Part 5: The Burning Road

Part 5, The Burning Road, is the Nether part of the quest book. It has two chapters and 31 quests. The Air Burns walks you through the dimension, and Forge and Gauntlet sends you after netherite, three bosses and a runic weapon. <!-- src: Q §1.2, §2.5 -->

The part opens when you complete The Heart, the capstone of The City That Listens in Part 4: The Deep. That one quest opens both chapters at the same time. The capstone of Forge and Gauntlet, A Blade Worth the Trip, is the gate to Part 6: The Sky Above. The Air Burns is not a gate. <!-- src: Q §1.5, §2.5 -->

The book does not lock the Nether itself. You can build a portal at any time; the book only decides when its quests complete. See The Nether for the dimension. <!-- src: Q §7 -->

At a glance#

As in the earlier parts, every optional quest is hidden, so every visible quest is required. The hidden ones are named only in the spoiler blocks at the end. <!-- src: Q §2.0, §1.4 -->

The Air Burns#

Fire that warms nothing, and eleven days of it. <!-- src: Q §1.2 -->

What you do#

This chapter has 17 quests, 14 of them required, and starts with Eleven Days. It is a guided tour of the Nether. <!-- src: Q §2.5 -->

Obsidian and Nerve asks for 10 obsidian and a portal frame, and Through asks you to walk in. After that the book sends you to places from Incendium and BetterNether: Remastered: a fortress, the forbidden castle, the sanctum, the nether grasslands, the gravel desert and the nether jungle. The visible quests along the way include A Road of Gravel, Grass, Down Here, A Jungle in Hell, The Forbidden Castle, The Sanctum and A Fortress. <!-- src: Q §2.5; data/quests.json titles -->

Then come the work quests: 10 blazes (Ten Blazes), 50 mob kills of any kind (Fifty Kills), cincinnasite ingots, rubies (Ruby in the Ash) and 4 netherite scrap. The capstone is The Forge She Found. <!-- src: Q §2.5; data/quests.json titles -->

What to bring#

• 10 obsidian for the frame and something to light it. Through pays a kit that includes flint and steel and obsidian, which helps if your first portal burns down. <!-- src: Q §2.5, §4.4 -->
• A shield and plenty of food. The Nether here is generated by Better Nether, Incendium and Eternal Nether, so expect new biomes and structures. See The Nether. <!-- src: W §1.3; Q §2.5 -->
• A way to get home. Beds do not work in the Nether, but respawn anchors do. See Death, Graves & Respawning. <!-- src: W §1.5 -->

Rewards#

• Through pays a choice of one kit from What to Carry In: 16 cooked beef, 2 flint and steel or 8 obsidian. <!-- src: Q §2.5, §4.4 -->
• Several quests pay Traveller's Cache or Lamplighter's Cache rolls. The capstone pays a Lamplighter's Cache roll, 5 levels and 1 ember. <!-- src: Q §2.5 -->
• Chapter totals: 23 XP levels, 1 ember, seven Traveller's and four Lamplighter's Cache rolls. <!-- src: Q §2.0, §2.5 -->

Forge and Gauntlet#

Day twelve. Her handwriting is steady again. <!-- src: Q §1.2 -->

What you do#

This chapter has 14 quests, 12 of them required, and starts with Sealed and Signed. It covers netherite, bastions and three bosses. <!-- src: Q §2.5 -->

On the preparation side you make withered bone meal and a netherite ingot (Netherite), enter a bastion (A Bastion) and give 32 gold to piglins (Gold for Piglins). You also defeat an Eternal Nether wither skeleton knight; the visible quests include Withered Ground and A Knight, Still Standing. <!-- src: Q §2.5; data/quests.json titles -->

The three bosses are the Wither (The Wither), the Blackstone Golem from AdventureZ (Blackstone Golem) and the Nether Gauntlet from Bosses of Mass Destruction. For the Gauntlet there are two quests: find its arena (Sealed Blackstone) and then earn the defeat advancement (Through the Gauntlet). After that you collect the Blazing Eye (The Blazing Eye). <!-- src: Q §2.5; BM §2.2, §2.8 -->

The capstone, A Blade Worth the Trip, asks for a runic weapon forged from a runic tablet with Simply Swords [Fabric & Forge]. <!-- src: Q §2.5 -->

The three bosses#

• The Wither has 300 HP and you can summon it anywhere with the vanilla ritual. It drops the Nether Star, and with End Remastered also a Wither Eye, which a later chapter asks for. <!-- src: BM §2.1 -->
• The Nether Gauntlet has 250 HP, a sealed blackstone arena in any Nether biome and a chest with the Blazing Eye. It leaves ancient debris when it dies. <!-- src: BM §2.2 -->
• The Blackstone Golem has 600 HP and is called with a ritual using a chiseled polished blackstone holder. It drops its heart, a gilded netherite fragment, ancient debris, netherite scrap and blackstone. <!-- src: BM §2.8 -->

The pack's Boss Ultimatum setting covers all three. From the third player it kills, every further player death restores the boss to half of its maximum health. See Bosses of Mass Destruction and Other Bosses & Mini-Bosses. <!-- src: BM §2.10 -->

What to bring#

• 32 gold for the piglins and the netherite scrap that the first chapter already asks for. <!-- src: Q §2.5 -->
• Strong armour, a shield and healing food for three fights in a row. <!-- src: Q §2.5; BM §2.1, §2.2, §2.8 -->
• Materials for the Wither ritual (the vanilla summoning). <!-- src: BM §2.1 -->

Rewards#

• The Wither, Blackstone Golem and Through the Gauntlet each pay a Deep Road Cache roll plus a diamond, and The Wither also pays 1 ember. <!-- src: Q §2.5, §4.5 -->
• The capstone pays a Deep Road Cache roll, 5 levels and 2 embers. <!-- src: Q §2.5 -->
• Chapter totals: 36 XP levels, 3 embers, four Lamplighter's, four Deep Road and three Traveller's Cache rolls. <!-- src: Q §2.0, §2.5 -->

Tips for this part#

• You do not need to finish The Air Burns before Forge and Gauntlet; both open at the same time. Early work counts, but a quest completes only after the quests before it. <!-- src: Q §1.3, §1.5 -->
• Quest items are not consumed, so the same netherite scrap or gold can serve several quests. <!-- src: Q §5 -->
• Click each reward yourself; each team member claims their own copy. <!-- src: Q §4.2 -->
• Boss kills can drop a Deep Road Cache or Lamplighter's Cache on their own, on top of the quest rewards. See Rewards, Loot Caches & Choice Kits. <!-- src: Q §4.3 -->

Spoilers#

These blocks name the hidden quests of this part. Open one only if you want to be told.

Spoiler: hidden quests in The Air Burns

There are three hidden quests, all optional.

• someone cooked down here: visit the quartz kitchen structure from Incendium.
• a train, down here: visit the train structure from Moog's Nether Structures.
• it does not warm either: visit a soul sand valley.

Spoiler: hidden quests in Forge and Gauntlet

There are two hidden quests, both optional.

• gold in the netherite: obtain a netherite gold ingot from Advanced Netherite.
• four bones, not rotting: obtain 4 withered bones from Eternal Nether.

See also#

• The Quest Book - the hub for all visible parts
• Part 4: The Deep - the previous part, with the gate to this one
• Part 6: The Sky Above - the next part, opened by A Blade Worth the Trip
• The Nether - the dimension itself
• Bosses of Mass Destruction - the Nether Gauntlet in detail
• Other Bosses & Mini-Bosses - the Wither and the AdventureZ bosses
• Rewards, Loot Caches & Choice Kits - what caches and kits contain