There’s plenty to explore in Palia’s Elderwood, and a fair amount of mysteries to uncover as well. One of those mysteries is related to Tamala, who keeps slipping away unnoticed from the stables.
Subira wants you to follow Tamala to see what she’s doing during the times she leaves the stables. Follow the trail to find answers, and perhaps even more questions.
Prerequisites For The ‘One Step Behind’ Quest
To get the ‘One Step Behind’ quest, you’ll need to do the following:
Complete ‘The Nature of Shadows‘ quest.
Complete ‘The Elderwood‘ quest.
You can check the status of the quest if you already have it by navigating to the ‘Quests’ section of the main menu. It will be in the ‘Main Story’ tab, in the ‘Main’ section for quests.
Keep Following Tamala’s Trail
Tamala has been slipping away, and Subira wants to know why. Subira tasks you with tailing Tamala to see what she is up to. You’ll need to follow a trail of clues left behind.
Take the south cave path. You should come across some scratch marks on the cave wall as you exit. Interact with the marks to “find” the clue.
Additional clues as you search the wooded area will also have the glow-y purple quality to them. You may find more scratch marks, or footprints.
You’ll come to a set of scratch marks near a cliff. You’ll need to drop down to the lower level. You should be able to see some footprints from the edge of the cliff if you’re facing East.
This would be in the lower G7 corner of the map. You’d be dropping into the Deep Woods area. Your map will have a flagged marker to help you reach the clue.
Head toward the next map marker in the Southeast corner of H8. You should encounter Sifuu as you travel. When you close enough to her, a dialogue window should automatically pop up.
The quest map marker location should update, leading you to I9 in the central south area of the grid. You’ll be heading for The Fallen Aqueduct.
There should be some bouncy flowers nearby to help you glide over to the aqueduct. When you reach the quest marker, you should arrive at the entrance of a mysterious cave.
Enter the cave to keep following Tamala’s trail. Explore the cave and read the book and letter you find there.
You can also investigate the platform in the cave, the bowl of fruit, straw, and campfire mound. You can interact with the Ancient Water Pedestal by filling it with water.
After filling the Ancient Water Pedestal, you’ll receive a flow buff which will allow you to use your axe to remove the infected essence in the little hut structure across from the pedestal.
As you try to leave the cave, you’ll run into Tamala. A dialogue will automatically begin.
You’ll then be trapped in the cave, and the ‘One Step Behind’ quest will complete. You’ll automatically get updated to the next quest: ‘Like a Shiprunt.