Lessons of the Wild is the second main quest of Horizon Zero Dawn.
Description[]
Following the tumultuous cave escape, Rost decides that Aloy is ready to learn the ways of hunting, gathering, and crafting taught in the Nora tribe. She is sent on her first task to hunt machines, including the Watcher and the Strider.
Transcript[]
Rost exited his cabin, stopping on the porch by a small bow to observe Aloy, who was sitted on a log in front of the entrance, maneuvering though the functions of her Focus, an action that, to the man, seemed like pointless gestures in the air.
- Aloy: All these shapes. What do they mean...?
As she clicked on an holographic button and slided it away, Rost approached her position and held the bow in front of her. By doing this, the object entered the device's interface, scanning it.
- Rost: Take your bow.
Aloy grabbed the weapon as the Focus finished its analysis, with the letters "BOW" appearing attached to it.
- Aloy: Bow...
- Rost: Enough muttering to that plaything. We descend to the valley now. Follow.
The girl stood up, following Rost out of the estate. The two descended to the valley west of the Embrace, which was protected by wooden walls in order for the outcasts to avoid contact with the tribe, walking on the bank of a small river.
- Rost: The wilds can be dangerous, Aloy. You will need to stay close and do as I say.
- Aloy: I know.
- Rost: Now, you're still scratched up from that fall you took yeaterday, so let's start there.
Rost took out a small leather bag and handled it to Aloy, who attached it to her waist next to her new quiver.
- Rost: Take this medicine pouch, I'll show you how to fill it.
The man then approached a brush-like plant.
- Rost: See this plant, over here? It's called Salvebrush. Come, gather its berries in your pouch.
Aloy followed, ripping the sprout from the earth and sorting the bags out of it and into the pouch.
- Rost: Good. Now eat the berries.
She ate the fruits, disgusted by their flavour.
- Aloy: Blech.
- Rost: They may taste bitter, but they can save your life. Always keep your pouch full of medicinal berries, flowers and plants.
They advanced through the forest.
- Aloy: Where are we?
- Rost: This valley is just a part of All-Mother's Embrace.
- Aloy: Embrace?
- Rost: The Nora tribe watches these lands, and keeps out the most dangerous machines - usually. Further downriver, we'll find a herd of machines, and I will teach you how to hunt.
- Aloy: Are they dangerous?
- Rost: All machines are dangerous, Aloy. Their power must be respected. But I will be beside you.
As they reached a clearing, machine steps could be heard in the distance.
- Rost: Hmm. Aloy - a machine's coming. Crouch and follow me into the tall grass.
The duo crouched and hid in a bunch of red tall grass.
- Rost: There. Now stay low.
- Aloy: Little ones!
- Rost: No, Aloy. Such machines are called Watchers.
A small machine approached them as they talked.
- Rost: You must learn to avoid their gaze, if you are to survive in the wilds. I will show you. Listen close, and do as I do.
The Watcher passed slowly near the tall grass.
- Rost: Stay still. Wait for it to pass.
Once it entered the woods behind them, the two proceeded to another clump of grass behind an old tree.
- Rost: Now keep low, and follow me across the trail to that tall grass.
With them hidden in the vegetation, another Watcher approached their location.
- Rost: Ho. Another one. Let it pass.
The Watcher followed the trail of the other, prompting Aloy and Rost to advance further.
- Rost: Come. Back this way. The slower you move, the quieter you'll be. And crouched walking is quieter than upright.
Another Watcher passed along.
- Rost: Wait for it.
The wave of machines gone, the two got out of hiding.
- Rost: That's the last of them. Let's move on.
Rost was satisfied by Aloy's performance.
- Rost: You did well. They didn't see or hear you. Now stay close. That herd should be just ahead.
Walking along the trail, they reached a small viewpoint facing the cliffs. Aloy pointed to someone carelessly scaling the rocks.
- Aloy: Who's that?
The man looked disapprovingly.
- Rost: Ignore him.
- Aloy: But why's he up there?
The boy traversed a narrow logged passage on the cliff face, landing on a large log between two rock formations. He smiled at the duo.
- Aloy: He's smiling at us.
Suddenly, a voice echoed through the valley, which prompted the young Brave to disappear further along.
- Nora Brave Veteran: Teeeeeeb! Get back where you belong! Teeeeeeb! Where are you?
- Rost: Ignore him. We are outcasts, and he is of the tribe.
- Aloy: Maybe he doesn't like the tribe.
- Rost: Then he is a fool. Come now, let's find that herd. Follow.
Rost and Aloy continued, passing the bridge to the other side of the river. In the distance, a group of equestrial machines could be seen extracting resources from the earth.
- Rost: There. See them? These are called Striders.
Rost then shouted to the herd.
- Rost: Hah! Git!
The machines were startled, running away from them further into the valley.
- Aloy: Why'd you chase them off?
- Rost: To show you how some machines startle easily if they detect you, and run away. They are best approached by stealth. Don't worry. We'll catch up with them further down the valley. You'll see.
They traversed another bridge to reach the place where the herd previously was.
- Rost: Now I want you to find some rocks that fit the cup of your hand.
- Aloy: Why?
- Rost: Do as I say, Aloy, and gather the rocks. I will show you how to use them.
Aloy found and collected a small rock from the ground.
- Rost: Good. That's it.
She then found two more rocks.
- Rost: Those will do. Follow.
The girl followed Rost as he started to sprint to the location of the Striders.
- Rost: Stop wasting time.
Aloy reached Rost, who was crouched under an oak.
- Rost: Aloy. Over here.
The two watched over the herd, who was now guarded by a Watcher.
- Rost: There's the herd. All right, it's time to throw some rocks.
- Aloy: But rocks can't hurt machines... right?
- Rost: No, but they can distract them, draw them into traps... Like that Watcher over there. It must be dealt with, or it will warn the herd and send them running before we get in range.
- Aloy: Warn them? How?
- Rost: The machines speak to each other, Aloy - unless they are first silenced. Now you stay here on the ridge. On my signal, throw rocks and draw the Watcher over to me. Wait for my signal.
Rost descended onto the riverside, hiding on some tall grass near the herd. As the Watcher passed near his location, he whistled.
- Rost: Aloy, throw a rock near me!
She did as he told her, luring the machine to the tall grass. Once it was close enough, Rost thrusted his spear on the machine's chassis, deactivating it.
- Rost: There. Come, girl, it's safe now.
The child approached Rost and the fallen machine.
- Rost: Harvest the kill, so I can teach you how to make arrows.
Aloy searched the Watcher remains, claiming some Metal Shards and a Sparker.
- Rost: Good. Now, gather stalks of Ridge-Wood from the plants over there.
- Rost: Good. I see you've already gathered stalks of Ridge-Wood.
She crafted twenty hunter arrows out of the resources and put them on her quiver.
- Rost: Good. You'll never run out of arrows, if you know how to craft what you need. Let's put those arrows to use. Follow.
The two approached the unaware group of Striders, hiding on the tall grass behind them.
- Rost: Here, stay low in the grass - and be quiet!
Bow and arrow in hand, Aloy observed one of the machines, with Rost behind her.
- Rost: It is time to make your first kill, Aloy. A Strider. One of the weaker machines. But even a weak machine can kill a hunter - if she is careless. You must study your prey. Its hide is thick, but there are spots where it is vulnerable - like its eye. Can you guess another?
Aloy used the Focus to scan the Strider, highlighting the Blaze canister on its back.
- Aloy: The canister on its back - is that a weakness?
- Rost: Yes. How did you guess that?
- Aloy: The device, it showed me!
- Rost: That plaything? Stop playing games. Now, take down that Strider. Target the eye, or the canister. And if it charges, be ready to roll out of the way.
She hit either the eye or the canister of the machine, until it was felled.
- Rost: Again!
Hit! Keep firing!
Keep firing!
The machine down, Aloy proceeded to loot its carcass.
- Rost: You did well today, but you have much to learn. Tomorrow we train again.
A scream could be heard far away.
- Rost: What was that?!
- Aloy: That boy! The one running the Brave trails!
- Rost: Follow, Aloy - quick!
Aloy sprinted behind Rost across the river and depper into the valley, passing through various metal debris. The two stopped at a vantage point, spotting Teb hanging from the cliff on the other side. Not having a secure position to hang on, his hand slipped and he fell on the ground below, where the herd plowed the earth. The Striders were instantly alerted by the noise, the blue light on their eyes changing to yellow. The machines started searching for the source of the noise. Rost tried to reassure Aloy.
- Rost: I can do nothing. It's only a matter of time before the machines find that boy and kick him to death. But if I shoot, it will cause a stampede and it will trample him.
Aloy activated the Focus' interface, finding out that the patrolling patterns of the Watchers guarding the herd were marked by it, using small holographic arrows.
- Aloy: But I can see the paths they take!
- Rost: Stop telling stories.
Meanwhile, a Strider approached the boy's location.
- Aloy: I'm not! I can sneak through.
Rost grabbed Aloy's back.
- Rost: You will not.
Deciding to defy her caretaker, Aloy jumped to the tall grass below, however, in an attempt to stop her, Rost unintentionally grabbed the bow from her back, leaving her defenseless.
- Rost: Aloy!
He budged as a Watcher passed near Aloy's position downhill. She glanced at him, before venturing through the machine site.
- Aloy: I need to move slowly and quietly so I can sneak past them. Can't let them see me...
Got to be careful...
I need to see their paths...
She sneaked across the small valley, eventually approaching the ruin where the Brave was hiding from the machines.
- Aloy: Almost there...
Aloy gently called the wounded boy's attention, who had already resigned to his fate.
- Aloy: Hey!
- Teb: What?! Huh - how is this-?!
She signaled him to be quiet, as a Watcher patrolled near them.
- Aloy: Shhh! Follow me!
The pair then sneaked past the Watchers back to Rost's location.
- Teb: How do you know to avoid them?
How are you doing this?
How is this possible?
Eventually, they reached the hill where Rost was hiding, with him pushing Aloy to safety as Teb recovered behind them. As he returned the bow to her, Aloy looked to Rost's face and saw surprise. The outcast looked to the Focus on her ear.
- Rost: So... it is no plaything.
Aloy nodded and the two stood up.
- Teb: Wait... All-Mother bless that girl. Bless you both.
As they talked, a Nora Brave Veteran and two younger Braves walked towards the group.
- Nora Brave Veteran: Boy!
- Teb: She... she saved me. I... I just wanted-
The Veteran and his protégés approached Teb.
- Nora Brave Veteran: Boy! Seal your lips. They are outcasts, both.
He looked to Aloy in disgust, who was being shielded by Rost.
- Nora Brave Veteran: And she... is motherless.
The Veteran looked to the teenagers.
- Nora Brave Veteran: Come now. Back to Mother's Heart.
He scolded Teb as they walked away, hitting him on the head.
- Nora Brave Veteran: And you...
- Rost: That boy should not have spoken to us, it's against tribal law.
Aloy turned her face, proccessing what the man had said.
- Rost: We'll go home now. Follow.
Upset, the girl walked ahead of him.
- Aloy: I know the way.
On the way home, Aloy would beat her bow on the grass as she walked.
- Aloy: Seal your lips, boy... seal your lips.
Suddenly, Aloy is striken in the head with a rock thrown by Bast, who, surrounded by other kids on the top of a hill, had picked it up from the ground. She drops her bow on the ground.
- Bast: Stay away, No-Mother!
As Aloy checked her injury, Bast picked up another and threw it at her, though this time, Aloy caught it with her hand. She looked at it pensatively, as Bast prepared to throw yet another one.
Aloy dropped the rock and looked to the group. Seeing that she would not riposte, Bast swinged the rock on his hand, but the blond girl beside him grabbed his arm, preventing him from throwing it.
- Nora Child: Stop.
Aloy squeezed the rock on her hand. She threw it at Bast's hand, knocking his rock over.
- Bast: Ahh!
The blond girl beside him attempted to check on him, but was immediately repelled.
- Bast: Hey!
Aloy squeezed the rock on her hand. She threw it at Bast's head but an arrow shot by Rost crushed it before it could harm the boy in any way. She looked, in shock, to him.
- Rost: Aloy... we cannot.
From behind the group of children, the Nora woman called for them.
- Nora Mother: Children, away from there! Back to picking berries!
Aloy touched the scratch in pain as Rost kneeled beside her.
- Rost: You're bleeding, let me have a look.
He took a small piece of cloth from his bag, proceeding to rub it carefully on the injury.
- Rost: Here, hold still, I'll get it.
She moved her head away.
- Aloy: Why?
- Rost: Shhhh.
- Aloy: Why am I an outcast?
- Rost: Aloy... this is not the time.
- Aloy: Who was my mother?
- Rost: Aloy... I've told you before, that is not for us to know. You were just a newborn when the Matriarchs brought you to me.
- Aloy: So the Matriarchs, they know?
- Rost: It's not so simple.
Rost stood up.
- Aloy: But they know?
He tried to evade her desperate questions, but to no avail.
- Rost: Aloy, we are outcasts.
- Aloy: So how do I make them tell me?
- Rost: The Matriarchs? There is way, perhaps-
- Aloy: So, tell me.
Rost hesitated.
- Rost: It will be dangerous.
- Aloy: How?!
- Rost: It would take years of training.
- Aloy: I don't care.
She grabbed Rost as he tried to leave the conversation.
- Aloy: How do I do it? Tell me!
He finally gave in.
- Rost: The Proving, the tribe's rite of passage, held every year. Those who pass become Braves, but to the one who wins- The Matriarchs grant a boon.
- Aloy: A boon?
- Rost: Yes, whatever the winner wants.
She plucked her bow from the ground.
- Aloy: Then I'll do it.
Rost looked aside, condescendingly.
- Aloy: Whatever it takes. I'll win the Proving.
The girl approached him with enthusiasm. Realized that she was talking seriously, Rost agreed to start her training.
- Rost: I see, we best get started then. Your training will be hard, and it will take years.
- Aloy: Start training? Yes, follow.
Aloy ran ahead of him, with excitement.
The day after, Rost started training Aloy in melee combat with spears, easily defeating her by knocking her on the ground. Aloy practised archery on some Grazer dummies, failing to hit their weak points, practised climbing on a nearby scarpment, barely hanging to the cliff side, and tried to traverse a Brave trail, having difficulty to retain balance. She then tried to hunt a rabbit, startling it with a missed arrow and attracting a Watcher. When the machine tried to attack her, she stood frozen by fear, saved by an arrow fired to its chassis by her caretaker.
Following the intense training, Aloy perused though the files on the Focus' interface, falling asleep shortly after. Rost stood up from his bed to cozy her in her sheets.
The following days, Aloy continued to perform the same activities, with her performance improving: she scaled with agility, hit the targets of the dummies near perfectly and managed to reach a new platform of the Brave trail, though she was left hanging from its edge. Rost tried to push her to the top, with her declining his help and securing herself on her own, earning approvement from him. She then took the leap to the next platform without fear, landing perfectly.
Years later, now a young woman, Aloy took the same leap without difficult, swan diving into the waters nearby and swimming against the currents with ease. She then scaled a snowy scarpment as fast as she could and killed a Watcher from a great distance. While confronting another Watcher, Aloy evaded all of its attacks and strucked an arrow on the machine's chassis, deactivating it outright. She looked behind her, spotting an older Rost with the bow ready to take down the machine should she had needed to. He signaled to her, announcing the end of the training for the day.
Outcome[]
Aloy initiated her training to run in the Proving, in order to both become a full member of the tribe and uncover the truth about her birth.
Objectives[]
- Follow Rost
- Gather the Salvebrush Berries
- Eat the Berries
- Follow Rost
- Hide in the Tall Grass
- Wait for the Watcher to Pass
- Follow Rost Past the Watchers
- Follow Rost
- Gather Rocks
- Follow Rost
- Wait for Rost
- Throw Rocks to Lure the Watcher to Rost
- Stay on the Ridge
- Throw Rocks Near Rost
- Loot the Watcher Carcass
- Gather Ridge-Wood
- Craft Hunter Arrows
- Follow Rost
- Listen to Rost’s Instructions
- Scan the Strider With Your Focus
- Identify the Strider’s Weak Points
- Kill a Strider
- Loot the Strider Carcass
- Follow Rost
- Sneak to the Wounded Boy
- Lead the Boy to Safety
Collectables[]
This mission contains no collectables.
Walkthrough[]
Trivia[]
- This quest doubles as a tutorial level.
- Finishing this quest unlocks the trophy "Followed Rost's teachings".