“What’s the plan, boss?” Ira said immediately as they stepped out of the Gate after their Fast Travel.

The rest of the team gathered around Jonas. Although he hadn’t explained anything, they could all guess this run would be different.

“Okay, let’s see what we need. Firstly,” he said, raising one finger.

“The lower lairs are drying up. This zone never had many to start with, we haven’t found any 8th lair around, and the zone caps at 75. Except for me and Jonathan, you’re all beyond that.”

He brought up a second finger.

“Now that Jonathan’s qualified, we have to trek to Vuneras, for Jonathan’s tier three, since the Calculating Barrier pick still makes sense opposite Ira’s Careful Barrier one.”

He raised the third finger.

“Then, it turns out that Vuneras has no less than two different tier-two zones – Outapis and Thicoughon – both of which are more in the norm of tier two zones, that is, lairs in the 50-100 range, a higher level of outdoor critters, a lot more lairs – Outapis has more than 15 and Thicoughon nearly 20 – and so on.”

A fourth finger joined the rest of the hand.

“As we will all have a tier three Gate by then, we don’t even need to lose our old Othary access. We can simply pick as a tier three the Gate back from Outapis to Vuneras. I pick Outapis for one reason – on the Outapis side, it’s a short trek to the Outapis-Thicoughon Gate, which we’ll be able to use as soon as we’ve run our first two lairs. However, on Vuneras, the two tier two Gates are nearly on opposite sides of the zone, and Vuneras and Outapis are at almost opposite…”

“Stop already. So, the gist is – we’re moving our base from Othary to Outapis,” Ira interrupted.

“Well, that’s the simple version, but…”

“But it still starts with ‘O’, which is all I need to know,” he interrupted again, to the laughter of the rest.

“Ira, don’t play the dumb defender. Not when you have 33 Intellect.”

“No, but you have 77, which means I can trust you. Besides, fifteen lairs are enough to start with.”

Jonas deflated, his grand plan swept away.

“Well, not all of them will be doable at first. Which is why being next door to…”

“Does it matter? Tier two lairs regenerate within the week, right? Unless we can empty all of them within the week?”

Jonas threw his hands away.

“Fine. Fine. You win.”

“So we’re leaving Othary behind,” Alton offered as a distraction.

“Yes. We’re outgrowing it. And a normal tier two will bridge us nicely to when we should start running the tier three zones in a couple of weeks or a month. Those two zones are no more used than this one, but much better in every regard at our level.”

“One last romp through Othary, then.”

“Well, yes. We don’t really need it, but I guess we can do the boar ruins, then we’ll cross the last lair with the newts on the way, then we can try one last time the ruined plaza before we reach the Gate to tier three.”

“Third time is the charm?”

The dark look thrown by Laura to Ira told everyone how she saw that perspective.

“Just in case. Maybe it will offer us awesome items just to make us regret moving away,” Alton speculated.

“Last boar, incoming,” Ira shouted out as he started the path leading toward the central areas of the zone.

Jonas shared a look with Jonathan, as both of them were now the lowest levels of the team, more than ten levels behind. Then, as one, they shrugged and started to follow.

Irritable Grey Newt

Level 74 veteran

Health: 1124

Mind: 414

Endurance: 585

Aether: 668

“If anyone had told me I’d be fighting newts last year, I wouldn’t have believed him,” Ira commented as they were slowly starting down the path into the sinkhole that marked the seventh and highest lair of Othary.

“It’s no weirder than giant glacial frogs,” Guss noted.

“The higher you go in tiers, the more strange critters you start to find, guys.”

“Yes, but newts? Irritable ones, even?”

Jonas spotted just behind the veteran two additional descriptors, indicating a pair of normal-type newts.

“Pay attention, that one will almost certainly not be alone for the fight,” he warned.

Ira wiped slowly and carefully the grey ichor staining the ringmail of his tunic.

“Those things are disgusting,” he said.

“I’m a bit more concerned about the recurring mind and stamina effects”, Jonas replied.

“Cleanse Poison works. But it doesn’t remove the stain,” Guss noted.

“Anyway, that’s one basic type of attack. We’ll see the rest. Any idea where to go?” Jonas asked of the group.

They all peered at the cylindrical tunnels branching from the sinkhole bottom.

“Let’s pick one and see,” Alton finally said.

“Looks like we’re at the end since there are no more tunnels,” Ira noted. “But all I see is a minion.”

“Jonas, what does the book says?”

“Ahem… ‘didn’t find the bottom, turned back before’.”

Ira laughed.

“At least, you’ll have good notes for the Archives with this one.”

Grey Newt Breeder

Level 81 minion

Health: 333

Mind: 120

Endurance: 174

Aether: 199

“Okay, Ira, be careful. No way this is just a minion, sitting on a treasure box,” Alton warned.

“On it.”

The Careful Barrier advanced more slowly than usual, as the rest of the team awaited to see what else might emerge.

“Spit!” Jonathan warned, as the smallish creature – only five feet long – reared in anger at seeing the intrusion in its domain.

Ira’s sword took a relatively small chunk of the creature’s health. He still hadn’t found an upgrade to its Black Zweihander, lagging slowly behind the average of the team’s gear, but it still did a passable job.

In the case of a minion, a small chunk was still over 5% of its health in a single stroke.

The team kept watch, wary of the room, but nothing happened. After a short while, Ira called out, “Hey, if you don’t come, I’m going to finish this on my own.”

“Nothing stirs. Okay, let’s come in and see what triggers,” Jonas said.

As the whole team advanced, Jonas threw a single Flame Bolt, to see if a separate attack would do anything. But apart from dropping the newt to lower health, nothing happened.

Jonathan kept watching as Laura and Alton finally reached the newt minion, finishing it with a single stroke.

“Done. Is that lair broken?”

“No experience. The fight isn’t over,” Guss replied.

At that moment, the skin on the newt’s body split, projecting burst of the grey ichor all over the place. Ira yelled in disgust, but all three team members next to the corpse got splashed by minute amounts.

Grey ichor: -1 mind & endurance/second

From the corpse of the minion slithered a slightly greyer and larger newt.

Grey Newt Breeder

Level 78

Health: 618

Mind: 225

Endurance: 323

Aether: 369

“Okay. Now that’s a disgusting interpretation of breeder,” Ira said as he placed himself in front of the new enemy.

The team quickly repositioned itself, as Ira engaged the level 78 creature.

Both Laura and Alton unloaded attacks, trying to get the combat over fast. The new breeder had larger health than its predecessor, but the damage of its attacks remained low. Outside of its unpleasant origin, it did not seem to behave abnormally or anything and expired with a slightly angry hiss.

Grey Newt Breeder

Level 75 veteran

Health: 1147

Mind: 420

Endurance: 597

Aether: 683

“Okay, I am sensing a pattern here,” Ira said as the larger newt emerged from the split skin of the second one.

“It should stop at Elder, though. So only three more at worst,” Jonas replied.

“It should?”

“Well, if it goes up to Ancient, we’re probably doomed. I don’t think it can, there’s none on a tier two.”

The veteran newt started by spitting all over the place, its drops even reaching out to Guss and Jonas.

“Jonathan, I think we’re not getting any additional ones on this fight,” Jonas called.

“Noted,” the Layman called as he moved to join the rest of the team. He positioned himself next to Ira, being careful about the attacks.

Grey Newt Breeder

Level 72 elite

Health: 1909

Mind: 704

Endurance: 991

Aether: 1134

“Now, the elite stage. Which means it will have the same tearing and slashing that the other guardians had,” Ira warned.

“That, or another attack,” Jonas corrected.

“Spoilsport. No confidence,” Ira retorqued.

“Every first fight is different. Don’t assume, ever. That’s what Myrl Douglas told me,” Jonas replied.

Grey Newt Breeder releases compressed fire aura. 4 fire damage/second.

“What did I say?”

“Fine, fine.”

“Increase Healing is enough for that, but you no longer have regeneration ongoing, if it attacks,” Guss warned.

Jonas didn’t reply and started throwing Flame Bolts at the target. Now that things were “heating”, it was time to throw his own damage into the fray. The real trick would be to pace themselves in anticipation of the next.

“Last one!” Ira called as the skin of the carcass split again, a nine-foot-long newt emerging from the remains of the elite.

Grey Newt Breeder

Level 69 elder

Health: 3076

Mind: 1142

Endurance: 1592

Aether: 1823

“Guss?”

“Half aether. We should make it, depending on the new attack.”

“Focus, and let’s finish this. At least, it’s down to level 69.”

“It would be good if we started with full resources and health,” Alton noted.

“Cant’ be helped. Now less talking…”

Jonas waited, but no one replied with the usual banter. All of them were focused on the last newt.

Grey Newt Breeder releases compressed fire aura. 7 fire damage/second.

“Ugly newt.”

Grey Newt Breeder whirls for 207 fire damage across 4 targets.

The newt’s tail briefly sparked as the critter buckled and hit the four team members next to the salamander. Guss visibly winced – even though that kind of attack was split across all team members, the aura was not letting them recover afterwards. Patching the damage would take a toll on his aether, but given the Elder’s aether and endurance reserves, he could repeat it far too often.

And it wasn’t as if you could simply leave. Ira and Jonathan would keep taking the brunt of it, and you’d simply lose out on the steady damage from Laura and Alton.

Flame Bolt does 53 fire damage to Grey Newt Breeder (25 aether).

Jonas thanked God for having the newts not being immune or resistant to his Flame Bolts. He really needed to have an alternative, as more and more of his skills were based around the fire – and Douglas had warned him that you could not rely on that for every fight.

Still… at least it was an Elder only. It was going down – at this point, there was little doubt.

Next tier, they’d start fighting Ancients. He remembered the devastation visited on the team by that Markandon Ancient. That was a fight that would require being cautious.

But that was a fight in the future.

Newt forms × 5: 8306XP/6 contributors = 1384XP.

You have completed Othary Metamorphic Lair.

“Nicely named,” Jonathan noted.

“I could have done without the full regeneration between each form,” Jonas admitted.

“I’m out of aether,” Guss admitted. “Chaining five creatures at that level isn’t easy.”

“Think of the guys back in Gatepost. At 80, they go for low tier two, level 60s only,” Alton said.

Laura went straight for the treasure box behind the smelling remains of the five newt forms that had yet to start the decomposition process. She opened it and stopped.

“Anything good?”

“For one second, I thought we’d get trash again. But no.”

She pulled out three items, two of which were, indeed, surprising.

Eye of Newt

-

Basic reagent

Requires: none

Provides: cooking component

Tongue of Newt

-

Common reagent

Requires: none

Provides: cooking component

Fiery Newt-engraved Crown

Head

Exceptional equipment

Requires: Level 68

Provides: 14 defence rating, +1 Flame Bolt rank, INT+7, +83 health

“Whoa,” she said.

“That’s a good one.”

“I’d even say it’s a very, very good one,” Ira admitted.

“Near perfect,” Jonas said.

“I’ll miss your bear fur tuft,” Alton said.

“You want it?”

“Nooo,” he mock-replied.

Jonas picked the crown. It was simple in design, a small ring of metal, with a thumb-sized sculpture of a newt’s head.

As usual for the Labyrinth, it did fit perfectly on his head.

As they came out, Jonas pointed toward the small plateau, not too far from the sinkhole.

“Last one. Then we are out.”

“Let’s make it count, then,” Ira said.

Laura opened the treasure box and swore. Very, very loudly.

“Let me guess? Three basics?”

“A common and two basic items. Again. And the common is pure mind vital boost and nothing else. THREE totally identical-looking leather trousers that are totally worthless.”

“At least you do get some decent items from the first two treasure guardians,” Jonas said, trying to mollify Laura. “No exceptional, but we got a quality one.”

“Well, we’ll see if someone wants the common on the next fair. At least we can get a few shillings from them. Maybe they have a good look? Who knows, I should be getting some civilian attire,” Ira mused.

“Yea, your armour is looking pretty dingy and mismatched,” Laura replied back.

A loud click sounded across the room, making Jonas nearly jump.

“What’s that noise?!?” Guss said.

Alton replied, “I was checking around… and I got close when it unlocked…”

He pointed toward the end of the room. Jonas looked and saw what Alton had spotted. The door at the rear of the room was slightly open.

“It’s open? How?” he asked.

“Howard said it was a fake. How come it opens?” Laura asked as well.

Jonas approached the door and reached for the ring, pulling it. The door turned on its hinges noiselessly, revealing a small corridor.

“Looks like there’s more to the lair,” he said.

“But… didn't we defeat the last guardians? Those three are the last guardians, right? We had a completion notification here on the first time we did it,” Ira said.

Jonas turned toward the team, asking, “So? It means it’s not necessary for the lair completion, not that it’s not part of the lair.”

The team followed Ira, as the corridor wasn’t very large. It wasn’t very long, as Ira almost immediately stopped.

“Bollocks!!!”

“What?”

“Look for yourselves,” he said, moving forward and entering the room.

Jonas followed and stopped, Jonathan nearly colliding with him from behind.

The room was large and tall, with some ever-burning torches. It had to be for its centre was occupied by the 15-feet metallic circle of a Gate, filled with its usual light.

“Okay. That’s not what I expected,” Jonas said.

“What did you expect?” Jonathan asked.

“A hidden guardian. Maybe it would be like those crows, it would be available only some times.”

“So there’s hidden Gates instead?”

Jonas examined closely the Gate. Although it was the same size as any of the inter-zone Gates, half the size of a Great Gate, this one was different. Where the Gates sported sculpted heads of creatures from all over the Labyrinth, this one had blocky shapes instead. Like cubic boxes glued all over the Gate’s frame, almost hiding the circular metallic core.

“It looks different. It’s clearly not a normal gate,” he said.

“The descriptor looks normal though,” Jonathan replied.

Transit: Othary - Donerkal

Integrity: 100%

Active

Stability: 100%

“Why did the door open, though? Why now and not the first time or the second one?” Laura asked.

“No idea,” Guss replied.

Jonas pulled out the booklet and went to the end. There was an alphabetical index of all the known zones, with the appropriate book number for reference. No Donerkal was listed.

“Donerkal isn’t in the master list. It’s a completely unknown zone.”

“Meaning it could be anything,” Ira said.

“Tier one to three, yes,” Jonas said.

“Assuming it’s a normal Gate. If it’s some kind of secret…”

“We can check. We’ll see immediately on the location descriptor,” Alton said, moving toward the Gate.

Jonas hesitated only a second. Worst case, they’d have to turn back or Recall to Gatepost. Nobody had ever mentioned secret Gates, but surely, someone should have found one, right?

Location

Zone: Donerkal (tier 2 trunk)

Locale: Gate to Othary

Recall: Grailburg, Gate to Earth

Recall: available

Gates: 2/3

Tier 1: Zolferras

Tier 2: Othary

Tier 3: -

Fast travel: 4 charges, ∞ until next

Jonas immediately turned, checking the Gate behind. It looked perfectly normal, even sporting the usually engraved heads. Its descriptor indicated that it led back to Othary, as expected. But what was a… trunk zone? And why did it said that there was no Fast Travel accumulating? Could there really be no moon in a tier two zone?

The Gate arrival area was a small valley, with low hills surrounding it in three directions, leaving the front of the Gate leading to much flatter terrain. There were some leafless trees. And not too far, a local creature that had yet to spot them.

It looked like a black-skinned udder-less cow. If a cow had two separate pairs of 3-feet-long horns with a sharp end and what looked like talons protruding behind its four feet.

Wary Bovine

Level 102

Health: 1009

Mind: 287

Endurance: 771

Aether: 0