"He is more Chaotic than Sun Ce." Zhou Yu commented as the Bellona was about to beach itself on a beach in Delos. The other Captains had decided to travel on the Bellona with them as they travelled behind the Spartan Leadership. They had all been slightly shocked by Leotychides and hadn't experienced anything similar since they joined the game.
GiantWrangler had explained that he had done a quest of his own, but the level was much different in comparison to this one. They had all praised Dom and he took the praise as Artemisia and Crassus had told him to take all of the credit he could to raise his prestige.
"He may seem unpredictable, but as long as you can control his basic needs, then he is actually very easy to manage." Crassus replied, to which the others nodded in agreement. Dom was stood with Zhou Yu, Crassus, Artemisia and Gan Ning. Sun Ce was still on the Sibylla, whilst the other Captains had all headed to other parts of the ship to cast their eyes over the marvel that was the upgraded Bellona.
"Very much like Sun Ce." Zhou Yu laughed as they all braced themselves as the Bellona gently hit the gentle sand on the beach, the rest of their fleet landing to the east of them.
"Hopefully Xanthippus can help us control the narrative." Dom stated seriously as he realised that their plan to persuade Leotychides to attack the Player's may not come to fruition.
"He is a very different type of person." Artemisia commented with a light smile, "Let the two of them clash and then control the middle ground."
"Spartans and Athenian's really don't like each other much do they?" Gan Ning asked as Centurion Cato began shouting orders to the ships crew to lock down the ship for the night.
"Thucydides explained that after this war, the next is between the two of them and their allies." Artemisia replied with a shake of her head, "If they all knew how big the world was and worked together instead, they could have been an impressive force."
"They'll be defeated by themselves and their own infighting, making it easier for the Macedonians to conquer them and then the Roman's." Crassus laughed, before turning from the beach and gazing out to the sea. "Part of me wishes I had gone with Ling Tong to see what an old Greece looked like."
"But the Warrior in you wanted to stay?" Zhou Yu asked with a grin.
"The Warrior in me wanted to stay." Crassus agreed with a smile.
"And it had nothing to do with Artemisia being here?" Gan Ning teased, with both Crassus and Artemisia turning to him with looks of anger.
.....
After beaching the ships, some of the crew stayed on board, whilst the others set up a small camp with the other ships from their new allied player fleet. The players that had remained in Dom's fleet that had come with Andrew and Kai, were given the task to talk with the other players and crews to get some more information about them.
Centurions Septimius and Octavian set up a rotating watch between the Legionaries that would be primarily used as the marines in these Battles, to make sure that the ships were protected. Even though they had allied with these other players and would progress relationships with the Greeks, they still had to be prepared in case of any betrayal or greed.
Crassus had remarked that Leotychides may want to borrow the Bellona and any gold that was onboard, using the excuse that they were being borrowed for military purposes. Whilst Artemisia had explained that it was beneath Leotychides to do that, it was worth protecting the ship just in case.
Dom's Heroes had remained masked other than Crassus to keep their identities hidden from the other players. Sun Ce and Gan Ning were travelling the camp and talking with some of the other game characters. Whilst Zhou Yu was chatting with the Captains to learn more about their military experience, so he could work out the best ways to use them in the upcoming battle.
Dom himself was looking out to sea whilst Zhou Yu finished his conversations, he intended to speak with some of the Captains themselves to learn about their game experience so far, but he expected he would have plenty of time to do that over the coming days.
One of the Spartan Ships had stayed in the sea and directed the Athenians to another part of the island where they could beach themselves. It seemed that the small number of people on the religious island of Delos had expected the arrival of the large fleet and had sent a small welcoming delegation to Leotychides with gifts and offerings to the Spartan King.
A while passed as the Greek ships finished beaching their ships on the far side of the Spartans and the Players and their crews were finalising their camps, when a messenger from Leotychides arrived requesting Dom and his senior members to join him for food.
"It makes sense to take the Trireme Captains, myself and Crassus." Artemisia said after some discussion after the messenger had arrived.
"I would also take Actumerus with some of the guards, as well as some of our heavier armoured Hoplite." Zhou Yu agreed, "This will show the raw strength with the Batavian's, whilst also showing we are culturally aligned with some of the Hoplite."
Dom agreed and was soon followed by Crassus, Artemisia, the four Captains; GiantWrangler, Steven McSteven, Wine Wind and Chung. They were flanked by twelve guards, Actumerus and three Batavi's that intimidating even the other players, as well as eight elite Hoplite, two of which were Spartans and the others were Athenian. All of the guards had their faces partially masked in case they were recognised, this was mainly for the Hoplite but they decided to have them all follow with the same style, with the intention to speak with any of their old colleagues if they had chance.
They walked across the beach in the setting sun, with the soft sand of the Delos beach comfortable on their feet. Dom could feel the sand pushing through his toes as it rose through his sandals. The sea level had rose now and Dom could see that the waves were getting slightly choppy. Some of their ships such as the Transport Ships and the Mengchong weren't able to fully beach and were instead waiting slightly out to sea behind them as they began to gently rock.
The sound of talking could be heard along the whole coast as thousands of people disembarked and set up camps for the night, with some sleeping on the ships and others on the beaches beside them.
They followed the messenger that had initially invited them, taking them slightly off the beach and towards a slightly raised hill that overlooked the area that the three fleets had beached. The Hill was adorned by a giant canopy, with ancient marble arches and some Marble benches with a large fire pit in the middle. Some trees had also been chopped down, with their logs having been placed sideways as seats. Behind the Canopy where some cooks nearby were cooking a pig on another fire pit.
Leotychides was sat on a large marble throne that was in the centre, with around twenty of his own Captains sat around him, some space had been left on the left side of the fire pit for Dom and his group, whilst the space opposite them was currently empty. Leotychides had also brought some of his own guards, who stood sternly behind him and his captains. The Guards and the Spartans all looked towards Dom and his entourage with impressed eyes, the Batavi's were at least a head taller and wider than the Spartans, whilst his own Hoplite were much better equipped than the Spartans.
"Welcome Lord Lazarus, is good that you could join us. You even beat our Athenian allies here!" Leotychides welcomed with a wide smile, completely different to the first time they had met, now he had received a gift from them.
"It's no surprise, the Athenian's aren't the most reliable." One of the Spartan Captains laughed, whilst their allies all smiled and nodded in agreement. Dom could see that there was a mixture of Captains here, with different colourings to the light armour and clothing that they wore. Some seemed more happy than others when the Athenian's were insulted. It was clear that whilst these people were all allied to Sparta, that didn't mean they were all happy to be in that situation.
"It would have been a waste of an opportunity to feast with a Spartan King." Crassus replied, causing a nod of agreement from the Spartan group. Dom's group began to sit down, with him in the centre. Crassus and Artemisia were on his left towards the Spatans, whilst the Players were on his right.
"How long until food? I am hungry and have some issues to sort out within my fleet." One of the other captains complained, not towards Leotychides, but the chef's behind.
"It is well worth the wait." Another replied, wearing different colours to the one complaining. Artemisia leaned in to Crassus' ear and whispered something to him. The Spartan Captains continued talking, whilst Crassus leaned in to Dom's ear.
"The Corinthian's are insulting those from Argos's prestige in front of Leotychides, as Corinth is allied to Sparta where as Argos have had many wars against them both in the past." Crassus explained, passing on Artemisia's message. Whilst Crassus said this to him, Dom could see that Leotychides was watching them the entire time with a smile on his face. Dom wasn't sure what was going on in this King's mind, but he felt he was both unpredictable, but also a dangerous man.
"Leotychides, thanks for saving us the beach full of smooth stones and taking the soft sandy beaches for yourself." A new man shouted as a crowd of twenty men appeared, also guarded by some Hoplite. Dom could tell these were Athenian from the slight reaction of his Hoplite behind him. The man leading them who had shouted towards Leotychides was slightly shorter than the Spartan King, but was wide and stocky, with muscular tanned arms, covered in marks from years fighting and farming. He had thick greying hair and walked with confidence.
"Xanthippus, nice of you to join us!" Leotychides grinned in response, not getting up from his seat. "I was planning to give you a nice beach, but our new allies here took it before I had chance."
Xanthippus looked towards Dom and his group for the first time, recognising the look of the strangers who wore different colours and seemed to come from many different backgrounds. Dom felt like Leotychides had purposely said the last line, to align Dom to the Spartans by creating an initial gulf between himself and the Athenians. Dom watched as an angry frown showed on Xanthippus's face, before he collected himself, clearly seeing through Leotychides ploy before he reacted.
"The smooth stones will make it easier to push yourselves back in to the sea in the morning." Artemisia said, before Crassus crunched his eyes to contain his emotions, as she had spoken already and wasn't supposed to have. Her face was masked by her veil but her voice caused a slight reaction in Xanthippus's face, as well as a few of the other Captains with them. One went to say something, but Xanthippus put his hand up to silence him.
"That is true, we can get to see before you, even if we take some potential damage." Xanthippus smiled in response, politely nodding his head towards Artemisia, whilst Leotychides just smiled at the conversations. Xanthippus then turned towards Leotychides again, "You have also saved us seats down wind of the food being cooked."
"It was so you could enjoy the fragrance of the cooking, our chefs are working tireless for this feast." Leotychides smiled, ignoring Xanthippus's response as he turned back to Artemisia, Crassus and Dom. He then looked further down towards Wine Wind, before looking back at Artemisia. "It's rare you see a female Captain amongst a fleet and you have two!"