Can I deliver a delicate flower across Hallownest? | Hollow Knight Gameplay

Hello, gamers. Welcome back to my blog.

Playing a Metroidvania-like game can be overwhelming at times, especially when you are not sure where to go next maybe because you are stuck or missed one hidden door which had an ability or item that unlocked the rest of the area and had to look for it everywhere or you could be feeling overwhelmed simply because the plethora of choices you have. I experience the latter with Hollow Knight especially when you get a new ability and you remember all the different sections of the world where you could go if you had that one ability and you are backtracking and find more hidden rooms and areas.

Something like that happened to me after I consumed the 'Crystal Heart' and unlocked the super dash ability which unlocked just a few new routes but those new sections were too big and had their items and paths.

I was in the "City of Tears" and there was a huge chunk of the map which is yet to be filled.

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On the northwestern side of the map, there is an elevator which connects to the Resting Grounds and just around this elevator was a big area which was yet to be explored. So, I was headed that way.

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I knew this elevator just connected to the Resting ground and I had been there so I didn't take the elevator just yet and decided to scale the left wall. I had the mantis claw which allows me to jump while clinging to a wall. But there were no breakable walls or hidden rooms/caves that I could find so I got down and took the elevator.

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Resting Ground is one of the least explored sections on my map too, I tried to find more paths but couldn't do it in my last attempt. But since I was here it was time to pay a visit to Seer and see if she had some gifts for us for collecting Dream Essence.

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She wanted me to collect 700 Essence but I only had 535 so she was not pleased and told me to come back after I had more Essence.

I left disappointed and rested on the nearby bench to see what I could do here on Resting grounds. I decided to explore more but this time with extra focus. There have to be some hidden paths that I missed and no way the Resting grounds are just this small. I went back to the Spirits glade where all the spirits were residing and checked every corner and struck every wall to see if it broke and opened up a new path but there were none.

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And it was just in front of my eyes, a breakable coffin (?) that I only realised could be a path when I jumped on it and it trembled. I had the desolate dive ability which can break it easily and that's how it led me to a new section.

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It was a dark and spooky place filled with some unique bugs. It was reminding me of the Deepnest where you could hear the bugs crawl and come out from the ground. This seemed to be an equally dangerous place and was infected by a bug called 'Entombed Husk'.

These dark caverns were puzzling and filled with dangerous spike pits and temporary platforms. Even at this scary place, there was a trapped Grub which was guarded by an Entombed Husk. I killed that final obstacle and helped poor little grub escape from that nasty place.

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This is another mystery in this game, who has trapped these bugs in a glass container and why and how come they are spread to all these parts of the Hallownest? Were they caught here or transported to all those nasty places, I am not sure. Maybe I won't ever find the answer to some of those questions...lol

I was still in this place when I saw some light coming from the top and I went out from that place. The aesthetics changed a bit and there was a hut with a bench outside. First I rested which saved my game and filled all my mask shards and then I went inside that hut. You never know if there is a boss inside one of them.

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It wasn't a mini-boss but a new NPC named "Grey Mourner". She is an interesting character and calls herself Che' and addresses me as Le'mer. She gave me a new quest.

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She wants me to deliver a delicate flower to the grave of her mantis lover in Queen's Garden. But the catch is I can't use the trams or stags to quickly travel and had to walk there and if I take any damage the flower will be destroyed. It sounds like a very difficult task for me, there are a lot of enemies between here and Queen's Garden. I am afraid I will break the flower just in the caves down below...lol

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Well, I accepted the quest took the delicate flower and continued the long trek back to Queen's garden. I didn't even know where that grave was located.

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Back in the dark caves, a special room was hidden behind a breakable wall and I was lucky to spot that and find a new charm. This is called "Soul Eater" and greatly increases the amount of soul drawn from enemies when you strike them with your nail. A handy charm to have but it costs 4 charm notches which is very expensive.

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I found a wanderer's journal in one of the other hidden rooms as well. I was still carrying the delicate flower and hadn't taken any damage so it was a good start. I wanted to explore this area fully before going to the Queen's garden.

But I fell on a spike and damaged the delicate flower.

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I was very close to the 'Grey Mourner' so I went back to his hut and see if I could get a new flower or if the quest had ended. She was not happy to see her flower getting damaged but she gave us another flower. I think I can retry as many times as I can which is a good thing.

This time I made it out of that spooky place without taking any damage and flew over Blue Lake using my super dash ability.

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But I remembered the last time I was here I didn't have this ability so I used it to get to the platform above the lake. There were a few mosquitos which were not a big challenge. There was a Rancid Egg which is another mysterious item that I found no use until now.

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I reached the Forgotten Crossroads and visited the shop of Charm Lover Salubra to see if I could get a new charm slot. I had enough Geo to buy it but still needed 5 more charms to unlock this. Well, we keep looking then.

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There are a lot of small and annoying bugs when you cross the Forgotten Crossroads and I took damage from a smaller flying buy. Whoops! My flower got destroyed again and this is when I realised how difficult this quest can be.

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I need to chart the full path first and analyse all the dangers that I am going to face on that path and only then I can do it. Not like this by taking the shortest path. I might need to come up with the safest path even if it is slightly longer. And the most important part is finding the grave of that mantis fist...lol

There is a good chance that it is locked behind a closed door and I just took the quest too early. So, until I find that grave I am not going back to collect the flower and restart that quest.

Since I was already here it was time to pay a visit to Grub's father and collect my reward for saving them. It would be a good end to this episode, I thought.

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Sometiems, he gives me items like charms or other artefacts but this time he only showered me with Geos which I happily collected. He showered the coins three times with a total of 450 Geos. So, three more Grubs were saved since the last time I visited him.

There are still a lot of places to explore in this vast kingdom of Hallownest.

Thanks for reading...

Until next time...