The hilltops provided them with a better view of the area. To one side, they could see the valley through which the river they had initially followed flowed toward the marsh they knew, but couldn’t see in the distance. There was another smaller valley from where it originated. A small waterfall marked the source.

The team had followed what looked like game trails, going up the hillside. A few cats wandered into the path as they climbed, mostly “normal” Ocelots rather than minions from the valley. They got lucky as they reached the top of the last trail. Some trees on the ridges were looking sturdier than the smaller ones along the climb, and Jonathan managed to spot the colours announcing some new type of fruit on a particularly wide specimen.

Sour Apple

× 21

Basic food

Requires: none

Provides: cooking component

They stuffed the bounty of apples in their bags. Given the paucity of cat meat, they were probably going to rely on those for sustenance, at least in the short term.

Once they reached the top, they started following the ridge toward the rear valley. The lack of a trail on the top wasn’t much of a problem, as the relatively bare ground did little to hamper their walk. From there, you could see more ridges surrounding the central valley with the Plaza, marking rough elongated waves of light-green grasses and rocky tops.

Despite the spartan beauty of the panorama, what struck Jonas again was the general lack of life. Besides the handful of “Ocelot” cats roaming, no other lifeform soared in the clear blue skies or crawled between the rocks. The whole felt like some strange mixture of wilderness and carefully curated gardens, but even the Queen’s new gardens would be hard-pressed to have all of the vermin removed. And the unchanging weather felt unnatural for an early spring. The temperatures were almost right for mid-spring, but the complete lack of clouds did not.

But at least the humidity was better up there than in the marshes. Jonas’s home borough was recently clawed from the marsh, but its origins were still being felt most of the time when he wandered into the produce markets that fed the metropolitan London beyond the Thames.

That felt like a lifetime ago already, Jonas thought.

An unexpected minor crisis arose as they followed the ridge and dealt with a cat coming up from a further smaller valley.

“That cat. He didn’t drop anything,” Laura noted, frowning.

“We all got the gear we can use, I think,” Jonas replied.

“Is that all?” she wondered.

“Looks like one piece of armour or garment for each, plus a weapon and a bag. A basic kit, like most of the descriptors said,” Alton surmised.

Laura’s jaws clenched and her face reddened.

“No, I will not,” she simply said.

“The cats we killed all dropped something for us each time. And that includes a pair of trousers,” Jonas started.

“Women don’t wear…” Laura shot back.

“Apparently, the Labyrinth disagrees. We got six different versions of them. One for each,” Jonas replied.

She countered, “There were robes as well!”

“And they don’t look like women’s typical ones either. Besides, those count as upper-body garments. Guss and I also got trousers to go under them.”

Her tone got final as she shook her head: “I’m not wearing trousers in public. With or without a skirt over them. That’s not going to happen.”

Jonas sighed let the matter slide, looking unobtrusively at the dirty and slightly stained garment.

“Fine. It’s not as if any of the trousers provide boosts to anything except maybe defence rating.”

Jonathan was the first one to spot the greyish stone piles on a further hill ridge. They departed their ridge, finding a barely visible trail going downhill. The path was much shallower as if nothing came that way often. It crossed the smaller valley between the ridges before going up again. There were a couple more cats prowling in the smaller valley, but Jonas noticed a small flying form coming out from above and landing further away next to the game trail. He was almost startled when the creature crossed the sky, as he’d grown used to see no birds anywhere.

Carrion Crow Nestling

Level 11

Health: 167

Mind: 72

Endurance: 107

Aether: 0

Despite the Nestling designation in its descriptor, the bird was as large as a crane. It eyed the team evilly as they got near its perch on a large bush, before cawing the first warning and jumping on them immediately.

The team engaged the flyer, who chose to keep attacking them, pecking and clawing at Ira who stood front. The flimsy chainmail cap offered some protection to the serrated talons, but the bird focused on trying to get at the flesh just next to the edge of his face rather than hit a more vulnerable part. Jonas mentally winced at every hit, half-expecting the crow to hit the eyes or something similar, but the Defender was spared that fate.

The rest of the team needed time to adjust to the half-flying menace. Hitting the crow with their weapons was slightly harder at first, but they adjusted quickly, slicing, mashing and poking the feathered target. Guss, however, felt slightly ridiculous trying to wave his long boar-headed staff to hit the relatively small frame of the bird, and the Labyrinth refused to provide any hit and damage notification, so he finally opted out of melee, keeping watch on Ira’s health. The bird was on par with the highest levels they’d met, but it also had the reasonable vitals of a normal creature rather than a veteran or elite and thus didn’t really threaten a fully-geared team.

While the corpse had nothing left from his fast dissolution, the bush that the crow had been perching on held a surprise. A nest with eggs, clearly designated as food. The 3 pale olive eggs joined the apples in bags. Wrapped in one of Guss’s old wool socks, hopefully, they wouldn’t break until they cooked them later at camp.

Crow Eggs

× 3

Basic food

Requires: none

Provides: cooking component

Once they finished climbing back to the ridgetop, they reached the structure they’d spotted initially. The greyish flat stones were piled into a series of small, round low walls. Three separated circles of three-four feet high irregular stonewall with a small entrance each, marking what seemed to be ruins of some kind. The first buildings Jonas had seen beside the immaculate Plaza and the Gate itself.

“Is the zone inhabited?”

“Cousin Luther says there’s nobody anywhere. Except for Professionals, that is.”

“It sure looks like somebody lived there,” Ira said, peering at the triple housing.

“Doesn’t seem they’re still around in any case,” Alton answered him.

The centre of each circle was bare packed ground, except for one which had what looked like stairs going down into a darkened entrance. They all crowded around the steps.

“Does this looks like a lair?”

“Maybe. We need to check what’s down there, I think.”

Ira took the lead and started down carefully. Jonas and the rest followed a few steps behind.

The walls were raw stone, cut and smoothed by an unknown builder’s tools, while the steps were large rectangular stone blocks in one piece each. There was a small landing at the bottom of the stairs, then the second flight of stairs went at a right angle from the first. A sconce marked the spot with a single torch burning brightly on it.

“Who left that torch?”

“Don’t know. That looks weird… unless someone came around recently, it should have burned out long ago.”

Jonas watched curiously as Ira raised his mail-clad hand and pinched the torch. Darkness fell, with only a little late-afternoon light coming down from the stair’s entrance above.

“Why?” he asked.

“You can light it again with your fire stuff… I want to check something.”

A few seconds later, a small flame could be seen. Then the torch caught full fire again. Ira smiled.

“Thought so. The only reason this torch is still lit is that it stays lit, no matter what.”

“But how is that possible?”

“It’s the Labyrinth,” Guss said.

Ira laughed before he confessed.

“I cheated. The Morvells purchased a few torches last year, as a novelty status symbol, to put in lanterns for the house. They light themselves as soon as the sun falls and it goes dark, or if you close the windows. Although one burned out a month ago, for some reason.”

He looked at the bright torch on the wall, adding “I wonder how long that one has been there.”

The flight of stairs down ended on another landing with a pair of torches marking it. There was a vaulted gate leading to one side this time, while another stair kept going down in the same direction.

“Do we check this, or keep going down?” Jonas asked.

“I’d say check everything. Maybe there’s a clue to what this is about if that’s a lair,” Jonathan. said

The corridor to the side of the stairs was short and ended into a room with arched ceilings. But the room wasn’t empty.

Brown Cellar Badger × 2

Level 12 veteran

Health: 334

Mind: 143

Endurance: 218

Aether: 0

“Woops,” Ira said as he noticed the two dark and large furry shapes.

The first badger came to Ira who was at the front of the team, but the second one attempted to get to Alton who was following him just behind. The Defender didn’t let the badger bypass him, countering with a slash and a quick cut from his sword, and the squat beast turned almost immediately its attention to the annoying chainmail figure, Alton being already forgotten.

The team immediately focused on that badger as they exited the corridor and spread in the cellar room. Meanwhile, the first one was trying to get a purchase on Ira with his teeth.

“Watch out,” Jonathan called.

Despite the warning, the teeth of the badger still sank into Ira’s leg through the chainmail.

Brown Cellar Badger inflicts light bleeding, -1 health/2sec.

Ira shook to dislodge the large badger from his grip on his leg while trying to keep the other busy. He could feel the small trickle of blood inside the leggings, noticeable, if not painful. A minor warmth that the Defender refused to let distract him from his focus.

Both badgers turned to use their front claws to maul at Ira, hitting randomly on every part they could reach. The chainmail still offered scant protection, and the notices kept popping to inform him of the exact amount of remaining health extracted with each tear.

Brown Cellar Badger claws for 11 (12-1) physical damage (14 defence rating)

With the group all wailing on the second badger, he was quickly dispatched before Ira could suffer too much of their combined assault. Guss started healing in earnest as soon as Ira turned back to the first badger. The bleeding inside his leg dried out just before the badger fell.

“Nasty surprise, the double veteran waiting for us,” Ira finally breathed, once Guss had finished patching him.

“The Labyrinth seems harsher down here,” Jonas frowned.

“Yea. I wondered how soldiers kept fighting, no matter what, now I know,” Ira replied. “You just forget yourself in the action. It’s when you stop that you realize how much it hurts.”

“You ok?” Jonas asked his friend.

“The hurt ends as soon as my health score gets high enough. Don’t worry about me,” Ira replied.

“Makes you regret not having loot anymore,” Laura said.

“We probably have to earn it… somehow now,” Jonas said.

Guss squatted over the badger corpses. One of the badgers left a piece of meat as it was decomposing, which he promptly shuffled into his side bag.

“Badger is nice I heard. I remember the cook back home saying it’s a great delicacy. You don’t get that in London, but people in the country like it,” Ira noted.

“Never seen a badger in my life,” Alton noted.

“Me neither. And I don’t think the Morvells ever had any. Maybe before I was hired,” he replied.

He gestured toward the rear of the room, where another vaulted door flanked by a pair of torches announced another corridor.

“Let’s go.”

The next room had a larger badger that had made a kind of nest with rags, straw and various bits and pieces of garbage and litter.

Brown Dweller Badger Male

Level 13 elite

Health: 587

Mind: 251

Endurance: 650

Aether: 126

The badger growled loudly and immediately ran up to Ira as soon as the Defender entered his lair. His eyes reflected some unseen red briefly, and Ira grunted.

Intimidation: -30 mind and -1 to all stats.

“Ouch. That one has a special kind of attack!” he yelled.

Jonathan said meekly, “didn’t see that one coming though.”

“Doesn’t matter now. It’s the biggest critter we’ve ever seen. Get that down and fast,” Jonas pointed out.

Brown Dweller Badger Male claws for 31 (32-1) damage (14 defence rating)

Ira paled as the claws bit into his midsection. It felt like a triple razor running across the chainmail, hitting deep under the belt.

“He hits hard. Going to need lots more healing,” he warned Guss.

Guss tried to whack – unsuccessfully – the badger one last time with his staff before starting to trigger his heals as fast as he could. The rest of the team spread out around the bulk of the beast, whaling fast on the elite, tearing out tufts of fur and drawing blood. Jonas moved around, trying to avoid hitting the team with his Flame Bolts. The small compact balls of fire were striking their target unerringly, but he wanted to avoid hitting a teammate on the way. Meanwhile, the badger kept ignoring the rest, entirely focused on Ira. Bites and claws were finding purchase, and the Defender’s health would have dropped almost as fast as its enemy’s, save for Guss constant efforts to prevent disaster.

It was a race, trying to kill it before Guss went out of aether.

Brown Dweller Badger Male: 948XP/6 contributors = 158XP. Level up.

“Got a new level,” Laura announced.

Jonas checked the team’s status. Apparently, everyone got a new level from the badger’s fight outcome. Vitals’ maximum had risen, and as he watched, he could see the base value ticking slowly up on its own, without Guss having to do anything.

Team

Professions

Health

Mind

Jonas Sims

Aetherist (3)

184/186

186/189

Jonathan Gilbert

Watcher (3)

184/186

172/174

Ira Heard

Defender (3)

61/218

156/189

Guss Fullmore

Mender (3)

194/196

196/196

Laura Harvey

Breaker (3)

186/189

184/186

Alton Raby

Pointer (3)

196/199

194/196

“The more, the better,” Ira said after looking at its new vitals. “But that badger could have gotten me killed if we weren’t fast,” he commented.

“Remember that sow, back in the marsh. She was an elite, like that one. She bit hard as well,” Alton said.

“She was at a lower level too. I hope there are not too many elites like that,” Ira said, checking his limbs for lingering traces of the fight.

The chainmail bore no traces of the fight, but the arms beneath felt like a grater had run repeatedly over them. Guss made a face.

“Me too. The healing drains my aether fast, even if the gear we got helps to have a good supply.”

“That’s completely doable,” Ira said. “You were still healing me good.”

“Probably, but I have my limits,” the Mender replied.

While the two were discussing, Laura had been looking at the dimly lit room and she suddenly pointed toward the straw and debris nest.

“Looks like some box there.”

Jonas squatted in front of the worn-looking box and gingerly opened it. The wooden container revealed… a pair of gloves.

Badger-Hide Grips

Hands

Quality equipment

Requires: Level 9

Provides: +2 defence rating, +1 STR, +19 endurance

“Loot again?” Laura asked, surprised.

“Not from the critter, though. Looks like you need to defeat those elites to get at the loot now,” Jonas deduced.

Laura came around and Jonas handed the pair to her.

“Obviously that’s your kind of gloves.”

She tried them. She started scratching at her hands, looking unhappy. Then, she scratched more, showing obvious discomfort, before her eyes lost focus slightly as she peered at her personal descriptor.

“Problem?” Jonas asked.

“They’re mighty uncomfortable. Itchy, like they’re made of dried straw or something instead of good leather. Also, my Strength hasn’t budged yet.”

Jonas realized the problem. “It said it requires level 9. But we’re level 3.”

“Oh?”

She wasted no time peeling them out, looking dubiously at the two-colour leather pair.

“I guess you can keep them on for now. The old gloves didn’t have anything special on them?”

“No, they didn’t,” she said unhappily as she put those back on. “But at least they fit.”

Flimsy Leather Gripping Gloves

Hands

Starter equipment

Requires: none

Provides: none

“No more corridor,” Ira announced, looking carefully around.

“Then I guess we double back, and check the stairs down.”

They waited until Guss had finished bringing Ira’s health to full, then they all filed out of the blood-splattered room.