Exodus: The Assassin's Path 91 Gathering Staff

"I wouldn't know, I don't have one." Quinn smiled in the darkness, it had been a few hours since they logged off. After a big dinner by the pool, the two lovers had retired to their bedroom for the evening. Tal was laying across his chest, her body still glistening with sweat, the stump of her leg thrown across his.

"You sure I wasn't on the Nexus Companion list?" Tal touched her lips softly to his neck.

"Hmm... I showed you right?"

"Maybe I was further down, on the second page or something."

"You aren't an NPC Tal, I don't think you qualify."

She moved over him and straddled his waist, her full b.r.e.a.s.t.s swayed slightly as she moved her hips. "An engineer's hammer, a diamond, a red apple, a nightingale and a gold crown. What do these all have in common?"

Quinn smiled and slid his hands over her legs to rest on her muscular hips. "They are all stones set in my Nexus ring."

Tal nodded "and they have an awesome Raven ring that gives them Ba'Avriel form."

Quinn propped up on his elbows and kissed her softly on the lips. "Gotta admit though, Remmy's little pink wings were super cute."

Tal laughed in the darkness, Remmy had immediately flown off with Angel. "It's odd how your wings are brown, but the ones of your companions match their hair color."

"Fine... I will find you the Ba'Avriel skill book." He rolled her over on the bed, her ankles wrapped around his waist as she raised her hips.

She kissed him deeply, reaching between them she guided him in.

**********

A few hours later, Leah and Quinn stepped out of the portal in Fenway, Leah had her arm through his as they strolled through the market area. Their objective was the empty lots that had opened up between the Market and Trade sectors.

"Are you going to buy up some land?" Leah loved having him to herself, ever so often she would glance down at the sapphire ring he had purchased from Bizzaro.

"Don't really need to do that." Quinn led her to an area that was still in development, half the lots weren't even for sale yet.

Leah looked at him questioningly when he stopped. "Okay Quinn... what are you up to?"

"I wish to Build an Emba.s.sy."

System Message: There is enough unclaimed land in the immediate area to build. The emba.s.sy comes with an NPC staff of two hundred. One hundred elite guards, Fifty kitchen, cleaning and service staff (KCS), twenty-five diplomats and twenty-five pages. Please specify the racial choices for each profession.

"Guards will be Dark Elves, KCS will be human, diplomats will be High Elves and the pages will be Halflings."

System Message: Racial choices have been recorded. Do you wish to build an Emba.s.sy in Fenway?

"Yes, build the Emba.s.sy."

Quinn watched as a magical s.h.i.+eld settled around the area, anyone who had happened to be in the area was pushed gently out.

"Is this a castle?" Leah watched as huge stone walls with metal gates went up first, then a lavish stone building with two towers slowly formed, from start to finish it had only taken twenty minutes. The area had quickly filled up with curious people.

Two fully armored Dark Elf guards stood just inside of the gate. They were generic elites, designated as gate guards.

World Wide Announcement: A Fora Diplomatic Emba.s.sy has been built by Duke Q in Fenway.

Leah stared at Quinn, "Duke?"

Quinn shrugged, "suppose so." They approached the gates and the guards immediately reacted.

"Open the gate, the Duke has arrived."

The gate opened before them, the two walked through holding hands. Quinn had to admit it was impressive. White cobblestone streets and walkways, three huge fountains and a set of double doors that were large enough for a troll to walk through. A butler met them as they entered the building.

"Duke Q, how may I help you today?" The butler was a middle-aged human with black slicked back hair. He was dressed formally in Black and white.

"Do I have an office?"

"Yes sir, follow me please." The man brought him to a second-floor corner office with a huge window and balcony.

Quinn sat on the comfortable chair behind the desk, it was a state of the art office, with screens and multiple huds. The desk hud blinked at him. "Wow, my personal hud has already be configured to this office."

Leah was sitting comfortably on his lap, after the stress of the past few days, she really needed to unwind. "Quinn... shouldn't you answer that?"

Quinn nodded, "yep, I already know who it is though." He activated the hud and Jangles face popped up in front of him.

"Good morning Q." Jangles girly face looked like he had eaten a bug. He had seen the Emba.s.sy announcement. He noticed the beautiful redhead, "hi Leah."

"h.e.l.lo Jangles, what can I do for you today?" Quinn let go of Leah so she could get up if she wanted, but surprisingly she had no intention of moving.

"We found three new dungeons in the countryside surrounding Fenway over the past three weeks." Jangles had been more than pleased with their progress until he discovered that Fora had put out a raging forest fire that no one had even known existed. How in the h.e.l.l did they uproot the Covenant? Was the Fora spy network so unbelievably effective?

"How's recruitment?" Quinn was aware that Concert Hall had many users who were high end, they were missing lower and mid-level players.

Jangles stared at Q, first the Academy and now an Emba.s.sy. "Could be better, we aren't really getting the quality of players that we need."

"Hmm... I'd like you to take the position as the head of the Fine Arts department." Quinn thought it was better to just say it quickly.

"Fine Arts? What do you mean Q?" Jangles always expected Quinn to say odd things, but this statement threw him for a loop.

"The Academy of Military, Martial Arts and Science is gathering experts from all over. You could be one of those experts. Who better to chair the Fine Arts department then the most well-known Virtual Musician on the planet?" Quinn smiled when he said it, he had a back up of course, but Jangles would be a good fit.

"Why would I do that Q? I have a guild to run." Jangles motioned off screen for someone to join him, a moment later Sparrow sat next to the bard.

"Well, we will have a few thousand of the best and the brightest players, NPCs and virtual students from all over the world. You could groom them as future members of Concert Hall."

Jangles couldn't hide the surprise written on his face, it wasn't a terrible idea. "Who are these Experts you are gathering?"

Quinn brought up the list on his hud.

Dr. Benjamin Joki, Economics, College Dean

Ms. Kora Scasa, Martial Arts, Head of Department

Saffron Daybreaker, Politics & History, Head of Department

Dr. Talia Joki, Engineering & Math, Head of Department

Dr. Naomi Gajendra, a.n.a.lytical Science, Head of Department

Quinn could tell that Sparrow was running the names, "of course we aren't going to let Concert Hall lose out on the deal."

Jangles whistled, with the Joki's and Naomi Gajendra, they had heavy hitters that would pull in talented students. "Kora Scasa? Wait... she's the instructor at the Exodus Academy."

"Former... now she's the Fora Academy Head of Martial Arts." Quinn waited until Sparrow was done running the names.

"I a.s.sume there is some other incentive?" Jangles didn't hate the idea, but if he was going to spend time away from Concert Hall there should be a reason.

"Ro'Avriel." Quinn frowned when he said it.

"What is Ro'Avriel?" Jangles was aware of Ba'Avriel, he a.s.sumed this was related somehow.

"It's how the Avriel gets their slaves and fighters for the arena, it's a raiding City that wipes out whole villages and then disappears." Merci had told him that they supply all of the Avriel cities with stolen goods and slaves.

"What's your proposal?" Jangles was interested, he glanced at Sparrow, she was already checking who would be available for an a.s.sault force.

"We have three small Flight Platforms courtesy of Ba'Avriel, they hold about 30 people each. We'll bring you their location and open their gate."

"And the split?" With nearly a hundred of his top people, Jangles could definitely make an a.s.sault work.

"You keep everything, the city and whatever tech you find." Quinn smiled pleasantly, "you could move Concert Hall to a floating city, of course, I'll want my platforms back when you are done."

Sparrow was staring open-mouthed at Quinn, the kid definitely knew how to sweeten the pot. "We could stream it, sir, the entire a.s.sault."

Leah smiled as she watched Quinn talk, "Ro'Avriel is strictly a raiding city, there are no families like there were when Quinn and I were captured on Ba'Avriel. It just one big garrison."

"Deal, I'll take the position of Department Head of the Fine Arts, in exchange for the terms you stated." Jangles knew a good thing when he heard it.

A male NPC walked into Quinn's office, he was designated as NPC secretary. "Sir I already have the contract ready to go, shall I send it to Mr. Jangles?"

Quinn nodded. "They will be within 100 miles of Fenway tomorrow evening, I a.s.sume they are targeting nearby settlements. The Flight Platforms will be outside the city tomorrow morning."

Leah and Quinn ported back to Fora HQ after enjoying a relaxing lunch in his office. The sound of hammering and sawing drew both of their attention. A Halfling female with short black curly hair had taken over the back of the warehouse.

Quinn smiled when he saw her. "Nuna!"

The little halfling looked up when he spoke, she skipped toward him, a big smile on her face. "Quinn! This is awesome, I'm building everything I need!"

"Leah, this our new Quartermaster Nuna Swift." Quinn liked her last name.

"Oh, I see, very nice to meet you Nuna." Leah had been hoping she would arrive soon. " I'm the XO of Task Force Raven, we should get together and discuss General Issue equipment and accountability."

"Nice to meet you also Leah, I will be up and running tomorrow afternoon sometime." Nuna had always love to use her hands, her carpentry skill had risen to Journeyman in half a day.

Leah used her hud to bring up Task Force Raven's status. "I have two Silverleaf women that have experience working in supply, I'll have them report in the morning."

"I have to log Leah, will be back later." He gave her a quick kiss and then waved at Nuna.

"Okay Quinn, I'll send the platforms and the drivers to Fenway."

***********

"d.a.m.n... that is so interesting Talia."

Quinn slid down the railing skidding to a halt before turning toward the kitchen. Tal was talking to Dr. Naomi Gajendra again, Anna was listening in. He took a seat next to Tal.

"I was just briefing Naomi on the latest events." Tal wanted more than anything to help Quinn.

"This could be our chance Quinn, do not summon her until we are set up properly." Naomi Gajendra was so excited by the prospect of reviving Quinn's mother, she hadn't been able to sleep.

Quinn nodded, "I already see the issue."

Naomi glanced at Tal and then back at him. "You do?"

"If I summon the Silver Princess and she comes here with Lara's core, then we'd have to stop. If I summon her and she comes without the core, then she'd immediately need a container."

"...." Naomi.

Tal laughed, "you don't make that face often. I did tell you he would probably figure it out." She stared at the man she loved, he had been the one to figure out how to help Ren, even though she was surrounded by geniuses.

Quinn gave her an innocent smile, "if only I knew an expert in the field who would be willing to attempt this ground-breaking procedure."

Anna covered her eyes, here it comes.

"Anna, how are we coming with our search for our a.n.a.lytical Science Department Head?" Quinn had floated the names of a few other experts in the field to her desk. "Oh hey that one guy was promising, the Englishman, Oliver Winston."

Naomi's dark eyes widened, "Oly Winston? I wouldn't let that fool hold my lunch!!"

Tal leaned back in her chair, even for the sake of her old college friend, she wouldn't interfere.

Naomi frowned at Quinn, "are you implying that you will let him do the procedure if he Chairs the Department?"

Quinn nodded, his face serious. "Yes, you could publish a paper on the research this will lead to. Why should I gift wrap something like that? I'm not going to cheat you, we will fund your research and you'll receive a salary for your work at the Academy."

Naomi's frown slowly left her face, "okay Quinn. You are right, I'm going to benefit also, so there is no need for me to dig my heels in."

Tal had to bite her lip to keep from smiling at her friend, "come to Vegas Naomi." The houses on either side of them had been purchased by Orion Media and were currently vacant. She'd ask Mike Obreen for the keys.

Naomi smiled at the young man who had suddenly forgotten she existed and was eating his lunch. "I'll need a few days to settle things, I'll sign the contract Anna Li sent me."

Quinn looked up from his lunch, "I'll pick you up at the airport Doctor."

Tal transferred Naomi to her personal hud and took their conversation upstairs.

"Anna, did you research that fis.h.i.+ng company I asked about?" Quinn was smiling, he had been bluffing from the start, there was no way he'd trust anyone but Tal's friend.

"Portside Fishery? Yep, I sent the data to your desk. They went out of business almost ten years ago. The bans on fis.h.i.+ng, coupled with the fish farms that popped up in the last thirty years, smaller ocean fisheries went out of business."

Em walked out of her room at that time, she couldn't help but hear the conversation. "They were based out of Maine right? An old Portuguese fis.h.i.+ng community."

Anna nodded, "they fished up an down the East coast. The company itself is closed, but they still own a big cannery by the dock. They've been slowly selling off their a.s.sets."

"M & Q virtual fishery, what do you think Em?" Quinn knew his sister had a business degree from Boston College and had worked at Orion Media for some time before becoming a professional gamer.

"What?" Em's face showed her surprise, she had her dark hair up in a bun and since it was early she wasn't wearing make-up. "Do you have a plan?"

"Yes... take a trip to Maine for me, grab all those old fogies that love to fish and bring them to TAP." Quinn grinned at the shocked look on her face.

Em had loved the Lobster from Portside. "Quinn... those old fishermen aren't gamers."

"They don't have to be, they can make production Halflings and choose fis.h.i.+ng as their ability. We have the entire East Coast in TAP, untouched and self-replenis.h.i.+ng." Quinn could see the gears turning in Em's head.

"You want to start a fis.h.i.+ng industry in TAP..." Em smiled at her brother. "Wait, you want to supply all of Exodus."

Quinn nodded, "yep, you'd need to go out there though.

"We could buy that cannery, and then set up a few dozen VR chambers in it to start. I'd walk them through character generation." Em ran back into her room and grabbed a notebook, immediately she started writing things down.

"I have a build-order courtesy of the Pioneer Bounty. While you are doing that, I'll build a big warehouse and a Dock in Q-Town."

"Let's do it, Quinn!" Em jumped up and hugged her brother. "Anna, could you get me a plane ticket to Maine please?"

Anna nodded, "yep, I'm a.s.suming I should buy that Cannery as well?"

Quinn nodded, "draw up a business plan for us, M & Q fishery. Then grab that cannery."

"I'm going to start packing." Em headed back to her room.

Quinn smiled at his sister's enthusiasm, "love you Em."

Em stopped in her doorway and turned around, "same here."