The third and final shard was in the possession of an ancient spirit, who Strongarm found secreted away deep within the Gehemene Marshes. Little known fact about Leon: he was TERRIFIED of ghosts. I would have paid good money to see how that encounter went down.

Huan Strongarm: A Bartfort Folktale, by Lufas Maphaahl

"There," said Leon. "That's the guy."

They had arrived at a small shanty town at the very edge of the Gehemene Marshes, its streets consisting of rickety walkways that were tenuously suspended above the stagnant, stinking waters. Leon had led them to a very old man wearing a battered old raincoat, a floppy hat on his head and a snow white beard on his chin.

"Hello, sir," greeted Julius nervously. "Are you the ferryman?"

"Hmh," he grunted.

"Do you travel the swamp as well?"

"Nhhh," he clarified. "Hmh."

"What's with the mumbling?" Greg asked rudely. "Can't you speak normally?"

"Hmm." The fisherman looked deeply offended. "Hmh."

"Oh I see," the redhead backtracked. "I'm sorry."

"Hmm."

Chris gave him an odd look. "Did you understand that?"

"No."

"We would like to arrange for transport into the Marsh," said Jilk. "Would that be acceptable?"

The old man squinted at them suspiciously. "Hm?"

"Yes, this is all of us."

"Nh-nh. Hm." It was fairly obvious to all of them that he was demanding payment.

"Orken Fever-Dream-Spirit!" Jilk declared, pulling a vile smelling bottle of alcohol from his pocket. "The very best!"

"Mhhhhh!" the ferryman said, accepting the poisonous concoction with eager, grasping hands. "Hmh!"

"Perfect!" Brad grinned. "It's time to go gargoyle hunting!"

The five love interests, the two girls, the two guards and the black wolfdog piled into his boat, which the old man untied from the dock and gently pushed into the open water. It was starting to get dark now, but somehow it only made the marshes more beautiful. Will-o-the-Wisps and fluorescent moss lit the swamp in shades of green and blue, giving the scenery an ethereal, dreamlike air.

Eventually the boat came to a stop against a mud bank, where the ferryman pulled out a fishing rod and threw out his line while he waited for them to finish their business.

"Perfect," smiled Angelica. Everyone had climbed onto the bank and drawn their weapons, ready to begin the hunt. "Now we just need to collect six drams of gargoyle blood, and-"

"Nobody move!" A group of men in filthy armour began to climb out of the mud, their armour covered in reeds to provide camouflage in the mono-coloured environment. The ferryman must not have been working with them, because he immediately shrieked and covered himself with a tarp. "Your money or your lives! Now!"

"Bandits?" Chris demanded incredulously. "Here?"

"I've got this," said Leon confidently, then grew to his intimidating maximum size. The bandits slowly tilted their heads back as they tracked his growth, their jaws dropping in shock and awe. "Trust me, guys. This is not the hill you want to die on."

"I told you," one of them hissed to the guy next to him. "I told you the God Hound was real!"

The standoff was broken when a giant tentacled monster lunged out of the murky water and wrapped itself around Leon's side. "It's the Murkbeast!" The bandits began screaming and fleeing for their lives: the giant wolfdog looked completely nonplussed as the monster tried ineffectually to crush him to death.

"Huan?" Olivia asked nervously. "Are you okay?"

"Of course I'm okay," he said flatly. "If you want to kill me then you're better off bringing a Warmother or an Elder OH MY GOD GUYS I THINK IT'S HUMPING ME! GUYS I THINK IT'S HUMPING ME!"

The monster was, indeed, thrusting its slimy body against his side. Leon yipped as he tried to bite it off, but he had waited too long and it was at too awkward of an angle. "Do what you did against the Orks!" Chris shouted. "Roll over! Roll…" He made a weird gesture with both hands. "Over!"

Leon threw himself onto his side, accidentally causing a small tidal wave as he hit the water. "He meant on land!" Jilk shouted. Olivia and Angelica laughed helplessly in the background. Leon scrambled back onto the bank - the Murkbeast still gleefully rutting against his side - and rolled like he had never rolled before: the creature popped like a zit as he squished it against the ground, its tentacles immediately losing their grip as it died. The wolfdog frantically kicked it off with his hind leg.

"Ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew!"

Brad looked sympathetically at the revolting carcass. "It was beauty that killed the beast."

"Shut the fuck up, Brad!"

They began to make their way across the dark swamp, bumping into their first gargoyles surprisingly quickly. They were two of them, each about as large as a ten year old child, with smooth stone skin and batlike wings that somehow allowed them to fly. They had demonic, beaked faces with smooth, lifeless eyes, which were creepy in ways that Leon couldn't even begin to describe.

"All yours guys!" Leon sat back on his haunches as the bipeds prepared to engage; Earis and Guts gave them a bit of space, but remained more readily able to intervene.

It was a thing of beauty: Julius was able to intercept every attack the monsters made, using his shield as much to attack as he did to defend. Their stone bodies were crumbling beneath the crushing blows, and although his bullets couldn't penetrate their skin Jilk was able to shoot them in the eyes with pinpoint accuracy whenever one of them came close to harming his comrades.

Chris was no longer at a disadvantage due to the range, launching a constant stream of Fire Arrows from his sword that were backed up by Brad's spells. Speaking of whom, when a gargoyle lunged at him he was able to block with the Berserker Sword, its enchantment activating with a swirl of purple magic; with tremendous force he knocked it away, following up with a powerful ice spell; thank to Olivia and Angelica it was a killing blow, their teamwork as impeccable as it was against the automaton in the sewers.

Greg got the second gargoyle: he hurled the Robber King through the air, impaling the creature through the chest. The unique enchantment of the weapon made the stone body easier to puncture; he leapt through air and grabbed the spear by its shaft, using his weight to force the gargoyle to the ground. With a roar he slammed it into the earth, causing its body to shatter.

Greg gripped the spear in his hand, his hand, his heart pounding in his chest. "Didn't break," he whispered. "Thank you, partner."

Leon nodded with deep, almost paternal satisfaction as they began extracting blood from the bodies as they evaporated into black vapour. They had done well.

Without warning, a ghostly figure phased out of the ground. The man was mostly transparent, and horrifically disfigured. "Help! he wailed. "Please! Free me from this eternal unlife!"

Leon's eyes rolled back into his head as he tipped sideways, hitting the dirt in a dead faint.

"Oh, come on!" Jilk shouted, flinging his hands in the air in exasperation. "Again?"

"Hello!" Julius squeaked. The two guards drew their swords and attacked the wraith with intimidating fury, only for their blades to pass through it harmlessly. "It's… uh… It's nice to meet you!"

"Huan!" Angelica screamed, falling to her knees and shaking him by the shoulders. "No! Don't go into the light! Bad dog! Do not go into the light!" She began wildly smacking him across the face.

"Miss Angelica! Calm down!" Olivia tried to pull her off, but she was much stronger than she was expecting. "He just fainted! He'll be fine!"

The ghost began to monologue, apparently deciding to ignore them. "Beware, interlopers! I am the Ghost of Munorus, Counsellor of-"

"He isn't breathing! GUYS HE ISN'T BREATHING!"

"Yes he is, now will you please stop hitting him!"

"Don't interrupt!" Munorus - the ghost - snapped crankily at the two girls. "And besides, the dog clearly just fainted! People do it around me all the time!"

Olivia felt like she should speak on Leon's behalf. "He identifies as a wolfdog."

"Forget the dog!" Julius blushed as they turned to stare at him. "So… uh… spirit… Why are you still here?"

Munorus coughed in embarrassment. "I must haunt my place of death until my soul's pain is eased."

"What pains your soul?" Greg and Guts stood on either side of the spectre, experimentally passing their hands in and out of his incorporeal form.

"I failed at a task and was put to death by my lord. He had commissioned a jewelled necklace for WILL YOU PLEASE STOP DOING THAT!" The redhead and the guard yanked their hands back guiltily. "…for his bride to be, Vaesura, and entrusted it to my care. The day of the wedding, the necklace vanished."

Brad cringed sympathetically. "So what happened when your boss found out?"

"He flew into a rage and had me killed."

"Yikes!" Earis remarked. "He sounds like an unpleasant man!"

"Aye," nodded Munorus. "He dragged me out here to the middle of nowhere, chopped me into pieces and fed me to his dogs." He glanced at Leon; Olivia and Angelica were taking the opportunity to give him a rare belly rub. "Perhaps this is a form of cosmic counterbalance at play."

"So how can we help you?" Chris asked curiously. "I mean, we're here, so we might as well…"

Leon had done an excellent job of training them with the Side Quest Taker's mentality.

"Recover Lady Vaesura's necklace and bring it to me. She had hidden it to discredit me, for she feared my influence over her husband. It lies not far from here, in a long forgotten chamber. She disposed of it there when she learned of my fate, fearing her new husband's wrath. I promise you, this favour shall not go unrewarded."

Guts gave him a sceptical look. "Are you sure? Not for nothing, but it feels like you'd have a hard time holding money when it just passes straight through your pockets."

"That is true," admitted Munorus begrudgingly. "It is quite meagre. But I promise you, Sudani Glass is worth much to the right buyer."

Their jaws dropped as he held out his hand, a floating shard of red glass appearing over his palm. It was like a knife, long and sharp and dangerous.

Guts picked up the unconscious dog and slung him unceremoniously over his shoulder. "One goddamn exorcism, coming right up."

"Be warned," said the ghost ominously. "The cave is guarded by a strange monster, who turns all who meet its gaze into stone. Whatever happens, do not meet its gaze."

They soon came to a foul lake in the deepest parts of the swamp; ghost lights danced over its stinking waters, while a huge, desiccated tree trunk grew from the middle. On the banks sat two statues of enormous snapping turtles. "Urgh," groaned Leon, finally stirring awake. "What happened?"

"Finally!" Guts sighed. "You were getting heavy dude."

He dumped the wolfdog on his feet, stepping back as the two girls gave him an encouraging scritch. "Oh shit, did you guys talk to the ghost already?"

"Was that the plan the whole time?" Julius blinked. "Talk to him and get the third shard?"

"It was, yes." Leon padded between the two statues to a dead tree sprouting from the river bank; he grew to the size of a horse and slammed his shoulder against the trunk, toppling it with ease and creating a makeshift bridge to the hollow tree at the centre of the lake. "Perfect." He padded across the bridge and peered into the deep, dark hole beneath the tree, then turned expectantly to his nine companions. "Right! Who goes in first?"

They tied a rope to the ancient stump, allowing them to lower themselves down one by one. The walls were twisted stone, like rope tied into knots and petrified, and everything was illuminated by a bright white light. The light was coming from a huge eye set into the wall - the monster mentioned by the ghost - which swivelled too and fro as it examined the room. Leon spotted it as he stuck his head around the corner, only for Julius to drag him back before it could meet his gaze.

"Leon!" he hissed. "What the fuck!"

"Sorry. Couldn't resist." The party began discussing ways to get past the creature, leaving Leon to watch and wag his tail. In the game they distracted it with light off a mirror, eventually getting one of the spitting plants that grew in the swamp above and using it to blind-

"Is that a ghost?"

"Gah!" Leon screamed, instantly getting the monster's full attention. "Shit fuck fuck fuck fu-" He leapt back in fright, accidentally stumbling out from behind his rocky cover. For the briefest instant, he met the creature's eye. "Wha-"

Then he was stone, a statue of a wolfdog with an eternal look of surprise on its frozen face. Everyone looked at Greg, whose face was a mask of shock and horror. "I was just making a joke! I didn't mean to… How could I have known that… It was just a joke!"

"I'm going to kill you," whispered Olivia, and for an awful moment he believed her.

Then there was a sudden crack; they turned back to the statue as it began to quiver, pieces of dust falling off as something fought from within: with a roar of exertion Leon exploded out of his stone prison, sending shards of rubble and debris flying in all the directions.

"Goodness gracious great balls of fire!" blurted the monster, its voice hilariously nasally, like a basement nerd with a bad head cold. It shrank out of view, leaving only a massive glass lense set into the cave wall.

Leon growled menacingly, his shoulders scraping against the ceiling as he grew to a frightening size. "I did not enjoy that."

"I am SO sorry!" Greg rushed out. "I didn't mean to… Please don't eat me! I'm wearing a lot of hair gel, and it tastes really, really bad… What are you looking at?"

The rest of the party left their cover, following the wolfdog's eyes: in the middle of the cave was an ancient structure that none of them had ever seen before, a stone platform surrounded by four statues of winged lions with a small flight of steps between each of them.

"The Cullis Gate," whispered Leon. He could barely believe his eyes. "Rhukha's Cullis Gate! This was how he followed Nutengov to Darhan! Of all places…"

"Huan?" Olivia caught his attention after a few tries. "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing really." He spared one last glance at the ancient structure. "Just a job for me to do after I finish things with Elodach. C'mon, let's find that necklace."

They eventually found the quest item tucked beneath a pile of rocks; Leon took the time to speak to Moz while Greg was tucking it into his pocket. "Are you okay? You haven't been talking much."

"This cave was where I was born," said Onemore quietly. "The witch, Ursahla, summoned me from the heavens in the form of a comet: it split that tree above - then a protective spirit for the surrounding ecosystem - and was captured in the caves below, where the sorceress moulded me into her instruments."

"And you remember that? Your birth?"

"I do." He got the sense that Moz would have nodded if he had a head. The freezing axe hummed sympathetically. "She said something to me before she died. She said that my last moments on this continent would be spent in that room."

Leon cringed. "Oof, predictions of doom! Hate it when that happens… What the fuck was that?"

"What do you mean?"

"I thought I smelled… I don't know what I smelled. It felt familiar, but… Maybe my sniffer's on the fritz. Too much swamp gas."

Despite his words, Leon continued to strain his nose, eyes and ears as his companions climbed back to the surface one at a time, just in case he missed something. When everyone else was safe he allowed Guts to pick him up, carrying him to safety so that they could bring the ghost his necklace. For a long while, the empty cave lay silent.

"Thank the Saint," croaked Elodach. "I thought they'd never leave!" One of the walls disappeared, being an illusion, allowing the megalomaniacal priest to stumble free. His two UnFae followers trailed after him, as did the lumbering, castrated Warmother. It slumped in the corner, groaning with pain. "We must be cursed," he was saying. "We must be! Why else would we encounter that monstrous hound so soon after escaping that dragon?"

He coughed weakly as he slumped against the wall, his robes filthy and in ruins.

"This is his fault," he whispered. "That… That Strongarm! To think that I am reduced to this state! To think that I, the Master of Nightmares, must hide like a rat when the fairy was right there…"

He took a deep breath, looking up at the ancient structure in the centre of the cave. "But now I have the advantage. These fools don't even know a Cullis Gate when they see one! Because it was underground, they didn't even see it react! And because it reacted, that can only mean one thing: one of them must have the key! The Prism!"

He laughed sinisterly but quietly, still nervous about being discovered.

"And who else would hold the Prism but the fairy? Now that I have the Gate, I can summon the Prism whenever I please, bring her along with-"

"But master," hissed one of the UnFae. "What if the hound-thing follows? Would it not devour us all?"

Elodach's eye twitched in annoyance at being interrupted. "That is why we shall prepare first, you imbecile! You there! Guard the entrance!"

The alien scorpion groaned in agony, but did as it was told: with a revolting noise it melted into the cave entrance, becoming a sapient gateway through which one had to enter and exit the new cave. It actually looked much healthier now, but it still seemed incapable of giving birth.

"Uh… wow," said Elodach. "I didn't know you could do that." He turned back to the UnFae that had interrupted him earlier. "But since you still can't produce Spawn…"

Ethereal white thread burst from his fingertips, wrapping up the talkative UnFae in a disgusting white cocoon. Soon it began to pulse, sagging in the corner as the creature within was transformed.

"Excellent," he gloated villainously. "So it shall hatch, and my armies shall be replenished, and all shall fear the name of… Wait, didn't I have a fourth one of you? What happened to the lizard that was afraid of the light?"

The final UnFae just shrugged.

"At last!" Munorus boomed. The party had returned to where they had first met him, and Greg had shown him Vaesura's necklace. "After centuries of anguish, honour shall be restored to my name! All shall speak of Munorus with sorrow in their hearts!"

Leon stayed back as he handed over the shard, shivering pathetically. His ears were flattened against his head, and his tail hung between his legs. Angelica smothered a grin, trying to hide how adorable she thought this was.

"You are being so brave," she said encouragingly, fluffing his fur with one hand. "You are such a good boy!"

"You're doing great, Huan!" Olivia was also trying and failing to hide her smile. "We're at the finish line!"

"You know, I can hear you two smiling."

The two girls just traded looks and laughed. All in all, Angelica had been right: they had had a great day.

Side Quest: The Ghost of Ikaemos

Summary: A simple fetch quest available in the Swamp of Ikaemos, it mostly serves to flesh out the area's backstory. In Summoner, the area is filled with the disintegrating stone statues of its former inhabitants, who were petrified by their King to save them from drowning at the hands of the insane river god Ikaemos. We will not be seeing him here, because the Gehemene Marshes are much more strongly inspired by the Brinask Marshes from The Chains of Satinav.

The area is the main focus of the third act, and contains a fairy gate which Geron hopes to use to send Nuri home. Orken Fever-Dream-Spirit is likewise used as a bribe to make the ferryman transport them there, while the monster guards the gate. I like how both Ikaemos and Brinask have a theme of people being petrified. It didn't really carry over into the Gehemene Marshes, but it's still a fun little detail.

When the Warmother melds with the cave wall, it actually becomes Gromaides: a recurring boss from Contra. Speaking of which…

Warmothers Active: 2

Cocoons Gestating: 1

Remaining UnFae: 1