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Published at 21st of March 2019 12:21:17 AM


Chapter 78

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Quinn sat at the conference table in Ravenwood's town hall. He was sitting with Yaya, Mojo, Leah and Zy. Merci was absent, resting under the care of Nia.

Quinn leaned back in his chair, he was aware that Tal and Remmy were busy going through the tech in the city of Ba'Avriel. He had also been briefed that the Songbirds were continueing their previous investigation of the mysterious group. "How did the relocation go of the displaced Ba'Avriel citizens?"

"Everything is good so far Quinn, they've been given accommodations and meals. They even received a welcome packet regarding the opportunities in Exodus." Leah had doubted the idea initially, but it seemed like it might be okay.

Quinn glanced at Zy, he had appointed the Barrister to be their liaison, "And what have we heard officially from the Ba'Avriel government?"

Zy handed him a brief containing the dialogue. "Quinn... I don't want to go back. I'll act in whatever capacity you need, but I would like to petition to become part of Fora."

"Petition?" Quinn smiled at her and then turned his attention to Leah, "what do you think Knight Captain Fintree?"

Leah forced a smile, her face turning red. "I approve."

"There you go... petition accepted." Quinn looked through the brief as he spoke. "Hmm.. lots of impossibilities here. Prepare an official statement Zy."

"Yes of course, what shall I say?" If Zy was shocked by Quinn's acceptance, her face didn't show it as she brought out a notepad and pencil.

Quinn nodded, he liked the old school approach. "Okay word it however you like, but make these key points. We aren't returning the city. It violated our borders and engaged in an act of war, we consider it a bounty of war. We will trade the citizens of Ba'Avriel for all the brown-wings they currently have in custody. Let them know that we are now monitoring all 13 of the Ba'Avriel Cities. Additionally we have records of their raids on the people of TAP. We will share all of this information with every government in TAP if they don't immediately comply with our reasonable demands."

Zy jotted down everything Quinn said.

"Immediate might be difficult Quinn," Mojo starting paging through the brief that he had sat down. "Let's give them a day. After that, deal is off and we go hunting for floating cities." The scarred dark elf was not about to forgive them for trying to take her most important people away. In her youth, Mora Jol had filled graveyards with the people who had crossed her.

"Oh.. well said Mojo." Quinn opened up the faction control hud. "These are the options you mentioned?"

Faction Message: A Cultural Enhancement is available for Construction. Do you wish to proceed?

Faction Message: An Eyrie is available for Construction. Do you wish to proceed?

Yaya scooted her chair closer and looked over his shoulder. "The Cultural Enhancement has been available since the Halfling Mission, the Eyrie option popped up yesterday."


Quinn activated the pulldown menu under Cultural Enhancement. It had four choices Museum, Arena, Educational Institute and Statue. "Thoughts?"

Mojo gave him a serious look, "after considering it, I think we should raise a giant statue of you."

Quinn didn't bother to hide his surprise, "umm... really?"

"No.... hahahahaha." Mojo dark face turned even darker as she broke into a laughing fit. Both Leah and Yaya were similarly affected. Zy kept a straight face, but she did cover her mouth.

"...." Quinn.

"Anyway, lets... hahahaha" Mojo doubled over again, her eyes tearing up.

Quinn frowned at her. "Done yet?"

Leah was the first to recover, "What do you think Quinn?"

"I think that training NPCs the way you do now is a bit archaic. A School of some sort is needed." Quinn brought up the Fora faction roster. "We currently have nearly 200 High Elves that could start immediately."

Mojo looked surprised, "That is a great idea Quinn'Ikah."

Quinn ignored her and continued. "We could build an Academy of Martial Arts and Science. Pops was an outstanding Professor of Economics for decades. Tal graduated from one of the most prestigious engineering schools in our world."

Leah's face had become serious. "Quinn that's a great idea, we could find experts in every field to teach."

Quinn nodded and then abruptly stood up, "hey I'll be back later. I've a few things to take care of."

"They are both insta-builds, we should meet at once to vote." Mojo looked at the table hud, "we'll vote at HQ later today. I'll make sure Bez and Remmy get the message."

The door shut behind Quinn, all four women glanced at each other and then started laughing again.

Maia was sitting by the fountain in the courtyard when Quinn exited town hall. Her face lit up when she saw him.

"Quinn!!" She ran up to him and hugged him tightly.

Quinn stroked her soft brown hair, "you look great after a bit of rest. Up for a little trip?"

Maia nodded and followed Quinn when he walked toward the portal.

**********

Half an hour later, the two were standing next to some high bluffs, a few minutes walk from Fora HQ.

"This place is beautiful Quinn, you are so lucky to have such a nice area." Maia had been holding his hand ever since they left Ravenwood.

Faction Message: An Eyrie is available for Construction. Do you wish to proceed?

Q nodded and then said, "Yes."

Faction Message: Please designate area for construction.

A 3-D map of Faction territory popped up. Q chose the area they were standing in. Gryphons liked cliffs and mountains.

Quinn and Maia walked quickly to an area close by that would enable them to see the construction, then he clicked the Build icon on his Faction hud.

From Start to finish it took about five minutes. There were five columns about two hundred feet high, at the top of each column was a circular habitat that had a ceiling, but walls that only extended three quarters of the way around. The open portion was facing outward. These five columns were set in a large circle, there was a much larger column in the middle, this also had a Circular room on top, with hallways that lead to each of the five smaller habitats. The center building was completely closed in except for the hallways. Each column possessed a winding staircase in the middle.

Quinn summoned Kawa and turned him loose, immediately it screeched loudly several times and took flight toward the Eyrie. It circled a few times continueing to screech loudly.

Maia covered her ears from the ground. "That damn bird is so loud."

"We are going to have to work on your language skills monkey-butt." Quinn pointed to the western sky. "More Gryphons."

"That's Zen!" Maia jumped up and down when she saw him. Zen had killed Dovik and had spent a great deal of time paying attention to her. He didn't even try to peck her.

"Let's go Maia." Quinn and Maia entered the middle column and slowly made there way up the stairs. By the time they had reached the top, the Gryphons had arrived. There were dozens of small nests set up, and a living area for the Stable-Master to reside in.

System Message: Maia Gryphon-Wing has joined your faction.

System Message:A flight of Royal Gryphons has joined your faction.

System Message: You have appointed Maia Gryphon-Wing as the Gryphon Stable-Master for the Fora Development Group Faction.

Maia was already exploring the living area when she saw the message. She looked up in shock. "Me?"

"Who better?" Q gave her a thumbs up. "If you have questions, or need to bounce ideas off someone, just let me know."

"Q! You're the best! I can do this."

One of the Gryphons had wandered over and was staring at Maia.

*peck*

"Damn you stupid bird, I'll toss you outta here!" Maia retreated into the living area and shut the door.

There was a service window, and all the available Mount harnesses were on the wall.

"Don't harass the Gryphons monkey-butt." He handed her Kawa's harness through the service window.

"Harass them? You know how many bruises I have?" Maia rubbed her shoulder as if remembering the pain.

"Better take this then." Q handed her the book he had taken from Zy's office. The Flight of Gryphons.

Quinn left Kawa at the Eyrie and waved goodbye to Maia.

*Ba'Avriel*

"Cats out of the bag, might as well enjoy it." Quinn took to the air immediately, quickly gaining altitude.

*Hunt*

The crimson thermals swirling below the clouds instantly became visible to him. He quickly spied a darker red one and soared into it, the thermal shot him into the clouds. After a few minutes of flight he saw his destination, Ba'Avriel.

Quinn laughed when he saw the AAP still parked on the City Gate. Remmy had made a clear point, gnome tech trumps Ba'Avriel tech. He flew into the city, quickly spotting Tal and Remmy through the walls of the control room. Their heat signatures were plainly evident, one very tall engineer and one small one.

"Nice to see you hun," Tal smiled at him while she continued to use her hud.

"Are you guys able to decipher their tech?" Quinn decided the control room looked just like the bridge of a warship.

"Sure, some of it is a bit new for us, but nothing really complex." Tal stopped what she was doing to walk over to a 3d map. "This is the interesting part, we can see every city they have. I've already found this cities locator and shut it down."

"Who else is here?" Quinn felt his hands start to itch, he really wanted to pilot this thing.

"Daze, Onion, Grace and Crow are here, they managed to find an armory under the barracks." Tal made a few adjustments to the map, "we're going to upgrade HQ's mapping system and piggyback it onto this tracking program."

"Sounds good, I'm going to scout the city a bit. Good work guys." Quinn left the control room and immediately took to the air.

*Hunt*

He kept his altitude low and started conducting a grid search for stragglers, passing over the barracks he could clearly see the heat signatures of his team. It took Quinn an hour to finish the lower third of the city, he noticed the broken window in a residential area and quickly flew in.

"This must be where the QRF entered." Quinn searched the surrounding bedrooms thoroughly. A small silk sash on one of the bedside tables drew his attention. "Oh.. hello there."

He picked up the red cloth, surprising light and still held the barest scent of perfume. Quinn took a seat on the bed. He recognized the cloth. When he had visited Madam Leilani's establishment he had noticed that some of the ladies tents were open, some were closed and some had a small piece of red silk hanging on the outside. Open meant that they were awake and available for customers, closed meant that they were either sleeping or didn't want company, a red silk sash hanging on the door meant they had a customer with them.

"Could be wrong I suppose, lots of silks scarves like this. I bet the access disc to this room came from Lani. Let's find out. Open Comchat, Ora Zun."

System Message: Ora Zun is not on your contact list, do you wish to send a query?

"Yes please."

It took a few minutes, Quinn sat comfortably on the sinfully soft bed, eventually an attractive dark elf face popped up on his hud.

"Q? Nice to see you, it has been a long time." Ora was sitting behind a desk, she had a cup of something that was still steaming, sitting in front of her.

Quinn put on a stern face. "You tricked me Ora.... don't even try to say otherwise."

The dark elf didn't even pretend to not know what he was talking about. The ringlet she had given him as a gift for Mora Jol, would be taken as an engagement gift. The two rings that were connected to a bracelet by silver chains followed the traditional dark elf customs. It was symbolic of two people traveling together, sharing their lives.

Ora looked down for a moment. "I'm sorry Q. Mora Jol is a cousin of mine, she has always walked alone. When I discovered that she had given you Dark Fang, I had hoped that she had found someone."

"Yeah, yeah. Sneaky little dark elf. Now what?" Quinn crossed his arms and frowned at her.

Ora Zun looked surprised, "well, I can make amends if that's what you mean."

"Oh stop.. I mean, how do I move forward? You've put me on this very traditional path. I've no idea what to do next." Quinn tossed the silk sash over one shoulder and left it in plain sight.

"Move forward? Do you mean to say that you and Mora Jol?" Ora didn't have to fake being happy for her much older cousin.

Quinn watched her carefully, she definitely reacted to the sash. "Yes. What's my next step, following the traditional path."

Ora seemed to consider the different possibilities. "Challenge her clan to Mata Ru."

Quinn was positive that Mata Ru was something involving fighting. "Are you going to say hi Lani?"

Ora Zun's face froze and a moment later Madam Leilani's laughter could be heard. She moved closer to Ora so that her face showed up on Q's hud. "Perceptive, nice move with the sash, her eyes gave it away."

Q nodded, "yep. Thank you for your help."

Lana sighed, she had hoped to remain anonymous. "Since it is out in the open, I require payment."

"Done," Quinn spoke without hesitating.

"Oh.. so accommodating." Lani pushed an errand strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "I need to send a message to three different heroes, are you up for that?"

"By message you mean assassinations?"

Lani smiled through the hud, she looked enough like Tal that Quinn was already influenced. "Yes."

"Unless the Heroes are friends of mine, I agree." Quinn removed the sash from his shoulder. Ora Zun's lavender eyes flashed at him.

"I'll send you the proposal, keep in touch." Lani waved and left the hud, Ora glared at him and then cut comm.

Quinn laughed as he flew through the broken window and out into the city. "Serves her right, messing with me like that."

By the time he had checked the rest of the city for stragglers and returned to the control room, the group from the armory were already there.

Quinn saw the smiling ranger first, by all accounts she had used her bow to hold ground against overwhelming odds. "Nice job earning your your TAP class Daze, completely amazing!"

Daze turned her smile on him, "if we want to continue to help you, then we must all become stronger!"

"Did you guys find anything good in the armory?" Quinn knew they were looking for weapons and armor. After seeing the luxurious fabrics in the building, he suspected that everything in Ba'Avriel would fetch a high price.

"Some nice stuff, but nothing past epic rating," Crow had been hoping for a weapon upgrade. "What were you up to in the city Quinn?"

Quinn shrugged at his older sister, "checking things out and looking for stragglers. Got you something though."

'Me? What is it?" Crow knew that when her brother gave someone something, it was almost always awesome.

"Well... even though that damn Paladin was handing me and Leah an ass kicking, I did manage to disarm him," Quinn smiled as he handed her the axe that Dovik had dropped on the ground.

Wrath

Axe: Primal

Description: Stuns target on first strike, applies 4 fire damage counters. If opponent is

below twenty percent health, chance of insta-kill.

Additional Effect: Can be used as one handed or two handed weapon. If equipped as a two handed weapon, handle lengthens and damage output is doubled.

Crow stared at the weapon in her hand, "this is really nice!"

Quinn waved her off, "if I don't take of my favorite sister, then who will?"

Crow laughed at his expression, "thank you."

"What's the plan for this City Quinn?" Tal spoke from behind the group, she had removed a few of the panels that housed the Cities flight controls.

"Sell all the useless crap, salvage the surrounding buildings for materials, then make a smaller housing area and mount big ass guns everywhere." Quinn loved the idea of a patrolling gunship to keep their borders safe.

"You're a lovely, lovely man Quinn" Remmy's little face popped up from behind the control panels. She had her hud up and was talking to Yaya.

Tal nodded, "I agree with Remmy."

Quinn left the city and was gliding on thermals, slowly making his way back to HQ when his comm blinked at him, it was Mojo. "Yes?"

Mojo's face showed surprise at his tone, "We have voted on the Cultural Enhancement, we've decided unanimously that a training Academy is the way to go."

"Good, then I don't have to vote." As the presiding vote, Quinn didn't have to get involved in matters of government, unless there was a tie. "Where is your mother Mora Jol?"

Mojo stared at her hud, he had used her name. Was he angry? "She is here with me, we have some clan business to discuss."

"Okay, sounds good." Quinn cut comm and continued toward HQ.

Serli noticed the surprised look on her daughters face. "Did you offend Quinn'Ikah somehow?"

"No, of course not. I teased him a little bit earlier but nothing that would make him angry." Mojo's scarred face showed her concern. "I don't really understand practical jokes, but I'm sure he isn't upset with me."

The mother and daughter were talking when Quinn entered the building a few minutes later, he noticed them immediately and approached.

Serli bowed her head slightly, "greetings Quinn'Ikah."

Quinn returned her bow, "I wish to challenge the Jol Clan to Mata Ru."




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