Jonas was suddenly awakened by a sound. He felt a bit disoriented at first by the unfamiliar surroundings, then focused on the noises that had disturbed him. They were familiar in a way… it was the kind of sounds he remembered from time to time from his own mother.

Seven siblings. All of them had died young, and a silent and slightly uncomprehending young boy had listened to his mother weeping for all of the youngest ones. She only wept for a few nights but never talked about them afterwards. He had been nine when he last heard his mother weep like that. After his youngest sister had died at age 2, Mother never had any more children, nor tears.

Jonas spotted a figure hunched, arms draped over knees. He moved and sat in front of the other. He waited a bit before asking.

“Are you ok, Jonathan?”

The other man’s small sobs slowed, then stopped. Jonas waited still.

“No. No, I’m not,” finally came.

Jonathan paused, and Jonas let him compose himself.

“I wasn’t supposed to be there. Her parents suggested we all meet at the Gardens instead of home.”

“Her?”

“My fiancée,” his words trailed.

“They must think I’m dead,” he finally added, a small sob escaping again.

“We have no idea what happened in London. We’ll see when we get back,” Jonas reassured him.

“We’re never getting back to London, are we?”

“You don’t know that.”

“Guss… says this is not a place in the Labyrinth that’s known.”

“He says this is not the place that’s next to London. But he doesn’t know the Labyrinth. His cousin might have talked about a few places, but that’s all.”

“But we’re lost.”

“We could be lost. Or we could be next to that Grailburg place. Don’t lose hope. We are going to come back. Maybe it will take a little time, but we’re good. We found some food, we got Professions… we’re going to make it to London. It’s just time.”

Jonathan stayed silent for a while.

“Do you think… about what happened in London?”

“We can’t know. I don’t remember exactly when we got swallowed by the Gate. Just the non-place with the flickering descriptors,” Jonas replied.

“Yes. I remember that one too. I should have been terrified. But…”

Jonas let out a small laugh.

“But it was peaceful. Yes, I thought for a moment I had died. It was just too strange to be the path to Heaven. And instead, it was to the Labyrinth,” he said.

“You know, I tried to get in three years ago. That was strange. A bunch of young men from all over. They had us walk in, and then you suddenly walked out without turning around. The whole world flipping around, just like that,” Jonathan said. “And now, we’re in there.”

Jonas smiled a bit, then realized that Jonathan probably couldn’t see it in that darkness before dawn. The crisis seemed to have passed. At least the worst.

“You all take it so well,” Jonathan added.

“We do? Maybe. You know… me, I don’t have anyone, not really. Mother… well, I don’t see her much anymore. Father disappeared years ago, and she had to work hard to keep us both fed. Then, she couldn’t keep all the rooms, and she said that it was time to go.”

Jonas looked up, at the dimming stars.

“My only real friend… well, that’s Ira. He’s here. So maybe I’m lucky in my way. I don’t have anyone back in London. The other boys at the leather shop, they’re not really friends. They will wonder what happened, but they won’t miss me. There’s no one to miss me. Not like you.”

He put his hand on the arm of the man.

“Keep hope. They’ll be waiting for you when we come back, like Guss and Laura’s families.”

He quickly removed the hand. Putting his hand on the skin of the arm had made Jonathan’s descriptor suddenly intrude in his thoughts, and that was slightly disturbing when you were trying to console… a comrade-in-arms.

It had been so much easier when it was a gesture copied from Professionals and not something that had a real effect when you did it.

 

There was little to eat for breakfast. Only the rest of the berries, which made for a very tiny meal. That wasn’t the first time Jonas had skipped breakfast, although that was never a good way to go for the day. Laura was right in that, he agreed. Starting the day with some food in the stomach made it far better than go hungry immediately. So far, they coped, but it couldn’t last.

“Another day, another boar hunt,” Ira said, stretching.

The rest winced at the quip. Being reminded of the wilderness first thing in the morning wasn’t funny.

“You take it very well,” Laura wondered. “What did you do? Butcher?”

“What? No, no way,” he replied.

“You don’t look like one anyway, now,” she said, eyeing the chainmail almost covering him entirely.

“Well, I’m a serving boy,” he replied. “Me and Jonas, we go way back to when we were little. Grew in the same neighbourhood, and then went different places. Me, I got myself a comfy spot at the Morvell’s household.”

“Think I heard that name at the store,” Guss noted. “Merchants?”

“Yea. Climbing up the ranks, or so the boss says.”

He laughed, looking at his chainmail mitts.

“I presume they’ll have to find someone else when they come back from their trip north. They’ll probably take days to check the entire house to see if I haven’t run away with their stuff.”

Everyone laughed at the idea, the earlier serious mood gone.

“Okay, then let’s find the way to London before that happens,” Jonas said.

The team finished tucking their improvised bedding and started out along the brook.

“We’re keeping to the boar side. They’ve got stuff,” Jonas said.

“Meat?” Laura asked.

“Well, that’s probably more meat than we’d usually eat in London. But why not. If we get enough, we can keep some bacon for the next morning.”

“I’m going to miss bread. Or porridge,” she said.

“That’s not going to work. Can’t make bread, even if we find some wild wheat. Who’s going to make flour? And an oven?” Guss replied.

“We’ll make do,” Jonas said.

“The Labyrinth seems to provide,” Alton added.

 

 

They moved in a file across the landscape, keeping the brook in view. In the marshlands, it had started to meander a lot. For a while, there were no critters in sight, but as the sun rose, a few of the marsh boars rose from wherever they spent the night and started to roam around. A handful of encounters later, something Jonas had expected changed.

 

Young Marsh Tusker: 254XP/6 contributors = 42XP. Level up.

 

A quick check on the team descriptor showed him that everyone had also gotten the same level up notice, as the numbers next to their Profession had increased to 2. And his own descriptor’s numbers had been updated.

 

 

“Got me some additional points in the vitals section,” Alton called out.

“And my experience dropped,” Ira replied.

Laura took time to check her own descriptor, before commenting, “Does this mean we get healthier? More enduring? Or just numbers?”

“If you trust the Labyrinth’s numbers, at least it means I can survive an additional half of a boar’s attack,” he said. “At least half more than yesterday, anyways.”

“That pretty much confirms what I said yesterday. Every time you get to the maximum experience indicated, you get a level, which adds those numbers from the Profession descriptor. Then you start again. That’s what your cousin refers to when he says he keeps levelling,” Jonas concluded, looking at Guss.

The Mender pondered the confirmation for a while, then bluntly stated, “We need to be more aggressive.”

“What do you mean?” Alton asked.

“That experience value is how you get better for your Profession. That’s what Jonas warned us about yesterday. The critters got higher levels and they’re a bit harder than when we were in the hills. If we don’t push our levels higher, we may get into problems if that keeps going. But if Ira can survive longer, and I can heal more, we can get through.”

“It’s easy for the moment.”

“Can’t stay that way forever. Luther said the deeper you go, the higher the levels.”

“I hope we get away before that,” Laura countered.

Jonas cut the discussion.

“We still have to find an exit for this so-called Ovildian zone. So we fight whatever we see, but we just push on. No detours or breaks, unless we really need one. If it gets harder, we’ll see.”

The rest of the team quickly agreed to the plan. As for the prediction, it got borne out by the next critter along their path.

 

 

“Big boar,” Ira called upon spotting it.

“It’s digging holes in the ground. Big holes,” Alton said.

“She. And that’s what boars do. This one’s a lot stronger than the veterans.”

Ira wasn’t joking, Jonas thought. The vitals matched the size. Cats had been far bigger than a cat had any right to be, and the wild pigs were decently sized, but this one beat them all. Reaching as high as Ira’s waist, and leaner than a domestic pig would be.

“Yes, and she’s spotted us. Stand ready,” Jonas warned.

Unlike the cats and all the other boars they’d met so far, the sow started by charging toward Jonathan Gilbert, who instantly got freaked at the massive porcine bulk aimed at him. Ira didn’t waste time by slashing with his sword as the she-boar ran past him and pursued by kicking her with his chainmail-covered boot. The pig squealed and turned back to him, leaving a relieved Watcher to scramble backwards.

Jonas made a grasping sign with his hand, using the newly-acquired Earth Grasp to make sure she couldn’t rush too fast at another team member, then opened distance to start launching some more damaging Flame Bolts carefully, trying not to attract attention.

“Need some weapon,” Jonathan complained once he took position next to the angry sow. “I look ridiculous hitting this monster with my fists.”

Marsh Tusker Sow gores for 27 (28-1) physical damage (8 defence rating)

“This chainmail is supposed to really protect me!” Ira complained as he slashed down at the pig.

Guss made a grimace and stopped using his own fists, increasing Ira’s health as fast as he could without being distracted. Each use helped, but not as much as he would have liked.

Minor Heal Wounds restore 10 health to Ira Heard (5 aether)

The Mender ignored the Labyrinth notices, focusing on his mental view of the team instead. His hand twitched somewhat reflexively as he used the skill, but he didn’t really need to gesture as Jonas seemed to.

The sow kept on butting heads, trying to bit the Defender and rarely used its tusks, but despite that, a balance was achieved, Guss not entirely erasing damage, but keeping the drain on Ira’s health… manageable.

 

Marsh Tusker Sow: 830XP/6 contributors = 138XP

 

 

“That’s… a staff.”

“Yes. I could see that…” Ira joked.

“Anyone saw how it appeared?” Laura asked, befuddled by the size of the item.

“Not really,” Alton replied. “I was just focused on hitting, I almost missed when it keeled dead.”

“It increases Wisdom… that’s the Mender Profession’s main Potential, it seems. It’s for you, Guss,” Jonas said.

“See. I told you I’d get something,” Guss joked.

He bent and picked the staff from the ground. But once his hand grasped the staff, he froze, shuddering.

“Guss?” Laura asked.

He breathed deeply and shivered again.

“That was… unpleasant. No, not really that unpleasant, but kind of weird.”

“Unpleasant how?”

“When I picked the staff. It’s like it shot some power into my arms. It’s… like you eat that burning food from the Indies but in your hand instead of your mouth. Burning, but not flame burning. If that makes sense.”

They all looked blankly at him.

“That went away almost as fast. And I now have the Cleanse Poison skill from the staff, so that’s a good thing if we need it. Neat. It certainly makes training much easier. I might have needed someone to get poisoned otherwise.”

They picked some additional meat, that joined the 2 boar slices they’d already collected, and moved on, following the meandering stream.

 

 

Camp time was slightly more relaxed than the previous day. A few berry bushes, more of the tasty roots to go with a few meat skewers. No bacon for the morning, since they’d avoided actively hunting the boars.

“I could use some variety,” Ira complained as he bit into his share.

Alton snorted, not too impressed. The rest kept on munching the gamy boar cuts.

“If you go hungry, I’m betting the Labyrinth will notify you, just like most of us got that ‘Thirsty’ status on our descriptor.”

“I tend not to need a descriptor to tell me that,” Ira shot back.

“Yes, but it also explains what it entails. 40% less regeneration.”

“It’s… helpful,” Guss noted.

“Is it me, or does the Labyrinth tends to simplify things a lot,” Jonas asked.

“Not simplify… maybe summarize?” Guss pondered.

“That sounds right,” Laura added. “The equipment we get is basic and slightly worn, but it’s as complicated as any garment back in London. The descriptor just boils it down to the essentials.”

 

 

Jonas first spotted the metal glint in the distance.

“Gate! There’s a Gate there.”

Everyone started cheering, and they broke into a jog, then a run toward the far-away dot. Quickly, the distant spot grew into a metal circle filled with light. It looked much smaller, but otherwise almost identical to the familiar one from the Queen’s gardens.

They slowed and panted slightly, most of the endurance on their individual descriptors gone. They all gathered at the bottom of the small stone ramp that led to the circle.

“Do you think you can get back to London using it?”

“Can’t hurt,” Jonas said.

 

 

Jonas found himself back at the Gate, facing out to the rest of the team. He turned his head and looked back at the lighted disc.

“What happened? You went in, and came out immediately?”

Jonas tried to remember the exact wording of the Labyrinth’s notice, which had faded from his mind-view extremely fast.

“This Gate… apparently leads to a tier 2 something. Othary? But we can’t get in.”

“Why?”

“It says something about completing lairs in Ovildian,” Jonas explained.

“Like a brigand lair? Or a beast lair?”

“Dunno. We haven’t seen any. But it says I have zero lairs, so…”

Jonathan swore loudly.