“Here it is. I hope they drop bacon. I could use some bacon. We didn’t take enough,” Ira said.
The ruins they had found on their first round still stood on the small plateau. The whole area was large enough that they had been able to skip around the dangerous parts of the ruins themselves. But then, they had been around level 30 at the time, freshly promoted to their tier two. Trying to tackle those boars would have been extremely dangerous. The closest of the sounder was rooting in the ground, but not in a very concentrated manner. It was like the sow was making time. Or maybe not really hungry.
Thick-skin Sow
Level 53 veteran
Health: 822
Mind: 317
Endurance: 706
Aether: 0
Jonas pulled out his booklet to check the section. As usual for the zone, the description was sparse, and only mildly helpful. He read a couple of paragraphs, then snapped the book shut and put it back into his backpack.
“At least we don’t have to dig into cellars. It’s not like that ruin Cowen dragged us into Inetun where you have to check every cellar or so until you find the real guardians. Apparently, it’s all surface ruins.”
“Goody!” Ira said.
“The catch is that apparently, the ruins are expansive and the guardians are wandering around, not staying in place.”
“Eh? They’re not guarding their treasures?”
“Apparently… they all have a bag strapped on their backs. Meaning the treasure is wandering along with them.”
“Can we rip off their bags and run then?”
“I don’t think that would work. All the treasure boxes we found don’t open unless the guardian is defeated. It’s not that they’ve got some lock, they just won’t open,” Laura replied to Ira’s suggestion.
“So, let’s begin,” Ira said.
“You’re good?” Jonas asked for confirmation.
“Yes. That concussion status still has 6 hours to go, but it’s minus-one to each affected Potential now, so it’s not a big problem,” he replied.
“Can’t get it lower. Mitigate stopped having any effect, no matter how much I use it and Cleanse… well, it removes a minute. Not going to spend an hour casting spells to clear it completely,” Guss injected.
“I’m suspecting that boars like to headbutt too,” Alton said.
“Really?... The ones we fought back at the beginning didn’t? Did they?”
“There’s only one way to test,” the Piercer replied cheerily.
Ira sighed and advanced toward the ruins. The rooting sow raised her head, emitted a loud snort noise, pawed the ground and charged.
“So many boars, so little treasure,” Ira complained.
“I didn’t realize the ruins were that extensive,” Jonas admitted.
“At least I got my level 62. Caught up with the rest of you guys.”
“We’re also getting good XP out of those boars. We might get to 63 before we leave,” Guss replied.
“Four more levels to your next Milestone, right?” Jonas asked for confirmation.
“38 in Layman. One every 14 levels, so it’s at 42. But it’s taking ages,” Ira replied.
“It gets worse and worse as you go in tiers; you get more Professions weighing you down, and you need more levels for the next tiers. Douglas said she could take entire weeks between levels at the worst of their levelling.”
“But Adaptation speeds that up. At least…”
“Not enough to compensate for additional Professions, but it does. Babbage did the math, and he says we basically will never go down in amount of XP. But since the XP from the critters keeps growing, we will at one point start to speed up with less time spent at each equivalent level.”
“Oh? We do?”
“Probably around tier eight. Or maybe nine. Assuming those exist.”
“Drat. That’s decades in the future. Cowen was tier six, right. Even that Frenchman was only at tier seven, after 18 years in the Labyrinth.”
“We will level faster. But it still takes time.”
“Will we catch up to them? I mean, by the time we’re tier six, they’ll have gained on us, right?” Jonathan asked.
“We probably will. If there’s a tier nine… I think we might get there before anyone else,” Jonas speculated.
“Then we’ll be the real trailblazers,” Ira said.
“Guys? Guess what is on that boar’s back…” Laura said, pointing.
Thick-skin Swine
Level 52 elite
Health: 1401
Mind: 541
Endurance: 1201
Aether: 0
“At last. One real guardian.”
The boar pawed like the rest of them and charged straight into the clump of people as the team dispersed, letting just Ira and Jonathan deal with the incoming beast.
The beast’s thick head ended up bowling Jonathan to the ground before being stopped by Ira’s plunging its zweihander sword in front of the beast. The second Layman quickly rose up and joined the fight followed by the rest of the team.
The elite, overall, was merely a souped-up version of the veteran sows and boars that roamed around. Its only special additional attack was a “ruined root breath” that sapped lightly Presence and Resilience, none of which mattered much for the team for their fighting abilities.
For all their efforts, they only got a basic piece of equipment without any vital or potential. The fun bit occurred after the beast finished to decompose in its usually fast manner, as the pouch tied to its back was also left.
Boar Strapped Pouch
Carry Container
Basic equipment
Requires: none
Provides: about 9 pounds and 245 cubic inches
“Hey, you can also use their treasure bag,” Guss said after picking the discarded bag.
“Wait, I missed that?” Laura exclaimed.
“Too focused on the content, I guess,” the Hospitaler replied lightly.
As the evening was drawing closer, Jonas had to conclude that it was unlikely they would finish the ruins today. They’d found two more elite swine, both with bags and minor items – common ones, twice, but still useful – and little else. But at least one of the pouches was full of boar meat stripes, which, hopefully, they could turn into the coveted bacon-like.
“Let’s stop there guys. Unless we luck out on the last guardians, we can’t complete the lair right now. I suggest we retreat and camp far away. I’m not going to sleep in any of the houses, not with the boars roaming around,” Jonas announced.
Both Ira and Alton scanned around for the last visible boars, but they only spotted veterans, including one surrounded by a gaggle of 3 minion-type piglets.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“Okay, lead away.”
They retreated a quarter of a mile away from the bounds of the ruins. The boar never seemed to stray far from the pathways between the various individual buildings, so they should be well out of the range at which they noticed Professionals. They broke out the rations as the sun was getting close to the mountainside in the west and the shadows lengthened.
“Anyone knows what the ruins are about? Any ideas?” Guss asked.
“It looks like there used to be a full town, alright,” Jonas admitted.
“There’s all kind of ruins in the zones we’ve visited, but nobody’s around. And there are no fields for cultivation, no roads, nothing,” Jonathan added.
“There were roads in the zones where Luther and Ada drove us,” Laura countered.
“Yes, but I remember them saying they actually made those roads. Or rather, the Royal Labyrinth Company did. When they got into the zones fifteen years ago, it was all wildland,” Guss replied.
“So it’s all separate individual ruins. Nothing else,” Jonathan summarized.
“Did anyone find non-ruins? Like actual towns?” Laura asked.
“I have no idea,” Jonas answered. He pulled the booklet, and quickly scanned the table of summaries before adding, “I probably need to read every entry to see. Or we’ll have to wait until we’re back in town and ask.”
“I think if there were actual cities with people and all, everyone would have heard about it,” Ira injected.
“There are no people inside the Labyrinth. Except for us, that is,” Guss said.
“And the French,” Jonathan added.
“Well, and strictly speaking, the Colonials, and the Chinese. And those people in Africa your cousin’s bosses spoke of,” Jonas added.
“But no one else.”
“No. No one. Just us and monsters,” Laura said.
The team fell silent around the fire, as the broth Alton had made was starting to bubble slowly.
“It makes it easier, doesn’t it,” Laura finally said.
“What makes what easier?” Guss asked.
“That it’s just monsters and beasts. It’s not as if we fought people,” she replied.
“Fighting Frenchmen would be good,” Jonathan said.
“I don’t think we could fight that Frenchman back when we started. Tier seven? Cowen’s team did, but us? Not for a long time.”
“So what? We’re going to gain levels faster than he ever will.”
“Well, according to Cowen, he was thrown in the Tower. And he's being killed and resurrected so he remains with a massive status. He’s not getting levels there. But then, you’re not going to face him again.”
“I’d like to. But you’re right. Better make the Tyrant pay.”
The conversation died after that. They all ate the supper and pulled out bedding and the like. Despite the high altitude of the mountains, the air was only slightly chilly. More like early autumn than early winter.
Besides, being Professional meant you did not catch colds.
“I love the smell of boar experience in the morning. Give me more XP,” Ira said.
“We’ve almost emptied the ruins, though, and there’s still no traces of any more guardians,” Jonas said.
“The big one is bound to show up. He’s running out of places to hide in,” Ira countered. Then he pointed out.
“Here’s one more.”
Another elite sow was lying on the ground next to a single crumbling stone wall, seemingly half asleep. A small sounder of half a dozen minion piglets was suckling on the sow’s teats. Despite the apparent domesticity of the sight, the team remained wary. The thing might be farm-like, but the ruins’ boars were anything but tame.
“The same strategy as the Froglord then. Jonathan takes the piglets out, I use my Fire Funnel to kill them while we deal with the sow. It’s just an elite, shouldn’t be that long.”
“It’s got minions around. Does this means it’s the last guardian?” Alton asked.
“It’s only elite… but some of the lairs had only elites at the end. We’ll see.”
The team quickly checked for any stray pig that might wander into the fight. Finding the area clear, the two Laymen exchanged looks and started simultaneously jogging toward the encounter, Ira aiming for the mother while Jonathan was readying his swords to pick the piglets.
“Keep them away from the mother. My guess is that she’s going to try to protect them,” Jonas warned.
While Ira swore at the noxious “root” breath attack that the sow had immediately thrown at him, the two other melee fighters circled, moving along the wall toward the back of the sow in case it did decide to spread its attacks.
After dropping a Funnel on the piglets and another on the main fight, Jonas went back to the Fire Bolt staple spell.
Jonathan suddenly swore loudly. The piglet he had been slashing at while fending off the sounder of half a dozen minions had finally fallen. But as he shifted to the next piglet, something unexpected happened. The piglet’s skin crackled, smudged ichor running out. Then the corpse ballooned until it was nearly an adult boar’s size, and the creature rolled back on its hooves.
Plagued Swine
Level 46 elite
Health: 940
Mind: 148
Endurance: 729
Aether: 623
Jonas turned his head at the sound and nearly jumped in surprise at the sight of the elite boar. It looked like a pus-covered version of the boars. Its main differences were that it had low health for an elite of that level… and aether reserves, unlike the rest.
“Jonathan! GET the piglets out of my fire!” he screamed.
“What? Oh, bollocks, they’re all going to transform!” the defender immediately understood.
The second Layman walked back a few paces dragging the piglets along, as the fire funnel’s radius was thankfully short. But the one he had been slashing at emitted a strangled sound and fell, starting to transform as well. Meanwhile, the plagued elite’s black eyes were shifting all around, and seeing the source of the fire he’d been affected with, charged toward Jonas.
Plagued Swine charge deals 63 damage (31+6 defence rating)
“Balls! Need backup,” Jonas yelled as he saw nearly 15% of his health gone already with the big attack.
Plagued Swine contagion: -1 to all Potentials (increasing)
“Coming,” Jonathan replied.
Meanwhile, the other transformed pig was looking for an enemy. Without any clear opponent as the Layman was running away, he latched on the next closest team member, Laura, who was throwing hammer blows at the sow. He charged her, throwing her aim off as she fell down.
“Kill the mother first! Hopefully, she’s the one that causes them to change,” Jonas shouted. He then checked his contagion status, saw it unchanged still despite the increasing mention.
Chaos reigned for a few seconds, as Jonathan tried to catch the plague boar’s attention and Laura was fending the second elite’s attacks.
“Guss?”
“Aether’s good so far. As long as we don’t get another elite instead of a minion,” he replied.
“If any of them change, we’ll run. Keep Laura topped, and don’t bother with my status, it doesn’t look bad,” Jonas informed the Hospitaler.
“Don’t worry. I’ll warn if I’m getting out.”
The boar mother finally fell to the ground, reducing the number of elites to two, and bringing the fight back to manageable proportions. With Jonathan busy on the elite, the three remaining piglets had started to spread over the fight, two of them crowding around Guss and another joining his plagued “brother” to attack Laura.
“We’re good. We’re good,” Jonas breathed.
They almost managed to kill the first elite when Guss yelled. Jonas immediately spotted the piglet on the ground who was starting to transform.
“Okay, they still change even without the mother. We’ll have to kill all five.”
“We’re good now,” Ira reassured his friend. “Come, Guss, I’ll take care of that one.”
The elite expired at that moment, releasing a noxious cloud of contagion. All the team members immediately got a -2 to their Potentials, with Jonas getting a -3 total for a second, before sliding abruptly into -4.
“Keep going. Four more to go.”
With only two elites remaining, the two Laymen managed to keep them in control, and the fight turned orderly. As they died, each plague boar released an additional cloud of their plague, reducing the Potentials of the team again each time.
“The last one,” Ira announced needlessly.
“I hate that plague status. Seriously, -11 to every Potential? That’s awful,” Laura said.
“It’s a fifth of our totals, it’s still not crippling. Your weapons still work fine,” Jonas countered.
“Yes, but the special attacks are bad,” she complained.
“So what. Guss still has aether to last the fight,” Alton replied.
“Almost out, but then the fight is also over…”
Boars (multiples): 11151XP/6 contributors = 1858XP.
You have completed the Plague of Boars lair
“And that’s done. And loads of XP to boot. That was… a bad surprise.”
“Should have guessed it would be worse than just an elite,” Ira said.
Jonas shrugged.
“The guidebook didn’t say anything about the fight. Just about wandering boars. Either they fought a different last boar, or they didn’t even bother. At least I know why it's called that now,” he said.
“Make sure to have a mention. Even if we’re the only ones ever to need fighting here…”
Laura knelt at the spot where the sow's carcass was only starting to decompose now that the fight was over and fished the item from the guardian’s pouch. Weirdly, it was longer than the pouch itself should be able to hold.
Boar-Tusk Staff
Two-Handed
Common equipment
Requires: Level 44
Provides: 18 blunt damage (+2% STR), WIS +6
“Really? Another boar staff? And a common one?” Guss exclaimed.
Laura contemplated the staff, comparing it to the old staff the Hospitaler had been carrying since their first elite kill back months ago.
“Well, it’s different. It’s got tusks instead of the head. More threatening-looking,” she said.
“I don’t have to be threatening. I need to stay unnoticed,” he lamented.
“I don’t think the monsters care much about the end of your staff,” Jonas offered.
Guss accepted the new staff grumbling. He fumbled a bit before managing to tie the old one to his back for carrying. At least, the new one offered a lot more Wisdom boost, and he didn’t use the Cleanse Poison that had been on the old staff that often.
“So, what’s next?” Jonathan asked.
“Nothing, I think,” Jonas replied. “We’ve done five out of seven lairs, and the next one is at the plaza-like structure where we got chased by the mole-creatures underground. That one’s level 65 to 75. Then there’s the sinkhole we’ve found with the newts. Ranging from 70 to 75 as well.”
“Do you think we can handle them?”
“I’d say no. We get surprised every time we try a new final guardian. We manage to do it, but it’s usually a mess. Remember the ‘dancing’ bear and this boar fight.”
“Get just the early guardians, get more loot?” Laura suggested.
“We probably could. Up to you. Otherwise, I’d say we explore, in case there’s an 8th lair hidden that nobody noticed. It’s Thursday, we do it until Saturday, then we recall to Gatepost for some relaxation and maybe checking with the office. Then we’ll do it all over again starting on Monday for the loot. Better gear, a bit more levels, we’ll be in a better place to try the plaza.”
“I vote lair,” Laura said. Ira immediately raised his hand. Then they looked around, but nobody else in the team seemed to follow their lead. Ira looked interrogatively at Jonas, asking for support, but the Aetherist shrugged.
“The ayes do not have it. Sorry Laura,” he said.
“Bah. Next week then.”
Jonas pulled a small piece of paper on which he’d drawn a copy of the zone’s map from the booklet and greyed out the paths they’d taken. He had done that during the night at the bear cave, unable to sleep well with Ira still under concussion.
“Okay, so let’s head… there,” he said, pointing northeast from the ruins.
Guss Bernhard Fullmore
Health: 490/490
Mind: 524/524 (506)
Endurance: 394/394
Aether: 757/757 (716)
Effective level: 62
Level 32 Hospitaler
Level 30 Mender
Experience: 50700/53333
Strength: 33
Dexterity: 25
Agility: 24
Constitution: 24
Stamina: 30
Wisdom: 65 (43)
Focus: 34 (32)
Presence: 27
Fortitude: 35 (30)
Intellect: 28
Defence Rating: 28(+5)
20% faster levelling
10% additional healing
Milestones: Adjustment IV, Mender II, Hospitaler II
Skills: Minor Heal Wounds (2+1), Increase Healing (2), Cleanse Poison (0), Cleanse Disease (0), Patch Wounds (0), Mitigate Disease (0)
Equipment: Simple Burlap Band (17aet), Dirty Burlap Robe (8WIS/5FOR), Wolfhide Night Gloves (1WIS/18mind/+1 minor heal), Braided Burlap Belt (1WIS/14aet), Fringed Burlap Leggings, (2WIS/2FOC) Grey Sandals (6WIS), Boar-Tusk Staff (6WIS)