They were standing next to the Gate and the day was drawing to a close, so Cowen called for camp.

Location

Zone: Zilbarn (tier 3)

Locale: Gate to Quanchal

Recall: Ovildian, The Plaza

Recall: available

Gates: 2/2

Tier 1: Zolferras

Tier 2: Othary

Fast travel: 4 charges, next in 27 days

“First, congratulations. You are now officially in the ‘main’ British sector. Zilbarn is on the Great Line and a bit out of the way, but it is still often used by various tier-three and growing teams, which means we may get to meet them on our way. Which also means we may expect complications.”

Jonas asked immediately: “Why? What kind of complications could we have?”

“Lairs to complete. I’ve dispatched Myrl to Gatepost to check if we can override rotations. Even with the ongoing emergency, there’s probably outfits that keep on operating on standard rules.”

Jonas felt awkward asking again for clarification of the strange terms Cowen was using.

“Rotations?”

“Yes. Lairs typically repopulate after four-six days at this tier. Out in the wild, that would be not much of a problem, but here, there might be two or three teams that rotate through some specific lairs. If we arrive and it’s empty, then we have to wait. And if we smash through the lair, and the intended team arrives and find it empty, there’s going to be grumbling and complaints and petitions, and possibly fines for not respecting the lair.”

“Fines? You get fined if you complete a lair?”

“Depends if there is a licence for the lair. If the lair is unlicensed, anyone can go through it, no problem. If the lair is licensed, then the company that got it can set priorities. Her Highness can ask for pre-emption due to the emergency, but in theory, the company can refuse.”

Jonas remembered the discussion with Douglas about Cowen’s usual tier-five zone.

“Do you really have to license lairs in Biskanta?”

“Naw, we cheat. There are few enough teams at tier-six, so we usually arrange for rotation among ourselves. There are only two teams doing Biskanta regularly including us, so it’s not a problem, since we alternate weeks. At that tier, it takes a week and a half to repopulate. But in theory… yes, I could ask for a license to one or more lairs there, and then get them exclusively for my team. But for now, I can use the money for something else. Or move to a less crowded tier-five. We usually do Biskanta, then go unlock a different set of zones anyway.”

“That still sounds weird. But then, we got used to having nobody else around, I guess,” Jonas admitted.

“Things will be a little different here. There’s always Professionals coming and going through zones. Zilbarn doesn’t have a real outpost… but we’ve left the Recall Stone at the Plaza in this case because it’s central for lairs. So that’s where we’re headed, and you’ll be able to reset your Recall at a decent point. Then Myrl will catch up and hopefully tell us where we can go from here.”

“If there’s a Recall at each Plaza in each zone, why do you move the Stones?” asked Laura.

Cowen pointed to the Gate, before replying, “Because it’s sometimes more convenient to Recall to a Gate rather than the centre of the zone. Well, usually, not just sometimes. That means you can Recall, then use a Fast Travel to another zone immediately.”

“Oh. But what happens if you move the Stone?”

“Anyone recalling at that Stone loses their Recall point. Stones work only if they’re grounded. If we move your Recall stone, your Recall point resets to the Plaza of whatever zone you’re in. And yes, no matter in which zone you’re in the Labyrinth when someone digs out the Stone.”

“So that’s like when you enter the Labyrinth for the first time,” noted Jonas.

“You know, you might be right. We never had anyone enter the Labyrinth except in Grailburg. So we assumed your first Recall might be different. But your entrance… ah, another tidbit for the Royal Society.”

“And if you aren’t in the Labyrinth?” Jonathan asked.

Cowen was stumped, but Myrl Douglas came to the help of her leader.

“Happened to one of my old team. He’d been warned the Royal Company was moving his Stone but didn’t bother. He spotted Grailburg Plaza on his descriptor as he was picking the Fast Travel when entering the Labyrinth.”

“Well, that’s one thing. But right now, we have some travel to do.”

Despite the mention of possible teams, they saw no one on their way. Zilbarn was a kind of Badlands-type zone. Gouged gorges into twisted hills. After almost three days of travel, they finally reached the Plaza and the six spotted their first Recall Stone.

It was man-sized and twisted. Two circular columns of black and red marble, but spiralling as if a giant had decided to braid stone so that the red column ended just above where the black one started from the ground, and vice-versa.

“You can reset your Recall now. And you’ll be safe.”

Jonas put his hand on the sculpture, but rather than being asked for any confirmation, he just received a notification.

Your Recall location is now set to Zilbarn, the Plaza

“That’s it?”

“That’s it. If you use your daily Recall, you’ll be shunted here, at least for now. You’ll be able to change it to a Labyrinth outpost later, which will be even better. Probably once you’re at Gatepost.”

Jonas spotted Ira getting into the Plaza. He followed and realized that his friend had gone to check the Professions that a tier-three offered.

The Potential requirements were significant, and unlike tier two, all on multiple ones.

Tier 3: Zilbarn

Boulder

36 STR, 36 FOR

Careful Barrier

45 CON, 20 FOC

Cautious Shieldwielder

45 STA, 20 WIS

Explorer

36 DEX, 36 INT

Imposing Spotter

45 FOC, 20 PRE

Light Commander

45 PRE, 20 AGI

Massive Aethershaper

45 INT, 20 CON

Page

36 CON, 36 WIS

“Can’t get any of those. Need at least two Milestones,” Ira sighed.

“Don’t be in a hurry. You level fast enough as it is. It’s after tier-three that things go difficult. Well, for most,” Cowen commented.

“There are only eight Professions,” Jonas noted.

“Each tier of Plaza offers narrower and narrower options,” Cowen confirmed. “When I had to commit to my tier-five path, we had only two open zones, each with only six picks on the Plaza. There were more options available by the time I qualified for it, but for a long time, you had little choice in your build. It was Imposing Banneret or nothing for a defender. Nowadays, you can pick pretty much any tier-five defensive except Calculating Sentinel.”

“Uh? Why?” Ira asked.

“Haven’t found a Plaza with it. Yet,” Cowen replied.

“If you haven’t found a Plaza with it, how do you know it even exists?” Jonas asked.

“Profession experts have a solid theory on how the Professions are structured, and the theory says there’s such a potential Profession. We have located 46 tier-five possibilities so far, and we should have 50 in total. What’s really unknown is what type of skills and bonus you might get from it. And, well, how to get to it.”

“So what do we do now?” Jonathan asked as they came out of the Plaza.

“We wait for Myrl. There are a few different options to go from here to Grailburg, and I’d rather wait a day or two rather than run smack into crowds.”

“Well, we aren’t going to wait long then,” Guss noted pointing out a gorge coming out from the Badlands into the Plaza valley. In the distance, a midnight-robed figure could be seen jogging toward the group.

“So?” Cowen asked.

“Most of the teams have relocated toward the connections to the French sector, to keep an eye on things. But there’s three operating here, in case they try going around the Great Line,” the Spellthrower said.

“Any suggestion?”

“I took a full day talking with the various companies involved. Phasian might not be too overcrowded, but I got right-of-way agreements for a full tier-two route, despite the licenses. So, Zilbarn down to Quangar, then to Inetun, to Vukodalar and then finally Grailburg. Three zones to cross, seven lairs total. And the best part is that we can get transportation in Inetun and Vukodalar.”

“You got carts?” Cowen asked.

“Artefact Hunting has agreed to get some of their people to wait for us and drive us. I expect the whole thing to last less than ten days now,” Douglas replied.

Jonas felt a massive weight lift from his shoulders. They were finally coming… home? No, not home. Not yet. London was still barred, or there would have been cheering. But to civilization. They had just started to get used again to having company, more people than just their six.

“So when do we start?” he asked.

“We got an afternoon left. Any lair, Myrl?” Cowen asked.

Douglas conferred with her team leader, checking on the local map.

“Okay, the best way is the Fox Warrens which none of the local teams tends to do because it’s the highest level of the zone, and then we’ll see if the Spire isn’t in use. If it is, then we’ve got a detour through the Three Tombs and then it’s the Gate to Quangar.”

“Tier-two then?” Jonas noted.

“Tier-two completion only,” she confirmed.

From his vantage point, Jonas could see that the mesa was standing on its own, with valleys surrounding it. The Spire name seemed appropriate, as you could see a long climbing pathway circling the mesa at least twice.

However, he quickly noted a handful of figures seated at the bottom of the Spire mesa, next to the pathway beginnings. As they reached the team of Professionals, he examined it. A six-person team, with one obvious shield-bearing defensive, a robed caster that was almost certainly the healer, and an all-team set of leather-clad melees sporting an array of swords, maces and daggers, including two women with dual blades on their sides.

“Hello?... What’s the occasion? What’s a high tier team doing here, and who are those people with you?” the robed man asked.

“Special team. Don’t ask, it’s complicated.”

She contemplated the spire path.

“You just finished?”

“Yup. It was our turn. The Horsemen’s team is next at the end of the week. Not the best run, the top was a pack of elites rather than an elder, and basic gear only.”

“Drat. Do you know if anyone is doing the Three Tombs?”

“We did two days ago. Why?”

She growled in frustration.

Douglas, Cowen and the man, whose name Jonas thought was Adam… something, Wheeler maybe, were conferring about lair use, while the rest of his team looked at the newcomers. Finally, the shield-bearer came around and proffered his wrist to Ira, who took it.

“Level 59? What are you doing here? You… what is Adjustment? There’s no Adjustment profession on your descriptor, but you have a Milestone named for it?”

“It’s… complicated. Mitchell? We’re new Professionals. Well, new from nearly three months now.”

“I thought the Gate had been closed since? You must have been through just before the French attacked.”

“Actually, we went through when the French attacked. The last thing we saw was the Gate being destabilized, and we were dumped in the middle of the Labyrinth. A zone called Ovildian.”

“Never heard of it. But why did you get there?”

By then, the women had gathered around the two talking defenders, looking curiously at the team. They started to introduce themselves, swapping descriptors. Then one did a double-take.

“What? You got… plus six in every one of your Potentials?”

“That’s what we got when we were dumped in the Labyrinth. You get convulsions and pain worse than the fires of hell every time you get a new Milestone,” Jonas explained.

“And it’s really bad,” Laura confirmed. “Can’t imagine anything worse.”

“But if you get two Potentials every time… what do you need to get a Milestone? You don’t have a Profession, so you can’t get experien…”

Then she did another double-take.

“Levelling speed? Oh Lord, that’s why your XP looks funky? You need… less XP? Per level?”

By then, the group was crowding the rest of the team.

“How do you get one?”

“Is that possib…”

“Stop it!” Cowen’s voice came, cutting through the starting riot.

“These people have been dumped in the Labyrinth without even the slightest training, they’ve been left to fend on their own with the clothes on their back for months. Give them room. They paid their Professional status in pain and tears.”

The local team took a step back, visibly intimidated. Jonas had to intervene to avoid being unfairly treated.

“It’s okay. We know we’re weird, we might as well get used to it.”

Cowen threw a couple of dark looks toward the tier-three adventurers, before turning back to the team leader who seemed bewildered by the entire thing.

“Sorry. But if you can get free Potential and free experience, it would be too good to pass,” the knife-wielding woman, Glenna Barbary, said.

“It’s not free. You pay in pain. Lots of it. But we were a real special case. None of us had enough Potential for the Labyrinth, but we were caught in the Gate as it was shutting down,” again Jonas explained.

“And you got that because it was shutting down?” another team member asked.

“Normally, we’d be turned back, if I understand right. But I think the Gate was already down, and we couldn’t be sent out of the Labyrinth… yet we were not ready for it. So… we were made ready for it. Somehow.”

Jonas even thought of pointing out that they got a double helping because Jonathan had very low potentials, but decided that wasn’t worth mentioning. It wasn’t talked about in the team, less so with strangers.

Jonas threw a look at the two team leads that were still conferring. Cowen had a tired face while Douglas and the local were writing things on a piece of paper, then chattering.

“So, how does it work at tier-three. So far, we’ve been dragged along by Cowen, which is a weird experience, but we’ll be tier-three one day. I think.”

“I suppose it is like tier-two, only bigger. I mean, you’ve only got so many skills and so many vitals. It changes a lot when you start to tier-four, as you mix stuff a lot, but for us… it’s like that. We’ve been doing that for almost a year now.”

“You’re working for a company?”

“Banquet Supplies Company. Viscount Hood figured out that some of the food items you get in tier-three make for exotic meals in the high society in London, and that’s an untapped market. But since the Gate closed… there’s nothing really for us to do. No outlets. So we’re focusing on getting better gear. And levelling.”

“Cowen let us keep gear from all the lairs we’ve been doing, but she said to drop anything common. And, well, the rest is at a high level.”

“Same stuff. We’re only starting to collect some nice Heroics, but half the time, we have to retreat when there’s an Ancient. In the lower lairs, that’s okay, but anything else, and we’d lose two or more people. Absolutely not worth it. And the last heroic we got was under-tiered. Like twice.”

“Hmmm?” said Laura.

The shield-bearer brought out a set of plated gloves.

Steady Steel Handgrips

Hands

Heroic equipment

Requires: Level 45

Provides: +128 defence rating, +8 CON, +6 STR, +92 health, +76 endurance, +16 aether, +1 Deflection ranks

“As you can see, it’s nice, but I have an Exceptional that’s actually a lot better save for the defence, all things considered.”

Jonas thought for a second, before replying.

“We went through the Fox Warrens yesterday, and we got also an under-levelled item, but it’s over-levelled for us. Alton?”

Crimson Fox Shoes

Feet

Heroic equipment

Requires: Level 77

Provides: +101 defence rating, +12 PRE, +12 STA, +153 health, +129 mind, +1 Assess Mind ranks

The shield-bearer, Dale Mitchell, immediately caught the suggestion, as Jonas had expected.

“Want to trade? Rose? That’s your main potential. Want this one?”

“You zounderkite! Of course, I do. I’ve been stuck with those boots since Vukodalar! Even Hans got upgrades twice since!”

“So… let’s trade then!”

Alton handed the red shoes to the Rose woman, and then Ira grabbed the glove pair. Jonas noticed that the shoes vanished from Rose’s hand, only to appear on her feet a fraction of a second later. Puppet, then. Very useful to swap gear.

Ira’s raised fist, plated in steel with a small coppery border was a victory sign. Jonas wondered a bit then managed to read the silent “got it now” from Ira’s lips. They would wait a bit before swapping gloves for Jonathan then.

No sense in telling the chattering Professionals that they also obtained skills for free.

“So, after conferring and comparing what they know of the other two team’s schedules, we’re heading to the Four Corners lair. It’s out in the boonies, and we’ll need nearly three days to get there, then five to get to the Gate proper… but it’s almost certainly fully populated when we get there.”

Cowen noticed Ira’s hands and raised her eyebrows in question.

“Did some trading while you were discussing,” the Layman said proudly.

“Oh. That happens sometimes. Swapped those shoes, I presume.”

“Yes. Got 50 in Constitution out of it now.”

“I presume you handed down your old gloves to your second defender?”

“Well… actually, we decided not to. Mine had endurance, his had mind. And minuscule defence anyway. Did we do good? I still have them in my bag.”

“Sounds good to me. If it’s common equipment, who cares anyway,” her reply was.

Imposing Banneret

(tier 5)

Required: 116 CON, 116 WIS, 116 PRE

Provides:

+28 health/+9 endurance/+15 mind/+12 aether per level

+1 Milestone per 11 levels

Imposing Banneret Milestone: +12 CON, +7 WIS, +5 FOR, +4 DEX, 5% armour

Skillset: Equipment / Defence