In Alan Wake 2, finding secret items and collectibles is only half the battle, as the riddles you’re presented with can actually be difficult to solve. This is especially true of the Nursery Rhymes around Cauldron Lake, but this guide will spare you the headache.
There are four different Nursery Rhymes located in Cauldron Lake—two in Witchfinder’s Station, one in Streamside, and one in the Rental Cabins. If you ask me, the Streamside location is the hardest to find, and the hardest to solve. Witchfinder’s Station and Rental Cabins both make up for small chunks of the Cauldron Lake map, whereas Streamside refers to anything above, below, or near the long stream that runs through the northwest part of Cauldron Lake. Really, saying something is located in Streamside is akin to saying “it’s on the left-ish side of the map, sort of.” But hey, that’s Alan Wake 2 for you.
But don’t worry, there is an incredibly easy way to pin down the Streamside Nursery Rhyme’s location.
Alan Wake 2: Streamside Nursery Rhyme location
Open your map, and you can see a small building labelled Private Cabin (this is different than the Rental Cabin) just above the stream that cuts through the left part of the map. Conveniently, this cabin is labelled regardless of whether or not you’ve actually been to the location.
When you get to the Private Cabin, enter through the front of the small wooden fence that surrounds it, and you can see the Streamside Nursery Rhyme on the ground within.
The Private Cabin doubles as a safe-zone where you can save your game, but you first have to restore power to the cabin via the generator located outside. You don’t have to do so to complete the Nursery Rhyme, but I highly recommend it—there really is no reason not to save here.
How to solve the Streamside Nursery Rhyme in Alan Wake 2
Okay, the hard part is over—but, you need to have completed both Witchfinder’s Nursery Rhymes before you can complete the Streamside one. This is because the dolls that you acquire from those two Rhymes are needed to complete this one—you need the Hero, the Crow, and the Wolf. I’ve linked guides for both of the Witchfinder’s Rhymes below.
The Streamside Nursery Rhyme does not have any dolls of its own that you must find—it is completed only by recycling the dolls mentioned above. If you know that you’ve completed both Witchfinder’s Rhymes and you’re missing a doll, chances are you forgot to pick one up after solving a Rhyme, which is actually pretty easy to do. If that’s the case, you can return to either Witchfinder’s Rhyme and retrieve what you left behind.
- You need the Crow Doll, the Hero Doll, and the Wolf Doll
- These dolls are found and used in the two Witchfinder’s Rhymes
- There are no new dolls found at the Streamside Nursery Rhyme
Correct doll placement for the Streamside Nursery Rhyme
To solve this Nursery Rhyme, you must place:
- The Crow Doll on the hatching bird drawing
- The Wolf Doll on the house drawing
- The Hero Doll on the heart drawing
Once you have correctly placed the three dolls, you can now find the reward for solving the rhyme. To do so, I highly recommend making sure your volume is turned up—audio is your only guide here.
How to find the bracelet charm after placing the dolls
Once the dolls are in their correct spots, you can hear a wolf growling. You’re not being attacked (yet); this growling is leading you to the spot that the charm spawned. Follow the source of the growl, which will become significantly louder as you hone in on the charm.
The charm itself is at the base of a tree at the bottom of the hill that leads to the Private Cabin entrance. This tree is only about 20 meters east from the location of the Nursery Rhyme, and the audio clues make pinpointing it very easy.
Streamside Nursery Rhyme charm reward
When you follow the wolf’s growl to the base of the tree, you will find the Kalevala Knights Charm, which increases both the duration and the area of effect on Saga’s Hand Flares. This bonus applies regardless of whether you hold the flare in your hand or throw it.
This is one of my personal favorite charms, especially compared to the others that are available in the first Saga chapter in Alan Wake 2. If you aren’t using Hand Flares, you really should start doing so. They make an absolute world of difference.
