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Nightingale

Imitations of Life Quest Guide

By
Matt Chard

When you reach Nellie Bly in Nightingale, you’ll get three separate quests: The Sun Giant’s Prize, Heart of the Elder Eoten, and The Bishop’s Charm. Each one of these quests will task you with obtaining a special item, so Pellucidic Ingot from The Sun Giant’s Prize, Elder Eoten Heart from the Heart of the Elder Eoten, and Automation Oil from The Bishop’s Charm. These quests let you complete them in two ways, the violent method of defeating the enemies, or the peaceful method of trading with them. If you choose the latter method, and you should as you’ll get more recipes from it, the quests will each have a side quest relating to them. Imitations of Life is the side quest for the trade method for The Bishop’s Charm quest. Read on to find out where to go, who to speak to, and where you can find the Bound Research Samples.

Victor Frankenstein Location

The Imitations of Life quest can be acquired by speaking to Dr. Victor Frankenstein. However, you’ll need to find him first. Victor can be found atop a large tower in the Desert: Astrolabe realm. This can be found in the center of the map atop some cliffs, so make sure you bring Climbing Picks along with you unless you want to slowly pull yourself up the ledges. When you reach the tower, head to the top, and you’ll find Victor on the balcony.

After going through the lengthy dialogue, Victor will ask you to pick up some Bound Samples for his research. These can be difficult to locate if you haven’t been paying attention to what Bound drops each material, which can make this quest frustrating, to say the least, due to the number of realms they can appear in. Fortunately, we have done the legwork for you so read on to find out exactly where you can find them. Once you’ve acquired the samples, head back to Victor to turn them in where you’ll receive another quest from him.

(1 of 2) Victor Frankenstein can be found atop the tower in the Desert Astrolabe realm.

Victor Frankenstein can be found atop the tower in the Desert Astrolabe realm. (left), Speaking to him will give you the Imitations of Life quest, tasking you to acquire a shopping list of Bound materials. (right)

Bound Research Sample (Materials) Locations

There are seven different materials you need to find for Victor with some only dropping from specific Bound enemies. If you can’t recall what the Bound is, they are the demon-like enemies that appear at the Portals, Fae Towers, Bastille’s, and Occupations. Here is the list of samples, what drops them, and where you can find them. Note that a lot of these enemies can appear in other realms, especially the Abeyance Site of Powers, but after some testing, this is generally the best location for the enemies.

Bound Sample Quantity Enemies Location
Arcane Wick 10 Bound Lamplighter Antiquarian Realms
Bound Bristle 10 Bound Vermin, Bound Fiend Antiquarian Realms+
Bound Ichor 5 Bound Vermin, Bound Fiend, Bound Haxan Antiquarian Realms+, Provisioner Realms
Ingot (Lacunus) 5 Bound Lamplighter (low chance), Bound Knight, Bound Kyrosiphon Astrolabe Realms, Herbarium Realms, Hunt Realms
Lumber (Yew) 2 Bound Bruiser Forest Hunt Realms
Raw Gem (Petrified Ichor) 2 Bound Darkweaver Desert Hunt
Ingot (Hollow Metal) 2 Bound Assassin Swamp Hunt

Some samples can drop from the other enemies but at a much lower drop rate. For example, Lamplighters can drop Lacanus Ingots, but they rarely do.

Bound Enemy Types

Here you’ll find a list of all the different types of Bound enemies you can encounter. The names of the monsters can be viewed by looking at them with a Spyglass.

Bound Vermin

The Vermin are the weakest form of the Bound. They are aggressive and will get up in your face hindering you while you fight off the more difficult foes. Where they lack in strength, they make up in numbers.

The Bound Vermin are numerous, and they will drop all the Bound Bristle you could need.

Bound Fiend

Generic Bound with horns protruding from their head. They are a little stronger than the Vermin but you won’t have to deal with as many of them. You’ll find both these and the Vermin together a lot in the early game.

Like Vermin, Bound Fiends can be found almost everywhere. These are your prime source of Bound Ichor.

Bound Lamplighter

The Bound Lamplighters act similarly to the vermin, but they have cages with lamps upon their heads, hence the name. As they close the distance, they will leap at you. Like most enemies, their weak point is their caged heads but these especially so.

If you’re after Arcane Wicks, then the Bound Lamplighters are the quarrel you want.

Bound Knight

Medium-sized Bound with a two-pronged helmet who wields a large, jagged sword. They will rush your location and then perform a spinning attack for respectable damage.

The Bound Knights are responsible for dropping Lacunus Ingots, you’ll begin seeing these in the Herbarium Realms.

Bound Bombardier

These explosive Bound will frustrate you to no end. They prefer to attack from range with explosive bombs, which leave behind a cloud of blight.

You won’t need to fight the Bound Bombardiers for this quest, but they will be around, and they will drop gunpowder, which is always useful.

Bound Haxan

The first mage-type Bound, who will pelt you with spells from afar. When you close the distance, they will teleport to another location and continue their barrage of spells.

Another good source of Bound Ichor is the Bound Haxan.

Bound Kyrosiphon

Arguably the worst Bound in the game. The Kyrosiphon has what looks like a flamethrower attached to a pulley atop their heads. They will continually let out a stream of flames from their heads while also having the option to hit you from range. These will explode upon death.

If you hate fire, you’ll hate the Bound Kyrosiphon. These are also a decent drop for Lacunus Ingots.

Bound Assassin

The Assassin Bound wears a hood and dual curved daggers. They are your agile and evasive type Bound who can backflip away from your attacks as they consider their next plan of attack. Finally, they have a ranged attack which fires out a blight projectile from their weapons.

The Bound Assassins are primarily found in the Swamp Hunt realms. These are the only way to get Hollow Metal Ingots.

Bound Bruiser

These hulking Bound are larger than their kin and move slower for it. They wield a large hammer which they can use in a three-hit combo for significant damage. Their weak point is their head and a well-placed attack can temporarily stagger them. When they drop below half health, they’ll lose the hammer and opt for their fists instead. This will cause them to become a lot quicker while they try to hit you with their charge attacks.

If you’re after Yew Lumber, you’ll need to defeat the impressive Bound Bruisers. Fortunately, the drop rate is high.

Bound Darkweaver

The second mage-type of the Bound. Darkweavers will enhance their brethren with an immunity buff, making all attacks against them invulnerable. This can be broken by defeating the Darkweaver first or luring the buffed enemy away from it to break the link. When you defeat the linked enemy, the Darkweaver will cower in fear.

The Bound Deathweaver is where you’ll find the Petrified Ichor Gems. You’ll find these in the Desert Hunt Realm.

There you have it, as stated above, the list isn’t the holy grail of where to find each Bound, but you will find them in those locations. A couple of tips to make farming (repeatedly killing) them easier is to find a Bastille of Intellect and purposefully fail the activity. This can be repeated as often as you like, and more Bound will always spawn. Saying that, if the Bound you’re after doesn’t spawn during the initial attempt, you won’t face a different set of Bound, so only do this if they’re the enemies you’re looking for. Another great method is to complete the Fae Tower in the area (or find a Realmic Transmuter) and use the Bloodmoon Card which will place the realm in eternal darkness. This is when the Bound frequently spawn in the realm, but this card does have its drawbacks, so make sure you’re happy with the negatives of the card first.

More Nightingale Guides

Nightingale has a lot of features, which can feel overwhelming at first. If this is the case for you, check out our quest and resource guides below.

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Guide Information
  • Publisher
    Inflexion Games
  • Platforms,
    PC
  • Genre
    Adventure, RPG, Survival
  • Guide Release
    12 February 2024
  • Last Updated
    12 March 2024
  • Guide Author

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Nightingale is a PvE open-world survival crafting game with a few unique features for the genre. First among these is the Realm Card system, whereby players can discover and craft Major or Minor realm cards to influence aspects of procedurally generated worlds or character attributes respectively. You may find yourself in a more forgiving or hostile world depending on the Major cards you use, but the Minor cards can give you an edge against foes with boosts to damage, health, stamina, or other aspects of survival. The game is set in the Victorian era and has more than a little influence from Steampunk fiction, so if that’s anything like your thing, you’ll love this world!

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