Chapter 8: Blood Coronation

1. Ashen Steps

Chapter 8 opens back in Pailune. Myurdin has slipped over the border into Demeniss and Naira and Andrew are tracking the Black Bears after him, so Kliff's first job is closer to home: a letter from Torstein leads to Maegu, a witch from the East, who needs help with a ritual and with rescuing her sister Woosa. The quest has four parts: Healing Pailune, A Bond, Ritual Preparations and Where the Wind Guides You.

• 1

  Healing Pailune: meet Torstein

  Find Torstein in Pailune (by the gate according to Game8, at a camp north of the town according to PowerPyx) and walk with him to the water while he explains his plans for the place. At the docks he hands over a letter, and that letter is the next part.

• 2

  A Bond: read Maegu's Letter and light the altar

  Open the letter from your inventory. It points to an altar in a misty bamboo forest, Bamboo Forest Seonangdang, south of Demeniss and south-east of the old Greymane camp, far from anything else; fast travel from the Abyss sky map above the camp helps. Light the two stone lanterns in front of the altar to call Maegu the Witch.

• 3

  Ritual Preparations: three items from Shipwreck Shore

  Maegu sends you to Shipwreck Shore. Clear the enemies on the beach, then read the memory in the search area (look around with the lantern until the blue figures appear; this step is fiddly). The memory reveals three things to collect: the Talisman in the sand in front of the shipwreck at the northern edge of the search area, the Bells in the sand on the beach at its southern edge, and the Censer underneath the shipwreck itself. For the Censer you lift the wreck with Nature's Grasp and grab the item from under it; the lift only holds for a few seconds.

• 4

  Where the Wind Guides You: Fort Ironclad and Gregor

  Return to the altar, examine the ground in front of it to perform the ritual, then head north-east to the fortress on the hill, Fort Ironclad. Woosa is held inside. You can skip the walls' defenders by vaulting over with a triple Force Palm. The fight at the end is Gregor, the Halberd of Carnage, a one-bar spear fighter whose attacks are slow and who rewards perfect parries and counters. Arrows fire from the walls during the duel, and his most dangerous move, a super-armour stabbing chain, is to be dodged rather than blocked.

• 5

  Bring Woosa back to Maegu

  Interact with Woosa after the fight, mount your horse and wait for her to climb on, then ride back to the bamboo forest altar. Shadow Harpies attack along the way; use Blinding Flash to keep them off her. The reward is an Abyss Artifact and the Golden Vanguard (a two-handed spear); Game8 also lists a Radiant Necklace, PowerPyx does not.

2. Demeniss Bound

This is the long one, in nine parts. A message Andrew and Naira left at the Greymane shrine names Count Azerian's manor as the centre of Demeniss's intelligence network, and from there the chapter moves through three manors, a fortress siege and finally Demeniss Castle.

• 1

  Chasing a Shadow: the letter at the Dragon Totem

  Go back to Howling Hill, the old Greymane camp in Hernand, and examine the Dragon Totem at the shrine. It holds a letter, "Report on Myurdin's Whereabouts". Read it from your inventory and the trail to Demeniss opens.

• 2

  Blazing Fire: Rustleleaf Farm and Azerian Manor

  Ride to Rustleleaf Farm in Demeniss, then a short way north-east to Azerian Manor. The objective is to get in without the guards catching you: crouch and go through the back window, or climb to the roof and drop onto a balcony. On the upper floor a section of wall with a large wooden frame rotates to reveal a hidden room; take the Investigative Report from inside. You are caught on the way out, but Colette Azerian steps in, and the result is a formal alliance with House Azerian. If a guard grapples you, win the button prompt: only failing it twice in a row fails the mission.

• 3

  Whispering Shadows: two memories in Sungrove Manor

  Sungrove Manor is close by. Stealth is optional here: you can simply defeat the guards inside. Two memories need reading with the Visione helmet: one in the downstairs hallway with the paintings, where you point the lantern at the middle one to see Bastier's memory of his whereabouts, and one in the study on the second floor, Beatrice Azerian's, about her whereabouts. Reading both ends the part.

• 4

  Bloodied Invitation: assassinate Count Byron at Windmere Manor

  Count Byron is the man who set Pailune ablaze. Get into Windmere Manor unseen (roof, then the front balcony) and find him on the second floor: Game8 puts him in the small room in the middle of the hallway, PowerPyx in his upstairs office. Kill him before the guards notice. If you are spotted, they throw you out and you try again; the objective is not failed.

• 5

  Resolve Amidst a Storm: back to Countess Azerian

  Return to Colette Azerian upstairs in Azerian Manor. This part is a single cutscene: Damiane leaves the moment she hears what became of her swordmaster, and the Countess explains that winning allies means first helping Duke Wells.

• 6

  Preparations for Advance: the officer at Thornbriar Outpost

  Rebels hold Thornbriar Fortress. Go to the soldiers' camp and enter the white tent to plan the assault with the officer in charge. Use this pause to stock up: two hundred or more Grilled Meat, bought or hunted around Hernand and Pailune and cooked at a pot.

• 7

  Rebel Suppression: the siege of Thornbriar Fortress

  A large battle. The objectives are to destroy the rebels' Artillery Unit and three Siege Towers, then finish the remaining rebels; the enemy percentage bar has to reach zero; reaching the upper castle marker alone is not enough. Towers go down to nearby cannons, or to Focused Light followed by repeated Turning Slash. Fortain the Cursed Knight shows up at each target and withdraws again. Stay above half health, keep to the sides or front of mounted enemies, and answer grapples with the prompt.

• 8

  The Cursed Knight: Fortain

  The duel is in the courtyard at the very top of the castle. Fortain fights with a shield and keeps summoning a spectral knight that attacks and fires projectiles, which makes him one of the more annoying bosses so far. Use heavy attacks with Tauria's Curved Sword, the Nature's Echo skill to double them, and backing off whenever the blue ghost appears. Take the Abyss Artifact from him afterwards; the Shackle of Might (a sword) comes with it.

• 9

  The Blood Coronation: the Old Office and Gabriel Caliburn

  Go to Demeniss Castle and up to the Old Office on the second floor (Duke Caliburn's old office, which looks like a banquet hall; the guards are hostile and killing them costs no reputation). Read the memory of the Blood Coronation, and do not take the Visione Helmet off: the memory has to be followed downstairs to the Audience Chamber in one go, and leaving Visione restarts you at the office. Examine the three groups of nobles talking there. Gabriel Caliburn then attacks. The sources part ways on what happens next: Game8 treats it as a boss to beat (an agile one, hit him when he stops attacking), PowerPyx says there is no need to win and to let him beat you, and VULKK says he pulls you out of the Visione sequence and fights you. Either way, the next quest starts with Damiane in control.

3. Traitor

Kliff is out of action and you play Damiane for the whole quest, in two parts, Clues and A Fleeting Dream: a stealth run into the Demeniss court's underground prison, and then the man who murdered Beatrice Azerian. Game8 calls the first part Clues, PowerPyx Clue.

• 1

  Clues: infiltrate Demeniss Court

  Head to the marked building in the Demeniss capital. It is heavily guarded; you can slip past or fight, but if a guard wrestles you down and you lose the prompt you respawn outside. The back window is the best way in.

• 2

  Find the underground prison

  On the first floor there is a room behind a guard sitting at a desk. Deal with him and open the trapdoor in the floor of that side room; the ladder goes down to the prison.

• 3

  Find Beatrice Azerian

  Go to the end of the prison. Beatrice is in the last cell on the right, and she is already dead. The cutscene closes the search.

• 4

  Escape the city

  Guards come after you once Beatrice is found. Fight the ones that follow, sneak out the back (the guards upstairs do not notice) and cross the orange marker outside the city: the objective only completes once you have actually left Demeniss Castle.

• 5

  A Fleeting Dream: Bastier, first phase

  Naira's information puts Bastier in a tower in the east of Demeniss: Breezeblown Knoll according to Game8, the Spire of Clockwork according to Fextralife. He has two health bars. In the first he fights with mace and shield and sets his weapon on fire, so bring shield-breaking skills, armour and fire-resistance food, the Golden Vanguard and a hundred or more Grilled Meat, and dodge sideways rather than backwards because of his floor attacks. The fight is very annoying, partly because you are locked to Damiane.

• 6

  Awakened Bastier, second phase

  When the first bar empties he transforms, changes weapon and patterns, keeps teleporting away and summons phantoms that cannot be killed. He also drops into a guard stance that parries you. Be patient, dodge, and hit him only in the brief moments he stands still. Winning ends the chapter and control returns to Kliff. The rewards are the Official Knight's Plate Armor, Leather Boots and Leather Gloves and the Spire of Clockwork Key; Game8 adds Damiane's Ponytail Ticket and Eclipsed Solas Plate Gloves, PowerPyx adds Official Knight's Plate Gloves.

4. Chapter 8 Completion

Before Leaving Demeniss...