The Wandering Puppets sequence is the centerpiece of the Lonely Player Anomaly Commission in Neverness to Everness (NTE), set inside Clement Academy in Illusion Town. Eight anomaly puppets must be invited across the school grounds, with most of them only appearing between 20:00 and 06:00 in-game. The commission ends at the assembly hall, where the final puppet closes out the performance.
Quick answer: Enter Clement Academy through the back wall in the morning to befriend Peepy and pick up Empathy Eye Drops and Cheese the Camera, set the time to 20:00, invite all eight puppets across the basketball court, track, gymnasium, hallway, music room, garden, cup-game room, and classrooms, then talk to the host at the assembly hall to capture the anomaly.
Lonely Player commission requirements before the puppets appear
Three preparation tasks unlock during the daytime phase. Skipping any of them removes a tool you will need at night, especially Cheese the Camera, which is mandatory for the Hallway Puppet.
Approach the academy from the right side of the front gate. Walking through the main entrance triggers a teacher who removes you from the grounds. Follow the wall around the corner, climb the electrical equipment, and drop in from the back.
| Preparation task | Reward and use |
|---|---|
| Knock 3 times at five wall cracks, then choose Leave at the first crack | Befriends Peepy and grants Peepy's Sunglasses, used to cheat the cup game |
| Help the student who lost her diary in the garden | Empathy Eye Drops, used to see through the puppets in the gymnasium |
| Talk to the Occult Club student about Cheese, then answer at three follow-up locations | Cheese the Camera, used to expose the Hallway Puppet (single use) |
For the Cheese questions, the correct answers in order are Time Stop, Control small Oddities, and Don't use it, work harder on our own. The student moves to the track and field bleachers, then to the rooftop on the right-side corner of the school front, then to the outdoor basketball courts. Talk to him in that order, or he will not appear at the next location.
Helping the irritated student who asks for directions to the occult clubroom is optional. The Guide quest item it grants is not needed if you already know each puppet's gimmick.
Set the in-game clock to 8 PM
The eight anomaly puppets only spawn between 20:00 and 06:00. Open the time-skip menu and advance to 20:00 once Peepy, the Empathy Eye Drops, and Cheese the Camera are all in your inventory. If sunrise arrives mid-quest, advance the clock again to keep the puppets visible.
All eight Wandering Puppet locations and gimmicks
The puppets can be tackled in any order, but the route below minimizes backtracking. Each puppet has one specific trick, and most of them reset for the night if you fail.
| # | Location | How to invite |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outdoor basketball courts | The puppet levitates you and teleports between the two courts. Wait at the midpoint between the courts and invite it when it materializes next to you. Standing on the spot before turning to night skips the levitation animation. |
| 2 | Track and field oval | Interact with the kneeling puppet to start a race. Keep the running puppet in your camera frame the entire time. Steer around the dummy obstacles so they never block your view, otherwise the puppet teleports to the finish line and the race restarts. |
| 3 | Gymnasium | Attack the invisible wall at the entrance to break in. Use Empathy Eye Drops to view from each hidden puppet's perspective and attack the matching spot. Order: by the net near the entrance, facing the large green door, up the left ladder near the end of the path, on the stage slightly left, and a random spawn between the stage and the courts. Invite the final puppet revealed. |
| 4 | Hallway (building next to the gym) | Approach the central puppet until a wind force shatters it. Stand about 7–8 steps from the broken puppet and use Cheese the Camera to photograph the running puppet. Invite it as soon as it appears. |
| 5 | Music room, third floor of the same hallway building | Enter the first classroom and circle the central pillar clockwise until you reach the puppet at the piano. Play the three melodies in order, pressing OK after each: 4-10-8-6-1-10-7-5, then 1-5-10-9-10-5-10-5-1-5-10-9-10-5-10-5, then 8-7-5-7-8-7-5-8-7-5. Invite the puppet after the third melody. |
| 6 | Garden (where the diary was found) | Dash directly into the puppet and spam the interact button before it fades. If it disappears, stand still and listen for footsteps, watch the ground for the puppet's outline, then invite it. Re-enter the adjacent building to retry. |
| 7 | Three-puppet building, third floor (Peepy's new home) | Win three consecutive rounds of the cup-and-ball game. The third round adds extra cups, so ask Peepy where the ball is hidden if you befriended it. A wrong guess restarts the entire game. |
| 8 | Classroom chain near the hallway building | Enter the first classroom, then advance through five rooms. Find the miniature puppet in each: center desk in room 1, cabinet on the right in room 2, locker at the far right corner in room 3 (open it manually), and behind a vase in the back cabinet in room 4 (attack the vase). In the final room, invite the seated puppet and exit through the door behind it. |
Finish at the assembly hall
After all eight puppets are invited, head to the building near the front of the school on the right side coming from the gymnasium. Interact with the microphone on the stage. The other puppets vanish, and one seated puppet remains. Talk to the seated puppet to capture the Lonely Player anomaly and complete Wandering Puppets.
You will know it cleared when the commission entry updates to complete and the rewards screen appears with Hunter EXP, Annulith, Beetle Coin, Fons, U-00NE, and Anomaly Material Selection Box I.
Lonely Player commission rewards
| Reward | Amount |
|---|---|
| Hunter EXP | 450 |
| Annulith | 60 |
| Beetle Coin | 10,000 |
| Fons | 20,000 |
| U-00NE | 40 |
| Anomaly Material Selection Box I | 6 |
Common reasons the commission fails to progress
- Entering through the front gate. The teacher kicks you out, and the daytime tasks cannot start. Use the back-wall route.
- Talking to the Occult Club student in the wrong order. He only appears at the bleachers, the rooftop, and the basketball courts in that sequence.
- Using Cheese the Camera before puppet 4. Cheese has one charge and only one of the puppets requires it.
- Losing line of sight on puppet 2. The race instantly ends, and you must reinteract with the kneeling puppet to restart.
- Approaching puppet 4 without Cheese ready. Once it shatters and you cannot photograph it, it cannot be invited until the next in-game night.
- Failing the cup game in any round for puppet 7. The full three-round sequence restarts.
If a stray puppet ends up clipping into the environment after the gymnasium room resets, advancing time to the next evening is the cleanest way to wipe progress in that single area without losing the rest of the commission. Once all eight invitations are confirmed and the assembly hall scene plays out, Lonely Player closes, and Wandering Puppets is added to your captured anomaly log.