The presence of the foreigner in her team grated a bit on Augusta Cowen’s nerves, but she took it in stride. She’d spent more weeks waiting as politicians discussed the unprecedented request than she’d spent crossing the Atlantic. But finally, the Steadfast Pathmaker Blackeye, John Henry Blackeye from his team descriptor, had been detached by the Federal Government to “oversee” their presence in Marsden, the tier-one starter zone for the USA. Which required him to join their team, to avoid causing problems while completing lairs. She had room anyway, she ran with a five-person team so a sixth didn’t interfere.

The tier one lairs themselves were jokes, of course. Even the elder at the end of the second one died in two sword strikes without exerting a single skill, while trying futilely to find purchase on her armour. The rest of the team was quietly chatting in the background, following her and the Lenape tribesman.

Wily Red Cave Fox

Level 19 elder

Health: 1158

Mind: 488

Endurance: 829

Aether: 0

You shock Wily Red Cave Fox for 713 lightning damage.

Wily Red Cave Fox: 124XP/6 contributors = 11XP.

You have completed Marsden Vulpine Lair.

“And that’s two. Let’s get out and finish this,” she said.

“You know, I nearly grew up doing that. I spent weeks in here and got to level 38 until I got that fox,” Blackeye said.

Cowen looked at him oddly.

“There were almost no teams at the time. You’re an old-timer, right?”

“Yes, but we did organize teams to advance quickly. You didn’t?”

“Not enough Lenape around. And the colonists didn’t want to mix at the time, even if they eventually warmed to the idea later. I finally got an ad-hoc team running after over half a year.”

She frowned. He saw her reaction and offered an explanation of sorts.

“Trying to make a Huron and a Lenape work together is like… having a Lutheran and a Catholic organising mass.”

She rolled her eyes at the comparison.

They walked out of the cave to where the Federal Professional Office had stashed a wagon for ease of travel. At the speed the thing was running, she would probably have preferred to run. But she had to be polite. At least they were headed out toward a Gate.

Blackeye waved at the Gate in front of him.

“Here you are. The Marsden/Machenlenso Gate. What we call the pride of the Labyrinth.”

“Why?”

The Professional merely smiled, declining to elaborate.

“Do you want to head back here soon after getting to your sector?”

“No,” she said. “Probably not. At least not for a day or two, if that’s what you’re looking for.”

“Then I’ll report on you being on your way, and may our paths cross in a greater tier.”

Gate to tier 2

Set your Entrance for tier 2 to Machenlenso?

Yes

No

Cowen acknowledged the request, then immediately engaged her Fast Travel before turning around and entering the Gate again.

The next Gate will be to Grailburg. One Travel charge will be used.

Coming out of the Gate, a familiar… and reassuring spectacle greeted the Imposing Knight. The borough of Gatepost was spread all around the Gate with just a wide clearing to allow large movements in and out of the London gate. It looked as normal as a town of the Labyrinth could be. She turned and contemplated the Gate, finding what she’d half-expected after seeing its opposite in London.

Transit: Grailburg - Earth 113

Integrity: 100%

Locked

Stability: 100%

This gate had its normal lighted membrane aspect. In fact, if not for the descriptor floating in her vision above it, it would have looked perfectly normal for a Labyrinth Gate.

“Hey! It’s… Cowen! It’s Cowen and her team! They’re back from London!”

Several Professionals were coming at a steady run toward the Gate, having noticed the Cowen team’s entrance. She recognized a pair of the British Scouts. Some started to slow, noticing that the descriptor was still up and indicating a lock.

“How did you?” one breathless Professional she did not recognise asked, a tier 4… Precise Destroyer, Nathan Villars said her skill.

“Went through the Colonies. That takes time, half of which was to convince them to help. But I’m happy to see that nothing befell Gatepost. Now, I hope she’s there.”

She immediately started toward the town hall. Cowen hadn’t spent much time in Gatepost during the last decade, but that did not mean she forgot where things would be.

“So, it was the French after all,” said Calculating Tactician Wales.

“Yes, your Royal Highness. I wasn’t there for all of the interrogations, but that Frenchman I killed during the assault, Deschanel, was clearly in charge of making sure our Gate was… permanently… disabled.”

“Permanently?”

“That’s what the French agents captured expected.”

“But it wasn’t destroyed? The London Gate still stands intact?”

“Yes, but its descriptor is different from here. It says the Gate is without power, and that its stability is 0. Presumably, that was what they intended to achieve. Destabilize the Gate… forever. Its integrity level has been slowly going back to 100 when I left, but stability remains nil. And doesn’t budge.”

Princess Charlotte Augusta kept drilling the Imposing Knight on all aspects of the Gate and the state of the British Empire.

“They haven’t made moves. Some probing naval moves, but nothing major. Not yet. Lord Eldon thinks that they’re waiting until we start having to ration Power Stones from lack of resupply and can no longer change the major ones that break down before they launch a massive invasion attempt. There are lots of military movements going on, but they might be some form of deception thrown our way. Napoleon loves that stuff. The skyships will have to be grounded permanently before long, and while the navy can interdict the channel, all it takes is a landing of their dratted landcruisers and we’re in trouble.”

Cowen then asked, “what do you want me to report? There’s a fast cutter waiting at Manhattan, and I can confirm that nothing untoward happened in the Labyrinth within a week and a half.”

“I’ve sent a team to the USA. They were not too far from their sector when they reported last, and they should be there in a week or two at most. They can take the cutter.”

“Then, do you need my services for something else?”

“I may have a use for those, now that you mention that,” she added mysteriously.

“That’s completely impossible. There were no team movements going on when I flushed out those rats and the French began their assault. Gate Headquarters even called a temporary hold to support the patrols around the Queen’s gardens. The only thing you had around the Gate were soldiers trying to shoot down the gate-crashers and fleeing civilians everywhere in the Gardens.”

Indomitable Spellthrower Myrl Douglas twirled her blond hair with a perplexed frown and added, “and I don’t see six civilians being qualified by chance and entering the Labyrinth to flee the devastation. One, by chance, yes. Six? Unlikely. I had a view of the Gate at the moment they managed to bring it down, and there were no teams nearby…”

The rasping voice of Spectacular Physics Habborlain came out of its robe’s cowl. “It does not matter what is possible or impossible. It matters what is. We have not solved the puzzle of the Gate lock, and this piece is out there. One piece does not solve the puzzle, all pieces do.”

Cowen looked at the last two members of her team, but as usual, both Aubert and Foale implicitly trusted her to make the right evaluation. She’d led that particular team for over a decade, and they’d been through many a complicated situation under her leadership.

“Yes, I’m baffled as well. But once you’ve got an indestructible, unalterable Gate turned off, things like a team lost in the Labyrinth become a lot more acceptable. What’s one more anomaly? You and your team are more than capable of going there and figuring out what this is about,” the Princess said.

Cowen contemplated the Labyrinth map of the Great Line section, then sighed.

“We’ve got zero shortcuts to that section of the Labyrinth. That means… getting to Zilbarn, and then going the long way.”

“So what? It’s tier-three. The head archivist has all the zone maps and the lairs marked, so for you, it’s mostly a matter of walking,” Charlotte countered.

“Yes, and some of those are on the large size if I remember my Great Line right. Not as large as some tier-fives or higher, but still huge. We’re talking two weeks. At least.”

“Yes. And by then, Louisa will be or almost be in England, and we will probably still be waiting for the French to make their move. You go there, you have one of yours come to report if necessary, and… well, you have all the authority to deal with the situation as it warrants.”

Charlotte turned her gaze to Cowen. Even though Cowen had more than twice the Presence of the heir, she could not disagree.

“I will.”

Habborlain’s staff manifested out of puppet as it turned toward the exit. Cowen sighed one last time, before heading out as well.

“Back to work, guys.”

Steadfast Pathmaker

(tier 7)

Required: 292 DEX, 292 INT, 188 FOR, 188 AGI

Provides:

+40 health/+70 endurance/+23 mind/+18 aether per level

+1 Milestone per 10 levels

Steadfast Pathmaker Milestone: +19 DEX, +13 FOR, +8 STA, +4 STR, 0.5 endurance/AGI

Skillset: Personal / Utility