The Gathered

"Paul!" Dom exclaimed in shock, as his closest subordinate from the tutorial appeared.

Paul was also wearing a Toga, and had a sword strapped to his waist. Behind him followed a familiar looking defeated warrior, Duncan. Duncan held a large axe, resting on his shoulder. Behind them both were 2 Shepherds, both who he had charged in to battle with, they had small swords on their waste's and wooden cane's in their hands. Further behind the 4 of them was a small collection of Sheep.

"We heard the Captain was setting up a new Village! The Chief said that it was ok if I came along, We decided Duncan could come alone as he didn't seem too bad. Bradley and Keith wanted to come as you were a bit of a hero to them! We also brought Sheep! As every good Village needs a good amount of Sheep." Paul started. "Mary wanted to come, but her father said 'Mary, if you go, who will take over from me?'"

"It's good to have you here Paul!" Dom replied with a smile, "And you Duncan, Bradley and Keith. We are looking at creating a good place here. With you and Duncan we can set up Town Guards, whilst the Warriors we have can be our offensive force. Bradley and Keith, I am sure that you will be very busy very soon. Lucius who you will meet later, will definitely take you under his wing and find you some good land for the Sheep you have brought!"

"I was worried that you wouldn't be happy to have us." Duncan added, "I am happy that I was wrong."

"I'm always happy to be among friends and familiar faces." Dom commented. "There are some houses over there, why not find yourselves one for now to share."

"We will." Paul replied, "Should we leave the sheep here?"

"No, probably best not." Dom responded, "Keith and Bradley, can you take them to the flatlands over there. If you see a muscular man, and a man in armour with a purple crest on his helmet. Tell them that Lazarus sent you."

The two shepherds nodded there heads in acknowledgement, before directing the sheep away from the town centre and towards the flatlands in the distance. Paul and Duncan smiled at him before heading towards the Houses in the distance were a crowd of people were gathered and directing each other.

"View Stats" Dom commanded.

[Town Centre of Riverside

Village Grade - S

Village Level - 1

Village Occupancy - 40

Level 1 Perks:

(Villager Spawn S Grade - 5 rolls per day, high chance of high grades or skills appearing)(Family bonds S Grade - high chance of family members joining spawned villagers)(Quest creator S Grade- random quest creation, high chance of up to grade S quests appearing)

Level Advancement Quest - Have 5 level 1 buildings, not including Granary and Houses - 3/5]

"Great, so I need two new buildings and we can level the Town Centre up!" Dom exclaimed. "I need to get some quests started. Game Support, how do I create a quest?"

[Player Lazarus just needs to request a Quest from the Town Centre and one will be created, multiple requests can be created at the same time. You may also be given quests from NPC's and from Game Support throughout your journey]

"Very well, I request quests please." Dom asked politely.

[How many would you like?]

"Please may I have 3?"

[Quest 1 - Upgrade your Town Centre to level 2.

Level Difficulty - E

The key to a strong base, it having a level of depth of buildings and people, completing the Advancement quest will give you a strong start to life in the wilds of World Conquest Online.]

[Quest 2 - Conquer a Town

Level Difficulty - D to S, depending on the Town conquered.

You are not alone in World Conquest Online, the World is full of players and NPC's. Show that you mean business on your quest for conquest. How you deal with this quest is up to you, but choosing the correct target is key. You now have a small force growing, how will you deploy it?]

[Quest 3 - Learn a Skill

Level Difficulty - C

Learning and developing yourself is key, as you surround yourself with new people, why not learn from them. Mission will be awarded when a novice level is a new skill is completed. This can be either Domestic or Military. Do you want to be a Weaver or a Hoplite? A Fisherman or a Lumberjack?]

"Oh wow, a varied selection, Quest 1 and 3 shouldn't be too difficult to complete and will just take time. Quest 2 is where the problems will lie, I'll need to speak with Lucius, Gan Ning and Tomyris about how we approach this." Dom said to himself.

[Member of Riverside is first to discover the nearby River. As the leader of the city and a player, you get to choose a name. Please name the River.] The system suddenly announced whilst he was thinking about the quests he was given.

"I have no idea, I haven't seen it yet." Dom replied, "Erm, let's call it the Calm River. If it's not a Calm River, then we can laugh at me later."

Dom headed inside the Town Centre and walked down the empty pathway, past the benches and seats that were on either side of him. He walked towards the raised chair and sat on it. He expected it to be comfortable, but it was actually hard and quite cold. He definitely needed some padding making for it, having a cold and sore bottom in the game was a realistic step to far for him.

"Game Support." Dom asked, "How long have I been playing?"

[Player has been online for 2 hours and 30minutes in real time, which equates to 7 hours and 30 minutes in game time. It is now 21:30.]

"Wow, that's crazy, it feels like it's been so long, but it's only been 2 and a half hours!" Dom commented, "Should I check on Andrew or continue playing? He's probably absorbed in the game, I'll continue to play through the night and catch up with him in the morning! Let's see if I feel well rested whilst playing"

Whilst Dom sat there contemplating the game and what he had achieved so far, the invited members to the meeting slowly started to arrive. The first to enter was Lucius, who was followed by Alexander. They sat at the benches closest to the where Dom was on his chair. They were soon joined by Gan Ning and Tomyris who sat opposite Lucius and Alexander. Lastly to join were the family heads, Benjamin, Alejando, Lars, Helena, Wang Shu and Paul.

"Welcome all." Dom started, "To the first official Town Meeting of Riverside."

The gathered looked at each other and smiled, some of the family heads patting others on the back in excitement.

"To begin, I want to outline my thoughts on the next steps, before allowing Lucius to outline his plans. We will then work through and come up with a completed plan." Dom continued. "They key things for me are to build up the village to allow for all of your families to have a good starting point. We need to increase the housing and the other key buildings within the area. As well as create a steady flow of supplies that can feed and support us."

"I agree with the outline, but this is how I think we should do it." Lucius commented, before outlining his plan.

After a couple hours of discussion, everyone started to leave the hall. There were smiles on some faces, whilst others had looks of deep thought and complexity.

"I will ask my wife and daughters to come and make food for everyone." Alejandro commented as they left. "If Wang Shu can have his sons get the supplies from the Granary."

"I'll have them head over straight away." Wang Shu replied, a deep thought still in his mind as he contemplated the large amount of work he had to do. One of the key things was for them to increase the amount of housing exponentially, with Lars and his sons preparing for a busy day the following morning to start on the Forest.

"I'll tell everyone to gather in 1 hour then?" Paul asked, the new leader of the Town Guard, whose sole responsibility was to help where needed and protect them from any unexpected situations. The Town guard currently was him and Duncan. Their other role was to deputise for Lucius, who was now their senior.

"I'll gather the Hoplites and discuss with them." Alexander commented, He was currently under the command of Gan Ning and Tomyris, who had decided that once their was enough for two units that they would take one each. There initial plan was to inspect and outline the surrounding areas. Making a note of key suppliers or any areas of interest. They were also to look out for any other Human Settlements that were nearby, with Gan Ning in charge of this particular endeavour.

"I look forward to it." Dom replied. They had arranged that for the first night they would hold a huge banquet in the Town Centre, before all retiring for early nights. Alexander's men would rotate in shifts to patrol the Town on the first night, with the intention of the next batch of Warriors from the hall or Villagers from the Centre to support with following nights under Paul or Duncan's watch.

Dom was excited to see if sleeping in the game, would be as helpful as sleeping in real life, because if it was, maybe he would never be late for a lesson again. First though, he had a Hero to roll and a banquet to hold.