Exodus: The Assassin's Path 11 Quarry Raid

The raid group was already starting to form when Q made his way to the lobby. A tall lean girl with blue hair and dark eyes waved him over. She was one of the girls in his class, quite stand-offish if he remembered right.

"Sorry, I guess you drew the short straw ," she mumbled apologetically.

"Hmm? Oh god, did they self-select groups?" He gave her a sympathetic look and stuck out his hand. "Nice to meet you, I'm Q."

"Summer Daze," she shook his hand as she introduced herself.

"Since we are in this together, what kind of tactics do you like?" He could tell she was a ranger, the bow she carried was a dead giveaway.

"I use CC and plink away until they die," she shrugged while blushing slightly.

Q nodded, "if it works, it works. What kind of CC abilities do you use?"

"AE snare and single target root," her expression seemed to be loosening up, perhaps this would be fine.

"I can use a Halberd, so if you root I can keep our target at arm's length."

"Okay everyone, I can give you a quick briefing now that we are all here," she shot Q a glare for being the last one to show up.

"There will be 14 of us total. Rhapsody and I will be in charge of making sure none of you die. Onion will be the MT. The target is the Gnoll Chieftain Brisbane. He is surrounded by four Captains. After all the Captains are killed, everyone will then attack Brisbane. He resummons his Captains as his HP drops to 80, 60, and 30 percent. We will deal with these three additional waves the same as the first." She looked over at Q who seemed to be rummaging through his pack. "Q are you paying attention?"

"Um.. Yep!" Damn, I looked down for a second.

"Brisbane is a 16 level Lord, while his Captain's are all 12 level Elites. Onion will hold aggro on Brisbane and the Captains. Each group will have to peel off a captain and kill it. Be sure to lure them off at least 50 feet. Brisbane has an AE fire-based spell that he casts every few minutes. When you hear him say, 'you shall all burn,' quickly retreat. This means he is about to cast. If you get in trouble, call out." She looked over at Rhapsody, "did I miss anything?"

"I will be overseeing groups one and two, designated as Havoc and Dagger," Rhapsody winked at Q before continuing. "Jinn is in charge of groups three and four, designated as Flame and Arrow." Onion is not going to be killing the boss for you, he will only use his aggro gaining abilities. "

The raid group slowly made their way out of town, Daze naturally fell in beside Q. "They put training wheels on us for this raid," Daze sighed heavily. "I was hoping for a bit more action."

Q nodded, "At least we have a cool name like Havoc, should be a walk in the park." Mojo told him to go all out in this raid, it was strictly against etiquette to question people about unique or special abilities, so he needn't worry about holding back.

"Do you want to pull? I'm not good at grabbing aggro yet, I can snare the target to slow him down." Daze looked at him as they talked. She felt at ease for some reason, he was another person who didn't feel the need to talk all the time.

"I'll pull and you snare," he agreed. "Then root and we will take it down."

The quarry was nothing more than a large pit with scattered boulders strewn about. In the center of the pit was a large Gnoll who glared at them when they descended the steep sides of the pit.

"Don't worry, he sees us but he won't aggro until we are within 50 feet," Onion's deep voice sounded out. "He will summon his guards when I approach, my aggro is king so feel free to start at that time."

Jinn looked around and glanced at Rhapsody, "okay groups get to your spots and prepare to pull the Captains." She watched silently as the groups moved out. She nodded at Onion and then moved between Fire and Arrow groups.

The warrior monk approached the Gnoll Chieftain and stopped just outside it's aggro range. He pulled out his shield but left his weapon undrawn. He leapt suddenly, covering the entire distance in one jump and slammed his shield on the ground in a thundering blast. "All of your cookies are MINE!!"

"Captains defend your chieftain!!" The Gnoll Chieftain shouted and four Gnoll Elites surrounded Onion and immediately started attacking.

The moment the Captains appeared Q looked at Daze and they nodded at each other. Q drew a dagger.

*Blink*

Q felt his strength suddenly surge as he appeared behind the nearest Captain.

*Backstab* Critical hit 150 damage, Bonus 150 damage.

Q slashed at the Gnoll's back, then dodged to one side as it spun toward him.

*Return*

"Snaring target!" Daze was surprised, but she didn't let it slow her down.

*Target is snared, 50 percent reduction in movement rate. *

When Q returned back to his original spot he drew his guns and turned them loose.

*Thundering Pistoleros* 65 damage, 60 damage, 65 damage, 40 damage, Critical hit 150 damage, Bonus 150 damage, 48 damage.

The thundering sound of Gnome handguns echoed through the Quarry.

"...…." Sinful Jinn.

"....." Tormented Rhapsody.

"....." Blooming Onion.

Q holstered his guns and pulled the Halberd while running in a circle to turn the Captain's back toward Daze.

*Target is rooted*

Q stabbed at the Gnoll, using the Halberd's length to keep it at bay as Daze peppered it's back with arrows. After a few minutes the Captain collapsed on the ground.

*A Gnoll Captain has been slain, you are awarded 300 experience points.*

Daze looked at Q, her breathe coming in gasps. The other groups were having a bit of difficulty. Flame and Arrow groups hadn't managed to pull the Captains away from Onion. So they settled on attacking them in the kill zone. The group next to theirs had been able to pull and were slowly working it down. Daze gestured toward the group. "Help them?"

Q nodded.

*Blink*

Q appeared behind the group's Captain.

*Backstab* Critical hit 140 damage, Bonus 140 damage.

He slashed it twice more before it turned on him, Q leaped away.

*Return*

*Target is snared, 50 percent reduction in movement rate. *

*Thundering Pistoleros* 55 damage, 70 damage, 61 damage, 43 damage, 39 damage, 48 damage.

Q pulled the Halberd as it got close and maneuvered it into position.

*Target is rooted*

The two players who had been fighting stared in shock as their mob was taken, but then quickly chased after and joined in the fight.

*A Gnoll Captain has been slain, you are awarded 120 experience points.*

As it died the other two headed back to their position and while Havoc took a moment to rest.

"How do they reload?" Daze was as shocked as anyone to see handguns, as a range damage dealer, she was green with envy.

"They are energy projectiles formed from the guns core, they recharge when they are holstered," Q explained. The actual core was part of the holster, but he had been told to explain it this way by Remmy.

The last Captain finally fell and the groups charged in to attack the Chieftain. Q drew his dagger and attacked from behind it.

*Backstab* Critical hit 80 damage, Bonus 80 damage.

Q continued to slash at the Gnoll Chieftain, its HP slowly draining. 93 percent, 88 percent.

"YOU SHALL ALL BURN!!" The Gnoll Chieftain shouted and everyone retreated outside of the kill zone. A moment later an AE fire spell erupted, harming no one. Quickly they returned, and continued the attack, 85 percent 82 percent 80 percent.

"Captains defend your Chieftain!!" The Gnoll shouted and four Gnoll Captains were summoned and started attacking the Warrior Monk.

Daze immediately retreated halfway toward their spot, while Q attacked.

*Backstab* Critical hit 180 damage, Bonus 180 damage.

*Target is snared, 50 percent reduction in movement rate. *

Daze ran back toward their spot, drawing her bow and firing as Q followed. He spun around just before reaching her and pulled out his Halberd.

*Target is rooted*

From a hillside half a mile away, a small group of people watched with interest. A pink haired Gnome sat there holding a huge pair of binoculars to her eyes. She wore a wide smile on her face. "He is treating my pearls so well, what a nice man he is."

Mojo didn't need binoculars to see the Quarry raid. "He is doing well. More importantly him and his teammate are in complete sync."

A white robed woman nodded, "they are dominating the raid. He should partner up with this ranger."

"Agreed." Mojo spoke quietly, Q had performed well during the training, but was surpassing their expectations in the field exercise. The continued to watch as the raid slowly progressed through it's stages.

"Remmy loves that guy!!!" The Gnome jumped to her feet cheering, she had been referring to herself as Remmy ever since Q had given her the nickname. "They are at 22 percent!!"

*Backstab* Critical hit 83 damage, Bonus 83 damage.

Finally the students progressed to the last stage of the raid. Jinn and Rhapsody keeping a sharp eye out for any mishaps, the teams were slowly learning to work together. It wasn't lost on either of them that Havoc had accounted for most of the kills.

"YOU SHALL ALL BURN!!" The Gnoll Chieftain shouted and once again the raid members retreated.

The raids only cleric was knocked down as everyone rushed to exit the kill zone. Amazing Grace, the high elf cleric, rolled quickly to her feet and fled. She wasn't going to make it, her lovely face showed panic. "Oh no, I messed up!" The AE was more then enough to take down a 12 level cleric.

*Blink*

Q appeared behind Amazing Grace and pulled her close against him, she forgot her panic and blushed bright red. "You're coming with me!"

In instant the AE fire spell erupted, Q felt the singe of flames on his face.

*Return*

A moment later Q returned to Daze's side, the cleric still wrapped up in his arms. He quickly released her, his leather armor smoldering slightly."

The raid members continued attacking until finally the Gnoll Chieftain fell, his sudden death left everyone somewhat shocked, they looked around at the scattered gnoll corpses before erupting in cheers.

*You have defeated the Gnoll Chieftain, you are awarded 4000 experience points.*

Chapter end