The Deep Woods were just as spooky as the last time I visited, filled with weird lighting and unsettling enemies. I sped through the foliage, avoiding the lesser mobs that blocked my path. Trying to kill them for that small bit of exp wasn’t worth the effort. Especially now that the exp requirement for leveling up was so much higher than it was before.

I kept my ears strained for the telltale sounds of the Wild Hunt that would be rampaging through the area.

Carman herself wasn’t a hard fight, the problem was that you couldn’t get her to spawn until you triggered the right conditions. You had to first track down and get a hidden quest from the Queen of Briarwood, Titania. Who could usually be found in the Deep Woods, at the head of the Wild Hunt.

I made sure to keep my own footsteps as quiet as possible so as not to interfere with my hearing. The Deep Woods remained deathly silent, without so much as a whisper in the wind.

Then I heard it. The distant chime of a bell. The sound echoed through the area in a crisp note, reverberating briefly before fading.

To the left.

I sprinted forwards through the woods, tracking the sound. The brambles of the undergrowth whipped in my face. I took a flying leap up into dense foliage of the trees. High up in the air, my scope of view was a lot wider. Not that there was a lot to see amidst the dense mess of tree trunks. My boots skidded over smooth tree bark as I launched myself from tree to tree.

Another bell to my right. I changed course and veered off in that direction.

The chimes were few and far in between. I had to stop occasionally to get my bearings. Sometimes I’d lose the trail and have to backtrack. The Wild Hunt seemed to be moving in circles, leading me on a wild goose chase through the Deep Woods.

It felt like I’d passed by the same ruins ten times, but I knew that I was getting closer. Slowly but surely.

As I sped through the trees, the ringing of the bells gradually grew louder and more frequent. Almost there…

I heard the Wild Hunt before I saw it.

Isolated rings became the jingles of harnesses, the stomp of my boots against the trees joined by the stampeding of hundreds of feet.

Shouting. Chanting. The banging of drums. The solitary rings of the bells became a cacophony of noise as I drew closer to the source. The very air seemed to shake and buzz to the rhythm of a herd of stampeding elephants. It sounded horrible, and exactly like how it had been the first time I saw the Hunt.

Then in came the diverse army of whooping, hollering creatures. They swept through the Forest in a tidal wave of noise. I recognised some of them from the first time, such as the flagbearer gnat, looking as ridiculous as before. This time, though, they were somehow even rowdier than the first time. Their shouting had reached deafening levels, and they danced while they ran.

Amidst the chaos, I caught a glimpse of the White Lady, or rather, Titania. Her expression was blank, her entire being paper white amongst the darkness of the Deep Woods. It was even more apparent here that shadows could not touch her, just fizzling out into the all encompassing white that she embodied.

For a moment, I saw her face standing out starkly against her followers. Then she was gone, swallowed up by the dancing, frolicking Hunt as they rampaged through the woods.

I picked up the pace to follow them.

The Hunt moved quickly for a group so large. They seemed to phase through trees and bushes without having to go around at all. I had a bit of difficulty keeping up, needing to duck over and under tree branches.

I began using Short Range Teleport to make the larger jumps, making sure to keep the Hunt in my sight at all times. With how they ghosted through the scenery, it was easy to lose track of them amongst the undergrowth.

“Speed.”

I activated Gift of the Wind and moved even faster. The world began to blur in my peripherals as I focused on a dancing fetus bringing up the rear of the group. Closer… closer… My legs slammed against tree trunks, moving like clockwork.

There was a flash of white amidst the myriad of colours.

Titania.

I started to snap my fingers as fast as I could, chaining teleports one after the other as I went speeding through the air. The wind whipped in my face. I was forced to duck my head down against the wind and plough forwards.

The world flashed black and white for a second as something smacked me out of the air. I dropped to the ground, the sudden impact with the ground stunning me for a brief few seconds. But there was no time to recover. All of a sudden, I was a part of the roaring, rushing wave of creatures. I couldn’t actively move anymore. I was swept, stumbling backwards, along with the Hunt.

I hopped on one foot, trying to regain my balance as I was towed along behind a pig headed lion. My foot was stepped on. Something screamed in my ear. I twisted myself sideways, trying to get my bearings.

Then I saw another flash of white, not too far ahead of me.

The Queen!

I snapped my fingers, stumbling as my teleport landed me amidst a pack of screaming satyrs. And then again. And again. I teleported face first into a tree trunk. Then tripped over a branch. It was hard to see where I was going with all the things in the way. Unlike them, I was fully corporeal.

My MP reserves were getting dangerously low, but I kept at it. Chasing the white figure, slowly but surely closing the distance.

Almost there.

I reached out and grabbed at the hem of a shining white cloth.

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Suddenly, everything fell silent.

The shoving sensation at my back stopped. I didn’t bother looking around. I knew the Wild Hunt had disappeared now that I’d caught up to Titania.

The Queen of Briarwood stood before me, her back tall and rigid like a blank wall. She looked ominous and out of place in the dark woods, the sheer whiteness of her seeming to suck all the colours out of the surroundings.

Slowly, she turned.

“Ah… Chosen One,” she said emotionlessly. “How dare you…disrupt the Hunt. What do you have to say for yourself?”

“Titania,” I said. I waited for the compulsive script to take hold of my tongue and say what I had to for me.

One second. Two. Three. It never came.

Huh.

“What do you have to say for yourself?” she repeated.

“Uhh…” I racked my brains for the right answer. I swear it wasn’t all that long ago since I last did this section ingame… What was it again? “I apologise.”

“An apology… a good thing. But not enough,” Titania tilted her head, her white eyes unblinking. “What use are apologies if the wronged does not accept them?”

Was this a part of the script?

“Umm…”

“What if the wronged refuses your apology?”

“Then there’s not much you can do,” I really could not remember what I was supposed to say here, so I decided to wing it. “You can’t force someone to accept your apology. You can only keep being sorry and remember not to make the same mistake next time.”

“That’s right,” Titania nodded. “There is nothing you can do. Begone. I do not accept your apology.”

She turned and began drifting off through the trees.

Uhh.

“I… take back what I said,” I jogged alongside her. “There is something you ca— uhh, I can do. I can atone. For what I’ve done.”

“Is that so… Interesting…” Titania continued sailing along. Not at the breakneck speed the Hunt had been moving at, but a leisurely stroll. “How will you atone?”

“I’ll defeat the evil in these forests,” I followed her. I still needed that quest to be able to fight Carman.

Titania shook her head.

“But that is what you want, is it not?” For someone whose eyes were completely blank, she had a very piercing glare. “You want to fight the evil. It can hardly be considered atonement if you aimed to do so from the start.”

“Well…” I was at a loss for words. “What would you have me do to atone?”

She fell silent, seemingly in thought.

“Unfortunate. Only your idea occurs to me,” she said flatly. “I was not designed to consider other options.”

We walked in silence for a few moments. I took the time to take a glimpse at her face. Throughout the whole conversation, there had been no expressions to be seen. It was hard to tell whether she was happy or unsatisfied with my answers, since everything, from her face down to her tone, was emotionless.

“Chosen One… Let us talk about responsibility,” she told me all of a sudden, her head slightly turned to the side.

“Sure.”

“Is responsibility chosen? Or forced upon us?”

I thought for a moment.

“It depends, I’d think,” I replied. “Some come along with the roles we have, while for others, we can decide to take responsibility.”

“And to what extent must we fulfill our responsibilities?”

“To the best of our abilities.”

Titania lifted a bony hand and pointed into the distance, seemingly in the direction of the Capital.

“There is my liege,” she then turned and pointed in the other direction. “And there is my fellow.”

I turned to follow her pointing finger.

“Uh huh.”

“My liege made me his subordinate… and named me Queen. He then named my fellows… my son and daughter. Pronouncing us family.”

“You mean Rue and Rosa?” I asked.

She nodded.

“Now, my fellow and my liege are at odds. Trapped in a predicament am I. To fulfill my responsibility to my liege? Or to fulfill that to my children in name?”

“I’m guessing you can’t do both?”

Her white eyes grew distant.

“My son draws the ire of the Chosen Ones. My daughter draws the ire of my liege. Is it my responsibility to aid my children? Or remain loyal to my liege?”

“…” I thought about it for a moment. “I don’t think I can help you answer that question.”

“Oh? And why is that?”

“Well, I’m not in your position, so I don’t know what it’s like,” I said slowly. “I can’t determine which option is right or wrong. Only you can do that.”

“So you won’t help me?” she said. “Because it is not your place to do so?”

Ouch. Those words sounded vaguely familiar. Like the words I’d said to a certain kid in the void.

That realization made me feel more than a smidge self conscious about what I’d just said. And maybe a bit hypocritical.

“Oh, I’ll help,” I said hurriedly. “Just… not with making the decision.”

The queen fell silent.

Then, she began to smile.

Her pristine lips peeled back to reveal her jagged teeth, then even further till her skin ripped and stretched up the sides. Her eyes crinkled up as she gnashed her teeth together in a gruesome grin.

I couldn’t help but take a step back.

“Good. Good,” Titania swayed back and forth on her feet, her head in her hands. “Help me. Yes. Yes! To help me. To shoulder my responsibility for me. This will be your atonement.”

“Hey, I never said I’d do that—”

“Face the Creator,” she cackled. “Tell him to free my children.”

She began to crumple like a sheet of paper, her body folding in on itself until nothing remained.

“Keep your word, Chosen One,” her voice echoed amidst the trees. “Or you will regret it.”

Hidden Quest: The Hunt’s Target

Defeat the witch, Carman, who lingers in the Deep Woods.

Side Quest: Atonement

Defeat Johan and free the crowns of Briarwood.

Penalty for failure:

Disconnection.