The HMSS Sunbearer slowly dropped toward the huge iron tower dominating the section of the docks. There was little noise as it glided over the tower, dropping mooring ropes. It turned and stabilized just as the rickety catwalk rose, drawn in by the roping. The whole footbridge was reminiscent of the ones for ordinary ships, but this specific ship sailed the skies, not the waters.

Cowen, her team, and her prisoner waited until the tower crew signalled permission, then the Professionals started walking down the slope.

“Back to London”, she said to the Frenchman following her.

“Not somthing I expected either,” Deschanel muttered.

“All yours,” she announced to Thorebourne, who was waiting for the prisoner. Over half of the Professionals on guard at the Versailles posting had finally taken a Fast Travel through the locked Gate once the fighting had died down and the whole area finally considered secure, the garrison having surrendered – or fled, for some. A single team remained, “just in case”. So, while Cowen and her team had to been seen off by the same commander barely over two days ago at Versailles, he was already there, looking disgustingly fresh and rested.

“Taking charge,” he replied.

“Come on guys, let’s head to headquarters. I want to know what happened,” Cowen announced.

“Millard has been coordinating the Gate shutdown scouting, he’ll brief you,” Thorebourne said.

“How widespread?” she asked.

“Very.”

Deschanel snorted, and she threw him a furious look before starting down the mooring.

“See, Deschanel, when we shut down a Gate, we do it more thoroughly than you Frenchies,” Thorebourne taunted.

Deschanel contemplated the departing five then followed the smaller team escorting him downstairs.

“She iz too uptight. Takes everything personally.”

“Not military, like me and you. From what I know, she used to be a secretary or something for a big member of the Royal Society. Then she got too close to the Gate back when they were studying it, and… voila. Profession change, indeed.”

“So, where to?”

“For now, the Tower. And this time, they’ll check you carefully. I can’t believe that’s something you can do. A Puppet… that way? Trust a French to imagine something that… idiotic?”

“If it work, it iz not stupid.”

“Well, you’re not going to do it again,” Thorebourne.

“My bowelz are strong, but I would need more preparing,” he replied. “Beside, I told you ze trick. Can’t use another Puppet with another so… close, so you need to demonstrate.”

“Simple and elegant,” Thorebourne admitted.

“The Labyrinth iz always simple and elegant. No interrogation?”

“That will come,” Thorebourne replied.

“I will enjoy the hospitality zen. I look forward to not being kill’t every two dayz zis time,” Deschanel joked, before adding, “you look pained.”

“The War office… knew about the Zulus. And even the fact that they were supplying you with Labyrinth tricks,” he confessed.

“Zey contacted you zen? Zey were not interested much in you – too slow to level – until I told zem about the special Professionals last winter,” Deschanel admitted.

“Wait, what?”

“Why? Zey contacted everyone. But you, zat iz. See, you needed a little help from me,”

Thorebourne could have sworn that Deschanel looked smug.

Jonas looked back at the Gate they’d just exited, just in case. Although the fact they’d gone through without a hitch was confirmation in itself.

Transit: Zilbarn - Quanchal

Integrity: 100%

Active

Stability: 100%

“So, what’s the plan? We head immediately back, or we do the lairs here we still have a license for?” Ira asked.

“We’re not pressed for time, although we do need to get gear,” Jonas replied, jerking his head toward Laura.

“I did write out two 4E125 notes, but the Fox Alley next door yields only level 110 or slightly under gear. We did it to get to access tier-four fast, but it’s not going to help us collect for those,” she confirmed.

She’d spotted a few pieces at the Faire, but nothing out of their stockpile of gear was of interest to the handful of Company representatives holding these. The team had outpaced the original “independent” teams – who had a sponsoring noble behind them on paper only. And the days when people traded anything, to keep things running, in the backroom of the Four Elementals were long gone.

Rune-stamped Steel Sword

Off-Hand

Exceptional equipment

Requires: Level 119

Provides: 32 physical base damage (+18% INT), +163 aether, +140 end, +137 mind

An Explorer might be interested… maybe… she’d first thought when seeing the descriptor as she bent over the sword.

The damage was decent for an off-hand, the Potential bonus percentage very good… but a good melee weapon with a strong Intellect secondary was something you would consider as part of a tier-four build, or even tier-five. Not something that you got in the middle of tier-three, which is when a normal Professional would realistically obtain this kind of item. And of course, mixed endurance/aether vitals made a third of the item useless for almost anyone at that tier… and good for their purpose.

Funnily enough, even if it was trash for everyone, it was a decent sidegrade for Jonathan, thanks to the unexpected boost Adjustment VIII provided on all his Potentials, including Intellect. More damage and general vitals, less health than his old sword.

Cat-Pommel Iron Sword

One-Hand

Exceptional equipment

Requires: Level 102

Provides: 29 physical base damage (+14% STR), +134 health, +11 FOR, +11 STA

Still, even though the pieces she’d found were normally worthless trash, they were tier-three Exceptional, and the quality equivalence remained prized. Thus, one 4E125 promise was drafted for a sword.

“Then it’s straight into Quanchal, and we follow the Great Line back. But even though we no longer need to level fast at the moment, we go and do all the useful lairs we can on the way. Even if we end up with gear under 125 at some point, it’s still gear we might trade for us next Faire anyway,” Jonas said.

“Lairs are good experience anyway,” Jonathan noted.

“Onward we go then,” Ira exclaimed as he turned back and crossed into the next zone of the Great Line.

The sense of dread that Jonas had begun to feel when they started going into the tunnel leading deeper into the lair was confirmed. Some lairs had very few veterans or small elite packs on the way in, meaning you might miss them. But when you faced a closed chest with no item listed, you knew someone had gone through not long ago.

Queen’s Barrows

Elite Treasure

empty

Laura tried to open it, but the old and tarnished copper chest refused to budge in the slightest.

“Somebody came through, and more than a day ago, if the chest has relocked,” she finally commented.

“Do we check further in?” Ira asked.

“We’re there, we might as well. Maybe they’re low level and can’t handle the final guardian?” Jonas offered, sounding not entirely convinced.

They followed the twisting tunnels leading deep into the barrow until they found the last room, where a huge stone sarcophagus showed empty, although indicating a mere elite treasure.

“Okay, so we wouldn’t have found quality gear anyway,” Laura offered as a consolation.

“And we will never know what that queen is about…” Ira said.

“You do not want to know,” Jonas replied.

“Do I?”

“Okay. The reference says it’s carrion worms. Crawlers with small mouths and lots of disease-type and mixed attacks.”

“I hate that stuff,” Guss immediately asserted.

Aether-Support had skills that dealt with poisons – any status that affected vitals – and diseases – statuses that affected Potentials. But when a status affected both, none of those skills could do anything.

The Archives had noted the existence of an unknown Remove Affliction skill on one item, but unfortunately, said item was over level 600. There was no chance that Guss could have a peek at unlocking it through Adjustment for a very long time.

Jonas pulled out the small Archive booklet that dealt with Great Line zones beyond Zilbarn and pencilled a note on the lair, indicating that the final boss might not be fixed at the elder level. Hopefully, the unknown team that had actually done the fight would do the same, but you never knew.

Once they exited the Barrows’ entrance, the team hesitated.

“I definitively did not check licenses for the Line at the Town Hall,” Jonas said. “I don’t want to compete with people in this case, even if they didn’t purchase some, so let’s keep the lairs at a minimum. If there’s one close to the way to Airaneron, we’ll see, but we move to the next zone as soon as possible.”

“So… which way?” Ira asked.

Jonas checked the sun above the tropical trees and then pointed out the way.

This particular hill rose against the rest of the hills surrounding it, marking the spot where the Wolven Hilltops outdoor lair culminated. The local creatures were labelled as werewolves, but unlike the ones in the trunk, only the elites stood up on two legs, while the veterans and below looked like stretched out dogs with too-large teeth. They also had pale fur, contrasting with the darker “moon” ones from Castikal.

Jonas reflexively checked the chest located there. The zone guide did not indicate the lair as having heroic encounters, but unless a zone was heavily used, you could always miss the time when the Ancient was present. If the elder present was merely the prelude to such a fight, the content of the chest would inevitably betray the fact. More than one team had been surprised by that unexpected twist, but they had the advantage there.

Wolven Hilltops

Elder Treasure

Exceptional equipment

Requires: Level 126

“So far so good. First pick for the notes payback,” Laura said.

Jonas looked at the elder dominating the hilltop. Despite the light fur, it looked like a smaller copy of Nicteres, the legendary guardian in tier three Castikal.

Tribal Alpha Werewolf

Level 141 elder

Health: 9406

Mind: 2539

Endurance: 9063

Aether: 1091

He almost reflexively checked the sky above, despite the fact that it was barely afternoon.

“It’s not that kind of fight,” Guss said, putting his hand on his shoulder.

“I think I’m going to have a hard time with werewolf-type enemies for some time. I do not cherish losing my mind,” Jonas replied.

“We fought that one already, remember?”

“Well, we didn’t, Cowen did. Left-right-left-right, and it was over with her skills.”

“Time to correct this, then,” Guss countered.

Jonathan raised his two swords and started. He’d been taking over the main defensive part, thanks to his extra vitals and levels, and these days, Ira was simply keeping ready to defend the team, should the need arise. Until then, he simply added his good damage output to the rest, ready to disengage at a moment's notice.

Tribal Alpha Werewolf howls in alarm. All werewolves know of the attack.

“And that’s why Cowen cleared the entire hilltop, and I insisted we do the same,” Jonas said as Jonathan slashed his swords in a bloody cross on the torso of the upright beast.

The critter replied by slashing with its extended claws, trying to inflict some bleeding damage, but Jonathan had a good Focus and the skill to use it to avoid that. At least most of the time.

With an elder of that level around, you have to be precise, Jonas thought, but it wasn’t really challenging. All of them had vitals and Potentials in excess of what you’d have normally at their average level of 160 or so, making those fights manageable.

Jonas kept half-expecting mind attacks and extra critter calls, but of course, none came. The “alpha” had a limited set of attacks like most elders, basically claws, area slashing which Guss compensated easily for, and intimidation to reduce the effectiveness of Potentials.

And that was pretty much it, leading to a foregone conclusion.

Tribal Alpha Werewolf: 4607XP/6 contributors = 743XP.

You have completed Quanchal Wolven Hilltops lair.

“Hey, I got completion,” Alton noted.

“You had to sit out after Jonas failed to get his completion in the Churning Falls, remember?” Jonathan replied.

“So, one more enabled for tier-four Goitros. We’re just missing Jonas…” Ira said.

“We’re probably not doing that Churning Falls lair because it’s too high anyway and out of the way, but there’s another lair none of us did not far from the Gate,” Jonas replied as their loot specialist headed to the chest.

Fur-Padded Steel Legcover

Legs

Exceptional equipment

Requires: Level 126

Provides: +127 defence rating, +13 STA, +13 CON, +13 STR

“Good for the payback note… unless it’s an upgrade for one of us,” Laura sighed upon fishing out the pair of greave-like heavy armour.

“Are you really disappointed we get useful loot? That’s a first,” Ira joked.

She shrugged.

“We have time, but we still need to counter-balance those notes. It’s not my reputation, it’s ours.”

The two defenders conferred quickly on the new piece. Those were the kind of designs where you needed a mundane accessory to complete the gear, as it failed to reach up to the belt. Using another piece of Labyrinth gear to complete the uncovered body areas wouldn’t work – the two pieces in the same place would interfere with each other, and a Professional would not get the bonus of either.

They decided to do a handover, Jonathan upgrading his own legs, and Ira getting the previous piece. Or, at least, when they got a pair of mundane trousers to fit, back at the headquarters, as Jonathan wasn’t about to fight bare-arsed. He folded the plate pieces and put them in his bag, and the team turned and started down the path back to the ground.

Jonas mentally checked his list. Inverted Hill was about the same level as Churning Falls, still within their effective range, between what they needed and what they could do. If they didn’t spot any sign of disturbance, then it would confirm that the mystery team was focused on the area near the Goitros Gate, opposite of Airaneron – and probably higher level than they were.

Not that it mattered. They were headed further in, and they were not coming back to do those lairs, which were just a target of opportunity. Their old tier-three zones would provide enough loot to be ready for spring.

Or maybe all elders will only guard common gear, he mused before stopping himself.