“The Rhythm that Leads to the Gloomy Path” is one of the sub-quests of the Aranyaka questline to obtain a Vasoma Fruit for the Utsava Festival and create the Bija needed to heal Rana who’s been affected by the Marana (the Withering). This is part 2 of the Aranyaka World Quest and is triggered after you complete the Encounter in the Woods quest. In this article, we’ll cover a particularly tricky part of the quest where you’re asked to clear a Withering Zone without any Dendrograna in sight.
Solving the Withering in “The Rhythm that Leads to the Gloomy Path”
Once you get this quest, teleport to the waypoint in Gandha Hill and head for the given location to interact with the Aranara there and learn a new song. Once you solve the rose puzzle, you’ll be directed to the portal that ‘Leads to the Gloomy Path’ by visible Dendro energy that will guide you to it.
Once you reach the portal and you play the newly learnt song to it, the portal opens up to reveal a huge Withering Zone which you’re asked to clear- except there’s no Dendrograna in sight. We recommend bringing in an Archer as that would make things a whole lot easier. The zone is laden with small Withering sprouts that attack your character periodically. There are also three Withering Branches as is standard for all Withering Zones.
The Dendrograna is actually hidden behind 3 similar portals as the one you used to get into this Zone. All 3 of these are marked on the map below and can be accessed using the song you just learnt. It must be noted that all 3 of these portals are in one way or the other surrounded by monsters so make sure to clear them out first so that they don’t interrupt the process later.
The 3 stars represent the 3 other portals present in the area other than the one you just used to get in. The exclamation mark in the middle is the Tumor of the Withering for reference. You don’t have to enter all 3 portals if you have an archer in your team. Personally, we’d recommend portal no. 2 for the Dendrograna as it has the simplest retrieving method.
Portal 1
Once you enter portal no. 1 (which is the closest to you when you first enter), you’ll have to use a Dendro character to trigger the tree root on the right that will lift the stone to reveal a Dendrograna. You can use the four-leaf sigils to get back on top and quickly go back out to clear one of the Withering Branches nearby.
Portal 2
Through portal no. 2 you’ll be taken to a simple area where after clearing some slimes you can take the Dendrograna and sling yourself back out using the Four-Leaf Sigils. This is the simplest of the three as the route and process are straightforward and you don’t have to clear the monsters to get the Dendrograna.
Portal 3
Through portal no. 3, you’ll have to follow the glowing arrow engravings on the rocks to reach the Dendrograna which you can only claim after clearing the fungi nearby. Once the monsters are cleared, the Dendrograna will come back and you can claim it. Use the Four-Leaf Sigils to sling yourself back out the same way as you did for the other two portals.
With an archer in your party, you can easily use portal no. 2 to retrieve the Dendrograna multiple times and use charged shots to easily clear out the Withering Branches and the Withering Sprouts from a long-distance range. This saves time from travelling to each of the other 2 portals and thereby also avoids getting attacked by the Withering Sprouts. Once everything is cleared and you’ve defeated the monsters summoned by the Withering, you can easily Destroy the Tumor of the Withering and clear the zone.