“You what!?!” Atkinson yelled.

“Relax, Jonathan,” Secretary Thompkins said.

“Of all the insane things to do…” he fumed, throwing eye bolts at the serene-looking Professional seated in the office.

“She’s made a low-investment, risky, and high-payoff move, Jonathan.”

“Those Professionals are ticking bombs. If what she reports is confirmed…”

“Everyone knows it and nobody says it,” she interrupted.

“And you want them to come here?”

“I know you hated the idea even last year when young Sims came sniffing around our Gate for the descriptor. Which are now all around the Labyrinth where the Gate closed. But consider what happens if we didn’t do it,” the Secretary of Labyrinth Affairs said.

“We’d be safer, for one.”

“No. We’d just think we were safer. And those Adjusted ones would remain under the thumb of the British Government, developing more and more abilities to probe or muck with the Labyrinth.”

Atkinson growled in disgust.

“Better have at least one, if not more, on our side of the Atlantic. Besides, as she told Sims, one can simply walk across the Labyrinth.”

“And blow up the Labyrinth,” he replied.

“I don’t think the British want extensive disruptions any more than we do. And the widespread disruption shows how much it would affect everyone.”

“I couldn’t get a real official list despite my efforts, but I listened carefully to all kinds of teams in that Gatepost all-Professional borough of theirs. I’m not sure one hundred percent, but it looks like they also have a trunk connection in Cheogary. Too many Gates closed centred around that one,” Sylvia added.

“Do they know that?”

“There’s no indication that they know about the Chinese discovery, let alone suspect that. I didn’t probe too hard, because Jonas is not that stupid when it comes to the Labyrinth. He’s naïve, not dumb. Give him hints, and he could figure it out. But once Machenlenso comes open again, we may have only five zones between our two Gates. And unlike us, they still have one Gate open into their tier-two, through a side zone.”

Atkinson could feel the beginning of a headache coming. The Labyrinth had been so orderly, the perfect source of materials for military and industries, the outlet of the adventuring soul – if qualified. And now, every time he turned around, complications springing like a native raid.

“Speaking of Machenlenso, how are we doing?”

“The notice hasn’t attracted the reaction I expected. I found three moderate-tier people who kept one access that’s the right way. But no healer, no defender. They can probably deal with the lairs there, but unless we have a proper team, they’ll struggle to explore the trunk,” Atkinson replied.

“So… you don’t know any ready team?” Sylvia asked.

Atkinson sighed.

“Well, I know of two teams, but that’s not going to help much.”

“How so,” Thompkins asked.

“Well… the two British teams that came around in 1818 when the Gate was closed both took Marsden-Machenlenso as a tier-two Gate to come back and forth between Grailburg and here.”

Seeing as Sylvia Underwood was struggling to avoid laughing, Atkinson tried to remember if he kept a bottle of Laudanum in his office because he was absolutely going to need it.

The entrance into Mirolon was uneventful. Jonas still half-expected zone Gates to crumble unexpectedly, despite the fact that they were unlikely to do so unless he or another of the team broke things again.

Most Professionals wouldn’t fear that. But then again, Professionals wouldn’t lose vitals by the thousand for merely interacting with a locked Gate. Thankfully, Gate descriptors would warn them in advance.

They had discussed it, but Jonas had been firm.

“Yes, I hate losing that Zilbarn option. But we don’t need to go back there until next fall when it’s time to start unlocking tier five zones for our new upcoming Professions.”

“Assuming we’ll be able to tackle five lairs in tier-four by then,” Alton noted. “They start at 225, at the lowest.”

“We’ll see. But we need to keep track of our progress across the Great Line, and that means the tier-three Fast Travel slot as we go between each zone. We need to keep the trunk access, and I’m not about to lose the Rayleche quick access. Besides, Wrapelst will be a zone without a tier-four Gate.”

“Speaking of which, do we pick this Gate?”

“No. The idea is that we spend two or three weeks or so, mapping everything, we recall whenever our bags are full, rest, and go to the next zone. Leapfrogging, it’s called.”

Jonas looked at the faces of the team, confirming they were all on the same page as he was.

“Okay, this time, we don’t head to the Plaza like last time. We’ve got a list, but no locations or anything. So, border mapping, then we start looking for lairs.”

They all turned to contemplate the swampy expanse and red vegetation, and Jonas grimaced. The zone was slightly worse than Zolferras.

Transit: Mirolon – Eikiminn

Integrity: 100%

Locked

Stability: 100%

“And that’s the last. It’s supposed to be the tier-four connection. Apparently, while it’s locked, we don’t see the lair requirement.”

None of them came close to the Gate. Even though they needed to make contact, a locked gate was not something they wanted to risk.

“Thankfully, the tier-three to Wrapelst wasn’t,” Ira noted.

“Time to find lairs,” Jonathan replied.

The team started into the zone proper. The last of the five Gates connecting to Mirolon was straddling the border between the swamp they’d entered and a drier plains, whose grass had the same reddish tint as the thorns of the bushes that dotted the swamp side. The idea was to check for anything that looked off. In a flat zone like that, it was going to be easier than other zones.

There was little surprise in terms of creatures in this western side of the zone. Frog-like amphibians sporting deep brown horns over a warty brown body.

A few hours in, Jonathan pointed to a denser copse of small trees further into the swamp. Jonas could see some splashes of white in the distance.

“Looks like a good candidate,” the defender said.

Brood Sentry × 3

Level 196 veteran

Health: 5369

Mind: 2474

Stamina: 5252

Aether: 97

“Definitively a lair area,” Jonas noted once the descriptors became visible.

The three giant bug-like veterans were standing frozen, totally immobile. Unlike the grasshopper-like creatures that roamed the swamp, these were seven feet tall, sporting near translucent wings adding almost five feet to the total size.

“And quite a bit too high,” Alton grimaced.

Jonas quickly checked the area descriptor, but they were still in an area called “Red mire”, as they’d been since the Gate. And he was not going to risk waking up the pack of creatures to peek at the probable name.

He pencilled a note, indicating the relative position, and expected levels of the unknown lair. Then they retreated a bit, before turning and heading back toward the inner zone.

The lair was almost visible from the Plaza area. In the distance, Jonas could see the slightly raised plains that they’d encountered when they came for Laura’s tier-three intermediate Profession. But the sinkhole in the plains was obvious, with a pair of small streams falling in.

Ira pointed the side, and Jonas spotted a small path plunging into the sinkhole’s darkness.

“That’s one of the Grey team’s lairs, I think. Reported level 135, but no further information. So it’s… north of the Plaza, then.”

“We do it?”

“All lairs, up to… 150 or 155. I’m not going to risk anything higher and ending with a death or two,” Jonas replied.

“We do need gear. But that’s not it,” Laura said.

They reached the path and started down the steep descent. The pathway was extremely narrow, making it almost impossible to walk normally. This was definitively not something you could do in a hurry unless you want to be hurled to an almost invisible floor below. Higher tiers might survive some fall with enough health and Agility, but for someone like Jonas, that was a ticket to two days of misery and under-performance.

They finally reached the bottom of the sinkhole, plunged into a near blackness as the slanted rays of the sun didn’t quite reach there. Thankfully, there was a visible lighted area not too far from the end of the path, small yellow concretions glowing with the tell-tale light of Power Crystals.

Ira peered into the tunnel whose entrance was highlighted by the flat luminous stones and flinched, before being thrown onto the ground as a shadowy shape came out suddenly.

Jonas’s immediate impression was a furry version of the grasshoppers from the swamps above. A six-limbed, scarily thin, five-foot-tall figure. But while the shape was nearly identical under the dark fur, the eyes reflected in a cat-like way rather than the faceted globes of the insects above.

Mud Grasper

Level 132 elite

Health: 5062

Mind: 1401

Endurance: 4859

Aether: 170

“Beware,” Jonathan said, crossing his blades on the grasper’s back.

The creature turned, hissing.

Muddy Fluid: -15AGI, -15DEX, -15FOC.

Jonas tried to open range and slipped into an unseen pool of water of fallout from above. He caught himself barely in time, simultaneously cursing the lair and thanking his reasonable Agility. He re-oriented himself in the half-darkness of the sinkhole’s bottom, aiming at the grasper silhouette.

Elemental Spray hits for 301 fire damage.

Full fire damage, take this. The sprays were so… satisfying.

Mud Grasper: 2452XP/6 contributors = 395XP

“That begins well,” Alton noted.

“First time I regret not being in a tunnel,” Jonas added.

“Why? You just have to stand and shoot elemental balls?” he asked.

“I don’t miss, but that’s if I see it. In the dark, it’s almost impossible unless I keep it between me and the lighted tunnel. And I slipped three times.”

“You can get closer. It’s only an elite, it’s not going to hurt so much,” Laura said, shrugging.

Jonas let the remark pass and headed toward the lighted entrance.

“It’s going to be one of those,” he said after the fifth encounter.

So far, they’d only seen solo elites. No veterans, no packs. Just a lot of wandering elites, and the weirdest loot they’d seen so far in the Labyrinth.

Dark Fur Stripes × 7

None

Leather

Requires: none

Provides: raw material

“That’s basically a semi-refurbished piece of loot,” Laura had remarked once the first stripe had been found left after the decomposition of the grasper.

“Good prices?” Alton asked.

“No idea. The quartermaster will tell us.”

“Looks like the last cave,” Jonathan announced, peering into the half-darkness beyond.

While there were Power Crystals all over the tunnels, the light they were providing was wan, and most of the caves were full of shadows, making the fights there unnecessarily annoying.

And full of Graspers. The lair had nothing but the same elites, repeated over and over again, with just a little variation in levels. And despite pairs of slightly lower-level elites in the guardian caves, the treasure boxes were also all labelled as “elite treasure”.

This final cave, without any further tunnel, didn’t disappoint in that regard.

Mud Sinkhole

Elite Treasure

Basic equipment

Requires: Level 122

Quality Container

Requires: none

“Do we fight those?” Ira asked, contemplating the two Graspers that were doing weird stretching movements in the cave.

“Just for the experience then. The container isn’t even a Puppet,” Laura said, dubious.

Mud Grasper × 2: 4905XP/6 contributors = 790XP

You have completed Mirolon Mud Sinkhole lair.

“One of the most horrifyingly boring lairs I’ve ever seen,” Guss finally admitted. His aether had barely dipped to half as well.

“Yea, but one completion. And notes,” Jonas replied.

“I almost wonder if they didn’t skimp on the notes because of how lairs in here are boring,” Ira said, letting the last bit of black blood drip from his Claymore.

Meanwhile, Laura had pulled the items from the box. As the Labyrinth sometimes did, one was much larger than the box itself. The weird perspective that happened when one did so was always disconcerting, even for her.

“That’s a fairly hefty bag,” Guss remarked.

It was nearly three feet tall. There looked like a solid frame sewn in one side, and two thin, but probably extremely strong straps, as Labyrinth materials went. The knapsack was the type you wore on the back. Few people used bags that large – filling them was almost certainly going to overweight mundanes. You could easily put sixty, maybe seventy pounds in it, depending on what. Of course, for someone like Laura at 274 Strength with her gear, that was the equivalent of a money pouch. The problems lugging those large charges were balance and encumbrance, not carrying.

She sported a smile.

“You know what this means? More time to loot,” she announced.

“Not that we will use it much this time,” Jonas said.

“Why?”

“Everyone forgot? Next Saturday is Christmas. We recall for Midnight Mass in the worst case.”

“Ooooh…”

Jonas shook his head. It looked like everyone had forgotten.

“One week break, and we’ll resume after New Year. All we have to do is to make sure we’re enabled and acquire Wrapelst.”

When the rainbow dissipated and they stood in the Gatepost clearing, the one thing they instantly did was stare.

Surrounding the clearing were lampposts. There were normally multiple lampposts making the two streets going into Gatepost proper, and the entrance to the warehouse district. But this time, there were tall iron posts, with multiple branches, festooned with lanterns.

Upon looking, Jonas noticed that what looked like lanterns were actually glass enclosures around torches. Mostly certainly Labyrinth-originating torches, like the ones found in many ruins and constructed buildings. The ever-burning torches were popular across England, chiefly among middle-class and upper-class homes, due to excessive demand. The slivers of Power Crystal embedded in those were far too small for any serious use, and the torches themselves wore out after a year or two. But until then, they sported a steady flame as soon as it was dark enough, even when enclosed in a way that would smother a normal flame, like the fake lanterns.

“What the?”

Jonas flagged a passing Professional.

“No idea. People put those up last week. Something about New Year, I think.”

He looked at the rest of the team and shrugged.

“Sometimes, I don’t think I really understand the Professional mind.”

Ira laughed.

“I don’t think this is the product of the Professional mind. It sure wasn’t like that last year.”

“Well, we have time to go back to headquarters, unload loot, check things.”

Jonas looked up at the darkening sky. He knew Grailburg shared time with London, although it didn’t share season. So, the night would have already fallen beyond the Gate, while it was still dusk here.

“Got time before midnight and Mass. Let’s go.”