Early on in your journey through the many quests in The Forge, you’ll likely come across the Bard, who’s currently unable to actually do anything bard-related because he lost his guitar. He’ll ask you to go find it for him through the Lost Guitar quest, but it’s not an easy task – he doesn’t give you any hints as to where he lost it, and to make things worse, the guitar is tucked away in an area you likely don’t even know exists.
However, once you know where to go, it’s actually a pretty simple quest. As a bonus, you’ll earn some neat rewards, including access to one of the game’s most powerful pickaxes. Luckily, we’ve compiled this handy guide with everything you need to know about the Lost Guitar quest, including how to start it, where to find the Bard’s guitar, and what you’ll get as a reward (and how to use the quest’s most mysterious reward).
How to start the Lost Guitar quest
You can find the Bard in Stonewake’s Cross (the game’s starting area) near the potion shop and campfire. Interact with him and select the “Give me the quest” option to begin your journey.
Where to find the Bard’s Guitar
To find the Bard’s missing guitar, you’ll need to journey into the Cave. Head in, and you’ll walk into a character called Nord. To Nord’s left is Umut The Brave, and you’ll want to head down the hallway to the left of Umut The Brave.
To your left, there will be two wooden columns with some moss that reaches down onto the cave floor next to a pebble. Walk forward into the moss on the ground (it’ll look a little glitchy, but keep walking forward), and you’ll drop down into the Secret Cave.
To the right of the skeleton hanging out in the cave, you’ll find the guitar. You can also chat with the skeleton for some fun dialogue that involves the word “bruh” many, many times.
After picking the guitar up by interacting with it, you’ll want to head back up the ladder near where you dropped into the Secret Cave. From there, head to the right and back into Stonewake’s Cross to chat with the Bard – press his “Here is your guitar” option to collect your rewards.
Bard’s Guitar rewards
That confusing journey wasn’t for nothing – you’ll be rewarded with $1,000, an Unknown Key, and quite a bit of XP. Best of all, though, the Bard will now play a neat little song by the campfire instead of sitting there and looking all sad.
How to use the Unknown Key
If you’re wondering what to do with the Unknown Key (because the Bard seems to also have no idea what to do with it), you’re in the right place. Now that you’re back in Stonewake’s Cross, you’ll want to head back into the Cave. Instead of heading left at the first fork like last time, though, you’ll want to head to the right.
Follow the cave’s natural bend until you run into a wall with a fork in the road. You can go either way, but your end goal is that gate you can see through the left path.
Once you’ve made it to the gate, interact with the lock and head inside to your newly unlocked domain: the Fallen Angel’s Cave. Here, you can buy the Arcane Pickaxe, which is one of the best pickaxes in The Forge. It will set you back $125,000 but provides some very stellar boosts.
Now that you’ve helped the Bard, earned some sweet rewards, and maybe even picked up a new pickaxe, why not celebrate by redeeming some The Forge codes and get free spins that will let you reroll your Race. Or, if you’re looking for new ore to mine with that Arcane Pickaxe, you can head to our index and ore location guide.