Soulframe Squirrel: How to Charm It with the Fipple Flute in Chapter 1

In Chapter 1 of Orlick's tasks, Soulframe hands you an objective that looks harmless: complete the squirrel entry in your Journal. If you don't know the mechanic, you chase the animal and attack it, but combat is not the answer. This guide shows how to get the Soulframe squirrel entry done: with a small melody minigame on the Fipple Flute.

🐿️ Why the Soulframe squirrel shows up in Chapter 1

After the Fable “The Last Pensive”, the scribe Orlick moves into your Nightfold. His quest line is called “Orlick's Sagas”, and Chapter 1 introduces runes, World Trees, totems and crafting one after the other. The fifth task, “The Forest's Vast Voices”, unlocks right after “Blessings of Battle”, according to the community-run wiki at wiki.avakot.org, and has two objectives:

• Charm Animals: charm five more animals. Any species works, and squirrels count.
• Squirrel Journal entry: charm squirrels until the Journal entry is complete.

Then report back to Orlick in the Nightfold. The reward is the Scholar's Charm, and together with “Melodies of Molt-iron” it unlocks the task “A Bicameral's Biography”.

🎵 Before the squirrel: your first charm

You learn charming earlier, in “Blessings of Battle”. There, one animal is enough to learn its totem and enchant a weapon with it. That task also grants the upgrade Bicameral's Beastiary, according to the wiki. Only with it does charming wild animals fill their Journal entries. Important for the squirrel entry: squirrels you free from Sinecure cages do not count for the Journal, per the wiki. They have to be charmed.

🎵 Charm, don't fight: the melody minigame

To charm, get close to the animal and use the same input as Pull Smite: hold Spectral Sight (PC default Q) and light attack (left mouse button). According to the community wiki this starts a melody minigame on the Fipple Flute. At this point there is no automatic one-click charm.

The minigame has two parts:

• Charm ring around the animal: it has 3, 4 or 5 circles depending on rarity. Each note you hit fills a circle, a perfect note fills it with a heart-shaped blossom.
• Note bar below: here you hit the notes in rhythm. Perfect notes also give Harmonies, 25, 50 or 100 depending on rarity.

If enough circles are filled at the end of the verse, you get a random totem. If you miss notes, the verse repeats, and notes you already hit stay. On a perfect round your Envoy also pets the animal.

💡 Tips to nail it on the first try

• Use Spectral Sight: charmable animals shimmer in it, so you spot them faster.
• Go for perfect notes: they give extra Harmonies. Sometimes a special Harmony note appears, worth 125 to 1,100 extra Harmonies per the wiki.
• You can cancel: Esc (B or Circle on controller) cancels the charm, pressing Esc twice skips the petting animation.
• No combat: a normal attack charms nothing. The trigger is always Spectral Sight plus light attack.

🐿️ Where to find squirrels

According to the community wiki, squirrels live in the forests and Glades of Midrath, usually around trees. Open shores and settlements are more the turf of ducks, beavers or rats. If you are passing a World Tree anyway, a quick detour into the surrounding woods is worth it.

🔗 What the charmed Soulframe squirrel is good for

Charming gets you totems for your weapons and Harmonies, which you use to upgrade totems and runes. The squirrel adds the Journal entry that is part of the quest condition for “The Forest's Vast Voices”. The squirrel does not become a companion. A permanent animal companion comes from a different system: the wolf pup you train in the Nightfold since Preludes 16 (more in the Soulframe wolf companion guide).

✨ It gets easier: the Scholar's Charm

The task reward, the Scholar's Charm, is a permanent upgrade. According to the community wiki it gives charming about a 25% chance to succeed instantly, with no minigame. You then get a flat 325, 750 or 1,500 Harmonies depending on rarity. The upgrade can't be turned off. If it doesn't trigger, press Esc and try again.

If you are just starting out, the basics are in our Soulframe beginner guide. The fast travel points in the World Trees guide help you get around, and the second mechanic behind Spectral Sight is explained in the Soulframe Smite guide.

💡 Why it sometimes doesn't work

• No Journal progress: the squirrel came from a cage. Freed animals don't count per the wiki, only charmed ones.
• The verse repeats: circles are still missing in the charm ring. Keep playing, notes you hit stay.
• Entry still not full: one squirrel isn't always enough. Charm more until the Journal entry is complete.

❓ Soulframe squirrel FAQ

Is one charmed squirrel enough for the Journal entry?
Not necessarily. Per the community wiki you charm squirrels until the Journal entry is complete. For the second objective you also need five charms of any animal, and squirrels count.

Does the squirrel become my companion?
No. Charmed animals give totems, Harmonies and Journal progress but stay in the wild.

Does the flute charm automatically?
Only after the task. Its reward, the Scholar's Charm, gives charming roughly a 25% chance to succeed instantly, per the wiki. Before that you always play the melody minigame.

✨ Quick overview

Sources: the community-run wiki at wiki.avakot.org (pages “Totems” with Melody Minigame and Automatic Charming, and “Chapter 1” of Orlick's Sagas). There is no official Soulframe wiki. Checked against Preludes 16 with Hotfix 6 as of October 2026. Soulframe is in its Preludes phase, so controls and quest details can change with updates.