Exodus: The Assassin's Path 60 Ravenwood Part 3

Onion advanced a few steps and then stopped. He waited until everyone had moved into sp.a.w.n position. Jaded Ice and her Skeleton crew would take one Captain since Necros can heal their minions. Ro-Ro and Bingo would take another, she also could heal her pet. Jinn would enthrall one, she was already in Gnoll form and would oversee the battle in general. Crow, Daze, and Quinn would take one. Grace would keep Onion alive. That left Leah as a roving CC, she was in the air about 50 feet. Tal was laying in a p.r.o.ne position just inside the archway, she would a.s.sist Quinn's target.

Jinn has cast *Rapture*

System Message: An AE buff is in effect. +50 to ATK, +50 to Defense.

Grace has cast *Angels Light*

System Message: All allies heal 4500 hit-points per minute for three minutes.

Jinn rechecked everyone's position, "I'll debuff him after you establish aggro Onion, don't forget that he probably has an AE attack that he uses, there should be some sort of message that gives it away. Stun the Captains whenever you get the chance, damage on stunned opponents is much higher."

Onion has activate *s.h.i.+eld Stance*

Incoming damage is reduced by 15 percent.

Onion has activated *Battle Cry*

King Brisbane has been taunted

"FOUL VERMIN!! I SHALL DESTROY YOU FOREVER!"

King Brisbane leaped down from the fountain and slammed into Onion.

Onion has been stunned.

Jinn has cast *Crowded Dance Floor*

King Brisbane attack speed has been slowed by 40 percent.

Daze has activated *Eagle Eye*

Ranged damage on target has increased by 20 percent.

*Blink*

Quinn appeared behind King Brisbane.

*Backstab* Critical hit 11,212 damage, bonus damage 11,212.

*Shadow Bow* Daze has struck King Brisbane for 16,025 damage.

Tormented Rhapsody has activated *Nature's Fury* Critical hit for 24,500 damage, three poison counters applied.

"He's weak against poison!" Ro-Ro called out.

*Return*

Quinn returned to his original position and pulled his pistoleros.

*Snipe* Tal has. .h.i.t King Brisbane for 2300 damage.

King Brisbane has resisted stun.

Grace has cast *Blessed Hand*

*Critical Heal* Onion has been healed for 100,520 hit points.

*Execution*

Crimson Rose has. .h.i.t King Brisbane for 44,680 damage.

"88 percent," Jinn yelled out.

Jaded Ice has cast *Poison Grave* 3 poison counters applied.

King Brisbane has taken 27,500 damage from (7) poison counters.

*Pistolero's Master Gunner*

Both Pistols charged up and released their projectiles at the same time. Q has. .h.i.t King Brisbane for 16,222 damage.

Daze had activated *Trueshot*

Critical hit for 15,600 damage

Critical hit for 19,200 damage

Critical hit for 22,340 damage

"YOU SHALL BE SCORCHED IN A RIVER OF FIRE!"

All members except for Tal, activated their jetpacks and powered into the air, avoiding the circle of flames that erupted and burned for 10 seconds.

"PROTECT ME MY CAPTAINS!"

Four Gnoll Captains were summoned, three of them were intercepted by the preformed groups.

"I've got the 4th!"

Jinn has cast *Private Dancer*

An Elite Gnoll Captain has been enthralled.

*Snipe* Tal has. .h.i.t a Gnoll Captain for 7,600 damage.

A Gnoll Captain has been stunned.

*Pins and Needles* Leah has struck a Gnoll Captain in the eyes for 11,500 damage.

A Gnoll Captain has been blinded.

*Blink*

Quinn appeared behind the Gnoll Captain guard he had targeted.

*Backstab* Critical hit 26,405 damage, bonus damage 26,405 damage.

*Shadow Bow* Daze has. .h.i.t a Guard Captain for 43,555 damage

*Execution*

Crimson Rose has inflicted a mortal wound on A Guard Captain.

A Guard Captain has been slain.

The group activated their jetpacks and powered over to Jinn.

*Grapple*

Quinn grappled the Gnoll Captain around his neck, and then powered up a few feet.

The Gnoll Captain gripped his neck with both hands and kicked his feet helplessly in the air.

Quinn yelled down to his group, "he's too heavy, I can't bring him any higher. Hit him already!"

"Leah grapple Jaded's Captain!" Jinn yelled out. "Refres.h.i.+ng Debuff!"

Jinn has cast *Crowded Dance Floor*

King Brisbane attack speed has been slowed by 40 percent.

Using the 'hangman' method, all four Gnoll Captains were quickly dispatched.

Onion has activated *Battle Cry*

King Brisbane has been taunted

Grace has cast *Angels Light*

System Message: All allies heal 4500 hit-points per minute for three minutes.

Grace has cast *Blessed Hand*

*Critical Heal* Onion has been healed for 101,500 hit points.

"More poison attacks, he cleansed," Jinn yelled out.

Jaded Ice has cast *Poison Grave* 4 poison counters applied.

King Brisbane has taken 20,500 damage from (4) poison counters.

Tormented Rhapsody has activated *Nature's Fury* Critical hit for 24,500 damage,4 poison counters applied.

King Brisbane has taken 46,500 damage from (8) poison counters.

*Dark Fang* Quinn has. .h.i.t King Brisbane for 14,400 damage, 1 poison counter applied.

*Shadow Bow/Serpent Strike* Daze has. .h.i.t King Brisbane for 4,300 damage, 3 poison counters applied.

*Snipe* Tal has. .h.i.t King Brisbane for 2100 damage.

King Brisbane has resisted stun.

King Brisbane has taken 88,500 damage from (12) poison counters.

*Shadow Blades* Crimson Rose has. .h.i.t King Brisbane for 53,404 damage, 2 poison counters applied.

"64 percent!" Jinn yelled out.

*Snipe* Tal has. .h.i.t King Brisbane for 4300 damage.

*Pins and Needles* Leah has. .h.i.t King Brisbane for 8,800 damage.

Daze had activated *Trueshot*

Critical hit for 21,650 damage

Critical hit for 29,225 damage

Critical hit for 32,340 damage

*Thundering Pistoleros* 1655 damage, 1460 damage, 9765 damage, 9480 damage, Critical hit 22,150 damage, Bonus 22,150 damage.

King Brisbane has taken 108,220 damage from (14) poison counters.

"YOU SHALL BE SCORCHED IN A RIVER OF FIRE!"

Again, all members except for Tal, activated their jetpacks and powered into the air.

"PROTECT ME MY CAPTAINS!"

***********

The cycle continued, going smoothly until they killed the Captains at 30 percent. They moved forward to finish off the Gnoll King.

Jinn has cast *Crowded Dance Floor*

King Brisbane attack speed has been slowed by 40 percent.

Grace has cast *Angels Light*

System Message: All allies heal 4500 hit-points per minute for three minutes.

Grace has cast *Blessed Hand*

Onion has been healed for 71,500 hit points.

"I'm at 20 percent mana!" Grace yelled out.

Jaded Ice has cast *Poison Grave* 0 poison counters applied.

King Brisbane has taken 9,544 damage, Immune to poison.

"He's immune to poison now," Jaded Ice sent her Skeleton Captains in to fight.

"Pet Cla.s.ses, send them in and stay on heals!" Jinn kept an eye on Onion's life bar, it was getting lower as Grace struggled to keep up.

"c.r.a.p.. Get him Bingo" Ro-Ro backed away and activated their bond, steadily buffing and healing him.

"Range Fighters Only, stop all melee attacks." Jinn moved above Grace, ready to a.s.sist heals.

Daze and Quinn poured in range damage. While the non-pet owners backed away.

Jinn watched the Gnoll King carefully as his HP sunk to 10 percent. "s.h.i.+t, he's gonna rage! Don't let him get to Grace."

"I WILL SEND YOU BACK TO THE SPIDER QUEEN!"

King Brisbane has become Enraged, all damage is tripled.

Onion has been Slain.

King Brisbane leaped toward Grace, only to be intercepted by Crow.

*Asunder*

Crimson Rose has. .h.i.t King Brisbane for 67,545 damage.

Crimson Rose has been slain.

*I wish you were me*

Leah appeared out of nowhere, while the Gnoll King completely vanished.

Leah had a look of concentration in her eyes as she powered her jetpack up, gaining alt.i.tude quickly as she pa.s.sed King Brisbane who was plummeting.

King Brisbane slammed into the ground, causing the courtyard to shake.

King Brisbane has been stunned.

"Grace rezz Onion!" Jinn watched as the King climbed to his feet and shook his head as if to clear it.

*I wish you were me.*

Again Leah appeared where the King had stood, this time she smiled as she powered her jetpack, pa.s.sing Brisbane in mid-air.

Once again Brisbane slammed into the ground.

King Brisbane has been stunned.

"s.h.i.+t, keep shooting !!" Quinn pulled his pistoleros as he and Daze continued to fire at the Gnoll King while Leah bounced him like a rubber ball.

After a few more repet.i.tions, a fully healed and rezzed Onion was ready to fight.

Onion has activate *s.h.i.+eld Stance*

Incoming damage is reduced by 15 percent.

Onion has activated *Battle Cry*

King Brisbane has been taunted

Grace has cast *Angels Light*

System Message: All allies heal 4500 hit-points per minute for three minutes.

The last few moments were uneventful. The Gnoll King finally collapsed lifeless on the ground, he vanished almost immediately, only to be replaced by a crystal chest. The final kill shot was credited to Tal, who immediately gained five levels. After rezzing Crow, the rest of the group sat nearby slowly recovering.

"Looks like there is finally loot." Quinn smiled as he rubbed his hands together.

System Message: The 10 members of the victorious group have been granted owners.h.i.+p of Sanctuary, please designate a name.

Quinn looked around at his friends, they were all smiling at him, shamelessly he replied. "Ravenwood."

System Message: A deed to the lands of Ravenwood has been deposited into your inventory. Ravenwood is no longer accessible from the outside.

The smiles on everyone's faces vanished.

"What does that mean?" Quinn powered up his jetpack and headed toward the entrance. He landed where the entrance use to be, it was now a solid wall of rock, like it had never existed.

He turned quickly, surprised to find that everyone had followed him. Their faces no longer looked happy.

"s.h.i.+t...." Crow said exactly what she was thinking.

Grace looked pale as she ran her hands over the solid wall, "are we prisoners?"

"Let's check out the chest first." Quinn powered back toward the Courtyard, this time he went over the wall and landed right next to the chest. He quickly opened it.

He looked at the contents and then glanced up at the group. "Woah..."

"What is it Quinn?" Jinn's normal patience was expiring quickly.

He dumped the chest on the ground, dozens of scrolls rolled on the cobblestone. "They are build orders."

Jinn picked one up, glancing at the markings. "This one is a Blacksmith symbol."

Everyone started grabbing them, reading them aloud.

"Townhall."

"Stables."

"Granary."

"Tavern."

"House."

About halfway through the scrolls, Tal finally read one that eased the tension.

The blue eyed engineer smiled, "Portal." Tal held it gently like it was a fragile egg.

"Portal?" Quinn's smile was contagious as everyone started cheering and clapping.

"Let's activate this build order before we do anything else." Jinn stood up and started looking around the Courtyard, on the far side there was a small raised platform.

Quinn could see where she was looking, "kinda looks like it belongs there. Anyone see anything more suitable?"

After everyone shook their heads, they all accompanied Tal over to the platform. Carefully she activated the scroll.

System Message: Town Portal Scroll has been activated. All major Gateways are active. Do you wish to restrict access?

Tal looked at Quinn, obviously wanting him to take over.

Quinn nodded, "Yes restrict access to members of the Fora Development Group."

System Message: The current roster of the Fora Development Group has been added to the access permissions. Permissions can be updated once a month.

Quinn stepped onto the platform, immediately he was given a list of several cities he could travel too, including the Exodus TAP hub. "Okay, I think the crisis is over."

Everyone breathed a collective sigh as they walked back toward the chest. Leah slid an arm through Tal's and they walked together, talking quietly.

They all sat together, going through the build orders.

"Oh.. c.r.a.pola." Quinn glanced up, "these are all bound to here. Too bad, we could have sold some of these for millions in Fora."

"This place was once a settlement, I think it's nice that we build it up." Grace had found a house order, but she put it back. There's no way she'd get one of those.

Quinn watched her put it back, he picked it up and handed it to her. "You can definitely have this Grace."

Quinn picked up two more and handed them to Onion and Daze.

"One will do for us Quinn." Daze took it with a smile, her face turning slightly red.

"Crow?" Quinn handed her one, and then looked toward Anna, Tal and Leah. "There's three left."

Tal shook her head, "I'll stay with you of course."

Leah nodded, "same."

Jaded Ice grinned at him, slowly he could see Anna seeping through. Quinn handed her one of the build orders. She bounced with excitement and kissed his cheek.

Onion brought up the Ravenwood map, and they slowly started to plan things out. Over the next few hours the team would activate about a half dozen of the orders. The Tavern, Townhall and Blacksmith were all put in the Courtyard. The Stables was put near the entrance to the Archway. Strangely enough the shops were all manned by generic halfling NPCs. Each public building had the option of using generic staff or hiring your own. As a group they had decided to keep the halflings. Leah had insisted that after a period of time they might once again evolve into sentient people.

Tal and Jaded Ice decided to log off, while Jinn and Ro-Ro searched for suitable build sites for their homes. Leah gave Quinn a quick kiss then used the portal to head back to the Songbird Tavern, she was meeting Remmy there to do some shopping. Quinn already knew where he wanted to build, a half mile away there was a hill that overlooked everything. He would build there.

"I'll be home for lunch," Quinn waved at Tal and Jaded Ice as they logged.

Grace decided to build closeby, across the river from her friends Daze and Onion.

Quinn sat on the hillside, overlooking the new town of Ravenwood. They still had many build orders left, but for now it was more then enough. He needed to look into a few different styles of homes. Someone was bound to have posted it somewhere, he'd put Anna to work on it.

*It's about time we are alone, my time is arriving*

Quinn jumped to his feet looking around. "The h.e.l.l is going on?"

*Take out the Spider Egg genuis.*

Quinn took out the Spider Egg, it was warm and pulsing. "You are hatching?"

*Hatching? Am I a chicken? Please sit down and hold me in both hands, you'll be able to see me.*

Q sat back down, holding the warm egg in his hands. He felt something pus.h.i.+ng against his thoughts, it made his head hurt. He could feel her.. so young and alone. He placed his hands gently on the surface of the egg, and closed his eyes.

Instantly the area around him disappeared. Quinn looked around, it was small room, dark and warm. He felt a presence and looked upward. A pair of green glowing eyes watched him from the ceiling. Q had expected a child-like existence, but this thing's eyes brimmed with intelligence. "You are a spider slayer, a nemesis even."

The spider watched him and then slowly lowered itself from the ceiling, much the same way Moa had done. She was a much smaller version of the Fora spider queen, she didn't have the black armored carapace, nor the ice cold blue eyes. Her spider parts were light brown and fuzzy. Her upper body was that of a female adolescent. She scuttled toward him, her eyes without fear.

Q watched her carefully, he wasn't afraid. She had light brown hair and warm green eyes, immediately he knew, she was a queen like no other. "It is true, I have slain countless spiders."

"What's my name?" She looked up at him, she was only about two feet tall.

"Your name is Angel." Q said it confidently, a name as good as any.

She seemed to think about it for a moment, "I like that."

"There is a safeguard against one Queen hatching against the will of the existing Queen, you must help me."

"There is no existing Queen." Of that, Quinn was sure.

"The dieing Queen creates a bond with the one being born, I cannot live outside of this egg without that bond. They pa.s.s on their memories and experiences so that the mistakes of the pa.s.s aren't repeated.

"That sounds really efficient," Quinn spoke truthfully.

"Your friends will be scared of me right? A hideous creature in their eyes." Angel's green eye's seemed to dim a bit. She knew how the world viewed spiders.

"One step at a time Angel. Can we work around this bonding?" Quinn definitely wasn't going hunting for another Queen.

"I'm not sure, if I'm to use the magic of a Spider Queen, then that ability must be pa.s.sed down to me.

"Well.. I have a few abilities. We could try and copy the procedure." Quinn was fairly certain it wasn't going to work.

"Okay, there's no choice either way. My life hangs in the balance." The Arachnid Queen scurried close to him, and put a hand on his shoulder. She looked at him with warm eyes. "I like you and have enjoyed the conversations you had with me."

"Hmm, So did I." Q spoke to her as he would an adult, there was nothing childish about her, despite her innocence.

"Maybe it's better if I don't exist, I don't want to be an ugly spider Quinn. I want to be cute, maybe even beautiful. Won't I be a disgusting spider to them? Something out of their nightmares?" She stood next to Q, leaning against him, as she started to cry.

Quinn rubbed his nose, sincerity was his nemesis. "We can figure it out Angel. Walk me through it."

The young Queen nodded and sniffed loudly, she place her hands on Quinn's shoulders and touched their foreheads together. "It's suppose to be easy Quinn, you are to think of something you want to give me, while I concentrate on learning."

Quinn nodded and closed his eyes, he tried to form his thought clearly. What would she need to be happy? He quickly decided on his focus and concentrated.

*The wings, the warm air pus.h.i.+ng you upward through the clouds. The crimson flowing thermals that existed like pathways through the sky. A peerless Winged a.s.sa.s.sin, swift and deadly. Tracking your pray through walls and cover of trees, the warmth of their blood visible to your eyes. We are..*

"Bai'Avriel!" They both said it at the same time, Quinn felt his wings flex as he opened his eyes.

Angel stood there staring at her black wings. " I don't have to be a spider?" the sadness left her face, she bent down running her hands over her slim legs. She reverted back to her spider form and then once again activated Bai'Avriel."

"Only when you wish to be Angel." Quinn didn't have time to prepare as she jumped at him, hugging him tightly.

"Thank you Quinn. Thank you... Am I cute?" Angel tilted her head to one side, she touched her shoulder length hair. "Is my hair nice?"

"Hmm, you're cute and your hair is very nice." Quinn smiled widely at her.

Angel nodded. "How will you explain me?"

Q shrugged, "no idea."

Angel sighed. "Why couldn't you be a bit smarter?"

Q laughed. "I could still eat you."

"I take it back," Angel replied hastily.

"Ready to hatch then?" Quinn had to admit, he was curious to see her.

"Um.. well not for a few more days." Angel admitted.

"...." Quinn.

"What's with that look?" Angel shook her finger at him, "You shouldn't a.s.sume things!"

Quinn laughed, "very funny."

Quinn opened his eyes and found himself sitting on the hilltop, with the Spider Egg in hand. "So 4 or 5 days?"

*More like 10 or 12 I think*

"Okay, in you go then." Quinn stowed the Spider Egg back into his inventory.

*Bye Quinn.*

"Cya soon Angel."

"Log Off TAP."

Quinn sat up slowly in bed and glanced at the time. It was almost noon, he stretched as he stood up. He turned when he heard the sound of his shower coming on. "Tal must have at lunch first." It was then he noticed a plate with Sandwiches, sitting next to a bottle of water on his desk.

He grabbed some clean clothes and walked into the bathroom. He smiled at the pink toothbrush sitting in the holder next to his green one. He grabbed his and was putting paste on it when Tal peeked from the curtain.

"I thought I heard you." Tal watched as he undressed, "right on time Quinn."

"Yep that's me, Mr. On Time." He slid behind her, pressing against her back as he hugged her. His hand on her flat stomach.

Tal leaned back against him smiling. "I can't tell you how happy I feel right now Quinn."

"Maybe not," Quinn agreed. "You could show me though."

Tal turned to face him, her wet lips finding his as they kissed. "Yep. I can do that."