The flat plains had made way for some low hills when Jonas spotted it. The Gate stood up nestled between two small hills. A light-filled metal loop, like the first one they’d found. A miniature 12-feet tall version of the Great Gilded Gate, standing in the wilderness. He pointed out the new Gate to the rest of the team.

“Thought there might be others,” Laura said with a huge smile.

“Maybe it’s Grailburg?” Ira asked.

“Only one way to check,” Alton said, shrugging.

“Let’s see.”

 

Jonas went first, as he had at the previous Gate. This time, it felt… different. As he crossed the Gate, a new descriptor appeared.

 

 

Jonas reflexively acknowledged the “Yes”. He then noticed that the Gate’s surrounding was now a marshy landscape, not the hilly one he’d been an instant before. Unlike the previous marsh area, this one had tall trees with long dropping branches, widely dispersed amidst water puddles and fern clumps.

 

 

As Jonas was looking at the scenery, Ira walked out of the Gate.

“Whoa.”

“Yes. This time, we can go across,” said Jonas.

“The descriptor says it’s not Grailburg though,” Guss said as he arrived.

“Still, it’s a new zone. Nothing you remember?”

“Nope,” Guss confirmed. He spread his hands, looking sorry.

Laura and Alton came out next to each other. Jonas watched, then started to worry.

“Where’s Jonathan?” Jonas asked, reflexively checking his status.

 

 

They all looked at the Gate. Then Jonas decided to turn back. It didn’t seem that Jonathan was in trouble, given the vitals, but…

There was no prompt for the Gate this time, but he walked out in the hilly side, to see Jonathan looking anxiously at the Gate. The Watcher sighed in relief on seeing Jonas come out.

“What happened?”

“I went in, and got a similar prompt as the other Gate.”

 

 

Jonas blinked, then covered his head in shame.

“Balls. I should have guessed.”

“I was dead? That’s what it meant?” Jonathan asked, mouth pinched.

“The dog died just after you did. So you did not complete the lair. I should have realized that when it said only five people counted for the kill.”

“So… what’s on the other side? The descriptor said someplace named Zolferras.”

“Sounds like it is. Another tier-one, just like your descriptor said. So maybe we can travel from tier-one to tier-one until we find Grailburg.”

Jonas looked at the Gate. He then turned toward Jonathan to reassure him.

“Going to get the team back. Then, we’ll see what we can do for you.”

“I’m a burden…”

“No, you’re one of us. We’re all together,” Jonas said hurriedly.

 

A minute later, they were all back in Ovildian, looking slightly embarrassed. Laura came first, taking both of Jonathan’s hands in hers.

“Don’t worry. We grow so fast, we’ll have another lair done in no time.”

“Maybe even two,” Alton added.

Jonathan looked slightly awkward at the centre of attention. Jonas immediately seized the initiative.

“So, we should try to see that Milestone thing first. We’re close to level 15, and if it does what the descriptor seems to suggest, plus a few more levels, and we’ll be good to truly finish dog isle. Or the badger cellar.”

Jonathan shrugged.

“I hope we don’t get wrecked again. I’ve got the lowest health of you all.”

“I’m barely above you,” Guss countered.

“Yes, but I’d rather not die again. Maybe we can get brought back only once?”

Jonas interrupted the speculation before everyone started elaborating worse scenarios.

“Let’s hope we don’t check that one. I’d say the dog lake. It’s outdoor, easy to check beforehand, and we’re going to be careful. There can’t be many more elites.”

“They might be back,” Guss said. “That’s cousin Luther’s job, clearing lairs.”

“Which means?”

“He goes to the same lairs his company uses. That implies the hyenas will come back.”

“How fast can they grow? We didn’t see that many pups…” Laura noted.

“Don’t know. Labyrinth things, presumably? It’s a mixture of familiar and weird,” Guss shrugged.

Jonas thought hard about the mental map he’d been building of the zone. Most of the spots they’d seen were around a two-days trip from the Plaza, which increasingly looked like it was at the centre of the zone.

“You know what? From here, it shouldn’t be that long to go to the lake again. It’s not that much further than Recalling to the plaza and going from there. A day and a half both times.”

“Dog isle first, then badger cellar?” Ira asked.

“Yes. Let’s see if we can complete it for Jonathan,” Alton agreed.

“Sounds good,” he replied, spirits apparently restored.

Jonas pointed toward where he estimated the lake would be.

“That way, then.”

 

 

The sinkhole in the middle of the small hills seemed to turn into a deeper tunnel.

“A new lair?”

“Probably. We’ll know when we see what’s inside.”

They barely entered the tunnel when Jonas spotted a light on the wall. They looked at the strangle concretion glowing with a slightly yellowish light.

“What’s that?”

“No idea,” Jonas said.

He reached and touched the crystal stone. It felt slightly warmer than the wall and he could feel some strange sensation. Like small pinpricks, smaller than the needles used at the leatherworks.

“Very curious.”

“Got it!” exclaimed Guss.

“What?”

“I knew I’d seen something like it somewhere. Luther did put a small thing looking a bit like that in his device to get my potentials, except it didn’t glow like that. That’s a Power Crystal.”

Jonas facepalmed.

“Should have recognized it. You see those yellow crystals embedded in the side of all those new horseless carriages. I thought they were decorations, but no.”

“Never saw one before,” Laura said. “They never change them or anything on the looms in London.”

“So, do we harvest that? They must cost some, seeing as they made the fortune for the Royal Labyrinth Company.”

“We don’t have that much bag space to transport stuff. And we can use the light for now,” Jonas said.

“But that’s definitively a lair,” Guss confirmed, as a scraping sound came from further in.

 

 

Ira raised his sword, pointing at the weird-looking… things in the lair. They looked like seven red-brown 2-feet wide balls glued together, covered in dirty soiled leather. But the really horrifying part was the front, where a hole opened, a pinkish ringed circle with black teeth that looked almost like a human’s.

The two “borer” things had turned their front part toward the team. Then they started squirming, picking up speed as they barrelled toward the intrusion in their lair.

Ira reflexively slashed one and kicked the other to keep them from reaching the team. He immediately started swearing.

“Bollocks. It’s disgusting.”

Muddy Borer spits. -1health/2sec, -1 mind/4sec, -5 AGI, -5 DEX

 

Laura looked disgusted as a bit of the greenish spit splashed on her robe’s hem.

“You’re right Ira, it is,” she spat.

One of the borers compounded the spit with a greenish smoke pouring out of the fissures between the bulbous parts of its segmented body.

Muddy Borer’s steam: -1 mind/4sec, -5 FOC, -5 PER

 

“It’s really even more disgusting.”

“Left one’s biting!” Jonathan yelled in warning.

Ira kicked back the borer before the horrifying mouth could squeeze further. From closer in, it looked pretty horrible, a perpetually open hole of dark flesh, funnelling into the main body. But while he was distracting one, the other’s mouth twisted and clamped on his other calf.

Muddy Borer inflicts 18 (21-3) physical damage (26 defence)

 

Despite the monstrous look of the mouth, its teeth didn’t do that much damage, Ira reflected briefly before he ignored the bruising and focused again on the combat. He moved slightly further, placing himself squarely between the two horrors, separating them. The team moved within the confine of the tunnel, finding a position around one of the twin “borers”.

Once properly located, they quickly dispatched the first borer, while Guss kept back Ira above 200 health. As the smoke started to dissipate, their focus and perception potentials started to climb back to normal values, and the second underground horror was next.

2 × Borers: 1237XP/6 contributors = 206XP. Level up.

 

“Aaaahh, yessss.”

 

 

A quick look saw half of the team looking weirdly at him. Then Jonas realized that only three of them had managed to get the level up. Laura, Guss and Jonathan were still level 14 on the team descriptor.

“Oops. Did not level?” he said sheepishly.

“I’m 3 XP points below the maximum,” Laura said.

“That damned cat early on,” Guss confirmed.

Jonathan made a frown.

“And I’m further behind with that lake elder dog.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll get the missing experience quickly.”

Jonas then looked at the decomposing borer corpses.

“Well, maybe not in this lair. It’s a pretty high level, much more than we are. There’s no sense in getting deeper if we get elites like that. But on the way to the lake, sure. A few critters and that’s done.”

Thankfully, they left nothing behind. Jonas shuddered at the thought of what those monsters could provide.

 

They turned and trudged back toward the outside of the tunnel.

“That’s the first weird things we’ve met,” Jonathan noted.

“They say there are monsters in the depth of the Labyrinth,” Ira confirmed.

Laura almost added a comment before falling back to contemplating the worsening condition of her robes. The borer slime had dried out but left another large stain on her mundane clothing.

Meanwhile, Jonas pondered the notification of a skill rank. Apparently, the Milestone gave him a skill rank, similar to what the robe gave him, but he didn’t have it yet. A quick check on his mental descriptor confirmed that each skill could be selected to increase to rank 1. So which one to use? Pushing enemies further with Air Burst? Or probably more damage from the flame spell? A skill rank in what he used most would almost certainly be better. Although an emergency measure...

Enough dithering, he decided.

 

 

It wasn’t that much damage yet, but at the same time, his Intellect potential kept on climbing, he got bonus elemental damage, and all combined…

Then he realized that 24 meant he was possibly… what? Smarter than any non-professional? He did not feel any different. Not like he was some Royal Society natural philosopher. Potential, rather than realized? But with the new milestones and the gear from the creatures and lairs in Ovildian, they all were – or soon would be – above what normal people from outside the Labyrinth could achieve.

It was a strange idea for a leatherworker apprentice, to be above everyone else. Save other Professionals.

“Ira? What did you pick for your skill rank?”

“I’m still hesitating between Dodge and Flat Blade. They both look very good.”

“Go with what you use most.”

“Picked Backstab,” Alton Raby said. “All of them are useful, but I usually take the rear and leave the sides for Laura.”

“Okay. Dodge it is,” Ira concluded.