The Aranyaka questline is one of the longest world quests in the game. It is made up of four acts, that each split off into several different quests. You will need to do this questline to unlock all of Sumeru and gain access to the Tree of Dreams and Sumeru weapon line. This guide is here to walk you through the first part of the questline, Woodland Encounter.

Quest Requirments¶

To unlock Woodland Encounter you must unlock the entire map of the Sumeru forest excluding Vanarana and the Old Nursery. Below are the locations for all five.

• Avidya Forest
• Lokapala Jungle
• Ardravi Valley
• Vissudha Field
• Ashavan Realm

Woodland Encounter - Starting the Aranyaka Quest Line¶

This is one of the most simple parts of Woodland Encounter. To start this quest, follow the road north from Gandharva village. When you come to a fork, you will see a girl being attacked by Fungi. Paimon will comment on this, and you will need to make quick work of the monsters and speak with Rana afterward.

She will inform you that she can talk you to a place called Vimara Village if you wish. Agree to this and then begin following the girl down the road. This will start the second part of the quest.

The Children of Vimara Village¶

You will soon come upon a Withering Zone. This is a special area that has been corrupted, infecting the plants and enemies within it.

If you haven’t done the story quest, then Rana will walk you through how to destroy the withering.

Here’s our short guide on the process to make things go a bit smoother:

• Find the Dendrograna and interact with it.
• Once you have three small glowing Dendro balls floating around you, find the three Withering Branches, and shoot them using a bow user or hit them using charged attacks.
• The larger monster will be summoned, defeating it to interact with the Withering Tumor in the middle of the zone.
• Interacting with the tumor will remove it and return the area back to normal.

Withering Zones will put a decay meter on your screen. If you get hit by an enemy, this will increase, so be careful when fighting. Use the nearby Candles of Life to bring down the meter and keep your characters alive.

Once you have cleared this task, you will speak with Rana again and then continue on to Vimara village. After arriving at Vimara Village, you will learn that several of the children had gone missing, only to be returned a short time later.

You will go through a bit of dialogue before finally being able to talk to three village children. It doesn’t matter what you ask them during the dialogue choices, as they aren’t willing to give up any information. Once you are speaking to all three children, Rana will ask you to come out on patrol with her starting the third part of this quest.

Into the Woods¶

Rana will inform you that two more Withering Zones have appeared near Vimara Village. These zones work exactly the same as the first. Make quick work of the Withering Branches to draw out the enemy and destroy the tumors.

You will then go to a shallow river and get to fight alongside Rana to thin out the population of Spinocrocodiles. This is an incredibly easy enemy to beat as they are only used to harvest meat. Once the water is safe, Rana will show you a nearby ranger station and ask you to spend the night there.

At this point, you will be asked to gather wood. There are several pieces near the camp and across the river from it. Instead of hitting trees, though, you simply need to interact with three glowing spots around the camp.

If you don’t know what a glowing spot looks like, then check out the image below!

Once this task is finished, speak with Rana for some more dialogue and to skip ahead to the following day. This is when the final part of the Woodland Encounter quest will take place.

The Lost Child¶

Once you wake up, the group will begin to head back to Vimara Village. Go to the marker up from the campsite to see Iotham run by being chased by a group of Eremites. You will need to defeat them and then proceed into the cave. Once inside, you will come across a group of Fatui.

Defeat these enemies and then head deeper inside to find another Withering Zone and Iotham is trapped in a Dendro bubble in the middle of it. This time, Rana will jump into the fight to help with enemies. Go through the process of clearing the zone again. Once you finish, you will need to run Iotham back to the village without Rana.

Teleport back to the village to drop the boy off and then head back to where you left Rana. You will find that she has vanished, but a strange Dendro trail will be left in her place. Follow this trail out of the cave and to a small house where Rana is now being encased in a bubble.

An Aranara named Arana will appear and tell you that you must go to Vanarana and get Bija to save Rana. This will prompt the second half of the questline to activate called Dream Nursery.