History of A Futile Search

Overview

A Futile Search is a Shadowkeep Dead Ghost quest on The Moon. It is bought from Eris Morn in exchange for a Lost Ghost Trace and sends you to find a fallen Ghost in Anchor of Light. The Ghost is called the Lonesome Ghost in the VG Reviews guide. It is a short, single-step quest, usually a few minutes once you know the route.

The dead Ghost only appears after you have picked up the quest, so you cannot find it by simply walking to the spot first (per GoSunoob).

Walkthrough

1. Collect a Lost Ghost Trace. They drop randomly from The Moon activities, and chests are reported as the fastest source.
2. Speak to Eris Morn and buy A Futile Search.
3. Travel to Anchor of Light on The Moon and search for the dead Ghost (objective: "Dead Ghost located"). A video guide shows the exact spot.
4. Interact with the dead Ghost to complete the step: "Dead Ghost located".

Rewards

The step text lists no item reward; sources found do not describe one beyond completing the Ghost scan. Collecting every Dead Ghost is part of the lunar Ghost hunt (a video guide for the tenth Ghost refers to a "Lunar Memoriam" emblem, which I could not confirm from a text source).

Trivia

• The in-game flavour text for A Futile Search is "So many were lost. Surely I can find one." (per Ishtar Collective).
• Nine Dead Ghosts appear in most guides; a tenth, A Loyal Friend, is sometimes missing from older lists.