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After speaking to Nai’o in Elderwood and looking for the lost boy inPalia, you return empty-handed, as he might be somewhere deep in the woods where you can’t reach him yet. Later, Nai’o gives you a strange artifact that could be useful down the line, and that’s when The Nature of Shadows quest kicks off.
This is the third Elderwood story quest, where you’ll need to help Subira investigate the bad energy spreading through this new region by gathering local plants and minerals. For those interested, this guide helps you complete The Nature of Shadows quest inPalia.
Here are the steps you’ll need to check off:
Talk to Subira and Give Her the Minerals
First, go talk to Subira in Elderwood. You’ll find her in the same spotwhere your last quest wrapped up. When you interact with her, she’ll explain that after the mysterious stranger activated the protocol, astrange purplish energystarted spreading across Elderwood. It’s been making anyone who comes into contact with it feel down.
To figure out what this weird energy is, Subira asks you to snag some basicmineral samplesfrom around Elderwood. She plans to send them to the Alchemy Lab for testing, starting with how it’s affecting the land. Here’s what you need to mine:
You can find these minerals randomly across Elderwood. A good spot to farm them isbetween Central Stables and Mauvais Way. Break white-colored rocks for Stone and Whitestone, and look for blue gem-like rocks to get Palium inPalia. Just make sure you’ve got at least a Fine Pickaxe for mining Palium.
Collect Ingredients for Tamala’s Potion
Once you hand over the minerals, Subira says they look fine. But she also shares that when she was out grabbing samples herself, someplants couldn’t let her get closeto them like they were infected. So now, she needs you to figure out how to interact with them.
Tamala shows up during the conversation and says she’s already done some experiments with the strange energy and is ready to help. After a quick chat with Subira near the eastern stables exit, head back to Elderwood Stables and let Tamala know you’re both ready to accept her help. Here’s what you’ll need to bring Tamala so she canmake the potion:
Toadstool Floatfish can be found by fishing in the De Mer Dock water body using no bait. Likewise, you may get Elderwood Orchid by picking lilac pink flowers around the Deep Woods area. On the other hand, Cave Piksii can be found by checking the caves around Elderwood — just hit it with a Smoke Bomb to grab one. Lastly, Infected Essence comes from collecting the purple floating orbs found across Elderwood, like near Central Stables and Red Blossom Cave inPalia.
Gather Infected Plants and Infected Essence
When you give all the potion ingredients to Tamala, she’ll immediately craft one for you. After drinking it, you’ll be able to touch the infected plants and pick them as samples. Tamala also wants you to collect extra Infected Essences for yourself. Here’s what you need in total:
To get Infected Plants inPalia, drink the Elderwood Potion and start foraging any trees, flowers, bushes, or plants with a dark purplish aura around them. You’ll find plenty near Red Blossom Cave. Remember to drink the potion only when you spot an infected plant since it has a10-minute timer— after that, you won’t be able to collect more. If the timer runs out before you’re done, head toTamala’s Potion Shop at Central Stablesand buy another potion for 15 Infected Essence, then try again.
The good part is that besides collecting purple floating orbs, you’ll also get Infected Essence automatically when picking infected plants. Once you have everything in your inventory, hand them over to Subira to end “The Nature of Shadows” quest inPalia.
