Underkeep Walkthrough: Fangroot Forest Exploration

Underkeep offers an engaging turn-based RPG experience where you guide a group of adventurers through a perilous fantasy land. Exploration is crucial, and players often find themselves mismanaging resources or overlooking essential items. As you venture forth, mastering your characters’ abilities is key to survival.

From roaming the haunting Fangroot Forest to navigating the mysterious Hollowgrave Tunnels, it’s easy to get overwhelmed if you’re not prepared. Many new players stumble at the outset, missing out on valuable interactions with the environment. Be sure to interact with all objects, as every little discovery can aid your adventure.

Before heading out, consider forming a balanced party. Starting with classes like the Warrior or Wizard can provide a strong foundation.

Keep an eye out for shrines, which are vital for resurrecting fallen teammates for a fee. They can make or break your adventure!

Paths through Fangroot lead to the same destination, the Hollowgrave Tunnels, so you can’t really miss it. However, be wary of the hidden ditches on the western paths; they will drop you right into the tunnels.

Take the north path in the forest to access the Rat cave, which essentially throws you into the same tunnels needed to progress further.

• Creating A Party And Starting Out
• Exploring The Forest And Falling Into The Tunnels
• Tunnel Depths
• Rat Nest
• Orc Fortress
• Getting To The Western Side Of The Fangroot Forest
• To The Underkeep Village

As you begin your adventure, you have the option to create a quick party of random adventurers or customize your own team. I opted for a mix of classes: the Warrior , Paladin , Wizard , and Ranger . Selecting different races allows for intriguing gameplay with unique abilities.

As you start a new playthrough, you’ll have a choice to create a quick party of random adventurers, or you can make a party by yourself.

I created a party using the Warrior, Paladin, Wizard, and Ranger classes. I also picked different races for race-specific options later on in the game.

Your journey kicks off in the Fangroot Forest, where exploration is the name of the game. Keep your eyes peeled for interactable objects; even seemingly trivial items like mushrooms and trees can yield useful resources. There’s a shrine nearby that will resurrect any fallen adventurers for a cost, so be cautious—losing all your heroes means game over.

There will be a shrine nearby. Shrines let you resurrect any fallen adventurers in your party for some gold. Note that if all your adventurers fall in battle, it will be game over.

Exploring The Forest And Falling Into The Tunnels

The Fangroot forest has several paths, but no matter which path you take, you’ll inevitably end up in the Hollowgrave Tunnels.

There’s a hidden ditch in both of the only pathways leading west in the forest, and both of these will make you fall into the tunnels.

Inside the tunnels, you will face various enemies and find crates to break for items. You’ll encounter a locked gate—simply click the stone switch nearby to open it.

But be prepared; after unlocking the gate, a horde of zombies will attack. Lure them away from the group to take out one at a time.

There are a bunch of crates and rocks around here. You can destroy the crates using melee attacks from your heroes. Pick everything up, even the stones or the stale bread pieces.

As you progress, you’ll encounter a gate. It’s locked, but you can open it by clicking on the stone switch on the right.

Rest whenever you can, as your party will be vulnerable at the beginning. If you try to rest and it says enemies are nearby, either defeat them or run further away. You can also use potions during battles without consuming a turn, so don’t hesitate to use them if you’re in a tight spot.

After dealing with the Rat Nest, head to the southern exit of the tunnels where the spider was located. You’ll find two gates; you can use the stone switch on one of them. Inside is the Orc Warehouse Keeper, who you’ll need to defeat with ranged attacks as it approaches.

Try to rest as much as possible because you’d be quite weak to take on multiple opponents at first. If it says that you can’t rest because enemies are nearby, try to get rid of the enemy or run away further. Keep in mind that you can use potions in the middle of the battle, and they don’t consume a turn.

Tunnel Depths

Once you’ve dealt with the zombies, look for a blocked path marked by brown rocks. Here, you need to dig through it, but first, explore for a pickaxe located on a stone shelf. After obtaining it, you can clear the rocks blocking your path.

Explore the area. There are some worm enemies here.

As you keep exploring, you’ll find a silver keyhole. This is where you can get through the area to the other side of the forest, but you don’t have the key yet.

Continue deeper into the tunnels and be aware of traps that stun characters temporarily. You’ll notice spires along the path; use melee attacks to break them and clear your route.

Watch out for a strange blue pond—drinking it will give you a debilitating temporary debuff. Avoid the pits along your path as well.

Look for a pickaxe here. It should be on the stone shelf inside the room. Once you’ve picked up the pickaxe, you’ll be able to interact with stones blocking the pathways.

Once the item is in your inventory, you can simply click on the blocked path, and it will open up. Find a path leading to the west of the section. You’ll be able to get deeper into the cave from here.

After beating the spider, head east to find a locked gate. Clear the path with the pickaxe you found earlier. From here, you can follow the north path towards the Rat Nest.

Once inside the Orc Fortress, it’s best to take down the orcs one by one using tactics like taunts. After you handle several orcs, you must face the Orc Chieftain, a formidable foe. Make sure you’re ready—if you’ve handled the orcs, the Chieftain won’t be too much trouble.

There’s a pond of blue, strange water inside this section. Avoid drinking it because it gives a temporary debuff. Avoid the holes in the ground.

You’ll reach a set of stairs leading up. Take the stairs to arrive in the tunnel section again.

Here, you’ll find a ditch, but there’s also a pressure plate in the distance. Keep in mind that you can throw items from your inventory. If you’ve got any rotten bread or stones, you can throw them to the pressure plate in the distance.

Once you do that, a grate will appear on the ditch, and you’ll be able to pass through.

As you move forward, you’ll find a room with multiple holes. There are some pressure plates here as well. You’ll have to throw some useless items onto these plates to press them and cover the holes.

There are also some worms in this area, so watch your back while you’re going through this section.

In this section, you might encounter some cobwebs blocking certain pathways. You can use melee attacks to destroy them.

There’s a locked door here with no switch nearby. The switch is in another room in the same section. When you find the switch and activate it, a spider enemy will appear.

This is a challenging enemy. Arachneira can also poison you.

You’ll have to use all your skills and abilities to defeat it. If any of your teammates fall in battle, you can go to the shrine downstairs to resurrect them.

After defeating the spider, go to the eastern part of the cave. The locked gate here should be open. There are plenty of rocks blocking the path, and you’ll have to click on them while the pickaxe is in your inventory to clear them away.

There’s a path here that leads north, and another one leads south. It’s best to go north first. This will lead you to the Rat Nest.

Inside the Rat Nest, you’ll face off against numerous rat enemies, but the rewards are worth it. There are chests to loot, and defeating enemies may also yield keys for unlocking additional chests.

If you’re looking for detailed strategies or tidbits, let me know! I often dive into various strategies myself when writing about such engaging indie titles.

There’s also a path here that leads you back to the Fangroot Forest, but it’s on the eastern side, the one where you started from, so it’s not much use.

Orc Fortress

After clearing the Rat Nest, you should be strong enough to take out the orcs. Head to the southern exit of the cave where you encountered the spider enemy. There’s a board here that says Keep Out.

There will be two gates here. One of them is locked, but you can use the stone switch on the other one. When you get inside, you’ll enter the warehouse.

As you enter, you’ll find the Orc Warehouse Keeper. Use ranged attacks while it approaches you to deal damage.

Once it is in melee range, use the taunt from your warriors to keep the orc’s attention on them. It’s not necessary, but it does make the battle easier.

Defeating the Orc Warehouse Keeper will unlock the other gate. You can use this path to head outside to the Orc Fortress. Make sure you’ve rested.

Here, you’ll have to fight against several Orc enemies. It’s best to fight them one-on-one and rest immediately after battles.

After you’ve taken out several orcs, you’ll have to fight the Orc Chieftain. It will show up if you approach its location in the fortress, near the chest.

It’s quite strong, but if you’ve defeated the several orcs before, you can easily beat this one too.

Explore the fortress, and don’t miss the room with a sword and a treasure chest. You’ll find the Silver Key here—an essential item you’ll need soon.

With the Silver Key in hand, return to the Hollowgrave Tunnels and locate the silver keyhole to unlock the path to the Western Side of the Fangroot Forest. Keep progressing, and you’ll eventually reach the village.

After reaching the forest, look for a cottage to pick up a side quest called Troubles at the Shack, which leads to the Underkeep Village. To continue, you’ll need to move westward and encounter a guard.

Use the key here, and you’ll be able to get to the Western Side of the Fangroot Forest. However, you’ve still yet to reach the village.

Once you’re back in the forest, you can explore around. There’s a cottage here where you can get a side quest called Troubles at the Shack, which also requires you to head to the Underkeep Village.

But to get to the village, you’ll have to keep progressing west. You’ll encounter a guard here.

The guard will request that you clear the Burrowers in the area south of him. This quest can be taken, or for 30 gold coins, you can simply pay your way into the village.

The guard will ask you to clear the bunch of Burrowers in the area south of him. You can take this quest, but if you’ve got the gold to spare, you can ask for another way into the village.

The guard will then ask you to give him 30 gold coins. You can pay him the gold or take on the quest. I picked the option to do the quest.

Just as you’re done talking to the guard, a group of Burrower enemies will show up. These enemies can dig under the ground and attack in numbers.

If they’re under the ground, there’s not much you can do except to skip the turn and wait for them to come to the surface again.

Go further south from the guard’s position; there will be more Burrowers here. Once you’ve defeated several of them and they stop coming at you, you can go and talk to the guard again.

The guard will mark the task as complete, allowing you to use the portal to the Underkeep Village, concluding Part 1 of the walkthrough.

Just as you finish your conversation with the guard, a group of Burrowers will attack. Focus on taking them out above ground, as they can dig and launch sneak attacks. Once you’ve dispatched enough, return to the guard to complete the quest.

If you’re looking for more walkthroughs, please check out the following pages: