Lost in a Foreign Land is a world quest in Genshin Impact that was included in the 2.7 version update of the game. It gives a little more detail about what happened in The Chasm: Underground Mines.
How to Unlock the Lost in a Foreign Land World Quest
To trigger this quest, you need to have completed the world quest Surreptitious Seven-Star Seal Sundering and started the Chasm Spelunkers quest to be given access to The Chasm: Underground Mines.
Once the map of the underground mines is available, you can start exploring the area. Right next to the Teleport Waypoint in The Glowing Narrows, you will come across an Isolated Electro Cicin Mage. She will attack, and you have to defeat her.
1. Talk to the Isolated Electro Cicin Mage
After doing so, this Fatui mage will ask you to stop attacking her and then introduce herself as Katarina Snezhevna, and that her name is all she can tell you.
When Paimon tells her that you want to know what’s happening and not interrogate her, Katarina insists that what the Fatui is doing in the Underground Mines is classified information.
A few moments later, Floating Fungi will start emerging and attack you.
2. Defeat the Floating Fungi that emerged
You have to fight 3 Floating Fungi to proceed with the quest. These creatures are of Hydro element. Therefore they are immune to attacks of that element.
3. Talk to the Fatui Mage
Once the aggressive little creature has been eliminated, speak with Katarina again. Katarina will thank you for not stabbing her back during the monster attack and will invite you to her hideout so you can continue talking.
Katarina will mark the spot where her hideout is located and wait for you there. Paimon will have suspicions but will agree to follow the Fatui Cicin Mage and give her the benefit of the doubt.
4. Go to the Fatui Mage’s hidden encampment
The hidden encampment is just a little northeast of the Teleport Waypoint. You can follow the path up ahead and behind a large, broken pillar. By the cave wall, you will see a little camp. Katarina, the Fatui Electro Cicin Mage, will be standing there.
5. Talk to the Fatui Mage
When you talk to the Fatui Electro Cicin Mage, she will be very hospitable and offer you what she has in her little camp.
After a bit of discussion about herself and the Fatui, Katarina will ask you to introduce yourself. The Cicin Mage has never heard about you and Paimon because she said she was sent down the underground mines long ago. She also said she barely knows anything about what is happening on the surface save for the news they get through their supply lines.
Katarina will then quickly dismiss you, saying she needed to rest. However, she will ask if you could help her with something, but you have to come back another day if you do not find it too troublesome.
The first part of this world quest ends here, and you have to wait another real-world day or game reset to continue with this short quest series.
Lost in a Foreign Land: Seeking (At least a day after the first quest)
1. Return to the Fatui Mage’s hidden encampment
Find Katarina, the Isolated Electro Cicin Mage, in her little camp in The Glowing Narrows.
When you talk to her, she will apologize for sending you away in a hurry without telling you what she wanted help with.
Katarina was separated from a member of her team, a person named Nikolay, who she calls Kolya. Looking for him is what the mage would like your help with. She will ask you to bring him back to her if he’s alive, but if he is already dead, Katarani would like to know the truth.
When Paimon thinks Katarina was up to something bad like sabotaging Millelith’s work, she will wonder why making Liyue’s military force an enemy does them no good. It will then be revealed that the Fatui underground does not know what their people on the surface have done, and Katarina will conclude that an altercation with the people of Liyue is the reason why their supplies in the underground mines have been cut off.
The topic will return to Katarina’s Kolya, who got separated from the squad when they retreated. Katarina came back for him later, but she also got lost too. The Cicin Mage will then put a mark on the map where Nikolay was before he went missing. At that time, he tried to lure the enemies chasing their squad, and since he is an excellent soldier, Katarina claims, it is less likely that he died there.
Your next task is to check out that spot and look for some clues.
2. Look for clues Nikolay left behind
If you check the map, the marked spot is the narrow area near the Exploration Team’s campsite, which is also close to the Teleport Waypoint southeast of The Glowing Narrows.
However, teleporting to the camp is not the right way to get to the marked spot because it is a level above the campsite.
The best way to get to the spot is to teleport to the ruins far south of the Stony Halls. It is the southeastern most of The Chasm: Underground Mines.
Teleport to that area and then glide down to a cave with purple light glowing.
Inside the cave, you will find oozing concretions and ominous dark mud, which you must clear out using the Lumenstone Adjuvant lamp.
Behind the pillar next to the second ominous concretion are old items that a camper or a traveler probably leaves behind. Checking these items will reveal a Shed of Corporal Nikola’s Diary.
The diary says:
“…Oh no! Katya’s babalaika is broken. I somehow damaged it during the fracas. Gotta get it repaired before she chews me out….”
“…Did our ancestors fight the calamity like this five hundred years ago? The Captain once said we knew not a hundredth of the grueling battles that our ancestors went through…”
(Many pages in the middle are tainted by some black substance. When you clean it off, the writing in ink is also rendered entirely illegible.)
“…I can’t stay here any longer. They could easily track me down through the black mud…”
“…Next I’m going to the opposite direction and lure them further away from the rest of the squad…”
“…There’s a hole near the ruined bastion on the southeast side. Maybe I can take that route…”
“…Wish me luck. If not us, then who?”
3. Find the place mentioned in Nikolay’s diary
The location mentioned in Nikolay’s diary is a little chamber in the ruin you passed by earlier.
From the cave where you found the diary, walk out and follow the path to the right side until you come across some spoutrocks. Use these rocks to boost your character’s jumping capability so you will not have to climb up to the ruins.
By the bastion of the Nameless Ruins, a Ruin Grader will roam around it and immediately detect and attack you. Defeat this enemy first before proceeding.
After eliminating the Ruin Grader, go to the southeastern part of the ruin, where you will see a chamber with a metal gate closing it off and a Ruin Guard.
Defeating this smaller automaton will open the chamber. Go inside and investigate the stack of hay that seemed like it was used as a bed for a person. You will find a piece of paper with the Fatui seal on it. This piece of paper is part of Corporal Nikolay’s Diary.
4. Read the information Nikolay left behind
Interact with Corporal Nikolay’s Diary and read what it says.
“…I made it into this secret chamber. The mechanical monster is still lurking outside like a ferocious predator, just waiting for me to go out…”
“…My left leg is badly wounded and it hurts like hell. I bandaged it up haphazardly, but it’s swollen – could be a sign of infection…”
“…The grotto has another exit, but I don’t know where it leads. The structure of the exit looks tenuous. Without something to support it, it might collapse if exposed to violent force…”
“…I’ve been spotted! Someone’s coming. It’s a… swordsman… clad in black?”
“…He, no, it… Seems as though even the metal bars are no obstacle for it. And just from looking upon it, I know this in my heart…”
“…I’m sorry, Katya.”
Aside from the diary, you will also find a Bloodied Sergeant’s insignia left behind by the Fatui person.
Head back to the Isolated Electro Cicin Mage’s hidden encampment and tell her what you found.
If you check the end of the cave, which is mentioned in Nikolay’s diary, the area is sealed by collapsing rock, and you can not get through. So, you wonder, is it where Fatui Corporal flees through.
5. Tell Katarina about the clues you found
When you talk to Katarina, she will once again offer Fire Water, but this time, it is not for you to drink, but as something, you can use to clean your wounds if you’re injured.
Katarina will then ask you if you found anything during your investigation.
You give her three items:
Corporal Nikolay’s Diary
A fragment of Corporal Nikolay’s diary. It gives off a rather unpleasant smell, but that is at least better than being covered in mud.
Bloodied Sergeant’s Insignia
The bloodied and muddied insignia of a Fatui sergeant. You have no idea it ended up in the depths of The Chasm.
Corporal Nikolay’s Diary
A letter behind Corporal Nikolay. Its contents have long ceased to be whole.
Katarina will recognize the items and will ask you to tell her where her Kolya is and if he is still alive.
Of course, you are not sure and can not tell if he survived and escaped through a secret tunnel.
The Fatui Electro Cicin Mage will ask where you found the items, and so you tell her and mark out the spot on the map.
Katarina will talk to herself, being all sentimental but will eventually thank you and give you rewards.
For her next plan, Katarina said she would probably go looking for Nikolay and that you do not have to assist her anymore.
Another Day Later
When you return to the hidden campsite a day later, Katarina will no longer be found there.
In the area below the cave where you first found Nikolay’s diary, you will find a Shadowy Husk lurking about the spot. This creature will attack you, so you will have to defeat it.
If you look around, you will see a letter from Corporal Nikolay. Upon checking, the letter has a light and lingering scent of Fire-Water, which confirms that this is the letter that Katarina received from Kolya that she treasured so much.
