Story Quests
| Story Quests | |
|---|---|
| Type | Quest |
| Type | Story quest |
| Journal | Quest log |
| Quests | 54 |
Story quests are the scripted jobs that carry the valley's plot forward. Most of them arrive as a letter in the farm's mailbox, while others open after a cutscene, a villager's visit to the farmhouse, or a note dug out of the ground. None of them runs on a clock, so a request can sit in the journal for years and still be finished. A few teach the basics of farming and mining, but the important ones hand over access rather than coins: the Community Center, the Adventurer's Guild, the Casino, the Skull Cavern and the Witch's Swamp all open through one of these chains. Gold and friendship come with most of them, though the door a quest opens is usually worth far more than its payment.
Overview
Two story quests are accepted automatically when a save begins, which is how the game explains tilling soil, sowing a seed packet and watering every morning. A farm started on Meadowlands Farm gets a different opening pair, built around feeding chickens and raising a silo instead of a parsnip bed. After that the mailbox does most of the work. Letters land on set days of the calendar, so the same requests reach every farm in the same order, and the second year brings a fresh wave of them from villagers who asked for nothing in the first.
The journal opens from the exclamation mark under the clock, or with the F key. Each entry expands to show its text, its goal and a progress counter for anything that has to be collected or killed. A delivery request can be cancelled from the journal without any penalty, which only loses the reward. These quests also sit outside the two Help Wanted achievements, so clearing every one of them moves neither counter.
Several entries need a condition met before the letter will ever come. The Wizard asks for a Void Essence only after mining has begun, Marnie walks to the farmhouse once she is friendly enough, and Jodi's dinner invitation waits until she is fond of the farmer. Because nothing expires, the practical approach is to read each letter, let the entry sit, and finish it on the day the item finally appears.
Quests
The Community Center chain is the longest and the most important. Walking into Pelican Town from the Bus Stop on a sunny morning triggers the cutscene with Mayor Lewis that unlocks the building, and examining the golden scroll in the Crafts Room ends the Rat Problem. The Wizard writes the next morning, and the potion he hands over in his tower translates the Junimo script, turning the scrolls into the bundle lists. Filling those bundles repairs the valley piece by piece, and the chain ends with the Junimos converting the emptied JojaMart into the Movie Theater. A farm that signs with Joja instead buys the same building outright.
Mining has its own ladder. Entering the mine shaft in the mountains opens a request to reach the fifth floor, which opens a request to reach the fortieth, which opens a push for the bottom. A chest on the last floor holds the Skull Key, and the quest it starts is simply to work out what the key opens: the Skull Cavern, in the north of the Calico Desert, which is where iridium comes from. The desert itself has to be reached first, by the Vault bundles or by paying Joja for the bus repair. The morning after a first trip into the cavern, Mr. Qi writes with a challenge to reach the twenty-fifth floor, and the gold for that arrives by post the day after it is done.
Reaching the fifth floor of the Mines also brings the Initiation letter. Slaying ten slimes, in the Mines, the Secret Woods or on the farm itself, earns a place in the Adventurer's Guild beside the mine entrance. Marlon's counter is where swords, boots, rings and slingshot ammunition come from, and his item recovery service returns one thing lost in a collapse, so this is the quest that makes the deeper floors survivable.
The Casino opens through a scavenger hunt. A lock-box in the tunnel beside the Bus Stop takes a Battery Pack and gives back a note signed by Mr. Qi, and each step then sends the farmer somewhere stranger: a Rainbow Shell into the box on the train platform, ten beets into Mayor Lewis' fridge, a Solar Essence into the sand dragon's mouth out in the desert. The last note turns up in the lumber pile beside the farmhouse and leaves a Club Card, which is the only way through the back door of the Oasis.
The Witch's Swamp needs two quests in sequence. After the Community Center or the Joja warehouse is finished, a cutscene at the Railroad has the Wizard ask for the Magic Ink in his ex-wife's house, which means asking Krobus in the sewers about the Dark Talisman, fetching it from the far end of the Mutant Bug Lair, and carrying it back to the sealed cave. The Goblin Problem follows: the henchman standing outside the Witch's Hut will not budge for gold, but he accepts a jar of Void Mayonnaise, which can be fished out of the swamp water while the quest is live or churned from a Void Egg. Handing the Magic Ink to the Wizard unlocks his buildings, including the Junimo Hut and the Earth and Water Obelisks, and leaves the dark shrines in the hut open for good.
Two more chains come late. South of the farm, once the greenhouse stands again, a night wind can topple the giant tree and leave a stump; feeding it a hundred Hardwood moves a family of raccoons in, and their steady run of requests for Smoked Fish, jellies and Dried Mushrooms pays out seeds that are hard to buy anywhere else. On Ginger Island, Birdie asks for a keepsake of her drowned husband and starts a trading chain that passes a war photograph through Kent, Gus, Sandy, George, the Wizard and Willy before the locket comes back, which is where the Fairy Dust recipe comes from.
The Secret Notes carry three quests of their own. Leaving the farm on a winter day puts a hooded figure on the road, and following it to a bush in town yields the Magnifying Glass, which is what makes the notes drop at all. One note asks for Maple Syrup in the Secret Woods and pays with Bear's Knowledge, which triples what blackberries and salmonberries fetch. Another gives coordinates for the hundredth floor of the Skull Cavern, where Mr. Qi waits with iridium snake milk and a permanent lift to maximum health.
A handful are easy to miss for a very long time. The Community Center cutscene only fires on a clear morning on the way in from the Bus Stop, so a farmer who always walks out through the forest can go a whole year without meeting the Junimos. The winter figure appears only while leaving the farm in daylight during Winter. Jodi's fish casserole invitation needs a Monday morning exit from the farmhouse, and Mayor Lewis' purple shorts sit in Marnie's bedroom, which stays shut until she is friendly enough to let anyone in.
Every story quest in the game, with who sets it and what it pays.
| Name | Start | Goal | Reward |
|---|---|---|---|
| Introductions | Introductory quest | 28 people greeted. | 100 Friendship points (2/5 of a heart) with every known NPC |
| How to Win Friends | Complete "Introductions" | Give anyone a gift. | 100g |
| Getting Started | Package in room at start | Cultivate and harvest a parsnip. | 100g |
| To The Beach | Mail, Spring 2 | Visit the beach south of town before 5:00pm. | Bamboo Pole |
| Raising Animals | Complete "Getting Started" | Build a Coop. | 100g |
| Feeding Animals | Complete "Getting Started" (if picked Meadowlands Farm) | Build a Silo. | 100g |
| Advancement | Complete "Getting Started" | Reach Farming level 1 and craft a Scarecrow. | 100g |
| Explore The Mine | Enter the Mines. | Reach level 5 in the mines. | - |
| Deeper In The Mine | Reach level 5 in the mines. | Reach level 40 in the mines. | - |
| To The Bottom? | Reach floor 40 in the mines. | Reach the bottom of the mine. | - |
| Archaeology | Enter the Museum with a mineral or artifact in inventory. | Donate an item to the Museum. | 250g |
| Rat Problem | Trigger the initial Community Center cutscene by entering Pelican Town from the... | Enter the Community Center and examine the Golden Scroll in the Crafts Room. | The following morning, a letter from the Wizard arrives in the mail, triggering the "Meet... |
| Meet The Wizard | The morning after the farmer examines the first golden scroll in the Community... | Enter the wizard's tower. | The Wizard gives the farmer a potion that allows them to read the language of the Junimos. |
| Forging Ahead | Morning after collecting a Copper Ore, Clint visits and gives the farmer the... | Craft a Furnace. | - |
| Smelting | Complete "Forging Ahead". | Use the crafted furnace to smelt a copper bar. | - |
| Initiation | Mailbox, morning after reaching floor 5 in the Mines. | 10 Slimes slain in the Mines, Secret Woods, or on the Farm. | Get to enter the Adventurer's Guild |
| Robin's Lost Axe | Mail, Spring 11 | Find Robin's lost axe. Can be found near the Sewer Pipe in Cindersap Forest. | 250g, 1 Friendship heart |
| Jodi's Request | Mail, Spring 19 | Bring Jodi a Cauliflower. | 350g, 1 Friendship heart |
| Mayor's "Shorts" | Mail, Summer 3 | Find and return Mayor Lewis ' purple shorts. Can be found in Marnie's bedroom, or by placing a staircase inside Lewis' bedroom... | 750g, 1 Friendship heart |
| Blackberry Basket | Mail, Fall 8 | Find Linus' basket and return it to him. It's in the Backwoods near the entrance to the tunnel, which is to the left of the bus... | 1 Friendship heart |
| Marnie's Request | She visits the farm house after the farmer is at 3 Friendship hearts with her. | Bring a Cave Carrot into Marnie's shop. | 100 Friendship points |
| Pam Is Thirsty | Mail, Summer 14 | Bring Pam a pale ale. | 350g, 1 Friendship heart |
| A Dark Reagent | Mail, Winter 12 | Bring the Wizard a Void Essence. | 1,000g, 1 Friendship heart |
| Cow's Delight | Mail, Fall 3 | Bring Marnie one bunch of Amaranth. | 500g, 1 Friendship heart |
| The Skull Key | Reach the bottom floor of the Mines. | Discover the purpose of the Skull Key. | Access to the Skull Cavern in the Desert |
| Crop Research | Mail, Summer 20 | Bring Demetrius a melon. | 550g, 1 Friendship heart |
| Knee Therapy | Mail, Summer 25 | Bring George a hot pepper. | 200g, 1 Friendship heart |
| Robin's Request | Mail, Winter 21 | Bring Robin 10 Hardwood. | 500g, 1 Friendship heart |
| Qi's Challenge | Received by mail the day after entering the Skull Cavern. | Reach level 25 in the Skull Cavern. | 10,000g, delivered by mail the next day |
| The Mysterious Qi | Put a Battery Pack in the lock-box in the tunnel next to the bus stop. | Leave a Rainbow Shell in the box at the train platform. | - |
| Carving Pumpkins | Mail, Fall 19 | Bring Caroline a pumpkin. | 500g, 1 Friendship heart |
| A Winter Mystery | After triggering the cutscene by entering the Bus Stop from the Farm during... | Interact with the bush to the right of the playground in Pelican Town. | Magnifying Glass |
| Strange Note | After reading Secret Note #23 | Enter the Secret Woods between 6am and 7pm with Maple Syrup in inventory to trigger a cutscene. | Bear's Knowledge |
| Cryptic Note | Reading Secret Note #10 | Reach level 100 in the Skull Cavern. | Mr. Qi awards the farmer with "iridium snake milk", which permanently increases the... |
| Fresh Fruit | Mail, Spring 6, Year 2 | Bring Emily an Apricot. | 600g, 1 Friendship heart |
| Aquatic Research | Mail, Summer 6, Year 2 | Bring Demetrius a Pufferfish. | 1,000g, 1 Friendship heart |
| A Soldier's Star | Mail, Summer 15, Year 2 | Bring Kent a starfruit. | 500g, 1 Friendship heart |
| Mayor's Need | Mail, Summer 21, Year 2 | Bring Lewis a bottle of Truffle Oil. | 750g, 1 Friendship heart |
| Wanted: Lobster | Mail, Fall 6, Year 2 | Bring Gus a Lobster. | 500g, 1 Friendship heart |
| Pam Needs Juice | Mail, Fall 19, Year 2 | Bring Pam a Battery Pack. | 400g, 1 Friendship heart |
| Fish Casserole | Event - Jodi at 4 Hearts; Exit the Farmhouse between 6am and 9:30am on a Monday... | Enter Jodi's house with a Largemouth Bass at 7:00 PM on any day after being invited (not a festival day). | Event Scene |
| Catch a Squid | Mail, Winter 2 | Bring Willy a Squid. | 800g, 1 Friendship heart |
| Fish Stew | Mail, Winter 26 | Bring Gus an Albacore. | 400g, 1 Friendship heart |
| Pierre's Notice | Mail, Spring 21, Year 2 | Bring Pierre some Sashimi. | 1,000g, 1 Friendship heart |
| Clint's Attempt | Mail, Winter 6 | Bring Emily an Amethyst. | 1 Friendship heart with Emily |
| A Favor For Clint | Mail, Winter 17 | Bring Clint an Iron Bar. | 500g, 1 Friendship heart |
| Staff of Power | Mail, Winter 5, Year 2 | Bring Wizard an Iridium Bar. | 5,000g, 1 Friendship heart |
| Granny's Gift | Mail, Spring 15, Year 2 | Bring Evelyn a Leek. | 500g, 1 Friendship heart |
| Exotic Spirits | Mail, Winter 19, Year 2 | Bring Gus a Coconut. | 600g, 1 Friendship heart |
| Catch a Lingcod | Mail, Winter 13, Year 2 | Bring Willy a Lingcod. (Does not have to be caught after accepting the quest) | 550g, 1 Friendship heart |
| Dark Talisman | Railroad cutscene (after completing Community Center or Joja Warehouse tasks). | Speak to Krobus and then venture through to the Mutant Bug Lair to retrieve the talisman. Return to the cave at the Railroad with... | Access to Witch's Swamp |
| Goblin Problem | Through the cave by the Railroad after completing the Dark Talisman quest. | Speak to the Henchman outside the Witch's hut and give him Void Mayonnaise as a gift. Take the Magic Ink from the Witch's Hut and... | Wizard buildings available. Dark shrines now accessible in Witch's Hut. |
| The Pirate's Wife | Speak to Birdie | Give the War Memento to Kent Give the Gourmet Tomato Salt to Gus Give the Stardew Valley Rose to Sandy Give the Advanced TV... | Fairy Dust Recipe, 5 Golden Walnuts |
| The Giant Stump | Giant Stump in Cindersap Forest after the wind storm cutscene | Fix the giant stump with 100 Hardwood. | Access to Raccoon quests |
Rewards
Most delivery letters pay gold and a friendship heart, and the heart is slightly generous: the game credits a few points more than a heart strictly needs. The sums are tuned to the trouble involved, so a Hot Pepper for George pays little and an Iridium Bar for the Wizard's staff pays thousands. The second year's wave is the profitable one, since a Pufferfish, a plate of Sashimi or a bottle of Truffle Oil earns several times what the same item fetches in the shipping bin. Clint's attempt at courting Emily pays nothing in coin, only goodwill with her.
The quests worth planning around pay in access and in permanent upgrades. A Club Card, a Skull Key, a working Adventurer's Guild, the Wizard's buildings, the Magnifying Glass, Bear's Knowledge and twenty-five extra points of health are all one-off gains that keep paying for the rest of the save. Set against those, the gold on a single cauliflower delivery is almost incidental.
Strategy
Reading the mailbox every morning is the whole discipline, because a letter left unopened is a quest that never starts. Once the second year's pattern is known, the awkward items can be grown or caught ahead of time: an apricot needs a tree planted the year before, a starfruit needs desert seeds and a long summer, and a coconut has to come back from the desert. A Pale Ale for Pam means hops in the ground and a keg already built, so that one is worth setting up in advance rather than scrambling.
Keeping a dedicated chest for quest stock saves a lot of running about. A spare Void Essence, an Iridium Bar, ten Hardwood, a Battery Pack and a jar of Void Mayonnaise cover most of the awkward requests between them. For the chains that gate on something else, the order that wastes the least time is to clear the Mines first, since that single run produces the Skull Key, the Initiation letter and the ore for every smithing request on the list.
Notes
The Dark Talisman entry behaves oddly: visiting Krobus clears it out of the journal, although the talisman still has to be fetched before the Goblin Problem will begin and the swamp will open. Planting trees along the path into the Witch's Swamp can stall the arrival cutscene, so that strip is best left bare. The items these quests hand over cannot be sold, and anything misplaced turns up again in the lost and found box in Mayor Lewis' house, which makes the purple shorts recoverable even after a careless clear-out.
All Quests
The four kinds of work the valley hands out.
| Name | Kind |
|---|---|
| Story Quests | Story |
| Help Wanted Quests | Bulletin board |
| Special Orders | Special order board |
| Quest Items | Items |