Porridge

In the first instance, Dom and the team all went to sleep in the temporary camp that had been built by the Legionaries with the support of the Hoplite. They set up a guard shift throughout the night, with at least ten warriors awake at any one point, swapping their shift every 3 hours with the next group. This made sure that they were well protected in case of an ambush or attack.

Dom had agreed a plan with Gan Ning, Tomyris, Octavian and the Medical Team. Each would separate in to groups of two in the morning, a Military leader and Medical expert. They would work in separation from the others and question the Nomadic Tribesmen of where they had been and what they had eaten, drank and who they had been with. Hopefully when they all collated their responses they could work out the initial cause and come up with an easier solution to the problem, whilst hopefully also locating its source.

First however they slept. Dom struggled to get to sleep on the sheep skin rug at first, much less comfortable than either the bed in the Town Centre or his own in the non gaming world. He was sharing a tent with Gan Ning, Hua Tou and Cassius. Originally they had offered him his own as the Lord, but he didn't want to put everyone in a difficult position when they had more important priorities. They had chatted loosely before falling asleep, and it had been a good bonding moment for Dom with some of his key Villagers and his Commander.

He was soon awoken in the morning though by a change of guards, as he got out of the tent, noting that only Cassius was still asleep, he was impressed to see the action the warriors of Riverside were doing. Most were carrying tools and equipment, setting up some simple guard towers around their encampment. Whilst others set up food preparation areas where they would cook for the Nomadic Tribesmen.

"Good morning Lord." Leonidas the Spartan welcomed, stood in the cooking area, "The officers have gone to question the tribesmen, we are just preparing some food for ourselves and the Tribesmen."

"What are you preparing?" Dom asked in response, surprised to see Leonidas preparing food.

"Just some simple porridge with some grains that we brought, but it is filling and should be a good staple for energy for the day." Leonidas responded, "I just need to add some salt and it is complete."

"Let me help." Dom said, grabbing the large wooden spoon from Leonidas and continuing to stir it as the Spartan poured in a bit of salt. "I never imagined seeing a Spartan making porridge for other people."

"If you had told me this a while ago, I would have agreed." Leonidas replied, "I had slaves for that, and if not slaves then the lower caste's. Even when I went on campaign I would take have an array of people who would run around and prepare things for me. However joining Riverside has been liberating, I think it will take the following Spartans who join some time to acclimatise, but we are respected but not worshipped here. It is nice to be able to use my own hands and be productive, just don't tell my brother Cleombrotus, he'll look at me strangely."

"It is rewarding to hear that." Dom replied, genuinely happy that Leonidas at least had become part of the Riverside group and hadn't stook to his old ways. He looked around and saw some of the other Spartans were preferring to guard, but was happy to see that there was slight changes happening.

Soon some of the healthy Nomadic Tribesmen arrived and brought small wooden bowls with them, which Leonidas or Dom filled with the porridge that they had made. Some of the Tribesmen nodded their head in thanks, whilst others were more vocal, either thanking Lord Lazarus or the Warriors who had come to their rescue. After the healthy Tribesman had collected their food, some Legionaries who were wearing cloth covering the faces came with some empty bowls to be taken to the Tribesmen that hadn't come.

"We shall take these to the sick tents." One of the them said, to which Dom thanked gratefully.

Dom himself took a bowl and headed towards the tent of Chief Banas, her guards let him enter straight away and he noticed that she was sat up today rather than lay down. She still looked gaunt, but she at least had the strength to sit up.

"I brought you some food." Dom commented, before handing over the bowl to her. "Will you be ok feeding yourself, or would you like some help?"

"I think I will be ok." She replied, seeming stubborn in the fact. "But I will let you know. However I do not believe that the Lord of the mighty Riverside should be feeding me."

"We are not that mighty yet." Dom replied, "However, that is the plan. But as you can see, we will not become that way through underhand means, we will create allies and friends, not just enemies we wish to conquer."

"I believe it." She replied, "However the Warriors I have seen are intimidating and impressive."

"They are." He commented proudly, "They surprise me as well sometimes, especially with their creativeness. You should meet some of my other Commanders, they are just as impressive. How are you feeling?"

"Honestly." She said, "I feel terrible, but since Tomyris arrived and she made me eat her rations and drink her water, I feel an improvement. Do you have many other Commanders?"

"Hopefully you are on the mend." Dom stated, "I just hope the rest of your Tribesmen feel the same way soon. I do have a couple more Commanders, but they are on different missions with the majority of my force."

"Well I am happy you came in peace." She said, before taking a small spoonful and taking a small sip of the watery porridge. She waited a second, before taking a second small sip. "The fact that I can eat this is a positive sign, as you said, hopefully the rest of the tribe feel that way soon."

The Chief continued to eat whilst Dom made small talk with her. He discovered that their small settlement had a Warriors Hut, that they could dismantle and take with them, this would spawn a new Horse Archer every day, they also had a Town Centre Hut that would do similar with Villagers and a simple Stables that spawned the Horses for the Horse Archers. Thankfully for the Tribe the Stables and Warriors Hut came as a pair, which Dom wondered if something similar would happen in Riverside. He wondered if he would have his next Warriors Hut spawn Donkey riding Warriors. Other than that they didn't have any other buildings worth mentioning, other than an Animal Husbandry that spawned in a couple of sheep every day. The goats in the settlement they had found wandering the plains and tamed them themselves.

The Chief wasn't the original leader of the Settlement either, it was actually her husband, but he had fallen ill before the others and had passed away. They had then selected her to be the leader following his death. She was a respected Warrior within the tribe and had a loyal following from the other Horse Archers. The Chief's brother was one of the few males and also one of the shepherds. He had wanted to be the new Chief, but was out voted by the Horse Archers.

After they finished talking, Tomyris arrived, asking him if they could speak in private. Dom said goodbye to the Chief, before heading to one of the smaller huts that Octavian had taken as a command centre when he first arrived.

When Dom entered, he saw that Octavian, Tomyris and Gan Ning were all sat on one side, whist Hua Tou, Hua Xiu and Phoebe were sat on the other. They all had serious looks on their faces, which worried Dom.

"This doesn't look good." Dom commented, looking at them all.

"There are two options, and neither are ideal." Hua Tou stated. "Option one, is that it is a severe case of food poisoning, from most likely rotten meat that hasn't been prepared properly. However the majority of the Tribe eat together and this wouldn't explain why not everyone is ill."

"Then what is the second option?" Dom asked.

"Poison." Phoebe said. "It has to be poison."

"The poison has to be targeted as well if it is the case." Hua Xiu added.

"Please explain!" Dom exclaimed, shocked at the development.

"The Tribesmen that are ill definitely seem to be targeted like Hua Xiu said." Tomyris explained, "It is primarily the more senior or longer arrived Horse Archers, or the Civilians that are connected to them. Those that are not ill are either newer or are less loyal to the current Chief. None of the former Chief's brothers group are Ill."

"Chief Banas did explain to me that there when her husband died, his brother one of the shepherds wanted control, but she won." Dom responded.

"I just don't understand what the benefit would be to weakening the small Tribe to that state, especially with the chaos the land is slowly starting to fall in to." Tomyris replied. "They would be weak to attack or would fall behind in these trying times."

"There is one way to find out." Gan Ning commented, "Octavian, take some men and get the Chief's brother in law.

Octavian nodded his head and stormed out of the hut straight away towards the shepherds that were to the south of the Settlement. Grabbing a few of the men as he walked.

"I'm not sure we should have re-acted that fast." Tomyris mumbled, "We need to have more evidence and prepare before we do anything."

"Maybe." Gan Ning agreed, "But if it is poison, I'm not risking our Warriors health. We may have the guards but someone that can poison a Tribe would most likely be willing to take a further risk."

Tomyris nodded at this and they waited a few minutes before they heard the kicking and screaming of a man as he was dragged towards their hut.

"This is going to grab some attention." Dom grumbled as the Chief's brother in law was thrown to the floor in front of them by Octavian.

"Get off me!" He shouted, "You have no power here! I'll speak with my Brother's Wife! She'll have you all killed."

"Well that's not very friendly." Gan Ning stated, getting up from his seat and peeking down on the man. "I have a couple of questions for you."

Gan Ning removed his dagger from his waist and played with it in his hand, looking down at the man whose face suddenly went very pale.

"I haven't done anything!" He shouted in fear, "Don't hurt me, I'll answer any questions."

"Put the Dagger away." Dom said, not wanting to see a man tortured in front of him. The realism of the game was enough and he didn't want to be sick in front of everyone. "I want to ask you a serious question, if you are honest you will be fine. If you lie, I'll let him get the Dagger back out."

The Man looked at Dom and nodded in agreement, sitting up from the floor with Octavian and another Legionary stood over him blocking his escape or any movement forwards.

"Why have you poisoned the Tribe?" Dom asked, very simply and matter of fact.

The Man looked confused for a moment, like he was in deep thought, before a sudden realisation seemed to hit him.

"Poison?" The Man said, "That makes sense, but why?"

"What do you mean, but why?" Gan Ning said, getting his dagger ready.

Tomyris suddenly stood up and headed towards Gan Ning.

"Wait!" She said, grabbing his arm. "What do you mean but why?"

"Why poison the Tribesmen." The Man said. "I thought it was weird when my brother died, I loved him dearly, but then when other people got sick. Me and my group made sure to prepare our own food and distance ourselves from my Brother's wife after I lost the vote, and we haven't been sick. I thought it was a sign from God that I should be the Chief, but who would have thought poison."

"Then if it isn't you." Tomyris said, "Who would it be?"

"I'm not sure, but you aren't the first strangers we have come across." He replied.