Exodus: Guns And Gore 52 X Game Guild War Part One

"Morning sunshine." QJ watched as she slowly woke up, her brown eyes seemed lighter in the morning sun.

"Morning." She closed her eyes and snuggled back into her blanket. "The Keep upgrade won't be done until 0900, so I have the morning off."

"Take your time. Back to the Academy for me." QJ took a quick shower and brushed his teeth. Robin slept soundly while her boyfriend prepared for the day.

Wu and Sato were the only ones up when QJ walked into the kitchen. "Morning."

Wu was drinking coffee, he wouldn't mention the casino tapes in front of Sato. "I was just telling Sato, make sure to use my knowledge. I know a lot of GnG stuff, and I'd be happy to do investigate Quests."

"I need to find out about the World Leader Summit. Anything I need to know about Frae, the Capitol City of Vavri and the Velez Affiliate." QJ didn't laugh when Wu nearly choked on his coffee.

"You received an invite to the World Leader Summit?" Wu couldn't hide his surprise. "That's for NPCs only, no players ever attend."

"I'm going, not only that, I'm bringing all of OP with me."

Sato grinned. "High five!" They slapped hands, causing Wu to frown.

QJ was just finishing his breakfast by the time everyone was seated in the kitchen. "Hey guys, let's try to make it to one meal together. Every day, okay?"

Breeze nodded, "lunch or dinner. Definitely not breakfast."

"Lunch, you and I are usually in the pool anyway." Lotte snuck a look at Sato, "wouldn't hurt certain people to get a bit of exercise."

"Or some sun," Breeze agreed.

Nina nodded with her mouth full.

Sato made a face at the three of them. "What about Wu?"

Breeze smiled at Wu and threw an arm around his shoulders. "Wu is great."

"Yep." Lotte agreed.

Nina finally finished her bagel, "he's a cool one."

QJ laughed at Sato, the girls loved to tease him. "Welcome to OP Nina, I didn't get a chance to say so earlier."

Nina favored him with a smile. "Thank you QJ."

"Time to go. We aren't meeting at the Keep today because of its upgrades, head to our cla.s.sroom at the Academy." QJ walked back into his room and headed to the bathroom. He decided to wear the suit today and use the VR Chamber. That way he'd be out of Robin's way when she woke up.

QJ logged into the Exodus gaming hub. Right away he noticed the commotion. Lotte nearly ran into him when he stopped.

Lotte nudged him, "What the heck is this?"

QJ stared at the formation lining up in front of the GnG gate. Leah Fintree was standing in front of the Raven Battalion. "It's everyone, even Dad and mom. Not sure why. Only NPCs can enter without a gaming character from GnG." QJ spotted Jinn, Ro-Ro, and Crow. " I better find out."

Lotte pulled his arm and pointed to Remmy who was walking toward them carrying a long metal case.

QJ nodded and headed the pink gnome off. "Remmy! What's going on here?"

Remmy smiled sweetly, "don't worry QJ. I will definitely protect Quinn." She patted him on the back and them marched past him.

"Let's head to cla.s.s QJ, or we'll be late." Lotte tugged him toward the Exodus Academy.

"Right, sorry. Maybe Ringo knows something." They walked together through the Academy Gates, neither speaking until they arrived at the Stable. Surprisingly Ringo and Dessi were both there.

Ringo was sitting on a hay bale outside of Scorch's Stall. "Do you know why all of the Fora Faction is sitting next to the GnG gate?"

QJ shook his head, "I don't. Now that I've had a few minutes to think about it, I could make a guess."

He opened the gate and led Scorch out, tieing him outside of the stall. "Dad must have found a way to enter GnG, or else he would have only sent the NPCs."

Ringo grabbed the wheelbarrow and moved it closer while QJ started mucking out the stall.

Dessi looked at QJ in surprise. "How would he manage that?"

QJ wrinkled up his nose as he shoveled horse biscuits into the wheelbarrow. "How is the wrong question. Why would they want to go into GnG? Why would Exodus allow it?"

Dessi felt a tinge of jealousy at the interaction between student and teacher. They were a great team. "The reason for allowing it would be simple. The members of the Fora Faction are very popular. Stream anything with them in it and everyone opens up their hud."

QJ finished and pushed the wheelbarrow out of the stall. "Cross game Guild wars? That would mean that the Fora Faction is going after Righteous Hand."

Dessi led Scorch back in, the big red horse wasn't familiar with her so he nosed her gently. Dessi produced an apple and fed him.

"Oi... he's on a 'snowcone only' diet." QJ walked with the group toward the Academy entrance. "I'm going to check in with Rachel."

Ringo nodded, "we are going to swap our playtime today. We'll do Pistol and Rifle range until lunch. Then we'll meet at the Keep at 1300."

**********

QJ entered the Dean's office, he hadn't seen Rachel on his way in. He immediately opened his hud. A moment later, a sleepy-looking Robin popped up. "Do you know anything about Fora entering GnG today?"

Robin's sleepy eyes immediately cleared and she sat up in bed. "What?"

"All of Raven Battalion is sitting at the GnG Gate waiting. They must have left you in the dark because you are on a leave of absence." QJ could see that his girlfriend wasn't happy.

"Right..." She started getting dressed anyway, a frown on her pretty face.

"Hey, Robs..."

She looked up at him while slipping on her shoes. "Sorry QJ, even my sisters kept quiet about it."

"You know how secrets work Robs. I'm temporarily releasing you from your Commandant duties. Feel free to take whatever action you wish."

Her smile came back as she finished gathering her things. "Okay, see you later hun!"

Exodus System Message: Cross Game Guild War between Righteous Hand and the Fora Development Faction will take place today from 1300 to 1800. Members of either group may invade the other's territory at that time.

QJ stared at the message. "Sweet Mother..." He opened his hud and contacted Chainy, she seemed surprised to see him.

"QJ... I a.s.sume you saw the message?"

He nodded at the white-haired Rider. "Yes. Just a moment please." He contacted his dad, hoping that he would pick up. Quinn's smiling face stared at him from his hud.

"Need something QJ?" He really wasn't doing anything other than waiting.

"This is Chainy, not sure if you knew her alt on the Phoenix Server. Her main is still a member of Haven, from Legends."

"Hey Q." Chainy felt her heart race every time she spoke to Quinn, he was her natural nemesis.

"Hi Chainy." Quinn gave his son a blank stare.

"Haven is just as strong as Righteous Hand, they fight regularly over territories. If you were to coordinate your attack on their Guild with Haven hitting them hard somewhere else..."

Chainy didn't bother to hide her eagerness. Her Slinger was semi-retired but something like this was beyond tempting. "The Southern Continent. There are three large cities and several mines. We've never considered them before because the price would be too high."

"Talk to each other, perhaps a temporary alliance will benefit everyone." QJ tried to get read on his dad but his face gave nothing away."

"I'll log my slinger in and bring her to the GnG Platform."

Quinn nodded, "we'll work something out. Thanks, QJ."

An hour later QJ sat across from Rachel while she briefed him on the weekly activities. "Why don't they just make you the Dean? You are more than qualified to handle the position."

Rachel stared at him for a moment, not sure if he was joking. "I don't have the background nor experience to handle a position like that."

"Welcome to my world, I'm going to recommend you to my dad." QJ smiled pleasantly, ignoring the look of horror on her face. "Cya later, gotta go to the range."

QJ caught up to his cla.s.s at the Square range. It was a handgun range that was set up like the Square game that he had beaten Chainy in. Squares helped develop fast and accurate shooting.

"Thanks for joining us QJ." Ringo her Navy Colt out and was systematically flipping squares.

"Hey Ringo, I was thinking about those Skill books we pulled in from the Maelstrom Palace library."

"Hmm? It was a nice haul, too bad there wasn't more."

QJ rubbed his hands together greedily. "I have a plan... it's a bit crazy."

Ringo grabbed his arm and pulled him to one side. "I like crazy QJ, spill it!"

QJ caught Lotte and Breeze's attention and waved them over. He brought up his hud and contacted Wu.

Wu smiling face looked back at them. "Hey guys. What can I do for you?"

"We need a target. Bring us up a World GnG territory map of the Legends server." QJ ignored the surprised looks of his guildmates.

A world view of the GnG territories popped onto the hud. QJ studied it for moments. "Fora is going after their HQ, which is of course In Maelstrom. If things work out, Haven will attack them here on the Southern Continent. Once that happens, perhaps there will be an opportunity to reap some benefits for OP."

Breeze shook her head. "We can't go to the Legends Server."

"You aren't wrong... but the TAP characters we a few weeks ago can. If you went on the Academy tour, then Leah would have brought you into the Fora Faction."

Ringo looked up from the map, "those were trial accounts."

"Well... yours was, mine is a permanent Legacy Account. Even so, there's an extension option for those accounts. A few credits and you can b.u.mp it another three days."

Ringo's lips curved into a smile, "What about the level problem? We are all level one."

"This is a stealth robbery mission. We'll avoid fighting." QJ grinned at Wu, "find us a target that might be left exposed."

Wu looked like he was still trying to figure out how serious QJ was. "A target that a bunch of low-level TAP players can hit?"

Ringo nodded, she was starting to see the possibilities. "GnGs big weakness is that only one cla.s.s has stealth. There are almost no real stealth items in GnG. TAP doesn't have that problem, stealth rings are fairly common."

"I'll get us jetpacks. We have a few hours, you guys should be able to get the basics by then. Ravenwood is the best place to practice." QJ glanced at his teacher for permission.

Ringo turned to the rest of the cla.s.s, "call it a day. We'll meet at the Keep at 1500." She turned back to QJ, "let's do it."

"Everyone log in with their TAP characters. I'll get permission for you to enter Ravenwood."

Wu's heavy sigh could be heard through the hud. "A target that you can take with flight and stealth capabilities? I'll do my best." He made a sour face at QJ and then closed comm.

QJ brought up another hud and contacted Leah.

Leah smiled at him through the hud. "Great idea bringing in Chainy QJ."

"Thanks, Leah. Hey, cla.s.s is over for the day. We thought we'd log in our TAP characters and fly around Ravenwood. Me, Ringo, Breeze and Lotte."

Leah raised an eyebrow. "My son is telling me fibs."

"Okay, it's a partial truth. We are going to fly around Ravenwood." QJ backpedaled a bit, Leah was really good at reading people.

Leah's pretty face looked amused. "I see... And the rest involves?"

"A stealth mission to the Legends server," QJ admitted.

"Oh, I see. That's fine then, do your best." Leah didn't hesitate, she knew they wouldn't face any real danger. "I'll give them access to Ravenwood, I a.s.sume you'll need jetpacks and equipment?"

QJ grinned, "Your the best. Thank you, Leah."

"Have fun!" Leah waved at him and cut comm.