Xenoblade Chronicles Guide- Walkthrough Part 38: Tread Lightly!

Moving on and up from the cave where the three dead traders were discovered, you will quickly come to a room with a number of large balls of what looks like webbing in it.

Reyn seem dumbfounded by the existence of these things, and asks his friend to explain.  Shulk tells the redhead that these are monster egg sacs, but something is strange about them- they appear to have Mechon parts worked into the silk.  Reyn, confused, asks Shulk what kind of eggs and the blond gives the expected answer- Arachno eggs.  After taking a few moments to inspect the eggs, Shulk recalls the Monado flash he got earlier and shouts for Reyn to ‘get back’- but he’s too late, Reyn’s moment of surprise at the sudden cry gets him webbed from above, and drawn up into the darkness despite all the shouting.

Worried about what the Monado showed him, Shulk worries aloud about his vision, and declares that he must find Reyn.

This leaves Shulk alone in the room with four large sacks of Arachno eggs ready to hatch.  Fortunately they bear the appropriate markers on them, a series of arcs to the left of a central dot- these are enemies with noise-triggered aggro, and walking slowly by tilting the joystick only a little will let you get through without being jumped.

Of course, you may not want to, since you do need Arachno Silk for a quest, and probably want to get some for yourself as well, just in case.  Really, there’s very little to be worried about- all the Arachno that hatch from the egg sacs are Worker Arachno, which are not very dangerous but are rather frail- two sweeping attacks from Shulk should take out any that get into his forwards arc- or that you maneuver into his forwards arc.

Things are a bit more dangerous now that you’ve lost your combat tank, so keep your eyes sharp- stumbling into a second creature while you’re battling a first creature can easily get you eaten when you’ve got only an admittedly reinforced glass cannon like Shulk to work with.

After a trip down another tunnel or two, you will find that you’ve brought Shulk to a huge cavern with several pillars and a series of shallow springs- and a secondary tunnel up above.  It’s here that Shulk’s attention and the camera are drawn- because Reyn is up there, running from a few more of the giant spidery insects.  Though Shulk calls to his friend, the larger man doesn’t seem to notice and just keeps running.  Looking around, Shulk notices that one of the pillars near the far wall can be climbed thanks to a bunch of mossy vines clinging to the side of it.  Before you head up there, though, you’ll want to take a look around. 

On the near shore towards Shulk’s right is the pendant that the one guard was looking for.  Additionally, on the far side is a Water Crystal Deposit.  Further to the right from the crystal deposit is another tunnel, though it only leads to a closed door for now- and finally, on an islet in the middle of the lake of springs is Gluttonous Eugen, who will become important when you get a quest from Emmy Leater- she mentions two monsters that she wants you to kill one of; this is the more difficult of the two, the easier being the Noble Brog that lives in the Spring of Grief.

There are a few Brog, Krabble, and some random flying critters in the lake area, as well as some more Tephra Lizards like were in the Mag Mell ruins.

Once you’re done here, it’s time to get climbing.