Guide · Story & Quests
Songs of Glimmerwick Fern Quest Guide: Ginger Tea and the Main-Story Confrontation
Brew Instagrow for Chrys, exchange it for Ginger Calming Tea and deliver it to Fern. Then follow the separate main-story Fern’s Confrontation from Strange Pamphlets, with the shard hand-in outcomes and their source limits kept clear.
Separate the tea errand from the main-story confrontation
Tea for Fern and Fern’s Confrontation are different quest entries. Tea for Fern can start from Spring 3 when Fern talks about her grandfather’s ginger tea in the Common Room. The later main-story confrontation follows Strange Pamphlets; delivering tea is not the shard hand-in. Fern can move during story events, so follow the active journal rather than relying on a fixed daily schedule; see Where to Find Fern if you need help locating her.
Brew the Instagrow Chrys asks for
Ask Chrys about Ginger Calming Tea and agree to brew an Instagrow potion; the written guides say this conversation teaches the recipe. Make one bottle with 1 Fiddlehead, 2 Morel and 1 Salt Pile. Hyla stocks Salt Pile at Newt’s Eye; forage the Fiddlehead and Morel. At a cauldron, practice Instagrow until Brew is available, then brew the potion. The available material does not establish exact forage coordinates for these two ingredients.
Trade the potion, then hand Fern her tea
Take the Instagrow to Chrys and complete the exchange for Ginger Calming Tea. Return the tea to Fern and hand it over to finish Tea for Fern. The quest guide places the return at Fern’s current quest location; use the journal if she has moved. Do not substitute Debluing Tea: it is a different drink for another quest.
Start Fern’s Confrontation through Strange Pamphlets
On the 9th of Spring, read Clover’s pamphlet in the dorm, attend the Headmistress meeting and finish Fern’s conversation in Dean Hall. Search the storage closet off Grey Hall after the caretaker’s scene to find the cursed printing press. You need Song of Silence from The Cursed Mill; play it near the press and collect the Pamphlet Cacophony Shard. The quest guide lists Spring 9 as the only known start for Strange Pamphlets, and the supplied sources do not give an alternate trigger if the scene was missed.
Choose one shard recipient before continuing
The written Fextralife walkthrough reports that the shard can be handed to either Fern or Headmistress Abigailia, but only one can receive it. It lists 100 Gold Petals for Fern and 300 for the Headmistress; both routes complete Strange Pamphlets and start Fern’s Confrontation. Those amounts and branch results are guide-reported, not independently reproduced in this project, and the available evidence does not establish other lasting consequences. If you are choosing specifically for the payout stated by that guide, it points to the Headmistress. If you give the shard to her, speak with Fern afterward to start the same confrontation.
Follow Fern to the Green Sprites Headquarters
After the hand-in, meet Fern in the Great Hall and follow her to the Green Sprites Headquarters near the Nocturne Forest. Talk through the confrontation with Zinnia. The written walkthrough says Zinnia’s attempt to silence the press is why Fern’s tracing potion identifies her as the last caster; it does not identify who wrote the pamphlets. The quest guide also lists Fern as available for Harp of Six after this confrontation, subject to the main quest’s six-ally limit.
Version 1.09 addresses the Fern festival conflict
As of 30 October 2026, Version 1.09 was the newest patch listed in the official Steam news feed. Its 28 October UTC notice says it fixed the conflict between Fern’s Confrontation and Seaflower Festival, and the case where Zinnia was missing from Harp of Six if you completed Fern’s Confrontation after the heist. The notice does not say that every pre-patch save automatically recovers, and this guide has not been replayed in 1.09.
Sources
- Glimmerwick Wiki — Fern quests walkthroughAuthored guide read in the supplied research packet; gives the Instagrow exchange and the route into Fern’s Confrontation, and identifies Neoseeker as its source. It explicitly says it is not a gameplay test; source check dated 16 October 2026, game build unstated.
- Neoseeker — Potions GuideAuthored guide source cited by the Fern walkthrough; lists Instagrow’s ingredients and that Chrys teaches it during Tea for Fern. The direct page returned HTTP 403 during this follow-up, so no new full-page read or build statement is claimed.
- Fextralife community guide — Strange PamphletsWritten quest process for the pamphlet, press, shard hand-in, reward amounts and Fern’s follow-up. Last edited 6 October 2026; no game build stated. The 100/300-petal branch details remain attributed guide claims, not this project’s reproduced outcomes.
- Eastshade Studios — Version 1.09 official Steam noticeOfficial Steam news API checked 30 October 2026; latest listed patch was Version 1.09, timestamp 2026-10-28T06:39:01Z. The notice confirms only the named Fern/Seaflower and Zinnia/Harp fixes; it does not establish universal old-save recovery.
- Ninkyokamo — original player quest journalFirst-person journal entries for Tea for Fern in the Common Room and the later Green Sprites confrontation; article records 1–14 October 2026, with no game version stated. Used as an attributed player route, not as a 1.09 retest.