01 Dec 2021 12:49 PM +00:00 UTC

The Forgotten City: How To Get Into the Palace and Find Naevia

The Forgotten City. A large room inside the palace. The room has several red marble columns, two vase stands with carved vases on them at the center. The roof has golden beams across it. A door is at the back right and there is a carving hanging on the wall to the right, next to the door.

In The Forgotten City, it is up to you to find out who will break the golden rule that will lead to the city's demise. Along the way, you meet a few characters who have deep and sometimes disturbing stories. One such character is Naevia, the once medical physician of the city that no one has seen in a long time. We're going to show you how to get into the palace and find Naevia.

How To Get Into the Palace and Find Naevia

To get into the palace to find Naevia, you will first need to complete another quest. We have a guide that shows you how to stop the assassin and once you have done this, you can start to make your way to the palace. Getting into the palace is a long process, so we have broken it down into stages.

Stage One: Make the Deal With Desius

After you stop the assassin, you should have a wooden bow on you and when you have this you should find Desius in the market. Speak to him until the conversational options appear. After he has proposed his "business venture" you need to follow these options:

Go on
The statues come to life and fire golden arrows at them

Desius will keep talking and you need to select "I'm interested" when it appears. When he starts to talk about the story of the Goddess Diana, you can pick any option but the general idea is that you're going to go to her shrine and swap a fake golden bow for the real one. Once Desius finally stops talking, he will take your bow and cover it in gold leaf before giving it back to you.

Once you have your bow back, follow the quest markers to Diana's shrine (it's directly opposite Apollo's shrine). When you're inside the shrine, walk up to the two flame-lit torches and interact with them to put them out. After the flames are out, walk up to the statue of Diana and pick up the quiver filled with arrows at her feet. From here, look up and aim your bow directly at her golden one. You should get a prompt to swap the bow out and as soon as you do this, the flames will ignite.

Stage Two: Get Double Crossed

Now that you have her bow, you need to head back to the door but it will be locked. Desius will start talking from the other side and you can follow the conversation but do not hand the bow over. He will then threaten you with the Hornets' nest in the middle of the room:

The Forgotten City, The Hornet's nest on the roof inside Diana's shrine. The image shows the golden roof of the shrine with a large Hornet's nest in the middle of it. A swarm of angry Hornets is gathered around the nest.

Shoot this with your bow to turn the nest into gold and it will fall down, creating a hole in the floor.

Stage Three: Explore the Tunnels

Jump down the hole and there should be a chest slightly ahead of you on your left. Loot the arrows from this as you're going to need them. Keep heading forward until you come to a large body of water and there will be a chest with a skeleton next to it on your right. Loot the arrows from this too (this is a practice you should get into for the remainder of the quest).

The Forgotten City. The tunnels under diana's shrine, first body of water with green algae in it. There is a fireplace, a chest and a skeleton to the right. The cave is dim and there is an opening on the other side of the body of water.

Swimming across the body of water will not work, you need to stand next to the chest and shoot the green bits of algae floating in the water. This will turn them into gold and you can use them as platforms to get to the other side. Once you are on the other side, keep following the path until you come to a small scroll on your left. Pick this up as this is the first part of Naevia's journal. After picking this up, keep following the path ahead of you and follow the prompt to pull yourself up. Keep pulling yourself up until you come to a ledge with a golden statue on it.

To get across to the next section you need to run jump and pull yourself up onto the ledge at the same time. If you aim for the candle while you are jumping, you should complete this with little issues. (If you fall, you will end up where you found Naevia's journal). Once you have made it to the other side, keep following the path.

When it seems like you've hit a dead-end, turn back on yourself and look up. There should be another ledge that you can jump and pull yourself up to. There should be an Amphera of Arrows on this ledge (loot all of the arrows). Look around and you should see green vines that lead to the next area. Shoot these to turn them gold and once they are gold, you can use them as a bridge. Now, keep following the path and shoot the vines you come across as you need to. After a bit of exploring, you should come across vines that are growing upwards and all you need to do is turn these into gold too. To climb up them, walk up to them and use the same controls you'd use to pull yourself up onto a ledge. After climbing up these vines, keep pulling yourself up and you will eventually find yourself in the palace.

Stage Four: Explore and Survive the Palace

Walk through the first room and at the back of this room, there will be a chest next to a golden statue. Take all of the arrows in this chest then make your way into the next room. You should start walking through a hallway of golden statues and as you go around one of the corners, a peeled statue (skeleton) will be waiting for you at the end. Quickly equip your bow and shoot the peeled statue to turn it into gold (once in the head or twice in the body). Once it's turned into gold, walk up to it and follow the prompt to kick it out of your way. After doing this, keep following the path until you come to another large room. In this room, there will be more peeled statues. Deal with these as you did with the one you previously encountered and continue to follow the path.

The Forgotten City. A peeled statue, half gold and half flesh. The peeled statue is lunging for the player. There are solid gold statues in the background.

You will end up in a courtyard area and the whispers should tell you to turn the algae into gold. You need to quickly turn the algae to gold in the three fountains to stop peeled statues appearing through them and to stop the ones that have already appeared. Any statues out of the water will not be affected and you will need to take these down by shooting them.

The pond on the back right of the courtyard will have two golden statues in it and there will be a hole near them. Jump down this hole. Once you're down here, you should see several peeled statues standing in the water in front of you. Before they spot you, you need to shoot the algae in the water and this will turn them all into solid gold. Once you've dealt with them you should continue to follow the path forwards. When you come to the next bit of water, shoot the algae again and deal with the statues as you did before. Keep moving forward.

Soon, you should come across an area that looks like this:

The Forgotten City, the tunnels under the palace. The image shows green plant formations up the sides of the cave walls that can be used as steps to the next area. There is water in the center and a peeled statue.

Here, you can shoot the small foliage formations up the sides of the wall to turn them gold. You can then use them as platforms to jump up to the next level. (You can choose to go forwards and take on the peeled statues in the water. If you do this, there is a chest you can loot at the back of the cave. You will still need to go back to foliage formations after.) In the next section, shoot the greenery and walk across it to get to the other side. Once you are on the other side, take the arrows from the Amphora of arrows and continue to follow the path.

You should be taken to a hole that will lead you back into the palace but do not drop down right away. Instead, stand at the edge of this hole and look down to get the attention of the peeled statue. As it runs towards you, shoot it with an arrow. Once it has been turned into gold you can jump down into the room. Keep walking out of the doorway into the next area and there should be a fountain with peeled statues in it.

The Forgotten City. A Palace fountain with peeled statues in it in a courtyard. There is a vase balanced at the center of the fountain.

Do not get too close. Listen to the whispers and shoot the vase at the center of the fountain. This will draw all of the peeled statues in the garden area and from the house into the water. Once there are multiple statues in the water, shoot the algae to turn it and them into gold. When all the statues have been dealt with, keep following the path and head into the building on your left (the one that the statues came out of).

Inside the room you enter, walk up to the table at the back and take the "key to palace doors". Also, pick up and read the next entry from Naevia's journal. Once you have done this, head through the doors to your left (unlock them by interacting with them). Keep following the path until you reach this area:

The Forgotten City. Inside the palace, a long hallway with a carving on the right. At the end of the hall, there are green drapes covering a doorway to the next room. There are peeled statues behind them.

The whispers will tell you to turn the silk into gold. You will need to quickly shoot the green drapes to turn them into gold and this will trap the peeled statues behind them. Follow the path but you will need to quickly shoot the green drapes that will be on your left then directly ahead of you. If you don't do this, you can be quickly overwhelmed with peeled statues. After trapping the statues behind the drapes, keep following the path until you come to a set of locked doors.

To the right of the doors, you should see a hole in a wall and you need to head through this. Turn the vines into gold and use them as bridges to get to the other side. When the bridges end you need to shoot the vines hanging across the walls. Once they are golden, pull yourself up onto them and use them to climb across to the next area.

On the other side of the vine area, climb through the hole and shoot the green drapes in front of you immediately. To the left of the drapes will be yet more vines. Shoot these then climb up them and you will be taken to an upper area that looks down into the room where you trapped the statues. Shoot the vase at the center of that room to get the attention of the other peeled statues from the next room. Once they are all in there, shoot the second set of green drapes to trap them all inside. You can now head across the upper area and jump down into the area that looks like this:

The Forgotten City. The image shows the view from an upper level where the player can drop down into the next room. There is a gold and red tapestry to the right of the room and a flame-lit torch.

After dropping into here you should walk to your left. There will be a peeled statue waiting for you and you need to shoot it straight away. Follow the path and stop walking when you come to this area:

The Forgotten City. A long and dimly lit hallway with a vase on a stand to the left. The vase stand is in some algae-filled water. There is a flame-lit torch to the right. The walls are red and white marble with red columns.

When you are here, back yourself up against the wall and shoot the vase to get the attention of the peeled statues. Once they are all in the water, shoot the algae to turn them into gold. Some peeled statues won't be caught in this and you will need to deal with these. After all the statues have been dealt with you should keep following the path forward until you come to a big room.

Walk to the table in this room to take the coins and read the final entry in Naevia's journal. After this, keep heading forward and follow the path around. There should be a quest marker now so you can follow this. There will be a few peeled statues along the way and all you need to do is turn them into gold in the same ways you did with the previous ones.

Eventually, you will be taken to this room:

The Forgotten City. The long room with a peeled statue strapped to wood in the middle. The statue is on the far side of the room. Red marble columns line the white marble path to the statue. — The statue will whisper for you to come closer, don't worry, this is something you need to do.

The statue will whisper for you to come closer, don't worry, this is something you need to do.

There will be a peeled statue strapped to some wood in the middle and you need to walk up to this. Engage in conversation with the statue and it will warn you to look behind you. You need to turn around and you will see that you have found Naevia.

Stage Five: Talking to Naevia

Naevia is peeved that you are responsible for turning her "experiments" back into gold and will threaten to attack you. The conversation with her can have two outcomes that depend on how you speak to her. One outcome will lead to her giving you the key to the chest in Apollo's shrine and the other will lead to her breaking the golden rule.

How To Get the Key off of Naevia

To get the key to the chest in Apollo's shrine, you will need to choose the following choices when speaking to Naevia:

Choose the option to draw your bow (this can be later in the conversation if you miss the first chance).
Oh, I'm not going to kill you. I'm going to imprison you in gold like the others.
This golden bow is the weapon that encases people in gold.
I can demonstrate on Galatea, if I have to.

You will then need to turn around and shoot Galatea with an arrow to turn her back into solid gold. Naevia will thank you and give you the key to the chest in the shrine. You will be allowed to leave. To exit the palace, head out of the door behind Galatea and to the balcony. You can either use the zip line to the left (if you have the tool from Galerius) or you can shoot the greenery to the right of the balcony to make steps down.

How To Get Naevia to Break the Golden Rule

To get Naevia to break the golden rule, you can choose any of the conversational options that will lead to you engaging in combat with her or you can irritate her enough to get her to kill you. This can be done in any way, apart from the chain that makes Naevia give you the key.

That's it, that's how you get into the palace and speak to Naevia in The Forgotten City. This quest highlights how one specific choice can lead to multiple outcomes. Sometimes, you will need to manipulate time to achieve your goals too. We have a guide that shows you how to get the Silphium Resin, a quest where messing with time allows you to succeed. Also, we have a guide that answers an important question for the game - does it have autosave?

For more articles like this, take a look at our The Forgotten City and Guides page.