Where Winds Meet: How to Unlock Covered in Squirrels in Hidden Mountain

Covered in Squirrels is one of the more particular unlocks in the Hidden Mountain region of Where Winds Meet. It does not care how many Flying Squirrels are clinging to you in total, only how they are distributed. The game wants an even split across your shoulders, and it checks that split in real time while you stand near a roasting station.

Quick answer: Fast travel to Hangrock Hamlet in Hidden Mountain, fill the Pine Nut Roast embers to draw Flying Squirrels onto your character, and hold exactly three squirrels on each shoulder at the same time.

The two squirrel achievements and their exact conditions

Both squirrel unlocks live under Wandering Whispers III in the achievements menu, and both are earned in the same spot during the same session. One counts squirrels, the other counts symmetry.

Achievement	Condition
Make It a Dozen	Gather twelve Flying Squirrels. In-game text reads: “There’s no such thing as too many Flying Squirrels. I’ll take twelve, please…”
Covered in Squirrels	Hold three Flying Squirrels on each side. In-game text reads: “Perfectly balanced, as all things should be… with three Flying Squirrels on each side.”

Note: twelve squirrels does not automatically satisfy the balanced condition. A crowd of twelve can sit unevenly, so Make It a Dozen frequently pops first while Covered in Squirrels stays locked.

Travel to Hangrock Hamlet in Hidden Mountain

Open the world map and switch to the Hidden Mountain region. The area is split into subregions such as Suixiang and Heaven’s Threshold, so make sure you are looking at the right layer before searching for the marker.

Select the Hangrock Hamlet waypoint and fast travel there. This drops you inside the village where the roasting stations are set up, so there is no climb or approach route to plan.

Look around the village for tables holding Pine Nut Roast. There is more than one station in the hamlet, which matters if you burn through the food at the first table before the squirrels line up correctly.

How to attract Flying Squirrels with Pine Nut Roast

Walk up to a Pine Nut Roast table until the interaction prompt appears. On PC the Fill Embers action sits on the F key, and the prompt only lights up when you are close enough to the station.

The Fill Embers interaction prompt highlighted on the F key beside a Pine Nut Roast station — The Fill Embers prompt appears on the F key once you stand at a Pine Nut Roast station. Image: NetEase Games / via @RifasRicardo

Trigger the interaction to feed the embers. Flying Squirrels react to the roast and begin climbing onto your character, building up on your shoulders one at a time rather than all at once.

Flying Squirrels gathering on the player character beside a roasting table in Hangrock Hamlet — Flying Squirrels climb onto the character once the Pine Nut Roast is burning at Hangrock Hamlet. Image: NetEase Games

Keep feeding until the count reaches twelve. Make It a Dozen unlocks the moment the twelfth squirrel is on you, which is a useful checkpoint that confirms the station is working as intended.

Move between the other Pine Nut Roast tables in the hamlet if a station runs dry or the squirrels scatter. Restarting at a fresh table is faster than waiting in place.

Getting three Flying Squirrels on each shoulder

The balanced state is a live check, not a running total. You need three squirrels perched on your left side and three on your right at the same moment, so the goal is a specific six-squirrel arrangement rather than the largest possible pile.

Feed the embers in smaller bursts and watch where each new squirrel lands instead of stacking them as fast as possible. Once the sides even out at three and three, the achievement fires on its own without any extra input.

Confirming the unlock and claiming the Echo Jade

You will know it worked from the on-screen achievement banner for Covered in Squirrels, which includes the shortcut to View Achievements on the Y button. That popup is the confirmation that the balanced condition registered.

The Covered in Squirrels achievement notification on screen with the View Achievements shortcut — The Covered in Squirrels notification appears with a View Achievements shortcut once three squirrels sit on each side. Image: NetEase Games

The rewards are not handed over automatically. Open the achievements menu, go to the Wandering Whispers III group, and collect the Echo Jade attached to both Covered in Squirrels and Make It a Dozen. Echo Jade is the currency used for the Solemn Echo cosmetic draws and with Weiyang merchants.

Why Covered in Squirrels does not trigger

The squirrels are on you, but the split is uneven. Four on one shoulder and two on the other will not count, even at a high total.
You walked away from the station too early and the squirrels dropped off before the game registered the arrangement.
You are at a table that has already been used up, so no new squirrels arrive to fill the empty side.

Neither unlock is missable, so a failed attempt costs nothing beyond another trip to Hangrock Hamlet. Fast travel back in, light another roast, and keep the squirrel count even as they climb aboard.