The moment I stepped into Shantytown, the dusty air and creaking shacks immediately told me this wasn’t just another settlement. The Dreamscourge had left its scars everywhere, and the people here clung to hope as tightly as they did their meager belongings. I’d barely gotten my bearings when a desperate NPC flagged me down, his voice trembling about Lost Suoles. A family heirloom, shattered into four fragments and stolen by birds of all things. My job? Scale the ramshackle rooftops and retrieve every last Suolenet from nests perched absurdly high. It sounded simple—maybe even trivial—but I’ve learned in Avowed that nothing is ever as straightforward as it appears.

The first thing I noticed was that the Suolenets are actually there in the world before you even accept the quest. If you’re the explorative type, you might stumble across them without guidance. But once I took the quest, those gleaming markers on my minimap made life considerably easier. I turned toward the tavern directly behind the quest-giver, swung open the creaking door, and marched up a narrow staircase. At the top, I pushed through another door and immediately veered right. There it was—the Chipped Suolenet, resting on a wooden ledge just above my head. A short climb and it was in my hands, still warm from the afternoon sun. It felt like a small victory, but the real acrobatics were yet to come.

I glanced eastward, using the oversized north icon on my compass as reference. Across the narrow street, a decrepit wall blocked my path. I took a running jump, landed awkwardly on a balcony, and swung my weapon to smash through the brittle wood. The second prize revealed itself: a Battered Suolenet, wedged between two planks as if the bird had been particularly careless. I pocketed it and took a moment to look down at Shantytown’s inhabitants, all going about their day ignorant of my rooftop ballet.

Finding the third fragment demanded a bit more creativity. I backtracked to that upper door inside the tavern, but this time I turned left—south, if my compass was honest—and spotted a tilted roof. The angle was steep, my boots slipping on the sun-baked shingles, but I managed to shimmy up. From the roof’s peak, I jumped to a wooden balcony door on my right, clambered through a dim room, and exited on the opposite side. There, perched on the sill like a forgotten bauble, was the Worn Suolenet. The pattern of wear suggested it had been carried many miles before its avian abduction.

The last piece was almost an afterthought. Following the same path past the third Suolenet, I simply kept walking along the rickety catwalk. The Tarnished Suolenet lay in an unguarded nest, its metallic gleam muted by time. Four fragments, four little triumphs. I could feel the weight of them in my pouch, a promise of something whole again.

Returning to Miteno, the quest-giver, I faced a choice that made me pause. Hand over the Suolenets without asking for a reward, and he’d offer his treasured Enchanted Suolenet—an accessory that increases the currency you earn from pickups. In the early game, when every copper counts, that’s practically a lifeline. On the other hand, pressing him for payment or outright rejecting his trinket would net me the Celestial Loop ring and 100 coins. The ring’s fire and frost resistance bonuses seemed more suited for the dangers that lurked in later zones. I weighed my immediate needs against future survival. Ultimately, I chose the Enchanted Suolenet; it felt right to honor his gratitude and bolster my now-steady climb toward prosperity.

Looking back, this little side quest encapsulated everything I love about Avowed. It turned a mundane fetch task into a vertical puzzle, rewarding careful observation and a willingness to get my boots dirty. Shantytown’s rooftops offered a microcosm of The Living Lands—treacherous yet beautiful, broken yet brimming with secrets. If you’re passing through, don’t simply walk the streets. Look up.