As they came out of the zone Gate, Careful Tactician Louisa Grey contemplated the desolate stretch of land in front of her team. She did not relish getting into the unknown. Doing so when you were adjusting your build – she was aiming to get both Teaching Spellbringer and Indomitable Spellbringer as a springboard to the next tier – wasn’t the best idea, but the circumstances had forced her hand. Plus, you didn’t say no to Charlotte.

Warsemial was a tier-four zone, nominally within the British Empire sector of the Labyrinth, and next door from a zone Louisa’s team knew well… and more importantly, had a fast travel option for. It was a volcanic area, with black ashen soil, fumaroles who could put a serious debilitating status on you, and her reference map indicated the presence of elemental creatures with nasty earth and poison attacks.

It was also a zone where nobody in her team had set foot into until now. As such, all of its Gates would still be closed to them except the one they just used. But they were all full tier 4 to 5, which helped to cross this shortcut. A lower-tier team might have needed a different path, almost certainly one along the Great Line, this long string of tier-three zones stretching across the known Labyrinth. Score another point for Charlotte’s insistence on a tier 4 team.

“So, Lady Grey, where do we go?” the team’s Solid Guardian, Roland Howard, asked.

She brought out her map.

“We need only three lairs because we’re going down. Got a few suggestions from the Artefact Hunting Company. They’ve explored this a few years ago and said the lairs aren’t too difficult, but they don’t yield lots of interesting stuff. Not a single ancient to be seen, small lairs… bad for harvesting, perfect for speeding.”

Precise Ancillary George Beresford, the team’s dedicated healer, threw an interrogating look at her.

“So we’re going down?”

“Yes. There are multiple passages that would probably be shorter in distance, but harder at our range since you need at least two tier-five zones. More lairs to find and try to complete. We don’t have that kind of time to waste testing that way. By going down, we just have to cross three tier-three zones along the Great Line, and then we’re in the USA sector. One hop back through another tier-four shortcut, then it’s straight downward toward their Great Gilded Gate.”

Roland smiled, adding, “if you can believe the intelligence.”

“It’s accurate for at least zone lists and connections,” Louisa countered.

“We could have just moved across the Great Line, then?” Cautious Monolith Charles Jenkinson asked.

Louisa looked non-plussed. She thought it would be obvious.

“We could. And we’d have to start from Zilbarn and unlock three zones before we’d catch up because nobody here has anything closer. This way is faster since we had a travel option nearby. It’s just a matter of four or five weeks at most now.”

She pointed to the southeast.

“The Markandon Gate will be that way, once we’ve finished the lairs. Markandon itself is a median zone, it’s on the Great Line, with Vuneras toward the Empire, and Mirolon toward the Colonies. It has only this connection to Warsemial and the Othary-Zolferras-Ovildian dead branch under it and nothing else. Nobody goes there since they dug out the Recall Stones for re-use 10 years ago.”

“We’ll rush through all those?”

“Yes and no. Since we’ll have the lairs, we’ll jump into Othary to get a tier-two fast travel point there, in case we need to double back due to unexpected problems. There’s another path from Mirolon through a series of tier-four zones if necessary and Othary-Markandon would be the closest Gate since I’m not about to lose our tier-three or tier-four options. Once in the USA sector, we’ll grab a new tier-two gate, but that’s it for the time being.”

She hoisted her red staff and pointed.

“Onward, my fearless companions! We’ve got the USA to invade!”

Howard raised his sword in mock salute, then the four of them started toward the estimated direction of their first lair.