Bufo’s “Find Pollywog” quest in Winter Burrow sounds simple: track down a runaway tadpole. In practice, it’s one of the first moments where the game expects you to read the landscape, respect the cold, and arrive with the right tools.
Pollywog is hiding a few screens south of Bufo’s home, behind granite and stone blockages that only open once you’ve crafted a Granite Pickaxe. The route is fixed, and once you know the landmarks, it’s hard to get lost.
Prerequisite: Unlock and craft the Granite Pickaxe
You cannot reach Pollywog without a Granite Pickaxe. The game gates the path behind granite boulders, not just regular rocks, so earlier tools won’t work.
Bufo hands over the Granite Pickaxe recipe as a reward for completing his “An Axe for Bufo” quest. After you deliver the axe, check your crafting menu back at your burrow and put together the pickaxe with these materials:
| Item | Amount | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Granite | 1 | Lying on the ground near Bufo’s house, and in the same area once you can break granite boulders. |
| Wool Yarn | 1 | Knitted from Fur Tufts. |
| Pinewood | 1 | Found in the Shadow Forest area. |
| Oak Wood | 1 | Found in the area outside Bufo’s house. |
Once crafted, move the Granite Pickaxe into your quick-access bar so it’s ready when you hit the blocked tunnels.
Because the walk to Pollywog runs through exposed, snowy ground, prepare a small stack of food that restores warmth and health before you leave your burrow. Cold will drain your health if you stay out too long.
Step 1: Start from Bufo’s house and head south
Begin at Bufo’s front door. Use the interior stove or fire to top off your warmth if needed, then exit his house.
Outside Bufo’s home:
- Take the south-west exit from his house area.
- Once you load into the next screen, immediately start moving south along the edge of the water.
Keep hugging the shoreline. Eventually, the terrain closes in, and you can’t move further down. That dead end is your signal for the next move.
Step 2: Find and break the first stone boulders
At the point where the shoreline stops you from going further south:
- Turn left (east to west on the screen) and keep your eye near the bottom edge of the view.
- Look for a pile of stone boulders sitting in your path.
These are not the big grey granite blocks yet; they’re the first gate.
Equip the Granite Pickaxe and use it on these stones to clear them. Once they’re broken, a new path continues south into the next area. Move down into that new screen.
Step 3: Push through to the granite tunnel entrance
In this next zone, the key is to keep heading down until the landscape nudges you sideways.
- Walk south until you pass through a tall patch of grass that partly obscures the mouse.
- Once you’re through the grass, change direction to go down and right (south-east).
As you angle south-east, watch for a log tunnel ahead: a hollowed-out log forming a natural corridor. This tunnel’s exit is clogged by granite boulders, which is exactly why you needed the Granite Pickaxe.
Equip the pickaxe again and break the granite blocking the log. When the tunnel is clear, head right through it into the next screen.
Step 4: Follow the broken log tunnels
Now you’re in the final stretch before Pollywog, but the route zigzags a bit through broken wood and grass.
In this new area:
- Move to the right, but stay close to the bottom edge of the screen.
- Look for a series of broken log tunnels that lead first downwards and then right again.
These shattered logs guide you like breadcrumbs. Keep threading through them whenever you see another opening.
Eventually, the tunnels open into a small clearing. A Wood Beetle often patrols here; you can either dispatch it or carefully path around, depending on your health and comfort with combat.
Step 5: Cross the last grass patch to Pollywog
From the beetle’s clearing, Pollywog is one screen transition away.
- Walk south through another tall patch of grass.
- On the far side of the grass, curve around to the left following the natural opening in the trees and logs.
As the path bends left, you’ll see a small campsite with a lit campfire. Pollywog is sitting here, warming up.
Interact to talk with Pollywog. The conversation resolves Bufo’s immediate worries and gives you the information you need for the “Find Pollywog” objective. Once you finish speaking, you can turn around and backtrack through the same route to return to Bufo and report what you learned.
Quick reference: Pollywog route summary
| Segment | Direction | Landmark to watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Leave Bufo’s house | South-west, then south | Follow the water’s edge until movement south is blocked. |
| First blockage | Left (west) | Stone boulders near bottom of the screen; break them with Granite Pickaxe. |
| Second screen | South, then south-east | Tall patch of grass, then a log tunnel blocked by granite. |
| Granite tunnel | Right | Break granite boulders in the hollow log, move into next area. |
| Broken logs area | Right along bottom, then down and right | Trail of broken log tunnels and a Wood Beetle clearing. |
| Final approach | South, then left | Tall grass, then a small clearing with Pollywog sitting by a fire. |
Once you’ve made this trip once, the route to Pollywog becomes a reliable southern corridor from Bufo’s home: shoreline, stones, grass, granite, broken logs, then the firelight of a runaway tadpole’s camp.
