Pailune

Overview

Pailune is the northernmost region of Pywel and the ancestral homeland of the Greymanes. Once a region unified under the great leader Gian, Pailune enjoyed a period of relative peace and stability before the Black Bears, led by Myurdin, shattered that peace in a devastating nighttime assault. The region is now occupied by the Black Bears, and reclaiming it is a central motivation for Kliff and the surviving Greymanes throughout the game.

Pailune is the stark opposite of Hernand. Where the starting region offers temperate forests and gentle hills, Pailune presents deep snow, hard-to-traverse mountain areas, freezing temperatures, and enemies adapted to the harsh climate. The southern portions of the region feature green highlands and open grasslands, but the terrain transitions dramatically into snow-capped peaks and sub-zero conditions as you move north.

Access to most of Pailune is restricted until Chapter 7: Homecoming, when the Greymanes mount their campaign to liberate the region from the Black Bears. However, some southern areas bordering Hernand can be explored earlier in the game.

History

Under Gian's leadership, Pailune was a beacon of peace on a continent defined by factional conflict. Gian unified the region's disparate communities and maintained order through the strength of the Greymanes, a mercenary company committed to protecting the weak from oppression rather than fighting for the highest bidder.

Gian's death at the hands of Myurdin threw Pailune into chaos. The surviving Greymanes, including Kliff, Naira, Yann, and Oongka, were scattered across Pywel. Without the Greymanes to enforce peace, the region fell vulnerable to the Black Bears' influence and other opportunistic factions seeking to fill the power vacuum.

Black Bear Occupation

Following the ambush, the Black Bears established control over Pailune. The occupation represents more than a military takeover; it is a deliberate attempt to destroy Gian's legacy and prevent the Greymanes from ever reuniting. Myurdin's forces patrol the region, control key settlements, and suppress any resistance from the remaining population.

The occupation makes returning to Pailune a dangerous proposition. Areas that were once safe under Greymane protection are now hostile territory where Black Bear patrols can engage the player on sight. Liberation of occupied zones in Pailune follows the same mechanics as other regions: defeating enemy forces and their leaders causes residents to return, structures to rebuild, and new vendors to appear.

Role in the Story

Pailune is where Kliff's story begins. Though gameplay starts in Hernand after the Black Bear attack, the Greymanes' emotional connection to Pailune drives the entire narrative. The early chapters of the campaign focus on gathering allies, establishing a base of operations at the Greymane Camp, and building strength to eventually push back against Black Bear influence.

The main story takes players beyond Pailune into the other four regions of Pywel: Hernand, Demeniss, Delesyia, and the Crimson Desert. However, Pailune remains significant throughout the game as the Greymanes' emotional anchor and the symbol of what they are fighting to restore. Reclaiming Pailune from the Black Bears represents both a practical military objective and a deeply personal mission for Kliff and his companions.

Geography and Climate

Pailune's terrain varies dramatically from south to north. The southern lowlands feature green highlands, rugged terrain, and open grasslands where wild horses roam freely. Rolling fields stretch across the landscape, and the fertile soil supports both agriculture and ranching. Forests and rocky outcrops break up the grasslands, providing shelter for wildlife and cover for travelers. Rivers cut through the highlands, feeding into the broader waterways that connect Pailune to neighboring Hernand.

Further north, the terrain transitions into a freezing alpine environment. Snow-capped peaks dominate the skyline, blizzards reduce visibility to near zero, and sub-zero temperatures present a constant threat. The temperature gauge on the HUD drops well below freezing in these northern reaches, and players should prepare with appropriate gear and recovery items. The Five-Finger Mountain formation marks the rough boundary between Pailune's temperate lowlands and its frozen northern reaches.

The environmental contrast within Pailune mirrors the broader diversity across Pywel's five regions. Where other regions like Delesyia embrace technology or the Crimson Desert bakes under red sands, Pailune relies on traditional weapons and pastoral living, shaped by its harsh but beautiful landscape.

Map Discovery

Pailune's map is covered by fog of war that can only be fully revealed by ringing the Toll of Pailune bell, located in the settlement's northern area. Unlike the bells in Hernand, this bell is in a conflict area that is only resolved during Chapter 7: Homecoming. Players cannot ring the bell and clear the map until after liberating Pailune from the Black Bears.

Until the bell is rung, players must rely on natural exploration to gradually fill in the map. Discovered locations, roads, and points of interest appear as Kliff travels through them. Given the harsh terrain and hostile patrols, mapping Pailune manually is significantly more challenging than in Hernand.

Key Locations

Pailune contains a mix of tribal settlements, military encampments, mountain formations, and cave systems. Many locations are controlled by the Black Bears until liberation.

Settlements and Camps

Mountains and Natural Landmarks

Caves

Fast Travel Points

Pailune has approximately ten Abyss Nexus fast travel points scattered across the region. Most become accessible only after liberating the region during Chapter 7. The western teleporter near Pailune Town activates immediately upon victory.

Tribes and Factions

Pailune's population is organized into distinct tribal communities, each with their own traditions, territories, and relationships. The Black Bear occupation has disrupted these communities, and liberating the region restores their ability to function.

Quests

The bulk of Pailune's quest content is tied to Chapter 7: Homecoming, which encompasses four quest arcs: Dawn Mist (5 quests), Dawnrise (6 quests), Decisive Battle (6 quests), and Twisted Fate (2 quests). The chapter culminates in the liberation of the region from the Black Bears.

Chapter 7 Key Quests

Post-Liberation Content

After liberating Pailune, the region transforms significantly. The Abyss Nexus teleporter to the west becomes available, residents begin to return to their homes, structures are rebuilt, and new vendors set up shop. Players can ring the Toll of Pailune bell to clear the map fog, and a major resource-intensive quest line for Reconstructing Pailune becomes available, serving as a long-term investment of materials and currency.

Bosses and Enemies

Pailune is home to some of the toughest boss encounters in Crimson Desert. Both major bosses inhabit the colder, more dangerous northern territory.

Standard Enemies

Pailune's varied terrain supports distinct enemy populations. The southern grasslands host standard predators and grazing animals, while the northern mountain zones are home to beasts specifically adapted to sub-zero temperatures. Cold-adapted creatures are significantly tougher than their lowland counterparts, with larger health pools and more aggressive behavior.

• Black Bear Patrols: Human enemies that roam the region in force until liberation. They control key settlements and ambush travelers on sight.

• Snow Wolves: Predatory pack animals found in the northern mountains. Hunt in groups and flank isolated players.

• Mountain Beasts: Large creatures adapted to the freezing conditions. Significantly tougher than Hernand wildlife.

• Mistwood Hunters: Hostile poachers in the Wayward Woods who attack on sight.

Resources and Gatherables

Pailune's natural resources differ from Hernand's due to the harsher climate and terrain. The region supports several life skill activities.

Mounts Available

Pailune offers several unique mounts suited to the harsh northern environment.

Liberation of Pailune

Reclaiming Pailune from the Black Bears is a central story objective that unfolds during Chapter 7: Homecoming. The liberation campaign involves several main quests leading up to a decisive battle for control of the region.

Prior to the assault, Torstein and the Blue Fangs operate out of Beighen, quietly preparing forces for the liberation of their homeland. Torstein never gave up hope of retaking Pailune, and his preparations form the foundation of the liberation effort. During the "Bared Fang" quest, Kliff joins forces with Torstein and the Blue Fangs to coordinate the attack.

The liberation culminates in the "Resolution" quest, a large-scale battle for Pailune. Upon victory, the region transforms: the Abyss Nexus teleporter to the west becomes available, residents begin to return, structures are rebuilt, and new vendors set up shop. Players can also ring the bell in Pailune after liberation as part of the Toll of Pywel quest, which uncovers the region's map fog.

Relationship to Other Regions

Pailune connects directly to Hernand, the region rich with mountains and rivers where much of the early-to-mid game takes place. The transition between the two regions is seamless, with the green highlands of Pailune gradually giving way to Hernand's mountainous terrain. Each of the five regions of Pywel has its own distinct culture and technology level. Where Pailune relies on traditional weapons and pastoral living, regions like Delesyia have adopted steampunk technology with mechs and flying robots.

Tips for Exploration

• Prepare for the cold. Pailune's northern areas have sub-zero temperatures that affect gameplay. Bring recovery items and warm gear before venturing into the mountains.

• Wait for Chapter 7. Most of Pailune is locked behind the Chapter 7 liberation questline. Attempting to explore early means facing overwhelming Black Bear patrols with no fast travel support.

• Ring the bell after liberation. Once Pailune is freed, ring the Toll of Pailune bell immediately to reveal the entire regional map. This makes finding remaining locations and resources much easier.

• Tame horses in the southern grasslands. The open highlands of southern Pailune are one of the best areas in the game for finding and taming wild horses.

• Explore caves for rare minerals. Second-Finger Cave and Silverwolf Cave contain mineral deposits not easily found elsewhere. Bring a Pickaxe.

• Watch for Sealed Abyss Artifacts. Several artifacts are scattered across the region, including one at the intersection southwest of Trovak Camp and another on the road south of Skoghorn.

• Visit Beighen for gambling. The village of Beighen features gambling minigames where players can win significant rewards.

• Save before boss fights. The Staglord and White Horn are among the hardest bosses in the game. White Horn in particular uses environmental attacks that can catch unprepared players off guard.

• Invest in Reconstructing Pailune. The post-liberation reconstruction quest is a long-term resource investment, but it restores the region's settlements and unlocks new vendors and services.

Related Articles

Relocating the Greymane Camp to Pailune

Late in the game, Kliff can physically relocate the Greymane Camp from its Hernand home at Howling Hills back to Pailune, settling the survivors in the rebuilt town they originally came from. This is the fifth and final camp expansion, and it is entirely optional: the move is an endgame quality-of-life step, not a story beat. The early launch build made it difficult to recommend because the Pailune layout was sprawling and several facilities were half-broken, but the Patch 1.02 and Patch 1.03 updates fixed most of those issues and added benefits (Abyss Nexus, extra storage, bigger farm and ranch) that make the move a stronger choice than it was at launch.

Requirements to Trigger the Move

The move is gated behind a long list of completions. The in-game pop-up lists three headline conditions, but each of them expands into several sub-requirements:

• Main story finished. The entire main story must be completed, including the Chapter 7 liberation of Pailune and the final epilogue. This is the condition most players trip on: they have met every other requirement but have not actually finished the game, and the relocation pop-up never appears.

• All Scattered Embers faction quests completed. The Scattered Embers chain runs parallel to the main story and tracks camp-life content. The very last Scattered Embers quest is the Return Home faction quest, which is the specific quest that asks you to go talk to Macri and begin the physical move. That final quest only unlocks after every earlier Scattered Embers entry has been closed out.

• Howling Hills fully upgraded. The camp at Howling Hills must be at its maximum level. Players can confirm they are on the correct track when the bridge between the camp proper and the player house has been built, and the camp dispatch menu lists the fourth upgrade as the next one. Upgrades progress through the Grounds of the Sunrise faction quests and through Dispatch Missions, so players who have neglected either chain need to loop back and clear them.

• Pailune reconstruction dispatch started. A set of Pailune reconstruction dispatch missions appears in the camp dispatch menu after the region is liberated. Only the first of those reconstruction missions has to be completed to satisfy the relocation requirement. The rest are optional and mainly serve as a resource sink. Skipping the optional ones is the recommended approach for players who just want the move done without burning extra materials.

Two sub-quests that commonly block the chain. Two Scattered Embers entries catch more players than the rest. The Red Fox Merchant quest is the final recruitment step for the Greymane named Dedrich, who becomes the tannery vendor at the camp once recruited; skipping this quest leaves the Scattered Embers chain incomplete. Strength Held in the Fingertips is the arm-wrestling quest given by Oongka at Calphade Castle in northern Hernand; the quest marker does not appear on the camp quest board reliably, and the quest giver is not at camp, so players looking at their faction log often cannot see why the chain is stuck at 32 out of 34. Travel to Calphade Castle and speak with Oongka to unblock it.

Dispatch NPCs must be at camp when you hand in a request. If a Scattered Embers or Grounds of the Sunrise request needs a specific Greymane to be standing in the camp circle and they are not, the quest will not accept. The in-game map does not show where Greymanes are while they are on a dispatch. Two workarounds: cancel the relevant camp dispatch so the Greymane returns automatically, or physically travel to the dispatch location on the world map and interact with them there. Neither option is sign-posted in the UI.

What Moves, What Stays, What Resets

Before confirming the move, know exactly what is carried to Pailune and what is destroyed. This is the single most important planning step because the process is one-way and destroys progress on any uncompleted farming cycle.

• Ranch animals come with you. Every animal currently in the Howling Hills ranch is transported to the new ranch at Pailune without loss. You do not need to sell anything off first.

• Farm plants do not come with you. Any crops currently growing at Howling Hills, including endgame resources like Skyroot seeds or Abyss Cell seeds, are lost when the camp leaves. Harvest everything first. Seeds already in your inventory are safe because they are inventory items, not farm-plot state.

• The player house resets. All furniture placed in the Howling Hills player house is reset when the camp moves, and the new Pailune player house starts empty. Because the earlier camp expansions also reset the house, many players wait until after the Pailune move before decorating at all. The legendary-animal unique furniture rewards do persist as inventory items and can be placed in the new house.

• Howling Hills becomes an abandoned site. Returning to the old location after the move shows an empty clearing. The facilities, vendors, and Greymanes are all gone; the area cannot be toggled back on. This is a one-way commitment.

Move-Day Bug Avoidance

The relocation cutscene plays after you speak with Macri and return to the camp. Two bugs are common on this step and both have straightforward workarounds:

• Cancel every dispatch mission before talking to Macri. If a Greymane is out on a dispatch when the move cutscene triggers, the cutscene can hang on a black screen indefinitely. Load the auto-save from before the cutscene started, cancel all camp dispatches so every Greymane returns to camp, and then redo the Return Home quest step. The cutscene will play normally once every camp member is home.

• Fast travel once if Carl does not appear. After the move, the camp quartermaster Carl (the donations NPC at Private Storage) can fail to spawn at the new Pailune layout. Fast travel back to the Pailune camp Abyss Nexus a single time and he reappears. The Private Storage chest functions normally once Carl is present.

• Save before confirming. Save manually before speaking to Macri. If the move produces a layout you dislike, or if one of the bugs above does not resolve cleanly, you can roll back to the pre-move save rather than committing to the new camp.

What You Get at Pailune

The Pailune camp is the largest of the five camp layouts and carries several material upgrades on top of the achievement reward for completing the relocation.

• +360 private storage slots (1,000 total). Patch 1.02 tied Private Storage capacity to camp expansion level. The first four Howling Hills expansions each add 100 slots for 640 total; the Pailune move adds a further 360 for the 1,000-slot cap. Players who hoard crafting materials or alternate armor sets benefit the most.

• Pailune Abyss Nexus at the camp entrance. Patch 1.02 also added a dedicated Abyss Nexus inside Pailune, placed right by the new camp layout so that fast-travel access does not require a walk. This was the single biggest quality-of-life change to the Pailune camp and the main reason the move became viable for most players.

• Roughly doubled farm plots. The Pailune farm layout has additional rows of planting beds compared to Howling Hills, with the patch-1-03 expansion described in the official notes as "roughly doubled" in size. The extra rows matter most for the infinite-loop crops like Skyroot and Abyss Cell seeds, where more plots means more simultaneous harvests per cycle.

• Larger ranch. Ranch space expanded alongside the farm in patch 1.03, which gives room for additional cows, pigs, goats, and poultry. Milk, eggs, bones, hides, and meat all bottleneck less once there is space for a full complement of animals.

• Special cooking stations near the camp. The Pailune layout places a set of the special cooking pots near the camp that would otherwise require travel to a world location. A future patch is planned to let the special stations pull ingredients directly from Private Storage, at which point they become the default cooking spot.

• Walk-out access to a town with vendors. The camp sits at the edge of Pailune town itself rather than in an isolated clearing, so the additional Vendors inside the rebuilt town are a short walk from the camp rather than requiring a trip back to Hernand.

• A water well inside the camp. The Pailune camp layout includes a well, which produces free water for cooking and crafting recipes that consume it. The Howling Hills layout does not have one. Water from vendors is faster in raw minutes-per-bucket, but the well removes the cost entirely if you are gathering other resources anyway.

Pailune Camp Layout Notes

Patch 1.03 condensed the NPC placement inside the Pailune camp, which removed a major early complaint that the original launch layout was sprawling and slow to navigate. The new layout puts the key facilities close together in the northwest part of the rebuilt town:

• Private Storage and Carl are inside the main camp building at the entrance. This is also where camp-resource donations go.

• Equipment vendor and the camp Blacksmith sit just outside that building, grouped together.

• Connor (accessory vendor), Oliver (dye vendor), Dedrich (tannery and tailor equivalent), Conrad (furniture), and the hair stylist are clustered around the central square.

• The farm and ranch are along the southern and eastern edges of the layout, with the player house next to them rather than across a bridge as in Howling Hills.

• The fast travel point is right at the entrance, minimizing the distance between the Abyss Nexus and every other camp facility.

No camp cauldron yet. Neither the Howling Hills camp nor the Pailune camp places a cauldron inside the camp perimeter. Players who want a cauldron on site need to buy the cauldron furniture piece from the furniture vendor and drop it inside the player house. Because the Pailune house sits nearer the rest of the camp than the Howling Hills house does, this workaround is less disruptive after the move.

Is the Move Worth It?

The practical answer is: after patch 1.03, yes for most players who have reached the endgame, and no for players who have not maxed out storage or started farming endgame crops. The additional 360 private storage slots and the bigger farm are the two standout benefits, but both presuppose that the current 640-slot cap and standard farm plots are already limiting. Players who already sorted their inventory into alt-character storage, who are not farming Skyroot or Abyss Cell seeds, and who care about camp aesthetics over facility count may prefer to stay at Howling Hills. The move cannot be reversed, so the conservative choice is to finish the Scattered Embers chain first, confirm that Howling Hills feels cramped, and only then commit.