Quests

Quests require you to fight certain Monsters or collect certain Items dropped by monsters or crafted. Sometimes they'll ask you to write a certain number of words, write a certain number of days in a row (a "streak"), or fight a certain number of monsters regardless of what they are. Or all of the above! Quests also give fun rewards and can unlock other quests or areas.

For a fun list of the largest and smallest quests, see Largest Quests.

## Main Quests

Main Quests are quests that drive the main plot of 4thewords. They must be completed in order, and completing each one unlocks the next in the chain. These progress through the different Regions and Areas of the valley. Later regions are locked behind the player's progress in the main quest chain.

In addition to providing challenges for the player, the main quests are the mechanism for conveying the story. Not only through the quest's lore, but via cutscenes that happen between the main quests. These cutscenes feature the player's Dust Warrior on their journey, as well as numerous NPCs they meet along the way. These cutscenes can be replayed in the questbook.

After the 2022 redesign, the main quest line was separated into its own section of the questbook.

Once there, you'll note that the option to sort the quests vanishes (1). This is because the main quests always appear in order. They are also grouped by area, and you can jump ahead by scrolling and selecting the region icon (2).

Once you've selected a quest, you are able to replay the cutscenes (3). You can also see the requirements and rewards (4), and when you completed it (5).

Your current quest displays the same information, except (5) is replaced by a progress bar and a "submit" button.

One more thing to keep in mind is that, just as some monsters are locked until a certain quest is completed, some monsters will disappear after their associated quest is turned in. If you want to fight them more than once, for mastery purposes or to farm drops, a little strategy is required.

## Side Quests

Side Quests are quests that are not required to complete the story, but which fill in lore and grant rewards. These can be locked by area, and might also be locked by progress in the main quest. Some side quests require unlocking other areas of monsters to complete. Expedition areas are often unlocked by side quests from the main area, or the previous expedition area.

Players may take up to 25 side quests at once (previously 20), and make progress towards them at their own pace. The main quest does not count against the 25. These side quests are displayed on the main questbook page, and the number currently picked up also displays on the button.

Side quests can be dropped at any time, but all progress on them will be lost. Side quests can be picked up again, later, provided that the player still has access to the quest area. They will need to start fulfilling it from scratch, however.

Most side quests operate on the principle that monsters fought that same day, even before the quest was picked up, will count towards it. So, for example, if you fought two Puna yesterday, and two more this morning, before picking up the Luciola Puna quest, then the two from this morning would count towards the quest's 10 required. However, the two from yesterday would not count.

Along the same lines, if you complete your words for the day, and then pick up a "X day streak" quest such as The Top 10%, or a "Write X words" quest such as Lead the Way it will count the first day's streak or words as completed towards the total.

There are two kinds of exceptions. The first is for quests that count every instance of that monster, even from previous days, or your lifetime streak. These have cropped up occasionally during events and throughout the valley. For example, Au-Some Frog Race requires the Dust Warrior to battle 1,000 Kuldoro, but it counts all kuldoro fought over the player's lifetime, even before the quest is picked up.

The other kind of exception goes the other direction. These are quests that only count monsters, words, and streaks from the moment they are picked up. Several global quests follow this pattern, and it is important to double check before starting the day's writing, or risk your words/monsters not counting.

Generally speaking, these quests will have a timer associated, which is a handy clue that they are restricted, but it isn't 100% accurate, so always double check.

### Area Side Quests

Area side quests are quests that are found in a specific area. These include both main areas such as Three Points Crossing, and side areas such as the Forest expedition Base Camp. These quests can only be found in their specific area.

Some are unlocked as soon as that area is reached, while some are locked behind progression of the main quest or other quest chains. Some of the areas in the later game, such as Dark Forest Outpost, unlock quests or monsters in earlier areas, like Luciola Forest, after their completion. These quests, like A Dusted Experiment, are not found in the Outpost, despite being unlocked there, and are not visible in the Forest until unlocked properly.

Area side quests might require monsters from the area they're found in, or other areas around the valley; even areas the Dust Warrior hasn't reached yet! A good tactic is to ignore those quests until unlocking the relevant area, then picking them up and letting the monsters count for both the main and side quests at the same time.

### Event Quests

Large site events, like the three yearly NaNo events, have their own areas with their own associated quests. These quests might include quest chains, community quests, and multiple areas to unlock. Some events might have a small "main" quest line exclusive to the event, which has no impact on the site's main quest chain.

The monsters required for these quests come from the event areas, and, like the quests, are only available for a limited time. Dust Warriors can keep the quests after the event ends, provided they have space in their questbook. By adding the event monsters to their queue before they vanish, and being careful not to delete or overwrite them, the Dust Warrior can complete the quest in their own time.

### Hunt for the Ancients

The Hunt for the Ancients features another kind of side quest. These follow their own quest chain line, similar to the way the main quest line progresses. Unlike most side quests, the 2020 and 2022 seasons of the Hunt are highly structured chains, and the former is required to unlock the later seasons.

These quests are only found in the Elder Library, but require monsters from around the Valley. It's possible to unlock Hunt quests before unlocking the relevant area and monsters.

To see the quest chains and seasons, check out the Hunt for the Ancients.

### Shrine of Ages

Another kind of side quest can be found in the Shrine of Ages. This area holds quests and monsters from previous events that have returned in this limited form. In 2022, four new Shrine sections were added that were not from previous events, but composed of new quests and monsters based on NPCs from the valley.

To see the different shrine sections and events, check out the Shrine of Ages.

### Global Quests

Global quests are a type of side quest. Like Global Monsters, they can be found in every area in the valley. If you pick one up in Gansu Watering Hole, it will disappear from Luciola and everywhere else.

These quests can be found on their own tab of the quest page, shown with an image of the Valley. Prior to the 2022 update, they were marked with an image of Nabia.

Global Quests themselves fall into two categories.

#### Recurring Quests

These are quests that reappear regularly after being unlocked. The most common time frame is 12 hours, though some have a four-day cycle or similar. These are not related to how long the Dust Warrior has to complete the quest, but how long it will take to respawn in Global Quests after being turned in.

They are identifiable by their "Daily Quest" tag. This tag is used on repeatable global quests regardless of their time limit or their respawn duration.

To see more details about these quests, check out Global Quests.

#### Global Event Quests

The second kind of global quests are event quests. These are quests that appear during recurring events, such as Pride, Love Festival, etc. Just as the event monsters join the ranks of global monsters for the duration of the event, the event quests appear in the global quest tab.

Some event quests are standard side quests, and can only be completed once. Others recur on a daily or similar schedule.

Larger site events, like the three yearly NaNo events, have their own areas with their own associated quest tabs. For the duration of the event, the global quest tab will also migrate to all event areas.

In the last few years, these events have been accompanied by a global "Gratitude Journal" quest. They've also had one or more recurring quests, usually requiring the Dust Warrior to battle 25 monsters within 4 days. These quests would respawn 12 hours after being turned in, like most daily quests.

## Co-Op Quests

Co-Op Quests were introduced with the new Co-Op battle mode during Love Festival 2023. These are quests that are not required to complete the story, but which engage Dust Warriors with the new Co-Op mechanic and grant rewards. They are all found on the Multiplayer tab, as are the specific creatures required to fight them, rather than in an area of the Valley.

Because this area is located on the sidebar, players do not need to reach a specific area to access them, but can pick them up on their first day on the site. The quest page itself, within the Multiplayer Battle Room, looks much like an area quest page.

Once picked up, these quests appear in the player's main questbook page, alongside regular side and global quests. They are counted towards the 25 quest maximum, and can be dropped at any time, though all progress will be lost. At the moment, no new areas or story progress are locked behind these quests.

At the moment, these quests are still a little buggy, so it is unknown if they count all battles/monsters done on the day, or only after they have been picked up, though the former seems more prevalent.

These battles can only be completed by engaging in Co-Op Battles with other players.