Quest updated: The Witch of Evermore
Description: The witch is brewing a powerful potion, one that’s sure to knock the beastly Crocs on their ass. Collect the following items to get a taste of the sweet, sweet elixir. 10/1 Vampire Bat Wing. 0/1 Gall bladder of a King Toilet Croc. 0/1 Venom of the Nightstalker Rattler. Happy hunting.
I stared at the wreckage of my ocean kayak, glad now that I’d been tossed from it into the rough waters by the shoreline. Frank let out a high-pitched squawk from my shoulder. I rubbed his feathered chest, happy that Sob had found another of his odd glowing fruits to bolster his magicka.
I turned away from the angry ocean, looking at the hard-packed dirt path in front of me. It twisted deeper into the island through the rolling hills and dense shrubbery. It had taken a full day of rowing to make it from the mainland to the island. My body was aching from the exertion of it. My legs felt like jelly, but the storm overhead, and the downpour that came with it, had me looking for shelter instead of simply falling on my ass in the damp sand of the beach.
Sob’s blue fire lit the way for us, sizzling every time an errant raindrop landed on him. Sob led us to a small cave where I dozed until morning, but little had changed with the rising of the sun. The world outside my cave was still dark and gloomy and drenched with an unyielding rain from the clouds that relentlessly circled overhead.
The longer I stayed on the island, the deeper a sense of dread and foreboding sunk into my core. Like it had when I’d been outcast to the shadow realm, flickers appeared at the very edges of my vision, making me jerk my head around only for nothing to be there.
The whole thing made me uneasy like there was an angry presence here out for blood. But even though I’d been here for hours now, I’d not seen a single monster. Not even the acid-pooping pigeons that flocked through the city of Perth. I knew it wasn't just me that was feeling this way. Sob’s fire was burning hot and fierce while Frank was hopping from foot to foot and vocalizing painfully beside my ear.
Sob was eager to leave the cave, sending bolts of lightning my way until I climbed to my feet and followed him out into the rain. He seemed to know the way, so I followed him. I mumbled to myself as my toes squelched in my soaking boots. Even after a few hours of reprieve in the cave, my skin was already beginning to wrinkle again from the constant wetness. Once upon a time, I would have celebrated the rain; it didn’t come often enough on the farm. Being stuck in it for extended periods of time was really beginning to change my opinion of it, though. I was sick of being wet. I was sick of squelching every time I moved. I was ready for the harsh sun to beat down on me again.
Something strange about the island occurred to me as we walked. There was a surprising lack of infrastructure from what I could see. Everything but the path we were walking on seemed to have been reclaimed by nature or burned to a crisp in unnaturally precise flames.
Something bad had happened here. Something that I wasn’t sure I wanted to get involved in. Even as I walked, I saw the grass creeping over the edges of the path, swallowing the hard-packed earth faster than should have been possible. Nature was claiming the island back with unbridled fury, and I was one of the creatures it was fighting against.
We had better find Nigel as fast as possible than find another way off this island before it took us.
Sob led us along a winding path heading for the whitewashed lighthouse that I could see in the distance from my place atop a hill. That was where the little gnome had to live. The closer we got to the towering building, though, the more I started to think this was a very bad idea.
Maybe it wasn’t so bad if Sob stayed tiny. He was still just as powerful, and now he didn’t need to stay outside whenever we went into a building. Surely those were both important points. Sob didn’t seem to feel the same way. He began moving faster the further we got until he was charging at full gallop, his fiery tail streaming out behind him. The rain carried on the harsh winds stung my face as I followed.
Frank screamed when we reached a fork in the road and flapped into the air, shooting off down the opposite path.
“No, wait,” I bellowed after him, my head swiveling between Sob on one path and Frank barreling down the other. “Sob, come back. Frank’s taken off.”
The horse ignored me as he continued toward the lighthouse. I swore and chased after the idiotic bird. I knew where Sob would be, but finding Frank after strangling Nigel would be more difficult.
My aching body complained as I forced it to run at full speed. It didn’t help much. Frank could fly much faster than I could run, even in this storm. I sped down a dip and used the momentum to charge back up another hill, almost tripping over my own feet in my haste. I stopped at the peak, shielding my eyes from the torrential rainfall with a hand.
The deep valley below me was overflowing with water, the lake in its center long since broken its banks. Only the circle of hills and the river forking off the lake to the north were keeping it in check. Frank was circling over the rippling water like a hawk hunting for prey.
“Get back here, you fool,” I bellowed, my voice dampened by the earsplitting thunder that followed the forking lightning that danced among the clouds.
Lights swirled in the depths of the water in every color of the rainbow. Silvery clouds darted across the surface like dragonflies but formless, chasing the lights that swam down below.
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“What is this place?” I asked.
Frank screeched overhead before dropping back to my shoulder. I clamped my teeth together at the pain of his talons digging into me. He screeched again, dragging a string of curse words from my lips as I rubbed at my ear. The damn bird was going to send me deaf at this rate.
I turned my back on the amazing sight and started back the way we’d come. “There’s no time for this, Frank. We’re looking for Nigel, not some fantastical magic world. I don’t know about you, but I had enough of that in the Shadow Realm.”
Frank whistled and pecked at my ear until I battered him away. I took another step and then found myself yanking at a foot that refused to move. I frowned, looking down. Only mud held my foot in place.
“This… is not good.”
“Shut the hell up!”
“Frank, seriously?”
“Do you come to befoul our earth as your predecessors have done?”
I sighed and closed my eyes for a second before turning to face the source of the soft and delicate voice. One of the silvery clouds had detached from the waters and now floated right in front of my face.
“I’m only here to see the gnome, Nigel. I’ll leave immediately after,” I promised the cloud.
“You are not welcome here.”
Dark pressure pushed down on me. I shuddered against the feeling and swallowed past the lump in my throat. My palms felt hot in my gloves. I pulled my fingers into fists to keep them at my sides and away from my sword.
“I mean you no harm.”
I cringed at my own words, reminded of old and often terrible sci-fi movies I had watched in my life before the Crocs Invasion. What else could you say to an angry cloud of sparkling vapor, though?
“There is blackness in you. We will not allow you to spread it here. Not when we’re so close to restoring balance.”
“Shut the hell up!”
My toes curled in my boots. We were so screwed.
The cloud shifted, focusing itself in front of Frank. “You can not guarantee that.”
My brows dipped at the nonsense. “Pardon?”
Frank slapped me in the face with a wing and screeched. The cloud expanded and then deflated again like someone taking a deep breath.
“You’re sure?” the delicate voice spoke.
“Frank shut the hell up!”
The cloud moved again, returning to floating in front of me. “We will allow your presence on one condition; you perform a task for us.”
I pressed my tongue to the roof of my mouth for a moment to hold back the sigh that threatened to slip out. I didn’t want to anger the cloud, but damn, I was getting sick of being given useless tasks to do. The cloud dipped and engulfed my hand for a moment leaving behind a spherical weight.
“Travel to the Halls of Pain and Sorrow and place this egg at its center. Protect it there until it hatches, then return here for your reward. If you fail, then your life, and this fine feathered creature’s, will be forfeit.”
New Item Received: The Egg of Restoration
Description: A ball of pure energy gifted by the spirits. It holds within it immense power and is prone to attracting danger.
New Quest Received: The Hall of Pain and Sorrow
Description: The spirits of the Haunted Hollow have demanded a tribute. Place the Egg of Restoration in the center of the Hall of Pain and Sorrow and ensure it hatches safely. If I fail, my life will replace the egg.
119 hrs, 59 minutes remaining.
The cloud retreated once the golden words had vanished from my view. The colorful lights flashed as the cloud returned to them. My boot came unstuck from the mud.
“You know, one day you’re going to have to tell me what you really are, Frank. You do too many odd things to be a regular old raven.”
“Shut the hell up!”
“No, I don’t think I will.”
I started running back to the lighthouse where Sob would be waiting for us. It was time to confront the stupid little gnome and give the stallion back his life. Then I’d figure out what to do about this new timed quest. Maybe the gnome would be able to give me a little insight into it as well, like explaining what the hell the glowing lights were in the first place. Calling them spirits didn’t help me very much.
The whitewashed lighthouse was an impressive formation. There was an air about the place that I couldn’t quite put a finger on. Something sinister and wicked at odds with the intended purpose of a lighthouse.
Sob stood on the step by the door, blasting it with powerful bolts of lightning. The door held strong, though, showing only a few char marks where it should have been annihilated.
I stepped up beside the horse, careful not to crush him with my boots, and tried the knob. It turned with ease, the door swinging open on blessedly silent hinges. Evenly spaced torches climbed the walls, lighting it from the base to the tip of the tower in a soft yellow glow.
Sob reared and whinnied before leaping into the building. He paced around the stairs, sparks dancing around his muzzle as he glared at the large treads keeping him from his goal. I bent as I walked, scooping him up without breaking stride.
“Show me where the bastard is,” I said to the horse.
Jabs of electricity buzzed through me, filling me with captivating energy. As I climbed, I drew my sword. Nigel was an ass. I had no doubt he’d fight me every step of the way. In fact, I almost hoped he would. A smile I couldn’t control turned up my lips as the anticipation washed away the gloom that had filled me since the moment I’d set foot on the island.
At the top of the lighthouse, Sob struggled until I let him down and bolted for the far wall. He turned and kicked a small painted wooden panel.
“Fuck off, you prick!” a familiar voice screeched from within the wall. “I don’t want what you’re selling!”
I pushed Sob out of the way as I dropped to a knee, banging the door myself with the hilt of my sword. “Open up, Nigel. I’m done messing around.”