Boss prequest · Boss · 10 runs/week

Horntail prequest: HTPQ and the Squad Badge

Boss ✔ Hand-written guide 4 in-game checks open

Type	Boss
Stage	Mid to late game
Level	80+
Rebirth	None
Weekly runs	10 (`@weekly`)
Party	At least 2 people for HTPQ (Discord). Fight: expedition.
Where	Cave of Life - Entrance (Leafre)
NPC	Moira
Boss	Horntail
Before this	Zakum, Papulatus, Pianus

On BeyondMS, Horntail is easy to reach once you have the Squad Badge (Certificate of the Dragon Squad). There are two ways in: transform with Moira's secret medicine each time, or finish Badge of a Squad Member once and walk in freely forever after. The badge needs the Zakum, Papulatus and Pianus certificates plus three Marks of the Squad from the Horntail party quest (HTPQ). HTPQ needs at least two people.

Requirements

Level: 80+ for Moira's Whereabouts (v83). In the v83 script, Keroben only lets level 100+ into the cave. Needs in-game check: BeyondMS level/rebirth minimum for HTPQ and the Horntail expedition (Cosmic defaults: HTPQ 120+, fight 100+)
Party: two people minimum for HTPQ (Discord). One stays in the main room while the other goes through the portal.
Certificates: Zakum Certificate, Papulatus Certificate, Pianus Certificate. Get these before you enter (Discord recommendation).
Quests: Moira's Whereabouts → Secret Medicine for Transformation → Badge of a Squad Member. Making the Secret Medicine for Transformation is the repeatable version of the medicine quest.
Mesos: 25,000 for Mos to craft the Cornian's Dagger.
Weekly runs: 10 per week. Type @weekly in-game to see how many you have left.
Do first: Zakum, Papulatus, Pianus
v83 quests involved: Moira's Whereabouts, Secret Medicine for Transformation, Badge of a Squad Member, Making the Secret Medicine for Transformation, The Last Hour of Horntail (regular quests are unchanged from v83, so each one has its own full guide)

Items to gather

Item	Qty	Notes and where to get it
Cornian's Marrow	1	First medicine (Secret Medicine for Transformation). The repeat quest uses Cornian's Marrow. Uncommon (5%) from Green and Dark Cornians. Dropped by Green Cornian Lv 100 (5% quest-only drop) — The Forest That Disappeared, The Hidden Dragon Tomb I Dropped by Dark Cornian Lv 105 (5% quest-only drop) — The Hidden Dragon Tomb II, The Forest That Disappeared
Skull Shoulder Pad	1	Common etc drop from Dark Cornians. Dropped by Dark Cornian Lv 105 (60%) — The Hidden Dragon Tomb II, The Forest That Disappeared
Manon's Cry	1	Guaranteed from Manon while the transformation quest is active. Dropped by Manon Lv 105 (100% quest-only drop) — Manon's Forest, Manon's Forest
Tough Dragon Skin	10	Uncommon (6%) from any color of wyvern in Leafre. Dropped by Red Wyvern Lv 97 (6% quest-only drop) — Red Wyvern's Nest, The Dragon Canyon Dropped by Blue Wyvern Lv 101 (6% quest-only drop) — Blue Wyvern's Nest, Canyon : Crossroad Dropped by Dark Wyvern Lv 103 (6% quest-only drop) — Canyon : West Road, Canyon : East Road + 1 more monsters — see Tough Dragon Skin
Cornian's Dagger	1	Crafted by Mos: 1 Busted Dagger + 1 Steel Plate + 1 Mithril Plate + 25,000 mesos.
Busted Dagger	1	6% from Green Cornian, 0.7% from Dark Cornian. Dropped by Green Cornian Lv 100 (6% quest-only drop) — The Forest That Disappeared, The Hidden Dragon Tomb I Dropped by Dark Cornian Lv 105 (0.70%) — The Hidden Dragon Tomb II, The Forest That Disappeared
Mark of the Squad 1	1	Dropped by HTPQ monsters. Dropped by Red Wyvern 2 in Cave Lv 97 (4% quest-only drop) — 2nd Room of Maze Dropped by Green Cornian1 in Cave Lv 100 (4% quest-only drop) — Room of Maze Dropped by Blue Wyvern 2 in Cave Lv 101 (4% quest-only drop) — 3rd Room of Maze + 2 more monsters — see Mark of the Squad 1
Mark of the Squad 2	1	Dropped by HTPQ monsters. Dropped by Green Cornian1 in Cave Lv 100 (4% quest-only drop) — Room of Maze Dropped by Blue Wyvern 2 in Cave Lv 101 (4% quest-only drop) — 3rd Room of Maze Dropped by Dark Wyvern 2 in Cave Lv 103 (4% quest-only drop) — 4th Room of Maze + 2 more monsters — see Mark of the Squad 2
Mark of the Squad 3	1	Dropped by HTPQ monsters. Dropped by Red Wyvern 2 in Cave Lv 97 (4% quest-only drop) — 2nd Room of Maze Dropped by Dark Wyvern 2 in Cave Lv 103 (4% quest-only drop) — 4th Room of Maze Dropped by Dark Cornian 2 in Cave Lv 105 (4% quest-only drop) — 1st Room of Maze + 2 more monsters — see Mark of the Squad 3
Zakum Certificate	1	From Zakum. See the Zakum page. Dropped by Zakum3 Lv 140 (100%) — no fixed spawn
Papulatus Certificate	1	From Papulatus. See the Papulatus page. Dropped by Papulatus Lv 125 (100%) — no fixed spawn Dropped by Papulatus Lv 90 (0.70%) — no fixed spawn Dropped by Papulatus Lv 90 (0.70%) — no fixed spawn + 1 more monsters — see Papulatus Certificate
Pianus Certificate	1	From Pianus. See the Pianus page. Dropped by Pianus Lv 110 (100%) — The Cave of Pianus Dropped by Pianus Lv 110 (100%) — The Cave of Pianus

Walkthrough

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From Leafre → West Leafre Forest → Minar Forest : West Border → Cranky Forest → Steep Hill → Forest : Crossroad → Entrance to Dragon Forest → Dragon Forest I → Dragon Forest II → Dragon Forest III → The Dragon Canyon → Canyon : Crossroad → Canyon : East Road → Wyvern Canyon → Entrance to Dragon Nest → Nest of a Dead Dragon → The Dragon Nest Left Behind → Peak of the Big Nest → Cave of Life - Entrance

Start Moira's Whereabouts
Go to Leafre, talk to Chief Tatamo and start Moira's Whereabouts.
Find Moira outside the Cave of Life
Head to Cave of Life - Entrance, the map just outside Horntail's cave, and find Moira. Accept both the transformation-medicine quest (Secret Medicine for Transformation, or the repeatable Making the Secret Medicine for Transformation later) and Badge of a Squad Member. Needs in-game check: on BeyondMS, do you need to clear Horntail once before Moira offers the Badge quest? The Discord guide says "you may need to".
From Leafre → West Leafre Forest → Minar Forest : West Border → Cranky Forest → Steep Hill → Forest : Crossroad → Entrance to Dragon Forest → Dragon Forest I → Dragon Forest II → Dragon Forest III → The Dragon Canyon → Canyon : Crossroad → Canyon : East Road → Wyvern Canyon → Entrance to Dragon Nest → Nest of a Dead Dragon → The Dragon Nest Left Behind → Peak of the Big Nest → Cave of Life - Entrance
Gather the medicine ingredients
Collect 1 Cornian's Marrow, 1 Skull Shoulder Pad, 1 Manon's Cry, 10 Tough Dragon Skin and 1 Cornian's Dagger (see Items to gather below). For the dagger, bring a Busted Dagger, a Steel Plate, a Mithril Plate and 25,000 mesos to Mos and choose "Make Cornian's Dagger".

The medicine quest's ingredient list.
Mos, the weapon technician.
Mos's menu: "Make Cornian's Dagger".
Dagger recipe: 1 Steel Plate, 1 Mithril Plate, 1 Busted Dagger, 25,000 mesos.
Hand in to Moira and transform
Give Moira the ingredients. Warning: you're immediately turned into a green lizard (Dragon Elixir), which lets Keroben let you into the cave. Be ready to go in.
Inside the cave, don't leave
Leaving the cave at any point sends you all the way back to Moira, and you'll have to gather the medicine ingredients again. If you want to finish the Squad Badge first, don't talk to the Encrypted Slate of the Squad NPC.
HTPQ: collect the three Marks of the Squad
The party leader talks to Horned Tail's Schedule to warp the party into the HTPQ area. One player stays in the main room (Room of Maze). The other player (or whoever needs the badge) goes in through the portal. Monsters inside drop keys. Pass each key through the round swirl portals. The same monsters also drop Mark of the Squad 1, Mark of the Squad 2 and Mark of the Squad 3.

HTPQ room with a key dropped.
HTPQ monsters (they drop keys and Marks of the Squad).
HTPQ maze: one player stays in the main room, the other goes through the portal.
A swirl portal: pass the keys through these.
Turn in the Squad Badge quest
With 3 Marks and 3 certificates (Zakum, Papulatus, Pianus), go back to Moira and finish Badge of a Squad Member. You get the Certificate of the Dragon Squad: from now on you can enter Horntail's cave any time without transforming.
Fight Horntail
Holding the badge, talk to Encrypted Slate of the Squad to go straight to Entrance to Horntail's Cave. The expedition is managed by Mark of the Squad. Moira's follow-up The Last Hour of Horntail asks you to defeat Horntail. Weekly: 10 runs (@weekly). Needs in-game check: BeyondMS Horntail expedition size and level/rebirth limit (Cosmic defaults: 6–30 players, level 100+).

Costs and skips

Cornian's Dagger: 25,000 mesos at Mos.
No meso skip for HTPQ or the badge is mentioned on Discord.
Without the badge: you need a fresh set of medicine ingredients (Making the Secret Medicine for Transformation) for every run.

Entry and runs

With the badge: Encrypted Slate of the Squad → Entrance to Horntail's Cave.
Without the badge: transform with Moira's medicine, then talk to Keroben.
Disconnects: log back into the same channel and you're warped back into the Horntail map. Party leaders must not kick disconnected players (#faq, Horntail Disconnect Fix).

Tips

Kill and loot all three certificates before you start, so one HTPQ run is enough.
Bring a second character or a friend. HTPQ needs two people, and one has to stay behind.
Tough Dragon Skin drops from any wyvern color in Leafre, so hunt whichever map is least crowded.

Needs in-game check

The Discord guides don't settle these yet. If you know the answer, please update data/sections/bosses/horntail.md.

BeyondMS level/rebirth minimum for HTPQ and the Horntail expedition (Cosmic defaults: HTPQ 120+, fight 100+)
on BeyondMS, do you need to clear Horntail once before Moira offers the Badge quest? The Discord guide says "you may need to".
BeyondMS Horntail expedition size and level/rebirth limit (Cosmic defaults: 6–30 players, level 100+).
How many players HTPQ allows on BeyondMS, and its time limit (Cosmic: exactly 6 players, 25 minutes).

Sources

HT "Prequest" / HTPQ and Squad Badge guide by bumblebutt (Apr 23, 2026). 8 screenshots, embedded below.
#faq: Horntail Disconnect Fix / Bossing Issues by Mabel (Administrator) (Jun 24, 2025 / Jan 12, 2026). Rejoin after a DC: log into the same channel; party leaders shouldn't kick disconnected players.
Weekly run limits by Andrew (in-game knowledge) (Oct 11, 2026). Check your own remaining runs in-game with @weekly.

Discord posts are from the BeyondMS server's #guides forum and announcement channels. Discord links only open if you're a member of the server. NPC, map, item and monster details come from the v83 game data (Cosmic). Images are from the original Discord posts.

Guide file data/sections/bosses/horntail.md.