Exodus: Guns And Gore 6 Character Creation

QJ stretched sleepily, he removed the ceramic discs and bunched up his pillow. He was tempted to skip dinner and go to sleep. The raid had worn him down. A small movement on the bed caused him to open one eye.

A tiny girl with big dark eyes and a headful of wild curly black hair stared at him. Her little hand was holding on to his foot.

"Hmm... your mom know you are here little ghost?"

The little girl shook her head and smiled at him. Her dark brown skin was stained blue in several places. She held out her hand to QJ and offered some of her bounty. "b.o.o.berries?"

QJ sat up and carefully picked out one that wasn't mashed, "you pick these from Auntie Jinn's garden?"

The little brown ghost nodded.

QJ opened his hud, a moment later Ro-Ro answered. "You missing a little ghost Ro-Ro?"

Ro-Ro breathed a sigh of relief, "that little monster is with you?"

"Yep." QJ glanced at little Sammi. "Might have to keep her this time, the cute factor is way too high."

Ro-Ro nodded in agreement, "it's fine, bring her back in four years. Hey! You eat yet QJ?"

"Nope... what ya got?" QJ loved Ro-Ro's cooking.

"Farofa and Moqueca." Ro-Ro glanced over her shoulder, "be ready in about 10 minutes."

"No Moqu! No Moqu!" The ghost made her disapproval known and then dived on the floor, quickly burrowing under QJ's bed.

QJ leaned over the bed; only her little ankles were sticking out. "Wow, she's fast."

The sound of Ro-Ro's laughter filled his room. "Do your best QJ!"

*********

"More Port?" Arturo refilled QJ's gla.s.s when he nodded.

"Thanks. How's the fishery doing?" QJ watched Turo pour. He was a slim dark-haired man in his late 30s; he worked at Portside Fishery in Fora.

Turo grinned, he ran one of the fis.h.i.+ng boats. "Doing great, we fish all day and then come back the next day, and all the fish are back."

"Everyone is talking about the Freshmen GnG cla.s.s from Exodus." Ro-Ro was bent over Sammi, trying to get her to eat.

"We got a bit lucky and cleared Doubler Canyon." QJ couldn't stop the smile from coming.

Ro-Ro looked up at him, her full brown lips curved in a smile. "I hear it's a way bigger deal than that QJ."

"Oh? What you hear?" QJ sc.r.a.ped his plate trying to get the last remnants of food.

Sammi finally started to eat, and Ro-Ro took a seat next to her husband. "A bunch of noob freshmen cleared a mid-level raid on the first attempt. Perfect clear in the fifth fastest time ever, I'm pretty sure your Academy has taken notice. Plus there is a reward for a top ten performance."

"Maybe some credits?" QJ sighed, "I'm so broke."

An hour later QJ finally headed back home, Turo and Ro-Ro stood in their doorway waving until he entered his house.

The house was quiet and dark by the time he laid down on his bed.

**********

The dinging of his desk hud woke him out of deep sleep. QJ sat up on his bed; usually, it would be on silent mode. He moved to his desk and opened up the hud. Miss Chi's face looked back at him.

"Sorry to call so early QJ, " Chi could tell she had gotten him out of bed.

"No worries, I should have got up half an hour ago." QJ glanced at the time, 0650.

"There's quite a big reward for a top-five ranking, 3 million credits. " Chi watched his reaction, "as Raid leader you decide on how to divide it up."

"Evenly of course." QJ leaned back in his chair, "any chance I might get my thousand points refunded?"

Chi nodded, "without a doubt that will be refunded. Then each of you will receive an additional 1500 points as a reward from the Academy."

QJ smiled, Char would be happy, she could get a top mount for 1500 points. "Thank you, Miss Chi."

Chi leaned forward, "there's one more thing QJ." She held up a platinum pair of dice, "know what this is?"

"A cool set of dice?"

"You are spot on. When you get to the starter city, head to the casino. Sets of Dice drop from mobs. The greens are rare and the blue epic." Chi shook the dice in her hand. "After that is silver and gold."

"And the platinum?" QJ was doing his best not to drool. You rolled the dice at any casino in GnG and were randomly given the corresponding award. Some times they were duds or curses other times they were powerful items. The higher the dice, the more spectacularly good or bad it could be.

"This is your award for your contribution to yesterdays raid. You'll either cause famine or get something nice." Chi shrugged at the face he made, "you don't have to accept it."

"I don't mind rolling the dice." QJ stared at the platinum dice in her hand, so nice.

*************

The old man flexed his legs under his desk to keep his knees from shaking. "We are good now? I did what you wanted."

The slim white-haired woman turned her creepy eyes on him; she was the only other person in the office. She was razor thin; her blue eyes were so pale that they seemed almost white. "Hmm... you didn't have to do much to get him into the new server, but yes, the debt has been erased."

The old man s.h.i.+vered when she stared at him; it made him feel like some unseen predator was stalking him. "If we are done, then please see yourself out."

A thin pale hand caressed the hilt of the sword she carried, "you should curb your gambling habit, Dean Tomas. If it happens again, you may not receive such an easy way out."

*******

Welcome to the Guns and Gore Character Generation Screen. Please Choose a Faction.

QJ considered the options, the only cla.s.s he would want to play on the Aborigine side would be the scout, but their weapons were too limited. "Western."

Western Faction joined.

Please choose your character type: DPS, Healer, Tank, All Purpose, Puller.

"Puller."

Choose the Wrangler Cla.s.s for your character?

"Yes," QJ observed the screen. The cla.s.s he chose would dictate his beginning stats. Wranglers would start with high agility.

Do you wish to proceed to Visual and Voice screen?

"No, use me for all cosmetic character details."

Please Name Character.

"QJ."

Wrangler Generated

QJ

Wrangler

Agility 30

Perception 25

Stamina 12

Wisdom 9

Strength 10

Command 5

Pick Two Close Range Weapons

Shotgun

Pistol (Single Only)

Dagger

Hatchet

"Pistol and Shotgun." QJ had been planning on pistol and hatchet but changed his mind when he saw the shotgun option.

Here are the Options you have chosen.

QJ

Level 1

Wrangler

Agility 30

Perception 25

Stamina 12

Wisdom 9

Strength 10

Command 5

Weapons

Pistol 5/100 Level 1

Shotgun 5/100 Level 1

Do you wish to proceed to Guns and Gore?

"No, save all information and enable Exodus exploration."

Good Luck QJ, Shoot first, ask questions later.

QJ laughed at the motto, "you sound like my dad. Log-On Exodus Academy."

QJ headed to the stables; he had a bit of time before cla.s.s started. He grabbed a bucket and climbed over the stall gate.

"You could just open the gate."

QJ was straddling the gate when Char spoke. "Yeah, I know that."

Char was breaking open a bale of hay. The wheelchair was gone, but besides that, she looked the same. The scars on the right side of her body were visible. QJ didn't know her actual height, but her character stood a few inches shorter than him. Her black hair was worn up in a bun, and she was smiling as if she had just won something.

"You look familiar..." QJ scratched his chin before hopping into the stall with Scorch.

"Very funny... bite him Scorch!" She piled the hay into his feeder and moved the wheelbarrow closer to the door so that QJ could get rid of the red horse's gifts.

"This horse would never bite me, although according to Leah, he was a terror before dad trained him up." Char walked Scorch out of the stall so QJ could muck it out. He put everything in the wheelbarrow and then shoveled some fresh sawdust on the floor.

"Lotte... (lätā)" Char glanced over at him while she cleaned Scorches hooves.

"Lotte? Like the coffee?" QJ made a face, "no thanks, I only drink carbonated beverages."

Char laughed, "no goose, that's this character's name. I want you to call me that from now on."

"Er.. even at home?" QJ raised an eyebrow at her.

"Yep, this is my first step to being the greatest Slinger in GnG." Her light green eyes were unreadable.

"Lotte it is then... this character's name is 'Deathridesaredhorse.' Feel free to call me that."

Lotte tried to keep a straight face, but a smile creeped out, "is there a shorter version?"

"Too much? Plain old QJ then." He pushed the wheelbarrow out of the stall and held the gate open while she brought Scorch back in.

After locking up and putting everything away, they headed back toward the cla.s.sroom.

"Where is your starting City?" QJ didn't know much about slingers, other then what his dad casually mentioned in their conversations.

"It's Winchester, and I think you are in Laredo right?" Lotte glanced over at two girls who were obviously on an intercept course with them.

QJ nodded, "yep, let's take a look at the map when we get to cla.s.s."

"Good Morning guys." Maya gave them a cheerful greeting; a sleepy looking Nina nodded at them.

QJ glanced at Lotte and made a locking gesture over his lips, "don't tell them, Lotte."

"Tell them what?" She blushed when she noticed they were both looking at her scars; however, it was very brief and didn't make her feel uncomfortable.

"They are going to ask what kind of characters we made." QJ smiled casually at the two third years, "we aren't telling!"

Lotte nodded in agreement, "we aren't telling."

"Hey! We're friends; please tell us!" Nina woke up instantly and started shaking her finger at QJ, "why would you keep secrets?"

QJ stopped at the hallway intersection, "I believe you guys are that way." QJ winked at Lotte and proceeded toward their cla.s.s.

The two freshmen laughed as the complaints of the 3rd years followed them to Miss Chi's cla.s.s.

QJ held the door and let Lotte in first.

She was still laughing at their antics. "Why won't you tell them?"

QJ followed her in walked to his desk, "since they are going to a new server, they won't be allowed to use their thirty level characters. They'll have to reroll new ones."

"Hmm, that's gotta suck for them. They spent most of the 2nd-year labs leveling up." Lotte watched as QJ grabbed her table and brought it to the back of the room. A minute later he returned with her original desk. "Thank you QJ."

QJ waved it off, "anyways they want to rope us into groups. Freshmen have to stick together; we are competing with them."

Lotte shook her head, unable to tell if he was serious. New characters couldn't leave the territory of their home city until level 8. That would take at least a few days.

Miss Chi walked into the cla.s.s and closed the door behind her; she smiled warmly at them. "Please take your seats."

QJ stared at his teacher. There were small but noticeable differences. Her green eyes were now blue. Her short black hair was now long and worn in a single braid that reached to her waist. She wore an empty twin holster. It was a Slinger character. Other then that she looked and sounded the same.

"I see everyone managed to make their GnG characters. Again I want to congratulate each of you; what you accomplished yesterday was unprecedented."

She stopped for a moment while they clapped and cheered for themselves. She noticed QJ was quietly watching. She opened her hud, and a large screen opened up on the wall.

"This is the ranking board for the new server. We are in direct compet.i.tion with all the players coming to the new server. Yes, that includes the third years."

The rankings were listed by guild, cla.s.s and overall. The fields were all empty at the moment since the new server hadn't come online yet.

"First things first, since many of you are now unrecognizable, we will start with introductions. Please state the name you wish to be called and your cla.s.s."

The introductions proceeded quickly, to QJ's astonishment he was the only Wrangler in the cla.s.s. Which meant he'd be by himself for the first eight levels.

Chi leaned back against her desk. "Let's be clear; you will not be given the same freedom that the 3rd years have. The Dean has granted us access to this server with the understanding that I will maintain supervision. Questions?"

QJ raised his hand. "Will we be allowed to join a guild?"

"You are already in one. Let me introduce myself. I'm Ringo, the Guild leader of One Problem."

A female Shaman named Three-Tails raised her hand. "What's One Problem?"

"That's the Guild you are all part of until your third year. After the server goes hot, you will refer to me as Ringo, if that is too familiar then call me Guild Leader."

Lotte raised her hand, "even when in cla.s.s?"

Miss Chi nodded, "even in cla.s.s. You will be allowed to play four hours during the school day. You can play as much as you like on your own time."

QJ's hud blinked, and he opened it up, Miss Chi had sent them detailed maps of their starting cities.

Chi walked toward the window and glanced at the Clock Tower. "No one is saying you have to power-level if you wish to relax and explore, feel free to do so. Our minimal level requirement is two per week for the first 18 levels, and then one per every two weeks until level 40."

QJ nodded to himself; everyone should be able to handle that. He opened up the map Miss Chi had sent. He glanced up when he noticed her placing a small box on his desk.

"Study the map well QJ; you have three hours."