is correct." The lead Concubine responded. "We are all daughters of prestigious families of the Ahsoka Empire, given as gifts to win the Emperor's favour. His Harem is so large that we are overlooked and forgotten, but our families have all benefited from our position."
"We need educated people who can contribute to the wider administration of Riverside, as well as help Lady Meritamen with the management of the day to day running." Crassus replied. At this comment, Lucius sat up with a smile on his face, happy to hear that they had some help coming his way finally.
"So you are saying that we are not to join the Lord's Harem and are to work instead?" She asked, a squint in her eyes.
"That is correct." Dom replied, "I want you to help."
The majority of the women seemed happy to hear this, relieved that they hadn't been disregarded and sold from one person to another as a commodity due to their looks, but rather brought to have the opportunity of a new life.
"We will pay you a salary, give you housing and the opportunity to find your own way in life." Dom continued, "Tonight we will find you somewhere to sleep, and tomorrow we will discuss your education and find the right locations to send you."
Meritamen squeezed Dom's arm tightly as she head what Dom said, and unlike usual, Dom didn't try to push her away.
"My name is Chanda." The Lead Concubine, Chanda, said. "This will take some getting used to, but I appreciate the welcome. I am not sure if I am happy or disappointed, but we will see how that develops. Where would you like us to place these?"
Dom now remembered that the women were all holding the items that he had purchased. He pointed them towards the table and asked them to place them there. As they placed them on the table, Dom decided it would be a good idea to get the item's from his room as well from his mission rewards, so they could see everything that they had.
He soon returned back with a handful himself and placed them across the table, which Lucius was currently separating in to piles based on Item type with Xun Yu. Dom noticed that all of the Concubines except for Chanda had left and wondered where they had gone.
"Your Lady Wife had requested that a maid take them away for some food and to show them to some accommodation for the evening, I will join them shortly but wanted to see what Riverside was about first." Chanda said, not giving Dom much room for counter movement. He looked around at the other Women at the table, Meritamen and Tomoe, and realised he was surrounded by strong willed women. He really missed Tomyris and her sense of humour, and decided that he needed to rotate his commanders.
"Very well." Dom said, not arguing with her as he stood in the centre and announced everything that they had gathered from the missions and the Auction. "Firstly we still have the White Invitation Letter to use at some point, this will allow us to have a random meeting with someone of value nearby, be it a large kingdom or an important individual."
"Something to put aside for now." Lucius said, "I think we should save this for an emergency or a time of uncertainty."
"Agreed." Xun Yu said as he looked down at the pile, "Should we call Shang Yang to join us?"
"It is late and he will be asleep." Tomoe said as she herself struggled to stay awake. "Let's just catch him up tomorrow, at least he can miss the boring parts then."
"We now have two Golden Token's, that will send us on special mission quests. So far these have been of great help as we met Meritamen on the first one." Dom said as he continued through his list.
"It would be good to use these after we have resolved Tongpai Town." Crassus commented. "It is not worth risking our elite troops that we will most likely need."
"Tactically I agree." Lucius agreed, "So let's put these aside for now as well."
"We have five Green Cubes." Dom continued, "Two from missions and three from the Auction. The two from the missions we do not know what they are yet, but from the Auction we purchased another Mine, Barracks and a Grade A Warriors Hall."
"A Mine is fantastic, but we need to increase our Miners. We are low enough on resource, so that is something we should take in to consideration with our new arrivals." Lucius commented.
"The additional barracks will be good as our force continues to grow, we are constantly behind on house construction due to the rapid growth." Meritamen added.
"The Grade A Warriors Hall is a great asset." Lucius continued, "Do we know what we will have, we have many gaps to fill within our unit layout."
"Not yet, but I plan to use them all in the morning." Dom stated as he continued, "We also have five Wooden Upgrade Tokens."
"Fantastic news." Lucius replied, "We can upgrade the Bathhouse and Clinic to Level two, as well as some of the Level two buildings to Level three."
"The Bathhouse and Clinic?" Dom asked, before realising himself what the answer was and nodding his head in agreement.
"With the growth of the population, we need to grow the buildings that benefit the civilian population as well as the military." Xun Yu agreed.
"Also, the better the Clinic is, the more Warriors we can save after battles." Crassus commented as Dom pushed those items aside and began to go through the next batch.
"We have three Red Cubes for Special Villager spawns, one from the missions and two from the Auction." Dom stated, "These have been a great asset so far, so I'm hoping we have more success."
"Knowledgeable Civilians is key, if we can get more people like Sostratus we can grow even quicker." Lucius commented.
"Or Peruda." Tomoe added, "Her wine is amazing."
"We also have one White Cube and another Blue Cube, both from missions." Dom continued.
"An elite unit and some key resource." Lucius nodded as Dom said it, "I look forward to seeing what joins us."
"It may be ideal to wait until you have used the A Grade Warriors Hall before using the Elite Unit Cube." Crassus commented.
"Great Idea, I'll do that!" Dom agreed before pushing those items to the side. "So on to our final four items. The first is an armour upgrade parchment that I have decided to use on the Hoplite Warriors Hall, it will upgrade their armour from Bronze to Iron."
"Does that mean we need to manufacture it in the blacksmiths or it will automatically spawn in the Warriors Hall and for new Warriors that join?" Lucius questioned.
"I hope the second!" Dom exclaimed, having not thought about the first option. "If it's for the Blacksmiths to manufacture, we could have done that ourselves."
"I'm sure it's the second." Xun Yu agreed.
"We have this General Order Token." Dom said, before explaining it use of gaining a force related to the general on a Golden Token Mission or from the wider World Map.
"If we can get some of Subutai's Cavalry or another Legion!" Meritamen commented, excited about this item.
"We need to save this item for the right opportunity." Lucius agreed, "Do we store it here, or allow our key general to manage it on the front lines?"
"Let's discuss with Subutai when we see him!" Dom replied, "Our last two item's are both Orange Cubes. The first is a random one as usual, however the second can be used to bring along a family member or members, or a friends or friends from a current Hero within Riverside."
"So we could use it and bring one of my brothers?" Meritamen asked in excitement.
"Technically yes." Dom replied, "However, it could also bring along General Tau instead, or your father."
"Let's see who else could use it then." Meritamen said disappointedly, not wanting her enjoyable time in Riverside to end because of a senior member of her family arriving.
"I think any of us would like to use it." Lucius stated, "My Son's are strong, Crassus has a rich family heritage and friends network, as does Gan Ning, Liao Hua and Subutai."
"Tomyris may also want to see her son again." Tomoe added, "I also have some strong friends."
"I think we should save this Cube for now, and use it when we have a better understanding of our shortfalls." Dom replied.
"It would be a good idea to use it if we get an influx of Civilians or Warriors from a specific related time or civilisation." Xun Yu said.
"Such as Crassus and the Ninth Hispania Legion?" Meritamen stated seriously, thinking it was a good option.
"My network would be more dangerous than helpful at this stage." Crassus replied seriously, thinking of his two close friends and fellow Consul's Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Gaius Julius Caesar.
"Let's use this another time then." Dom agreed, also worried about the potential downside's to this Orange Cube.