"You can just tell us what you need. We are here to help you. Don't worry about the danger, we are used to it.", said Liam to the old man.
"Allright. I indeed have heard of a suitable item, but are you really confident enough?"
Grandpa Troo hesitated again. The friends were somewhat annoyed but seeing the genuine concern on the old man's face they couldn't get angry. They stayed silent for a moment until Troo continued:
"The danger is quite considerable. The item I have in mind resides within the Southern Wasteland. At the edge of infernal territory. It is a painting worshipped by minions of the devil. If you could retrieve it, it would be an enormous boon for my work."
[Do you wish to accept the quest 'The devilish painting'?]
[Yes]
[No]
"No problem! You can count on us!"
[
[Step one: Find the Shroom Fortress on black heart mountain!]
The quest had been generated, and the friends were ready to leave. However, Grandpa Troo was still worried. He stopped the adventurers, handing them some of his most precious magic scrolls. They were created especially to resist Souravnimn's magic. On such a dangerous mission these scrolls were bound to play an important role. Liam and his friends thanked the old nephilim and were finally allowed to go.
Back in Duabalis they made some preparations while Liam explained the plan for this quest. They also learned from Radiant Shield and Bloody Edge about their quest, arranging for some guild members to assist the duo although the latter unfortunately couldn't share the quest as long the others hadn't unlocked the event yet. Afterwards it was time for the party to start. The eight friends entered the teleporter and appeared in Tority, the southernmost town of the Southern Light Kingdom.
Tority was chaotic as always. Players were preparing to clash with the chaos faction in the Southern Chaotic Mountain. Some extremely brave players would even invade the Southern Wasteland, although their chances for prolonged survival were grim.
Liam and his friends didn't join the PvP battles. Knowing that their quest would be quite dangerous, they had formulated a plan. Or rather Liam had done so.
In the Southern Wasteland outside the towns and cities there were many locations with quests, no different from the rest of Crunaboul. And where there were quests there naturally were players. If it was only fighting the monsters of the Southern Wasteland, Liam and his friends wouldn't be afraid. However, if they were discovered by players they might as well give up on their quest. They would probably be ganged up on from all sides. Thus, they had to create a distraction big enough to clear the field.
Perhaps some naive players would think a shadow cloak was enough to infiltrate the Southern Wasteland. And this might indeed work for a while. But as soon as Liam made a single move, stacking Holy Marks, even the most stupid chaos faction players would smell something amiss.
Thus, an elaborate plan was necessary. The friends split into two teams. Fortune, Silver Blade, Cyclone, and Balm stayed in Tority, waiting for a signal from Liam, who left the town together with Watchful Eye, Quickstep, and Silent Acacia.
Liam's team swiftly approached the Southern Chaotic Mountain. Once there, they donned their shadow cloaks and sneaked along some obscure mountain path. However, at this point the mountain range had been explored a great deal. Even Liam found it impossible to entirely avoid players without making a major detour.
Thus, they met three teams on the way. One was a team of five people wearing shadow cloaks. Both sides eyed each other vigilantly but luckily realized that the opponent was also from the order faction. They didn't come to blows.
Afterwards Liam's team met a team of ten chaos faction players. Although they weren't afraid, they carefully hid to the side and allowed the team to pass before relaying the information back to their friends in Tority.
The third team they met only consisted of two players. However, they were highly vigilant and quite perceptive, discovering Liam and his friends. Luckly, Liam made use of his vast knowledge to convince them that he and his friends were chaos faction players. The duo remained sceptical since Liam wouldn't put away his shadow cloak, but they didn't press the issue, fearing that they were in the weaker position.
The two teams both continued, and Liam could only hope that the duo didn't spread information about them. However, there was no use in worrying. They couldn't change anything. Soon, they reached the Southern Wasteland. Here, there were many cloaked and hooded individuals and Liam's team could advance somewhat openly.
A few minutes later they safely entered Black Flame City. Quickstep, Silent Acacia, and Watchful Eye were quite curious about this infernal city, looking around carefully. Only Liam was already familiar with the place. It felt like an eternity ago when he completed a quest for the undead Liberator Pontrakas, who fought a valiant battle with the city lord Rentrasn'ar outside the city afterwards.
However, Liam wasn't here to bath in nostalgia. Instead, he brought his friends to one of the city's famous taverns, choosing a table in a shadowy corner. They ordered a drink looking like viscous blood. Quickstep carefully took a sip and discovered that it tasted like strawberry ice cream, quite delicious.
"So, what do you wanted to talk to us about?", whispered Silent Acacia carefully towards Liam. The latter lowered his body, gesturing for the others to come closer as he said:
"I think I have discovered a world boss."
"A world boss? Are you sure?!"
"Not entirely. That's why I need your help. You know that one valley in the mountains where those Red-Flame Jackals live, right? Yesterday I went to gather some herbs there…"
"What? Aren't those level 50 monsters? Why did you go there?", asked Watchful Eye. Liam had to suppress his laughter as the man's acting skills really weren't up to par. Luckily it should be enough for their plan.
"How I got there is not important. Anyways, when I was picking herbs there, I suddenly discovered a strange stone stele. After some trying around, I realized that the stone stele could open a portal but only if activated simultaneously with three other steles."
"Hmm. This doesn't sound bad. But how do you know this leads to a world boss?"
"Because there was something written on the stele: Here lies imprisoned the great horror Haola the Green Vine. As soon as I came back, I did some research and this Haola seems to be quite the character. Even if it's not a world boss it is at least a powerful hidden boss. The rewards will definitely be substantial."
The friends continued to talk in hushed voices, extremely secretive. But with their obvious demeanour they had long drawn some attention. Their shadow cloaks only made the scene even more convincing. Spies from big guilds were sitting in the tavern, waiting for exactly these kinds of rumours. Liam glanced at the door out of the corner of his eyes, seeing a warrior in black rushing out and smiled lightly.
After staying for a few minutes longer the team switched to another tavern and repeated the process. Meanwhile they had already informed their friends in Tority. Silver Blade's team also wore their shadow cloaks and had the exact same conversation. Immediately the rumour spread, reaching the ears of all the big guilds. Somewhere in a certain region of hell Wave of Bones, the leader of Graveyard of Heroes, was fighting a gigantic skeleton with his team when he received a message.
[Kaleido: Boss! We caught a rumour about a world boss!]
[Wave of Bones: Again? How many 'world bosses' have you found this week?]
[Kaleido: No, boss! This time we are at least 80% certain! We have confirmed it in the library of Revro'gar. Haola the Green Vine did really exist!]
[Wave of Bones: Hmm. Alright. How many people know about it?]
[Kaleido: Not few I guess. The rumour originates from a tavern.]
[Wave of Bones: Organize a few players to scout out the boss and let the guild members gather. I will clean things up here. If the rumour turns out to be true it's time to hunt a world boss!]
Similar scenes occurred in various guilds. Usually, such rumours came and went like the wind. But this time there was a difference. The information was absolutely true! The world boss did exist and information about it was not that hard to found. Only its secretive prison usually protected the boss from the players. But now the location had been leaked. Soon, the attention of the entire chaos and order factions would be on the world boss. A large war was about to break out, drawing even more attention. And no one would ever know that everything was orchestrated by Liam just so that he and his friends could more conveniently complete their quest.