Hocus Pocus

Hocus Pocus is a Dark and Darker quest assigned by the Alchemist merchant, part of the The Darkness Within quest line. The power contained in old texts cannot be denied. What this next one calls for is a little grim, but I believe you can handle it. There are 3 objectives to complete: Bring 2× Broken Skull; Bring 1× Grave Essence; Bring 2× Maggots. All progress requires a successful extraction — items retrieved or kills made during a failed run do not count toward quest completion. Once every objective is fulfilled, return to Alchemist in the lobby to turn in the quest and receive the reward. This quest requires completing Test Run before it becomes available from Alchemist. Completing Hocus Pocus rewards 30 Gold, Random Uncommon Armor, 25 XP. The quest is completed in Ice Cavern, Goblin Caves, Ruins or Ship Graveyard. Merchant quests in Dark and Darker are one of the most consistent gold and experience sources in the game, independent of loot luck on the Trading Post. Completing the full Alchemist quest chain unlocks higher reward tiers and increases merchant affinity, which can affect prices and open additional quest tiers in future seasons. The The Darkness Within chain provides a structured progression path through the Alchemist quest tree, and finishing each quest in order is the fastest route to the higher value objectives later in the line. Use the MetaBot Dark and Darker quest tracker to check all open objectives across every active merchant before extracting, so you can turn in multiple quests from a single run and get the most value out of each session.