[2023] Can you cheat lockpicks

If there is no perimeter requirements then you can leave and return with picks and nothing bad should happen. If there is a perimeter you must stay inside of then the quest will fail if you leave.

FYI, if you set up about eight frames on the outline circle of the region and then watch which frames the circle pulls away from as you reach each milestone you can pretty easily hone in on its location. It should never take hours to find the chest.