A Healer's Mercy Walkthrough: All 4 Thieves, Calming Gourd

What Is A Healer’s Mercy?

A Healer’s Mercy — in-game subtitle “A healer’s hands, a sacred trust” — is Yu’er’s third and final tale in Phantom Blade Zero, and the middle chapter of the only three-quest character arc in the game. You first met her by the stream in Weeping Creek Valley for Flesh Lily, then mixed her medicine at the Outpost in Apprentice Healer; now she has followed the wounded into the Crimson Forest’s Thieves’ Camp, and she needs a courier, not a bodyguard.

The structure is simple — deliver four pills to four wounded thieves — but none of the four men lie on the main road, and two of them sit behind keys and cranks. It is also one of the five quests that die to a single boss: finish it before Bai Chilian, Lady of the Twin Serpents, or the tale is gone for that save. The full fail logic lives in our missable side quests checklist.

How to Start

Reach the Thieves’ Camp about halfway through the Crimson Forest, shortly after the Jing Ye boss fight at the Outlaw Trap — regional routing in our Crimson Forest walkthrough. Yu’er stands about ten metres from the camp bell on your first visit. Talk to her and she hands over four Yu’er’s Life-saving Pills — exactly enough, one per thief — plus the Record of the Lost Thieves (the inventory copy is titled Record of the Missing Thieves; it is the same note). Once accepted, four markers appear on the Crimson Forest map.

Thief 1: Li the “Flying Rat”

Nearest bell: Outlaw Trap — cave to the west.

The easiest of the four. Teleport to the Outlaw Trap bell, enter the cave west of it, and find Li just behind the blue flowers. Feed him a pill. While you are inside, keep going: the cave system behind Li hides the crank you need for thief two, so clear it in the same trip.

Thief 2: Zhou the “Lean Monkey”

Nearest bell: Outlaw Trap — underground tunnel, requires the Crimson Forest Tunnel Crank.

The crank sits at the end of the cave system behind Li’s position. Carry it back to the stone mechanism beside the Outlaw Trap bell, slot it in, and drop through the opened hatch. Descend the ladder, turn right, then take the path left behind the table — Zhou is curled up there. This is the thief most players miss on a blind run because the hatch blends into the arena floor until the crank is installed.

Thief 3: Zhen the “Slippery Eel”

Nearest bell: Cliffside Lodge — cellar and tunnel, grab the dungeon key on the way.

From the Thieves’ Camp, take the northwest road past the Red Serpent House and the Cliff of Longing until you reach the Cliffside Lodge. Enter the lodge’s basement and look for the orange-glowing Thieves’ Camp Dungeon Key on a corpse at the start of the tunnel — you need it for thief four, so do not walk past it. Follow the tunnel through; Zhen waits at the far end, just outside the exit.

Thief 4: Gui the “Night Raven”

Nearest bell: Thieves’ Camp — dungeon, requires the Thieves’ Camp Dungeon Key.

Back at the camp, unlock the dungeon on its southeast side with the key from Zhen’s tunnel. Gui is almost insultingly close: directly behind the entrance. Feed him the last pill and the second objective fires — “Inform Yu’er that the thieves have been found and treated.” Two of the men you saved drag themselves back to the camp; return to Yu’er to complete the tale and receive the Calming Gourd.

The Reward: Calming Gourd

The gourd is an accessory with a genuinely strong effect for aggressive play: using medicine recovers you from Guard Break and prevents Sha-Chi consumption for three seconds. The item card adds the flavor — Thief Wang entrusted the gourd to Yu’er before he retired from theft. GamesRadar’s walkthrough warns there is no other way to obtain it if the quest fails, so this is one of the few accessories in Phantom Blade Zero that is itself missable, not just the quest around it.

The Bigger Stakes: The Healer’s Legacy

A Healer’s Mercy is one third of a trophy. The Healer’s Legacy achievement requires all three Yu’er tales — Flesh Lily, Apprentice Healer, and this one — and each has its own independent cutoff: Apprentice Healer dies to Jing Ye, the Flesh Lily hand-in dies to Bai Chilian, and this tale dies to the same fight. If you are trophy hunting, clear the whole Yu’er arc before touching Bai Chilian, and cross-check the sequencing in our trophy guide and the all Tales index.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you start A Healer’s Mercy without finishing Apprentice Healer?

Yu’er appears at the Thieves’ Camp regardless, but launch guides list the tales as a sequence, and Apprentice Healer expires earlier — at Jing Ye. Do her herb errand first so a failed chain does not block this one.

What if a marker seems to point nowhere?

Two markers sit underground: Zhou beneath the Outlaw Trap and Zhen in the Cliffside tunnel. If a marker hovers over solid ground, look for a hatch or a cellar entrance nearby — both routes are covered above.

Does the Calming Gourd stack with other Sha-Chi effects?

The three-second window is the accessory’s own buff; pair it with medicine-heavy builds that burn Sha-Chi aggressively. Either way, there is no substitute item, so protect the quest that awards it.

Sources: polygon.com (‘A Healer’s Mercy’ quest walkthrough), gamesradar.com (A Healer’s Mercy walkthrough), keengamer.com (All 33 Tales walkthrough — entry 9), allthings.how (A Healer’s Mercy guide) — launch guides, October–November 2026.