He found her a few minutes later on the balcony outside her office. She was sleeping on a very comfortable-looking sofa that someone had dragged out there. She sensed his approach when he came out and started to sit up.
"It's fine, Robs." QJ sat next to her and pushed her back down.
She smiled, placing her head on his lap. "Back safe and sound, I see," Robin covered a small yawn with her hand. She had been working long hours.
"Yes, thanks for your help." He leaned back and stared at the night sky. GnG had more stars than TAP. "It will be a few weeks before Briar Rose is ready to move in."
She smiled sleepily at him. "You are really getting strong fast."
"Why don't you go to sleep? I'll stay here for a while and relax with you."
"Okay, thanks... Night hun."
"Night, Robs."
QJ stretched in place, taking a moment to remove the ceramic discs from his temples.
"Up we go." He rolled over in bed and grabbed his running gear before heading for a morning run. When he returned an hour later, Jo Hall was sitting on the curb at the end of the driveway.
"Hey, Jo." QJ didn't know the oldest Hall sister very well. She had the perfect body of a dancer and long black hair that hung down to her waist.
"Hey." Jo didn't smile like most people when she greeted others. She had an old tennis ball in one hand and was rolling it back and forth in her hands.
"Missing a dog?"
She gave him a blank look. "What?"
"I mean, I can fetch, just don't throw it far. I'm a bit tired." QJ felt himself sinking fast, the oldest sister was a tough nut to crack.
Jo frowned at him. "Not really in the mood for jokes."
"Oh... well, that's a surprise." QJ smiled pleasantly and walked away.
"What's that mean?"
He didn't bother to turn around. "Figure it out, crabapple," he muttered under his breath.
When he walked in, Anna was sitting at the kitchen island; she froze in place like she had been caught doing something. "Hey, QJ."
"Nan... you doing something bad?" QJ grinned when the pretty lawyer's face turned red.
Anna shook her head; she had Tobie's box in front of her. Tobies was a local bakery that specialized in Cinnamon Rolls.
Quinn had a weak spot for them and would occasionally grab a box of four. "Nope."
"Dad went to Tobies?" QJ didn't need to ask; the box was labeled very clearly.
Anna hung her head on the island counter. "I ate one, they smelled so good."
QJ laughed at her and grabbed the last one from the box. Anna liked to eat healthily and would always say no to them. "They are too tempting, right? Welcome to the club, Nan."
"Oh god, it was so good, QJ." She eyed his roll and licked her lips, "bite?"
QJ nodded and held it up so she could take a bite. She closed her eyes as she chewed.
"So yummy, I've completely lost."
QJ tried not to laugh at her while he grabbed some water from the fridge. "I'll tell dad I ate two."
Anna cheered, "yeah!! Tell him that!"
[Welcome to Guns and Gore, the Phoenix Server.]
Location: One Problem Guild Keep.
Time: 0700 hours
Server Population: 25,090 Your current level is 28.
[System Message] Your Command Statistic has reached 20; you may now recruit up to five followers. "Hmm... That's interesting."
QJ took the Keep Portal to Laredo and quickly made his way to the Ant & Bee Cavern. Chainy was waiting patiently for him by the time he arrived. He took a few minutes to initiate the Keku/Queen Bee trap for her. The titled mobs were no longer spawning, but it was still a reliable method of powering up.
After clearing the cavern, QJ activated his [Return to Keep] icon and sat on the Keep steps. No one was around yet, so he took out the parchment he had received from Chancellor Ivy.
The parchment was a list of his Rights and Duties as a Viscount of Maelstrom. He was reading down the list, most of them were ceremonial things that he couldn't be bothered with. Then, halfway down the list, he encountered something interesting. "May pardon Criminals, as long as they aren't accused of capital crimes."
He stepped onto the Keep portal and chose Maelstrom as his destination. A moment later, he stood in the Capital City.
"Sweet Georgia..."
Even the Market Square was impressive. Every shop was a three-story monstrosity. He marked the City Prison on his map and took Market Avenue to Main Street. It was still early morning, and many shops had yet to open for business.
Main Street was lined on both sides with Restaurants, shops of all kinds, and Saloons. The city roads were made of red brick, and most buildings were made of wood.
The Prison was easy to find, there was no guard outside, but when he walked in, a Desk Sergeant greeted him. QJ used his hud to display his Rank.
"Viscount QJ, what can I do for you this morning?" The guard was a burly blonde-haired man with an impressive handlebar mustache.
"I want to see a prisoner, someone who has been here a while and knows what is happening."
The blonde guard seemed to think about it for a few moments. "Gillispie would be the man. Follow me, sir."
QJ followed the guard as he opened a set of barred doors and went down a dark passage lined with torches. After descending several flights of stairs, they finally turned into a hallway and stopped in front of a cell. It was a small cell with only a single occupant. He was remarkably well groomed for someone in a dungeon, although his clothes had definitely seen better days.
"This is Gillispie; he's a notorious Con-man. He's been down here for four years." The guard kicked the cell door, causing the prisoner to stir. "Only six left, right Gil?"
QJ brought up his hud; as a Viscount, he had access to criminal records. "Leave me with him. Come back in Ten minutes."
The guard nodded, "Yes, Sir, call out if you need a guard."
QJ waited until the guard left then he turned back to face Gillispie. "Your record speaks for itself, although you are strictly small time." QJ glanced through his record.
"Your mother is small time."
QJ laughed loudly, "crap... that's funny. Want to work for me?"
Gillispie sat up carefully, "doing what?"
QJ lowered his voice, "information, spying, that sort of thing."
Gillispie frowned at him. "This is a joke?"
QJ shook his head. "Why would I joke? I want to start an information network."
"This is very odd," Gillispie muttered. "You don't just ask people to join a spy network."
"Oh... How should I do it then?"
Gillispie stared at him, his pale face turning slightly red, "well... I guess I don't really know."
"Choose four people to bring with you. I'll give their names to the guards."
"Shit... I can't tell if you're serious." Gillispie looked down the hall in the direction the guard had walked. "Fine... four names.
Lightfinger Lonni, Ugly Kate, Fat Alice, and Dave the Baker."
QJ brought up their records and paged through them. "Lonni is a street thief?"
Gillispie nodded, "pickpocket and lockpick. One of the best."
"Ugly Kate and Fat Alice? They are in for embezzlement."
"They are Saloon girls, both have real card skills, they can work at any casino. That's where all the information is."
QJ sighed and turned to the last name. "Dave the Baker is in for indebtedness. What's his talent?"
Gillispie shrugged. "He makes good cakes. Sorry, I added him in because I only know the three."
QJ laughed and closed his hud, "Dave the baker it is then."
"How is this going to work?"
"There's a hotel on Main Street called the Lone Gunman; I'll book two rooms. I'll leave five thousand credits for each of you. Get cleaned up and buy whatever you need. I want the five of you at Briar Rose tomorrow."
"We're criminals. How can you be sure we won't take the credits and run?"
QJ shrugged, "I can't. Running is an option. I certainly won't go after you."
Gillispie stared hard at QJ, not saying a word.
"See ya soon."
Several minutes later, QJ walked out of the Maelstrom prison. When he gave the Desk Sergeant the names, it was nearly time for the guild's morning meeting. He stopped by the Lone Gunman Hotel and booked two rooms. Then, after setting up the necessary deposit, he walked to the weapons store across the street.
The Bloody hand was a mid-tier weapon store specializing in melee and handgun weapons. The first glass case he saw displayed all the store's handguns.
QJ whistled, a few of them were reasonably nice. The old shopkeeper approached him while he admired the work.
"See anything you like, sir?"
QJ nodded. "Pretty much everything. Have them all packaged up for me and delivered to the One Problem Keep."
"One Problem Keep? You're one of the ones who saved Princess Lilly?"
QJ extended his hand. "One of them. I'm QJ, the Vice Commander at the Keep."
The old man shook his hand, a smile creasing his wrinkled face. "I'm Earl; this is my shop. I'll have these delivered right away."
"Thank you. Got any quality spears?"
By the time QJ wrapped up his business in Maelstrom, it was nearly 8AM. He immediately activated the [Return to Keep] icon and entered Guild Hall.
Ringo waved to him when he walked in. She had been talking to Breeze and Junz. "Thought you may have been captured by vampires again."
QJ laughed, "who was captured? You guys invited yourself. Me and my Majordomo would have cleared that nest out easy."
Breeze threw an arm around his shoulders, "thanks for sharing that xp with us."
Ringo grabbed his wrist and pulled him to the front. "Find your seats, everyone." She motioned for QJ to take over.
"Right... Great job on yesterday's Raid. I don't know the benefits of a Level 2 Keep yet, but we will put that information out shortly. These kinds of Guild events are great opportunities to work on teamwork."
Ringo nodded from the side and activated the Hall Hud. "This is what the Server Leaderboard looks like now. To say I am impressed with this guild's progress would be an incredible understatement."
[Top Guild Level]
1) One Problem-Lvl 22.2
2) Old Skool 19.9
3) Chupa Lupa 17.2
[Class Leaderboard]
Range Rider: Range Rider: Junzo-Lvl 22
Gunfighter: Gunfighter: Ringo-Lvl 25
Brave: Laffy Taffy-Lvl-21
Tracker: Carlotti Hottie-Lvl 21,
Shaman: Three-Tails-Lvl 22
Field Medic: Suga Pie-Lvl 22
Wrangler: Kingslayer QJ-Lvl 28
Scout: Sato Lvl 22
Commanchero: Breeze-Lvl 24
Cavalry: Iron Lou-Lvl 20
Raider: Devil Woman-Lvl 20
Gambler: Pinnacle-Lvl 22
[Top Five Ranking]
1) Kingslayer QJ
2) Ringo
3) Oldman Crane
4) Lotte
5) Breeze
QJ read out the names of the top Five. "Our hard work is paying off. Not only that, but the Main Event Quests and the Guild Quest are impacting Maelstrom."
Ringo nodded in agreement. "My new Rank entitles me to own three shops in Maelstrom. Anyone interested in running a business, please let me know. That's it, have a good morning, everyone."
Lotte and Breeze caught up with QJ as he was going up the stairs. They asked him to head into one of the Keep Instances, but he turned them down.
"Tonight, we'll group up. I've got some things this morning." QJ continued up the stairs and down the hall.
QJ opened the door to his shop and walked in. There were already several packages waiting for him. "Damn, they work fast."
The door to Robin's office opened, and she peeked in. "Hey, QJ." She had two cups of coffee in her hand. She sat one down for him.
"Thanks, Robs." He let the coffee sit momentarily and walked over to a water-filled metal barrel. "Know what this is?"
The Songbird shook her head. "No... but if you undress and climb in, I will follow you."
QJ laughed. "It's a shooting barrel. There is a lot of excellent analytics involved." QJ bent his arm suddenly, causing his hide-out gun to spring instantly into his palm.
Robin smiled in appreciation. "Slick."
QJ fired one shot into the barrel. Then he carefully handed Robin the gun. "Try to shoot a round into the barrel Robs."
She took the small handgun and carefully pointed it into the water. The soft bang a moment later caused her to jump slightly.
"Not as loud as some I've heard."
"I'll make yours extra quiet." He took the gun back and carefully reequipped it. Then, since she was interested, he took a moment to show her how the mechanism worked.
She took a sip of her coffee and headed back to the door. "I'll leave you to your work QJ."
"Thanks for the coffee, Robs."
An hour later, a half dozen handguns had been carefully disassembled and placed on QJ's workbench. He had taken them apart, reassembled, and then taken them apart again. He found several imperfections in each gun.
[Your Gunsmith ability has increased to 39]
Taking weapons apart and reassembling them caused his gunsmith to climb rapidly. He also noticed his XP bar was rising.
QJ pulled down the focus light that was attached to the workbench. It was the kind of thing a jeweler would use. A round magnifying glass mounted in a circular lamp. It was specifically made for working on small components. He placed the six components of the trigger housing under the light and then rummaged through his drawers for identical parts.
"I'll replicate each component, remove the imperfections and then build the new piece."
He worked steadily for the next hour. "Hmm... not complete crap, I guess."
[You have created a weapon.]
[Your Gunsmith ability has increased to 46.]
QJ compared the original handgun with the replica he created.
[Pistol: Six-Shooter]
Medium Grade
+ 2 Accuracy
[Pistol: Six-Shooter]
Fine Grade
+5 Accuracy
Crafted by QJ
QJ grabbed the revolver he had made and removed the barrel. "I could put a slightly longer one on." He replaced the six-inch barrel with a nine-inch and placed it in his vice. "There's no rifling on the original, so this is an easy upgrade."
He grabbed a rifling rod designed explicitly for 40-caliber barrels. "Let's try something." He turned on the burner, adjusted the flame to about three inches, and accessed his inventory.
Earlier in the morning, when he had taken Chainy to the Ant/Bee Cavern, he had stuffed his inventory with several large pieces of wax. Now, he placed them in a bowl and waited for them to melt. After it was liquified, he dipped the rifling rod in the wax and carefully screwed it through the barrel. He repeated this process several times over a few minutes.
"Not really effective. Let's try heating." He let the rifling rod sit in the burner until it started to glow red; when he dipped it into the wax, it sizzled loudly in protest. Carefully he screwed it down the barrel again.
*Ding* Level 29
[Your Gunsmith ability has increased to 51.]
QJ spent a few minutes repeating the process before cooling the components in the water barrel.
[Pistol: Silenced Six-Shooter]
Fine Grade
+5 Range, + 10 Accuracy
Crafted by the gunsmith QJ
"Interesting... QJ removed the barrel and walked over to his drill press.
He drilled a dozen small holes at the end of the barrel, then carefully smoothed them down with his jeweler files. He was assembling the final product when Robin walked in.
[Your Gunsmith ability has increased to 55.]
[System Message] You have created a Unique Weapon. Please name the piece.
"Little Bang."
Little Bang [Sound Suppression]
Six Gun: Unique
Description: Crafted by QJ for silent
operation and low kickback.
+10 Accuracy, +10 Range.
He felt a hand on his shoulder; the scent of flowers lingered in the air as Robin bent over his shoulder and examined his work. "That's really nice, QJ."
QJ wiped the sweat from his brow and leaned back against her. "It's okay for now. I'll do a lot better."
She wrapped her arms around him and kissed the top of his head. "Can I have it?"
"Really? I'm going to make you something way better eventually. This is just the first of many."
Robin nodded. "It will look good in my office."
QJ laughed. "As a paperweight?"
Robin moved around him and slid nimbly onto his lap. "Want to have lunch with me today?"
"At the Songbird?"
"Yep, I haven't talked to my sisters much lately." Robin bent her head for a quick kiss.
"Come with me to Briar Rose first. I want to drop off something for Aji."
"Who is Aji?"
"Oh... She's my MajorDomo."
Robin pursed her lips, "what's a MajorDomo?"
QJ shrugged. "It's like a butler; mostly, I just like saying it."
Robin laughed, "fine, I'll come."
QJ waited for Robin to bring out her mount, but instead, she put a foot in his stirrup and eased herself before him. "Need me to pick you up a horse, Robs?"
Robin shook her head and leaned back against him. "Not really. Is this inconvenient?"
QJ laughed in her ear and pushed Scorch into an easy canter. "That's not the word I would use."
The ride took only a few minutes. QJ was stunned by all the changes at Briar Rose on the last day. There were wooden scaffoldings against every outside wall, and most of the siding had been removed. As QJ entered the gate, he could see that the entire stone wall surrounding the property had been torn down so that it could be rebuilt. The landscaping on the grounds had been cleaned up and removed; potted plants and trees were stacked everywhere. Someone was even pulling up the cobblestones and painting them.
"Wow...they are really working hard." QJ dismounted and then helped Robin down. She said nothing about the property, but her small smile told him she was impressed.
Aji walked out of the house as he was dismounting. "Good Afternoon, sir!"
"Hi, Aji." He pulled Robin along by her hand. "This is Robin. She's the Commandant at the One Problem Keep."
Aji smiled at Robin and bowed her head slightly. "I know who she is, of course. Who doesn't know the Songbirds? Very nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you also." Robin looked at her curiously. She was quite attractive but seemed very non-threatening for a dark elf.
"Let's go into the old workshop." QJ led the way into the house; the stairways were in the process of being rebuilt. "Did Serli send more workers?"
Aji nodded, "we didn't realize the scope of this project originally, so we underestimated everything."
QJ laughed at the embarrassed look on her face, "No surprise there. How could you? No one knew that this place was falling down."
He walked into the workshop and closed the door. It was completely empty, except for some empty shelves and a weapon rack. "I picked up a spear and three books for you to read. The books are mine, but you can keep them here. The spear is for you."
[Razor]
Spear: Unique
Description: Perfectly
balanced with moderate length
and diamond cut blade.
+10 Strength + 10 Agility
He placed the books on the shelf. The first two books covered basic and intermediate Ninjutsu Staff techniques. The third he had picked up at the weapon store in Maelstrom, The 12 forms of Spear Defense.
Aji accepted the spear, looking at it like it was a pile of gold. "Thank you QJ."
"I'm not a spear fighter, and I've only average staff fighting skills; however, come to me with any questions. There are lots of pictures and diagrams in the Ninjutsu books that are quite helpful."
"I'll work hard every day." Aji glanced at Robin, "any tips?"
Robin nodded. "While practicing, wear your armor. You want to simulate combat situations as closely as possible."
"I'm going to put in on now, then." Aji smiled when QJ turned around. She quickly donned the black armor from the Vampire raid.
Robin couldn't stop the smile from forming on her lips. "Oh my... now that is what I call armor." She blushed slightly, "feel free to get me something like this."
QJ couldn't find proper words to reply, so he only nodded and tried not to stare. "This is also for you."
He handed her a basic handgun he had rebuilt earlier and a holster.
[Pistol: Silenced Six-Shooter]
Fine Grade
+5 Range, + 10 Accuracy
Crafted by the gunsmith QJ
QJ pointed at the far wall. "See the black wall? That's been bulletproofed. A good idea for a gunsmith shop, actually. Set up a target and practice shooting every day also."
Robin nodded in agreement. "Want me to have some craftsmen bulletproof a wall at your workshop?"
"Sure, that sounds great. Hey, let Robin see your stats, Aji."
Aji Sai
Level 25
NPC Class: Unknown
Strength 35
Endurance 29
Intelligence 38
Agility 33
Luck 5
Charisma 28
Skills
Tailor 100
Scholar 100
Spear 9
Robin didn't bother to hide her surprise. "No fighting class? Where are your weapon skills?"
Qj shook his head in disgust. "Her father was Kimo Sai. She wasn't allowed to train fighting skills. Aji picked up the spear skill during the raid."
Robin's face showed a hint of anger. "A child is innocent of their parent's crimes!"
Aji belted on the holster. "Not everyone is so enlightened."
"I'll help you, Aj. I'm a knife fighter, but I can teach you many things." Robin nodded to herself, "to pick up the spear skill in a few hours means you have potential."
"Thanks, Robs. That's actually a great idea." Robin knew all about movement and countering. QJ handed Aji an envelope, "Read this carefully and follow the directions. If you have issues procuring the items we need, contact Ezra Charles in Laredo."