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The Mysterious Cave is on the western shoreline of Paradise Island, down the coast from the Ministry of Accuracy. Its Phonotron is a quest-gated encounter trigger: activate it during Inez’s “Better Than Nature” quest to draw out a Skeleton Crabble, then collect its grafting specimen for Ethel Tinsley in Fairfield.
Where is the Mysterious Cave?
Follow the western coast of Paradise Island down from the Ministry of Accuracy. Look for an entrance in the rock close to the waterline. The available guides give landmark-based directions rather than map coordinates, so there is no supported coordinate to enter or follow. All Things How also reports mineral growths outside the cave and hostile wildlife in the area. All Things How’s cave guide and DBLTAP’s location guide identify the broader area as Paradise Island.
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How do you activate the Phonotron?
You cannot activate the Phonotron as a standalone puzzle on an early visit. All Things How and DBLTAP both say Inez must be recruited and her “Better Than Nature” companion quest must be underway, with the objective involving Ethel Tinsley.
- Speak with Ethel Tinsley on the outskirts of Fairfield and follow the graft-donor objective in “Better Than Nature.”
- Return to the cave with Inez when the quest directs you to the research machinery.
- Interact with the Phonotron when prompted. It raises part of the cave floor and lures a Skeleton Crabble into the encounter.
The guide does not describe a dial code or a separate multi-stage solution; the device functions as a quest-gated encounter trigger.
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How do you handle the cave encounter?
The Skeleton Crabble is accompanied by Bulletclaws and Hammerclaws, according to All Things How. Its guide recommends focusing on the Skeleton Crabble, managing the smaller enemies when they cluster, and using companion abilities to interrupt heavy attacks. These are the guide’s suggested tactics, not independently tested combat findings.
What rewards can you collect?
Quest item and companion ability
Loot the Skeleton Crabble Grafting Specimen from the large creature’s corpse and take it back to Ethel Tinsley in Fairfield to progress Inez’s graft quest. All Things How says choosing the Crabble graft unlocks Inez’s “The Magic Bullet,” a hot-plasma volley. The available sources do not establish how that outcome compares with the Raptidon Matriarch graft, so they do not support a claim that one choice is better.
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Other guide-reported pickups
All Things How lists the following items in and around the encounter area. Treat these as that guide’s reported pickups, not a guarantee that this is an exhaustive or unchanged loot list:
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- Three Explosive Grenades; two Auntie Fizzo’s Citrus-Related Beverages; one Boarst Rockets; two Boarst Wurst; one Deep Fried Crysty-Bits; one Earl’s Grey Tea; one Snack Cakes; one Auntie-Biotics Creme; and a Bit Cartridge, with no quantity stated.
- One Mag-Pick, one Crabble Plasma Gland, five Crude Biomass, two Energy Canisters, two Scrap Metal, six Cloth, and one Black Powder.
- Several additional junk items. The guide also calls out a Mag-Pick carried by Trooper Connelly and Ferrochromium outside the entrance.
All Things How reports +100 XP for discovering the Mysterious Cave. This is a game-guide-reported reward, not an independently verified or patch-specific figure.
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What is known about the guide’s version?
All Things How’s cave guide was updated October 28, 2025. Obsidian’s official The Outer Worlds 2 page lists an October 29, 2025 release date, Xbox Game Studios as publisher, and availability for Windows, Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, and Battle.net. The official June 24, 2026 Patch 1.2.0.0 notes mention a fix for the separate “Cave Cleanup” quest, but do not mention the Mysterious Cave or Phonotron. That omission does not establish whether this encounter has ever changed or is bug-free.
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