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<font color="red"> The Naturalist Quest </font> </center>
Introduction
The Naturalist Quest, also known as The Seed Quest, is a short quest to obtain a rare Pink, Magenta, Aqua, or Fire Red plant seed. These seeds are not available any other way in the game aside from buying them off of a player run vendor who has done the quest.
General Summary of The Naturalist Quest
You start by talking to any Naturalist NPC in the game. He will send you out into the world to find four (4) Solen Egg Nests located within the Solen Hives. He wants you to study them for a while, record your findings, and report back to him when you are done. As a reward, he will give you one of three rare seeds: Pink, Magenta, or Aqua. The color seed you receive is completely random and you will not know what plant the seed will grow up to be until you actually plant it and it reaches day 7 of growth.
In order to receive the rare Fire Red seed, you must complete an extra part of the quest that does not appear on the quest menu. That is, you plant a green thorn into a sandy place and a hole will appear, leading to the secret 5th Solen egg nest.
Getting Started and Preparing Yourself
The Naturalist quest is extremely easy if you are well prepared. First, you will need to know where the entrances to the Solen hives are. There are 4 total throughout the world. While I've labeled them 1 through 4, there are no actual numbered Solen Hives. Other players may refer to them differently from mine. I used my own numbering system to simply help you get around. They are:
<font color="red"> West of Trinsic in the forest. </font>
<font color="red"> South of the Minoc Gypsy camp. </font>
<font color="red"> Far south of Yew near the grove of love. </font>
<font color="red"> In the forest northwest of the Compassion desert. </font>
It is a good idea to have a runebook with these 4 locations marked. Make sure you mark one for the Naturalist and for a beach or desert as well.
Secondly, you will want to be a friend of the hive so that the ants don’t attack you. It’s not necessary, but it helps tremendously! Sure you can just kill them. But why waste time when you can be getting rare seeds! The quest to become a friend of the hive is called “The Solen Matriarch Quest”. If you’re not a friend of the hive, you should really consider becoming one!
Finally, try to become familliar with the layout of the Solen Hive. It's good to know where all the holes lead, where the Egg Nests are actually located, and most importantly, areas to avoid.
<font color="red"> Here is a gereral layout of the Solen Lair, the Four Entrances, and the location of the Egg Nests: </font>
Walkthrough
To start the quest, you need to find an NPC Naturalist. They can be found inside almost any library in Britannia. All Naturalists look pretty much the same. They’re dressed in Nox Green colored tunics and are ussually in the company of NPC Scribes and/or Monks.
Here is a list of what cities to find them:
Britain: The Britain Public Library, Sage Advice (scroll shop in SE Britain), and the First Library of Britain.
Jhelom: Jhelom Library.
Moonglow: The Lycaeum.
It doesn’t matter which Naturalist you go to. They all give the same quest and have the same reward.
When you’ve found him, single click on him and select “Talk” to bring up the quest menu. He’ll tell you that he needs you to gather information about the 4 Solen Egg Nests located within the Solen Hive. Click “Accept” and your quest has begun!
Walkthrough tip # 1: Remember exactly which Naturalist gives you the quest, including his name and what city he’s in. Once you’ve completed the quest , you MUST talk to the same Naturalist to get your reward. And remember that you cannot begin another Naturalist Quest until you complete your current one.
Solen Hive # 1
Recall to the Solen Hive Entrance #1 which I’ve labeled as the one near Trinsic. Enter it and get yourself to the first Solen Egg Nest. This is by far the longest stretch to travel out of the four Solen Entrances. The Solen Hive can be a little confusing to someone who is not familiar with it, so just follow the path I marked on the map below to get there.
Walkthrough tip # 2: You’ll most likely run into an Ant Lion near the sand pit. Don’t bother fighting it because you can easilly out run it. Also, be carefull that you don’t take the wrong path north past the sand pit. It leads to the Dread Spider lair!
Once you get to the egg nest, walk up to it and you’ll get the message: “You begin studying the Solen Egg Nest to gather information”.
After studying the Solen Egg Nest for 15 seconds you’ll get the message: “You begin recording your completed notes on a bit of parchment”.
When you are done, it will give you the message: “You have completed your study of this Solen Egg Nest. You put your notes away”.
It takes a total of 30 seconds from the time you reach the Egg Nest to when you have all of the information that you need to move on. You don’t need to bring anything or do anything except be at the Solen Egg Nest area for 30 seconds. If you are attacking any Ants (or any Ants are attacking you), you may lose your concentration and have to study this nest all over again. That’s why it’s good to be a friend of the Hive. Also, the piece of parchment that you record your information on is just imaginary. I know it goes without saying, but some people actually think that you need a piece of parchment or a scroll to do the quest.
Once you put your notes away, travel to the next Solen entrance.
Solen Hive # 2
Recall to the Solen Hive Entrance #2 which I’ve labeled as the one South of the Minoc Gypsy camp. Enter it and get yourself to the second Solen Egg Nest. Use the map below to help guide you to it. It’s fairly straight forward and easy to find. When you’re done, move onto the 3rd Solen Hive entrance.
Walkthrough tip # 3: You’ll most likely run into another Ant Lion near the sand pit. Just ignore it and run.
Solen Hive # 3
Recall to the Solen Hive Entrance #3 which I’ve labeled as the one far South of Yew and near the grove of love. Enter it and get yourself to the third Solen Egg Nest. When you’re done, move onto the 4th Solen Hive entrance.
Walkthrough tip # 4: Every once and a while, a Lich from the ruins makes its way South and hovers around the 3rd Solen Hive entrance. If you plan on doing this quest again when you’ve completed your current one, make sure you kill i.t That way, when you Recall or Sacred Journey back here it won’t be a problem. Always keep your eyes open when traveling to any of the Solen Hive entrances!
Solen Hive # 4
Recall to the Solen Hive Entrance #4 which I’ve labeled as the one in the forest northwest of the Compassion desert. Enter it and get yourself to the fourth and last Solen Egg Nest. When you’re done, you’ll get the message that the quest is complete.
At this point, you have two options:
The first option is that you return back to the Naturalist to claim a rare Pink, Magenta, or Aqua colored seed as your reward.
The second option is to find the secret 5th Solen Egg Nest so that you can return back to the Naturalist to claim a rare Fire Red colored seed. This option is not listed on the quest menu. It is completely optional.
Walkthrough tip # 5: Remember that you can do the Naturalist Quest over and over as many times as you’d like. So if you want to get a Fire Red seed this time and next time get a Pink, Magenta, or Aqua seed , you can do so.
Solen Hive # 5 (Secret Solen Hive)
Make sure you bring a green thorn with you. Without one, you cannot get to the secret Solen Egg Nest entrance. Take yourself to any beach or sandy terrain and plant the thorn in the sand. After about 10 seconds, a new hole will open up. Hop in and take yourself to the 5th Solen Egg Nest. When you’re done, return to the Naturalist to claim your rare Fire Red seed.
How Long Does The Naturalist Quest Take To Do?
When you become very familiar with the Hive and proficient in doing the quest, it can take you as little as 5 minutes to complete the normal portion of this quest and about 6 minutes to complete the quest with the optional secret egg nest. For the beginner, it can take around 10 minutes or more to do the normal quest.
You can actually cut your quest time down even further! As you do the quest, you’ll notice that there are plenty of other holes within the Solen Hive. All of these holes connect the Solen Hive to other different locations within the hive. Sometimes, from one of the Egg Nests you are at, it is quicker to take one of these holes to the next Egg Nest rather than Recalling or using Sacred Journey to get to the next entrance. For example, from the Solen Egg Nest #3, you can follow a path to the south and through a couple holes to reach Solen Egg Nest #1. This is actually quicker than traveling to the Solen Entrance #1, following the path, and reaching the Solen Egg Nest #1.
Everything You Need To Know About The Pink, Magenta, Aqua, and Fire Red Seed
After you’ve completed what the Naturalist asked you to do, he will give you a rare Pink, Magenta, or Aqua colored seed. If you went above and beyond his expectations and found the secret 5th Solen Egg Nest, he will give you a rare Fire Red colored seed.
The Pink, Magenta, or Aqua color seed he gives you is completely random. You may do the quest 10 times and end up with 10 Magenta seeds, or you may do the quest 10 times and end up with several of each different color. If you found the 5 Egg Nests, you will always get a Fire Red seed no matter what.
Unlike other seeds that you take off of your plants, there is no way of knowing what type of plant or flower the seed will grow up to be. The seed itself is already internally coded to be a certain plant. The server knows what type of plant the seed will grow up to be, but you won’t. You won’t know until you plant it and it reaches day 7 of growth. Then the plant blooms and breaks out of its bowl. There are, however, some hints as to what the plant might be as it is growing. If it needs a lot of cure and poison potions every growth cycle, it is usually (but not always) a flowering type of plant such as Campion flowers, Poppies, Snowdrops, Lilies, Bulrushes, etc. If you find that on certain days of the plants growth cycle it does not need water, then you have a Snake Plant, a Water Plant, or a Cactus.
