Rootbound Keepers inhabit both the Rootbound Cloister and the Buried Reservoir. At the cloister, the Garden inscription speaks of a gardener tending one tree while nothing else may grow. The creature’s attacks belong to the present encounter; the inscription leaves the past open to interpretation.
Its green warning stays at the position where the attack began. The Keeper holds still during its wind-up and slams that marked area. A successful hit also applies a short Slowness effect. The Keeper has a visible boss health bar and a recovery opening after the slam.
Place in the story
The Garden describes a gardener tending one tree while nothing else may grow. The Rootbound Keeper’s place among the cloister’s roof-breaking roots makes it a fitting image for that narrowed care. This can be read as an association, not confirmation that the creature was once the named gardener or a human keeper.
The same kind of guardian is also present in the Buried Reservoir. Its habitat therefore reaches beyond the tree in the chapel. Neither chapter gives it an origin, says the vessel created it or explains why it guards both places.
Inscriptions & evidence
- IV · The GardenThe Garden describes the broken eastern door and a gardener who tends one tree.
- V · The FurnaceThe Reservoir preserves The Furnace’s failed-water account; the Keeper is also an inhabitant of that dungeon.
Behaviour
- 100 health points, equal to 50 hearts.
- 5 armor points before recovery; recovery reduces that armor by 5.
- Marks a ground circle with a 1.55-block radius.
- The wind-up lasts about 1.5 seconds.
- A successful hit applies Slowness II for 2.5 seconds.
- Its boss health bar is visible during the encounter.
Facing the guardian
- Leave the marked circle as soon as the green warning appears.
- The circle stays where the attack began, so keep moving rather than returning through it.
- Use solid cover when you need space, then answer during recovery.
Drops
- 3 Lantern Fragments
Where to find it
- Rootbound CloisterA broken chapel and bell tower above a connected crypt, watched by two guardians.
- The Buried ReservoirA desert headworks monument above a two-tank underground gallery.