The circular stone low walls were almost inviting. Jonas peered down the stairs going into what had been their first lair back when they were so low level. They’d gotten more levels, nearly 21 now. And of course all the gear they got at the hyena lake.

And their vitals reflected this. They were at least one and a half greater than their old values.

We got lucky the first time, Jonas thought, as they readied themselves for the delve.

 

 

The zone border circumnavigation had yielded no other Gate beside the two they had found initially. Which left them with no options but to pursue another lair and gain access to tier-two. Even dour Jonathan had accepted the fact that there would be no easy, quick solution to getting home.

Jonas carefully didn’t mention that assuming that Gates were at the edge of the zone was merely a hypothesis based on what they’d seen in both zones so far, and not guaranteed. But without hints, how would they go about finding a Gate located at a random point of the zone? Save for crisscrossing the entire zone, one mile at a time, which might take months.

“Since we need to complete the lair this time, and we have no idea what’s below the second floor, we’ll sweep the first two levels for more gear before going further. I assume it’s like the lake, the badgers will be back and there will be treasure again. Everyone’s ready?”

The whole team rose their fists – or, in Ira’s case, his sword – in approval. All of them seemed eager, cheered by the prospect of potentially making progress toward getting to London.

They started down the stairs, lighted by the self-renewing torches. Jonas got them ready as they were descending into the depths of the massive cellar.

“We’ll probably gain a level before the end, which will be even better. I just hope whatever badger lies at the end isn’t going to be a bother.”

“We’re good,” Ira said reassuringly.

 

They reached the first main landing, with the vaulted gate to the side, leading toward their first encounters. The first room was unchanged from Jonas’s memories, although the badgers were slightly more numerous than the last time, an additional juvenile sprawled in a corner, possibly asleep.

 

 

 

They did not take time to sort a strategy, seeing as they were now individually capable of tackling each badger. The only difficult one would be the veteran, but that was Ira’s job. So, he simply started hitting the veteran to separate him from the youngsters while the team concentrated on speedily dispatching the two young ones.

The whole affair had a dispassionate allure, now that they were used to ignore the bites, scratches and other wounds they got during fights. Knowing that those vanished so quickly afterwards made a huge difference in learning to dissociate oneself from the fighting.

 

3 × Brown Badger: 971XP/6 contributors = 162XP

 

“Easy peasy,” Alton said.

“We’ve got like 18 more levels,” Laura noted.

“Next,” Ira said, pointing his sword toward the next corridor.

 

 

“Intimidation coming,” Jonathan announced.

The badger’s eye started glowing ominously with an inner fire, as before. Duly warned, Ira managed to avoid the effects.

Intimidation failed.

“Take that, badger. You don’t intimidate me that easy,” Ira joked.

 

 

Badger claws for 25 (29-4) damage (32+4 Defence rating)

“Is that all you got, badger? My badger-vengeance sword laughs at you,” Ira continued.

Laura snorted from the joking as she was alternating hammer hits, left-right, adding her skills to the mix. She doubted the badger understood or even was bothered by it. The massive furred menace simply raged against the chainmail-clad Defender without pause, but that didn’t mean much now. Even Guss watched the lopsided fight, not bothering with heals yet. Jonas could easily see the progress made over barely two weeks.

 

Brown Dweller Male Badger: 873XP/6 contributors = 145XP

 

“I remember getting more XP out of it?” Alton asked.

“We’re much higher in levels. It’s not as challenging anymore. It’s been the same for all the critters outdoor as well,” Jonas reminded him.

Laura looked around and found the same wooden box amidst the straw and debris nest.

 

 

“Hey, Laura. The badger still likes you,” Guss commented.

The Breaker turned over the bi-coloured belt, judging its quality by herself rather than simply let the descriptor tell.

“I wonder if I can get an entire set?” she mused.

Jonas almost replied with a joke, then decided to avoid pointing out that she still clung to her old – getting more and more threadbare by the day – robe. If he counted right… she should be 26 in Strength. With two hammers with bloodied badger fur still sticking. Better safe than sorry.

“We won’t be around for that long,” he said instead.

“Yes. After that lair, we’ll move to that next Othary zone,” Jonathan added.

 

 

The third flight of stairs landing was unchanged as well, with its two vaulted arches leading into the depths. Jonas tried to remember what they had done the first time.

“Anyone knows where the badger elite was? Left or right?”

He surveyed the team, but nobody seemed sure.

“I think we took… left?” Ira said after much hesitation.

“Well, maybe there are two elites in both directions?” Alton said.

“Okay. Let’s follow Ira, and we’ll check the other side afterwards.”

 

They found a pair of veteran badgers, which prompted Jonas’ memories.

 

 

Once Ira had caught their attention from both, the team promptly dispatched the badgers. The only hitch was that they’d got two bleeding attacks on Ira before going down. The team waited out the bleeding to end, collected some badger meat for variety, and moved toward what would probably be the elite.

 

 

“Only one badger this time.”

“It’s dog meat,” Guss joked.

“Well, it’s at least one level higher than the dogs at the lake,” Jonathan said.

Jonas noted the banter before focusing on the badger fight. Apparently, the perspective of moving finally did well for Jonathan, even after his untimely death. He just hoped it didn’t backfire later on. The best outcome would be that they would get the lair complete without too many problems. If there were more than three levels, the fourth one might start to become dangerous, as each floor seemed to feature higher levels.

 

Brown Dwelling Badger: 922XP/6 contributors = 154XP. Level up.

 

A quick check showed that everyone save Jonathan got their level. Nobody commented on the level either. Jonas felt confident that Jonathan only lacked 200XP or so for his own level 21, and the other branch of the lair would almost certainly give something. But first…

 

 

“Hmmm?”

Jonas thought about it for a few seconds before drawing a conclusion.

“Guss and I are mostly about cloth for aether purposes, but this one is made of leather… Jonathan, your abilities are also aether based, right?”

“Not all, but two of those, yes,” he answered.

“So leather plus aether means you. Alton and Laura are all about endurance.”

Jonathan contemplated the new gloves and his own fingerless ones. Then he shrugged.

“Okay.”

Once he replaced them, he shoved the old gloves in his leather bag before shrugging again.

“I liked the old look, though.”

 

 

The second section of the level on the other path looked almost like the first. They dispatched a pair of veterans then fought the same pair of one elite plus a normal badger they’d encountered on the first trip, prompting Jonas to wonder if they simply had taken the other side first.

The fight didn’t take much out of them, and they quickly got healed back to maximum, waiting only to make sure that Ira – who had succumbed again to intimidation – had recovered his mind vital. Jonas was pretty sure there would be a way to recover if it fell to zero, just like health, but better safe than sorry.

The treasure turned out to follow the previous one’s theme, just in a cloth version.

 

 

Despite Guss’s insistence that he didn’t really need those, Jonas insisted. Better he stopped due to empty aether than the team’s Mender.

Jonas quickly checked to confirm that Jonathan’s level had grown up to 21 as well, and they filed out of the badger’s room toward the landing. There, they contemplated the downward stairs.

“On to the unknown,” Ira said.

He then started down toward the next – and hopefully last – level of the lair.

 

Jonas immediately guessed that this landing was likely to be the last. Unlike the others, it didn’t have other stairs starting down. Instead, the four openings, one on each wall of the small room, were the stairs they came from and three separate corridors, one going in each direction.

“So? Any ideas?” Ira asked.

All the team members peeked out at the various pathways, but there appeared to be no special hints on their destination.

“I guess there are three possible elites. Or elders?” Jonas said tentatively.

“Then pick a direction,” Laura replied.

“Okay. Let’s try the rightmost first this time.”

 

The corridor in the right direction from the landing started normally, then curved to the left gradually. After a short while, they entered a relatively well-lighted room with lots of self-sustaining torches. And lots of badgers.

 

 

 

 

4 × Brown Badger: 1053XP/6 contributors = 175XP

 

“I hate that idea of families. It’s like we’re killing kitten litters or something,” Guss said once the four critters were downed.

“Yes, but kittens don’t cause bleeding injuries. Well, normal ones don’t; I assume the Labyrinth ones might. But those cubs are almost as bad on that point as the parents, just with less health. Those would be serious ones for a non-Professional,” Ira countered.

Jonathan added, “even for Professionals. If you’re lower level, these things could potentially kill you…”

“Yea. I don’t think we would be able to kill them fast enough at level two,” Guss confirmed.

 

The next room was different. After yet another leftward curving corridor, rather than having a final room with an elite or something similar, it was a room with 4 corridors, one on each side. This time, it held a single higher-level veteran.

 

 

“Hey, one that’s at our level!” Ira exclaimed.

As the Defender intercepted the charging irate badger, Jonas theorized, “probably because there’s only one.”

“Isn’t the main enemy a slightly lower level at higher type,” Jonathan asked.

“That’s what it looked like so far,” Jonas confirmed.

The badger and Ira traded blows and bites, as the team simply whaled and hacked from the sides. Then, once he was dead, they looked at the various doors.

“Is that a maze within a Labyrinth?” Guss suggested.

Jonas peered into the corridor in front of the one they had arrived, seeing it curve away still. He then looked to the left and right ones, who seemed straight, building a mental picture of the cellar structure.

“No. I think all of those three tunnels are leading here in fact,” he said.

“You sure?”

“Looks like. So it wouldn’t really matter which tunnel you take, you get to this room in the end.”

He turned and pointed to the last corridor.

“And that’s the one leading away. I think the real big badger is that way,” he said.

Ira shrugged and went immediately into the corridor, leading the team.

 

 

The last room looked like a ransacked storage room. Shelves, some of which were broken, pottery shards, broken bottles and some decaying… strips of unrecognizable things handing from wall hooks.

They had been expecting a big elite or an elder. What they had not expected were two elites… and two veterans, sprawled all over the room.

 

 

 

The team contemplated the four badgers sprawled in the middle of the room for a moment before Ira expressed the general incredulity.

“Really? Drunk… badgers?”

Jonathan pointed toward the iron strongbox visible at the back end of the room.

“Does this mean we can simply walk in and pick the loot?”

Jonas was still trying to stop his laughter from the silliness of the snoring badgers and tried to answer as seriously as possible.

“I doubt it. Besides… we still need to complete the lair. And the completion notification comes when you kill those, not when you open the box.”

Alton had another idea.

“If we can pick the item first, that’ll help for the fight, no?”

“Yes. Or they’re going to attack as soon as we disturb them.”

 

Jonas gathered the team around him.

“Strategy time. Ira’s going to get the elites busy, but he’s likely to suffer a lot from the attacks. Jonathan, you stay with him. We still don’t know exactly how your main skill work, but it can’t hurt to keep you focused on those for their attacks rather than the smaller ones.”

Jonathan and Ira both acquiesced.

“I’ll pick one and start hacking at it while keeping watch on the other. Got it.”

“Us four, we deal with the two veterans. Alton, Laura… Pick one each? I’ll try to kill the one on Laura fast since she has less health than you. Guss, you help them if necessary, but get ready to heal Ira as soon as he starts dropping too much. Don’t try to heal us unless it’s really bad.”

“I’ll start immediately with some spells that help for the duration,” he said.

 

 

“It’s not much at level 21, but it’s still healing I don’t need to focus for and it’s still cheap enough in aether,” he explained.

“Okay, let’s place ourselves, and hopefully, the badgers won’t react until too late.”

 

The badgers didn’t react until Ira had reached a yard away from one of the elites. This one raised his head, eyes suddenly flashing red, but Jonathan who was watching them gave a warning for the intimidation attempt.

The badgers all rolled on their feet and growled, visible breath coming out of their mouths.

Badger Wet Stink: -1 mind per 3 seconds.

“I’m better than a badger, I learned early that… ouch!”

Dweller Drunk Badger inflicts light bleeding. -1 health/2s.

“They don’t like you taunting them,” Laura said with a smile as she hammered the head of her badger.

Meanwhile, Jonas was trying to guess how much of his aether would be needed. He had a difficult choice since he had two skills with a different attack profile.

 

 

 

The dart would start lower, but the damage would be ramping up over time for the same low cost. If the fight went on for too long, his aether would last longer, and he’d still be doing damage on the last enemy instead of being left bereft of resource, waiting with a stick in his hand until regeneration kicked in.

Then Jonas realized it wasn’t really time to experiment. The 5% didn’t add even a single point of damage immediately, and even though it might actually accumulate after a few hits, it would take time. Time during which the badger assaulting Laura kept on biting and clawing. A time that might require Guss to divert his efforts to keep her up. With only two people focused on that badger, dropping his own damage by half was going to slow the fight too much.

Swearing internally, he went back to his trusty Flame Bolt hoping that it would be enough. The health dropped faster, obviously, but there were three badgers to tackle afterwards.

“Badger down, switch to Alton’s,” he said when the first target slumped on the cellar’s floor.

He noted distantly that the main fight was going on reasonably well, although Guss had already begun compensating the health loss of Ira, whose vitals had started to go below 50%.

 

Laura positioned herself behind the badger, using her hammers to the side. Alton noted the positioning and got a hint of a smile at seeing her use his own usual place.

That badger had already half of his health gone, so they wasted little time getting him down. That particular one went down along with a noxious exhalation as a parting “gift”.

Badger’s Bitter Stink: -1 mind or health per 3 seconds.

The only ones hit by that noxious odour were Jonas, Alton and Laura. Guss had already moved closer to Ira’s side. His health skill range was large enough that he did not need to be next to the Defender, but he still needed to stay close enough, to allow Ira to move unannounced in case of need.

 

The two elites were still relatively high in health, although they’d both suffered their share of hits from Ira’s longsword. Jonathan had kept on using his small sword on what looked like the frailest of the pair – despite both having the same totals – so the three joined him on that same badger.

 

 

Jonas did a mental calculation, judging from his aether total. He had spent already two-third of it, and he’d be… well, useless fairly soon. He needed a lot more Intellect potential to have a real choice between spells. As it stood, his hope was that he’d Flame Bolt down at least the third badger and that Guss would keep Ira alive. If Ira died… no one in the team would be able to raise him from the dead.

 

“Last badger,” Ira announced, needlessly.

“And… intimidate. No, bleed! Both!” Jonathan yelled.

The bleed was avoided but the intimidate went through. Ira’s mind had dropped far by now, and the deterioration was progressing.

Intimidation success: -30 mind and -1 to all potentials.

 

They had less than 40 seconds left until he went to zero, assuming no further red-eye flashes. And Jonas was completely out of mana. His Depleted Focus was useless, so he dropped it and tried to hit it with his fist, but despite the lack of a no-damage weapon, nothing happened. The fist connected, but no notice from the Labyrinth came to indicate damage done. Alton turned his head to look at him, surprised, then focused again on the badger.

 

4 × Drunk Badger: 2641XP/6 contributors = 440XP

You have completed Ovildian Badger Cellar Lair.

 

“Whew. That was intense,” Ira said, slumping on the ground.

“We’re not out of it yet. The stink is still there…” Jonas countered.

“Move out?” Laura suggested.

Miraculously, the suggestion worked. As soon as they had moved or crawled into the corridor, the stink status notices started to disappear one by one, letting the team breathe normally again.

 

 

“Jonathan? You’re ok?”

“Yes. I know, I know… I look like I’m in trouble, but I feel nothing from it. So far.”

“Look at the bright side. We did it. Two lairs, completed. We’re good to go,” Alton cheered.

“It’s still dangerous. Even with the added levels,” Laura noted.

Jonas shook his head.

“It’s always going to be the case for the last creature of the lair, I think. It’s far more dangerous than the rest.”

Ira kept watching his health value, which was only starting to pick up. He added, “I think a single elder would have been easier. Even with the higher level, probably.”

“Depends on the attacks. I don’t want to see an elder badger patriarch or matriarch drunk,” Jonathan joked.

Jonas peeked in the room. With his highest mind, if the deleterious status effects were still present… no. No status notification appeared.

“Air’s clear. Time to see what we got.”

 

The team contemplated the opened iron lockbox. To everyone’s surprise, rather than the single exceptional item they had at the dog lake, this one had two items. One with a quality qualifier and a more common one.

 

 

 

“Well, the potentials on them make it obvious who gets what,” Laura said.

Jonas turned and handed the slightly dull sword with a flourish to Jonathan, making sure he didn’t catch anything with one of the notches on the sword. Then he checked his location status.

“Hot damn. Two hours to Recall. Guess we have to climb back.”

“And we can start toward the Gate immediately, instead of going back to the Plaza,” Jonathan said.

“Sounds good.”

“Great.”

“Let’s go.”