The Wound in the Sand is a Side Quest in Horizon Forbidden West (HZFW). This walkthrough will guide you through all objectives of the The Wound in the Sand side mission.
Location: Arrowhand
Quest Giver: Jetakka
Quest Level: Level 19
Requirement: Automatically starts upon completing Side Quest: Thirst for the Hunt.
Reward: 4750xp, 2 Skill Points
Mission Info: According to Cahplain Jetakka, the Desert Clan’s troubles are from over. He needs Aloy’s help in he capital of Scalding Spear.
Objectives:
- Meet Jetakka at Scalding Spear
- Follow Jetakka
- Follow Yarra
- Scan the Wound in the Sand
- Follow the Pipes
- Kill the Machines
- Examine the Corpse
- Follow the Pipes
- Find the Source of the Water
- Scan the Pump
- Find a way to repair the Pump
- Return to the Wound in the Sane
- Talk to the Guard
- Go to Yarra’s Quarters
Starting Location: Arrowhand
Automatically starts upon completing Side Quest: Thirst for the Hunt.
Meet Jetakka at Scalding Spear
Travel to Scalding Spear and talk to Jetakka.
Follow Jetakka
Follow Jetakka a short distance and then talk to Yarra here.
Follow Yarra
Follow Yarra to the next objective, still within scalding Spear.
Scan the Wound in the Sand
Scan the water tank under the ground directly ahead with your focus.
Follow the Pipes
Still with your focus active, follow the underground pipes to reach the next objective, leading far out of Scraping Spear.
Keep following the pipes you’ll have to climb a wall directly upwards to a new area. The map images below show the area where you’ll end up at the end of the pipes.
Kill the Machines
In this new area, kill all of the machines.
Examine the Corpse
After killing the machines you will be prompted to examine a corpse over a log close to where you climbed up previously.
Follow the Pipes
Use your focus and continue following the pipes again from the corpse.
Find the Source of Water
After following the pipes for a little bit, you will have to climb a series of small walls directly ahead in a linear path, into a cave.
Scan the Pump
Use your focus to scan the lever and valve here.
Find a Way to Repair the Pump
Look up at the ceiling, use pullcaster 
+ 
> hold 
to pull down a grate on the wall, and also pull down the beam just to the left of it.
Turn around and climb the yellow ledge, next to the entrance where you came from. Then jump backwards onto the beam you just pulled out, then jump to the vent.
At the other end of the vent turn the valve.
Jump down from the valve, there is a lever, pull it.
Turn around and climb back up to the valve and turn it, use the ledges on the left, the one on the right will break if you try to use it. From the 2nd ledge on the right here, press 
to jump backwards and grab the ladder. This is timed, you will need to pull the lever again if you don’t get back to the valve in time. Make your way back to the starting room through the vent and talk to Yarra.
Return to the Wound in the Sand
Return to the wound in Scalding Spear and go back to the wound.
Talk to the Guard
At the wound talk to the guard here.
Go to Yarra’s Quarters
Still in Scalding Spear, go to Yarra’s quarters located nearby, a cutscene will automatically start, after some dialogue the quest will be complete.
This finishes The Wound in the Sand Side Quest in Horizon 2: Forbidden West. The next quest “The Gate of the Vanquished” starts automatically after this.
For all other Side Quests and Main Quests, check out the complete Horizon Forbidden West Walkthrough.
The timing on those last 2 lever pulls SUCKS. I’ve been doing in 4, 5 times now and never make it fast enough. WTF?
You have to turn the higher valve, run jump to the low valve room, then sprint out and run behind the fence double jump and back jump to the broken ladder. Took me 3x
This quest is bugged for me. The dude keeps getting stuck on the ramp inside the city.