Sky Islands · Qinglan Archipelago ​

The Qinglan Archipelago is a standalone raid you launch from the base dock. Cross the village, terraces and root-wrapped isles above the cloud sea, restore the wind beacon and the star lamp, then reach the Homecoming Bell Court and light the shipping lanes again. A single run can be pure story, or it can be scavenging, contracts, and the storm that never quite blew over.

Setting out ​

On a first install, the route is not yet in the base route table. Find the official NPC Jeff at base, open his normal quest screen, and accept Coordinates Above the Clouds from the Available tab. The details page lists what to bring back (Lost Navigation Instrument x1) and the reward: Currency +5000 plus Starmoss Salve x2, Windward Incense x2 and Wind Lantern x1. The quest enters the regular journal, and Jeff's original quests remain available as usual.

Enter an ordinary Ground Zero raid and open the map: a ring marks Lost Navigation Instrument. Step inside it and a Qinglan boss, Galebreaker Ranger (Warden), wakes up. Beat it and the instrument is in its loot box. Pick it up and the objective completes. Carry it back to Jeff, open his Active tab and choose Complete Quest. He takes the instrument, pays 5000, puts supplies for your first trip up (Starmoss Salve x2, Windward Incense x2, Wind Lantern x1) straight into your backpack (storage if it is full), and writes the Qinglan route into the table.

Once unlocked, wait for your character and the level to finish loading, then pick "Depart for Sky Islands · Qinglan" at the existing dock. The normal build is enough: no developer mode, and no BossRush ticket is spent. End any other active mode first. If the Sky Islands scene bundle is missing, Jeff does not offer Coordinates Above the Clouds and the boat route does not appear, so the game never sends you into an impossible chain.

A save that already played the Sky Islands in an older version keeps access automatically when existing visits, story facts, encounter clears or journal entries are found. Only a save with no previous Sky Islands progress starts with Jeff.

On the isles the main line is three proper quests in the regular quest journal: take Light Both Beacons from Weibai at Windchime Market and report back once both burn; take The Bell Court Standoff from Fuzhou at the dock, then talk the Bell Keeper down or stop his bell engine. Once the standoff is resolved, accept The Homecoming Bell from the Bell Keeper right there, ring it and hand it in locally, then report to Fuzhou on your way home. There is no need for a dock detour just to unlock the bell quest. The HUD and current-objective map circles guide you through accepting, exploring and reporting back; ringing the bell keeps any pending hand-ins marked. After frogspawn and pigeons, the Wind Beacon Compass follows the same main-line destinations. These quests are accepted and completed on the isles, never back at base; when a resident is away, the same quest hangs on the commission board, dock workbench or bell engine instead. All three list their reward on the official quest page: Light Both Beacons pays 3000 + Wind Lantern x2 and Windward Incense x2; The Bell Court Standoff pays 5000 + Starmoss Salve x3 and Homecoming Bento x2; The Homecoming Bell pays 8000 + Qinglan Charm x1 and Stardust x3. At hand-in the money arrives and the items go straight into your backpack (sent home to storage if it is full). It is paid once and never again on a reload. Older saves that had not used this quest chain receive a one-time completion backfill (backfilling pays no reward); quests already accepted still need your hand-in, and reloading never completes them automatically.

"The existing dock" is the boat you already use to head out, with the same interaction menu that holds the vanilla challenge maps. Even after unlocking it, you have to walk over to the boat before the option appears: that part of the base streams in separately, so while you are standing in the main base area the boat does not exist yet and not seeing "Depart for Sky Islands" is expected.

There is combat on the islands, so prepare weapons, ammo and supplies at base. You bring your own gear and backpack.

Departing and returning work exactly like any other map: loading ends on the usual "click to continue" prompt before you actually land, and extracting shows the familiar evacuation summary before you get back to base.

Map and getting home ​

• The archipelago uses the game's own map: press your usual map key. Zoom, panning, manual markers and the compass all behave exactly as they do on any other map.
• The chart interactions at the dock and in Windchime Market also open it with the interact key, so you do not have to remember the map key. Those same interactions cycle Daylight, Dusk, Starlit Night, Morning and automatic skies. This only changes the scenery, not the clock: night chiefs, cloud gnats and frogspawn still appear between 22:00 and 06:00 game time.
• Only the regions you have set foot on are coloured in; the rest stay as a dim grey silhouette. Revealed regions are remembered by your save, so they stay lit on later trips.
• Your current objective is on a small card on the right side of the screen (below the game's own controls hint), not inside the map. It fades out together with the game's HUD while your backpack, the map or a dialogue is open.
• Extraction points are drawn on the ground as a glowing ring: teal at the dock, always open; a green ring appears on the Hanging Root Wood plaza once its wind beacon is lit, another on the Fallen Star Workshop plaza once its star lamp is lit, and one at the Bell Court as soon as both beacons are lit (no need to ring the bell first). The ring is exactly the trigger area: stand inside it for 3 seconds to return, with the same countdown ring as the game's own extraction points. Leaving cancels the countdown; opening an official screen such as your backpack, the pause menu or photo mode freezes it rather than resetting it.
• Extraction is the only way out: no screen lets you return on the spot. You have to walk into an extraction ring and hold it for 3 seconds. Open extraction points are marked on the game's own map, a notice pops up once whenever a new one opens, and the map also circles where your current objective is. Once both beacons burn and the Windeater is still out there, the eye of the storm on Windsong Boardwalk gets a lighter circle as an optional challenge; after the bell has rung, side-path evidence you have not collected yet is circled the same way.
• Leaving with side content unfinished is fine; you can come back later.
• The Sky Islands theme "Qinglan Archipelago" loops in the background for the whole trip, at your in-game music volume; it stops when you extract, fall or quit.

The first stretch ​

North of Cloudrise Dock lies Windchime Market. Talk to Weibai the lamp-keeper first, then head west through the Green Terraces and the Hanging Root Wood, or east through the Mirrorwater Temple and the Fallen Star Workshop. The two beacon routes can be done in either order.

• Hanging Root Wood: clear the threats around the wind beacon, then work the beacon console to restore the western beacon.
• Fallen Star Workshop: clear the threats around the star lamp, then work the lamp console to restore the eastern beacon.
• Return shortcuts: once the matching repair is done, work the rope bridge or the gate. How much they actually save varies a lot: K3 on Windsong Boardwalk is the one worth opening (it nearly halves the walk from the dock to the storm’s eye later on), K2 at the Fallen Star Workshop is next; K1 in the Hanging Root Wood saves almost nothing: the moment its beacon is lit the plaza opens its own extraction, so that rope bridge is there for the view.
• Windsong Boardwalk: once both beacons burn, report to Weibai, then take The Bell Court Standoff from Fuzhou at the dock before crossing to the Homecoming Bell Court.
• Relay platforms: several long bridges widen into platforms midway. Expect ambushes on the two bridges that lead from the Hanging Root Wood and the Fallen Star Workshop to Windsong Boardwalk, and a scavenging point on each of the three return-shortcut platforms. The shortcut gates stand at the Windchime Market end, so until a shortcut is open you reach its platform from the far side: Hanging Root Wood, Fallen Star Workshop or Windsong Boardwalk.

Scavenging points ​

There are 39 scavenging points across the map (3–4 in each of the eight main regions and 2 on each of the four side paths), and they use the familiar official looting interface. A label above each crate names its tier:

• Household Stores (11) — Where: Cloudrise Dock, Windchime Market, Green Terraces; Items per crate: 1–2; Roughly what's inside: Low-quality everyday goods to top up before you set out

• Voyage Supplies (18) — Where: Hanging Root Wood, Windsong Boardwalk, Mirrorwater Temple and three side paths; Items per crate: 2–3; Roughly what's inside: Mid-quality gear, the payoff for taking the detours

• Starworks Cache (10) — Where: Fallen Star Workshop, Bell Court, Starfall Overlook; Items per crate: 2–4; Roughly what's inside: The highest quality on the map, and the hardest to reach

• Crates are only placed as you approach, so the whole map is never spawned at once. The HUD shows "looted / available".

• Contents are fixed for the run: walk away and come back and it is the same crate; what you took does not restock. Only a fresh raid re-rolls them.

• Scavenging points are deliberately not marked on the map. You have to walk to the good stuff.

• Loot you find is random within its band, but the higher the quality the rarer it is (each step up is roughly 40% less likely); top-tier items still turn up, just not one per crate. Only loot you earn (the Windeater trophy and contract payouts) guarantees one item from the top of its band.

• Island loot pools leave out collectibles worth more than 100,000 each (such as the Crown and the mysterious keys): rare finds like blueprints and the solid gold badge still turn up, but no single crate pays for the whole map.

Who you'll fight ​

Lane threats respawn every raid. Come back a second time and the ordinary encounters are there again. The archipelago never turns into an empty island just because you cleared it once. Only the named story opponents (Zheling, the Silent Bell Keeper, the Windeater) are one-off: settle them and they stay settled.

The enemies here talk too. The Cloudedge Scavengers came up to make a living after the storm cut the lanes, and they are not monsters: walk near one of their camps and you will hear someone reckon what the brass is worth, say nobody dares gather crystal out by the cloud sea, or notice that people used to live in this house. One of them shouts when it first spots you, and says something when a mate goes down beside it. The Galebreaker Rangers have their own lines and only talk about the bridge, the wind and the toll. None of it is chatty: the same speaker waits over half a minute before opening its mouth again, and at most two bubbles show at once, so do not count on overhearing intel. Chiefs and island lords each have their own lines at three moments: turning up, crossing a health threshold, and going down. Those never compete with the mechanic warnings at the bottom of the screen. The Windeater is a gust of wind left by the storm and never speaks; the runaway bell engine at the Bell Court is a machine and only rings. Before a chief or island lord strikes, its warning ring fills in from the centre while a rising charge-up tone plays, so you can hear it coming even with your back turned; when an island lord (or the Windeater) crosses a health threshold a wave of light ripples out from its feet, and when a chief or lord falls a bell tolls.

• Cloudedge Scavengers — the baseline density across the map, fighting like the game's ordinary scavengers. Different regions field different official scavenger builds.
• Galebreaker Rangers — they lead the roaming groups on the Windsong Boardwalk and at the Bell Court. Tougher, faster to react, and recognisable at a glance by their size and colour, so the groups on the main line are not a quick sweep. The three chiefs on the return relay platforms, Galebreaker Ranger (Chaser / Stalker / Warden), are their leaders; see below.
• Overlook Stargazer (chief) — leads the Starfall Overlook guards and wears a stargazer's lens helm. From high ground, with a clear line of sight, it first paints a ring at your feet, then drops two starfire shells once the mark locks. Step out of the ring, or duck behind cover to break its line of sight, and inside 8 m it can only shoot normally; wear its lens helm down to zero durability and it cannot mark anyone again. It drops that Stargazer's Lens Helm 30% of the time.
• Starforge Foreman (island lord) — leads the Fallen Star Workshop beacon guards, is there every raid, and wears a full set of Starworks gear. At 70%, 40% and 15% health it raises starfurnace pylons that thicken its armour (break the pylons first), and after two rounds of starfire it overheats for a few seconds, holding fire and taking more damage; break its helmet or harness and the matching attack weakens. It always drops one piece of the Starworks gear it wore, taking one slot in its loot box; the rest of the box is whatever it was carrying. See "Starworks Gear" for the four pieces and what they do.
• Hanging-Root Huntmaster (island lord) — leads the Hanging Root Wood beacon guards, is there every raid, and wears a full set of rootweave hunting gear. It plants two root stakes between you and it and strings a tripwire that trips and slows you if you cross it (break either stake and the wire snaps); at 75% and 45% health a ring lights over one of its root hollows and it bursts out there in ambush, then reels for a moment. Break its mask or cuirass and the matching attack weakens. It always drops one piece of the rootweave gear it wore, taking one slot in its loot box.
• The Waylayer (chief) — leads the group at the Upturned Post Hut and carries an old mailbag. Up close it lights a ring at its feet and reaches for your pack, snatching one island consumable, then flicks to the far end of the hut and runs off fast. Keep it off you and back away when the ring lights; if it does snatch something, run it down: your things are on its body and land in its loot box when it falls. Below 40% health it drops what it took at its feet. It drops that Old Mailbag 30% of the time.
• Grain Sickle (island lord) — leads the group between the waterwheel channel and the barn on the Green Terraces, is there every raid, and wears a full set of straw-cloak farm gear. At 80%, 50% and 25% health it opens the sluices and floods three patches of mud around you that slow you while you stand in them; the first time it also calls over the hands from the barn (clear the barn group first and nobody comes); up close it sweeps its sickle in a circle. Break its hat or raincoat and the matching attack weakens. It always drops one piece of the straw-cloak gear it wore. See "Island Lord Gear" for the six pieces the two lords wear and what they do.
• Rain Listener (chief) — leads the group at the Rainlisten Grotto and wears rainhush earmuffs. It counts the shots you fire around the cave mouth, and every 8 shots it brings rocks down beside you. Fire less there, switch to melee, or draw it out of the cave first; crit its earmuffs through and it can no longer bring rocks down. It drops those Rainhush Earmuffs 30% of the time.
• Gnat Piper (chief, night only) — leads the group at Frogsong Pool and wears a mossgauze mask; by day you will only find its followers. It stands still and plays its flute, calling cloud gnats to you and sending every gnat on the map at you for a while. Hit it while it plays and the tune breaks off; crit its mask through and it can no longer play. It drops that Mossgauze Mask 30% of the time.
• Mirror Guest (chief, night only) — leads the group around the Mirrorwater Temple pool and wears mirrorgrain plate; by day you will only find its followers. It lights a ring behind you and flips round into it, leaving a reflection where it stood. Step out when a ring lights at your back; shatter the reflection first and it reels for a few seconds; stray far from the pool and it stops flipping; wear its plate down to zero durability and it can no longer leave a reflection. It drops that Mirrorgrain Plate 30% of the time.
• Galebreaker Ranger (Chaser) (chief) — leads the group on the relay platform of the Hanging Root Wood return shortcut (K1) and wears the Galebreaker Mantle. Its whole group is no friend of the scavengers and fights them on sight. When a lunge line lights on the ground it lunges twice, first to just in front of you, then to just behind you, so sidestep both, and it staggers briefly afterwards; wear its mantle down to zero durability and the line stays lit twice as long. It drops that Galebreaker Mantle 40% of the time.
• Galebreaker Ranger (Stalker) (chief) — leads the group on the relay platform of the Fallen Star Workshop return shortcut (K2), carries the Galebreaker Pack, and is just as hostile to the scavengers. It lunges once and then flicks back to where it started to shoot from the platform edge. Do not chase it into a gunfight at the edge, wait for its next lunge; below half health its pack comes apart and it stops flicking back. It drops that Galebreaker Pack 40% of the time.
• Galebreaker Ranger (Warden) (chief) — leads the group on the relay platform of the Windsong Boardwalk return shortcut (K3), wears the Galebreaker Hood, and is just as hostile to the scavengers. It lunges only once and its line stays lit longest, the easiest of the three to read, so learn the lunge on it first; shoot its hood through and the line stays lit twice as long. It drops that Galebreaker Hood 40% of the time. See "Island Chief Gear" for the seven chief pieces and what they do.
• Zheling / the Silent Bell Keeper — named story opponents. They use Killa and the Mechanical Snowman as their respective references with a 50% boost, giving them 622.5 and 480 base health. Both still have a peaceful resolution. What you fight at the Bell Court is the runaway bell engine, not the keeper himself. By the Court’s custom every ringing machine is cast in the likeness of the keeper on duty, which is why it wears his face; the Homecoming Bell’s own message explains it. Each has a signature move: Zheling blocks the road with three cuts, lighting four blade rings along a straight line from him towards you that fall one after another from near to far, so sidestep rather than backing away down the line, and below half health he cuts more often; the bell engine stands still and tolls, lighting a wide ring around itself that hurts and briefly deafens (slows) anyone inside when the bell sounds, avoidable by leaving the ring or getting behind a wall, and below half health it tolls twice with a wider second ring.

Base combat attributes are boosted by 50% over the corresponding original enemy or boss: health, damage, movement, bullet speed, range and perception improve, while spread and reaction delays decrease. Ordinary enemies keep their own original reference; chiefs and island lords use fixed references. The Starforge Foreman has 1200 base health, the Hanging Root Hunter 675, and Grain Sickle 915. Game difficulty still affects final health. Equipment armour and signature attacks retain their own rules.

The Windeater ​

Once both beacons burn again, something comes in off the cloud sea. At the twin-beacon gate device on the Windsong Boardwalk you can choose to face it; it arrives with two Galebreaker Rangers.

• 3000 base health, 50% above the original 2000-health Koukou variant; game difficulty still affects its final health. Visibly larger and storm-coloured.
• At about 80% / 60% / 40% / 20% health it enters a new phase, at most four times. A burst of damage crossing several thresholds jumps straight to the phase for its current health without replaying the skipped storms. Each phase change releases three expanding storm rings after a ~1.5 second telegraph and speeds it up. A glowing ring is drawn on the ground at its feet, and that ring is the actual blast radius of the next pulse; the later two are drawn ahead of time during the gaps. The telegraph is tuned so that a normal run gets you out from dead centre: start moving the moment the ring appears, or you eat all three pulses. Rock walls and solid terrain block it: if you cannot clear the ring in time, putting solid geometry between you and the Windeater also spares you.
• Beating it leaves a Starworks cache where it fell.
• It is optional, and worth it: with the storm gone, the Silent Bell Keeper no longer needs the full set of old letter, route chart, telescope and a settled matter with Zheling, because the wind that kept him from ringing is gone. When it falls, a caption at the bottom of the screen spells out what its defeat changes.

You can finish the story without fighting it. Once beaten, the save slot remembers it permanently and it does not return. What you can fight again after the ending is its echo:

The Windeater's echo: once you have rung the Homecoming Bell and beaten the Windeater, the twin-beacon gate device on Windsong Boardwalk offers "Call the wind".

• How to call it: carry the Windeater Core in your pack (it is not used up) and burn a Qinglan Windcrystal (five windcrystal shards fuse into one at Fuzhou's dock workbench). Once per raid at most; leave and set out again and you can call it again. If something is missing, the option does not appear and the panel text ends with what you still need.
• How it differs from the first fight: it still brings two Galebreaker Rangers, and its health, maximum of four phase changes, telegraph and three storm rings are the same; the eye stays pinned where it stood when the telegraph began, just as in the first fight, instead of moving with the boss; the difference is that after the third ring it goes off once more in place (as large as the third ring, one gap later). Once you are clear of the third ring, do not step back in. The Qinglan Charm still cuts the damage.
• The wind comes back: while the echo is out there, Windsong Boardwalk and the bridges are in a gale again, and windward incense, the wind lantern and the Windeater Core in your pack all work as they did before the first fight; once the echo falls, the wind drops.
• What it leaves: an echo cache where it fell: Windcrystal Shard ×3 and Stardust ×2, plus one thing for your next trip: a Qinglan Charm, a Homecoming Bento or Windward Incense ×2. It grants no second Windeater Core and draws nothing from the game's loot pool; the echo is not written to your save, so the roster and journal still remember the first fight.

Residents and their services ​

For longer conversations with a service provider, the first two lines lead to three choices: "I need something", "See you" or "Tell me more". More talk resumes with the next line, including letters, route news and chief hints. Qinghe talks about her garden and cooking; Weibai talks about lamps, wind chimes and the lanes.

They also get on with their day when you are not talking to them. Qinghe, Weibai, Fuzhou and Miantai wander around their own small patch and mutter something overhead every fifteen to twenty-five seconds: Qinghe about the weather and the stove, Weibai about the contract board and a loose chime string, Fuzhou about the tide and his knots, Miantai about your wound and nothing else. They stop walking while you talk to them and set off again a moment after you finish. Zheling holds the old route and the Silent Bell Keeper holds the bell, so those two stay put; the keeper says nothing even in a bubble, only a "Clang—" and an ellipsis.

All six residents support daily chat, gifts, affinity and marriage: Qinghe, Weibai, Fuzhou, Miantai, Zheling and the Silent Bell Keeper. Choose daily chat or gifts in their interaction menu to build the relationship. At affinity level 10, with the Wedding Chapel built and a Diamond Ring ready, you can propose under the existing marriage rules. You can have only one spouse at a time.

Choose gifts that suit their lives: Qinghe likes food and drinks, and Weibai likes tools; Fuzhou likes Driftwood, Brass Scrap and tools, Miantai likes Cloudmoss Fiber and Starmoss Salve, Zheling likes Homecoming Bento and weapons, and the Silent Bell Keeper likes Brass Scrap, Stardust and Qinglan Windcrystal. Daily chat adds 30 affinity, a liked gift adds 80, and an ordinary gift adds 20. Chat and gifts can each raise affinity once per day.

Marriage keeps your story progress. "Talk about the lanes" remains available, with dialogue matching your progress and location. A spouse at base explains what to do next on the island; a spouse following you there can still offer their usual services. After being challenged, Zheling rests for the current raid and returns to Mirrorwater Temple on your next visit, where you can still chat, give gifts and marry him. This also applies to saves where you defeated him earlier; victory and reward records remain intact. It does not change a story victory into a peaceful resolution. If Zheling's story is still unresolved and he is following you as your spouse, send him home before using the Mirrorwater Temple device to challenge him.

When Weibai is away from the island, choose Route quests at the Windchime Market board to accept or turn in the main quests. The board takes over even if you marry or send her home during that raid. Qinghe's planting record can be left at the same board, while her homecoming meal and stove crafting remain available at the Greenear Terraces garden. Conversations at base explain progress; quest hand-ins and island services require a return trip.

Four of them offer a practical service; the other two are story branches:

• Fuzhou (Cloudrise Dock) · Dock refit — pay to repair the worn gear you're carrying: the same items the repair bench accepts, so medicine and food are not topped up. The price follows the repair bench's value-based formula, with a minimum service charge of 60 per refit, halved to a minimum of 30 when you carry a Qinglan Homecoming Badge. Repairing still shaves a little off the permanent durability ceiling, without the trip home. Paid services on the island settle from either the cash you carry or your bank account, exactly as they do back at base. The dock device does the same job when Fuzhou isn't around.
• Miantai (Hanging Root Wood) · Moss remedy — pay to heal to full. Priced by how much health you are missing, so a scratch is cheap and a near-death is a serious bill; the five-minute cooldown runs on game time (it does not tick down while the game is paused) and means one or two uses per raid. It is not a free second life. If she is not around, her mortar beside the Hanging Root Wood note "a mailbag in the roots" applies the same remedy.
• Weibai (Windchime Market) · Lane contracts — see below.
• Qinghe (Windchime Market; her garden is on the Green Terraces) · Homecoming meal — once you've returned her planting record, ask for one free meal per raid: higher maximum health and movement speed for that run. The health the raised cap adds is filled in, but actual wounds still need Miantai. If Qinghe herself is away from the island (after marrying her, for instance), the terrace garden plot serves the same meal.
• Zheling / the Silent Bell Keeper — story branches: peace or a fight.

Lane contracts ​

Take a contract from Weibai or the Windchime Market noticeboard:

• Clear the lanes: finish a number of encounter groups.
• Recover supplies: loot a number of scavenging points.
• Survey the isles: set foot in a number of regions.
• Thin the gnats (offered at night only): bring down 12 cloud gnats. Guns, windcrystal gnat zappers and the remedy-smoke fan all count.

Progress counts from the moment you accept: earlier work doesn't count, and nothing is deducted. On delivery Weibai leaves a reward crate beside her. Each contract lands on a different bearing, so crates never stack and never block her or the noticeboard. Each completed contract raises the next target by one, and from the third contract onward the reward moves up to Starworks tier. Three contracts per raid at most. Contracts are per raid and reset when you return to base.

Weibai only hands out work you can finish this trip. All four count progress within this raid: “Survey the isles” counts regions you have not set foot on this trip, so it stays on offer even after the whole archipelago is on your map; “Clear the lanes” and “Recover supplies” are normally available every trip too, since encounters and scavenging points refresh per raid. “Thin the gnats” is only offered while there is still enough night left to finish it, and never during the day. Changed your mind after accepting? You can drop a contract with her at any time: dropping it doesn't count as a completion and pays nothing, but it frees the slot (that is also your way out if dawn arrives mid-cull).

The Homecoming Bell and the ending ​

With both beacons restored, talk to the Bell Keeper about the last obstacle. Collecting the old letter and route chart, repairing the telescope and settling things with Zheling one way or the other (reconciling and defeating both count) will persuade him, and so will simply having dealt with the Windeater. You may also challenge him and continue after winning.

Challenging Zheling does not lock you out of the Bell Keeper's peaceful route: the old badge he leaves behind reads "the route is yours now", and the Bell Keeper accepts it as proof; walk up to the badge to read its inscription. Winning that fight does close the door on reconciling with Zheling himself, and the challenge button says so. Outcomes settled in a fight (beating Zheling, the bell engine or the Windeater) are read out as a caption at the bottom of the screen.

After the Bell Keeper is resolved you still have to ring the bell yourself before the finale counts. Afterwards you can return to fill in notes and side paths; completed main-line steps never have to be redone. Once the bell has rung, the homecoming boat ties up beside the dock lamp with a crew roster at the bow, and a Qinglan Homecoming Badge is waiting in your base storage.

Pigeon letters ​

Every raid, one carrier pigeon lands somewhere on the islands with a letter tied to its leg: a letter that could not be sent the year of the storm and is only arriving now. A few seconds after you land, a caption at the bottom of the screen names the region it came down in. The pigeon is not marked on the map: you have to walk over and find it (its name fades in as you approach, with a soft white glow beside it).

• Walk up to the pigeon, read the letter and choose "Keep the letter" to receive it; the pigeon then flies off and the letter goes into your archipelago journal. Leave without keeping it and the same pigeon waits in the same spot next raid.
• There are 12 letters. The first eight arrive one per raid, in order; the other four are only sent once the story reaches the right point (both beacons lit, the star lamp lit, the bell rung). Those are delivered first when their condition is met, and several can arrive in the same raid; the run where you ring the bell often brings two.
• Most letters are addressed to someone on the islands. Talk to Fuzhou, Weibai, Qinghe or Zheling after keeping theirs and they will mention it.
• With your first letter, Fuzhou sends along a Wind-Vane Compass (see "Sky Islands items" below).

Hidden-isle puzzles ​

The evidence on the four hidden isles (Frogsong Pool, the Upturned Post Hut, the Rainlisten Grotto and the Starfall Overlook) is no longer a single button press. Each is a short three-step puzzle: fill in the crop names on the planting record, take down the torn strips of the old letter in order, read the streams in the cave, and turn the telescope's three rings.

• The clues are written into the puzzle text itself, and the island's notes and pigeon letters carry hints too.
• Wrong answers cost nothing: the first miss gives a hint, the second spells out the answer, and you can keep choosing on that step. There is no way to get stuck.
• Only when all three steps line up do you receive the planting record, the old letter, the route chart or the repaired telescope, the same evidence as before. The Starfall Overlook still has to be cleared of guards first.
• Puzzle progress only lasts for the raid: leave halfway and it starts again from step one next time. Evidence you already hold is unaffected.

The archipelago journal and the crew roster ​

Weibai herself, or the "Dock refit" device at Cloudrise Dock, lets you open the archipelago journal:

• Twenty notes: recorded notes appear in the official note index and can be reread at base. The journal home no longer lists four note chapters. Collection progress and the final page for all twenty notes are under "This run · journey progress".
• Letters and people: opens separate "Pigeon letters", "Crew roster" and "Keepsakes you carry" pages, including letters you have already received.
• About the isles: opens "Lights on the isles", "What things are for" and "This run · journey progress" for lamp materials, item uses and collection progress.

After you ring the Homecoming Bell, the homecoming boat ties up beside the dock lamp with a crew roster at the bow: the old helmsman, the post carrier, the workshop apprentice and the ship's doctor have each written a page. Every page reacts to this save's choices (whether you reconciled with or defeated Zheling and the Bell Keeper, whether you beat the Windeater, calibrated the telescope and returned the planting record), so a second save that takes the other road reads different words.

Sky Islands items ​

The archipelago has five items of its own (TypeID 500068–500072), plus ten gathered materials and in-raid consumables (500073–500082, see "Gathering, crafting, the isles' lights and the night wind" below) and three things for the night's cloud gnats (500083–500085, see "Cloud gnats at night"). All of them are on the loot blacklist, so they never show up in random reward pools such as the wish fountain or the daily report. Every one of them has a use on the islands; none exist just to be sold:

• Qinglan Homecoming Badge (keepsake): granted once when you ring the Homecoming Bell and sent straight to base storage. Use it on the islands to pull the line on the badge and find yourself back on Cloudrise Dock (once per raid; it will not pull with enemies within 35 m; not consumed). Carry it in your pack on the islands and the islanders know you: Fuzhou's dock refit and Miantai's moss remedy cost half. If you fall on the islands, it stays behind with the rest of your pack.
• Windeater Core (keepsake): granted once when you defeat the Windeater, sent to base storage. Carry it in your pack on the islands and the whirl inside eats into the wind around you: on night bridges and on the boardwalk before the storm, a gale only counts as a breeze for you. After the ending it is also the key for "Call the wind" on the boardwalk (the Windeater's echo; the core is not used up).
• Wind-Vane Compass (tool): arrives with your first pigeon letter (in your pack, or in base storage if it is full); Starworks crates occasionally hold one too, and Fuzhou's dock workbench can make a replacement once you have had the first one. Use it on the islands: while carrying frogspawn, it points to Frogsong Pool first; otherwise to an uncollected pigeon, then your nearest current objective or unfinished side path; after that, to a place still missing its windcrystal lamp if you carry a Qinglan Windcrystal, or else to a wind crystal cluster you have not gathered this trip. Not consumed.
• Homecoming Bento (food): restores energy and water, and a little health. Once Qinghe has her planting record back, eating one on the islands counts as her homecoming meal (a little more max health and running speed for the raid, shared with her own meal), so you can pack one ahead and eat it before a hard fight; from then on her stove cooks them too. Occasionally found in island crates of every tier.
• Starmoss Salve (medicine): restores health without paying for Miantai's remedy or waiting out her cooldown. Rubbed on anywhere on the isles it stops cloud-gnat itching, and for about a minute and a half afterwards new bites will not itch. You do not have to wait until you itch; applying it before you head out at night counts just the same. Ground at Miantai's mortar; occasionally found in Voyage Supplies and Starworks Cache crates.

Each keepsake is granted once per save, and the grant is recorded with the Sky Islands story save. Saves that had already rung the bell, beaten the Windeater or kept a letter before this update receive theirs on the next trip to the islands. Island goods are packed into crates on top of their normal contents: they neither take a slot from the regular item count nor change what else is inside.

Gathering, crafting, the isles' lights and the night wind ​

There are 30 gathering spots beside the islands' lamps, landmarks and relay platforms. You can see a faint glow from a distance; the name appears as you get close. Stand next to one and hold interact for 1.5–3.5 seconds to gather. Each spot can be gathered once per raid and grows back on your next departure. The deeper the island, the more it yields, and places you have mended grow back thicker (the caption says why):

• Greenear tuft — Yields: Greenear Sheaf; Notes: 2–3 at Windchime Market and the Green Terraces; 3–4 at Mirrorwater Temple and Frogsong Pool

• Stranded driftwood — Yields: Driftwood; Notes: 1–2 at the dock and the market; 2–3 in Hanging Root Wood, on the boardwalk, at the Upturned Post Hut and on the woodland relay platform

• Cloudmoss patch — Yields: Cloudmoss Fiber; Notes: 1–2 on the terraces; 2–3 in Hanging Root Wood, at Mirrorwater Temple and on the hidden isles

• Brass vein — Yields: Brass Scrap; Notes: 2–3 in Rainlisten Grotto (15% chance of a windcrystal shard); 2–4 at the workshop, the Bell Court, the overlook and the maintenance-walk platform (30%)

• Wind crystal cluster — Yields: Windcrystal Shard; Notes: 1–2 on the boardwalk, in Rainlisten Grotto and on the centre-bridge platform (15% chance of stardust); 2–3 at the workshop, the Bell Court and the overlook (35%); at night (22:00–06:00) the stardust chance rises by another 15%

• Planting record returned to Qinghe — What grows back thicker: Each greenear tuft on the Green Terraces yields 1 more

• Wind beacon calibrated — What grows back thicker: Each cloudmoss patch in Hanging Root Wood yields 1 more

• Star lamp repaired — What grows back thicker: Each brass vein at the Fallen Star Workshop (and its maintenance-walk platform) yields 1 more

• Windeater defeated — What grows back thicker: Each wind crystal cluster on Windsong Boardwalk (and the centre-bridge platform) yields 1 more shard; the wind has set into crystal

• Telescope calibrated — What grows back thicker: The Starfall Overlook cluster gets a +20% chance of stardust

Whatever you gather goes into your pack, and if your pack is full it drops at your feet. Gathered goods ride along with this raid's pack like any other loot and are never sent back to base storage.

There are three crafting stations. Each one can be opened through its resident or through the device beside it, so the recipes stay available if the resident has married and left or is not there. Four recipes wait for the story or the isles' lights to reach the right place; the panel lists them as "Not yet" together with what they are waiting for:

• Fuzhou · dock workbench (Fuzhou / the dock device): Wind Lantern (Driftwood ×2 + Cloudmoss Fiber ×1), Qinglan Charm (Brass Scrap ×3 + Windcrystal Shard ×2 + Stardust ×1), Qinglan Windcrystal (Windcrystal Shard ×5, crafted here at the dock once the Fallen Star Workshop's star lamp is lit), Wind-Vane Compass (Brass Scrap ×4 + Windcrystal Shard ×2, once Fuzhou has sent you the first one), Windcrystal Gnat Zapper (Qinglan Windcrystal ×1 + Brass Scrap ×3, two per batch, once two windcrystal lamps are lit on the isles; Weibai tuned the wick half a note lower).
• Qinghe · garden stove (Qinghe / the terrace garden): Windward Incense (Cloudmoss Fiber ×2 + Greenear Sheaf ×2), Homecoming Bento (Greenear Sheaf ×4 + Driftwood ×1, once Qinghe has her planting record back, since the recipe is written in it), Cloudmoss Veil (Cloudmoss Fiber ×3 + Stardust ×1).
• Miantai · moss mortar (Miantai / the Hanging Root Wood note "a mailbag in the roots"): Starmoss Salve (Cloudmoss Fiber ×4 + Windcrystal Shard ×1), Windward Incense (as above), Remedy-Smoke Fan (Greenear Sheaf ×3 + Driftwood ×1).

Each recipe button shows how many of each material you have against how many it needs, counting your pack only, not base storage. If you are short, the station tells you what is missing and takes nothing. Like every other island panel, a station will not open with enemies nearby.

The isles' lights: the old letter in the Upturned Post Hut asks only one thing, "please do not let the island's lights go out", and the child writing to the frogs in Frogsong Pool says it will be time to come home once they have counted ten lights. The three residents' hearths (Fuzhou's dock, Qinghe's garden, beside Miantai) are always lit and count as the first three; seven devices on the isles are each missing a windcrystal lamp, and each lamp is something a letter asked for. At the device, the panel offers "Light a windcrystal lamp", showing what it needs and how much you carry:

• Windsong Boardwalk · twin-beacon gate — The letter that asks for it: From the boardwalk watch; To light it: Qinglan Windcrystal ×1, Driftwood ×3, Cloudmoss Fiber ×2

• Mirrorwater Temple — The letter that asks for it: From the one who sweeps the temple; To light it: Qinglan Windcrystal ×1, Windward Incense ×1, Driftwood ×2

• Fallen Star Workshop — The letter that asks for it: The apprentice's work order; To light it: Qinglan Windcrystal ×1, Brass Scrap ×4

• Homecoming Bell Court — The letter that asks for it: A loose page from the register; To light it: Qinglan Windcrystal ×1, Wind Lantern ×1, Brass Scrap ×2

• Upturned Post Hut — The letter that asks for it: The post hut log; To light it: Qinglan Windcrystal ×1, Cloudmoss Fiber ×3, Driftwood ×1

• Rainlisten Grotto — The letter that asks for it: A note pinned to the chart; To light it: Qinglan Windcrystal ×1, Driftwood ×2, Brass Scrap ×2

• Starfall Overlook — The letter that asks for it: The overlook stargazing log; To light it: Qinglan Windcrystal ×1, Stardust ×2 (clear the overlook guards first)

• A lit lamp is saved with your story and burns every time you return; beside a lamp, as beside a hearth, no wind gets through.

• Once all ten lights are burning, the islands' nights stop blowing (the bridges keep a little wind).

• The journal's "About the isles → Lights on the isles" page lists every lamp and what it still needs, and the crew on the homecoming boat notice the lamp at their own place. A lamp is recorded before its materials are taken, so a save that cannot be written right now never costs you anything.

The night wind: at night (game time 22:00 to 06:00, in step with the game's own day/night), and whenever you stand on a bridge or relay platform, you slowly build up chill; once both beacons are lit and the Windeater is still out there (or while its echo is), Windsong Boardwalk and the bridges are in a gale. A full chill (about two and a half minutes in a breeze, about one minute in a gale) gives you wind chill: stamina recovers slower and you get hungry faster, with no health loss and no slower running. Captions tell you when the wind first picks up, when the chill is halfway, and when wind chill sets in and wears off. By day, the isles are calm except on bridges and relay platforms, where a light breeze still blows in daylight; if both beacons are lit and the Windeater is still out there, those same spots reach a full gale by day too.

In-raid consumables each hold off one layer of wind. They only work on the Qinglan isles (away from them the use button is greyed out, so none are wasted), and their effects end when you leave. Their timers run on game time, so they do not burn down behind the pause menu:

• Wind Lantern (the night breeze): a warm light follows you overhead for about 4 minutes; no chill builds in a breeze, but in a gale the flame gutters and holds off only half. At night it also gathers cloud gnats onto its shade: the ones in its light only circle the flame; they will not bite, and they cannot dodge a bullet, so clear them before it burns out.
• Windward Incense (the gale): about 5 minutes safe from any wind (night bridges and the boardwalk before the storm included), with +15% stamina recovery.
• Qinglan Charm (the Windeater's storm): for this raid, 35% less damage from the Windeater's storm pulses (its echo's too), +10% max health (only the newly added portion is topped up, no free full heal) and +10% stamina recovery; one charm per raid.

Cloud gnats at night ​

At night (game time 22:00 to 06:00) swarms of cloud gnats come out on the isles: 2–4 at a time, flying in from the edge of the screen 8–14 m away, never more than 6 at once. They are thickest by still water (within 20 m of Frogsong Pool, the Mirrorwater Temple pool, and the terrace water wheel and rain barrel), a little thicker in the open middle of an island, and half as many in a breeze; light draws them: more come near a lit windcrystal lamp or while your wind lantern burns. They do not come by day, in hearth smoke (about 9 m around the three hearths), while windward incense burns, in a gale (night bridges, the boardwalk before the storm) or with enemies nearby, and any already circling you scatter.

• Bites: when its moment comes, a gnat dives at your neck for 1 health (difficulty does not scale it), roughly one bite every 1.5–2.5 seconds each, and several never bite in the same instant. Below about 35% health they only circle; cloud gnats cannot kill you.
• Itching: about six bites in quick succession start an itch (-12% stamina recovery) that fades once the biting stops; captions mark when it starts and ends.
• Dodging bullets: they watch your muzzle. At a distance a gnat flashes (the wind-up) and darts up to 3 m aside, so long-range shots rarely land; but a few dodges in a row wear it out, and point-blank shots, shotguns and explosions all hit. One to three hits kill one, leaving a small splat. They drop nothing. The ones your wind lantern lights up are dazzled: they neither dodge nor bite.
• The buzzing only plays while a gnat is within 15 m.

Counters each have their own job:

• Hearth smoke / Windward Incense — Where: the three hearths; stove or mortar; What it does: stand in the smoke or burn incense: no gnats come, and those around you scatter
• Wind Lantern — Where: dock workbench; What it does: trades a crowd for quiet: more come while it burns, but those within 6 m in its light only circle the flame and neither bite nor dodge; the moment it goes out they are back on your neck (with 20 s left you are told how many are still circling)
• Cloudmoss Veil — Where: Qinghe · garden stove; What it does: works from your pack: gnats can only circle about 1 m off and bite about three times less often
• Remedy-Smoke Fan — Where: Miantai · moss mortar; What it does: the swarm on your face: knocks down gnats in a cone within about 3.4 m in front of you and blows those within 6 m back 2.5 m, dazed for 1.2 s; wait a second between sweeps; not consumed
• Windcrystal Gnat Zapper — Where: Fuzhou · dock workbench (once two windcrystal lamps are lit on the isles; two per batch); What it does: holds an area: set on the ground for about 5 minutes, its hum draws gnats in from 12 m and zaps one within 3.2 m about every 0.7 s; up to two at once
• Weibai's “Thin the gnats” contract — Where: Weibai / the Windchime Market noticeboard (at night); What it does: turns killing them into income: 12 per contract, paid at the same tier as the other three
• Starmoss Salve — Where: Miantai · moss mortar; What it does: stops the itch, and for about 90 seconds after it goes on new bites will not itch; applying it before you set out counts
• Miantai's moss remedy — Where: Miantai; What it does: clears the current itch along with your wounds; new bites itch as usual

The frogs of Frogsong Pool: in the letter to the frogs of Frogsong Pool, a child asks the frogs to count the lights for them, but the pool went quiet long ago. At night, go to Mirrorwater Temple · a rubbing in the pool and wrap a clutch of frogspawn in a handful of Cloudmoss Fiber (the frogs gather in the shallows to breed at night), then carry it during that raid to the note by Frogsong Pool ("Qinghe's planting record") and release it; release still works after dawn. While you carry it, the Wind-Vane Compass points to Frogsong Pool before other targets. If you fall or leave the isles, the spawn in your hands is lost, but every clutch already released is saved: deliver the three clutches on separate trips as you pass, without repeating the route in one raid. Each clutch lowers the chance of gnats spawning near water; after all three, frogs can be heard near the pool at night and water's extra attraction is gone, but lamps and sheltered ground can still draw gnats. The roster, that letter and several residents mention Frogsong Pool croaking again and the frogs that grew there spreading along the waterline. Progress is shown in the journal under "About the isles → This run · journey progress".

What the run records ​

Beacons, side paths, the named opponents' and the Windeater's outcomes, visited regions, notes and the ending are all recorded per save slot. Ordinary encounter clears are recorded too (repairing the beacons and calibrating the telescope read those as prerequisites), but they do not stop those encounters from returning next raid. Leaving or dying never clears recorded story facts, and an unfinished fight is never written down as a permanent failure.

Crate contents, contract progress, the homecoming meal, gathering spots, consumable effects and chill, cloud gnats, itching and frogspawn in your hands are per raid and are not saved: every departure starts a fresh round. Loot, boss trophies and contract rewards are still mostly the game's existing items; the archipelago's own items are listed under "Sky Islands items", "Gathering, crafting, the isles' lights and the night wind" and "Cloud gnats at night" above. Pigeon letters, roster pages, keepsake grants, lit windcrystal lamps and frogspawn released into Frogsong Pool are saved per slot as well; a puzzle left half-solved starts again from step one next raid.