The river mansions

You spend a brief moment contemplating the options that Sarge has just listed, and decide that the riverside mansions are the closest location to where you’re at, while the Citadel is still a formidable obstacle which is no doubt where the last remnants of the city’s defences are gathered and the temple district is… well, you’d prefer it if you were to leave Athenapolis without having angered any gods, even if you can’t see why you should venerate them after all the things you’ve seen and done.

“Men, we’re going to find ourselves a nice mansion to rob!” You announce with a grin, and you watch how Sarge nods his head at you while the remaining members of your cohort cheer your decision.

Of course, it’s unlikely that there’s any mansion in Athenapolis that hasn’t already been designated to serve as the “headquarters” of a high officer, so the best you can do is to storm one and take all the loot and prisoners that you and your men can carry with you before finding a more modest residence in which to enjoy the coming days. Perhaps you should even send out a party to raid some of the nearby warehouses, since quite a few of those should be stocked with all manner of valuable goods, though such a project would require that you get your hands on a few carts or wagons. But you’ll most likely need a few of those anyway, considering how rich the merchants and nobles of Athenapolis are.

You perform a discreet shaking of your head as you ponder the fact that you’re now about to become the leader of a band of men travelling through the city equipped with both female followers and a wagon train.

“Every man is armed and ready to get moving?” You soon ask Sarge, while the men gather themselves and prepare to get moving.

“Yes,” Sarge looks as though he’s about to say something crude about the men and how they used their “weapons” on the pleasure slaves, but stops short of actually saying it, and you lead the mix of soldiers and slaves out of the tower and into the street, which you found to be quite deserted, the other soldiers scaling the walls earlier have most likely either been rallied by whichever officers who might still be alive after the **** and marched to their next objective, or they scampered off to get their hands on something valuable.

You’re still up in front as your small group begins to travel down the streets, aiming at the Elaina river as it runs through the city, since the mansions and warehouses located on its shores are supposed to be the wealthiest spots in the whole city, except for the Citadel and a few other spots.

Walking right by your side is Maluba, and she makes for an impressive sight as she moves forwards with confident strides, her gaze continuously scanning what’s in front of you so that she can warn you in case any **** defenders of the city or some other threat might materialize itself. She’s still only clad in her cotton panties, but now at least the fingers of her right hand are clasped around the shaft of a spear, with you having offered no protests about her arming herself.

After a while, a few soldiers belonging to the united armies appear from inside a house as your **** moves past it, and you throw them a cursory glance and see how they first look at you and then hurry to join up with your men, carrying whatever pathetic loot they might have found in this poor part of the city with them as they follow you deeper into the city.

This event repeats itself a few times over until your ranks have grown by at least dozen men, though you have a hard time imagining why they, or indeed anyone else, would want to follow you.

Shortly thereafter, you spot a stable up ahead. This might be the ideal chance to secure a few horses or mules and a few wagons, but you’re keenly aware of the fact that it is imperative that you reach the river as quickly as possible, and that stopping by the stables would cause a delay which might result in you having to conquer one of the mansions away from other soldiers of the united armies that had the same bright idea as you.

You could always leave a small group behind and have them gather up the transport that you might require while the main body of your unit continues on towards its objective, but splitting up might be a bit risky when there’s still some pockets of resistance remaining inside the city, particularly if you and your men push ahead of the more official forces.