Yvette snorts, amused.

"Charon? Do you happen to know where we might find the source of the Satyr pest problem?"

E͔̖̫̠̯͔͋͐̎̅ḣ̼̩̠̜͓ͤͤ̂n̦̜̰̞̜̐̑͂̈́̓ͤ̽͘a̸̅ͥ̑͏̶̲͇̩a͚̜͔̦̭̪̜̲ͥͩ͌à̤̻̙̦͈̮̂͑ͣ̄̆̂ą̸̤̟͌̋̋̆͂͗̌ͤa̻͓̣͕͕͇ͮ́ͯ͒ͯ͌͐̚ḧ̸̤̝̬͈͍̫́ͣ̑̆̕͜h̙̹̱͚͎͌̿̃ͩ̎̀h͇̮̯̼͓͚́ͯ̿ͮh̴̊̽͑͠҉̜̺̣͇͚̯ȑ̷̰̩͔̜ͮ͒ͭ̾́͜ͅrͯ͌ͩ͂̎̑͏͏͚̩͚͕̭r̩̰̟̪͕̤͇̖͑͂̏ͤr̠͓̘͇̗͖̪̘̽̿ͧͬ̏̈́͋r̨͙̩̻̖̝͎͙̈́͌ͦ̋̌ͥ͑̑͘r̮̘̎͐͒̀̋ͭ.̷̴͙̦͉͎̓ͮ̂̿͋̎

He points in a specific direction with the hand that's not holding the oar.

“Thank you very much! Okay, onwards.”

Onwards!

The direction he pointed in is a tunnel lightly flooded by the Styx, only about ankle deep, blocked off by metal bars. Zagreus steps into the river, his burning feet making it sizzle and bubble, and carefully uses the Stygius to cut through the grates. The blade goes through them almost like melted butter, and then the god has to bend over a little bit to fit under the low ceiling—not quite low enough that he has to actually crawl on all fours, but still not extremely comfortable. But he doesn't let out a single peep of complaint, and in fact looks pretty happy overall.

Gosh, she sure is glad she doesn't have a body for this! She feels like she has won, here.

Now, hmm, how to make a shield for Zagreus, that's actually not as obvious to her as how to blast things. Knocking projectiles out of the air, maybe? Some sort of gravity well thing that turns things away? This will do absolutely no good for being directly stabbed, which is what happened last time. Damn. This is a hard problem.

The tunnel eventually gets dark enough that Zagreus's burning feet are the only thing lighting the way, but that's enough to make it clear that the tunnel does not bifurcate for a while.

Eventually it does, though, splitting into three possible paths.

"Charming. Well, I say right this time."

Right they go!

"Of course even the sewers of the Temple of Styx would have shifting geography," sighs Zagreus.

"That seems really inefficient when you're dealing with a pest problem. They can just go to new and interesting places in the ever shifting geography."

"Maybe someone should suggest stable geography to him as a pest control solution. Would make my life easier for sure."

"Somehow I don't think your father would find that particularly convincing. Making your life easier, I mean."

"No but he might just hate satyr rats more than he hates the idea of me leaving."

"True. How bad are they, anyway?"

"Never seen one so I guess we'll find out together."

The tunnel opens up to a much larger cavern, badly lit by torches and undecorated except for the vases that are apparently endemic to the whole underworld.

"Exciting. ... Why are there so many vases. Everywhere."

"My suspicion is that the contractor just really likes them. Last I chatted to him about renovations I saw some small print options about adding more vases and he squirmed when I questioned it."

"That's adorable."

He laughs and then proceeds along carefully.

The cave is devoid of any visible rats.

"I would have expected to have been attacked by now." He waits a beat. "Not even the narrative bait I just dropped here is working, the Fates are slacking." Another beat, still no rats. "Wow."

"You're going to get swarmed by them at this rate," snorts Yvette.

"I do need to bribe Cerberus with something." Pitter patter. "Oh okay that sounds like rat noises." He draws his sword and waits.

"When you're drowning in a sea of rats, I'll be sure to try and drag you out before they rip you to pieces for your narrative hubris."

"What a way to go. Get past the Champions of Elysium only to get eaten by rats. Hypnos will have a lark at my expense."

There's a rat over there in that corner! ...its ribs are poking through its skin and it's leaking a sickly glowing green fluid. Rather than commenting on that, though, Zagreus dashes over to it and sticks his sword in it.

It dies without fanfare.

"So what type of flowers do you want at your tasteful funeral, here in this place where no one will be able to attend? I can even play some touching music for you. Say a few words to the leftover rats."

"Where will you even find flowers?"

Another rat! Half of its cranium is exposed, and the green fluid is leaking from its eye socket. It makes a disgusting screeching noise when Zagreus bisects it.

"I will make them. I hope you don't mind a stars theme, because it's all I can do!"