A Curious Substance Quest
Despite the relaxing and light atmosphere inside the game of Stardew Valley, there are also some mischievous and despicable characters that exist in the game. Aside from your farm life, you will also be dealing with dangerous monsters in different locations for you to complete some quests. A Curious Substance Quest is one of the quests that will require you to fight these sly monsters.
As mentioned in the quest’s name, the player is supposed to look for a curious substance that you can only obtain by defeating a specific enemy: the ghost. This is one of the special orders that you can activate in the game. To add, this quest is a little tricky. That is why we made this guide to help you out in completing A Curious Substance Quest.
How to Start A Curious Substance
A Curious Substance Quest is one of the Special Orders that you can find from the Special Order Board in front of the Mayor’s Manor. It is one of the special quests provided by the Wizard. Once you select the quest, it will show a note saying:
I seek an extremely rare and powerful goop, known as ‘ectoplasm’. It can be found in the remains of slain ghosts. – M. Rasmodius
Given that the Wizard is too busy with his experiments and new discoveries, he needs someone to help him find the needed ingredients for his ongoing discoveries. In this quest, you will be tasked to find an Ectoplasm which is the curious substance that the game is referring to.
How to Unlock Special Orders
The Special Order Board in front of the Mayor’s Manor will be available at the start of Fall 2 on Year 1. Once this day comes, the Special Order Board will be constructed. Compared to Help Wanted Requests, quests from Special Orders are stricter as they demand a certain timeframe that indicates how much time the player has to complete them.
What is Ectoplasm
Ectoplasm is one of the rare drops that you can obtain after defeating monsters and their dangerous variants. When you accept and activate A Curious Substance quest, you will be asked to obtain 1x Ectoplasm for the Wizard’s new ongoing discovery. Despite its rare quality and high difficulty in obtaining, this is considered a universally hated gift by everyone.
Where to Find Ectoplasm
Ectoplasm can be obtained by defeating Ghosts. All three kinds of ghosts, namely the regular ghosts, carbon ghosts, and putrid ghosts have a 9.5% chance of dropping an Ectoplasm regardless of the type of the ghosts you have defeated. However, you will only be able to obtain an Ectoplasm as a loot when the A Curious Substance Quest is active. Otherwise, you will only get the normal loot from the ghosts.
Normal ghosts can usually be found inside The Mines from floors 51 to 79, while Carbon Ghosts are located in Skull Cavern. Lastly, Putrid Ghosts are inhabiting floors 51 to 69 of The Dangerous Mines. However, it is important to remember that the more dangerous the enemy is the higher its damage to the player. That being said, it is important for you to know the tricks in defeating them.
How to Easily Defeat Ghosts
Since the Ectoplasm is a rare drop from dangerous types of enemies, it would be more challenging for you to fight with them, especially if you are on the more disadvantageous side with low health and low stamina.
In Stardew Valley, there are various food buffs that you can consume before fighting with monsters in The Mines for a higher chance of victory and drop chances. You can check this article for more in-depth explanations about the best meals for combat.
Equip the Best Weapon
The most important thing to bring in a battle is a weapon. However, not all types of weapons are suitable for the enemies that you are about to face.
In the context of fighting ghosts and their dangerous variants, the best weapons to carry with you are heavy weapons. An example of a heavy weapon that you would want to have is a hammer which is under the category of clubs.
Battling ghosts can be a little troublesome and annoying as they can go through walls and reappear anywhere on the floor to attack again. Plus, once they are hit, they will be strongly knocked back, and you will have to wait for some time before you can land another attack. But with the use of a heavy weapon, you can greatly inflict damage in just a single attack especially when using special attacks.
Prepare Replenishments
Although ghosts cannot deal much damage, it is still important to bring replenishments because of the strong enemies that you can also encounter around them. Since ghosts disappear after getting attacked, some strong enemies might come at you while waiting for the ghosts to reappear.
That being said, it is just right to bring lots of items to give you a good amount of health recovery. Pumpkin soup is one of the best foods to bring with you during a battle. It grants you +2 defense and +2 luck for 7 minutes and 41 seconds. Plus, consuming it will grant you an additional 200 energy and 90 HP.
Monster Musk
Another essential item to bring when fighting monsters in The Mines, Skull Cavern, and Dangerous Mines is the Monster Musk. With this item equipped, you will lure and attract more enemies and will be able to easily grind resources and obtain the needed loot.
You can craft this item after completing the Special Order Prismatic Jelly. To make one, simply gather 30x slimes and 30x bat wings.
Rewards for Completing the Quest
Upon completing the quest by obtaining Ectoplasm for the Wizard, you will be able to receive the crafting recipe for Mini-Obelisk and 2,500 gold.
