Speak with them and they'll lament that their farm equipment has been destroyed by a gang of xaurips, but the xaurips are otherwise non-aggressive. Dolina asks for you to investigate the camp in the swamps to the northwest.

Head to the far northwest of the region, just to the northeast of the Grim Wetlands text on your map screen.

As you arrive, enter the camp and you'll see that, yes, all the xaurips in the camp are passive and won't attack. Go up the wooden walkway and climb up the ledges to reach a cave entrance up high.

Enter the cave and head to speak with Amadio. He'll explain he's achieved a symbiosis with the xaurips; he protects them while they controls them to help him with his goals.

He believes the animancers machines are prompting the Dreamscourge to attack the area, and argues that the destruction of the machines not only keeps the xaurips from causing major issues, but also stops the Dreamscourge from being provoked.

If you ask your companions opinions, Marius is on board with the idea, but Kai is very apprehensive. You can then either agree with his methods, or choose to attack.

If you select "You're just trying to protect the land. I support that." then Amadio will be pleased, and asks that you go and ask for the rangers to call off their patrols. Leave the cave and head back to Dolina and Masco.

Here you can either select "Call off the rangers. The xaurips are no threat to you" or the [Lie] option.

If you ask to call off the rangers, you'll be prompted to explain your reasoning. Regardless of your choice you'll be dismissed, but if you select "As long as you aren't using animancy to take shortcuts, you'll have no further problems." then Dolina resign to the idea of working without soul machines.

You can then return to Amadio in the xaurip camp and inform him that the rangers have been called off, to which he'll gift you the unique Wolf Boots. The side quest then concludes as you earn 254 XP.

If you select the [Lie] option, then Dolina will thank you and gift you the unique Ring of Pain Amplification.

You can then return to Amadio in the xaurip camp and still inform Amadio that the rangers are gone, to which you'll also receive the Wolf Boots.

If you choose to attack Amadio at any point in the conversation, the entire camp with turn hostile. Of course, you'll have to deal with those in the cave first, consisting of multiple Xaurip Ravagers, a Shaman, a Bulwark, Amadio himself and a couple of Skirmishers.

Whittle down the xaurips and then focus on Amadio, who is a potent spellcaster capable of various projectile attacks of different elements, and AoE explosive magical shockwaves.

After killing Amadio, you can loot the Wolf Boots off of his corpse, and then exit out of the cave. As previously mentioned, the entire camp will be hostile but you can either quickly open your map and try to fast travel, or simply sprint your way out of the camp if you aren't looking for a major fight.