Is there a name for the opposite of a yak-shave? Some sort of deep, tortuous side quest that's necessary for getting to the main objective, but you DON'T want to do and want to give up on main project to avoid?
annoying nitpick: if it's a side quest that's necessary for getting to the main objective, it's not a side quest, it's the main quest
to try to answer the spirit of the question: ugh fields? labyrinth? effort shock? iceberg shaving? lol