To finish Tree Branch Cleanup, complete Tentacle Cleanup, read Adrian's follow-up letter, and speak to him in Town Apartment F1. Then defeat the Ancient Tree and Ancient Hand in the Old Woods and return to Adrian. The final hand-in rewards the Catacombs F2 Key.
The branches in Adrian's wall point you toward a fight in the forest. They are not a request to collect loose wood or use an ordinary axe on his apartment. The key distinction is defeating the source of the problem and then returning to the person who gave you the task.
Start the follow-up in Adrian's apartment
Adrian's letter arrives after Tentacle Cleanup. Read it in your mailbox, then visit Adrian on the first floor of the Town Apartment and speak to him to receive Tree Branch Cleanup. The letter and conversation are useful checkpoints if you expected the task to appear immediately after the earlier cleanup.
Check that you are following the tree-branch objective before leaving for the woods. If Tentacle Cleanup is still your active problem, use the Adrian quest route for that earlier stage. This page starts with his follow-up and does not replace the Mall task that comes before it.
The short route is:
- Finish Tentacle Cleanup.
- Read Adrian's new letter.
- Speak to Adrian in Town Apartment F1.
- Reach the Ancient Tree area in the Old Woods.
- Win against the Ancient Tree and Ancient Hand.
- Collect the encounter items and return to Adrian.
Reach the Ancient Tree from the tall-trees maze
The Ancient Tree area is reached from the west edge of the tall-trees maze in the Old Woods. That is the destination you need for the task's combat objective. The forest contains other giant-looking creatures and supernatural clearings, so use the area and encounter names rather than assuming the first unusual tree is the correct target.
If your route through the woods repeatedly loops back, resolve the wider forest progression before treating it as a Tree Branch Cleanup failure. Some forest routes are blocked until the relevant Joggers Club progress is completed. Receiving Adrian's task does not itself prove that every route in the forest is already open.
If the forest-opening task is your missing step, distinguish it from Berry's request for Void-quality Mayonnaise and Cheese. That food request is a separate side task, rather than the main Joggers Club objective that opens the forest routes. Completing an unrelated club request is not a substitute for gaining access to the Ancient Tree area.
Use the Old Woods navigation guide for the access route, camp, Mill Key, and related progression. The cleanup objective remains the Ancient Tree encounter; the Mill Key and the club's other requests are not replacement targets for Adrian's branches.
Defeat the Ancient Tree and Ancient Hand
Enter the Ancient Tree area and win the fight against Ancient Tree and Ancient Hand. The objective names both opponents, so do not stop after recognizing the tree's location or reaching the arena. You need the encounter victory before returning to Adrian for the completion reward.
The available task details do not establish a required player level, a specific ritual, or a single mandatory equipment build. Prepare according to the battle options you actually have and the encounter's demands. There is no supported shortcut here that replaces winning the fight with handing over a material.
After winning, check the encounter's available pickups. The task route supplies several items along the way, and the Living Soul is useful beyond this one request. Distinguish these forest items from the Catacombs key you receive later in Town.
Collect the forest items
| Item | Listed quantity | Point in the route |
|---|---|---|
| Living Soul | One item listed | Ancient Tree part of the task |
| Dreampearl Seed | 2 | Along the way after the Ancient Tree encounter |
| Dreamleaf Seed | 2 | Along the way after the Ancient Tree encounter |
| Skull of the Woods | One item listed | Ancient Tree part of the task |
| Catacombs F2 Key | One key listed | Final reward from Adrian |
The Living Soul can be exchanged for a Sign of Death at the Fallen Angel. That is an optional separate interaction, so first make sure you have finished the cleanup route and collected what you need. The Fallen Angel location and trade guide covers the clearing and its availability limits.
Keep the two reward moments separate in your notes. Getting seeds and a soul in the forest does not mean Adrian has already handed over the floor key. Conversely, searching the Ancient Tree's arena again is not the correct first response when the missing reward is the Catacombs F2 Key.
Return to Adrian for the Catacombs F2 Key
Go back to Adrian in Town Apartment F1 after the victory and speak to him. This conversation closes the task and gives you the Catacombs F2 Key. It is the completion step after dealing with the tree-branch source.
If you beat the encounter but still need the key, check the hand-in before planning another forest trip. If you have not won the named encounter, merely visiting the tree area does not satisfy the objective. These are different missing steps and should lead you to different destinations.
The Catacombs progression guide explains the next area. Tree Branch Cleanup provides the F2 key; completing this task does not establish that every deeper Catacombs gate or later requirement is also finished.
Editorial verification
This guide was source-checked on . Confirmed game details, community observations, older-build behavior, and unresolved evidence gaps are identified in the article instead of being presented as equally certain.
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