Mortal Shell 2 Walkthrough - Part 17: Citadel of Penance (The Warden Boss, Eredrim & Smert Shells)

Two ways inside

The citadel opens by front door or by bait. The front door wants the Citadel Gate Lever, the one the Bloodcursed Lithopod dropped at the waterfall in Part 16; slot it into the gate and walk through. The bait waits in the fortress ruins in the northeast of the map, a bag of Coin set out on the fortress wall. It is a trap wearing a purse. Pick it up and you are teleported straight into the citadel's prison, locked in a cell, lever or no lever.

The escape is the same from either entrance. Strike the guard through the bars first, then break the door down. In the corridor, stand in the bright puddle and jump: it lifts you to the level above.

Beacon and the first sweep

However you got in, open the map and head west of the arena. Behind an arch sits the crow Ruk, and beneath his perch a statue hides a map of Fainweald, numbered two. With the citadel now drawn on your map, work your way to the northeastern courtyard and light the beacon there: the Citadel of Penance save point.

A chest beside the save holds a Grudge Stone. Out in the courtyard, check the carts: there are two, carrying 250 Coin apiece. West of the courtyard the upper street starts, and crossbowmen and a spearman come out to meet you. By the market stalls one more spearman waits; behind him lie a Ventrium and 250 Coin.

The west wall

At the western wall of the citadel, two soldiers hold a stack of crates. Smash the crates; in the wooden wall behind them sits a Revered Gland. Northwest of there a stairway drops down, and in the alley on the left, behind more crates, a Ventrium and 350 Coin share the space. Return to the main street when the pockets are full.

The collapsed road

The south exit leads onto a broken roadway. Off to the side, a breach in the high wall hides 350 Coin. On the road itself stand 2 spearmen and 2 stone-throwers, and the throwers' aim serves no flag: their own allies eat as much rock as you do. Clear everyone, then open the chest at the edge for a Bulwark Stone, which cuts the damage you take for a few seconds.

The ring around the arena

Southeast of the citadel, a circular street wraps the arena, and the only way onto it is down. Drop to the middle floor first and work the narrow paths there: crossbowmen, then 2 Ventrium and 250 Coin among them.

On the bottom floor the corridor rings the arena, and this is where the coin-bag trap dumps you. Walk it in either direction and clear the soldiers; a single stone-thrower holds one spot along the way. Two elevators stand in the ring, and both rise to the fighting arena. Step to the center of it. The floor gives way, and you fall into the hall below.

The Warden

While he stalks you, press the brick left of the barred gate to swing it open, and a Legendary Tar waits behind the bars for the taking.

The kill pays out the Eredrim shell, your fourth of eight.

The road to the islet

Leave through the east gate and follow the road south. In the lowland, bend right and pass under the bridge; behind one of the bridge columns grow two Weltcap. At the edge stand plain, empty gates, and stepping through carries you to a small island. The region does like its doors to nowhere.

Desolate Peak

From the gates bear right. Behind a fir tree grazes a sheep; kill it, and it leaves behind a Sheephead Totem. On the left, at the edge of the islet, a throne holds Baghead, the founder of the sect. Talk with him several times and he sets a task: fetch him an unusual item.

Downhill from the throne a Laterite waits on its stand. Step into the building, where a note leans against the far wall beside 150 Coin and the Crypt Key. That key opens a building in Stones of Remembrance, east of the map. The dungeon entrance waits inside this same island building.

Illusionist's Cache

Two monks hold the entrance, and a Common Moonshine leans by the crates. The passage ahead ends in a wall; take the arch on the left instead, and a doorway appears ahead of you. Drop into the pit at the center of the room for a Ventrium, and grab the Laterite from the white stand by the elevator.

Ride the elevator to the second floor and smash the wall up there, then come back down. From the top of the stairs, look through the arch: a bell hangs in view. Shoot it, and a small bridge rises to meet the arch. Cross it, and the pit in the room below quietly stops existing.

The dead end past the pit hides the real trick. Strike the column there from behind, and it slides to the center of the room, settling onto a pressure plate. Go up through the arch once more: a new path has opened in the right-hand wall, and the pressed plate has unlocked a second door along the way. Behind both waits the haul. Lavender's Robe lies in the open, and the chest beside it holds the Shuddering Stone, whose shots ride a shockwave. Past the chest, break through one wall and then a second on the right, where a monk watches over a Dorsalite. Take everything and step out.

Prophet's Rest

South of the Desolate Peak islet, one more pair of gates offers travel, and a new location waits on the far side. Two gates stand ready there; take the one that leads up and to the right. Soldiers hold the camp beyond: clear them, then collect a Ventrium and 650 Coin. On the bridge a stone-thrower keeps watch, and by the houses past it stand a warrior with an axe and one more thrower. The path down begins behind them.

The three fonts

On the lower clearing, fanatics have gathered around a warrior with a hammer. Behind them spreads the great pool, three round fonts set in front of it, and the Prophet's body laid out on an altar beyond. The shell comes from a ritual: one victim into each of the three fonts. Lure enemies onto a font and kill them while standing over it. If a font will not take a corpse, step onto it yourself; the font takes your shell as the offering, and the enemies you beat afterwards let you win the body back. With all three fed, walk up to the Prophet's body, and the Smert shell, your fifth of eight, is yours.

The Convert

The shell's memory, The Convert, plays out as the monk you now wear. Speak with the Hierarch, sit before the statue of the goddess, and tell him you have truly spoken with her. To see the scene again, provoke the Hierarch into raising his hammer: hit him a few times and he obliges.

Smert spends half of his Health to halt time and enter Fight Stance. Unarmed attacks inflict Chaos, which detonates when time resumes. At 10% Health or lower he has Faith, and melee attacks then regenerate extra Resolve. A shell that treats its health bar as ammunition.

Fish statues on the east path

Northeast of the Smert shell, the crow's marker points the way. Fish statues line the east path, and the first pair hold two Devout’s Chalice worth 100 Coin apiece. Under the brick arches beyond them, poisonous monsters wait to be cut down. More fish statues follow. These hold two more Devout’s Chalice worth 100 Coin apiece, a Tooth of Nochte worth 750, and a Ventrium.

The Hag's Path

The swamp of The Hag's Path grows giant roots, and the way through runs north. Skeletons stand in the water and a treant patrols among them; on the roots themselves grow 3 Tarspore. At the cliff to the north, several cube creatures hop at you. Past them, walk around the fortress rather than into it. The courtyard opens on its western side, beneath a statue, and the map of Fainweald numbered one lies there. A Tarspore and 500 Coin wait by the crates nearby. From the fortress, take the western path south; a beacon waits in the clearing at the end, and it closes the part.