It’s a quick one
Hogwarts Legacy has a number of tricky quests and scavenger hunts to sift through, but the Absconder Encounter isn’t one of them. Here’s where to find the Absconder Encounter quest, and how to complete it.
Step 1: Get the quest from Edgar Adley in Aranshire
First, you’ll want to head to Aranshire and speak to the NPC Edgar Adley to pick up the quest. Aranshire is east of Hogwarts: the exact location of the sleeping hamlet can be found in the gallery above.
Step 2: Go to the Absconder’s Lair
Adley will task the player with picking up a pocket watch that belongs to his presumably-deceased friend Milo, which you’ll need to recover. The watch is actually in the lair of the Absconder: a giant spider that will serve as the boss of the quest (which is basically just a modified Acromantula spider enemy). You can find the lair northwest of Aranshire (the gallery above has the exact location).
This is less of a dungeon and more of a boss room, so don’t worry about navigating multiple puzzles. Note that you can fly into the direct location of the boss fight if you wish.
Step 3: Take out the Absconder boss and grab the watch
Although the Absconder operates mostly like a regular spider, it is an elite enemy, so it’ll deal more damage if you aren’t spry with dodging and countering.
Try to stay far away from the Absconder to keep it at bay, and fling fire spells at it as much as possible to deal the most damage. Whenever more enemies appear, keep the Absconder in the corner of your eye (to dodge its lunges) and take them out in groups with fire spells. Remember our prior tips on defeating spider enemies and you’ll be fine.
After the Absconder is taken out, you can grab the watch behind the boss fight (just use a fire spell on the web and head in). Loot the chest and return to Adley in Aranshire, and the quest will be complete. The typical “semi-bad dialogue” option applies here: if you give Adley back the watch with no questions asked, you’ll get 300 gold/Galleons. If you mess with him and say you’ll try and sell it, you’ll get 500 gold/Galleons.
