Woodland Encounter

Woodland Encounter is the first part of the Aranyaka World Quest series.
==Quests==
# Woodland Encounter
# The Children of Vimara Village
# Into the Woods
# The Lost Child
==Summary==
;Woodland Encounter
As the Traveler and Paimon leave Gandharva Ville, they hear a cry for help, finding a female Forest Watcher fighting some fungi off. After eliminating the troublesome monsters, the Forest Watcher introduces herself as Rana. Rana offers to guide them to Vimara Village, which they accept.
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;The Children of Vimara Village
As they walk to the village, they come upon a Withering Zone, with Rana explaining (if they hadn't cleared it with Tighnari before) about the dangers of the zone, especially to humans without a Vision. The Traveler restores the area before Paimon remarks about the mysterious creatures they saw earlier when they arrived in Sumeru. Rana recognizes them as the Aranara, but they're dismissed as tales.
They finally reach the village, where Rana introduces them to Amadhiah and Alphonso. There, the Traveler learns that the children of the village have gone missing recently; they had tried to search for them to no avail, only for them to inexplicably return several days later with no recollection of what happened. The Traveler suspects that the children are hiding something and tries to get information by appeasing them with stories but is unsuccessful. After telling the stories, Rana asks the Traveler to help her deal with some new Withering Zones that appeared.
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;Into the Woods
During the patrol, the Traveler eliminates several Withering Zones on their route. Afterwards, Rana states that their next job is to control the local Spinocrocodile population, as their numbers have been growing too high recently. Paimon is surprised they aren't handling the Withering, but Rana explains that a Forest Watcher's job is to also ensure the ecosystem is in perfect balance. After thinning the Spinocrocodile numbers, they head to a reserve camp to stay for the night. The Traveler and Paimon collect firewood while Rana prepares some curry. Rana then briefly talks about the Aranara, who were visited by another gold-haired human which gets the Traveler and Paimon's interest before they sleep.
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;The Lost Child
After getting a good night's sleep, the trio prepare to return to Vimara Village when they spot Iotham running in the distance. Some Eremites appear chasing him, but they drive them off before heading into the caves, where they're ambushed by the Fatui. However, they defeat them and continue heading deeper into the cave, where they find Iotham bubbled in the middle of a Withering Zone.
Rana, seeing Iotham in danger, decides to charge into the Withering Zone despite being aware that she could not withstand its effects due to lacking a Vision. The Traveler assists her in clearing the zone and free Iotham. However, the short and brief exposure has caused Rana to fall sickly ill, forcing them to leave her behind to return Iotham back to the village. They then return to get her, but discover her missing, albeit with some traces of energy left behind.
Following the trail, they run into a strange hut where they meet Arana, a member of the Aranara who explains that Rana was sickened by "Marana" and needs a Bija to be restored. It directs them to Vanarana to begin the process of curing her.
==Other Languages==
==Change History==
es:Encuentro en el bosque (serie)
ja:森の中の奇遇
ru:Встреча в лесу