A Disturbance in the Quest

The second half of the fetch quest started normally enough with eight of the original sixteen teams racing to the banks of the River Styx in order to acquire the second ingredient for the Maenad Tear's cure.

Now, finding a single Dust of Shattered Dreams was quite the challenge, let alone five of them. For obtaining these elusive materials required players actually wade into the Styx itself. And as everyone who's studied Greek mythology would know, one does not simply wade into the Styx and expect to come out of it unscathed. A great deal of preparation was needed, something very few of the parties were actually ready for.

"Here, Thorminator," Ath3na handed him the low-grade soul stones she'd acquired from the hell-slimes. "You need to absorb these and replenish your soul core because we'll need your protection spells for the river."

Thorminator pushed her hand away while simultaneously shaking his head.

"You know I only absorb one kind of shadow beast essence," he whined.

"I'd love to indulge you, big man, but I don't have a stock of nether-dragonling stones with me right now," Ath3na offered him the stones in her hand once more. "These won't hurt your chances, promise."

However, Thorminator, who shook his head a second time, was obviously refusing to budge from his stand.

This prompted Lyghtning to ask, "Why're you so set on declining Ath3na's gracious offer?"

"Because I only—"

"—He thinks only absorbing dragonling essence will evolve him into a dragon knight or dragon mage or whatever silly thing boys think about when they think about dragons," Ath3na interrupted.

"Well… that's just nutters, isn't it?" Lyghtning walked over to Ath3na and stood shoulder to shoulder with her as they both glowered at Thorminator. "You realize we're wasting time here while others are already wading into the Styx."

"Stupid of them to rush in like that, if you ask me," Black Howler interrupted.

He pointed toward the edge of the bank where a member of Don Coyote's party, a chocolate-skinned female with frizzy hair and way too little clothing on her body, had just dipped into the green-tinged river. The screams that followed were like nails on a chalkboard to everyone's ear.

Sadly, no one could wade in after her to rescue the poor girl, and so everyone there watched as she fell deeper into the river while the neon green water dissolved her body like toxic sludge. Her last painful scream, hidden by the thick fog that hovered over the Styx, was a sound that carried over to the players on the bank.

Any observers would have noticed that more than a few of these players had shivered at the sight of the woman's death. Indeed, such observers were present now and hidden behind an outcropping of rock that overlooked the riverbank. Morgana and Leo continued their vigilance while enjoying another bucket of butter-flavored popcorn.

"Stupid girl," Morgana commented. "The Styx is the river where souls who must shed their dreams in order to cross through and into the other waters of the Abyss… A mere mortal who hasn't even evolved yet can't wade into it without protection."

"Didn't Achilles dip into the Styx when he was a baby?" Leo remembered the old myth.

"That's different... Achilles was a demigod who was protected by his mother's divine power," Morgana explained.

"Demigods are real," Leo popped another popcorn into his mouth. "Good to know…"

Their attention returned to the riverbank where the remaining teams were now looking less eager to dive into the Styx. But while most seemed unsure with how to proceed, one group was already in a heated discussion on what to do next. This apparent lack of fear caught Leo's eye.

"Where can we find these dragonlings then?" Black Howler asked. "I'm assuming they're close by or you wouldn't be such a pussy about this."

Far from being insulted by Black Howler's condescending tone, Thorminator actually looked relieved that someone had taken his side.

"There's a small nest of dragonlings there." Thorminator pointed to the north. "I only need just a few more to evolve… I can feel it."

"Alright, let's go get this over with," Black Howler agreed.

He took one step northward before Ath3na countered with, "You're just going to agree to this?"

They're not going anywhere." Black Howler pointed a thumb toward the other teams. "So the faster we help this guy get what he wants, the faster we'll be able to get what we need."

Ath3na looked like she wanted to argue some more, but Black Howler had already turned his back on her to head north. Thorminator followed quickly after him.

"You've lost this round, love." Lyghtning patted Ath3na on the shoulder. "Best get to it. We can't have these boys delaying us any further."

She moved to join the others, leaving Ath3na alone with her mouth agape. And after another moment of frustrated silence, the goddess of gaming wisdom had no choice but to follow after them.

While Leo and Morgana tailed behind them, the party traveled further north than Ath3na would have liked. Eventually, after crossing through the dense fog rolling in from the Styx, they found themselves in front of a hollow in the earth filled with ash from burnt wood and leaves. Sleeping in this hollow were four tiger-sized lizards that looked remarkably like Komodo dragons if Komodo dragons were red and breathed fire through their nostrils every time they exhaled.

"So…" Ath3na pulled out her spear. "How do we want to do this, Thorminator?"

"M-me?" Thorminator looked flabbergasted. "Aren't you the tactician in this group?"

"And as the tactician, I'm making use of your knowledge in hunting these things," Ath3na pointed out. "You're the only one of us who has."

Thorminator grinned sheepishly. "Fair point…"

He raised a muscular arm and pointed at the nearest dragonling.

"These things are weak to magic or bludgeoning attacks but their thick hides make them resistant to piercing and slashing damage unless you aim for the heads where the hide is softer," he explained.

He reached into his abyssalweave bag of holding and pulled out large red berries which he showed off to the rest of the group.

"These paprika berries are a dragonling's favorite treat," he pointed out, "I've injected a Death Stinger's paralytic venom into them… should make this battle much, much easier."

"Smart," Ath3na agreed right before glancing sideways at Black Howler. "Not everything needs to be hack and slash."

"And how are we supposed to feed them?" Lyghtning asked.

"Like so…" Thorminator drew closer to the nest. Then, with practiced grace, he threw the berries right between the four sleeping dragonlings.

The sound of the berries hitting the ash-filled pit woke the shadow beasts up. Their reptilian eyes zoned in on the berries, and after snapping jaws at each other to see who got to eat first, the four dragonlings greedily devoured the bait.

"Not very clever, are they?" Lyghtning noted.

Four dead nether-dragonlings later, a visibly weary party picked up four low-grade soul stones, two dragonling hides, and one dragonling fire sack.

"We've got quite the good haul here considering the Abyss' low drop rates…" A bead of sweat dribbled down lyghtning's pointed nose while she passed all four soul stones to Thorminator. "Alright, big guy, absorb away!"

"The rest of us can take a break while we wait for you to finish…" Ath3na agreed.

They all sat around the Dragonling's nest and watched as Thorminator consumed one, two, and then a third soul stone's essence. But while Black Howler looked on without a care, both Lyghtning and Ath3na eyed the soul stones in Thorminator's hand with apparent longing.

Leo, who had dragged Morgana over to observe this party's battle, took note of how both women seemed hungry to partake in the absorbing of essence. It was a thought he'd had before, the possibility that essence could be addictive.

However, before he could voice this thought out to Morgana, she suddenly sat up and turned her head to where they'd come from.

"I sense a disturbance," she said in an otherworldly voice. "Something's happening..."

Right after her ominous premonition, a chorus of screams broke through the background music of lapping water by the riverbank.

"Leo, you didn't plan another surprise for this round, did you?" Morgana asked as her face transformed into one of mild concern.

Leo shook his head. "This challenge was hard enough as is…"

Both of them looked worriedly back at each other, and they weren't alone in their imagined fears.

Ath3na's party had all gotten up nervously and gazed back the way they'd come for it was where the screams were originating from. They could see nothing, however, for the fog had thickened to cover the southern shoreline.

"It's not stopping," Morgana realized.

"I know," Leo agreed.

And without another word, he took off with his feet kicking up dirt as he ran.