"I was going to head to Plataea, but after reading GeneralSlaughter's comment, I decided to come here instead." The Trireme Captain explained. "I was fourteenth in the Lord Class Rankings and thought I would challenge Eighth. After seeing the difference between myself and First, it will be interesting to see the difference between First and Eighth."
"I was scared, but I couldn't miss the opportunity." Another Player stated to the Trireme Captain. "I did some research online and I think there are a lot of things that can be impacted."
"We have drawn up a plan of Battle." Dom stated, before turning to Crassus. "But first, I want my Chancellor to speak."
"Chancellor?" One of the other Captains stated with a raised eyebrow, a role that was far removed from where he was at in his own journey currently. Dom turned to Crassus who nodded and stepped forwards.
"I am Marcus Licinius Crassus, Chancellor of Lord Lazarus and his lands." Crassus introduced himself in his orator like voice, with lots of the Players looking at him wide wide eyes, his name famous to most who knew anything of Roman history. "Whilst we have mainly come here to defeat the Persians and gain our own rewards from that battle. We have other targets as well. We had discussed this before, but we are in need to grow our already growing fleet even faster."
The ship's deck was silent for a few seconds after Crassus paused, with some seemingly aware of what Crassus was alluring to, whilst others had slight panic that they would have their ships taken by force.
"We have gold, enough gold for a small Guild or a Lord Class Player to grow much faster." Crassus continued, "A Ship can be the lifeblood of a growing enterprise, however with the gold I can supply, you could purchase at least double what you have now. If you are interested in making some very quick gold, I am happy to oblige you."
The deck was silent for a few more seconds, before a Liburna Captain spoke up.
"If I sold you my ship, what happens to me and my crew during this battle?" The Captain asked seriously, seemingly open to the question.
"If your Crew are willing, we will purchase their services from you. If you wish to retain them, they can either temporarily wait on a Transport Ship throughout the quest, or we can have them dropped off at a nearby island where they can enjoy themselves for the duration of the quest. There could be potential opportunities to spend some of that Gold." Crassus explained openly, whilst Zhou Yu seemed to be taking a mental note. "We will also drop you off with an ample amount of wine and beer to top up your own supplies that you brought with you."
"How many ships are you willing to buy?" A Transport Ship captain asked from further down, having been quiet throughout most of the meeting so far.
"It depends on how many crews we can gain as we progress. We do not wish to overly dilute our current forces which are needed in the upcoming battle." Crassus replied honestly with a shrug of his shoulders, he had explained that they had wealth, but not confirmed how much.
"After we have finished discussing our strategy, we can separate in to different groups. Those that wish to join the Battle will be one group, those that are intending to find other opportunities in the Battle Map a second and the final group are those that are willing to listen to offers for their ships." Dom declared, before standing up. "My Strategist will now outline the outline of our plan and some of the opportunities that may be nearby. Are there any questions before I continue?"
"Why would you share opportunities?" One of the Trireme Captains asked.
"Because there is only so much we can do ourselves, I would rather have long term friends than more enemies." Dom replied honestly, to a few nods from the crowd of Captains, whilst other seemed to have their own thoughts. "We are all based in the South East of the Northern Continent, whilst that area may be huge and we possibly will never meet on the map, it is good that we can meet here first."
"There will be a lot more that would have chosen Plataea." Another Captain stated, "The fact there is only fifty one of us here is quite small when there are millions of players."
"Most wouldn't have the means to a ship this early on in the game, or wanted to take the risk if they had." A Bireme Captain responded, with some nods in agreement.
"Those that have come here are a minority, but also those with a different outlook." Another Captain put forwards, "This is a mission for Opportunity, where as Plataea is a mission for Battle."
"Agreed." The first Trireme Captain replied. "So Lazarus, what is your plan?"
"Our plan is simple, we want to capture enemy ships and avoid as much of the Battle as possible from being a land battle at Mycale. In history Mycale was taken, but there were contributing factors. With Players on the Persian side, this will be much harder." Dom began, recounting what had already been agreed with his Strategists. "Thankfully GeneralSlaughter also wants a sea battle, I am hoping his over confidence works in our favour."
"What if more players from his region have joined the naval battle based on his words?" A Trireme Captain asked, "He could potentially have many more ships than us."
"He could, but the Persians are low on morale at this point and it'll be a challenge enough to persuade them to fight at sea, as long as we use the correct tactics then we should come out ahead." Dom replied, agreeing with the comment, before turning to Zhou Yu.
"We will need to scout ahead, but from my plans I see that the enemy will expect us to think that they will retreat and therefore stage an attack near Samos as originally planned. They will most likely try ambush tactics and the like to thin the Greek Alliance's numbers using the Player ships, before the low Morale Persians decide to fully commit." The masked Zhou Yu explained as everyone listened, "I have plans to counter this, and will discuss with those that wish to join us in the battle under the Command of Lord Lazarus."
"Thank you General." Dom stated before any questions could be asked, "I will have some refreshments shared around, these are some of the wine, beer and fruits from my City. Please talk amongst yourselves for the next ten minutes, after that those that wish to fight will meet me back here, those that wish to make some easy money can meet with Chancellor Crassus at the rear of the ship, whilst those that are looking for other Opportunities can meet with my other masked General by the mast."
Sun Ce headed to the mast, also wearing a mask. He wore light armour with his muscles and scarred arms exposed. The sight of his was imposing and some of the Captains seemed visibly surprised by the General that had appeared, with Gan Ning also appearing at a similar time. The Aegean Sea was full of plenty of smaller islands and between Thucydides and Artemisia, they had created a plan to get rid of those that weren't fully committed to the Alliance or willing to sell them their ships. To the south there were neutral islands in the conflict, with the biggest one being Crete. The plan was to send them towards Crete which would take them a couple of days of travel away from both Plataea and Mycale, whilst giving them some opportunities to trade on that large island.
Some of the Hoplite onboard began handing out drinks and dishes of food, whilst Andrew headed towards Dom with a light smile on his face, grabbing a cup of wine for himself as he did so.
"I never knew you had such an imposing side, if I didn't know you, I would have thought you intended to eat them all." Andrew laughed quietly in to Dom's ear.
"If I don't, Zhou Yu will." Dom replied, with the Strategist smiling through his mask at the conversation.
"Do you think we'll purchase many?" Andrew stated, already planning to depart for Plataea and Athens, even if he only travelled with the four Titanaconda's.
"I hope so, a fast ship would be ideal, but I will take anything at this point." Dom replied as he looked at the deck of the Bellona as the Captains began talking to each other and introducing themselves.
"I want one of those two Longships, I have never sailed one before, but they can travel in deeper water than the rest and if we get some good wind they are the fastest here." Andrew explained, "If we can take one home and reverse engineer it, they would be a good addition to the fleets for fast communication."
"Let's see what happens." Dom replied as some of the Captains came to speak with him.
...
"What are the numbers like?" Dom asked Zhou Yu as the different Captains went to the specified areas of the ships.
"Eleven with Crassus, ten with Sun Ce, which leaves thirty for war including our own." Zhou Yu replied, "Much better than I expected, we just need to find out what ships now."
"Eleven with Crassus is a lot, I hope he gets us some crews, otherwise they are pointless ships until we take them home." Dom stated, but was willing to split some crew if needed for at least one of the ships."
"Shall we start our War Council?" Zhou Yu asked as the Captains began gathering around the map of the Aegean Sea. Dom agreed and walked forwards, with Zhou Yu and Andrew beside him.
"I am Lazarus, you are currently on my ship the Bellona. Beside me is BlackHawk, but his name is Andrew." Dom stated, with a slight laugh from the group at Dom using Andrew's real name and not his game name, as many of them had. Before continuing, "Firstly, if you can let me know your names and your ships, that will help us outline the plan better."
"I am GiantWrangler, Lord Player and I have a Trireme." The first Captain stated, this one was the one that had explained he had joined to fight GeneralSlaughter and was currently ranked fourteenth on the Lord's Rankings. He was a tall and muscular person who looked to be in their late twenties.
"Steven McSteven, Trireme, Guild Leader." A Second Captain introduced themselves. He had red hair and a red beard, and also looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties.
"WineWind, Lord Player, Trireme." Another introduced, this time a woman with long brown hair. She seemed to be in her early twenties.
"Chung, Guild Leader, Trireme." The fourth Trireme Captain introduced themselves, followed by the Mengchong Captain LittleLord, Longship Captain Astrid, and several others. In total the four Trireme had joined them, as well as eight Bireme, Nine Liburna, one Longship, one Mengchong and five of the various transport type ships.
"We have more ships than most of the Greek Alliance members have brought, with our Quinquereme and five Trireme we have a powerful frontline, however the Bireme and Liburna will be key to our victory." Dom stated, before turning to Zhou Yu to explain the strategy. Dom then looked across the deck at the large grin on Crassus's face as Zhou Yu stepped towards the map and pointed to the Isle of Delos where they were currently based.