Penthouse

Johannes escorted Dom and his small entourage up the stairs to a large wide corridor that was decorated similar to the entrance down below. Along the corridor were multiple double doors that were beautifully carved with a dark brown wood. After passing multiple doors, they soon arrived at a similar set of doors that Johannes pushed open.

"Welcome to the Penthouse of our Auction House." Johannes said as he lightly bowed and pointed his arm in the room to direct Dom inside. 

As Dom entered he was impressed to see that the room was large and well lit, with three large marble chaise lounge's in the middle of the room. At the far end of the room was a seating area that over looked the auction space itself. To the left of the door was a wooden bar area, that was manned by an attractive woman, whilst to the right of the door was a table adorned with a variety of exotic fruits and meats. 

Crassus nodded his head in approval, having lived a lavish life in Ancient Rome, this was to his taste. Where as Xun Yu was a family head of a major Ancient Chinese family and had see similar lavish before, but he himself was more frugal and didn't push for such luxury. 

"Please help yourself to food and drink." Johannes said, "If you would like any entertainment, please ask and I will make sure that it is provided. We can supply any entertainment that you wish."

Johannes winked at the three men as he said this, and directed them to the three chaise lounges in the middle.

"I will give you a couple of minutes to get settled, once you have, I will run through the proceeding of the Auction before it get's started." Johannes continued.

Dom did as he was told and took a seat on one of the chaise loungers, where as Crassus headed towards the food table first and grabbed himself a handful of grapes and a few slides of meat that had been cut from the leg of a pig.

"May I have a drink?" Xun Yu asked as he sat down, and the attractive woman behind the bar was quick to react, grabbing a well crafted glass cup from her counter and filling it with a diluted red wine. She soon headed over and passed the cup to Xun Yu who thanked her.

Crassus soon took a seat and began to eat, he also asked for a cup and the three of them waited for Johannes to start.

"The Auction will be split in to three parts. The first part is mainly targeted at those on the lower rungs, with smaller items that could help assist them in their growth. Obviously if you see anything that you like, you are more than welcome to bid." Johannes started, whilst Dom looked down at the Auction house below. 

The room was a massive auditorium, that directed to a raised platform at the bottom. There were rows of stacked seats, and above them was the VIP Booth's that were across two floors. The first floor was for mid tiered VIP's where as the top floor where Dom was, was for top tier VIP's. Dom could see that the Auditorium could easily seat a thousand people, however today it was a Lord's and Leaders auction and was therefore would not be as full as he expected. 

"The second part of the Auction will be the more interesting part for you, there will be good mid tier items that can help your town grow as well as support individuals within. We expect that this will be the busiest part with both those on the lower rungs and those on the higher all clashing for similar items." Johannes continued. "If there is something you like, but you miss out this time, please do let us know and we can take a commission to try and locate you another one for the future."

Dom was impressed by the organisation as he saw people starting to enter the auditorium below. There was a large variety of clothing worn by the delegates that entered, showing the wide spectrum of locations that they had travelled from. Dom suspected that all those in this room would be his competitors eventually as Riverside grew and grew to become the biggest kingdom on World Conquest Online, or so he hoped. 

"The final part of the auction is the special items part, where rare items will be shared. We suspect that those on the lower rungs may want to bid for these items, but only those in the top tiers will be able to afford them." Johannes stated.

"How do we bid and pay for the items?" Crassus commented as he took a bite of some of the meat he had taken from the food table.

"Your wealth has been calculated and therefore we can give you credit based on those numbers. If you purchase something, we will expect you to withdraw that money from your storage and give it to us upon your return." Johannes replied.

"How much wealth have you calculated for us?" Crassus asked.

"If we base it on a currency of gold coins, you are valued at close to one and a half million gold coins, which is a substantial amount of money compared to most." Johannes said kindly, "However, as you are aware you are rich compared to your peers, but you are not at a level where you can compete with some of the big kingdoms and empires."

"No, we are well aware of that." Xun Yu commented, "but at least we know where we stand. I do not believe we will intend to spend anywhere near that much as we will need gold for our own development."

Johannes bowed with a smile and stepped back to allow Dom, Crassus and Xun Yu to discuss. They all leant in towards each other, Crassus with his food, Xun Yu with his wine and Dom with his self. 

"We need to not spend more than five hundred thousand." Crassus stated seriously, "Otherwise we run the risk of not being cash rich. I do not however believe that anyone can compete with us financially at this stage so we should be fine."

"I agree." Xun Yu said, "Unless something exceptional comes up, we should budget well and only purchase what is needed."

"Let's do that then." Dom agreed, "If either of you see anything of worth, please shout out and we will go for it. Otherwise we will stay quiet." 

"We do not want to draw to much attention if we can." Crassus nodded, "Let's try to be low key."

"For some reason, I don't think that will go to plan." Xun Yu said with a shoulder shrug. 

The three all leant back, showing that they were done with their conversation.

"Are there any rules?" Xun Yu asked Johannes.

"Not really, just to be polite with your fellow delegates and not to purchase everything. You may have buying power, but it doesn't look good for the Auction House if everything is sold to one person." Johannes replied with a kind smile. 

The group nodded in understanding, the never planned to purchase everything in the first place. Dom wanted the weaker players to have a chance, but he definitely would not miss out on the best items.

"Now, if you would like to head towards the main seats at the front, the Auction will commence shortly." Johannes said, seeing that they were done talking. "I will stay here and liaise with the main auction if anything is needed. When you want to bid, please shout from here and you will be prioritised. Please also let me know if you want any entertainment, be that female or male."

"Thanks Johannes. We will not need any entertainment." Dom replied as he stood up to take his seat at the front, giving Crassus a look to say no, as he seemed to have a tempted look on his face.

...

Dom sat down and looked down at the now filled room, as well as the Sole Players and the small entourage that some of them had been allowed based on their positions. Dom saw that there was more than 500 people in the room. He suspected that not all of these could be Lord players, and some must be guild leaders and other types of leaders that had placed highly in their own individual rankings.

He then looked up to see if he could see the other top ten players that were in the surrounding VIP rooms. He guessed that Prince Dong Cheng would be in one of the rooms near him, seeing that the top players had the best suites. He looked to the left first and looked across each room that he could see as the auditorium curved in a semi circle. Dom felt he was pretty central and could see about eight rooms on his left and around eight on his right. He realised that some of the other rooms must be top players from other rankings. 

"Do you see anyone of interest?" Xun Yu asked Dom, as he also looked around.

"Not so far." Dom stated, seeing that on the left the seats were still being taken, with the short person from the lobby being four rooms to the left. The others rooms also began to fill and Dom could see a variety of he had downstairs in the entrance earlier. Dom then turned to the right and looked, seeing a similar site. 

"It seems that in the room five rooms to our right, someone is looking this way." Crassus commented, as he looked from behind his Sabre Tooth Mask. 

Dom looked to see who was looking at them, the leader also wore a mask, but had light green eyes that shone through it. Her mask was of a butterfly and had been well crafted in some colourful material. Beside her were a man and a woman that did not look extraordinary in any way. 

"They are the only other people I can see in a mask." Xun Yu stated.

"I thought they were looking in our direction as we were attractive." Crassus commented seriously, "but maybe it is the masks."

"Maybe it is." Dom agreed as he saw someone walk on to the stage below.

....

The person that entered the stage was a tall, curvaceous woman with black hair and hazel eyes. She wore a tightly fitted dress and looked very appealing to Dom's eyes. Beside her were two young men, who carried a large box that they placed on a long lavish fabric covered table, that was at the front of the stage.

"Welcome to the Lords and Leaders Auction." She announced, "I am Petunia and I will be your first Auctioneer, for the first part of the Auction. I will be sharing the items and their background as we go through the Auction. Bids for these items will be in Gold Coins, which you will all now be aware off. Each bid in this part, must have an increment of at least one Gold Coin."

Dom could see some excited faces in the audience, where as others had a downtrodden face. Not everyone had the financial backing that Dom had from his raids and excavations during the last few in game weeks.

She took an item from the box that had been placed on the table, and held it up in the air for all to see. Dom recognised the item straight away, and realised that this could be a very productive auction if this was only the first part of the Auction..