The newest lair could be seen from afar. In a dry, empty dust flat, the appearance of trees – with green – at the horizon could not be missed. Now, as they approached their next objective, Jonas started to summarize the zone guide’s findings.

“Basic outdoor lair. It is the only large source of water in the entire zone, everything else is more like those small ponds we found. The lair itself is within the lake. There’s a bunch of small houses to the side, and then stone bridges to small islands within the lake.”

“One guardian per island?”

“You guessed it. Each of the islands actually has some different fauna, which you can find in the zone or its lairs. Overall, it’s level 85, which means it is starting to be a serious lair.”

“The previous two were easy. 60 each.”

“Yes, and we’re now validated for every Gate. You’ve seen Ticoughon, there’s a tier one zone and another Gate back to the Great Line, in Airaneron next to Vuneras.”

“Can we do every lair in here?”

“In case there’s a door, you mean? Probably. There’s also a level 90 and two 100, but apparently, on the other side of the zone, near Airaneron Gate.”

The loot had been relatively poor on the previous lairs. Nice items, but focused on the wrong potentials, like a Fortitude belt, a Focus and aether iron glove, or a good quality Strength pair of trousers… that was in every way worse than the heroic ones Laura already had. Still, they had gotten a new – ochre – robe for Jonas and a better torso for Jonathan, even if both were simply common items. So not everything was entirely wasted. The rest would end up at the faire trade table.

“So what’s the plan?”

“Move to the side village, make sure we don’t get jumped by jackals – they’re around 85 like the rest of the lair – and then start going from island to island. There’s five of them, and you can skip either the east or west island to get to the final one.”

“Why would we do that?”

“No idea,” Jonas joked back.

The first hint of an anomaly immediately appeared once they reached the village. Jonathan noticed the innocuous-looking stacked boxes next to one of the ochre stone houses.

Huge Oasis

Elite Treasure

Common weapon

Requires: Level 78

“Treasure.”

“Uh? Where?” Jonas inquired.

“The stack of boxes there,” Jonathan replied, pointing the treasure. “Elite treasure with a common weapon.”

“Nice. Most of us need something new for that,” Alton commented.

“I thought the only guardians were on the islands?” Ira asked.

“That’s what it says on the guide,” Jonas replied. “There’s no visible elite… maybe the scouts missed that one.”

“We probably would have, if not for this new treasure sense,” Jonathan said.

“Time to find a guardian, then,” Laura concluded.

Five packs of veteran jackals later, the team still couldn’t see any elite guardian.

“No wonder they missed it,” Ira said.

“They probably thought the boxes were those props, as Howard described. Fake things that can’t be opened at all.”

“Hey that one is trying to run away,” Alton warned.

Ira ran after the fleeing jackal who rushed around the corner of a stone house, its paws barely finding purchase on the dusty street. He reached the corner and stopped.

“Uh? It’s gone?”

“What do you mean, it is gone?”

“No jackal. It just vanished. Maybe in a house?…”

“INCOMING,” yelled Guss, as he started to run from his position behind the team.

Angry Oasis Jackal

Level 86 elite

Health: 2306

Mind: 824

Endurance: 2104

Aether: 0

“So that’s where it went. Looking for big brother,” Ira said, rushing back to intercept the newcomer.

Angry Oasis Jackal howls. -5 FOC, -4 FOR, -3 DEX

“Whelp. Okay, that’s not too bad,” Alton said, seeing the small bite on his dexterity.

“Got him,” Ira announced as his weapon barred the way, making the angry beast stop and snarl at him.

“Make sure there’s nothing else around,” Jonas warned, watching as the team close combatants started to place themselves, while their Abiding Assistant was moving aside.

Angry Oasis Jackal spits around. -6 AGI, 2 targets affected.

“Yeech,” Laura said, being caught in the spray.

“Thanks we don’t have a Dancer-path Professional around,” Guss said.

“Hey. I use Agility for my dodges, I’ll have you know,” Ira informed him.

“Okay, okay. It’s 86 elite, I can spare some aether to shorten that spit,” he replied.

“Watch out,” Jonathan warned.

Angry Oasis Jackal jaw snaps. 184 damage (305+12 defence rating)

“That’s his big attack, I think. The normal biting is a lot lower.”

“He’s got enough for a good seven or eight of those, so be careful.”

“That’s what we got Guss for,” Ira replied, to the grumbling of the man.

As the elite kept on biting the main defender, Jonas reflected on the fact that this type of combat was probably the easiest. A single elite, no complicated strategies. A good first fight for what was the largest lair of the zone.

Angry Oasis Jackal: 2599XP/6 contributors = 410XP.

Parrying Dagger

One-Hand

Common equipment

Requires: Level 78

Provides: 17 piecing damage (+11% DEX), 8 defence rating, +61 mind

“You know what? I’m good with it,” Alton said as Laura handed him the plain-looking dagger. It looked more like a long knife than a dagger, but the descriptor said otherwise. He slid the iron knife he’d been using for months now into his bag and twirled the dagger, checking for its balance and feel.

“Okay. So that’s what they mean by six-legged snakes?” Alton said as he considered the three veteran creatures that were snapping at each other, half playfully.

Oasis Najash × 3

Level 77 veteran

Health: 1178

Mind: 429

Endurance: 1062

Aether: 0

The creatures were long tubes, with short legs. The strangest part was there were two pairs of limbs at the far extremity of the snake’s body, then a long stretch and a last pair in the front, instead of being distributed around.

The team was standing on the bridge leading to the final island on the oasis lake, getting ready to step on it. They had actually backtracked, having gone to finish the optional island first.

“Seem so.”

“Okay. That’s a trio,” Jonas announced semi-needlessly once they spotted the final guardian setup. Three elite Najash creatures, sunning themselves.

“Chest still says it’s an elder treasure. With an exceptional inside,” Jonathan added, to inform Laura.

“I tend to be suspicious of those three elite guardians now,” she said.

The legged snakes were different. While all the other snakes had muted brownish colours, the three were blue, red and yellow, in very garish bright colours. The only similarity was their heads and tail tips, which were white in each case.

Sickened Oasis Najash

Level 76 elite

Health: 2019

Mind: 738

Endurance: 1053

Aether: 1203

Sunning Oasis Najash

Level 76 elite

Health: 1650

Mind: 1441

Endurance: 289

Aether: 2407

Slippery Oasis Najash

Level 76 elite

Health: 2019

Mind: 738

Endurance: 1817

Aether: 0

“Okay. Three enemies, and very obviously three different threats,” Jonas mused.

“Any detail in the book?”

“Nope. ‘three snakes’, that’s it. We’re on our own.”

“Strategy time,” Ira said. “The big threat is going to be the sunning one.”

“Lots of aether, low health, it’s one that use magical attacks, you mean,” Alton said.

“Probably”, Jonas replied. “and I agree with Ira. That’s pretty much our first target. Unless any of the other springs bad surprises on us.”

“The slippery one seems to be pure combat. Maybe a howl or something similar. I’ll take that one,” Ira added.

“I’ll take the other then, but… do you want the caster or do I take it as well?” Jonathan asked.

“Guss? You’re probably the guy to answer that one, seeing as you’re going to focus on the one that gets the two.”

“If it’s hard attacks, Ira’s got a bigger margin. Aether-based special attacks can be either.”

“Okay. Jonathan, I charge in, you peel out the sickened away, then everyone piles on the magical one. Sounds good, Jonas?”

“Sounds good. The amount of health we’ve got to drop is big, but they’re elite attacks, not elder. Guss, you call out if we’re not good.”

“No problem.”

“Let’s spread. Melee left, range right.”

Sickened Oasis Najash emits foul humours. -2 mind, aether, endurance and health per second.

Slippery Oasis Najash releases damp fog. -1 AGI, DEX and STR, increasing.

Sunning Oasis Najash drinks the light. -10% INT to everyone, the user gains double the difference.

“Oh, bollocks,” Jonas swore.

On a normal group of Professionals, this might not be too hard. Even less if there was no spell caster around.

But the team was all with Adjustment V. Or VI. All of them had Intellect far in excess of what a normal Professional of their profession path would. And all that excess would go to boost the obvious caster.

Sickened Oasis Najash spits. 76 damage (reduced by defence), 3 targets in front

As Jonas had expected, the Najash had a ranged attack to its front. Unfortunately, Jonathan was still trying to position the creature, and as a result, the two robed men were splashed by the attack, forcing Guss to start with regeneration on Jonas, then himself pretty much immediately. The attack might not be bad, but it still dropped more than 10% health in Jonas’ case.

“Attack incoming.”

Sunning Oasis Najash pours fire, dealing 46-52 damage (4 targets affected, 2 avoided)

Sunning Oasis Najash unleash lightning, dealing 72 damage (305+12 defence)

“That’s still a big bite,” Ira said, grimacing from the onslaught.

“Focus. Thankfully, its health isn’t that big,” Jonas replied.

At least, the legged snake was not resistant to fire or anything like that, thought Jonas as he launched a steady stream of Flame Bolts.

“Sunning down. Half aether,” Guss announced.

“We’re good then. Keep it up, Guss,” Jonas replied. “Sickened next,” he announced. The snake actually twisted and turned whenever he spat, and the result was usually two or three people getting splashed every time. By comparison, the slippery snake… caused Ira’s hit to miss. Annoying, but no danger.

“Sickened down. I’m nearly out,” Guss announced.

“I am going to be angry if you leave me to die,” Ira replied, the lightness in his tone belying the words.

Oasis Najash × 3: 6774XP/6 contributors = 1070XP

You have completed Outapis Huge Oasis lair.

“That was nasty,” Guss said contemplating the less than 300 health out of 2000 left on Ira’s descriptor.

Jonathan had been readying himself for a desperate attempt to relieve him and distract the slippery snake… assuming his own swords would find purchase.

“No kidding. Thankfully, that’s only an 85 lair,” he said.

“And we’re about 94 average. How does everyone else do those?”

“From what the rest at the faire tells me, I guess they wait until they’re all in their early to mid-hundreds or they have very good gear. We’re levelling too fast, probably. Your cousin said they were still doing some tier two from time to time, even though he’s a full tier three, so it’s that kind of lairs. You only need to complete lower lairs in a zone to be able to access tier three,” Jonas replied.

“The scorpion one was only five levels below, and so much easier.”

“Well, that’s the big lair of the zone. It must count for something.”

Jonas started to write his notes on the combat in the margin of the booklet, while Laura moved to the treasure.

Watery Steel Sollerets

Feet

Exceptional equipment

Requires: Level 68

Provides: 41 defence rating, FOC+8, +92 aether, +1 Notice Attack rank

“Wow.”

“Notice Attack… that’s your skill, Jonathan, right?” Ira asked.

“Yes. I got skills all over the place now, but that one’s from back when I was Watcher. Still very useful.”

“Then I guess it goes to you?”

“Probably. Focus and the skill seem to go together, although I have no idea about the aether. Presumably, there are skills that use it.”

“Congratulations on the lair prize, then,” Ira admitted.

“Want my old ones?”

“Nope, got better still,” he replied.

“So, how did you like the biggest lair of the zone,” Jonas asked.

“Great. Even better with the extra treasure at the start,” Laura said.

“You say that because you got both a hammer and a belt,” Guss chided her.

“No. Okay, maybe. But everything we found was an upgrade. That’s the kind of lair we can use,” she replied.

“Enjoy it, because most of the lairs won’t be as generous. Easier yes, but with fewer guardians. But yes, we’re certainly going to come back every time for more, now that we have an idea how this one works. So, it’s Friday. Do we head back to Gatepost, or do we wait until next week to check back in?”

Jonas could see some hesitations, but then the answer came out.

“Let’s keep going. We’ll miss faire again, but there are enough people nowadays that they don’t really wait for us.”

“Although they’re going to faint when they see all the stuff we’re bringing.”

“Be careful, though. We may have to discard some stuff if we keep doing this for a week,” Jonas warned.