Completing the Passing of the Age quest in Hollow Knight: Silksong is a bit of a challenge, as you try to track the Mushroom Sage’s locations across Pharloom using the riddle he left you. It’s a little similar to the Great Taste of Pharloom quest in that it sees you running all over the map to find the fungi in different out-of-the-way spots.
You can’t access this wish until you’ve acquired the Silk Soar ability in Act 3, specifically via The Dark Below quest. Once that’s done, head to the right side of the Pale Lake in the Putrified Ducts (just across from Fleatopia), climb up the platforms, and use Silk Soar to enter the passage above where you’ll find the riddle in question and be able to get started.
Below, I’ll run through all of the locations you need to find, as well as share my own (painful) experience with the final platforming section so you can see the exact route and method for getting through it.
Under Chapel fallen to the monarch’s might
The first location is in Moss Grotto, the starting area of the game, in the Moss Mother boss arena, just to the right of where you drop down into the Chapel from Bone Bottom. Play your Needolin near the glowing spores and the Mushroom Sage will rise from the earth. Simply talk to him and he’ll move to the next location.
Over camp collapsed to the black thread plight
The second location is on the upper right side of Bone Bottom, at the spot where Shakra used to hang out and sell her maps. If you’ve never visited her here, the map above will point the way. Same as before, play your Needolin, chat to the mushroom man, and on to the next location.
Scorched field on edge, shells black and burned
This third location is in the far right of the Far Fields, on a platform just to the left of the entrance to Weavenest Cindril (the location where you got the Silkspeed Anklets). The platform isn’t high up or anything, so just look for the spores, play your Needolin and have another powwow with your fungal friend.
Up towers spinning near the surgeon spurned
This is where they start to get a tad trickier. This fourth location is directly above the building in Greymoor that houses the Chapel of the Reaper. You actually access this area by climbing the similar-looking building further to the right in Greymoor, as this lets you move left along the platforms and reach the mushroom at the above location.
Cage of one who raged against the Silken lie
This fifth location is next to the cage of the First Sinner boss in The Slab. If you’ve already found this, great stuff. If you haven’t even visited The Slab (or never had to escape The Slab), you’ve got some exploration to do.
First, you’ll need the Apostate Key from the Putrified Ducts to unlock the area, then you’ll need to explore it in its entirety to get the Heretic Key from the final gauntlet battle up above.
This lets you unlock the lower section of the main shaft and so access the room with the First Sinner’s cage on the map above. On the plus side, you will have unlocked access to another boss while doing this.
Fell heart of frost, who soars on high
This sixth location is pretty easy, located at the top of Mount Fay, where you gained the Faydown Cloak double jump. The good news is that it’s much easier to climb the mountain once you have the Silk Soar ability, so you can zoom up the mountain to find the mushroom talking to your giant, fluffy fay-bird friend.
Past cradle’s peak, last test of fitness
Of course, the seventh and final location is the worst. First off, you’re going to have to head to the location above in the Choral Chambers and use Silksoar to gain access to The Cradle again. Climb all the way up The Cradle until you reach the platform where you can bind the severed arm of Grand Mother Silk (and get the Pale Nails silk skill).
Now, above you is a passage you can reach via Silk Soar, which will let you climb higher, but it’s quite narrow, so you’ll want to stand exactly where I am in the screenshot below.
This will send you up into an unknown area where you’ll find a bench and then have to complete a fairly painful jumping puzzle to reach the mushroom’s location at the top. I’ve shared my video of doing this below (apologies for the mistakes, I found it quite hard), but it’ll show you the route and method for each bit, as well as a way you can farm some silk in between each section in order to heal and give yourself more attempts or potential mistakes without having to restart.
Speak to the Mushroom Sage after playing your Needolin at the top to complete the quest. Also, make sure to follow him up the passage to find a fun secret and grab a memento on the right side of the area by playing your Needolin near the body (this might also drop from the roof when you nudge the body—it’s not 100% clear).
