An Eldritch Hell

Fluffles returned to the others at the pub, "who's up for an adventure?" she asked, sitting at the table.

"What's the quest this time?" Ashfire leaned back in her chair, "hope it's not a glitched mission again."

"Our quest is in the Eldritch world," Fluffles looked over to Cynthes, "What's it like there?"

Cynthes dragged her nail along her chin, "how to answer that. The developers tried their best at making the world as weird as possible."

"Did it feel like an Eldritch world? Where creatures beyond imagination roam," Doctor0 joked, since creating a world beyond comprehension was limited to one's imagination.

"It's more like every developer mixed together everything they considered crazy," Cynthes answered, trying to explain the world as best she could.

"Well, I'm ready to go," Dextrix stated as she stood up. The others stood up and headed over to the transporter.

First, they headed to a vendor to grab a key. The key to Steampunk had a green gemstone, while the one to Eldritch had a purple one. Once they had the key, the group headed towards the teleporter, going into the redundantly named incorporated inc. It was just as gloomy as the last time Fluffles went through here.

"Welcome back," the pale NPC spoke with a smirk. "With a group like this, should I assume you're ready to create a guild?"

"Can we?" Fluffles asked curiously.

"No, you cannot," The NPC replied sternly.

"Then why do you ask?" Fluffles growled and glared at the NPC.

"It's my job to ask people things they can't do, and I do love my job," The NPC chuckled as it smiled mockingly at Fluffles.

"Don't fight with the NPC; you'll only frustrate yourself," Detrix stated, trying to calm Fluffles down. "We'll be taking the transporter."

The NPC would hit a button, and the elevator doors open. It took the group down to the transporter, deep underground. The group used their keys and opened multiple portals as they jumped through, heading to the Eldritch world.

The Eldritch teleporter would be a giant skull with fangs surrounding the mouth. It had five eye holes, one in the center of its face and two on each side. The teeth would spin rapidly, opening the portal that the group exited from and appearing in a cave decorated with skulls with purple flames inside.

"We're here...what is that monstrosity!" Fluffles screamed as she turned and noticed the giant skull. Her eyes went wide as she couldn't look away.

"It's the teleporter. I heard in the beta it used to be made of stone with some symbols carved into it," Cynthes explained.

"That sounds boring for an Eldritch world, probably why they changed it," Ashfire commented.

"Better get used to it, Fluffles. We'll see creepier things if this is a true Eldritch world." Doctor0 smirked as Fluffles gave a sideways glare.

The group followed the skull lights to the cave's exit as an NPC with a squid head attached to a humanoid body stepped out in front of them.

"You four are not from this world," It spoke, as the tentacles pointed at everyone but Cynthes. "If you wish to survive, you'll have to take this slug and let it burrow into your ear and allow it to reach your brain, or you'll go mad."

"Nope, not happening. That's disgusting and gross. No!" Ashfire gagged as her face contorted in disgust.

"Don't be a baby; it's only a game," Detrix sighed, shaking her head at Ashfire's overreaction. She took the slug and pressed it against her year as it buried inside. Her body shivers as she squinted her eyes, "it feels a bit slimy as it slithers in."

Ashfire continued to make gagging noises as Doctor0 grabbed the slug and looked it over, "I wonder if I could extract its DNA and create medicine that protects from madness."

"You have no idea how it works, you dark elf," The NPC uses its tentacles to snatch the slug away from Doctor0 before grabbing her and shoving the slug into her ear. "Now quit wasting my time."

"Ahh, oh god, what sick bastard thought of this!" Doctor0 screamed out.

The NPC looked at Fluffles and Ashfire, "you two are the only ones left."

"No, this is just a horrible scam because a crazy developer thought it would be funny!" Ashfire bolts past the NPC and runs outside the cave. It only took a moment before the group heard Ashfire's screams of agony. "What the hell, my head, it hurts. It's creating a burning sensation throughout my body. My limbs are becoming heavy. Make it stop!"

Ashfire crawls back into the cave; her health nearly depleted, with her skin looking somewhere between blue and green. Her body convulses on the ground as she starts hyperventilating.

The NPC walks over to Ashfire and pushes a slug into her ear. Once it's deep inside, her body slowly recovers, allowing her to stand back up with her body still shaking. "I...hate....this place."

"You're the only one left," The NPC announces to Fluffles, who shakes her head.

"Do you want to experience what she did?" the NPC asks curiously, looking over to Ashfire and back to Fluffles.

Fluffles' eyes widen as her ears lay back sheepishly; she walks over to the NPC, squinting her eyes and hoping the suffering is quick. The NPC puts a slug inside her feline ear as it starts to wriggle inside, causing Fluffles to whine helplessly. She brings up her hands and starts rubbing them along her ears as trying to clean and scratch them, wanting the unpleasant feeling to stop. Once the horrid feeling stopped, Fluffles meowed softly like a wounded pet.

"You're free to go," the NPC states and moves aside. "Oh, those slugs will die if you leave this world. So if you leave and come back, you'll need another one."

Those words caused everyone but Cynthes to glare at the NPC. "is killing NPCs a thing in this game?" Ashfire asked, imagining the horrific things she wanted to do.

"Not in this game, regrettably," Detrix stated.

As the party stepped out of the cave, everything looked so strange. The crescent sun shined down on everyone as the sky waved like a flag. The ground was a marsh without water, but fine shards of glass shifting like water with tree roots growing up from the ground, the end of the tree roots had a purple fruit with a horrified face.

"We are in a safe zone, right?" Fluffles asked. Everything here looked like it would attack them at any moment.

"We're still safe," Cynthes assured them but pointed over to an area with a tornado in the sky with tentacles coming from it, "However, you're not safe over there."

"It'd be scared if it was a safe zone," Ashfire stated, her eyes looking into the sky.

The group moved to the center of the safe zone, and multiple houses from across history warped into each other. Brick houses are held up by stone pillars, while others are stacked on top of each other, leading up into the sky.

"So, where are we going?" Detrix asked, looking over to Fluffles.

"Find someone who knows about the energy converter. That's all it says," Fluffles stated, looking at the quest menu.

Cynthes scratched her head, "perhaps if I take you to the NPCs who gave me quests would help."

"Couldn't hurt," Fluffles nodded.

Cynthes walked over to one of the stacked houses and knocked on it, causing a giant tentacle from a house three stories up to grab her and pull her inside.

"I don't wanna be here!" Ashfire cries as the rest of the group knock on the door with a tentacle grabbing them.

The inside of the house twisted into a spiral as objected stretched, reaching both the floor and roof. Fluffles dropped to her hands and knees with her claws gripping into a rug. "This is nauseating. I don't know if I'm going to fall or not."

"Just follow me," Cynthes announced and walked forward, naturally moving from the ceiling, down onto a wall and twisting back up on the roof as she walked around a table and through a door.

Following Cynthes' movements, the group reaches the door and goes through. The party ends up in a long hallway that starts bright but gets darker the further you go in until you notice the green eyes staring at them.

When the group reached the end, the green eyes stared down at everyone, "What brings the unenlightened here?" the creature asked, referring to the none eldritch players, its voice vibrating in everyone's minds.

"This..device," Fluffles stammers out, as being near this creature was causing a massive headache for her.

A long green slithering arm reached out from the darkness. The arm had a mouth on the end that latched onto the device and brought it closer. "Hmm, I see. Though, I have no reason to tell you anything. Unless you bring me something that I might find interesting."

Despite not seeing its face, Fluffles knew it was mocking them. Probably thinking it would be amuseing to watch them try and find something it consideres interesting. However, they had no choice but to agree to progress the quest.

"You're lucky we can't shove a slug into you,." Fluffles mumbled to herself as the group left to search.