Image Credit: IzziBGran / GamifiedLife, LLC

You’ve arrived in Disney Dreamlight Valley, apparently at night, only to find Merlin standing among Night Thorns. He quickly fills you in regarding the current situation in the Valley. Before Merlin leaves you to head to the Dream Castle, he gives you the task of finding the Royal Tools, left behind by the former Ruler. These tools are filled with ancient and powerful magic, which will serve you well as you embark on your mission to save the Valley!

Pro Tip: If you want to look around and take pictures while it’s still dark, find the shovel and the watering can first and leave the pickaxe for last. Things change when you Pull the Pickaxe from the Stone.

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Glancing around the area in Disney Dreamlight Valley known as the Plaza, there are Night Thorns everywhere. Rock piles and tree stumps appear in places blocking the way forward. Most of the buildings are boarded up.

There are some signs, however, of the formerly thriving Plaza. Fruit trees and bushes are still bearing fruit. Flowers are still poking up from the ground, although a few of them do look in desperate need of water.

First order of business is to start removing some of the Night Thorns from the Plaza, allowing you to move around the area more freely. As they dissolve from your magic, they leave behind coal, carrot seeds, goody bags and Star Coins!! Good Deal. Star Coins are an important Dreamlight Valley currency.

There are several other things you can pick up or harvest as you move through the Plaza, clearing away Night Thorns. However, since your backpack is small and your house inventory even smaller, you decide to concentrate on picking up and harvesting the most pressing items. This includes at least one type of fruit (for energy).

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Time to get down to business. Clearing the Night Thorns from around your house, you find The Royal Watering Can! Lucky for you, it comes with instructions. It is magical after all.

Tutorial Time: All is Green: The Watering Can

Taking pity on the dried-up flowers in the area, you try out your new tool and watch them spring back to life! Best of all, the Royal Watering Can never needs to be refilled.

Quest Task: Acquire the Royal Tools in the Village.

• Find the Royal Pickaxe in the Plaza and pull it from the Stone – 1
• Find the Shovel in the Plaza – 1
• Find the Watering Can in the Plaza – 1
• Find the Fishing Rod in the Meadow – 1

As you make your way across the Plaza courtyard, past the well in the center and to the other size of the Plaza, you find yourself in front of a boarded-up building with a broken sign. This used to be Chez Remy.

Lots more Night Thorns need to be removed around the building. In the process, you come across The Royal Shovel. Neat!

Tutorial Time: Dig a Little Deeper: The Shovel

Now that you have the shovel you can dig up the glowing spots of cracked ground. These spots provide some valuable resources that will be used throughout the game. Most significantly, you’ll dig up Dream Shards and Night Shards, which are key ingredients for many of the special crafting recipes you’ll want to make. Keep space in your inventory to pick the Shards up.

Digging in the glowing spots, or anywhere for that matter, will leave you with a circle of bare ground. The circles of bare ground are great places to plant some of the seeds you’ve been getting when clearing the night thorns. Find a good spot to dig up some lawn and create a small garden. Don’t forget to water what you plant!

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Pro Tip: To avoid scattered bare spots, aim your shovel at a bare spot until it highlights and dig in the same spot a second time. This will restore the spot to its’ original look (without any cracks or glow). Untouched bare spots will also disappear if not touched after about 2 days.

As you crossed the Plaza, you couldn’t help but notice Scrooge McDuck standing outside his boarded-up shop and surrounded by Night Thorns. While not part of this quest, feel free to clear a path to him and see what he’s up to. He’ll give you a hint on how to get into the Meadow below the Plaza, which is where the Royal Fishing Rod should be found.

Talking with Scrooge will trigger a new quest, your first Scrooge Quest: Making Cents of Things.

Alternatively, you can ignore him for now and come back later.

Image Credit: IzziBGran / GamifiedLife, LLC

As you round to the south side of Scrooge’s store, you find the Royal Pickaxe sticking out of a large stone. Here goes nothing. Can you really pull the Pickaxe from the Stone?

Image Credit: IzziBGran / GamifiedLife, LLC

As the Pickaxe comes smoothly out of the stone, a beam of light shoots into the air. As the light expands across the sky, encompassing all of Dreamlight Valley, the darkness is dispelled. Talk about powerful magic!

Image Credit: IzziBGran / GamifiedLife, LLC

Image Credit: IzziBGran / GamifiedLife, LLC

You now have 3 of the 4 Royal Tools in your possession. This one, the Royal Pickaxe, has great potential. Not only can you reduce those large (and small) rock piles to a pile of small stones, you can also mine the rock formations that are located along the cliffs throughout Dreamlight Valley.

Tutorial Time: Rocks and Minerals: The Pickaxe

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Releasing the Pickaxe from the Stone appears to have another effect on Dreamlight Valley. The next time you enter and exit your house more magic happens. Time is no longer frozen. It has started to flow in sync with the time around you. Days will begin to pass into night in the normal rhythm of things.

Tutorial Time: Now synced to real time!

We haven’t found the Royal Fishing Rod yet, but perhaps this is a good time to check in with Merlin. We definitely are having a positive impact on Disney Dreamlight Valley!

Quest Task: Talk to Merlin.

Pro Tip: If you have not advanced Merlin’s Quest: The Dream Castle past the scene at the Plaza Well, talking to Merlin now will trigger the advancement of that Quest. These two quests overlap some. The “Talk with Merlin” dialog for this Quest will become available after The Dream Castle Well Scene dialog completes.

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Merlin is elated. The pickaxe is once again in the hands of someone “worthy” and the unnatural darkness has disappeared!

This is just the beginning. The people that stayed behind once the Forgetting began were scattered and some were even trapped. Merlin is looking to you to find them. To do that, you’ll need to find the remaining Royal Tool. Your search continues.

Image Credit: IzziBGran / GamifiedLife, LLC

The Pickaxe makes quick work of the rock piles blocking all the entrances to the Peaceful Meadows. As was the situation in the Plaza, night thorns have taken over the Biomes. With your three Royal Tools, it doesn’t take very long for you to make a dent in clearing the area.

As you work, you notice many new flowers and fauna in this area. If only you had more room in your inventory, so that you could gather some of these new resources.

Pro Tip: For a small cheat, I mean tip, on how to make more storage now, check out our Very Early Game Tip: Storage Solutions guide.

Image Credit: IzziBGran / GamifiedLife, LLC

As you search the Peaceful Meadow for the final Royal Tool, you do indeed find a fishing rod. Unfortunately, it’s broken and doesn’t appear to be very royal at all.

Perhaps if you find the owner of this broken fishing rod, you’ll get a clue to the location of the Royal Fishing Rod. At this point, it’s your best option. You’ve covered the entire ground of the Peaceful Meadow. There’s no Royal Fishing Rod in sight.

Pro Tip: Entering Goofy’s House will trigger his first quest: Fishing Expedition. Do not be concerned. This is necessary if you want to get the Royal Fishing Rod.

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Goofy is indeed the owner of the broken fishing rod you found. He has it fixed in no time, but now he has a spare Fishing Rod. It just so happens he found an old fishing rod after the Forgetting began and would like you to have it. You guessed it. It’s The Royal Fishing Rod!!

As part of Goofy’s Fishing Expedition Quest, he’ll provide a tutorial on how to use your new rod. This handy tool doesn’t require bait and won’t get snagged. Good Deal!

Quest Task: Talk to Merlin.

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Now that you have all the Royal Tools in your possession, new opportunities open up for you. Merlin meets you at the Magical Well in the Plaza to explain.

You’ll need more than just magic to gain entrance to other Biomes in the Valley and to remove the Huge Night Thorns blocking passage to the Dream Castle’s doors. What you’ll need is Dreamlight.

Image Credit: IzziBGran / GamifiedLife, LLC

Performing Dreamlight Duties is a great way to collect Dreamlight! Gaze into the Well to see what Duties await to be performed. Actually, Well Gazing is really just a fancy way of opening your menu, but it sounds good.

Tutorial Time: Don’t Forget Your Dreamlight Duties!

Check out Dreamlight Duties, under the “Dreamlight” Menu. Of the 9 tabs under Dreamlight, the bottom 8 contain a fixed set of tasks. When one is complete, it moves to the bottom and unfinished tasks move up the list. No new tasks are added, however.

Dreamlight Duties (top tab) are different. A list of 6 Dreamlight Duties will always be displayed for you to complete. Once finished and the Dreamlight reward collected, the duty disappears and is replaced with something new for you to do.

Pro Tip: Dreamlight Duties provide an unlimited opportunity for obtaining Dreamlight. They are usually fast and easy to complete. It’s a good way to build up your Dreamlight and never run out of things to do.

Image Credit: IzziBGran / GamifiedLife, LLC

Image Credit: IzziBGran / GamifiedLife, LLC

Merlin’s adventures continue in Quest: The Dream Castle.