บท 38: Redwoods
They soon arrived at the edge of the woods. The trees were slightly different from the ones next to Riverside, with red bark rather than silver, with orange and red leaves that hung over their heads, creating a canopy of warm colours.
[New Location Discovered by Player Lazarus, As the first player to discover this forest. Please name it]
"Let's call them the Red Woods." Dom replied, looking at the dense collection of trees in front of him.
"I wish we had Genghis." Gan Ning commented, looking in the dense forest as well.
"Who is Genghis?" Legionary Macro asked.
"Genghis is Commander Subutai's Eagle." Gan Ning replied.
"An Eagle?" Legionary Macro replied in shock, "How did I miss that, the eagle is the standard of Roman Legions?"
"I also wish we had Genghis." Dom interrupted, "How far are we from Riverside now?"
"Including the River crossing, we are about three kilometres from Riverside." Legionary Macro replied.
"You impress me so much." Gan Ning replied with a grin, seeing Macro's cheek blush. "All scouting units need a Macro."
"Are we ready then?" Dom asked the group, looking at the Hoplite and Spartans that were stood around them, who all replied with nods of their heads.
"Leonidas, you are at the front with Cleon." Gan Ning ordered, "Lord, Macro and myself are in the middle, with Gregorios and Dion at the rear."
"He's Athenian." Leonidas replied pointing at Gregorios with a laugh, "He probably likes being at the rear."
Dom was shocked to see Leonidas make a joke, and was even more shocked when he heard the bellow of laughter from Gregorios.
"It could be worse." Gregorios laughed, "I could be from Thebes!"
The other hoplite burst in to laughter as well, whilst Macro, Gan Ning and Dom smiled confusedly at the others.
"It's a Hoplite joke." Gregorios grinned, before replying, "Lead the way Spartan."
Dom felt that the group Gan Ning had formed was bonding well, and he hoped Tomyris was having similar luck with her Scouting party that had headed east down the river. He had hoped by now that she would have discovered a location and he would have received a prompt, allowing him to finish a quest quickly.
They slowly made their way in to the Red Woods, with Leonidas leading the way. The forest floor was full of red leaves that had fallen on the floor, as well as orange coloured moss. The floor felt soft on their feet in comparison to the Yellow Plains that they had just trekked across. Even though the canopy above was thick with red and orange leaves, the sun still shone through making it clear to see as they walked.
"It's quite stunning isn't it." Gregorios commented from the back.
"Are you talking about me?" Leonidas shouted from the front.
"I doubt it." Gan Ning commented, "Not with your smile, nope he is definitely talking about me."
"I'm sorry to disagree Sir." Macro grinned, "It's definitely me."
The group all laughed as they scouted their way through, with Cleon leaving tracking marks on the trees as they headed in.
"No, I mean the forest." Gregorios replied. "I just think the untouched nature around us has been simply beautiful. Plus if it was anyone if would be the Lord."
"I do agree, it would be the lord." Gan Ning laughed, "but seriously, I do agree, Riverside is surrounded by stunning scenery."
"It would be easy to retire and live a simple life here." Dion agreed from the back of the group.
After a couple of minutes walking, Leonidas stopped and put his hand in the air signalling for everyone to halt. Cleon who was slightly behind him also held his hand up. The group stopped and didn't move or make a sound.
Leonidas turned to look at Cleon, who looked at him and nodded his head, signalling that he agreed with him on something. Dom watched on, wondering what they had noticed, but refusing to take a step until the forward line signalled that they could.
Leonidas pointed ahead of them in the southern direction and Cleon made his way forwards at a slow pace. Leonidas signalled for the rest of the group to follow slowly and gently, which they did but leaving a large gap.
Gan Ning looked at Dom and said quietly, "I'm assuming there is something ahead, get your sword ready just in case."
The others heard this and also prepared their weapons, with Marco drawing his sword and Gregorios and Dion grasping their spears. They made sure to bring their spears this time after the encounter with the bear told them they should always be wary of nature.
Cleon soon disappeared out of sight, with Leonidas only just in view as they travelled at a slow pace. Macro had taken to carving the markings on the trees at this point, taking the point in their smaller formation that was now like a five pointed star.
Soon they heard what had stopped Cleon and Leonidas in the first place, the gentle sound of trickling water. The woods had been silent up to now, with just the occasional rustle of trees as they had walked, with very limited noise from any wild life, other than the occasional chirp or scuttle. The sound of water trickling was strange to hear.
"Maybe there is a stream or an offshoot of the River." Gan Ning said quietly as they soon caught up to Leonidas who was stood still a few paces ahead of them.
When they reached him, they looked past him to see a clearing ahead. In the clearing Cleon was stood gazing at a small lake that had a slight waterfall from a nearby stream dripping in to it. In the centre of the small lake, that was no bigger than a basketball court, was the crumbling remains of a small ancient stone building.
The light reflected off the water, showing the ancient building in as much majestic glory as it could. The building was covered in the orange moss of the woods, as well as having yellow vines that climbed up it. It was only one storey high, and had crumbled in on itself in many parts. The entrance was clearly visible, a few paces through the water to reach it. It had long grey stone columns that held up a crumbling archway, the same columns made up most of the surrounding structure.
"It looks almost like something from Athens." Gregorios commented, "But old, very old."
"Let's head further in." Leonidas commented, as he headed towards Cleon who had stayed still the entire time, alert and listening.
"Hear anything else?" Gan Ning asked him.
"No sir." Cleon answered. "Just the water gently dripping in to the lake. It feels very out of place."
Dom headed forwards towards the building, trying to read the elaborate carvings that were on the archway, but they were not from a language he recognised or understood. This surprised him, as so far in the game everyone spoke the same language.
"Does anyone recognise this language?" Dom asked the group, seeing that everyone had shaken their heads. It was a shame he didn't have a camera or something so that he could take an image of it and discuss it with Lucius later.
"Shall we go inside?" Dion asked from the back.
"It doesn't look very safe." Gregorios commented, "It's already falling down, I wouldn't recommend it."
"We are here." Dion answered back, "we really should have a look at least."
"We should first check the perimeter is safe." Gan Ning ordered. "Leonidas, head up that slight incline to the south ahead and keep a look out. Cleon head to the West and do the same. Gregorios, you stay and keep an eye on the East."
Leonidas, Cleon and Gregorios all nodded their heads in acknowledgement, before moving to their defined locations. With Leonidas at the top of the incline, he had a good view of all of the surroundings and the things they had not yet viewed. Cleon and Gregorios looked out to their flanks to make sure that, even though the forest was empty, they would be aware quickly if it was not.
"Dion, we are going inside and see what is in there." Gan Ning continued, "If the building feels unsafe for any reason, we leave immediately. Macro, you stay with the Lord. If it is safe, we will call you both in."
Dom accepted this agreement, he was more than happy to head inside and explore, but it was risky and he wasn't aware of what would happen to his character if he died. He also felt that the game was realistic enough, and as there wasn't a pain setting, he didn't want to experience anything painful if he didn't need to.
Soon Dion and Gan Ning had headed in to the ancient building, leaving Dom with Macro by the small lake's side. They were both gazing in to the water that was covered in moss and what looked like Lily pads. The Lily's were an array of colours, with little Dragonflies flying around them.
"It would be nice if we could have something like this in Riverside." Macro commented.
"What an old ancient building that is collapsing?" Dom replied.
"No, I mean a calm lake with lily's floating in it." Macro said, "It's very relaxing and could help calm the warriors down after an excursion."
"That's actually a good idea." Dom commented, "But we would need to build it ourselves, and that will be a lot of digging."
As they looked at the small lake, they saw a small Red Dart Frog appear, it slowly made its way across a Lily pad to another Lily pad. As it made it's way across, it was looking around at the smaller Dragonflies that were flying from pad to pad, chasing each other. The Red Dart Frogs eyes were rotating and looking around for it's target. It waited very patiently until one flew directly over it's head, before it quickly jumped and caught it, before landing back in it's original place on that pad.
The Red Dart Frog then crunched the dragonfly, one bite at a time as it struggled and tried to escape. It soon devoured it, before slowly making it's way across the Lily Pads for it's next meal. As it traversed across, the water that was nearby it bubbled gently.
Soon the Red Dart Frog went to cross the Lily Pad's to the next collection of Dragonflies that seemed to be in mating season, with the males swarming the female Dragonflies as they tried to find a safe location to rest.
As the Red Dart Frog stepped across, the bubble re-appeared, with a large golden Koi Carp appearing and grasping the Red Dart Frog in it's mouth, before slowly sinking under the water again. The Dragonflies continued to fly around, unaware of the fact that their hunter and been hunted.
Dom watched this in fascination as they continued to wait, with the other Hoplite all keeping watch on the edges. It has been a good couple of minutes before they heard any noise from inside the ancient building.
"Lord." Dom heard Gan Ning shout, "You will want to see this!"
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