Rowan greets you on Spring 6 when you wake, to let you know the road to the mountain area north of your farm is open. Tend to your chores (watering plants and clearing rocks or weeds from your field), then head north. The mountain area is the largest zone on the map and has a number of bridges and buildings that need repairing. Naomi gives you a Map of Beacon Town that you can access via the Menu at any time.
Fragment in the Mountain
Follow the road north past the broken bridge to where a girl named Nova is petting a bobcat. She’s thrilled to hear you’ve decided to live on the island. Immediately after she leaves, you find a Fragmented Stone Tablet. Rowan believes Nova dropped it. He’s willing to help you place it at the lighthouse. Head there now.
On the way to the lighthouse, you encounter a Mage named Edmond who has also been working to restore the lighthouse. Edmond senses the energy of water within the fragment and suggests you work together, though exactly how remains to be seen. Continue to the lighthouse and place the Fragmented Stone Tablet in the panel. Nova comes running up after you place it, in search of something she dropped. She too is hoping to restore the lighthouse and suggests searching for the missing piece of the Stone Tablet in the river. To do that, you need a Fishing Rod.
Open the Mine
There’s a number of things you must do in order to get a Fishing Rod, and though it may seem unrelated, the first step is to get a Hammer, as you need a steady supply of Stone and other ore. Return to where you found the Fragmented Stone Tablet and approach the broken bridge leading directly north. Spend 5x Softwood Lumber and 600G to repair the bridge.
Continue north up the stairs alongside the derelict building, then turn to the right to speak to the old man near the mine entrance. The mine’s closed, but what the old man doesn’t say is that he’s willing to open it for you if you help him out. The way to do that is by repairing Gus’s Smithy.
Locate Sam and sell him any crops you have, as you need 20x Softwood Lumber and 500G to repair Gus’s Smithy. Avoid selling any Bamboo Shoots or Tulips if you can. It’s better to sell crops and Marguerites and extra Softwood Lumber for now. If it’s Saturday, Sam should be located just north of the bridge you repaired. Sell enough material to get 500G, then repair the nearby building.
Now it’s time to repair the boarded-up mine near the old man up the stairs to the right. Doing so costs 10x Softwood Lumber and 500G. You’re probably too low on Stamina to chop enough wood to earn the 500G, but do what you can for now. Search the region for any forageable materials (flowers and edibles generally regrow every six to seven days) and use up the remainder of your Stamina by chopping additional trees, then head to sleep.
Come morning, complete your chores, then return to the mountain to meet Gus’s granddaughter, Melanie. Melanie is looking for her grandfather. She thinks he might be at the mine. Unfortunately, Gus doesn’t speak with you until the mine is reopened. Chop as many trees as Stamina allows—Sam pays 20G per piece of Softwood Lumber, and you need Softwood Lumber for a number of other repairs.
Perform a sweep of the lighthouse overlook area in search of Tulips, then speak with Edmond. Edmond asks if you’ve met his apprentices yet. Gareth and Tabitha don’t return to town until you repair their homes, but don’t worry about that until after you get the Fishing Rod. Return to your house and use the Shipping Bin to ship enough Softwood Lumber to net you at least 500G.
Repair the mine as soon as you have the resources to do so, then speak to Gus to get his Hammer. He wants you to find him some Iron Ore in the mine, but you can keep whatever else you find. Use the Hammer to smash the crystals on each floor to gather various ore, building materials, and rare gems in their crystalline form. Once the floor is free of crystals to smash, use the Hoe to dig up the floor in search of a ladder leading down to the next level. The ladders can be anywhere, but they’re generally not within three squares of the ladder leading up to the higher level. They’re also typically close to a wall.
The first five levels are the smallest of all and only have one crystal in each. The floors in the mine are contained in groups, with checkpoints every five floors (Level 1, 6, 11, 16, etc.). Climb the ladder to exit at any time. When you return, you can begin mining from any checkpoint. There are 100 floors in the mine, with the deeper levels yielding the rarer and more valuable ore. The deeper levels are also much larger. Monitor your Stamina—searching for an exit can drain your Stamina fast—and make your way to Level 6 or, if possible, Level 11. We recommend leaving as soon as your Stamina drops to half a heart.
Exit the mine and give Gus a piece of Iron Ore. The cutscene continues at Gus’s Smithy, where Melanie explains how you fixed the house. To show his appreciation, Gus lets you keep the Hammer.
Outside, you meet Flint, another Harvest Sprite. Flint tells Rowan that he may have given Dewy the Stone Tablet when he went fishing. Flint’s a sleepy fellow, and a bit forgetful, but he’s pretty sure the Stone Tablet was last seen near the water. All the more reason for you to find a Fishing Rod! Rowan also suggests repairing the inventor’s house, your next task!
An Inventor’s Apprentice
Cross the stream to the south of Gus’s Smithy and follow the path west toward the Hot Springs, where you meet Doc, the inventor Rowan referenced. Doc insists on you becoming his assistant and instructs you to repair his house for him. An inventor like Doc comes in handy once you find the other piece of the Stone Tablet, but you’re likely to need a lot more materials and money to repair Doc’s Architects. Gather up any Bamboo Shoots you see and head to the mine if Stamina allows. Mine your way down from Level 6 to Level 11 in search of Iron and Glass (or deeper, to Level 16). You need a total of 30x Stone, 9x Iron Ore, and 6x Glass Material to process into the items required to repair Doc’s Architects.
Come morning, use the Hammer to smash as many rocks as you can, both around your house and in the field north of the farm, up the steps to the left of the well. The Hammer can only break the smallest rocks at this stage; you need to upgrade it to break the larger boulders. Once you have enough Stone, head to Gus’s Smithy and process 10x Material Stone along with any gems, Bronze, and Silver you have that can be sold to Sam. Then you should be ready to repair Doc’s Architects.
Return to the mountain the next day to meet up with Doc. Doc leads the way to his lab, where he insists on borrowing the Fragmented Stone Tablet from you to inspect it. You can’t say no but needn’t worry. Doc knows just how to repair it when the time comes. Doc’s Architects is where to go when you’re ready to upgrade your house, barn, and other buildings.
Gone Fishin’
Now that the mine is open, and Doc’s Architects has been repaired, it’s time to secure a Fishing Rod. There’s an aristocrat’s house in Beacon Town, directly north of Naomi and Sally’s home. The house belongs to Cyril, a fishing aficionado, and the only way to get a Fishing Rod is by repairing his house. If you’ve foraged three Tulips (and haven’t sold them), this should be relatively quick. Otherwise, you need six days to grow Tulips. The seeds can be purchased from Carol, but don’t fertilize them, as you don’t want them mutating to other colors. You need standard Tulips or Great Tulips to repair Cyril’s house.
If you’re waiting for Tulips to grow, busy yourself through mining and by repairing some of the other bridges and buildings. We recommend repairing the bridge near the well in the southeastern corner of the mountain area. Cross the bridge and repair Sofia’s Livestock. Now, once you repair your Chicken Coop and Animal Barn, you can purchase animals to raise (consider purchasing a cow and sheep first). Calvin, the Harvest Sprite of Animals, appears if you purchase any livestock for the Animal Barn.
You can also repair Tabitha’s and Gareth’s houses. These are the two apprentices Edmond has been talking about and are located on the eastern part of town. Return to town the next day to meet them.
Cyril shows up outside your home the morning after you repair his house in town. He’s quite hungry and would much appreciate you offering him some food. Select a fruit or vegetable from your Bag and gift it to him. Cyril offers you the Fishing Rod in return.
Approach the stream near your farm or the creek in the mountain and use the Fishing Rod. You don’t need any bait for now, though it’s not a bad idea to buy Regular Bait from Sam. Either way, reel in your hook and cast again if no fish shadows appear. Watch the shadows and wait for a fish to tug on your line. Fish typically tug four or more times before they bite the hook. Wait for the “!” to appear, then rapidly tap the Action Button to reel it in. The first thing you reel in, regardless of where you fish, is the missing Stone Tablet Fragment.
Dewy, the Harvest Sprite of Water, appears once Rowan arrives. After a brief misunderstanding about littering and a lesson about Gorgan, King of the Underworld, you’re free to take the missing piece to Doc.
Special Adhesive Needed
Doc is able to fit the Stone Tablet Fragment with the larger piece, but none of his glues work. He needs 3x Iron Ore and 5x Glass Material in order to make a glue that will stick. None of these materials need to be processed by Gus, and you can find plenty of Iron Ore and Glass Material in Levels 6-10 of the mine. Get mining at once, then return to Doc with the necessary components.
Collect the Third Stone Tablet from Doc and head to the lighthouse. Rowan, Blossom, and Dewy assist you in placing it in the panel, and thanks to Doc’s handiwork, the lighthouse gets one step closer to recovery.
That night, Edmond interrupts your sleep and asks you to come to the lighthouse. There, he reveals the secret truth about the power of the lighthouse, the great storm that blew the Stone Tablets away, and the energy of the island. Edmond wishes to divine the location of the remaining tablets at Harvest Goddess Spring, high in the mountains, but he needs help. You must repair Tabitha’s and Gareth’s houses in Beacon Town if you haven’t done so already.