Post-Game Artificial Core Guide

Spoilers of course as this is post-game content.

The only other guide for this I could find was a collection of youtube videos, so for anyone that prefers written guides, here's a collection of tips on how to complete this big part of the post-game activities! This will also lead you towards fighting the enigmatic ultimate boss Peppy Jack.

Core Pieces

Chee - Gives the lightning core and starts the quest. Find her on the right side of tiny oni island, you'll need to use Pike's chainhook ability to reach the cave she's in.

Ven - Gives the ice core, wants you to find a tiny oni for her to imprison. Find her in the sewers. Go to tiny oni island, look in the buildings and look for a sleeping tiny oni. Kidnap him and take him to Ven for the ice core.

Vice and Silk - Dawn's mogwai, give the water and wind cores respectively. Find both on Route 182. They want you to cook them food, a cetus tepas and a gourmet kebab. You can alchemise these, but you also get both for free if you do the quest to defeat and eat the god of sporegano. To do this, go to sporegano and on the right side of town talk to the tiny oni's inside a building. They'll want some crafting materials which you'll likely have already. After that, they need a cook, so go talk to down Route182 and talk to dawn, then return to sporegano, talk to dawn and complete a special fight. You'll get the food after. Return to Route 182 for Vice and Silk's cores.

Heide, Jazz and Jake - Give fire and light respectively, find them at Tindalos. Heide wants you to play a repeat of the chicken dodging minigame, but it's actually very hard in the last 20 of 90 seconds. If you fail enough times she'll give it to you for free though, so that's fire down. Jazz wants you to find tindalos hounds that are hidden across towns in the den, there's one in each town and they can be indoors as well. Conjure Luca, press W and travel to the den towns. Mt phrost - in the restaurant with 2 doors. Pretorrican - along main path upwards towards bell, on the left behind a tree. Los Monstruous- right next to the sewer entrance. Middeluge - left side of lower area, behind a toxic waste barrel. Chopskinville - next to the orcs by the water on the right. Return to Jazz to get her core and that's light down. You can ask Jake for his once both tasks are done, but he refuses, though does let you see his human form.

Zheng - Gives the earth core. Find her in Choi's hut. She wants Chumbotite from Chumburg. Go to the building in the middle of town and buy it for 50,000 yuan.

Ives, Quinn and Frey - Gives the flora and shadow cores. Go left of Bowfort and enter the Witch's Hut and speak to Ives. They'll mention a pocket dimension in Snowver. Take the sewer to ingress path, head right to the next area, right and then up to next area, up to next area until you find a gap on your right you couldn't jump over before. Conjure rex and io and troz. Jump over the gap with rex then slash the ice with io and punch rocks with troz to get to the pocket dimension. While you're here, conjure pike and go across gap on left, then using troz, to get to chest containing fenrir bindings. Enter the warp, defeat Quinn (enjoy her special music!) and after the scene use a teleport snack to get out. Travel back to the Witch's Hut left of Bowfort to get Quinn's core piece, getting you flora. Speak to Frey after for a new quest, track down the thieves you fought for Quinn in the past. One is in Los Monstruous, a building in the bottom right, talk to the cat sith in front of a bunch of eggs and beat em up. In middeluge, a building in the top left, beat up a sahaugin in front of eggs. In chopskinville, go to the bottom left in a building and beat up an orc. Leave the Den and return to Frey to get the shadow core piece.

So, you're at 9 pieces and have only toxin left. You'd expect to get that from Wake, but actually, you gotta head to the Den. Go to the capital, head right and up, and the general's quarters will no longer be locked. Yes, the last piece comes from Yorshk, who has been the most outright evil character the whole game. Expectedly she doesn't hand it over willingly, so beat her up and annoy her til she hands it over.

You've now get enough pieces for the artificial core! Head over to tiny oni island to unlock Peppy Jack's trial. See to other guides for that https://heartbeat-rpg.fandom.com/wiki/Cheevos/Smallout:_New_Pepis

[VALDIS]

Great Guide. Really Helpful.

[Lynuma]

Thank you for this. Exactly what I was looking for.