A Short Break Preparing for Work

A Short Break is a Dark and Darker quest assigned by the Goldsmith merchant, part of the Preparing for Work quest line. There are 3 objectives to complete: Bring 1× Cobalt Ingots; Bring 1× Lukewarm Stew; Bring 1× Red Apple. All progress requires a successful extraction — items retrieved or kills made during a failed run do not count toward quest completion. Once every objective is fulfilled, return to Goldsmith in the lobby to turn in the quest and receive the reward. This quest requires completing Hands of Precision before it becomes available from Goldsmith. Completing A Short Break rewards 100 XP, 🪙 100, Random Rare Armor. Merchant quests in Dark and Darker are one of the most consistent gold and experience sources in the game, independent of loot luck on the Trading Post. Completing the full Goldsmith quest chain unlocks higher reward tiers and increases merchant affinity, which can affect prices and open additional quest tiers in future seasons. The Preparing for Work chain provides a structured progression path through the Goldsmith quest tree, and finishing each quest in order is the fastest route to the higher value objectives later in the line. Use the MetaBot Dark and Darker quest tracker to check all open objectives across every active merchant before extracting, so you can turn in multiple quests from a single run and get the most value out of each session.