One of the more surreal elements of Sons of the Forest, which is saying something, is the weird six-limbed ballet dancer who sometimes just shows up as you’re making your way around the island.
If you were paying close attention to the dossiers on your laptop during the introductory sequence, you might recognize this lady as Virginia Puffton, one of the 3 people that your mercenary team is here to find. Your dossier sure didn’t mention that she had a couple of extra limbs, though.
Here’s what you need to know about Virginia, the random three-armed lady.
How to Befriend Virginia Puffton in Sons of the Forest
Disclaimer: as with all Sons of the Forest guides pubbed in the next few months, all the information in this piece is subject to change, as Sons is only in Early Access.
In the current version, Virginia is a reasonably common random encounter who can show up anywhere on the forested parts of the island. She can appear almost as soon as you begin the game.
At first, she’s skittish, and will run away if you get too close, especially if you advance on her with a weapon in your hand. She also tends to bolt if cannibals show up while she’s around, at which point she’ll run away and despawn.
You can gradually earn Virginia’s trust if you put your weapons away as soon as you see her. This is done by holding down the G key, which holsters whatever you’re carrying.
If you stay around her for a while, she’ll gradually warm up to you. This is represented by an invisible stat called “affinity,” which determines Virginia’s behavior. At a reasonably low level of affinity, she’ll start ballet dancing while you’re around (below), and won’t immediately run off when and if you get close.
At this point, you can freely walk up to Virginia and give her outfits to wear. The easiest outfit you can find for her is the camouflage suit, which is on the beach on the north side of the island, next to a couple of abandoned kayaks.
Continue to not freak out and keep your weapons holstered around Virginia, and you’ll eventually get to the point where you can give her a pistol or shotgun to defend herself with. (This isn’t as big a drawback as it sounds, since there are two shotguns in the game.) If you use the interactive prompt with Virginia and you’re given the option to flip it with Q/R, you’ve reached the level of affinity that allows you to arm Virginia.
Initially, she’s not much help in a fight, but over time, Virginia can overcome her fear and be solid backup in a fight against the cannibals on the island. At this level of affinity, she’ll also occasionally show up to bring you useful materials like herbs and sticks.
At high affinity, she’ll hang out at your campsite with you, at which point you can feed her by growing berry bushes and drying meat and fish on racks. When Virginia’s reached maximum affinity, you’ll gain the Chivalry is Not Dead achievement.
You can also give her one of your spare GPS Locators, which are found on the bodies of your mercenary teammates. This will highlight her position on your map much like Kelvin’s, and unlocks the Every Move You Make achievement.
Virginia can be hit and injured by enemies if you take her into a fight. If she takes enough damage, she’ll get knocked down. At this point, if you don’t help her, she will eventually bleed out and will stay dead for the rest of your current run.
Alternatively, if you attack Virginia, she’ll learn to fear you and will start running away as soon as she sees you, although there doesn’t appear to be a way to permanently lower her affinity to a point where she never spawns at all.
If you’re looking to get rid of Virginia entirely, the only way to do that seems to be to kill her yourself. (You monster.) You do receive an achievement, Keep Your Friends Close, for reaching the end of Sons of the Forest’s story with both Virginia and Kelvin alive, so it might be worth simply leaving her alone.
