Tales of the Dark King, the Halloween 2026 quest in Dress To Impress, opens with a boat ride. Chapter 1 puts you on the Ferryman’s boat for a crossing of 180 distance units. During the crossing a lantern burns down and spirits climb up the sides. If you survive to the end, you reach the soul field and Chapter 2 unlocks. We finished it once, in a group of four, after more than ten solo attempts that never got past about 48/180; everything below comes from our own runs, and the numbers are approximate readings.
Quick answer: Join or fill a 4-player Chapter 1 pad on Styx’s dock. Keep the lantern fed from FUEL STORAGE for the whole crossing, and keep everyone feeding. Spirits are fought off with an oar (we have not yet seen how a player gets one). At every stop, step off the boat onto the pier and collect all 10 fuel orbs as a group until you reach 180/180 (“We’re arriving at the soul field!”). The “Chapter 1” badge follows and Chapter 2 unlocks.
Where Chapter 1 starts: Styx’s dock and the lobby pads
Open Dress To Impress on Roblox and go to the Halloween Quest Lobby: open Teleport, then Select Server, then TALES OF THE DARK KING. Our guide to starting the quest covers the walk to the dock. Chapter 1 begins on Styx’s dock. Beside the dock are glowing glass platforms marked “ENTER TO PLAY”. These are the chapter pads.
A ghost named “???” stands at the dock spawn with a Talk prompt. Its line: “Ah… you’ve awoken… good. I’ve been waiting long enough.” Some quest-lobby servers spawned us in a misty forest away from the dock instead, with no pads in sight; we changed servers until we spawned at the dock.
If you hop onto an empty pad, a “Configure Lobby” window opens with a short countdown. The window has these options:
- Chapter
- Max Players: 1, 2, 3 or 4
- Friends Only
- Cancel or Start
If the timer runs out before you choose, the game shows “Took too long to configure lobby”.
Joining a four-player Chapter 1 group
The crossing is built around fuel, and one person cannot carry it fast enough. In our solo runs a single load of fuel added roughly 10% light, while the light dropped by roughly 2.3 to 2.4% for every distance unit. More than ten solo crossings all ended between about 20/180 and 48/180, and each one ended with a death. A group splits the hauling: the run we finished had four players.
You can also open your own pad with Max Players set to 4. In our runs nobody joined ours, so the pad left with only us on it and the crossing was solo.
Feeding the lantern from FUEL STORAGE
As the boat sets off, the Ferryman says: “Feed the lantern as we cross. Let it fail… and the river will take interest. They keep away from the light, but not all. An item has been supplied for you… use it. Do not reach for the water; it will reach back.”
Your progress shows at the top of the screen as “DISTANCE TRAVELED: n/180”. The fuel pile sits in the middle of the boat with a FUEL STORAGE counter above it. The lantern hangs on a pole just behind the pile, and the large percentage next to it is how much light is left.
The whole group has to keep feeding. In one of our later group crossings the others stopped carrying fuel and the light fell from about 96% to 6% by 53/180. In another, we stopped feeding to search the boat for the oar, and that crossing was lost too.
Fuel orb stops when the storage runs dry
At zero FUEL STORAGE, the Ferryman says: “The lantern needs feeding… find its fuel and return. I do not leave the boat. Now go.” The boat docks beside a wooden pier, and the counter at the top of the screen switches to “FUEL ORBS COLLECTED: 0/10”.
Pier: how to get off the boat and collect the fuel orbs
Our finished run had two of these stops. This is how that four-player crossing went (approximate readings):
| Distance | Fuel storage | Lantern light |
|---|---|---|
| About 7/180 | 80/100 | — |
| About 19/180 | — | About 96% |
| About 25/180 | 40/100 | — |
| About 52/180 | — | About 83% |
| About 58/180 | 0/100 (the first orb stop followed) | About 64% |
| About 93/180 | 80/100 after the stop | — |
| About 142/180 | Second orb stop | — |
| 144/180 | 100/100 | 19% |
At the second stop, the Ferryman opens with “The lantern requires fuel… I will”, and the orb counter goes back to 0/10.
Start feeding the lantern again as soon as the boat leaves a stop. The storage may be full, but the light can already be as low as 19%.
Spirits climbing onto the boat
As the boat travels, spirits clamber over its edges and board. A red meter above each one gradually fills. Styx warns you not to touch them, and the Ferryman says they keep away from the light, “but not all”. In our four-player run spirits with red meters still boarded (we saw them at about 37/180, 135/180 and 163/180), but nobody in our group died.
Fighting spirits with the oar
The item the Ferryman says “has been supplied for you” is an oar. In one of our group crossings another player held a long oar and swung it into a spirit at 59/180, and the spirit burst into blue mist.
We never had an oar ourselves. Right after the Ferryman’s line our backpack was empty, there was no hotbar, and pressing 1, 2 or 3 did nothing. In three more crossings we watched for it: our backpack was empty on the shore path while the Ferryman spoke and again on the boat, and a walk around the deck showed no oar, rack or prompt. Where the oar comes from (whether one player gets it per crossing, or it is picked up somewhere else) is not seen yet.
Playing alone, we died soon after a spirit’s bar appeared, even with the lantern at 40 to 55%, so keeping the light up did not fully protect us. In a later group crossing a spirit killed us at 29/180 with the lantern at 71% and two red spirit bars on screen. In those later runs, keeping the lantern fed was not enough on its own. When you die, the “IT’S NOT EASY.” screen appears with two options, “Revive” and “Return To Lobby?”. We never pressed Revive.
The light running out does not kill you on its own. In one three-player crossing the lantern read 0 to 8% from about 50/180 to 105/180, and we stayed alive the whole time. It is the spirits that kill you.
The oar is the only thing we have seen stop a spirit. Without it, clicking the white rings, pressing 1, 2 or 3, and holding E next to a spirit did nothing for us.
Reaching the soul field and unlocking Chapter 2
When the distance counter reaches 180/180, the screen shows “We’re arriving at the soul field!”. This means the crossing is finished.
The Ferryman then gives a line that starts, “The boat does not stay, nor sho…” (it was cut off in our capture).
The view then shifts to a foggy field where three women in Greek-style clothing wait. The speakers named on screen were Clotho and Lachesis. Clotho says, “Fate is lost, beyond our reach. The weaving strands break off from our grasp.” Later comes, “The thread has already spun; it lands onto you.”
The bottom of the screen shows “CLICK ANYWHERE TO VOTE SKIP (1/4)”. In a group, skipping the scene is a vote, not a decision one player can make alone.
You can verify the chapter’s completion in two ways. During the soul-field scene, a Roblox “Badge Awarded” notification for the Dress To Impress Group’s “Chapter 1” award appears in the bottom-right corner.
Back at Styx’s dock, the Configure Lobby window offers both Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 as choices, while Chapter 3 remains locked. Finishing Chapter 1 is what unlocks Chapter 2. Since the 27 October update that chapter is labelled 2-1 (the row reads “1”, “2-1” and two locked buttons; after 2-1 is done it shows “2-2” and a padlock for Chapter 3), and Chapter 2-2 pads say “You must complete the previous chapters before you can play this one!” until you have finished the chapters before it. For how Chapter 2 starts, where its Gate Key is, the order its mansion puzzles went in and how 2-1 ends, see our Chapter 2 guide.
Not seen yet
We finished Chapter 1 once and left during the soul-field scene, so these parts are still open:
- The end of the soul-field scene and whatever comes after it.
- Any item, outfit or currency reward for Chapter 1. We only saw the “Chapter 1” badge.
- What decides when a spirit kills you. It happened to us at 71% light too.
- How to get the oar. The Ferryman’s supplied item is an oar, but we never had one and did not see where the other player got theirs.
- Whether one player can finish alone. Our solo runs never got past about 48/180.
- The end of Chapter 2-2. We finished Chapter 2-1 (called Chapter 2 before the 27 October update) in a group on 27 October and got the “Chapter 2_1” badge; it is covered in our Chapter 2 guide.
FAQ
Can you beat Chapter 1 solo?
We could not. More than ten solo crossings ended between about 20/180 and 48/180. We finished it in a group of four, where everyone carried fuel.
How many players do you need?
A pad takes up to four. The run we finished had four players; we have not tried two or three.
How many fuel orbs do you need?
Ten per stop (“FUEL ORBS COLLECTED: 10/10”), shared by the group. Our finished run had two orb stops. Alone we could only reach five of them; the rest floated over the water.
What is the reward for Chapter 1?
We saw a Roblox “Badge Awarded” pop-up for the “Chapter 1” award and Chapter 2 unlocking. We did not see an item reward, because we left before the soul-field scene ended.
How do you unlock Chapter 2?
Finish Chapter 1. Afterwards the Configure Lobby window on Styx’s dock let us pick Chapter 2, which the pads now call Chapter 2-1; the chapters after it were still locked. Our Chapter 2 guide covers how to start it.
How do you kill the spirits in Chapter 1?
With the oar. We saw another player swing an oar into a spirit, and it burst into blue mist. Clicking the white rings, pressing 1, 2 or 3, or holding E next to a spirit did nothing for us.
Where do you get the oar?
Not seen yet. We never had one: our backpack was empty, there was no hotbar, and nothing on the deck could be picked up. This guide will be updated when we see how it is handed out.
Does the lantern going out kill you?
No, not on its own. In one crossing our lantern stayed at 0 to 8% from about 50/180 to 105/180 and we survived; the spirits are what kill you. Keep feeding anyway, because the Ferryman warns, “Let it fail… and the river will take interest.”
How do you get off the boat at the fuel orb stop?
Walk across the deck onto the wooden pier, on the side away from the open water. No jump is needed. Walking toward the front of the boat is blocked by the hull. At 10/10 orbs the game puts you back on the boat by itself.
Does Revive cost Robux?
We never pressed it, so we have not confirmed the price. We used Return To Lobby instead.
