CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE: MUSTER 

 

Once Gabriel entered Roma, he made his way towards the Legionnaire Camp straight away. Firing off a couple of private messages to the ]Wolfpack] and Tom on his way, Gabriel received replies from everyone after only a moment. The [Wolfpack] notified him that they were on their way and Tom said he was running late. After telling Tom to not miss the 6:00am deadline, Gabriel jumped off the Gondola he had hired and strode to the entrance of the Legionnaire Camp. Accessing his character status, Gabriel was non-plussed on seeing his stagnant Level development.  

 

 

 

 

‘Majority of the higher tier players would be close to, if not already at Level 20 by now. Working on upgrading their Class as well. I need to make sure that I’m one of the top 10 highest level players, once the Leaderboards get announced soon. The future talent prospects of my Guild will depend on it.’ Gabriel thought to himself, finally arriving in front of the main entrance gates.  

 

Two guards were standing statue-still in front of the open portcullis, Gabriel was about to unequip his gear like the first time he entered the area but was stopped by one of the guards.  

 

“You do not need to hand in your personal weapons today, if you also need armour, weapons or ammunition up to (Uncommon), the Imperium is offering a fifty per cent discount on majority of the items that are not the standard issue. Just see the quartermaster who is in the large purple tent next to the muster grounds, to see what is on offer. They will also provide all soldiers with a set of potions as well.” The Guard explained, as he stepped aside to allow Gabriel a clear entryway.  

 

“Thanks for the heads up.” Gabriel replied as he strode past the pair with an extra skip in his step.  

 

 

After only a short walk/skip, Gabriel arrived on the parade grounds. The place was filled almost to bursting, with a large number of soldiers milling about and looking as if their beds were calling them back. Every time a sergeant or squad leader past they would bark at the slightly dozing men, getting responses of “Yes Sir!”. The place was a concert of noises, blacksmiths to the side of the square were banging away, repairing gear and sharpening weapons. Gabriel scoured the faces as he walked around, noticing a couple of groups of Players who must have received similar quests as his. There were even players whose profession must have been Trader, as they set up stalls on the sides, selling and buying gear of all sorts from NPC’s and Players alike. Earning a trade permit to sell and buy things from the Imperium army this early in game was especially hard as individual. Majority of these players Traders were working for NPC led merchant groups and majority of their profits would be going to them.  

 

Gabriel noticed a couple of familiar faces as he surveyed the crowd. [Light-Bringer], the tall, blonde haired GuildMaster of the [Templars], was standing with a party of four in deep discussion, all members were dressed in heavy steel plate armour. ‘Must be the core members, for all of them to be kitted out in [High-steel armour] this early on, must have cost a fortune.’ Gabriel mused while inspecting the party’s gear. [Light-Bringer] saw Gabriel and gave him a smile accompanied by a small nod. Gabriel returned the gesture and continued on before he was approached. He was on the lookout for a specific player he knew would be here but before Gabriel could find him, he had noticed his squad of NPC soldiers that he fought the Goblins with. They were all standing in a semi-circle around the large Rolo, who appeared to be telling a story, that had him flailing his arms around in dramatic gestures. When he reached what seemed to be the punch line the squad all burst out in raucous laughter, the menacing Grendel laughing the hardest. Her meaty fists pounded the ground as she roared in laughter.  

 

Draka was in the middle of wiping his eyes, when he saw Gabriel looking at the group. Straightening up suddenly, Draka looked like he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Gabriel saw Rolo approach the now still half-elf with a questioning look on his face, after what appeared to be a question from the Northman, Draka didn’t answer and simply pointed in Gabriel’s direction. Majority of the squad noticed the interaction and followed Draka’s raised arm with their eyes before landing on a stony-faced Gabriel. All the soldier's previous laughter and smiles all stopped and one of them kicked the kneeling Grendel. Earning themselves a curse before they pointed to Gabriel’s direction as well, Grendel rose to her feet and met Gabriel’s eyes.  

 

“Chief!!” Rolo was the first one to break the silent stand-off as he yelled out his title for Gabriel.  

 

Gabriel made his way over to the group with slow and deliberate steps. Every time his armored boot fell on the paved parade ground, the soldiers flinched, as if his boot was landing on them. Grendel and Draka appeared the most nervous, while Rolo had a large grin on his face, appearing the picture of a friend happy to see another. Once Gabriel arrived before the group, he remained silent and swept his eyes over his squad, most of their gear was askew, with straps and belts half done. A pile of weapons and gear was littered in a haphazard manner at their feet, with shields lying face down and unsheathed blades stabbed in the ground. The only soldier equipped correctly and looking ready for war out of the whole bunch was, Richard.  

 

The Northman Rolo, who was the unofficially nominated, second in command of Gabriel's squad, saw his Chief’s eyes and noticed they were starting to narrow the more he gazed at the unkempt state of the squad. Rolo’s smile turned to a frown to match Gabriels and turned to the squad members. 

 

“What are you lazy bastards waiting for!? Can’t you see the captain is here. Sergeant Titus told us to muster up ten minutes ago. Get to it!” Rolo roared at the stunned squad.  

 

The squad exchanged accusatory glances with the large man for a brief moment before returning their gaze to Gabriel's stone-cold expressionless face. Everyone jolted awake from their stupors and moved as quickly as they could. Not bothering to shout out the curse words at Rolo, that had surfaced to their mouths after his sudden rebuke and self-righteous tone. Gabriel stood there watching them as they fastened their straps and stowed their weapons before quickly lining up in a row. Gabriel walked up and down the squad, using not so gentle hands to pull and smack on certain parts, the tension of the previously laughing squad started to build. Arriving back in the middle, Gabriel stared at the now sweating soldiers. ‘They appeared to have all risen a couple of levels but it looks like Richard and Rolo had leveled the most. Not bad, will make today a hell of a lot easier.’ Gabriel thought before deciding to finally address the group. 

 

“You look like you have actually been doing some training since we last went out. That’s good to see and I’m proud of your rise in personal strength, however, I’m also disheartened to see the unkempt way you are holding yourselves on a day like today. Especially when I know Sergeant Titus what have told you all to be ready twenty minutes ago!” Gabriel roared the last sentence, catching the attention of surrounding crowd, before continuing on a little tirade about honor and appearance he had remembered hearing Kristof shouting at him once or twice.  

 

Majority of the also messy and half-equipped soldiers in the area looked at the scene with down cast eyes and drooped heads, as if they were the ones getting the scolding. The surrounding squad leaders appeared even more embarrassed while listening to Gabriel’s lecture, before they stiffened up and joined him in roaring at their individual groups. To Gabriel’s squad’s relief, he had finished his admonishment after hearing the surrounding soldiers being similarly scolded. The once raucous square filled with random groupings of soldiers, started to form up. Now the square started to have a semblance of tidiness.  

 

Gabriel gazed around at the surrounding soldiers and nodded to himself. As the square cleared up, Gabriel was able to see the man he had been looking up, who was also very important to his plan of surviving the day. “[Maximus]” Gabriel said under his breath, as he saw the Roman-loving Player standing with a squad of soldiers across the square.  

 

“Alright. Rolo!” Gabriel called out, leading the now stoic soldier to take step in front of the line, accompanied with a roaring “Here Sir!”. 

 

“I am officially naming you Second in command for this operation. Now take everyone to the quartermaster and have them outfitted with new armour. I want everyone to also have a full quiver of Javelins and new shields. Report back here in ten minutes. Now go!” Gabriel ordered, as the soldiers all followed after the newly promoted Richard. 

 

As Gabriel made his way over to the Player [Maximus] a pair of eyes followed him. Atop a raised platform on end of the square stood a small group of men and women, all dressed in shining armour of the upper-crust of the Imperium army. A large hawk nosed man with a greatsword strapped to his back, watched Gabriel talking to [Maximus], Gabriel appeared to be instructing his fellow squad captain on something, while pointing towards a set of Ballista lined up to the side of square. The hawk nosed man looked to the heavily built squat form of Sergeant Titus standing next to him.  

 

“Titus, who is that man? He appears to be a traveller, but looks familiar to me.” The hawk-nosed man asked.  

 

Sergeant Titus looked over to where his superior was indicating and saw Gabriel patting [Maximus] on the shoulder and shaking hands with a wide smile on his face.  

 

“My lord Primus Pilus, that young man is [Osiris]. He led the squad that successful vanquished that group of Orc slaved Goblins, that set up a camp and underground lair near the forest to our west a couple of weeks back. I sent a letter of commendation of his successful raid to the higher command; I have also heard news that he had recently been made Baron by the Chancellor himself.” Sergeant Titus explained.  

 

“Interesting. I remember now. I read a report recently in conjunction with this upcoming raid about him clearing out a clan of those corrupted Witches, leading to the needed evidence to gain clearance for this raid on that bitch, Baroness Mengrel.  Seems like a promising lad, I especially like how he got the soldiers to shape up, while appearing to only be scolding his own squad. Only a moment longer of their unruly appearance and I would have had to send in Sergeant Crasius” Primus Pilus said, as he indicated towards a high elf mage to his right, who appeared to be conjuring small whips of fire in her hands and cracking them back and forth menacingly. Sergeant Titus looked towards the domineering woman and gulped at the sight of the fiery whips.  

 

“I apologise for the condition of the men sir. I take full responsibility on the matter; they are clearly in need of more discipline.” Sergeant Titus confessed with head bowed.  

 

“Do not fret my old friend, they are all greenhorns still. I requested you muster majority of the rookies, as this will be a perfect opening for them to learn the cruel realities of war. With the reports of the Orcs mustering again, we will be needing experienced soldiers now more than ever, we will also need to start incorporating these travelers into the army more, I understand most of them don’t have the loyalty and heart to defend the Imperium like us natives but they can be moved by the promise of wealth quite easily. I will see how they operate during this raid and see if it is worth investing in them, as you have requested. You hold the reigns to this excursion Titus; I am merely an observer and won’t step in for any reason. I believe it is almost time to head out.” Primus Pilus explained.  

 

Sergeant Titus nodded in acknowledgement and took a step forward before looking back to the whip cracking Sergeant Crasius.  

 

“If you please Crasius.” Sergeant Titus instructed while pointing towards his throat.  

 

The mage, dissipated her whips of fire and with a flick of her finger sent out a stream of what appeared to be blue colored mist that wrapped around the Dwarf’s throat.  

 

“Ahem, Ahem!” Sergeant Titus voice was now amplified and with a simple clearing of his throat, the sound boomed across the square, reaching to the very back with ease.  

 

“Listen up everyone. We will be setting out now; each squad leader or travelers party, will soon receive their mission updates and will set out once we arrive on the borders of our enemies' lands. Majority of you will be part of the main assault force and will march together as a single unit. Others will have certain specific missions handpicked by the Imperium army, chosen by your status, power and skills. I will say it right now, every single person here is just as important as the other and it doesn’t matter what quest you have been given. It does not set you above any of your fellow brethren!” Sergeant Titus roared, as he noticed some squad leaders looking towards their allies with smug expressions, that quickly changed.  

 

“We are marching to defeat a plague upon our lands. A festering wound, that has corrupted the very essence of a loyal Imperial citizen. Traitors and defilers, led by one that used to be part of our very Pantheon but was cast out for his disgusting acts upon the virtuous. We will be coming up against his very champion, the direct conduit, of the Horned One, Baroness Mengrel.” Sergeant Titus let those words sink in for a moment before he continued. “Her vile coven of equally twisted minds, have summoned abominations to defend her lands, demons to their very core, who will have no qualms to rip every man here to pieces!” Sergeant Titus shouted, as the rookie soldiers started to pale and shake. 

 

“Do we fear them though!? No! They should be the ones to fear us! They will break upon our shields. They fall to our blades. They will be skewered by our spears. We will burn their corrupted lands to the ground and breathe life into the blackened soil by watering the ground with oceans of their blood. We are the Imperium! We are the Legion!” Sergeant Titus roared, accompanied by the vigorous cheers of men and women.  

 

Sergeant Titus lifted a large warhammer in the air and received another wave of cheers with soldiers banging their weapons against shields. A long-tusked horn was blown by a soldier behind Titus. All squad leaders ordered their soldiers to forward march after hearing the horn. Heading towards the West exit gates. Gabriel and his squad were in the middle of the pack of close to 500 soldiers. Gabriel was smacking his recently equipped shield and cheering just as loud as the rest of the natives of Roma, with purple eyes burning bright as he peered ahead, a bloody and violent air began to surround the battle-loving returnee.   

 

 

 

================================================================================================

 

Hi Guys, thanks to everyone for reading along so far. This battle will be one of many, although on the smaller side compared to some of the wars in the future. If anyone wants to read ahead they can go to my Patreon. I am currently working on getting a proper editor and doing some re-write. As always if anyone has any suggestions or opinions let me know any time. Thanks again.