The team had reached the worms’ lair and found the dive into their realm particularly complicated. The worm-things by themselves were still horrifyingly disturbing, but not particularly hard at their level. The real difficulty stemmed from their lair, a nightmare of tunnels going up, going down, splitting and joining, with confusing turns everywhere. Without Jonas’s increased memory, they might have run the risk of getting lost for a while.

The bounty had been relatively plentiful, as they stumbled on slimy chests by chance, but overall of relatively low quality. Still, the simple improvement in levels meant every piece could be useful to someone, and they exchanged gear. A chainmail glove for Jonathan, whose old leather glove went to Jonas. A headband and trousers for Guss, with the older headgear going again to Jonas. A belt for Alton. And, as expected, a real prize had been guarded by the last worm they found holed in the deepest part of the maze of tunnels.

Earth Hammer

One-Hand

Exceptional equipment

Requires: Level 19

Provides: 10 base damage (+15% STR), +2 STR, +20 end, +20 health

Laura didn’t shout in joy when the box was opened and her prize was found. Rather, she watched in dismay her state.

The elder “wormspawn” may not have tried to bite anyone except Ira with its hideous circular mouth, but it had still made problems in general. Besides strikes and cuts leaving ichor to pool on the ground, making it slippery and causing mind loss if you stepped into them, it emitted hot steam from all of its segments regularly.

For almost all of the team, that was mightily uncomfortable but tolerable. But Laura’s robe, already worn out, was now in tatters. Flimsy strips of cloth whose colour had all but faded in a muddy green-blue barely covered her, and nobody could pretend not to see her bared legs. The underwear itself was partially exposed, dirtied, and soaked by the steam.

This broke the last resistance. They all filed out of the room, leaving her privacy to strip the old workers’ garments, and put on the leather trousers Guss left on a rock for her.

“Fine. You won,” she simply said at Jonas when they came back.

Jonas said nothing. Truth to be said, although his own underclothes were well protected by the Labyrinth-provided gear, he had to wash them regularly in the streams and, sturdy as they were, they were also going to wear out eventually. The Labyrinth was pretty unforgiving on these.

Unless they made it back before, they would all lose their last link to their pasts – their earthly clothes.

They made their way back into Othary, getting additional experience. Their signs at the Gate and the central Plaza were undisturbed, which left Jonas a bit out of sorts. A short discussion had ensued, with Jonathan – and Laura – both arguing that trying to get more equipment from Ovildian was a waste of time. In the end, the two rallied both Ira and Guss to their point of view, before Jonas finally agreed that getting more experience in Othary might be a better option, in anticipation of attempting to complete the lairs in this zone.

So, they went back to the blue frogs’ lake. The additional levels from tier-two Professions did help a lot. They spent a full day exploring the edges of the lake, figuring out that there was one elite frog in each compass point, and they could now survive the combination of cold auras, ice spitting, and at one point even a 20-feet wide burning snowfall – whose nature baffled everyone, as the idea of snowflakes leaving cold flames on the ground was a contradiction in terms. Still, no one felt confident enough to risk enraging the frog “lord” in the middle of the lake yet, despite their higher levels.

But after that, the lake was empty of any frog, and they had to range around, killing non-veteran cats and wolves whenever they found them, coming back to the lake in the evening to find it empty, ranging further and further.

Jonas all but considered leaving the lake entirely and trying to find more, when, one evening, they spotted a few groups of blue amphibians next to the shore as they came back from their day’s hunting. They killed one pack, watched carefully the rest, and retreated higher in the mountains to camp for the night.

In the morning, most of the lake was populated by frogs. Jonas had no idea where the frogs came – presumably spawned in the icy waters? – but the veteran packs would now provide fodder for their growth in levels.

And the treasure boxes refilled with the four guardians taking back their posts. Despite lacking the exceptional items from those elite creatures’ treasure, the combination of common and quality gear did significantly improve their sets. Except for one frog who was guarding a robe that was an exact identical – albeit two levels below – version of the one Guss wore, with one less defence and two less aether despite being visually identical to the last detail.

Jonas himself finally unlocked a new spell on their second visit. He was the last to get something along tier-two. Guss had grabbed a Patch Wounds reducing the effect of ongoing damage, and Alton obtained a nasty-sounding Disembowel which did damage over time and reduced enemy regeneration.

Skill unlocked: Firefall (unranked)

Firefall

Aether/Offense

Rank 0: Does 20% of INT in fire damage (6) to any hostile 10 feet around the target. Cost: 2 aether × damage (12).

Surprisingly, this happened barely three frog groups after they all got their first tier-two milestone. But given the weird description, Jonas was pretty sure he wouldn’t have selected it as his new skill increase anyway. Getting yet another rank in Flame Bolt seemed far more important than this one.

Team

Professions

Health

Mind

Jonas Sims

Aetherseer (44)

325/325

390/390

Jonathan Gilbert

Layman (44)

497/497

332/332

Ira Heard

Layman (47)

734/734

420/420

Guss Fullmore

Hospitaler (44)

360/360

380/380

Laura Harvey

Smasher (44)

440/440

344/344

Alton Raby

Piercer (44)

435/435

322/322

This time, they contemplated the last frog of the lake. This one had been taunting them from its icy rock for a long time now.

Iceblood Froglord

Level 36 elder

Health: 1715

Mind: 690

Endurance: 819

Aether: 857

“It’s still more than double your health, Ira,” Jonathan said, looking dubiously at the oversized amphibian.

“So? We all have our first milestone, skill ranks, defence and all that. And you’re all 9 levels higher now,” Ira summarized.

Jonas hesitated, but that was the lowest of the lairs they had found. And while the equipment they got from the four cornerstone elites helped, one just had to see the “exceptional” items from elders to see how helpful they were. His robe, Guss’s gloves, Laura’s hammer… even Jonathan’s headgear had only been replaced because he’d switched to a different style of combat.

“If it starts with attacks that are too dangerous, then we flee immediately.”

“Got a lot better in healing now, with that glove and milestone. But I’ll tell you if I start falling behind,” Guss said. “I still don’t know why I still have only 10% bonus healing when the milestone said I would get 5% again, but it’s fine.”

Minor Heal Wound

Aether/Support

Rank 3: Increase target’s health by 65% of Wisdom (26+3 health). Cost: 0.46 Aether/health (13).

“Same for everyone,” Jonas said. “I suspect it’s a bonus based on the highest milestone for each Profession individually. Ira has two different bonuses because he’s got different styles of Professions.”

“Same for me,” Jonathan said. “I think that might be useful to change profession style regularly, so you get lots of different ones at the same time.”

“We’ll see once we get in tier-three what we can find.”

The first problem they had to solve was that the frog was in the centre of the lake, without any visible passage. The only thing they could see was ice floes. Jonas took his time before deciding on a path. They could jump… hopefully without slipping into the cold water. Their boots and sandals seemed to have a good grip on the ice, but Jonas remained wary.

“I know you have a big robe, but you can swim. You don’t even wear metal. Some Professional you are,” Ira taunted.

Jonas threw a dark look at his friend, prompting laughter from the rest of the team.

Finally, they lined at the closest ice floe and got ready. Ira started, jumping from ice block to ice block like an acrobat and the team followed, staying on separate ice blocks. Despite the flat, flimsy look, the floes proved to be almost as stable as rocks. Once he hit the central island, the frog lord turned and emitted a loud croak before rising from his icy perch.

Iceblood Froglord sounds the alarm. -72 mind.

“Alarm?” Alton asked, suddenly worried.

“We’ve killed all the frogs already. Hopefully, there’s none left hiding. If not, I’m there for them,” Jonathan reassured him.

As the frog rushed toward Ira, its colour started to pulse between various shades of pale blue. Even though Jonas was still jumping over the last ice floes, he could feel the frost spreading out.

Iceblood Froglord’s freezing presence: -2health/sec, -2 all potentials.

“Every frog had some icy stuff, but this one’s the worst,” Ira said as he used his sword to stop the rush. Then the frog’s tongue whipped across the Layman.

Iceblood Froglord’s tongue lashes for 47 (54-7) damage (58+9 defence)

Ira grunted. The flexible organ felt like a heavy metal-laden cord, whose trail across his torso felt like a solid bar through the chainmail. The Layman had learned to ignore the pain, knowing it would dissipate quickly, even before Guss’s healing.

More defence rating helped, too.

Jonas kept watching carefully, after starting to launch Flame Bolts. None of the frogs around the lake had shown any sign of additional damage from fire despite their “icy” descriptions, and the charring inflicted on the lord didn’t seem to affect his bolts’ efficiency either. The three melee fighters surrounded the giant frog and started whaling on him, pierce seemingly having a hard time on the blubbery skin. But, like magical bolts, the notifications belied the lack of purchase, indicating full health loss.

Elders were full of tricks, and this one didn’t surprise Jonas as the frog croaked again. But instead of sounding the alarm, a huge snowball hurled from the depths of the frog’s gullet, turning mid-air without any visible cause, and smacking into Alton.

Iceblood Froglord’s spits frost for 53 (54-1) damage (22 defence)

“Defence isn’t good against it,” Alton yelled, shivering from the cold spreading across his arm.

“His attack barely uses aether. Be careful, he’s going to use it a lot!” Jonathan warned everyone. He was frustrated not having spotted it, but unfortunately, his skill worked on its own, and he had little way of influencing it. His hopes were immediately dashed as another frost ball launched and hit Jonas squarely in his chest, instantly dropping almost a quarter of his health total.

“Guss?” Jonas asked, worried.

“I’m good. Ira takes some damage from the headbutts, but not too much. I can heal the team,” the Hospitaler replied.

“If you say so. Then we keep on.”

Given the ferocity of the attacks, none of the melees tried to space their attacks, and Laura got surprised as the frog suddenly turned and lashed with its tongue while trying to bump her legs. She slipped on the slightly icy ground of the island and crawled madly away as Ira slashed and kicked, making sure the frog considered him his worst enemy. Jonas added an Air Burst, trying to disorient the frog, and got another frost spit in the face in return for his efforts.

By then, Guss informed them he’d already expended one-fourth of his aether, mostly on keeping up some health regeneration to counteract the frog’s health-eroding aura. The frog’s health had barely dipped by a third of its starting levels, but overall, it was looking good.

Iceblood Froglord sounds the alarm. -72 mind.

Jonas was taken by surprise when he was bowled over from behind. Rising himself on his hands, he found Jonathan slashing with both swords on a dog-sized milky-white frog. Jonas had been pretty sure there had been no amphibians left anywhere, but apparently, one had answered the call. No, make that two, as a second one was jumping out of the waters, heading straight toward Laura.

Iceblood Lake Spoor × 2

Level 24 minion

Health: 124

Mind: 52

Endurance: 93

Aether: 18

He threw a series of Flame Bolts to the frog as it nipped at Laura, then waved back Alton and Laura to the main fight once the froglet shuddered and fell smoking on the cold rock. Only then, he turned back to the one that had bitten him, which Jonathan had already wounded. Another pair of Bolts finished the small menace, but Jonas knew he had wasted time – and aether – on those small… tadpoles? They had looked like full frogs, not real tadpoles, despite the descriptor names.

Meanwhile, the big frog was still spitting and tongue lashing all around, leaving most of the team at half health. Guss was clearly starting to struggle to keep everyone healthy enough, and the main enemy’s health was not dropping fast enough.

Iceblood Froglord sounds the alarm. -72 mind.

This time, four frogs emerged from the lake. They were lower level than the previous two, but they jumped on Guss, Alton and Jonas as Jonathan scrambled to dislodge them from their intended targets.

“Focus on the big one. I’ll kill them, I just have enough aether,” he waved at Alton, who turned back to Eviscerating again the frog lord, whose health was getting to one-fifth of his starting levels.

Jonas barely finished his second frog as another spit hit him, reducing his health to 65. Unprompted, Guss managed to heal him back to above the danger zone. Seeing the boss at 10%, he swore and switched back to the main boss.

“Finish him. The rest of the spoor later!”

Iceblood Froglord sounds the alarm: -72 mind.

For a second, Jonas doubted they’d make it. Then he felt four – no five – tiny mouths chomping him from behind and fell as the world turned blue.

“Did I miss something?” Jonas said after vomiting.

“Yes. We completed the lair. Without you,” Ira said, looking apologetic.

“I’m the only one?”

“Yes and no. Jonathan got mobbed by the froglets too, but he got completion before dying.”

Jonas turned himself, spotting the Layman wearing mismatched gear sprawled on his back, looking up. The man raised his hand wearily, dismissing Jonas’s concern.

“It’s fine,” Jonas admitted. “We need three lairs anyway. We can do that one again before we do the rest. Without us dying, I mean. Next tier, someone else does the dying beside me or Jonathan,” he joked, shivering from the cold air and reduced regeneration.

Jonas then looked at the unopened steel box.

“Nobody checked?”

“Oh. Sorry,” Laura said, turning to the blue metal container. She pulled a long knife shape that sparkled in the lake’s fading light reflections.

Blue Iron Dagger

One-Hand

Exceptional equipment

Requires: Level 31

Provides: 12 base damage (+16% DEX), +2 STR, +2 DEX, +28 end

“Whoa. If this keeps going, we’ll kill everything so fast, even Guss won’t exhaust his aether,” Jonas joked again, before cupping some icy water, trying to wipe the taste of vomit.

“Sorry you died,” Ira apologized again.

“Doesn’t matter. Even if it kills us, we get better.”

“Yes, but now, we have to take two days light, because you and Jonathan are now laid low,” said Alton.

“So what? The lake is empty. And we can explore instead of simply looking for big monsters. Maybe we’ll find another lair?”

Jonas pushed himself up and went to lift Jonathan, while Ira slapped Alton’s shoulder, happy that they had finally shown progress. And got a more efficient Piercer now.

Piercer

(tier 2)

Required: 25 DEX

Provides:

+5 health/+8 endurance/+3 mind/+2 aether per level

+1 Milestone per 14 levels

Piercer Milestone: +5 DEX, +3 AGI, +2 INT, +1 PRE, +1 WIS, 5% piercing damage

Skillset: Equipment / Offense