Chapter 24
If audio player doesn't work, press Stop then Play button again
Quinn stretched on the bed and removed his headset. "Too early for dinner, I should see what Tal's up to."
Tal opened the door almost immediately after the first knock, surprising Quinn.
"Damn, were you standing by the door?"
"Yep, packing up the closet." Tal had her blonde hair tied up in a bun, she closed the door behind Quinn.
"Wow, you really jumped on-board." Quinn had mentioned getting packed up only a few hours ago.
Tal tucked an errant strand of hair behind one ear, "have to be ready to go right?"
"I'll help until it's time for me to log in." Quinn started stacking the packed boxes.
"You just came here to get fed, Little Q." She walked into the kitchen, "hope you like frozen pizza, because I've already packed up most of the kitchen."
"....." Quinn.
*****************
"Log On Tap."
TAP Interface Acquired.
Synchronizing character data.....
Welcome Back Q, find your path!
Q logged back in to a very busy warehouse. He noticed right way that most of the faction leadership were sitting at the table in discussion. He didn't see any players yet. The TAP mail indicator was blinking..
"Of course… Open Mail."
TAP MAIL
Subject: Day 4 Itinerary Sender: Sinful Jinn Attachment:None
Subject: Havoc Rules! Sender: Summer Daze Attachment:None
Subject: Quick Question. Sender: Bo Jangles Attachment:None
Subject: Faction Notice. Sender: TAP Attachment:Bulk Items
"Open 1st mail."
Hey Guys!
It's Day 4! We are headed to the headquarters of the Fora Development Group, a newly formed NPC faction. I've enclosed a token for everyone, do not lose this! This will let you use the portal in Talon to travel directly to HQ. We will break off into groups and do some exploring. Meet at 10am.
Sinful Jinn
"That gives me less than an hour. Open 2nd mail."
Hey Q,
I see we are breaking off into groups tomorrow. You aren't going to ditch me right? Us Havoc members have to stay together!
Summer Daze
"Hmm.. no chance of me ditching you. Open 3rd mail."
Hi Q,
I received a notice that a new NPC faction has been formed. This notice went out to all the guild leaders in TAP. Is this a guild for NPCs? Why are you listed as the founder? I researched the faction leaders, it's a who's who of the important NPCs in TAP. Are NPCs going to start running raids and participating in Arena events?
Bo Jangles
"hahaha.. You sound nervous woman-man. Open 4th mail."
System Message: Bulk Items have been added to your inventory.
Q,
As the Founder of the Fora Development Group you have been granted materials for development. We are proud to offer these to you and wish you success in your future ventures.
TAP Staff
"What the hell are bulk items?" Q walked toward the first row of shelves, He noticed that there were more crates added to the shelves since he had logged off, the quests must be doing well. He opened the storage interface and stored the bulk items.
System Message: Do you wish to unpack Bulk Items into Warehouse Storage?
"Yes, unpack Bulk items."
Instantly almost every row of shelves was stacked with crates to the ceiling. "The hell? That is a lot of shit."
The noisy warehouse was suddenly quiet. Q looked around sheepishly as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Hey everyone."
Bez was almost running toward him, his eyes open wide in surprise. "Q! Where did you get all this?"
He was followed closely by the rest of the leadership.
"It's a materials grant for starting a faction I guess." Q shrugged, "I didn't really do anything this time… for real!"
Mora Jol stared at the full shelves, then looked back at Q. "Since we joined forces with you, everything you have done has benefited us."
"I have some ideas, hopefully we can continue to work together successfully." He noticed Leah at the back of the group and walked toward her. She had her hair up and was wearing black leather armor.
"Good morning Miss Fintree."
Leah smiled and grabbed one of his hands before leaning to kiss him on the cheek. "Morning Q." She passed him something in his hands and then stepped back into the group.
"We are going to map out the surrounding areas, I want to run a few tests so if possible we need to locate a few spawn points." He looked at Remmy as he spoke, she would be ideal for this task.
"I can do that, there are quite a few small rodents running around. I'll get rid of them and then mark their respawn points." She grabbed her pack and headed out the door giving Q an impish smile.
Hmm… its nice to see she's back to her old self. "Don't let me interrupt, just go back to doing what you were doing." He glanced at Mojo who seemed to want to say something.
She lingered as the rest of the group went back to the tables. "I find myself increasingly impressed by you Q."
"I am awesome right? " Sometimes it was necessary to display something other then completely humility. "A thank you will suffice."
"Mmm.. I will find a suitable method of thanking you." She murmured under her breathe as she walked away.
Q's face was still frozen as he watched Mojo sit down at the table. What the hell does that mean? He glanced at the note in his hand.
"Midnight, East Bank. Swimwear required. L"
Q felt his temperature climb a few degrees as he quickly stashed the note. He looked up and noticed that Leah was watching him, her innocent face broke into a smile which she quickly covered with her hand.
The double doors opened and three familiar faces walked in. Q smiled at them, "morning! You didn't use the portal?" Daze, Onion and Grace all looked at him nervously. Was something up?
The blue haired ranger had her hair braided in a single braid, she had equipped some worn leather armor. "We've been grinding levels. You are sprinting away from us so quickly."
"Working hard?" Q had the benefit of two big kills that had skyrocketed his level to 30. He was only a few levels behind Onion and double what Daze and Grace were. He smiled at the three, "next time I grab a kill we'll group up so you can all share the xp."
Daze blushed slightly, "Q we don't want to be carried like that. We want to help." She paused and looked at the other two for confirmation. "We want to join you."
System Message: You have gained a follower.
Blooming Onion
Level 34
Base Class: Warrior
Sub Class: Monk
Statistics
Strength 18
Endurance 20
Intelligence 14
Agility 18
Luck 10
Charisma 14
System Message: You have gained a follower.
Amazing Grace
Level 15
Base Class: Cleric
Statistics
Strength 16
Endurance 20
Intelligence 26
Agility 18
Luck 10
Charisma 24
System Message: You have gained a follower.
Summer Daze
Level 16
Base Class: Ranger
Statistics
Strength 22
Endurance 17
Intelligence 19
Agility 25
Luck 12
Charisma 17
System Message: You have gained enough followers to form a squad (4). Do you wish to form a squad?
"Yes, form Raven Squad." Q was somewhat shocked by their request, but he had firsthand knowledge of how reliable they were.
System Message: Raven Squad has been formed. Members of Raven receive +5 to all stats.
"Welcome Raven Squad, unfortunately the three of you will have to miss today's activities. I'll let Jinn know." He smiled at them shamelessly.
"Miss the activities?" Daze had been looking forward to it all morning.
"Report to Leah Fintree for special training at once." He felt a bit bad, but if he had to do it, then so did they.
The three walked toward Leah who had stood up when she noticed her membership in Raven squad.
"Welcome! " She smiled at them as they stood in front of her. " To make official introductions I am Leah Fintree, I am very pleased to meet you." Her lightly freckled nose wrinkled slightly when she smiled. "Let me introduce you to someone very important. This is Yayia, she helps us with training."
The white robed elfin woman smiled and bowed slightly. Her temperament had warmed quite a bit over the past few days. She held a worn time piece in her hands. "Nice to meet everyone."
Q was expecting his classmates to filter in slowly, but they must have all met up beforehand. Suddenly the warehouse alcove had a dozen more people in it. Sinful Jinn led the way. Q waved at her when he noticed that she was looking around.
"Q! " Jinn's face lit up when she saw him. "It's not like you to be early!"
"Hmm? That makes me seem unreliable." He frowned at her in disapproval.
Rhapsody snuck around her and threw herself at Q, giving him a big hug. Quite the challenge since she was holding a red floppy eared puppy.
Q laughed when he saw it and promptly relieved her of it. "Bingo!" He tickled its' ears while it tried to gnaw on his hand. "Whose teaching you to bite?" He gave Rhapsody a look. "Forget I asked."
Rhapsody stuck her tongue out at him before barring her fangs also.
Q sat Bingo down on the floor and let it loose, immediately it made a bee line for for the far end of the warehouse. Q laughed as Rhapsody chased after it panicking. He met Jinn's gaze ,"you are awesome for helping me out Jinn, thank you."
Jinn nodded nonchalantly, although it was obvious that she enjoyed the attention. "We seem to be missing three people, I couldn't find them at the inn."
"Onion, Grace and Daze won't be joining us today Jinn." It's always best to say things outright.
Rhapsody chose that time to come back, she shot Q a displeased look, she hadn't been able to get Bingo back yet. "Why not?"
"They've joined Raven Squad and are undergoing auxiliary training."
The entire class started talking at once.
"Raven Squad what is that?"
"Special Training? I need some of that too!"
"Did a big guild come by here or something? Who is sponsoring them?" Jinn asked curiously, it wasn't uncommon for raid groups to recruit new members. Jinn and Rhapsody belonged to the same one.
"I am sponsoring them, they are following me. " The comment met with silence. "We are supporting the Fora Development Group." Q watched Jinn as his words sunk in. His classmates whispered among themselves.
"Q has his own squad?"
"He's all over the forums!"
"Now would be the right time to join!"
Jinn pursed her lips for a moment and muttered something under her breathe. "You be sure to take good care of them."
Q nodded at her. "You know I will Jinn." Surprisingly he offered her his arm, grinning at her when she looped her arm through it. "Lets drag this outside so I can brief everyone."
Not to be outdone, Rhapsody confiscated his other arm. "Look at you being so friendly with Jinn this morning." She dug her nails into his forearm a bit before caressing it softly.
Q gave her a pleasant smile as he led them outside. 'No shit, I'm scared to death of dryads.'
Outside they formed into small raid for purposes of communication. There were four groups of three. Jinn had brought up a 3-D map of the area, and was handing out assignments, always the teacher. "This map only has general information on it, I want everyone to activate the mapping feature on their HUDs, this way each group will be able to cover the assigned grids rather quickly."
Q rolled his eyes when he noticed his group, Jinn and Rhapsody. Should be an interesting morning if nothing else. Rhapsody was still glaring at him, it had taken her several minutes to catch Bingo. She was smiling at the puppy even though he wasn't listening.
"Hey Bingo!" Q put on a stern voice and stared hard at the puppy in Rhapsody's arms. "If you are coming with us I expect you to pull your weight and behave, or else you can stay stored the entire morning."
The red puppy stopped squirming in Rhapsody's arms and tilted his head to one side. His big puppy eyes staring silently at Q.
"Yes.. that's an order." Q spoke to the puppy and gestured for Rhapsody to put him down.
"Q.. he's gonna take off and I'll spend the morning chasing him." Rhapsody complained as she sat him down, to her surprise Bingo trotted over to Q's feet and sat down.
Four hours later The trio were finishing mapping their last coordinates. Bingo had been hunting small rodents in the area and was steadily leveling up. "Damn, he's a grinding machine." Q bent down and scratched the puppies head as he came back to the group. He was steadily growing and losing his puppy clumsiness.
"This is the place Q." Jinn was standing on a bank overlooking a small branch of the river. "Why did you mark this spot?"
"Time for a field test." He climbed up the bank and faced the rock bed he had left. "See those flags?"
Two of the flags that Remmy had in her pack had been stuck in the ground close by.
"I was wondering what those were," Rhapsody had been quiet all morning, unnaturally so. A dryad exploring a lightly wooded area should be more comfortable. She had this vague perception of danger.
"Those are spawning points for the goah rodents." He pointed out two nearby goah rodents and set Bingo after them.
Five minutes later they collapsed the eroded riverbank causing water to flood into the rock bed.
"This was a question that Tal asked me. Does altering the landscape erase spawn points?" Q spoke to them while watching the two flags. They were only two feet long to start with, and were nearly flooded already.
"What does it mean if the spawn points can be erased?" Rhapsody was teasing Bingo with a stick as they watched the water.
"It means that a really smart engineer can completely alter the geography of Fora." They chatted while waiting patiently for half an hour. It was way past the respawn time. 'Still no goah, Tal is going to love this.'
A low growl caused them all to look at bingo. The little puppy was facing west, his nose sniffing the air.
"His hackles are up," Rhapsody smiled. "He is so cute."
"Open com-chat, Mora Jol." Q lowered his voice and faced the opposite direction.
A moment later Mojo's face appeared on his hud. "Yes Q."
"Prepare for trouble." Q cut the comm immediately and started walking in the direction of the warehouse. "Jinn pull everyone back to HQ." He bent down and picked up Bingo as he glanced at Rhapsody. "Scout to the west, do not be seen."
"Understood Q." A moment later the dryad disappeared into the undergrowth.
"I need everyone to drop what they are doing and pull back to the warehouse immediately, all groups return to the warehouse." Jinn spoke calmly into raid chat as Q broke into a jog, she followed right on his heels.
It took them ten minutes to return to the warehouse, Jinn did a quick head count and gave Q a thumbs up. "Just Rhapsody is still out Q."
Q nodded and headed inside. Remmy, Leah and Mojo were just inside the door, all three were wearing black leather armor.
Q's com-chat blinked at him and he quickly accepted, the camouflaged face of Rhapsody gave him a grim smile. "Its a raid group Q, It looks to be Orion Prime."
"Damn, they are a second tier raiding group, why would they be here?" Jinn spoke from behind them.
System Message: You have discovered a raid attempt on your faction. Standard war restrictions and rewards will now apply.
"How strong is Orion Prime?" He knew that his teacher was a full-time player and probably understood a lot about them.
"They will mostly be 25-45 level, no one higher than 60 for sure." Jinn belonged to a 2nd tier raid group also.
"I need a SALUTE report quickly." He spoke to the dryad in a low voice, "do not be seen."
"Understood," the dryad disappeared from view a moment before she closed her comm.
"Remmy I'm going to need your help, and lots of explosives, the ones with really short timers" He gave her a smile, the pink haired gnome loved blowing things up. He looked at Jinn, "can I count on you?"
Jinn nodded, "I will follow your lead Q." She was an experience raider, someone who could be counted on in the chaos.
Mojo watched him carefully, her lavender eyes unreadable. "I will participate also, they want to swim in my pond? Let's see if they are qualified."
Q nodded at the dark elf. "Yayia has had my people for half a day already. I need them."
"You are talking about Daze, Onion and Grace? Jinn equipped her raiding gear as she spoke.
Quinn nodded and looked at Mojo. "Bring up Raven Squad."
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
Quinn stretched on the bed and removed his headset. "Too early for dinner, I should see what Tal's up to."
Tal opened the door almost immediately after the first knock, surprising Quinn.
"Damn, were you standing by the door?"
"Yep, packing up the closet." Tal had her blonde hair tied up in a bun, she closed the door behind Quinn.
"Wow, you really jumped on-board." Quinn had mentioned getting packed up only a few hours ago.
Tal tucked an errant strand of hair behind one ear, "have to be ready to go right?"
"I'll help until it's time for me to log in." Quinn started stacking the packed boxes.
"You just came here to get fed, Little Q." She walked into the kitchen, "hope you like frozen pizza, because I've already packed up most of the kitchen."
"....." Quinn.
*****************
"Log On Tap."
TAP Interface Acquired.
Synchronizing character data.....
Welcome Back Q, find your path!
Q logged back in to a very busy warehouse. He noticed right way that most of the faction leadership were sitting at the table in discussion. He didn't see any players yet. The TAP mail indicator was blinking..
"Of course… Open Mail."
TAP MAIL
Subject: Day 4 Itinerary Sender: Sinful Jinn Attachment:None
Subject: Havoc Rules! Sender: Summer Daze Attachment:None
Subject: Quick Question. Sender: Bo Jangles Attachment:None
Subject: Faction Notice. Sender: TAP Attachment:Bulk Items
"Open 1st mail."
Hey Guys!
It's Day 4! We are headed to the headquarters of the Fora Development Group, a newly formed NPC faction. I've enclosed a token for everyone, do not lose this! This will let you use the portal in Talon to travel directly to HQ. We will break off into groups and do some exploring. Meet at 10am.
Sinful Jinn
"That gives me less than an hour. Open 2nd mail."
Hey Q,
I see we are breaking off into groups tomorrow. You aren't going to ditch me right? Us Havoc members have to stay together!
Summer Daze
"Hmm.. no chance of me ditching you. Open 3rd mail."
Hi Q,
I received a notice that a new NPC faction has been formed. This notice went out to all the guild leaders in TAP. Is this a guild for NPCs? Why are you listed as the founder? I researched the faction leaders, it's a who's who of the important NPCs in TAP. Are NPCs going to start running raids and participating in Arena events?
Bo Jangles
"hahaha.. You sound nervous woman-man. Open 4th mail."
System Message: Bulk Items have been added to your inventory.
Q,
As the Founder of the Fora Development Group you have been granted materials for development. We are proud to offer these to you and wish you success in your future ventures.
TAP Staff
"What the hell are bulk items?" Q walked toward the first row of shelves, He noticed that there were more crates added to the shelves since he had logged off, the quests must be doing well. He opened the storage interface and stored the bulk items.
System Message: Do you wish to unpack Bulk Items into Warehouse Storage?
"Yes, unpack Bulk items."
Instantly almost every row of shelves was stacked with crates to the ceiling. "The hell? That is a lot of shit."
The noisy warehouse was suddenly quiet. Q looked around sheepishly as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Hey everyone."
Bez was almost running toward him, his eyes open wide in surprise. "Q! Where did you get all this?"
He was followed closely by the rest of the leadership.
"It's a materials grant for starting a faction I guess." Q shrugged, "I didn't really do anything this time… for real!"
Mora Jol stared at the full shelves, then looked back at Q. "Since we joined forces with you, everything you have done has benefited us."
"I have some ideas, hopefully we can continue to work together successfully." He noticed Leah at the back of the group and walked toward her. She had her hair up and was wearing black leather armor.
"Good morning Miss Fintree."
Leah smiled and grabbed one of his hands before leaning to kiss him on the cheek. "Morning Q." She passed him something in his hands and then stepped back into the group.
"We are going to map out the surrounding areas, I want to run a few tests so if possible we need to locate a few spawn points." He looked at Remmy as he spoke, she would be ideal for this task.
"I can do that, there are quite a few small rodents running around. I'll get rid of them and then mark their respawn points." She grabbed her pack and headed out the door giving Q an impish smile.
Hmm… its nice to see she's back to her old self. "Don't let me interrupt, just go back to doing what you were doing." He glanced at Mojo who seemed to want to say something.
She lingered as the rest of the group went back to the tables. "I find myself increasingly impressed by you Q."
"I am awesome right? " Sometimes it was necessary to display something other then completely humility. "A thank you will suffice."
"Mmm.. I will find a suitable method of thanking you." She murmured under her breathe as she walked away.
Q's face was still frozen as he watched Mojo sit down at the table. What the hell does that mean? He glanced at the note in his hand.
"Midnight, East Bank. Swimwear required. L"
Q felt his temperature climb a few degrees as he quickly stashed the note. He looked up and noticed that Leah was watching him, her innocent face broke into a smile which she quickly covered with her hand.
The double doors opened and three familiar faces walked in. Q smiled at them, "morning! You didn't use the portal?" Daze, Onion and Grace all looked at him nervously. Was something up?
The blue haired ranger had her hair braided in a single braid, she had equipped some worn leather armor. "We've been grinding levels. You are sprinting away from us so quickly."
"Working hard?" Q had the benefit of two big kills that had skyrocketed his level to 30. He was only a few levels behind Onion and double what Daze and Grace were. He smiled at the three, "next time I grab a kill we'll group up so you can all share the xp."
Daze blushed slightly, "Q we don't want to be carried like that. We want to help." She paused and looked at the other two for confirmation. "We want to join you."
System Message: You have gained a follower.
Blooming Onion
Level 34
Base Class: Warrior
Sub Class: Monk
Statistics
Strength 18
Endurance 20
Intelligence 14
Agility 18
Luck 10
Charisma 14
System Message: You have gained a follower.
Amazing Grace
Level 15
Base Class: Cleric
Statistics
Strength 16
Endurance 20
Intelligence 26
Agility 18
Luck 10
Charisma 24
System Message: You have gained a follower.
Summer Daze
Level 16
Base Class: Ranger
Statistics
Strength 22
Endurance 17
Intelligence 19
Agility 25
Luck 12
Charisma 17
System Message: You have gained enough followers to form a squad (4). Do you wish to form a squad?
"Yes, form Raven Squad." Q was somewhat shocked by their request, but he had firsthand knowledge of how reliable they were.
System Message: Raven Squad has been formed. Members of Raven receive +5 to all stats.
"Welcome Raven Squad, unfortunately the three of you will have to miss today's activities. I'll let Jinn know." He smiled at them shamelessly.
"Miss the activities?" Daze had been looking forward to it all morning.
"Report to Leah Fintree for special training at once." He felt a bit bad, but if he had to do it, then so did they.
The three walked toward Leah who had stood up when she noticed her membership in Raven squad.
"Welcome! " She smiled at them as they stood in front of her. " To make official introductions I am Leah Fintree, I am very pleased to meet you." Her lightly freckled nose wrinkled slightly when she smiled. "Let me introduce you to someone very important. This is Yayia, she helps us with training."
The white robed elfin woman smiled and bowed slightly. Her temperament had warmed quite a bit over the past few days. She held a worn time piece in her hands. "Nice to meet everyone."
Q was expecting his classmates to filter in slowly, but they must have all met up beforehand. Suddenly the warehouse alcove had a dozen more people in it. Sinful Jinn led the way. Q waved at her when he noticed that she was looking around.
"Q! " Jinn's face lit up when she saw him. "It's not like you to be early!"
"Hmm? That makes me seem unreliable." He frowned at her in disapproval.
Rhapsody snuck around her and threw herself at Q, giving him a big hug. Quite the challenge since she was holding a red floppy eared puppy.
Q laughed when he saw it and promptly relieved her of it. "Bingo!" He tickled its' ears while it tried to gnaw on his hand. "Whose teaching you to bite?" He gave Rhapsody a look. "Forget I asked."
Rhapsody stuck her tongue out at him before barring her fangs also.
Q sat Bingo down on the floor and let it loose, immediately it made a bee line for for the far end of the warehouse. Q laughed as Rhapsody chased after it panicking. He met Jinn's gaze ,"you are awesome for helping me out Jinn, thank you."
Jinn nodded nonchalantly, although it was obvious that she enjoyed the attention. "We seem to be missing three people, I couldn't find them at the inn."
"Onion, Grace and Daze won't be joining us today Jinn." It's always best to say things outright.
Rhapsody chose that time to come back, she shot Q a displeased look, she hadn't been able to get Bingo back yet. "Why not?"
"They've joined Raven Squad and are undergoing auxiliary training."
The entire class started talking at once.
"Raven Squad what is that?"
"Special Training? I need some of that too!"
"Did a big guild come by here or something? Who is sponsoring them?" Jinn asked curiously, it wasn't uncommon for raid groups to recruit new members. Jinn and Rhapsody belonged to the same one.
"I am sponsoring them, they are following me. " The comment met with silence. "We are supporting the Fora Development Group." Q watched Jinn as his words sunk in. His classmates whispered among themselves.
"Q has his own squad?"
"He's all over the forums!"
"Now would be the right time to join!"
Jinn pursed her lips for a moment and muttered something under her breathe. "You be sure to take good care of them."
Q nodded at her. "You know I will Jinn." Surprisingly he offered her his arm, grinning at her when she looped her arm through it. "Lets drag this outside so I can brief everyone."
Not to be outdone, Rhapsody confiscated his other arm. "Look at you being so friendly with Jinn this morning." She dug her nails into his forearm a bit before caressing it softly.
Q gave her a pleasant smile as he led them outside. 'No shit, I'm scared to death of dryads.'
Outside they formed into small raid for purposes of communication. There were four groups of three. Jinn had brought up a 3-D map of the area, and was handing out assignments, always the teacher. "This map only has general information on it, I want everyone to activate the mapping feature on their HUDs, this way each group will be able to cover the assigned grids rather quickly."
Q rolled his eyes when he noticed his group, Jinn and Rhapsody. Should be an interesting morning if nothing else. Rhapsody was still glaring at him, it had taken her several minutes to catch Bingo. She was smiling at the puppy even though he wasn't listening.
"Hey Bingo!" Q put on a stern voice and stared hard at the puppy in Rhapsody's arms. "If you are coming with us I expect you to pull your weight and behave, or else you can stay stored the entire morning."
The red puppy stopped squirming in Rhapsody's arms and tilted his head to one side. His big puppy eyes staring silently at Q.
"Yes.. that's an order." Q spoke to the puppy and gestured for Rhapsody to put him down.
"Q.. he's gonna take off and I'll spend the morning chasing him." Rhapsody complained as she sat him down, to her surprise Bingo trotted over to Q's feet and sat down.
Four hours later The trio were finishing mapping their last coordinates. Bingo had been hunting small rodents in the area and was steadily leveling up. "Damn, he's a grinding machine." Q bent down and scratched the puppies head as he came back to the group. He was steadily growing and losing his puppy clumsiness.
"This is the place Q." Jinn was standing on a bank overlooking a small branch of the river. "Why did you mark this spot?"
"Time for a field test." He climbed up the bank and faced the rock bed he had left. "See those flags?"
Two of the flags that Remmy had in her pack had been stuck in the ground close by.
"I was wondering what those were," Rhapsody had been quiet all morning, unnaturally so. A dryad exploring a lightly wooded area should be more comfortable. She had this vague perception of danger.
"Those are spawning points for the goah rodents." He pointed out two nearby goah rodents and set Bingo after them.
Five minutes later they collapsed the eroded riverbank causing water to flood into the rock bed.
"This was a question that Tal asked me. Does altering the landscape erase spawn points?" Q spoke to them while watching the two flags. They were only two feet long to start with, and were nearly flooded already.
"What does it mean if the spawn points can be erased?" Rhapsody was teasing Bingo with a stick as they watched the water.
"It means that a really smart engineer can completely alter the geography of Fora." They chatted while waiting patiently for half an hour. It was way past the respawn time. 'Still no goah, Tal is going to love this.'
A low growl caused them all to look at bingo. The little puppy was facing west, his nose sniffing the air.
"His hackles are up," Rhapsody smiled. "He is so cute."
"Open com-chat, Mora Jol." Q lowered his voice and faced the opposite direction.
A moment later Mojo's face appeared on his hud. "Yes Q."
"Prepare for trouble." Q cut the comm immediately and started walking in the direction of the warehouse. "Jinn pull everyone back to HQ." He bent down and picked up Bingo as he glanced at Rhapsody. "Scout to the west, do not be seen."
"Understood Q." A moment later the dryad disappeared into the undergrowth.
"I need everyone to drop what they are doing and pull back to the warehouse immediately, all groups return to the warehouse." Jinn spoke calmly into raid chat as Q broke into a jog, she followed right on his heels.
It took them ten minutes to return to the warehouse, Jinn did a quick head count and gave Q a thumbs up. "Just Rhapsody is still out Q."
Q nodded and headed inside. Remmy, Leah and Mojo were just inside the door, all three were wearing black leather armor.
Q's com-chat blinked at him and he quickly accepted, the camouflaged face of Rhapsody gave him a grim smile. "Its a raid group Q, It looks to be Orion Prime."
"Damn, they are a second tier raiding group, why would they be here?" Jinn spoke from behind them.
System Message: You have discovered a raid attempt on your faction. Standard war restrictions and rewards will now apply.
"How strong is Orion Prime?" He knew that his teacher was a full-time player and probably understood a lot about them.
"They will mostly be 25-45 level, no one higher than 60 for sure." Jinn belonged to a 2nd tier raid group also.
"I need a SALUTE report quickly." He spoke to the dryad in a low voice, "do not be seen."
"Understood," the dryad disappeared from view a moment before she closed her comm.
"Remmy I'm going to need your help, and lots of explosives, the ones with really short timers" He gave her a smile, the pink haired gnome loved blowing things up. He looked at Jinn, "can I count on you?"
Jinn nodded, "I will follow your lead Q." She was an experience raider, someone who could be counted on in the chaos.
Mojo watched him carefully, her lavender eyes unreadable. "I will participate also, they want to swim in my pond? Let's see if they are qualified."
Q nodded at the dark elf. "Yayia has had my people for half a day already. I need them."
"You are talking about Daze, Onion and Grace? Jinn equipped her raiding gear as she spoke.
Quinn nodded and looked at Mojo. "Bring up Raven Squad."
Quinn stretched on the bed and removed his headset. "Too early for dinner, I should see what Tal's up to."Tal opened the door almost immediately after the first knock, surprising Quinn."Damn, were you standing by the door?""Yep, packing up the closet." Tal had her blonde hair tied up in a bun, she closed the door behind Quinn."Wow, you really jumped on-board." Quinn had mentioned getting packed up only a few hours ago.Tal tucked an errant strand of hair behind one ear, "have to be ready to go right?""I'll help until it's time for me to log in." Quinn started stacking the packed boxes."You just came here to get fed, Little Q." She walked into the kitchen, "hope you like frozen pizza, because I've already packed up most of the kitchen.""....." Quinn.*****************"Log On Tap."TAP Interface Acquired.Synchronizing character data.....Welcome Back Q, find your path!Q logged back in to a very busy warehouse. He noticed right way that most of the faction leadership were sitting at the table in discussion. He didn't see any players yet. The TAP mail indicator was blinking.."Of course Open Mail."TAP MAILSubject: Day 4 Itinerary Sender: Sinful Jinn Attachment:NoneSubject: Havoc Rules! Sender: Summer Daze Attachment:NoneSubject: Quick Question. Sender: Bo Jangles Attachment:NoneSubject: Faction Notice. Sender: TAP Attachment:Bulk Items"Open 1st mail."Hey Guys!It's Day 4! We are headed to the headquarters of the Fora Development Group, a newly formed NPC faction. I've enclosed a token for everyone, do not lose this! This will let you use the portal in Talon to travel directly to HQ. We will break off into groups and do some exploring. Meet at 10am.Sinful Jinn"That gives me less than an hour. Open 2nd mail."Hey Q,I see we are breaking off into groups tomorrow. You aren't going to ditch me right? Us Havoc members have to stay together!Summer Daze"Hmm.. no chance of me ditching you. Open 3rd mail."Hi Q,I received a notice that a new NPC faction has been formed. This notice went out to all the guild leaders in TAP. Is this a guild for NPCs? Why are you listed as the founder? I researched the faction leaders, it's a who's who of the important NPCs in TAP. Are NPCs going to start running raids and participating in Arena events?Bo Jangles"hahaha.. You sound nervous woman-man. Open 4th mail."System Message: Bulk Items have been added to your inventory.Q,As the Founder of the Fora Development Group you have been granted materials for development. We are proud to offer these to you and wish you success in your future ventures.TAP Staff"What the hell are bulk items?" Q walked toward the first row of shelves, He noticed that there were more crates added to the shelves since he had logged off, the quests must be doing well. He opened the storage interface and stored the bulk items.System Message: Do you wish to unpack Bulk Items into Warehouse Storage?"Yes, unpack Bulk items."Instantly almost every row of shelves was stacked with crates to the ceiling. "The hell? That is a lot of shit."The noisy warehouse was suddenly quiet. Q looked around sheepishly as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Hey everyone."Bez was almost running toward him, his eyes open wide in surprise. "Q! Where did you get all this?"He was followed closely by the rest of the leadership."It's a materials grant for starting a faction I guess." Q shrugged, "I didn't really do anything this time for real!"Mora Jol stared at the full shelves, then looked back at Q. "Since we joined forces with you, everything you have done has benefited us.""I have some ideas, hopefully we can continue to work together successfully." He noticed Leah at the back of the group and walked toward her. She had her hair up and was wearing black leather armor."Good morning Miss Fintree."Leah smiled and grabbed one of his hands before leaning to kiss him on the cheek. "Morning Q." She passed him something in his hands and then stepped back into the group."We are going to map out the surrounding areas, I want to run a few tests so if possible we need to locate a few spawn points." He looked at Remmy as he spoke, she would be ideal for this task."I can do that, there are quite a few small rodents running around. I'll get rid of them and then mark their respawn points." She grabbed her pack and headed out the door giving Q an impish smile.Hmm its nice to see she's back to her old self. "Don't let me interrupt, just go back to doing what you were doing." He glanced at Mojo who seemed to want to say something.She lingered as the rest of the group went back to the tables. "I find myself increasingly impressed by you Q.""I am awesome right? " Sometimes it was necessary to display something other then completely humility. "A thank you will suffice.""Mmm.. I will find a suitable method of thanking you." She murmured under her breathe as she walked away.Q's face was still frozen as he watched Mojo sit down at the table. What the hell does that mean? He glanced at the note in his hand."Midnight, East Bank. Swimwear required. L"Q felt his temperature climb a few degrees as he quickly stashed the note. He looked up and noticed that Leah was watching him, her innocent face broke into a smile which she quickly covered with her hand.The double doors opened and three familiar faces walked in. Q smiled at them, "morning! You didn't use the portal?" Daze, Onion and Grace all looked at him nervously. Was something up?The blue haired ranger had her hair braided in a single braid, she had equipped some worn leather armor. "We've been grinding levels. You are sprinting away from us so quickly.""Working hard?" Q had the benefit of two big kills that had skyrocketed his level to 30. He was only a few levels behind Onion and double what Daze and Grace were. He smiled at the three, "next time I grab a kill we'll group up so you can all share the xp."Daze blushed slightly, "Q we don't want to be carried like that. We want to help." She paused and looked at the other two for confirmation. "We want to join you."System Message: You have gained a follower.Blooming OnionLevel 34Base Class: WarriorSub Class: MonkStatisticsStrength 18Endurance 20Intelligence 14Agility 18Luck 10Charisma 14System Message: You have gained a follower.Amazing GraceLevel 15Base Class: ClericStatisticsStrength 16Endurance 20Intelligence 26Agility 18Luck 10Charisma 24System Message: You have gained a follower.Summer DazeLevel 16Base Class: RangerStatisticsStrength 22Endurance 17Intelligence 19Agility 25Luck 12Charisma 17System Message: You have gained enough followers to form a squad 4. Do you wish to form a squad?"Yes, form Raven Squad." Q was somewhat shocked by their request, but he had firsthand knowledge of how reliable they were.System Message: Raven Squad has been formed. Members of Raven receive +5 to all stats."Welcome Raven Squad, unfortunately the three of you will have to miss today's activities. I'll let Jinn know." He smiled at them shamelessly."Miss the activities?" Daze had been looking forward to it all morning."Report to Leah Fintree for special training at once." He felt a bit bad, but if he had to do it, then so did they.The three walked toward Leah who had stood up when she noticed her membership in Raven squad."Welcome! " She smiled at them as they stood in front of her. " To make official introductions I am Leah Fintree, I am very pleased to meet you." Her lightly freckled nose wrinkled slightly when she smiled. "Let me introduce you to someone very important. This is Yayia, she helps us with training."The white robed elfin woman smiled and bowed slightly. Her temperament had warmed quite a bit over the past few days. She held a worn time piece in her hands. "Nice to meet everyone."Q was expecting his classmates to filter in slowly, but they must have all met up beforehand. Suddenly the warehouse alcove had a dozen more people in it. Sinful Jinn led the way. Q waved at her when he noticed that she was looking around."Q! " Jinn's face lit up when she saw him. "It's not like you to be early!""Hmm? That makes me seem unreliable." He frowned at her in disapproval.Rhapsody snuck around her and threw herself at Q, giving him a big hug. Quite the challenge since she was holding a red floppy eared puppy.Q laughed when he saw it and promptly relieved her of it. "Bingo!" He tickled its' ears while it tried to gnaw on his hand. "Whose teaching you to bite?" He gave Rhapsody a look. "Forget I asked."Rhapsody stuck her tongue out at him before barring her fangs also.Q sat Bingo down on the floor and let it loose, immediately it made a bee line for for the far end of the warehouse. Q laughed as Rhapsody chased after it panicking. He met Jinn's gaze ,"you are awesome for helping me out Jinn, thank you."Jinn nodded nonchalantly, although it was obvious that she enjoyed the attention. "We seem to be missing three people, I couldn't find them at the inn.""Onion, Grace and Daze won't be joining us today Jinn." It's always best to say things outright.Rhapsody chose that time to come back, she shot Q a displeased look, she hadn't been able to get Bingo back yet. "Why not?""They've joined Raven Squad and are undergoing auxiliary training."The entire class started talking at once."Raven Squad what is that?""Special Training? I need some of that too!""Did a big guild come by here or something? Who is sponsoring them?" Jinn asked curiously, it wasn't uncommon for raid groups to recruit new members. Jinn and Rhapsody belonged to the same one."I am sponsoring them, they are following me. " The comment met with silence. "We are supporting the Fora Development Group." Q watched Jinn as his words sunk in. His classmates whispered among themselves."Q has his own squad?""He's all over the forums!""Now would be the right time to join!"Jinn pursed her lips for a moment and muttered something under her breathe. "You be sure to take good care of them."Q nodded at her. "You know I will Jinn." Surprisingly he offered her his arm, grinning at her when she looped her arm through it. "Lets drag this outside so I can brief everyone."Not to be outdone, Rhapsody confiscated his other arm. "Look at you being so friendly with Jinn this morning." She dug her nails into his forearm a bit before caressing it softly.Q gave her a pleasant smile as he led them outside. 'No shit, I'm scared to death of dryads.'Outside they formed into small raid for purposes of communication. There were four groups of three. Jinn had brought up a 3-D map of the area, and was handing out assignments, always the teacher. "This map only has general information on it, I want everyone to activate the mapping feature on their HUDs, this way each group will be able to cover the assigned grids rather quickly."Q rolled his eyes when he noticed his group, Jinn and Rhapsody. Should be an interesting morning if nothing else. Rhapsody was still glaring at him, it had taken her several minutes to catch Bingo. She was smiling at the puppy even though he wasn't listening."Hey Bingo!" Q put on a stern voice and stared hard at the puppy in Rhapsody's arms. "If you are coming with us I expect you to pull your weight and behave, or else you can stay stored the entire morning."The red puppy stopped squirming in Rhapsody's arms and tilted his head to one side. His big puppy eyes staring silently at Q."Yes.. that's an order." Q spoke to the puppy and gestured for Rhapsody to put him down."Q.. he's gonna take off and I'll spend the morning chasing him." Rhapsody complained as she sat him down, to her surprise Bingo trotted over to Q's feet and sat down.Four hours later The trio were finishing mapping their last coordinates. Bingo had been hunting small rodents in the area and was steadily leveling up. "Damn, he's a grinding machine." Q bent down and scratched the puppies head as he came back to the group. He was steadily growing and losing his puppy clumsiness."This is the place Q." Jinn was standing on a bank overlooking a small branch of the river. "Why did you mark this spot?""Time for a field test." He climbed up the bank and faced the rock bed he had left. "See those flags?"Two of the flags that Remmy had in her pack had been stuck in the ground close by."I was wondering what those were," Rhapsody had been quiet all morning, unnaturally so. A dryad exploring a lightly wooded area should be more comfortable. She had this vague perception of danger."Those are spawning points for the goah rodents." He pointed out two nearby goah rodents and set Bingo after them.Five minutes later they collapsed the eroded riverbank causing water to flood into the rock bed."This was a question that Tal asked me. Does altering the landscape erase spawn points?" Q spoke to them while watching the two flags. They were only two feet long to start with, and were nearly flooded already."What does it mean if the spawn points can be erased?" Rhapsody was teasing Bingo with a stick as they watched the water."It means that a really smart engineer can completely alter the geography of Fora." They chatted while waiting patiently for half an hour. It was way past the respawn time. 'Still no goah, Tal is going to love this.'A low growl caused them all to look at bingo. The little puppy was facing west, his nose sniffing the air."His hackles are up," Rhapsody smiled. "He is so cute.""Open com-chat, Mora Jol." Q lowered his voice and faced the opposite direction.A moment later Mojo's face appeared on his hud. "Yes Q.""Prepare for trouble." Q cut the comm immediately and started walking in the direction of the warehouse. "Jinn pull everyone back to HQ." He bent down and picked up Bingo as he glanced at Rhapsody. "Scout to the west, do not be seen.""Understood Q." A moment later the dryad disappeared into the undergrowth."I need everyone to drop what they are doing and pull back to the warehouse immediately, all groups return to the warehouse." Jinn spoke calmly into raid chat as Q broke into a jog, she followed right on his heels.It took them ten minutes to return to the warehouse, Jinn did a quick head count and gave Q a thumbs up. "Just Rhapsody is still out Q."Q nodded and headed inside. Remmy, Leah and Mojo were just inside the door, all three were wearing black leather armor.Q's com-chat blinked at him and he quickly accepted, the camouflaged face of Rhapsody gave him a grim smile. "Its a raid group Q, It looks to be Orion Prime.""Damn, they are a second tier raiding group, why would they be here?" Jinn spoke from behind them.System Message: You have discovered a raid attempt on your faction. Standard war restrictions and rewards will now apply."How strong is Orion Prime?" He knew that his teacher was a full-time player and probably understood a lot about them."They will mostly be 25-45 level, no one higher than 60 for sure." Jinn belonged to a 2nd tier raid group also."I need a SALUTE report quickly." He spoke to the dryad in a low voice, "do not be seen.""Understood," the dryad disappeared from view a moment before she closed her comm."Remmy I'm going to need your help, and lots of explosives, the ones with really short timers" He gave her a smile, the pink haired gnome loved blowing things up. He looked at Jinn, "can I count on you?"Jinn nodded, "I will follow your lead Q." She was an experience raider, someone who could be counted on in the chaos.Mojo watched him carefully, her lavender eyes unreadable. "I will participate also, they want to swim in my pond? Let's see if they are qualified."Q nodded at the dark elf. "Yayia has had my people for half a day already. I need them.""You are talking about Daze, Onion and Grace? Jinn equipped her raiding gear as she spoke.Quinn nodded and looked at Mojo. "Bring up Raven Squad."
