Fias Plea¶

If you haven’t used fast travel yet, now’s a fine time to do so - just bring up your map and press [R2] while over a fast travel point. Discovered settlements and Campfires act as fast travel hubs, and in this case you’ll want to fast travel to the Campfire near Mother’s Rise. Should you need to craft more Fast Travel Packs, simply enter the “Crafting” sub-menu, select the “Travel” section and expend Ridge-Wood x15, Fatty Meat x1 and Bony Meat x1 to create a Fast Travel Pack. One Fast Travel Pack, one fast travel.

From the Campfire head up the slope to the north, then turn south to find a woman named Fia tending to an injured Brave. Talk to her and she’ll be fairly direct about asking you to search some stashes for some Dreamwillow, some medicine to help ease the moribund Brave’s passing. Ask her more questions if you wish, then end the conversation to start the quest “Insult to Injury”.

Before you run off in search of these caches, indulge in some vandalism - first head south from Fia to find Training Dummy XVI on a ledge beyond a small hut, which you can leap over to and destroy. Return to Fia and head north, past a merchant, and turn west to find Training Dummy XVII near a fire over which a good deal of food cooks.

Yans Plan¶

While you’re here, you might as well turn northeast from Training Dummy XVII to find Yan, sitting on a wooden balcony of sorts. Talk to him and he’ll tell you about his sister, Nakoa, who ran off to avenge their murdered father, killed years ago by a Carja named Zaid. She did this at the risk of exile, too, leaving sacred land to pursue her vengeance, which is why Yan needs your help - go where only a Seeker can safely go and make sure Nakoa is safe… and to pick up her trails, you’ll first have to talk to their aunt, Solai, up in Mother’s Crown. All in good time. This starts the quest “A Daughter’s Vengeance”, which will take a long time to complete.

Searching for Dreamwillow¶

There are two caches to search, and the first one is just southwest of the Campfire on the road between Mother’s Rise and the gates leading back to the Embrace. Travel there, either by fast travel or on foot, and when you reach the Campfire note the large rock formation to the southwest. Search the southwestern end of this rock to find the tell-tale yellow ropes that indicate a climbing spot and use them to scale to the top of the rocks. Once atop the rocks use a zipline to reach a platform on a tree, then search the Supply Cache to find some Metal Shard… but alas, no Dreamwillow.

Return to the nearby Campfire and from there cross the river to the southeast, then continue east past some Grazers and make your way to the quest marker, which is northeast of the Nora Hunting Grounds map marker. When you near the area Aloy will spot the tree-bound platform upon which another cache can be before. To get there scale some rocks to the south, southeast, then turn north, northwest to spot some logs with yellow “jump on me!” ropes on them. Get a running leap and jump onto the first one, then move to the second, turn east and leap onto a ledge. From here work your way across handholds until you’re over a beam, which you can drop down onto by pressing [Square]. Turn around, leap onto the tree platform and search a Supply Cache to find that this one, too, yields no Dreamwillow.

Justice for Jun¶

Return to Jia and tell you the bad news, and she’ll tell you to go to the source directly - the Dreamwillow is harvested by a man named Jun, and he lives in the mountains to the northwest, more or less midway between Mother’s Rise and Mother’s Crown. Leave Mother’s Rise and follow the road in a northerly direction, past the massacre site, ignoring all the forks branching to the east. After the road turns northwest you’ll cross two bridges and beyond that you’ll find a Strider Site south of the road, and a Campfire north of the road, near a ruined hut.

Continue following the road north until it forks, at which point turn northwest, then west as the road takes you into the snow-covered mountains. Deal with any machines you may encounter along the way (Scrappers and Watchers are not out of the question) until the trail leads you to some ledges you’ll need to scale. Climb a series of ledges to reach a Campfire, and when you’re done doing your business there continue uphill along the path to hear Jun crying for help.

Reach his cabin and loot some Supply Crates outside, then circle around to the eastern side to reach the front door. Pry the door open ([Triangle]) and Jun will tell you his story. Apparently some filthy outcasts stole his Dreamwillow, and he rather vehemently entreats you to seek them out and wreak vengeance upon them. Agree to help him and he’ll finally shut up, as the very effort of whining about his misfortunes has apparently left him tired.

Activate your Focus to find some tracks, which you should highlight, then follow northeast, then north. Shortly you’ll spot the outcasts in the valley below you, stranded on a ledge by some Watchers and a Sawtooth. If you get too near the edge of the slope you’re on you’ll find yourself sliding down into the valley, where some grass can be found, but it’s a rather risky approach to engaging such enemies.

Instead, you might as well use range to your advantage, as the machines can’t reach you up here. The Watchers may shoot projectiles at you, but they’re easily dodged. Best case scenario, you can pick off the Watchers (even if you have to resort to pelting them with Fire Arrows and relying on the damage-over-time to do its magic) and blow up the Sawtooth’s Blaze Canister. Worse case scenario, the machines run off to avoid your arrows, and you have an easier time reaching the tall grass in the valley. You can also expect help from the outcasts on the ledge in the form of arrows, especially when the machines retreat to the northern end of the valley. If you do have to slide down to the valley, note that along the northern end of the valley you’ll find a rock you can use to anchor a Shock Wire to, using the cliffs the outcasts are on to anchor the other end.

Once the machines are scrapped, slide down into the valley and talk to the outcast leader - Kurnst - who will also have leaped from his perch. He’ll explain his motivations, and won’t have the most flattering things to say about Jun. Confront the outcast about the Dreamwillow and he’ll hand over some without much of a fuss. Return back up the slope to the south and tell Jun what happened with the outcasts, and after Jun reveals his true colors pick a trialogue option to resolve this quest.