The Careful What You Wish For quest in Onimusha Way of the Sword will have you searching for 3 Stout Pillars, and will probably be your first experience where you have to figure out crawlspaces, ladder locations and similar such devices to be able to reach to your goal. The game is not all about combat options and intimidating bosses, you see. While later parts of the main quest will not have this happening very often, but it is a useful primer early on if you are looking to get all required items to fully upgrade your skill tree and gear.
So, in this guide, I have put up the locations for all 3 Stout Pillars – which are thankfully quite near each other and will not need you move around Eastern Kyoto too much.
Stout Pillar Location 1
Start from the Higashioji Street Spirit Mirror. You will have two locations closeby marked as destinations for this quest. Pick the one on the right, and make your way towards that. This will lead you to a gate that is closed and needs to be opened from the other side.
Take the left and through the open gate next to it, and defeat all the Genma. Once done, go left, behind the building, and you will spot a ladder. Climb up to get the Stout Pillar No. Seven.
Stout Pillar Location 2
As soon as you have the first one in your possession, and you make your way back to where you fought the Genma, you will have a next set jump at you in the courtyard through a boarded gate. After having taken care of them, enter the house, and make your way left to spot a ladder.
Climb up, and enter the crawl space after taking care of the lone enemy. You will see the Stout Pillar straight ahead in the open area. Of course it turns out to be an ambush, use your Wind Whipper – one of the best skills to unlock and upgrade in early game, to take care of the mob, and once done, get Stout Pillar No. One. With that, we now have just one left.
Stout Pillar Location 3
Unlock the gate by shooting the padlock with an arrow. Now move in the general direction of the next marker. Enter the building as shown in the image above, turn left, and enter to face a swarm of enemies inside. Take care of them, and move out from the opening on the other side of the room. Take a right there, and you will arrive into an open area with several pots lying.
You will hear the Stout Pillar complaining that it is dark and he can’t see a thing – which is your clue. Set about destroying those pots, and the one right next to the tree will have your final Stout Pillar to collect.
Take all of these and return to the shrine to place the missing 3 stout pillars and progress the ‘Careful What You Wish For’ quest. This then opens up the path to one of the more challenging early game boss fights in Onimusha Way of the Sword.
