Palia: The Elderwood Quest Guide

The Elderwood is the main story quest that finally walks you into Palia’s newest region on foot, and despite the ominous build-up it is a short one. There is no combat requirement, no crafting checklist, and no puzzle. You travel, you talk to Nai’o, you check three marked spots for a missing boy, and you come back empty-handed on purpose.

Quick answer: Enter the Elderwood through the gate in The Outskirts of Bahari Bay, talk to Nai’o, follow the path west to the Central Stables, search all three map-marked spots (0/3 to 3/3), then return to the stables and speak with Nai’o and Subira to finish the quest for 25 Renown and an Umbraan Thing.

The Elderwood quest requirements in Palia

The Elderwood is handed to you automatically the moment Answering the Call wraps up, so there is no NPC to track down to start it. Answering the Call itself sits at the end of the temple storyline, which means the vault quests and their follow-ups need to be cleared first. You do not have to finish the bundle attached to each temple.

Requirement	Details
Answering the Call	Direct prerequisite. Completing it grants The Elderwood automatically.
Rooted in Place	Part of the temple chain leading into Answering the Call.
Temple vault quests	Vault of the Waves, Vault of the Flames, Vault of the Gales, Vault of the Roots.
Temple follow-ups	Troubled Waters, Into the Fire, Up in the Air, Rooted in Place.
Quest log location	Main menu, Quests, Main Story tab.

How to enter the Elderwood from Bahari Bay

The opening objective reads “Enter the Elderwood through the gate in Northern Bahari,” which is a little vaguer than it needs to be. The gate sits in the northern part of Bahari Bay at the area labelled The Outskirts on your map.

Open your map, switch to Bahari Bay, and fast travel to the closest point to The Outskirts. The gate is a large, obvious structure at the region’s edge, so you will not need to hunt for a hidden entrance.

Palia world map open on the globe tab with the player's current location and travel markers shown — The world map with the globe tab selected, used to line up your route to The Outskirts. Image: Singularity 6

Walk through the gate to load into the Elderwood. Nai’o is standing just inside the entrance, and talking to him updates the objective immediately.

Nai'o standing just inside the Elderwood gate at the start of the quest — Nai’o waits a few steps inside the Elderwood gate. Image: Singularity 6

Nai’o explains that he is setting up a new stable for the region and asks you to meet him there. The objective changes to “Meet Nai’o by the Elderwood Stables.”

Reach the Central Stables and unlock Elderwood fast travel

The Central Stables sit west of the entrance, and the route runs through a cave passage rather than open forest. This is your first real walk through the region, and hostile creatures roam it, so bring gear before you set off.

Follow the marked path through the cave until the Central Stables area opens up. The stables are clearly signposted on the map once you are close.

Interact with the stable board before anything else. That single interaction registers the Elderwood as a fast travel destination, which saves you the entire cave walk on every later trip.

Talk to Nai’o at the stables. He mentions the forest feels different lately and that a young boy he has seen on past visits is no longer behaving the way he usually does. He then marks three spots on your map to check.

Nai'o's dialogue box at the Elderwood stables with the advance arrow in the bottom right — Nai’o’s dialogue at the stables, where he raises his concerns about the boy. Image: Singularity 6

All three search locations for the missing boy

The objective tracker reads “Look for the last boy in the spots Nai’o marked” and counts up from 0/3. Each marker shows on the map with purple and gold flags, and the interactable point itself glows and sparkles when you get near it. Order does not matter.

Marked area	What you’re looking for
Deep Woods	The interact point is up off the ground on a large mushroom platform. Climb the tree body like a vine to reach the glowing object.
Red Blossom Cave	An old campfire pit. Interact with it at ground level.
Okanaa Bog / De Mer Dock	A makeshift camp near the docks, including a wooden structure you climb to reach the marker.

Note: none of the three spots turns up the boy. That is the intended outcome, not a bug or a missed interaction. Your character notes each time that there is no sign of him, and the counter still ticks forward.

Elderwood map with the quest objective marker and tooltip open near Okanaa Bog — The quest marker near Okanaa Bog with its tooltip open on the Elderwood map. Image: Singularity 6

The bog and dock area is the most awkward of the three to approach. Swimming across the water is often quicker than looping around by land, and the marker sits close enough to the shoreline that you can climb up to it from the water’s edge.

Turn in the quest to Nai’o and Subira

Once the counter hits 3/3, the objective switches to “Meet Nai’o back at the Elderwood Stables.” Fast travel there if you unlocked the stable board earlier, otherwise retrace the path.

Elderwood map showing Central Stables and nearby regions with the return to housing plot button — Central Stables on the Elderwood map, the return point for the quest turn-in. Image: Singularity 6

Speak to Nai’o to report what you found, or rather what you didn’t. Subira joins the conversation partway through, and the quest completes at the end of that exchange. You will know it worked when the reward popup appears and The Elderwood moves out of your active list into completed quests.

Rewards and the quests that unlock next

Reward or unlock	Notes
25 Renown	Standard main story payout.
Umbraan Thing x1	Marked as a rare artifact.
The Nature of Shadows	Next main story quest, granted automatically.
Pieces of the Past	Side quest, granted automatically.

The Nature of Shadows is where the region actually opens up. It starts with Subira asking for mined samples and eventually hands you the gloves for collecting Infected Essence orbs, which is the Elderwood’s local currency.

If the quest doesn’t appear or won’t complete

It’s missing from your log. Check the Main Story tab specifically, then confirm Answering the Call shows as completed. The Elderwood is granted by that completion, not by talking to anyone.
The counter isn’t moving. Standing in the marked area is not enough. You have to interact with the glowing object itself, which sometimes sits above you on a platform or a climbable tree rather than at ground level.
Nai’o has nothing new to say. All three markers must read as searched before the turn-in dialogue becomes available at the stables.

Treat this one as a guided tour with a mystery attached. The real value is the fast travel point at the Central Stables and the two quests waiting on the other side, so grab the stable board interaction on your way in and the rest is a twenty-minute walk.