The soft chirping of birds made QJ pause long enough to glance at the sakura trees his mom planted near their Ravenwood home. The instant had long been the home of many TAP NPCs and the Fora players. "Kinda stepped into it again..." His thoughts were cut short by the sudden rustle of branches as a gray squirrel dropped from the lower branches of the pink-blossomed trees. An instant later, a second squirrel peeked from the foilage, chittering loudly as if scolding the grounded creature. "Hmm... Tossed out?"
The squirrel glanced over, undecided whether to flee, before scrambling up the twisted trunk to continue the argument.
Stepping onto the wrap-around porch, QJ slowed as the deck creaked in protest. "Guess stealth entry is out," he said, pushing the screen door open with his elbow. "Leah?" He grabbed a virtual coke from the fridge and sat at the kitchen island. "Leah, you home?"
"No one here, QJ... at least no one who can help you." The Spider Queen lowered herself upside-down from the ceiling.
Angel stared at him, her warm green eyes smiling. The lower half of her body was an arachnid, her legs were covered with soft brown fur.
"Let me guess. Going to eat me?" QJ hid his smile behind another drink.
Angel nodded; her light brown hair was tied into a single braid. Then, without warning, she changed into her Ba'Avriel form and landed nimbly on her feet. "Doubler Canyon?" Her face was lit with interest; she was already playing GnG.
QJ opened the island hud and transferred the raid setup. "My class at GnG has been tasked with it, and I've been made raid leader."
Angel's pretty face stared at him for a moment. "Thrown into the mix? Not good, QJ. You'll have to consult, 'you know who.'"
"Too bad I can't bring you," QJ smiled when she helped herself to his drink. As an LAI, she would have been an enormous asset.
LAIs (Low Artificial Intelligence) could enter any Exodus game as long as they were Exodus-compliant. They entered as NPCs, so they were stuck with whatever abilities they originally possessed.
QJ perused the handout Miss Chi had given him and started reading it. It was mostly old news, but in the interest of being thorough, he read it anyway. Angel threw an arm around his shoulders and leaned against him.
QJ smiled at the head on his shoulder; within a few minutes, she was snoring softly. Gently he woke her up. "How did the takeover go?"
Angel yawned sleepily. "Epic fail; the Ant Queen was too strong."
"You are playing on the Legend Server, right?" Legend was the original GnG server; the players and monsters there were powerful.
Angel nodded, "not my best idea, which is why I'm heading to the new server. I'll challenge her before she's had the chance to grow."
QJ shook his head; she was literally moving in on the Ant Queen. "Good luck!"
Angel quickly kissed him on the cheek, "yep, cya!"
QJ finished reading just as Ren & Robin walked in through the front door. Robin couldn't keep the smile off her face when she saw Ren's little brother. "Hey, QJ."
"Hey, guys!" QJ sat the paper down and sipped his coke as they claimed chairs on either side of him.
"Heya Squirt." Ren glanced at the map QJ was studying. "What you doing?" Her slim avatar was the same one she had used since joining TAP; as an active player, she was one of the few non-NPC rogues over one hundred.
"Working on the Doubler Canyon Raid." QJ gritted his teeth, trying to keep a straight face as he felt Robin's foot caress the inside of his leg.
Robin's light orange hair was tied up in a bun. Her dark eyes were full of mischief. "On day one? Did you get in trouble?"
QJ shook his head. "More like a challenge."
Robin had started paying extra attention to QJ after his eighteenth birthday. Mostly it was harmless flirting, but she wasn't above stealing a kiss if she felt like it. "If only we knew someone who completed that raid hundreds of times."
"Funny." QJ shifted slightly in his chair, "Might have bitten off more than I can chew," he admitted.
"Back early, QJ?"
All three turned to see Tal walk in through the back door. She had a fishing pole in one hand and a bucket in the other. Her pretty blue eyes glanced at them. "Is this a party?"
Robin immediately dropped her foot; she wouldn't dare mess around when Tal was home.
"Hi, Tal," Robin folded her hands in front of her and smiled at the blonde engineer when she walked into the kitchen.
Ren stood up and gave her mom a kiss. "QJ is getting ready for Doubler Canyon!"
Tal's glance shifted between her two children. "On the first day of school? What's going on?"
QJ explained the contest and the bet he'd made with his teacher. "This isn't what I had in mind when I asked for a field trip."
Robin rolled her eyes. "You got the bonus package."
"Guess so," he agreed.
"So... Doubler Canyon?" Tal glanced at her son; she couldn't look at him without smiling. She opened up her hud, and Quinn's face popped up an instant later. He had a fishing pole slung over one shoulder. "Come on home Little Q; your son needs some help."
He was already walking home; he had been fishing with Tal but had fallen asleep in the warm Ravenwood sun. When he woke, she was gone. "Yep, be there in a bit Tal."
Ren shook her head at Quinn's image. He looked like he had just woken up, "catch any big ones?"
Quinn frowned, "fishing is about enjoying yourself, not catching the biggest fish."
Ren laughed, her pretty face lighting up. "That's very enlightened."
Quinn disappeared from the hud, and a moment later, they heard movement from the back door. He scooped up Tal as soon as he entered the kitchen, kissing her soundly before putting her down.
"That's how a man is supposed to greet his wife!" Ren grinned at him; although separated by five years, he had been her best friend since the day she had met him.
Quinn grabbed a beer from the fridge and sat beside Robin before peering at the raid sheet. "This an assignment?"
QJ shook his head and then re-explained the events of the day.
Quinn leaned back in his chair, staring at his son, "Oh God... you let a school teacher beat you in a quickdraw contest? So embarrassing..."
QJ felt his face heating up, "I won the second time!"
Quinn jumped when he felt a pinch at his side; Tal was frowning at him. He winked at her and stopped his teasing. "Let's figure this out then."
QJ handed him the raid sheet. Robin hadn't been exaggerating when she said he'd done the raid a hundred times. His dad's old Striker team still held the clearance record.
Quinn stared at the sheets for a few minutes. "A group of noobs with this layout? It's wipe city QJ, at least with the conventional tactic."
QJ studied the map closely. It was a canyon in the shape of a four-leaf clover. Bosses and sub-bosses spawned in the center, while adds spawned at the edges and ran toward the middle.
Quinn quickly sketched the standard layout. "Typically, you'd have eight range dps, two at the base of each leaf to stop the adds from joining the center threats. Don't forget about the four secondary healers needed to keep them alive."
QJ nodded in agreement. "The rotation is pretty standard with a veteran group, but it's likely to cause us problems."
"Bring out the poker chips, Tal." Quinn glanced at his wife, who immediately moved to the junk drawer next to the fridge.
QJ watched as his dad placed the red chips in the standard Doubler Canyon setup. "I've seen the Battle rating scores for my class. We don't have any scrubs."
Quinn studied the sheet momentarily before pushing it back toward his son. "The shooting scores are ridiculous. Need to take advantage of that."
"Including myself, we have four top marksmen. Good enough for a sniper team."
Quinn nodded in agreement." Looks that way. So what's the play?"
"We'll have to make do with four." QJ rotated the map and zoomed out. "Wait... What if we put two shooters here and two more here? Then, each shooter could take a lane."
Quinn smiled at his son. He was getting close. "Instead of putting them at the base and facing backward, you'll put them higher up and have them shoot across the middle to the far two lanes.
What's the problem with that?"
QJ pursed his lips while he continued to study the map. "Range... The carbine rifles we'll be equipped with are accurate to three hundred meters; our requirements will be closer to five hundred."
Quinn smiled at his son. "Let's come back to that. If you solve that issue, what does it buy you?"
QJ moved the chips in place. "Usually, four secondary healers keep the eight mid-range dps guys alive. So we should gain four healers and four mid-range dps."
Quinn nodded. "That's the key point. What's the biggest problem facing noobs in a raid?"
The younger Quinn sighed; his dad would keep asking questions until QJ figured it out. "Positioning. The rotation would eventually collapse."
"Exactly. If you free up eight people, they won't have to rotate. They can keep their focus on the center threats." Quinn felt Tal elbow him in the side, "Find a way to free up those eight people, and this wipe-city becomes a doable raid."
QJ eyes lit up, "Springfields! If we can upgrade to Springfield rifles, that will bring our range to five hundred meters."
Quinn rolled his eyes at the younger Quinn. "Took you way too long to figure that out."
QJ grinned at his dad and accessed the quartermaster weapon loadout. "Upgrading to Springfields will cost me two hundred and fifty points each."
Quinn laughed at the look on his son's face, "so four Springfield rifles will cost you all the points you won with my horse."
"My horse," QJ countered. "Thanks, dad."
Quinn shrugged slightly. "You'd have figured it out eventually."
QJ spent the next few hours figuring out individual assignments for each raid member. He followed that up by contacting his classmates individually and briefing them on their responsibilities. When he was finally finished, he wrote down the overall strategy and sent everyone a copy.
Nearly six hours later, QJ was enjoying a relaxing swim in the Raven River. After briefing everyone, he spent another two hours answering their questions with his hud.
Without the constant rotation, it was a straightforward raid. As long as they managed to cover the lanes with four shooters, the main body should be able to take down the bosses. There were a total of six sub-bosses that spawned one after another. In the end, the last two main bosses spawned simultaneously.
"We need to be on point." QJ laid back in the water, floating peacefully while the sun started to set.
"On point for what, bro?" Sara splashed into the water, her white swimsuit clashing with her dark elf skin as she dived under the water. She swam up to QJ, kissing him quickly before splashing him.
"Oi brat!!" QJ chased her in the water, splashing her while she retreated; suddenly, QJ felt a pair of arms on his shoulders pushing him down. He surfaced to find Sasha had joined them; where one was, the other was sure to follow.
QJ grabbed his leg, grimacing, "that really hurt, Sash."
The pretty redhead blushed as she rushed toward him, "I'm sorry, QJ, I was playing!"
Too late, she realized her mistake as QJ grabbed her and dunked her upside down in the water.
She surfaced quickly, coughing and sputtering, "you sneak!" She chased him downstream, laughing and cursing while she threatened him repeatedly.
A short while later, the three siblings lay on the dock, laughing and resting as they chatted.
"How was your first day?" Sara had an arm looped through his, her white hair was pulled back in a ponytail.
"Great! I love it. My homeroom teacher is awesome, and I made some friends." QJ spent the next half an hour telling them the details.
Sasha was leaning over her sister, huddling for warmth as the night air began to cool. "Your homeroom teacher sounds pretty nice."
QJ accessed his inventory and gave them each a fluffy towel. "You should take towels with you!"
Sara nodded, "that's what our moms keep saying. We keep forgetting."
Sasha dried her wet hair while looking at her brother; she had been upset when he stopped attending the Fora Academy. "Have you heard the latest?"
Sara's eyes widened as she put a hand over her sister's mouth. "Hey... we aren't even supposed to know!"
QJ leaned forward. It was a well-known fact that Sasha couldn't keep a secret. "Spill it, Sash."
Sasha pushed her sister's hand away and leaned forward. "Seems all of our moms got together and decided that Dad has kept Lara Sy waiting long enough."
QJ blinked in surprise, "they going to tie the knot? I'm surprised she hasn't kicked him to the curb.
Sasha shrugged, "she can't move on."
Sara nodded in agreement, "her heart won't allow it."
He stood slowly, helping his sisters to their feet. "Come on, I'll walk you back."
**********
QJ stretched his arms over his head, enjoying the softness of his bed. He removed the ceramic discs from his temples and sat them on the bedside table. By the time he had his running shoes on, he could hear movement in the kitchen. He walked out of his room and grabbed a bottle of water that had been placed on the counter. "Thanks, mom!"
Tal smiled in reply, holding a finger to her lips. Quinn was a light sleeper, so any noise before 0800 would wake him. "Have a good run, hun."
QJ waved as he headed out the door.
Since his dad wasn't running with him, he took a new route, slowing when he exited the gate to wave at the security guard monitoring their gated community. They all knew the Riley family. Over the past two decades, they had purchased a half dozen homes in the development. Friends and family came and left regularly.
QJ turned down a residential road; many homes were boarded up and had met with graffiti bandits. A beat-up station wagon was parked crookedly against the curb as three women attempted to remove a recliner that had somehow been jammed in the back.
The women stopped when they saw him running by. They were obviously mother and daughters; one of the girls stepped in front of him and held her arm up. "Hey... Give us a hand?"
QJ was forced to stop to keep from running her over. The girl who spoke was probably in her late teens, with dark hair and a very attractive face.
"Ignore my sister, please. She doesn't think sometimes." The girl who had been pulling something from the front seat pulled her sister by the arm; they were identical twins.
The mom smiled slightly, she was wary of strangers, but they needed help. She had a tired look in her eyes, but she was still quite pretty. Obviously, her daughters took after her.
"We just need help getting this damn chair out; five seconds of your time?"
QJ took a look at the house and then around the surrounding houses. "I'm afraid I can't do that." He opened up his hud, and Tal's face popped up a moment later.
"Everything okay, hun?" Tal's tone showed her concern.
"No, not really; a family is moving into one of the empty houses on Sunset."
"Sunset? Did you tell them that place becomes a haven for drug addicts after it gets dark?"
QJ heard the gasp from the older woman standing behind him. "No, mom. I didn't want to scare the crap out of them."
"QJ?" A surprised voice called him from the door of the house.
QJ turned to see a young woman coming down the ramp from the front porch. "Charlotte?"
The girl in the wheelchair motored toward him, stopping on the sidewalk. "You live around here, QJ?"
QJ shook his head. "Not really. My house is about five miles from here."
Another young woman followed Charlotte out of the house. QJ didn't see anyone else. "These your sisters, Char?"
Char nodded, "Suzi, Taylor, Jo, and my mom Rana."
QJ glanced at the car; the front seat had been pushed up, a tiny person had been driving. It probably meant they were here alone. "Char, this is a nasty area." He glanced at the mom; she was fighting back the tears.
"I didn't know... we moved here from Texas." A bit of panic crept into Rana's eyes. "We can't afford to stay at the hotel any longer, and I've already paid two months' rent for this place."
A second voice spoke from QJ's hud. "Hey guys, I'm Anna. Why don't you let me straighten this mess out for you? Least I can do for one of QJ's classmates."
QJ could tell that Rana wanted to say no but was too scared to. "It's fine, Char. Anna can fix anything. At the very least, she'll get your money back."
"Mom, QJ is one of my classmates at Exodus. He's the one that helped me out yesterday." Char had her hair up; she didn't hide her scarred face around her family members.
Anna's calm voice brooked no argument. "2400 Rayburn Drive, I'll tell the front gate to expect them. QJ, what kind of car do they have?"
QJ glanced at the car. "It's a really crappy station wagon." QJ heard the four girls behind him burst into laughter.
Tal's face frowned from his hud, "QJ! Where are your manners?"
"Sorry, mom... That thing is a total rust bucket." QJ shrugged at the laughing women; even their mom was smiling.
"Is this really okay?" Char's amber eyes stared up at him.
"No worries, get moving, and I'll catch up in a bit." QJ waited until the five women squeezed back into the station wagon before returning home.
Forty minutes later, he arrived at the front gate, they waved him through, and he took the first right. There were five houses on their Cul de Sac; the Rileys owned all of them. Four were being used; the empty one was the first on the left. The "crappy" station wagon was parked in front. It was already emptied.
QJ saw his dad standing in the doorway, so he slowed to a walk and approached him. "Finally awake?"
Quinn scowled when he noticed his son. "Sure... show up after all the heavy lifting!"
QJ smirked at his dad. "That little chair was heavy? Maybe you should have let mom carry it for you."
The garage door opened, and Char wheeled out of it. She immediately glared at QJ. "You could have mentioned that your parents are Quinn and Talia Riley!"
QJ blushed and looked at the ground, "I would have let people know eventually. I didn't want any favors or advantages over anyone."
"See? Now you're in trouble!" Quinn nodded approvingly at Char, "there's an old broom in that garage; feel free to wack him with it."
"...." QJ.
Char laughed loudly at the older Quinn, "I'll keep that in mind, Mr. Riley."
Quinn waved a hand at her, "Quinn is fine."
QJ watched as his dad walked away; he was good at putting people at ease. It only took him a few minutes to get on Char's good side.
He followed Char as she went up the ramp into the house. It was an exact copy of his home; she immediately entered a box-filled bedroom.
"Your penance is helping me unpack." Char looked up at him; her smile was somewhat crooked, the scars pulled the corner of her mouth down.
QJ could hear his mom and Anna talking in the living room. "Yeah, I can do that."
QJ moved boxes and helped Char unpack them; they were done within an hour. There really wasn't much stuff.
"Think we can top the Doubler Raid today?" Char propped herself to a standing position and took two uneasy steps before grabbing the desk and easing down. Then, she spun the chair to face QJ.
"The good thing about the Doubler Raid is that your progress is saved after a wipe. So if you kill the third boss and wipe on the fourth, you restart on the fourth." QJ had been thinking about it; they had an excellent chance to finish it. The big hurdle was going to be keeping the mistakes minimal.
"You're really impressive, QJ. At first, I thought Miss Blanca made you raid leader to teach you a lesson."
QJ laughed. "That's exactly what she did."
Char shook her head slightly. "You are on point. I know exactly what I need to do and have a good idea of our overall strategy. She knew what she was doing."
"Thanks," QJ took a seat on the unmade bed. "Just focus on your part."
Think it will come down to time?" Char was going to use a Slinger for the raid, so she'd be hitting the center bosses.
QJ shrugged. " As long as our marksmen keep the lanes clear, the main raid group should have enough dps to bring the first three bosses down quickly."
Char glanced at the VR chamber in the corner; it was nice that each room had one. "We have to avoid stupid noob mistakes that cause early wipes."
QJ stood up and walked to the bedside table; there were two ceramic discs inside, he handed them to Char. "This might be easier for you."
Char smiled. "These are so nice. Top of the line too." She shook her head at him. "Of course, Obreen owns Orion Media. I suppose you are related to them also?"
QJ returned her smile, "well... Gus Obreen is my grandpa." Gus had taken over as CEO of the company after the death of his parents, who were enjoying themselves in Ravenwood.
"...." Char.
"So many questions, yet I haven't asked you any yet." QJ sat on the edge of the bed, watching her reaction.
"Hmm... If I ask stuff, it stands to reason you will too."
Char shot him a curious look, "one last one, though, how in the hell did you get Secretariat as a digital horse?"
QJ's face split into a wide grin, "how did you know that?" He didn't want to mention that it had taken him weeks to figure it out.
Char gave him a deadpan look, "really? The big red horse that stands above the rest? The 1973 Red Demon that won the Belmont by 31 lengths?"
QJ laughed at her serious expression. "My dad won him at the Apple Festival."
Char covered her head with her hands. "Oh shit... you know Leah Fintree, don't you?"
"Fraid so."
"As your classmate, I demand an introduction!" Char pounded the desk with her tiny fist, "I'm going to win one also!"
"An introduction will be easy. Come over anytime; Leah usually plays dominoes with Mom and Remmy at night."
"Damn... quit the name-dropping already!"
"Sorry, sorry. I need to get going; we have to meet up for the raid in two hours." QJ stood up and stretched his arm over his head, "I need to eat and get cleaned up."
"Okay, QJ, thanks for all your help today." Char smiled and waved as he headed for the door.
"It's fine; I regularly bring home stray women." QJ ducked the cushion that Char flung at him, laughing as he exited through the garage.
Char smiled at the fleeing figure, "you're the stray, smarty pants!"