---
number: 38
title: The chest quest — Esmeralda's quests, Hob Hartwood, and a chest for your home
date: 2026-10-24
summary: The game's first quests. Esmeralda sends you for a chest and teaches her familiar spell as a quest with steps; Hob Hartwood the carpenter sits in the Bazaar and makes chests for twenty Mushrooms; you carry one home in your arms, put it down, and keep your things in it. The Quests list lives in the menu, and the buttons on the screen now appear as you first need them.
epic: mini-games
status: delivered
artifacts: ["docs/handoff/chest-quest.md","game/shell/quests.js","game/content/dialogue/witch.conv","game/content/dialogue/carpenter.conv","game/director/src/carryables.ts","game/director/src/quests.ts","game/world/carry_rules.gd","game/world/client/ui/quests_panel.gd","game/world/client/ui/chest_panel.gd","game/world/client/bodies/carpenter"]
cta: [object Object]
---

<div class="embed-grid" style="display:grid;grid-template-columns:1fr 1fr;gap:12px;margin:1.2em 0">
<figure style="margin:0"><img src="/images/game/land-of-lor/2026-10-24-chest-quest-hob.jpg" alt="Hob Hartwood seated at his bench in the Bazaar tent, his name over him in yellow" loading="lazy"><figcaption>Hob Hartwood at his bench in the Bazaar</figcaption></figure>
<figure style="margin:0"><img src="/images/game/land-of-lor/2026-10-24-chest-quest-carrying.jpg" alt="A player carrying a chest in both arms at home, the Put-down button on the right" loading="lazy"><figcaption>Carrying a chest home</figcaption></figure>
<figure style="margin:0"><img src="/images/game/land-of-lor/2026-10-24-chest-quest-panel.jpg" alt="The chest panel: your bag on the left, the chest on the right" loading="lazy"><figcaption>Bag on the left, chest on the right — drag a pile, tap one</figcaption></figure>
<figure style="margin:0"><img src="/images/game/land-of-lor/2026-10-24-chest-quest-quests.jpg" alt="The Quests list: two quests with their steps, one story slid open" loading="lazy"><figcaption>The Quests list, steps ticked as you go</figcaption></figure>
<figure style="margin:0"><img src="/images/game/land-of-lor/2026-10-24-chest-quest-complete.jpg" alt="The Quest complete card: Put a chest in your home area, both steps ticked" loading="lazy"><figcaption>Quest complete — the last tick drawn as you watch</figcaption></figure>
<figure style="margin:0"><img src="/images/game/land-of-lor/2026-10-24-chest-quest-familiar.jpg" alt="The Quest complete card for Learn the spell to create a familiar, five steps ticked" loading="lazy"><figcaption>Esmeralda's spell, as a quest of five steps</figcaption></figure>
</div>

Kris, 24 October, by voice: he had been playing Monkey Island and wanted its guidance — *"that
kind of guided 'this is what you do next', and it's really clear — that's kind of what we
need."* And because dying will soon drop what you carry, a chest at home to keep things safe.

**What a player meets.** Esmeralda tells anyone without a chest at home that the Village is
safe and other areas are not, and that dying loses what you carry: go and get a chest. A New
quest card shows when the talk ends. Hob Hartwood, the carpenter (a new character, his body
made for him), sits at his bench in the Bazaar and makes one for twenty Mushrooms. The chest
goes straight into your arms; you walk, run and jump as normal, and the Put-down button sets it
on the cell in front of you. Put it down in your own home and the quest is done. Tap a chest
to pick it up or open it: your bag on one side, the chest on the other. Anything carried and
put down on lava burns away, with what was in it. A chest may never wall part of an Area off.

**Six rounds on Kris's phone, the same day**, each changing something he found: the body not
showing the chest after a door; a flame left on the button after a burn; a ring of chests that
could trap a doorway; an Ingredients icon too like the chest (now a sack); Esmeralda's words
(the Village is safe; no more laughing — *"they were better for the witch than for
Esmeralda"*); and the last two: quests with steps, Monkey Island's way, and her familiar spell
as a quest of its own. The buttons on the screen now appear as you first need them — the sack
with your first ingredient, the spell scroll with your first spell, Quests in the menu with your
first quest.

Live on spellgrove.com and in the Android build v56. Dying and dropping what you carry is next.