The Sabre Tooth Tavern

Dom sat inside the Tavern at a table with Subutai, Lucius and Shang Yang. His Guards had waited outside whilst the two statesmen had joined Dom after seeing all of the commotion he had caused this morning. The wooden chair he was sat on was comfortable and he was impressed with the length of the bar that would allow multiple people to be served at once.

Upstairs there were many bedrooms, which travellers could book for the evening. There were also some private changing rooms on the second floor where staff could change clothes or have some down time. There was also a small stage at the far end, where Dom expected shows of some kind could be shown. The Tavern was clean and well lit, easily able to seat over three hundred people either inside or out. Dom knew that once Peruda shipped her first barrels of Beer, the Tavern would become a very busy part of Riverside, for now they would use some stock that they could purchase through the market stalls.

When Dom had upgraded the Tavern, he had checked the stats.

[Tavern of Riverside - Please Name

Building Grade - S

Building Level - 2

Building Upgrades - Confirmed once Upgrade Path selected.

Available Upgrade Paths - Entertainment, Orator, Eatery or Hotel.

The Tavern can be upgraded in multiple directions, depending on the wants for it's location.]

Dom had asked Subutai on which path he should take, they had decided that a Hotel wasn't currently needed within Riverside, so they ruled that option out straight away. Dom felt that an eatery wasn't currently needed as he would rather work towards having dedicated restaurants for that. This left him with two choices Entertainment or Orator. Subutai had ruled out Orator directly, explaining that he felt the long drawn out discussions and poetry would not entertain the masses which they needed.

So they decided to go down the path of the Entertainment instead, as they wanted to entertain the adults within Riverside. Dom had selected this option, and that was why the room had upgraded in the way it had.

[Tavern of Riverside - Please Name

Building Grade - S

Building Level - 2

Building Type - Entertainment

Building Upgrades - Stage, Private Rooms

This Tavern has been upgraded to follow the route of entertaining the adults within Riverside. A Stage has been provided for performances, whilst Private Rooms have been supplied for accommodation and private meetings.]

"So that is the current state of play." Dom said, after filling in Lucius and Shang Yang on his and Subutai's exploits from the morning, having placed six new buildings and having upgraded enough so that their only outstanding upgrade mission was to reach a two thousand population.

"Realistically we should hit that target in the next two days." Lucius replied, "I completely agree with your decision to not use the Town Centre Upgrade Token. We could upgrade twice at that point, which will give us a huge growth."

"I agree, once again we are in a deficit of Civilian growth in comparison to the Military." Shang Yang interjected. "We are of course on a war footing, and Crassus had aimed to recruit additional people, however once the war footing is over we will struggle to maintain a normal balance."

"The warriors could semi-retire and work on the farms on in construction." Lucius countered.

"They could, but that is not their expertise." Shang Yang replied, "It's very difficult to have a trained military, especially to the level of Riverside, we should not dilute that. We will always need a strong standing army. No, we need to upgrade our Citizenry levels."

"Once we have upgraded the Town Centre twice, we should have a much higher influx." Dom agreed. "What are your thoughts on our new guard unit?"

"They are impressive." Shang Yang accepted, "It has made me proud that my nation was able to develop to that stage. It is good to know our home front is well protected by a diverse regiment."

"And that fact you decided to let them use Sabre Tooth Tiger's as a mount if just ridiculous." Lucius laughed, "Who would have thought that someone would use Tiger's as a mount!"

As they talked, a woman walked over to them, she was wearing a tight fitting long tunic that reached down to the floor. She took gentle steps as she approached and gently bowed her head.

"Would any of you gentlemen like a drink." She politely asked.

"What do you currently have?" Subutai asked, a smile on his face as he knew what they currently had. Once the Tavern had spawned, he had dispatched some Warriors to the market to purchase some of the beer and wine that was available.

"We have a small collection of wine and a few barrels of beer." She politely replied.

"Did you say wine?" Lucius quickly asked with wide eyes, catching the woman off-guard.

"Yes?" She replied questioningly.

"Amazing!" He exclaimed, "we will have four cups of wine please, 9 water for each portion of wine please."

Subutai and Dom started laughing, whilst Shang Yang just shook his head in disappointment at his counterparts actions. The woman bowed her head and headed off behind the bar where the Wine barrels were placed.

"You got wine?" Lucius asked Subutai and Dom seriously.

"The Market had some." Subutai shrugged, "I thought you would appreciate the treat."

"Subutai, if you was a woman, I would kiss you." Lucius stated with a smile.

This caused the group to begin laughing again, and Dom was grateful that he had received the Tavern, hoping that the Citizens of Riverside could soon enjoy the same things that he was right now.

"Have you decided on a name for the Tavern yet?" Shang Yang asked.

"No, we were a bit stuck." Dom replied, "Our long list was terrible, we had names like Medusa's Wrath, River's Edge and Tigers Grotto."

"Yes, they are all terrible." Shang Yang agreed with a smile, "However their is some depth to them. How about The Sabre Tooth Tavern."

They were soon provided with the wine and all took a sip, Lucius lay back in pure relaxation on his chair, a look of ecstasy on his face, whilst the others continued to discuss.

"Crassus should be arriving soon." Shang Yang said, "I hope he has good luck with it."

"I am sure he will." Dom agreed, "We definitely sent the best person for it."

"I just hope he doesn't spend lots of the gold on things that we don't need." Subutai lamented, "He needs to get Mercenaries and Slaves. Yes I know, Slaves that we can release, but that is his mission."

"He'll end up buying some exotic animals for the Zoo he wants to build." Dom laughed.

"Maybe he'll buy a ship full of wine." Lucius commented.

"Did you plant all of the seeds we got back from the Battle of Kadesh?" Dom asked.

"Most of them yes, we should have a good variety of crops by the time everything has grown." Lucius replied, "However the best seeds are things that may take a few years to grow, what would be great is if we can get some trees and plants that have already grown shipped to Riverside."

"Or maybe a Cube of some kind that will spawn us some." Shang Yang agreed, "that would be a helpful item."

"Maybe the White Cube will do that?" Subutai replied, "So far we have only received stone, but that is because it is needed. Maybe when we are in peace, other items will arrive."

"That is a great point." Shang Yang accepted, before turning to Dom. "Lord Lazarus, you need to complete more quests and get more White Cubes."

"Ok, I will do my best!" Dom said, raising his hands in the air as in asking for peace.

"What are your next plans for the day?" Lucius asked Dom.

"There isn't a lot for me to do now." Dom replied, "The Ancient Underground City has been excavated, our scouts are deep in the forest trying to draw out a protective line and our military is on pause until Crassus returns with reinforcements. My only options are to continue to train with Pullo or head towards the mountain and inspect the Mine and the area around it."

"The Mine itself is interesting in it's own way, however the Mountain is definitely in need of exploration." Lucius replied, "It's huge and seems to be the start of a range that goes further to the north west. One thing that the discovery in the Silver Forest has said to me is that we are blind to our surroundings."

"Do we have any mountain experts?" Dom asked Subutai.

"No, some of the Hoplite have grown up around mountains, but we do not have an expert in that field." Subutai lamented, "We also need to prepare for our first naval ships launch, so we do not have any spare men for a large excursion. I also don't want to send a senior commander such as Tomyris or Gan Ning away from home with a potential battle on the horizon."

"We could send one of the newer Commanders?" Shang Yang said.

"We could, but Abubakar and Uriah are both used to flatter terrain and don't have the mountainous experience, they would be more of a hinderance." Subutai stated, his military head switched on now the conversations became more serious.

"I think Lucius is correct, this is something that we need to explore." Dom agreed, "Let's see if we have any Villagers that can help out. The young Scouts who helped in the attack on the Gluttonous Chief's Village may be suitable for it, they are young. We could dispatch them and a couple of Hoplite who have grown up around mountains, they could even take one of our few Donkey's that we still have as a pack animal."

"That sounds like a good plan." Subutai said, "I'll see to it this afternoon. They can depart tomorrow."

"So then, back to my question." Lucius interrupted, "What are your plans for the rest of the day?"

"From this, it sounds like I am training with Pullo." Dom said in a disgruntled manner.

Lucius leant forwards and patted Dom on the shoulder, "Being trained by the best, is a great thing. Maybe see if some of your new Forbidden Guards can show you a thing or two as well."

Just as Dom was about to reply, he was interrupted by Game Support as a string of information appeared before his eyes.

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