Pig Tails

Meritamen and Crassus both soon arrived in the Grand Hall. Meritamen was dressed in a tight fitting linen toga, that showed off her curves, it had purple streaks on the trims and she had a regal feel to her as she stood there waiting. Her hair was held tight in a high ponytail, whilst on her face was a sabre tooth tiger mask, similar to the ones wore at the first auction by Dom, Crassus and Xun Yu. Her arms were covered in golden bangles, and around her neck was a golden necklace with a sabre tooth tiger head pendant. 

Crassus also wore a smart toga, similarly regal, with red lining it's edges. He also wore a variety of jewellery and his sabre tooth tiger mask. Dom dressed similar to Crassus, but had the purple that matched with Meritamen. He had handed his sword to Lucius and they waited for the portal to arrive. 

The Portal soon did arrive as the System let Dom know it was time. The three of them stepped through in to the same hall that Dom and Crassus had arrived in last time. The room was much busier this time, with hundreds of people crowded around, some chatting in small groups, whilst others waited to be directed to the main Auction floor. 

As with last time, there was a huge variety of clothing, with some dressed in layers of fur for the deep cold, where as others seemed to have come from exotic islands and wore very little. There were a variety of headgear being worn as well, from broadbrimmed hats to metal helmets. The temperature in the room was very neutral, neither hot nor cold, and this suited the variety of guests well. 

Dom was impressed to see Johannes was stood waiting for him, waving at Dom to get his attention as he headed towards him and his contingent. Johannes had two smartly dressed women by his side as he greeted Dom, Crassus and Meritamen.

"Welcome back Lord Lazarus, this time to the Top Players Auction." Johannes said happily in greeting. "I have been assigned to look after you again. I hope you have just as much success this time as you did last."

"Thank you Johannes, it seems much busier today!" Dom replied as he once again looked around at the room that was getting busier and busier.

"Ah yes, there are about one thousand invitees to today's auction, plus some guests for the more successful ones amongst you. I expect it will be an entertaining event." Johannes stated, "It is also good to see you as well Mr Crassus, but I seem you have replaced Mr Xun Yu." 

"And you." Crassus replied at the greeting. "Xun Yu has prior commitments."

"Then may I ask who is this wonderful woman?" Johannes asked as he looked over at Meritamen, whose face was mainly covered by her mask, but her eyes still peered through.

"I am Lady Lazarus." Meritamen replied with a cheeky tone. To which Johannes smiled back and bowed his head.

"Then Lord and Lady Lazarus, as well as Mr Crassus, please come this way." Johannes asked as he turned and headed towards the stairs that led to the VIP rooms. 

As they walked, Dom looked around to see if he could see any players he recognised from the Lords and Leaders Auction, he recognised a few of the bidders from the lower tiers, but didn't see any of the other Top Ten as of yet. He also wondered if Alice would be at the Auction, as she had placed in the top one thousand. 

"I thought only the top one hundred were invited to the Auction?" Dom asked, remembering what the system had told him when he had placed in the rankings. He remembered it clearly stated the top one hundred would be invited.

"Only the top one hundred are invited to take part in the final part of the Auction today, but the first part is for the top one thousand. We wanted to let them see the total Auction so as to want to improve upon themselves." Johannes replied as they walked up the stairs towards the VIP Rooms Dom was familiar with.

"How is the Auction split up this time?" Crassus asked as they walked past their room from last time and in to the one that was next door. 

"Similar to last time, the Auction is split in to three. The first part of the auction is with items that are aimed at a wide variety of those in attendance, but are of a lower level. The second part is for those that are in the top five hundred, and includes some more middle tier items. The final part is aimed at the top one hundred and includes some rarer items." Johannes replied as he opened the door and they all walked in.

The room was decorated similar to the other, but was slightly smaller. The slightly smaller size however did not affect the overall grandeur of the room, which had a food table, bar and three seats at the front like the others. Dom suspected that each room was a copy of the previous, with a slight size alteration to make those in the better rooms feel more distinguished. 

"Please can I have my usual." Crassus asked one of the women that accompanies Johannes and had headed behind the bar. Whilst he asked this, he himself headed towards the food and started to grab himself a small plate.

Meritamen however headed straight for the balcony to look down at all of the other attendees who were now slowly starting to pile in to the room. 

"Such an exquisite place, being able to look down from this height makes you feel powerful." Meritamen complimented, "We should build something similar in Riverside."

"Why do we need an Auction House in Riverside?" Dom asked her, as he headed towards the Balcony as well.

"We don't, not yet." She replied, "But it would be great for performances."

"Remember, the feeling of power and actual power are very different things." Crassus commented from the food table.

"Let's see what happens in the future." Dom agreed, agreeing with her sentiments, but not thinking it was a priority as of yet. He had chosen to ignore Crassus. 

"Unlike the previous Auction, this one is not primarily aimed at Lords or Leaders." Johannes stated as Dom and Meritamen took their seats. "So most of the items will be aimed at individuals and groups, rather than Towns, Guilds and Cities."

"I am sure we will find some interesting items." Crassus commented as he took the seat on the right of Dom, with Meritamen on the left. 

"Oh, I am confident that you will." Johannes grinned as he stepped back.

They all looked around at the many people that entered the room, Dom particularly looked for Alice, as well as the members of the Lords and Leaders Top Ten that he had met at the last Auction. He also looked at the other rooms, to see if he could notice either Prince Dong Cheng or VladInvader96 who were the only others from that Auction to be in the Top Ten again. Dom also looked out for PrettyGreenEyes, the 7th placed Lord.

"Seen anyone of interest?" Meritamen asked as she watched Dom's eyes.

"Not yet." Dom replied, as he sat back in his chair and looked towards the stage now instead. The usual table was in place, with it's lavish long white cloth on top of it. The host hadn't appeared yet, but some small boxes were already on the table. 

Soon the room became full and the doors to the entrance were pulled too. There was lots of talking taking place below, but this quietened down quickly as soon as Petunia, the tall, curvaceous, black haired and hazel eyed Auctioneer appeared. 

"For those that do not know me, I am Petunia." She announced, "I will be overseeing the first part of today's auction. For those that do not know me, congratulations, now you do."

There was some nervous laughter from those on the lower tiers, where as those on the upper tiers smiled at her comment. Petunia had brought some huge items to the different auctions she had worked on, and those that had been to any of the Auctions new that good things were going to happen soon.

"My first item today is this." Petunia stated, as she opened the first box to reveal a black book with white gilded writing on it. "This is a book on intermediate sword smithing, in side are many secrets and techniques that have been gathered from different era from early history. It is written in a universal language so that those that see it can read it. I am starting the bidding at ten gold coins, with increases of five gold coins."

This wasn't a skill book that could be read and instantly gives the player a level up, the books in World Conquest Online were full of knowledge that had to be studied and learnt.

"That's a good item for someone in the smithing trade." Crassus commented, "However Ou Yezi could teach advanced smithing if he had more apprentices."

"Maybe it is something we should look at with the youth that are growing up in Riverside." Meritamen replied as the bidding started to take place.

"Ten Gold Coins!" The first bid was made by a hairy man in the lower tier, wearing a leather apron. 

"Fifteen Gold Coins!" Another counter bid, this time a woman with long grey hair and wearing a black dress and white apron. 

"I bet Golden Sun would go for this." Dom commented as he watched the bids increase, before the item sold for forty five gold coins.

Soon Petunia brought out another item, this time some rare jewels that could be used by someone in either the Jewellery or Clothing trades to make a higher tier of clothing. The Auction continued like this for some time, with materials, books of knowledge, simple weapons or armour all being sold to the audience. The majority had been sold to the lower tier, where as some of the materials and books had sold in the middle tier as well. 

After over an hour of bidding, Petunia pulled the first session to a close and put in place a short break. Unlike last time, no one left Dom's room and they just discussed the first few items that had come up and their excitement for the better items that were soon to come up. Johannes hinted that they would most likely not be impressed until the final part, but to keep their eyes open anyway.

Soon Linus, the other Auctioneer appeared, wearing his white toga and having his long blonde hair flow loosely. He was followed by his two sisters again and waited for silence before he began to speak.

"I am Linus and I will be proceeding over the second part of the Auction." Linus introduced, "Some of you will know me, those that do not, now do."

His sisters carried a large box that they placed on the table, of which Linus opened and with two hands pulled out the item. 

"This is a special Halberd, created for the famous Han General Lu Bu in the late second century. It is of a high quality and is suitable for any Halberd or large weapon specialist. The Halberd will start at two hundred gold coins, and will increase in tens." 

"Impressive." Crassus said as he looked at it, the Halberd had a long metal staff, with a Damascus head and red ribbon tassels, "Not as good as imposing as your Slaying Spear, but still a mighty weapon."

"It's a shame it's just the weapon and not the general as well." Meritamen said, having heard about the great warriors of the time from Gan Ning and the artist Gu Kaizhi.

"Agreed!" Dom replied, impressed by the sight of the weapon, and wondering why it was in the middle part of the auction and not the later auction.

"Two hundred gold coins!" The first bid was made by a familiar excited voice. Dom looked down and saw the speaker at the junction between the lower and middle tiers of the Audience. He instantly recognised the two blonde pig tails on the back of his friend Alice Roberts head.