If you've seen shadowy figures carrying pots atop their heads in Shadow of the Erdtree, drop what you're doing and hunt them down.
The Lands of Shadow are plagued with enigmatic shadowy figures, some of which will become hostile when you approach them, possibly casting fiery bolts at your Tarnished, while others will simply stare off into the distance as you strike them down. Of those, there's a type of these shadowed figures that carry pots atop their heads.
Trust us: you'll want to hunt these things down. Elden Ring players have figured out that these pot-carrying people actually hide incredibly rare items that have a chance of dropping upon defeat. You'll have to be quick about this, though - take too long and they'll disappear into the ether, and their item drops can diminish in quality as a result.
PSA: pay attention to the pot heads from r/Eldenring
"Some of them have a sparkle effect, those will drop special items when you kill them the first time. Killing them again will provide basic drops afterwards," the Reddit caption for the post above reads. I can personally attest to having obtained Scadutree Fragments from them, and since they're the elusive items that power up your Tarnished in Shadow of the Erdtree (so much so that Bandai Namco had to remind players to use them), there really isn't a much better item than them in the Lands of Shadow.
Does this remind you of anything in particular? That's right, it's Dark Souls' Crystal Lizards. The tricky chaps would bolt at the first sign of danger, and once they're gone, they're gone for good - the rest of your playthrough, in fact. They could drop great crafting items, although I'd hazard a guess to say the Scadutree Fragment is actually more valuable than any Dark Souls crafting materials.