Exodus: The Assassin's Path 16 Allies

"You know someone from concert hall?" Jinn's voice shook as she spoke, Bo Jangles was the leader of Concert Hall. He was probably the most famous person in all of TAP.

"She had invited me to join, but I turned her down. Truthfully, she's a bit of an a.s.s."

"Wait, how did you meet Crimson Rose?" Rhapsody kicked the corpse. "She won't even be able to log in for three days, since she was on your hit list."

"First I want to thank both of you. You protected me even though you were over-matched." He bowed his head slightly.

"Hey.. that's what friends do right?" Rhapsody's smile was radiant.

Jinn nodded and said softly, "I'm someone you can count on Q."

"Bo Jangles asked her to recruit me, I said no a few times," he shrugged. "She doesn't take no very well I guess."

"Wait, you know Bo Jangles?" Jinn stared at Q hard, he was joking right?

"Come on Q," Rhapsody loved a good joke as well as anyone, but she wasn't buying. "You've been playing for two weeks, how's that possible?"

Q smiled at the two of them. "If that's not possible then why do I have this?"

Plain Silver Flute

Unique Item: Finely crafted by Grand Master musician Bo Jangles.

Description: A simple elegant flute.

Additional Effect: The better the musician,

the better the sound.

"Better yet, lets get to the bottom of this. Open Com-Chat."

System Message: Com-Chat is open, who do you wish to speak to?

"Bo Jangles please," Q crossed his arm's in front of his chest as he waited.

A moment later a holo of Bo Jangles appeared on his hud.

"...." Jinn.

"...." Rhapsody.

"Q! Did you get the flutes I sent?" Jangles was holding his mandolin, it was obvious that he had been playing.

"I did thank you. Unfortunately, I received something else from Concert Hall also." Q switched views on his holo so that the body could be viewed.

Jangles wrinkled up his face when he saw the headless corpse. "Hmm, well I'm glad I haven't eaten yet, who is that? Or I should say who was that?"

"That would be the vice-leader of Concert Hall, aka Crimson Rose," Q smiled pleasantly. Sometimes it was fun giving people this kind of news.

"Come again?" Jangles stared hard at the holo, his normally cheerful exterior was suddenly very chilly.

"Crimson Rose apologized to me in an email, and then personally came here to kill me." A hint of a smile played on his lips. "She is part of Concert Hall right?"

The colorful bard sighed heavily, "can you show me the inside of her left wrist please?"

Q nodded and then grabbed the left arm turning it toward Jangles. "Looks like a small harp tattoo on the inside of her wrist."

"All the officers of Concert Hall have a unique instrument tattooed on their left wrists. Rose's is a harp." Jangles slammed his hand down on the table he was sitting next to.

"It's a cute tattoo for sure," Rhapsody commented quietly. "However, she killed myself, Q and his teacher. We are here on a TAP sponsored field trip for school, is this how Concert Hall operates?

"Guild Interface, display current status of Crimson Rose." The interface replaced Jangles face on Q's hud.

Crimson Rose:

Level 87

Base Cla.s.s: Warrior Sub Cla.s.s: Barbarian

TAP Cla.s.s: Executioner

TAP Rank 20 (-5)

Current Status: a.s.sa.s.sinated-72 hour freeze on account.

3 year contract

"Wait, she is level 87?" Jinn shook her head in dismay, "Why bother coming here just to kill a 17 level character?"

"I hate the word, but what a b.i.t.c.h!" Daze had stepped away from the group with Amazing Grace and had joined them around the body. The two of them had dared to join the fight.

"Mr. Jangles... I brought my students to this starter city to have fun in a safe environment. I didn't expect we'd be fighting endgame a.s.sa.s.sins from Concert Hall." Jinn's dark eyes glittered dangerously, she had gone after her students. She had gone after Q.

"Oh G.o.d..." Jangles held his head in his hands, silently cursing Crimson Rose. This was going to become a PR nightmare. There was a website that updated all recent a.s.sa.s.sinations. It wouldn't be difficult to discover that Crimson Rose had been killed in Talon. Her TAP cla.s.s would be displayed now that it had been uncovered. The math was easy.

"We should keep a lid on this Jinn," Q said quietly.

"Why should we?" Rhapsody asked? She was obviously hostile toward the idea.

Jinn glanced at both of them, biting her lip as she thought it over. "I see no reason to protect Concert Hall regarding this matter." She was already over the excitement of having met Jangles, she was furious.

"I'm asking nicely Jinn, let's keep this under wraps," he reached over and squeezed her hand. "I don't want this to get blown up, and I'm sure Concert Hall will make proper rest.i.tution to everyone involved."

Jangles eye's widened as he saw the offered olive branch, "Of course, Concert Hall will take care of this problem. Please send me a list of everyone involved and I will see that it happens. There will have to be an NDA involved, but it will only cover a few minutes of the evening."

Rhapsody and Jinn exchanged looks and then they both nodded.

"Very well Mr. Jangles, since Q wishes to remain anonymous, " Jinn said quietly. Exposing this would be bad for Q also. "Q upgrade your privacy settings."

"Change Privacy Settings on Character, display only name." Q changed the setting while he watched Jinn fiddle with her email.

"Okay Miss Jinn, I've received the list," Jangles gritted his teeth when he thought about his former vice-leader. "I will have something within the hour." With that Jangles closed the channel.

"How many levels did you gain Q?" Daze asked while smiling. She had her blue hair tied up in a bun after swimming, her bow was loosely dangling from one hand.

"Eight." Q shrugged. "What's nice is the 705k. G.o.d I love this game.!!"

"Wait, Eight levels?" Daze's eye's lit up. "d.a.m.n, so many?"

"The hit list reward is very straight forward. You get 5 thousand credits for the hit, and then 10 thousand for every level difference." Rhapsody whistled, "70 levels is a huge amount."

They gathered back into the wagons. Jinn, Rhapsody and Quinn had joined Mojo and Remmy in their wagon.

"Remember everyone, not a word of this to anyone. Concert Hall wants to avoid losing face over this matter. Let's see what they offer, everyone stay online for the next two hours please." Jinn spoke in a loud voice as she addressed all the wagons.

"It's okay if we go back with you?" Rhapsody was uncommonly reserved around Mora Jol.

Mojo glanced at them and then turned toward Q who nodded briefly. "Of course, that would be fine since you are friends of Q, also please call me Mojo."

No one spoke as the fourth wagon headed out. Mojo was sitting next to the driver and the four pa.s.sengers were in the back.

"Where are we heading?" Jinn asked. Q didn't seem concerned at all, so he must know.

"I'm a.s.suming the barn," he glanced forward toward Mojo who nodded in reply.

"Did your skills level up Q?" Mojo's lavender eyes reflected the moonlight as she stared back at the pa.s.sengers.

Q nodded, "Pistoleros 68, Halberd 52 and Dagger 56."

They approached the barn a while later, pulling up Q jumped down and lent Mojo a hand. The dark elf seemed surprised at the gesture before taking his offered hand. Q then helped Jinn and Rhapsody down as well, it was obvious to him that they had been waiting for similar treatment. They didn't realize that Mojo was a dark-elf princess.

They were halfway to the barn when the door flew open, a flash of red hair and Q found himself enveloped in a hug. "Q!! I've missed you!" Leah Fintree smile lit up the evening, she stood on her tiptoes and kissed Q quickly on the cheek.

Q felt the stares of Jinn and Rhapsody burrowing into his back. "Oh come on, it's only been a few hours!" He returned her embrace warmly.

"No.. it's been days and days!!" She repeated the words he had said when he left the barn earlier, her eyes laughing at him.

"Okay then, let's see it!!" Leah had been just a normal NPC, he was curious to see the changes.

Leah Fintree

Level 14

NPC Cla.s.s: Combat Support Specialist

Strength 15

Endurance 16

Intelligence 19

Agility 15

Luck 10

Charisma 28

Skills

Jeweler 88

Diplomacy 91

Cooking 94

Swimming 99

Alchemy 15

Weapon Skill: Dart Gun 66

Combat Ability: Sun Burst.

AE Blind up to 5 targets for

15 seconds.

Combat Ability: I wish I were you.

Instantly trades places with

any target within 1000 feet. If

target is air-born then feather-fall

is in effect.

Combat Ability: It wasn't me.

Instantly decreases aggro from all hostile

targets. AE 50 feet.

"Woah, you really worked hard!" Q placed a hand on her head, softly patting her red hair as he spoke.

System Message: Your follower Leah Fintree has advanced her skills and is eligible for promotion. Do you wish to promote Leah Fintree?

"Yes." Q was aware that everyone was watching, but he felt that rewarding Leah was more important than keeping secrets.

System Message: You follower has been promoted to Lieutenant. All stats are increased by 5. Leah Fintree has increased to level 15.

Leah Fintree

Rank: Lieutenant

NPC Cla.s.s: Combat Support Specialist

Level 15

Strength 20

Endurance 21

Intelligence 24

Agility 20

Luck 15

Charisma 33

Leah's face was flushed as she stared at Q. Without a word she stepped back and gave him a crisp salute.

Q returned her salute with a big smile. "I'm very proud of you Miss Fintree!"

Mojo watched the pair with silent approval. It didn't escape her notice that Q's other two companions seemed to be a bit put out. Stepping through the doorway she led the group inside. All the tables except one had been put away, a group sat quietly talking among themselves.

Mojo invited everyone to sit at the table. "The people you see around this table are representatives from the far corners of TAP. We have about 50 thousand members and are committed to slowly building a better life for NPCs."

"How committed are you?" This was something he has discussed with Tal and Pops. They had both agreed on the same approach.

Mojo's lavender eyes stared at him. "You have something else in mind."

Q nodded. "I know two experts. One is a genius in what we would call economics. For your purpose, it encompa.s.ses trade, marketing, any kind of commerce."

"And the other?" Mojo's eyes showed her interest.

"An engineer. One that specializes in building roads, cities and farms." Q smiled thinking how excited Tal would be.

"What are exactly are you proposing Q?" Yayia spoke for the first time, her cool blue eyes seemed to be watching everyone.

"An Alliance, I will join you, along with my friends." Q glanced at his teacher, she stared at him open mouthed.

"That's it? You and two experts?" It was obvious the time mage thought it was a rather one-sided proposal.

"Yes. I'm also an Exodus expert, and I have ten more Exodus personnel coming."

The table erupted in chaos, even Jinn and Rhapsody were standing and asking questions. Q watched them for a moment, waiting for them to calm down.

"Exodus is coming. There will be drastic changes in the months to come, preparation is everything."

Mojo had been hearing about Exodus for weeks now. A great access point to many different worlds. She wasn't sure if what role NPCs could fulfill, but at the very least the power structure in TAP would be affected. "Q… you are an Exodus expert?"

"I've been fighting in the Exodus arena and in four different worlds there, every day for the past few years." Q avoided Jinn's eyes.

"You're a fodder?" Rhapsody had put it together rather quickly. "Which worlds?"

"Civil Unrest, Martial Law, Iron Mount and Gun's & Gore." Quinn turned his attention back to Mojo. "The Exodus is an access point for many worlds, TAP is about to be an Exodus world."

"I want to meet the Engineer and the Economist." Yayia stated, the rest of the table nodded their heads.

"Tomorrow, I'll bring them in. "

*******************

The ride back to Talon was quiet. Leah had stayed with the rest, while Q accompanied Jinn and Rhapsody back to town.

"A fodder, that explains an awful lot." Rhapsody spoke in a quiet tone, she understood that her best friend was still processing Q.

"I'm going to give it some thought," Rhapsody hooked an arm through his as she leaned closer. "Perhaps I will be joining up myself, but if I do, I want to be a captain! "

"Same here!" Jinn finally spoke. That d.a.m.n apple princess was all over Q before they departed, she would want to outrank her. "Hmm, something from Concert Hall." She activated her mail with a quick wave.

TAP MAIL

Subject: Unfortunate Incident Sender: Bo Jangles Attachment: Currency, Legal Agreement.

Miss Jinn,

I regret meeting you under such unfortunate circ.u.mstances. This legal agreement is the standard TAP Non-disclosure Agreement. It basically states that all parties will forget the event and never speak about it in public. As the supervisor of the group, you can sign for all parties. Upon agreement, each person on the list will receive 500 thousand credits.

Bo Jangles

"That's a nice reason to forget about five minutes!" Rhapsody leaned over Jinn's shoulder to read the email. The TAP NDA is simple and binding.

"We are meeting at the Shady Horizon, if everyone agrees I will sign and be done with it." Jinn had been watching her student's reaction after the event. None of them seemed overly concerned.

"I'm going to log off, feel free to sign on my behalf, I won't be back until morning." Q smiled at the two.

After arriving in Talon, they had decided to walk him to his room before meeting up with the rest. He waved to them from his doorway and then watched them head downstairs.

"Log Off TAP."

Do you wish to log off TAP?

"Yes please."

********************

Back at the Barn, the meeting was coming to an end. Remmy and Mojo were lingering at the table.

"I knew Q was a fighter," the usually cheerful gnome was worried about Exodus. "He's someone who we can trust."

"I agree." Mojo was thinking about earlier. She followed him at the hot springs, keeping to the shadows. When they were finally alone, she had stepped close to whisper, so they wouldn't be overheard and that fool had...

******************

Authors Note: Even rewrites aren't perfect. I had devised an economy that combined three different currencies, Gaming Platinum, VR credits and dollars. While it works on paper, looking at it now I see that it is needlessly complicated. In order to streamline for better reading, I'm going to make all VR work on a credit system. This means Platinum will be gone. The conversion to dollars will be roughly 10 to 1. So the 50 million credit Bounty Reward is about 5 million dollars. I will do this all at once, so their won't be an interruption in daily releases. If you see this this note, it's already been done!!!!

Please let me know if I've missed any stragglers from the old economy.