Chapter 36
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"Quinn!" Anna called from her room down the hall. "Better come fast."
Quinn had been in his room since dinner, no one had bothered him. Tal had come by a few times and paused outside, but each time she chose to give him some space.
Quinn walked into her room, a hint of floral perfume in the air. "What's up Anna?"
"This is your mail, take a look." Anna moved to one side so he could read.
Q,
Mojo mentioned that you can access your mail when you aren't in TAP. We got separated from Leah during our surveying today, she never returned to camp. She isn't answering her Com-Chat. We've been conducting searches in the area that she was suppose to be in. Normally we wouldn't be concerned, but she mentioned that she was leaving camp after today to join you.
Daze.
Quinn left the room and walked down the hall to his own room, Anna followed right on his heels. He immediately entered his VR Chamber.
"Quinn do you need help?" Tal called from his doorway, she had heard everything.
"Leave it to me. Log-On TAP."
Anna watched him log in and glanced at the open Notebook on his desk. She looked at Tal in the doorway and motioned for her to come in. They both read the open page. It was a checklist of six items, the first two were checked off.
1. Wake up Ren. (x)
2. Find a home for my family. (x)
3. Help the NPCs.
4. Prepare for TAP Exodus.
5. Erase Sidney Horn's Exodus Avatar.
6. Expose Nora Salo to the world.
"Why would Sydney Horn bother Quinn so much?" Anna's pretty face looked serious as she glanced back at the VR chamber. "And what does that mean, 'expose Nora Salo to the world?'"
Tal sighed heavily. "Hun.. I just can't say."
*******************
TAP Interface Acquired.
Synchronizing character data.....
Welcome Back Q, find your path!
Quinn found himself in a Fenway Alley. He immediately started running. Two minutes to the portal, where he traveled directly to Talon, it was closer to where Leah would have been.
He summoned Scorch and mounted him. "I need you to be fast tonight Red." He patted the big horse on the shoulder and then heeled him. They tore through the market place and out the front gate.
Q bent low over the over the saddle, the pounding of Scorch's hooves on the ground was the only sound on a cloudless night. "At least there's a full moon Red, we'd be boned if it was overcast." When NPCs were killed, they could only be rezzed within 12 hours. If something happened to her... He patted his horses neck. "Come on boy, lets see what you can do."
System Message: NPC Assassin Ability discovered. Horseback Riding.
Horseback Riding 1
"Damn, Mojo isn't going to like that... Screw it, let's go!!"
Four hours later, Q crested a small foothill, a large red tent was visible in the distance. "Open Com-Chat, Summer Daze."
Daze popped up on his hud. "Q? I can't really see anything, where are you?"
"I"m nearing the survey camp now, I want an update when I arrive." He slowed down as he approached the perimeter. He didn't want to barge past any guards they may have set.
"Halt! Dismount immediately!" Q slid off the horse and faced the guard who stood about 20 feet away. "Advance and be recognized!"
Q dropped the reins of the horse and walked slowly forward.
"Commander Q!" It was one of the Guards from Talon. He stood to one side and let Q pass.
"Welcome to the West Surveying Camp. Raven squad will be inside."
He rubbed the big stallion's head. "Half a night of running and you still have more. Those nags in Guns & Gore would have choked on your dust."
He looked up at the guard,"have someone rub him down and get him some water." Q entered the tent with a feeling of deja vu. It was exactly like Lani's dome tent, minus the two dozen beauties.
Inside the Dome tent, there were several smaller tents and a large cooking fire off to one side. Q shook his head in amazement, these things really were incredible, there wasn't even the slightest hint of smoke.
"Q!," Daze spotted him from the middle of the tent, she was standing near a table looking at the 3-D map.
Q didn't waste any time. "Report."
Onion rotated the map and began speaking. "We were surveying in this region, approximately 15 miles North of our position. Our last contact was in this rocky area, roughly 7 hours ago."
Daze zoomed the 3-D map out and took over. "We scaled back our other operations to comb the entire area, we haven't found any trace of her."
Q nodded, "well done. She has a tent? Take me to it please." Daze and Onion gave each other a puzzled look.
"The initial scouting reports are being done before survey teams come through right?" He spoke quietly to them as they brought him to Leah's tent. "Perhaps she noticed something that sparked her interest."
They stopped outside her tent, "please wait here," he asked.
There was a luminescent ball hanging near the entrance, he activated it and began to look around. There was a bedroll next to one wall, a chair and table set up opposite of that. Sitting down he starting going through the items. There was a sketch pad with a few charcoal pencils. 'Did Leah like to draw? Damn, I should ask more about these things.'
The last two pages caught his eye. One was a sketch of a man and woman swimming together. Q stared at it for a few moments, before looking at the second. It was a landscape sketch of a Rocky area, there was a naturally formed spring of perhaps 50 feet in diameter. "Did you go here Leah?"
He sat the sketch pad to one side. "Bingo." Under the pad was the scouting report. He paged through the report slowly, half-way through he found a underlined sentence. "Naturally formed pool of water, hidden in the rocks."
Q left the tent and started toward the Dome's exit. "Continue grid pattern search on the surrounding areas that haven't been covered."
"Where are you going Q?" Daze saw the focused look in his eyes, 'he must have found a clue.'
"Just a hunch, am going to backtrack and re-search the area in which she disappeared initially."
"Do you want me to come with you," Onion asked? He had assumed command of the camp when Leah disappeared, he had everything well organized.
"Thanks, but that won't be necessary, concentrate on the unsearched areas."
"Yes sir." Onion and Daze followed him out.
One of the guards brought him well mannered Scorch when he exited the Dome tent. "Don't be alarmed if you are unable to contact me on Com-chat," he mounted the horse and looked down at them. "Where ever Grace is, I want her to drop what she is doing and stay at the camp!"
He brought up the map and marked the estimated location of the pool. Without another word he galloped off. The 12 hour window for rezzing NPCs was ticking.
"Why does he want that?" Daze glanced at Onion, he had become remarkably reliable.
"Grace is the only person in camp who can Rezz NPCs, paladin's can't do it." 'Shit, I should have thought of that.'
*****************
*Sunburst*
She raised her blowgun and fired a needle-like projectile.
"screee.." The spider hissed as the dart punched deep into its eye, killing it instantly.
A young girl in the darkness, pierced in several places by some of the larger spiders. Somehow she had managed to evade them once again. The smaller ones were better at tracking blood trail. They always seemed to find her. She staggered to her feet. 'I have to keep moving, he'll come for me.'
She walked slowly, trying to stay quiet, one leg dragging behind her. Her normally beautiful red hair, was matted with sweat and blood. She had been poisoned. 'I'm really scared.. I can't last much longer, you'll come right?'
Leah walked for several minutes before coming to a dead end. The tiniest scratching of claws on bare rock caused her to turn her head. There were two of the smaller spiders, they had found her again.
*Sunburst*
She fired a needle into the eyes of the closer one, the second resisted the blinding and leaped at her. Leah tried to dodge backwards, but slammed into the wall and collapsed to her knees. Two pincers dripping with toxin, punctured her shoulder. She screamed in agony and stabbed at its soft underbelly with her blowgun, using the rest of her strength to kill it.
She looked at her broken blowgun, tears flowing down her face as she used the wall to get back to her feet. 'My only weapon... you'll come,' she bit her lip to keep from weeping. 'Because your brave, and smart and kind...'
It took Q three hours to find Leah's last known location, another forty five minutes to find the rock pool. He had walked past it twice, the third time he caught the reflection of the moon off the surface. He removed a luminescent stone his pack and activated it.
Carefully he slid down the steep incline to the pool. There was vague sense of danger from the area. A lurking beast perhaps? This was fresh water, it wasn't uncommon for nocturnal animals to poach watering holes at night.
He took a knee and examined his surroundings. This pool was only approachable by the side he had used. That makes it the perfect trap, but where would the predator be? There were no trees, no outcropping to attack from. That leaves the air as the next obvious place, but the skies were clear. He stood and walked closer to the pool. Bending down he touched the water with his hand, letting it's coolness run down fingers and splash onto the rocks next to his feet.
"That's curious, these rocks aren't the same as the rest. It could be a ground trap," Q was tempted to take the shortcut and jump in, but that would be unfortunate, if it happened to be lined with spikes. He moved to where he best guessed the edge would be and started removing stones. He heard the scratching of rock against rock after the fifth stone. Q jumped backward just as an entire side of the bank shifted and disappeared from sight.
In the dim light he could tell that there were no spikes. It was actually a trap, a collapsible ramp, camouflaged with rocks. Something smart had made this, Q was filled with a sense of foreboding. A smart, apex predator. 'Great... my happy life fades away.' The hole dug beneath the trap was approximately 15 feet in diameter and 12 feet deep. A smaller hole dug into the bottom seemed to be the only exit.
"Did you fall into this Leah? Or am I wasting valuable time? I can't afford to be wrong about this. No.. you are here, I feel it."
He held out the light before him, "this light is going to attract whatever is lurking, but at least that will save time."
Q faded from sight and bent low moving carefully through the tunnel. It wound back and forth like a snake for perhaps 200 feet and then opened into a cavern. Stalactites hung from the ceiling, there were a handful of caves leading in different directions.
Walking a bit further he found the half eaten remains of a spider corpse, apparently they eat their dead. A cold chill settled on him, if someone were eaten, nothing could bring them back. Kicking the spider over something clattered lightly on the ground.
It's was a dart.. one of Leah's. Relief and anger flooded through Q at the same time, he felt the beginning of an unspeakable rage building inside himself. He spoke into the darkness, "You've attacked a person you should never have touched, nothing can save you now."
He placed the light on the ground then pulled out his Halberd and slammed the base onto the cave floor. Sound echoed throughout the cavern. Again and again , until he heard the scratching of hundreds of little legs.
They came through the Northern tunnel first. "COME ON!!"
*Blink* He cut three wide swathes through the river of spiders.
*Return*
*Open Range pistoleros* 465 damage, 570 damage, 865 damage, 490 damage, Critical hit 2250 damage, Bonus 2250 damage, 748 damage.
Arachnids exploded hideously with every shot, the point blank range causing Q to become splattered with their entrails. He holstered his guns and drew out the Halberd.
*Blink* Again he attacked the middle of the tide, swinging the long weapon like he was cutting wood.
*Return*
*Open Range pistoleros* 434 damage, 575 damage, 854 damage, 110 damage, 450 damage, 748 damage.
System Message: You have killed 100 spiders and earned a new title, Spider Stomper.
Spider Stomper
All damage to Arachnids
is multiplied
by 1.3
*Blink*
Again he attacked, always where they were the thickest, his armor covered in their ichor. He bled from a half dozen scratches and bites, the spider venom having long entered his body.
*Return*
*Open Range pistoleros* 765 damage, 530 damage, 555 damage, 490 damage, Critical hit 2750 damage, Bonus 2750 damage, 768 damage.
Roaring and cursing, he felt himself growing weaker from the poison, but he refused to retreat.
System Message: You have killed 500 spiders and earned a new title, Spider Basher.
Spider Basher
All damage to Arachnids
is multiplied
by 1.5
*Ding* You have reached level 36.
Q slaughtered the last of the wave, dropping to his knees he gasped for air. Dizzy from poison, his burning rage brought him back to his feet. He slammed the Halberd onto the rock floor again. "I SAID COME!!"
Q heard the skittering of spider movements from one of the caves, but none approached. Slamming his Halberd on cavern floor with each step, his steps echoes through the caves as he headed down down the cavern to where he had heard the noise.
A flash of white caught his eye, a bit of a bandage stained with blood, lay against the cave wall. The cave opened up into a larger area, they were waiting for him there. Another wave of Spiders, this time they were accompanied by three very large ones.
Q bared his teeth at them and roared! "LETS GO!!"
*blink*
He landed on the back of the middle one, drawing his daggers.
*Backstab* Critical Hit 3300 damage, bonus 3300 damage. One poison counter has been applied.
*Return*
*Open Range pistoleros* 545 damage, 770 damage, 565 damage, 490 damage, Critical hit 1750 damage, Bonus 1750 damage, 758 damage.
He whittled down the pack using his guns, and then continued to work on the bigger spiders until all three of them fell. The remaining smaller spiders retreated through the back entrance.
System Message: You have killed 1000 spiders and earned a new title, Spider Slayer.
Spider Slayer
All damage to Arachnids
is multiplied
by 2.
Additional Effect: Incoming damage
from arachnids is halved.
"Hiding?" He leaned heavily on his halberd, one of the big ones had poisoned him. They were much more toxic then the smaller ones. He felt his skin start to grow cold as he struggled to put one foot in front of the other.
Q had just entered the back exit when his body finally began to fail. "Bastards.." He spit blood onto the cavern floor. 'I can't stop here, in my heart I know... she expects me to come.' He used his halberd to prop himself up to his feet, gasping for air as he leaned heavily on the weapon.
System Message: You have learned a new NPC Assassin ability: Poison Immunity.
Poison Immunity: Spider toxin
A low laughter echoed through the caverns, an angry laugh full of rage and madness. The roar of guns pounded through the depths of darkness. Throughout the night and into the dawn, death stalked the caverns, until there wasn't a single spider left on the upper levels
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"Quinn!" Anna called from her room down the hall. "Better come fast."
Quinn had been in his room since dinner, no one had bothered him. Tal had come by a few times and paused outside, but each time she chose to give him some space.
Quinn walked into her room, a hint of floral perfume in the air. "What's up Anna?"
"This is your mail, take a look." Anna moved to one side so he could read.
Q,
Mojo mentioned that you can access your mail when you aren't in TAP. We got separated from Leah during our surveying today, she never returned to camp. She isn't answering her Com-Chat. We've been conducting searches in the area that she was suppose to be in. Normally we wouldn't be concerned, but she mentioned that she was leaving camp after today to join you.
Daze.
Quinn left the room and walked down the hall to his own room, Anna followed right on his heels. He immediately entered his VR Chamber.
"Quinn do you need help?" Tal called from his doorway, she had heard everything.
"Leave it to me. Log-On TAP."
Anna watched him log in and glanced at the open Notebook on his desk. She looked at Tal in the doorway and motioned for her to come in. They both read the open page. It was a checklist of six items, the first two were checked off.
1. Wake up Ren. (x)
2. Find a home for my family. (x)
3. Help the NPCs.
4. Prepare for TAP Exodus.
5. Erase Sidney Horn's Exodus Avatar.
6. Expose Nora Salo to the world.
"Why would Sydney Horn bother Quinn so much?" Anna's pretty face looked serious as she glanced back at the VR chamber. "And what does that mean, 'expose Nora Salo to the world?'"
Tal sighed heavily. "Hun.. I just can't say."
*******************
TAP Interface Acquired.
Synchronizing character data.....
Welcome Back Q, find your path!
Quinn found himself in a Fenway Alley. He immediately started running. Two minutes to the portal, where he traveled directly to Talon, it was closer to where Leah would have been.
He summoned Scorch and mounted him. "I need you to be fast tonight Red." He patted the big horse on the shoulder and then heeled him. They tore through the market place and out the front gate.
Q bent low over the over the saddle, the pounding of Scorch's hooves on the ground was the only sound on a cloudless night. "At least there's a full moon Red, we'd be boned if it was overcast." When NPCs were killed, they could only be rezzed within 12 hours. If something happened to her... He patted his horses neck. "Come on boy, lets see what you can do."
System Message: NPC Assassin Ability discovered. Horseback Riding.
Horseback Riding 1
"Damn, Mojo isn't going to like that... Screw it, let's go!!"
Four hours later, Q crested a small foothill, a large red tent was visible in the distance. "Open Com-Chat, Summer Daze."
Daze popped up on his hud. "Q? I can't really see anything, where are you?"
"I"m nearing the survey camp now, I want an update when I arrive." He slowed down as he approached the perimeter. He didn't want to barge past any guards they may have set.
"Halt! Dismount immediately!" Q slid off the horse and faced the guard who stood about 20 feet away. "Advance and be recognized!"
Q dropped the reins of the horse and walked slowly forward.
"Commander Q!" It was one of the Guards from Talon. He stood to one side and let Q pass.
"Welcome to the West Surveying Camp. Raven squad will be inside."
He rubbed the big stallion's head. "Half a night of running and you still have more. Those nags in Guns & Gore would have choked on your dust."
He looked up at the guard,"have someone rub him down and get him some water." Q entered the tent with a feeling of deja vu. It was exactly like Lani's dome tent, minus the two dozen beauties.
Inside the Dome tent, there were several smaller tents and a large cooking fire off to one side. Q shook his head in amazement, these things really were incredible, there wasn't even the slightest hint of smoke.
"Q!," Daze spotted him from the middle of the tent, she was standing near a table looking at the 3-D map.
Q didn't waste any time. "Report."
Onion rotated the map and began speaking. "We were surveying in this region, approximately 15 miles North of our position. Our last contact was in this rocky area, roughly 7 hours ago."
Daze zoomed the 3-D map out and took over. "We scaled back our other operations to comb the entire area, we haven't found any trace of her."
Q nodded, "well done. She has a tent? Take me to it please." Daze and Onion gave each other a puzzled look.
"The initial scouting reports are being done before survey teams come through right?" He spoke quietly to them as they brought him to Leah's tent. "Perhaps she noticed something that sparked her interest."
They stopped outside her tent, "please wait here," he asked.
There was a luminescent ball hanging near the entrance, he activated it and began to look around. There was a bedroll next to one wall, a chair and table set up opposite of that. Sitting down he starting going through the items. There was a sketch pad with a few charcoal pencils. 'Did Leah like to draw? Damn, I should ask more about these things.'
The last two pages caught his eye. One was a sketch of a man and woman swimming together. Q stared at it for a few moments, before looking at the second. It was a landscape sketch of a Rocky area, there was a naturally formed spring of perhaps 50 feet in diameter. "Did you go here Leah?"
He sat the sketch pad to one side. "Bingo." Under the pad was the scouting report. He paged through the report slowly, half-way through he found a underlined sentence. "Naturally formed pool of water, hidden in the rocks."
Q left the tent and started toward the Dome's exit. "Continue grid pattern search on the surrounding areas that haven't been covered."
"Where are you going Q?" Daze saw the focused look in his eyes, 'he must have found a clue.'
"Just a hunch, am going to backtrack and re-search the area in which she disappeared initially."
"Do you want me to come with you," Onion asked? He had assumed command of the camp when Leah disappeared, he had everything well organized.
"Thanks, but that won't be necessary, concentrate on the unsearched areas."
"Yes sir." Onion and Daze followed him out.
One of the guards brought him well mannered Scorch when he exited the Dome tent. "Don't be alarmed if you are unable to contact me on Com-chat," he mounted the horse and looked down at them. "Where ever Grace is, I want her to drop what she is doing and stay at the camp!"
He brought up the map and marked the estimated location of the pool. Without another word he galloped off. The 12 hour window for rezzing NPCs was ticking.
"Why does he want that?" Daze glanced at Onion, he had become remarkably reliable.
"Grace is the only person in camp who can Rezz NPCs, paladin's can't do it." 'Shit, I should have thought of that.'
*****************
*Sunburst*
She raised her blowgun and fired a needle-like projectile.
"screee.." The spider hissed as the dart punched deep into its eye, killing it instantly.
A young girl in the darkness, pierced in several places by some of the larger spiders. Somehow she had managed to evade them once again. The smaller ones were better at tracking blood trail. They always seemed to find her. She staggered to her feet. 'I have to keep moving, he'll come for me.'
She walked slowly, trying to stay quiet, one leg dragging behind her. Her normally beautiful red hair, was matted with sweat and blood. She had been poisoned. 'I'm really scared.. I can't last much longer, you'll come right?'
Leah walked for several minutes before coming to a dead end. The tiniest scratching of claws on bare rock caused her to turn her head. There were two of the smaller spiders, they had found her again.
*Sunburst*
She fired a needle into the eyes of the closer one, the second resisted the blinding and leaped at her. Leah tried to dodge backwards, but slammed into the wall and collapsed to her knees. Two pincers dripping with toxin, punctured her shoulder. She screamed in agony and stabbed at its soft underbelly with her blowgun, using the rest of her strength to kill it.
She looked at her broken blowgun, tears flowing down her face as she used the wall to get back to her feet. 'My only weapon... you'll come,' she bit her lip to keep from weeping. 'Because your brave, and smart and kind...'
It took Q three hours to find Leah's last known location, another forty five minutes to find the rock pool. He had walked past it twice, the third time he caught the reflection of the moon off the surface. He removed a luminescent stone his pack and activated it.
Carefully he slid down the steep incline to the pool. There was vague sense of danger from the area. A lurking beast perhaps? This was fresh water, it wasn't uncommon for nocturnal animals to poach watering holes at night.
He took a knee and examined his surroundings. This pool was only approachable by the side he had used. That makes it the perfect trap, but where would the predator be? There were no trees, no outcropping to attack from. That leaves the air as the next obvious place, but the skies were clear. He stood and walked closer to the pool. Bending down he touched the water with his hand, letting it's coolness run down fingers and splash onto the rocks next to his feet.
"That's curious, these rocks aren't the same as the rest. It could be a ground trap," Q was tempted to take the shortcut and jump in, but that would be unfortunate, if it happened to be lined with spikes. He moved to where he best guessed the edge would be and started removing stones. He heard the scratching of rock against rock after the fifth stone. Q jumped backward just as an entire side of the bank shifted and disappeared from sight.
In the dim light he could tell that there were no spikes. It was actually a trap, a collapsible ramp, camouflaged with rocks. Something smart had made this, Q was filled with a sense of foreboding. A smart, apex predator. 'Great... my happy life fades away.' The hole dug beneath the trap was approximately 15 feet in diameter and 12 feet deep. A smaller hole dug into the bottom seemed to be the only exit.
"Did you fall into this Leah? Or am I wasting valuable time? I can't afford to be wrong about this. No.. you are here, I feel it."
He held out the light before him, "this light is going to attract whatever is lurking, but at least that will save time."
Q faded from sight and bent low moving carefully through the tunnel. It wound back and forth like a snake for perhaps 200 feet and then opened into a cavern. Stalactites hung from the ceiling, there were a handful of caves leading in different directions.
Walking a bit further he found the half eaten remains of a spider corpse, apparently they eat their dead. A cold chill settled on him, if someone were eaten, nothing could bring them back. Kicking the spider over something clattered lightly on the ground.
It's was a dart.. one of Leah's. Relief and anger flooded through Q at the same time, he felt the beginning of an unspeakable rage building inside himself. He spoke into the darkness, "You've attacked a person you should never have touched, nothing can save you now."
He placed the light on the ground then pulled out his Halberd and slammed the base onto the cave floor. Sound echoed throughout the cavern. Again and again , until he heard the scratching of hundreds of little legs.
They came through the Northern tunnel first. "COME ON!!"
*Blink* He cut three wide swathes through the river of spiders.
*Return*
*Open Range pistoleros* 465 damage, 570 damage, 865 damage, 490 damage, Critical hit 2250 damage, Bonus 2250 damage, 748 damage.
Arachnids exploded hideously with every shot, the point blank range causing Q to become splattered with their entrails. He holstered his guns and drew out the Halberd.
*Blink* Again he attacked the middle of the tide, swinging the long weapon like he was cutting wood.
*Return*
*Open Range pistoleros* 434 damage, 575 damage, 854 damage, 110 damage, 450 damage, 748 damage.
System Message: You have killed 100 spiders and earned a new title, Spider Stomper.
Spider Stomper
All damage to Arachnids
is multiplied
by 1.3
*Blink*
Again he attacked, always where they were the thickest, his armor covered in their ichor. He bled from a half dozen scratches and bites, the spider venom having long entered his body.
*Return*
*Open Range pistoleros* 765 damage, 530 damage, 555 damage, 490 damage, Critical hit 2750 damage, Bonus 2750 damage, 768 damage.
Roaring and cursing, he felt himself growing weaker from the poison, but he refused to retreat.
System Message: You have killed 500 spiders and earned a new title, Spider Basher.
Spider Basher
All damage to Arachnids
is multiplied
by 1.5
*Ding* You have reached level 36.
Q slaughtered the last of the wave, dropping to his knees he gasped for air. Dizzy from poison, his burning rage brought him back to his feet. He slammed the Halberd onto the rock floor again. "I SAID COME!!"
Q heard the skittering of spider movements from one of the caves, but none approached. Slamming his Halberd on cavern floor with each step, his steps echoes through the caves as he headed down down the cavern to where he had heard the noise.
A flash of white caught his eye, a bit of a bandage stained with blood, lay against the cave wall. The cave opened up into a larger area, they were waiting for him there. Another wave of Spiders, this time they were accompanied by three very large ones.
Q bared his teeth at them and roared! "LETS GO!!"
*blink*
He landed on the back of the middle one, drawing his daggers.
*Backstab* Critical Hit 3300 damage, bonus 3300 damage. One poison counter has been applied.
*Return*
*Open Range pistoleros* 545 damage, 770 damage, 565 damage, 490 damage, Critical hit 1750 damage, Bonus 1750 damage, 758 damage.
He whittled down the pack using his guns, and then continued to work on the bigger spiders until all three of them fell. The remaining smaller spiders retreated through the back entrance.
System Message: You have killed 1000 spiders and earned a new title, Spider Slayer.
Spider Slayer
All damage to Arachnids
is multiplied
by 2.
Additional Effect: Incoming damage
from arachnids is halved.
"Hiding?" He leaned heavily on his halberd, one of the big ones had poisoned him. They were much more toxic then the smaller ones. He felt his skin start to grow cold as he struggled to put one foot in front of the other.
Q had just entered the back exit when his body finally began to fail. "Bastards.." He spit blood onto the cavern floor. 'I can't stop here, in my heart I know... she expects me to come.' He used his halberd to prop himself up to his feet, gasping for air as he leaned heavily on the weapon.
System Message: You have learned a new NPC Assassin ability: Poison Immunity.
Poison Immunity: Spider toxin
A low laughter echoed through the caverns, an angry laugh full of rage and madness. The roar of guns pounded through the depths of darkness. Throughout the night and into the dawn, death stalked the caverns, until there wasn't a single spider left on the upper levels
"Quinn!" Anna called from her room down the hall. "Better come fast."Quinn had been in his room since dinner, no one had bothered him. Tal had come by a few times and paused outside, but each time she chose to give him some space.Quinn walked into her room, a hint of floral perfume in the air. "What's up Anna?""This is your mail, take a look." Anna moved to one side so he could read.Q,Mojo mentioned that you can access your mail when you aren't in TAP. We got separated from Leah during our surveying today, she never returned to camp. She isn't answering her Com-Chat. We've been conducting searches in the area that she was suppose to be in. Normally we wouldn't be concerned, but she mentioned that she was leaving camp after today to join you.Daze.Quinn left the room and walked down the hall to his own room, Anna followed right on his heels. He immediately entered his VR Chamber."Quinn do you need help?" Tal called from his doorway, she had heard everything."Leave it to me. Log-On TAP."Anna watched him log in and glanced at the open Notebook on his desk. She looked at Tal in the doorway and motioned for her to come in. They both read the open page. It was a checklist of six items, the first two were checked off.1. Wake up Ren. x2. Find a home for my family. x3. Help the NPCs.4. Prepare for TAP Exodus.5. Erase Sidney Horn's Exodus Avatar.6. Expose Nora Salo to the world."Why would Sydney Horn bother Quinn so much?" Anna's pretty face looked serious as she glanced back at the VR chamber. "And what does that mean, 'expose Nora Salo to the world?'"Tal sighed heavily. "Hun.. I just can't say."*******************TAP Interface Acquired.Synchronizing character data.....Welcome Back Q, find your path!Quinn found himself in a Fenway Alley. He immediately started running. Two minutes to the portal, where he traveled directly to Talon, it was closer to where Leah would have been.He summoned Scorch and mounted him. "I need you to be fast tonight Red." He patted the big horse on the shoulder and then heeled him. They tore through the market place and out the front gate.Q bent low over the over the saddle, the pounding of Scorch's hooves on the ground was the only sound on a cloudless night. "At least there's a full moon Red, we'd be boned if it was overcast." When NPCs were killed, they could only be rezzed within 12 hours. If something happened to her... He patted his horses neck. "Come on boy, lets see what you can do."System Message: NPC Assassin Ability discovered. Horseback Riding.Horseback Riding 1"Damn, Mojo isn't going to like that... Screw it, let's go!!"Four hours later, Q crested a small foothill, a large red tent was visible in the distance. "Open Com-Chat, Summer Daze."Daze popped up on his hud. "Q? I can't really see anything, where are you?""I"m nearing the survey camp now, I want an update when I arrive." He slowed down as he approached the perimeter. He didn't want to barge past any guards they may have set."Halt! Dismount immediately!" Q slid off the horse and faced the guard who stood about 20 feet away. "Advance and be recognized!"Q dropped the reins of the horse and walked slowly forward."Commander Q!" It was one of the Guards from Talon. He stood to one side and let Q pass."Welcome to the West Surveying Camp. Raven squad will be inside."He rubbed the big stallion's head. "Half a night of running and you still have more. Those nags in Guns & Gore would have choked on your dust."He looked up at the guard,"have someone rub him down and get him some water." Q entered the tent with a feeling of deja vu. It was exactly like Lani's dome tent, minus the two dozen beauties.Inside the Dome tent, there were several smaller tents and a large cooking fire off to one side. Q shook his head in amazement, these things really were incredible, there wasn't even the slightest hint of smoke."Q!," Daze spotted him from the middle of the tent, she was standing near a table looking at the 3-D map.Q didn't waste any time. "Report."Onion rotated the map and began speaking. "We were surveying in this region, approximately 15 miles North of our position. Our last contact was in this rocky area, roughly 7 hours ago."Daze zoomed the 3-D map out and took over. "We scaled back our other operations to comb the entire area, we haven't found any trace of her."Q nodded, "well done. She has a tent? Take me to it please." Daze and Onion gave each other a puzzled look."The initial scouting reports are being done before survey teams come through right?" He spoke quietly to them as they brought him to Leah's tent. "Perhaps she noticed something that sparked her interest."They stopped outside her tent, "please wait here," he asked.There was a luminescent ball hanging near the entrance, he activated it and began to look around. There was a bedroll next to one wall, a chair and table set up opposite of that. Sitting down he starting going through the items. There was a sketch pad with a few charcoal pencils. 'Did Leah like to draw? Damn, I should ask more about these things.'The last two pages caught his eye. One was a sketch of a man and woman swimming together. Q stared at it for a few moments, before looking at the second. It was a landscape sketch of a Rocky area, there was a naturally formed spring of perhaps 50 feet in diameter. "Did you go here Leah?"He sat the sketch pad to one side. "Bingo." Under the pad was the scouting report. He paged through the report slowly, half-way through he found a underlined sentence. "Naturally formed pool of water, hidden in the rocks."Q left the tent and started toward the Dome's exit. "Continue grid pattern search on the surrounding areas that haven't been covered.""Where are you going Q?" Daze saw the focused look in his eyes, 'he must have found a clue.'"Just a hunch, am going to backtrack and re-search the area in which she disappeared initially.""Do you want me to come with you," Onion asked? He had assumed command of the camp when Leah disappeared, he had everything well organized."Thanks, but that won't be necessary, concentrate on the unsearched areas.""Yes sir." Onion and Daze followed him out.One of the guards brought him well mannered Scorch when he exited the Dome tent. "Don't be alarmed if you are unable to contact me on Com-chat," he mounted the horse and looked down at them. "Where ever Grace is, I want her to drop what she is doing and stay at the camp!"He brought up the map and marked the estimated location of the pool. Without another word he galloped off. The 12 hour window for rezzing NPCs was ticking."Why does he want that?" Daze glanced at Onion, he had become remarkably reliable."Grace is the only person in camp who can Rezz NPCs, paladin's can't do it." 'Shit, I should have thought of that.'******************Sunburst*She raised her blowgun and fired a needle-like projectile."screee.." The spider hissed as the dart punched deep into its eye, killing it instantly.A young girl in the darkness, pierced in several places by some of the larger spiders. Somehow she had managed to evade them once again. The smaller ones were better at tracking blood trail. They always seemed to find her. She staggered to her feet. 'I have to keep moving, he'll come for me.'She walked slowly, trying to stay quiet, one leg dragging behind her. Her normally beautiful red hair, was matted with sweat and blood. She had been poisoned. 'I'm really scared.. I can't last much longer, you'll come right?'Leah walked for several minutes before coming to a dead end. The tiniest scratching of claws on bare rock caused her to turn her head. There were two of the smaller spiders, they had found her again.*Sunburst*She fired a needle into the eyes of the closer one, the second resisted the blinding and leaped at her. Leah tried to dodge backwards, but slammed into the wall and collapsed to her knees. Two pincers dripping with toxin, punctured her shoulder. She screamed in agony and stabbed at its soft underbelly with her blowgun, using the rest of her strength to kill it.She looked at her broken blowgun, tears flowing down her face as she used the wall to get back to her feet. 'My only weapon... you'll come,' she bit her lip to keep from weeping. 'Because your brave, and smart and kind...'It took Q three hours to find Leah's last known location, another forty five minutes to find the rock pool. He had walked past it twice, the third time he caught the reflection of the moon off the surface. He removed a luminescent stone his pack and activated it.Carefully he slid down the steep incline to the pool. There was vague sense of danger from the area. A lurking beast perhaps? This was fresh water, it wasn't uncommon for nocturnal animals to poach watering holes at night.He took a knee and examined his surroundings. This pool was only approachable by the side he had used. That makes it the perfect trap, but where would the predator be? There were no trees, no outcropping to attack from. That leaves the air as the next obvious place, but the skies were clear. He stood and walked closer to the pool. Bending down he touched the water with his hand, letting it's coolness run down fingers and splash onto the rocks next to his feet."That's curious, these rocks aren't the same as the rest. It could be a ground trap," Q was tempted to take the shortcut and jump in, but that would be unfortunate, if it happened to be lined with spikes. He moved to where he best guessed the edge would be and started removing stones. He heard the scratching of rock against rock after the fifth stone. Q jumped backward just as an entire side of the bank shifted and disappeared from sight.In the dim light he could tell that there were no spikes. It was actually a trap, a collapsible ramp, camouflaged with rocks. Something smart had made this, Q was filled with a sense of foreboding. A smart, apex predator. 'Great... my happy life fades away.' The hole dug beneath the trap was approximately 15 feet in diameter and 12 feet deep. A smaller hole dug into the bottom seemed to be the only exit."Did you fall into this Leah? Or am I wasting valuable time? I can't afford to be wrong about this. No.. you are here, I feel it."He held out the light before him, "this light is going to attract whatever is lurking, but at least that will save time."Q faded from sight and bent low moving carefully through the tunnel. It wound back and forth like a snake for perhaps 200 feet and then opened into a cavern. Stalactites hung from the ceiling, there were a handful of caves leading in different directions.Walking a bit further he found the half eaten remains of a spider corpse, apparently they eat their dead. A cold chill settled on him, if someone were eaten, nothing could bring them back. Kicking the spider over something clattered lightly on the ground.It's was a dart.. one of Leah's. Relief and anger flooded through Q at the same time, he felt the beginning of an unspeakable rage building inside himself. He spoke into the darkness, "You've attacked a person you should never have touched, nothing can save you now."He placed the light on the ground then pulled out his Halberd and slammed the base onto the cave floor. Sound echoed throughout the cavern. Again and again , until he heard the scratching of hundreds of little legs.They came through the Northern tunnel first. "COME ON!!"*Blink* He cut three wide swathes through the river of spiders.*Return**Open Range pistoleros* 465 damage, 570 damage, 865 damage, 490 damage, Critical hit 2250 damage, Bonus 2250 damage, 748 damage.Arachnids exploded hideously with every shot, the point blank range causing Q to become splattered with their entrails. He holstered his guns and drew out the Halberd.*Blink* Again he attacked the middle of the tide, swinging the long weapon like he was cutting wood.*Return**Open Range pistoleros* 434 damage, 575 damage, 854 damage, 110 damage, 450 damage, 748 damage.System Message: You have killed 100 spiders and earned a new title, Spider Stomper.Spider StomperAll damage to Arachnidsis multipliedby 1.3*Blink*Again he attacked, always where they were the thickest, his armor covered in their ichor. He bled from a half dozen scratches and bites, the spider venom having long entered his body.*Return**Open Range pistoleros* 765 damage, 530 damage, 555 damage, 490 damage, Critical hit 2750 damage, Bonus 2750 damage, 768 damage.Roaring and cursing, he felt himself growing weaker from the poison, but he refused to retreat.System Message: You have killed 500 spiders and earned a new title, Spider Basher.Spider BasherAll damage to Arachnidsis multipliedby 1.5*Ding* You have reached level 36.Q slaughtered the last of the wave, dropping to his knees he gasped for air. Dizzy from poison, his burning rage brought him back to his feet. He slammed the Halberd onto the rock floor again. "I SAID COME!!"Q heard the skittering of spider movements from one of the caves, but none approached. Slamming his Halberd on cavern floor with each step, his steps echoes through the caves as he headed down down the cavern to where he had heard the noise.A flash of white caught his eye, a bit of a bandage stained with blood, lay against the cave wall. The cave opened up into a larger area, they were waiting for him there. Another wave of Spiders, this time they were accompanied by three very large ones.Q bared his teeth at them and roared! "LETS GO!!"*blink*He landed on the back of the middle one, drawing his daggers.*Backstab* Critical Hit 3300 damage, bonus 3300 damage. One poison counter has been applied.*Return**Open Range pistoleros* 545 damage, 770 damage, 565 damage, 490 damage, Critical hit 1750 damage, Bonus 1750 damage, 758 damage.He whittled down the pack using his guns, and then continued to work on the bigger spiders until all three of them fell. The remaining smaller spiders retreated through the back entrance.System Message: You have killed 1000 spiders and earned a new title, Spider Slayer.Spider SlayerAll damage to Arachnidsis multipliedby 2.Additional Effect: Incoming damagefrom arachnids is halved."Hiding?" He leaned heavily on his halberd, one of the big ones had poisoned him. They were much more toxic then the smaller ones. He felt his skin start to grow cold as he struggled to put one foot in front of the other.Q had just entered the back exit when his body finally began to fail. "Bastards.." He spit blood onto the cavern floor. 'I can't stop here, in my heart I know... she expects me to come.' He used his halberd to prop himself up to his feet, gasping for air as he leaned heavily on the weapon.System Message: You have learned a new NPC Assassin ability: Poison Immunity.Poison Immunity: Spider toxinA low laughter echoed through the caverns, an angry laugh full of rage and madness. The roar of guns pounded through the depths of darkness. Throughout the night and into the dawn, death stalked the caverns, until there wasn't a single spider left on the upper levels
