After defeating The Slaughtermill boss in Chapter 5: Crime in Valor Mortis, you get transported to the next region – The Cursed Hollow, as Chapter 6: Punishment automatically begins. This is your almost mandatory swamp region in the game – however, it acts more like the blight equivalent in Elden Ring – you don’t have anything to cure it, and the buildup once it reaches 100% is instant death.
Like all chapters, this one also has a lot of collectibles, Ambers, 2 side quests, and a Ferrofluid Flask Power upgrade to grab. Here is how to get across the Cursed Hollow in Chapter 6: Punishment in Valor Mortis.
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Beginning Chapter 6 | Eerie View Lantern
From the first Lantern, proceed straight ahead. The path with the clothesline across has quite a few enemies, but nothing you can’t handle at this stage. Get the Refreshing Vial from the first house on the right, and Cleansing Vial from the area with all the rubble and the wrecked carriage.
Destroy the crates ahead to reveal a ramp. Collect the Pistol Cartridges. At the very end of the platform, burn the Vines on the right. Continue ahead, release the ladder on your left to unlock the shortcut, and collect the Legendary Catalyst Clot next to it. Destroy the crates on your right, and shoot the Nephtoglobin. Collect the Crude Transmutation Material.
Anna, The Bride in Drowned Tears Boss
Now, if you are running too low on potions, I would recommend that you do a quick run to the Lantern from the shortcut we just unlocked, save, and then come back, as we will be taking on a boss. She is not very difficult, but it is best to have potions and ammo restocked before taking her on. Check our guide here on how to easily defeat Anna, the Bride in Drowned Tears.
Village Church Lantern
Move straight ahead to come across a locked gate, and the Village Church Lantern in Chapter 6 on your right. From here, take the first left. As you come into the open area, you will get a flying creature that attacks you. Take it out with your Pistol.
Ferrofluid Flask Power Upgrade 1 of 2
Take the shiny on your right by jumping across the poison swamp to get Hand Grenade. From here, if you look to your left above, you will see a Nephtoglobin that you can shoot. While it looks to be all swamp, there is a safe area exactly next to the tree.
Once you are there, the tell to locate the Nephtoglobin is that the Church building should be there in your background. Once you shoot it, then move in that direction, enter the house, go to the first floor, picking up the Superior Firearm Parts on the way. Jump across to the next house and loot the chest to get Ferrofluid Flask Power Upgrade.
Retrace your steps to the place from which you moved left. Take a right into the building where you can see a shiny on the balcony. Listen to the blue Echo on the first floor, and then loot the Pure Transmutation Material. Jump down, and get the Legendary Catalyst Clot from the crates on your left.
Ready your Musket, and take out the Volunteer patrolling the bridge in front of you that connects the 2 buildings. Continue ahead, and take the right just below the bridge to get the Crude Blade Material. The next area has the Iron Marshall that you fought in Chapter 2, and the flying creature. Take them out, get the Pistol Cartridge, and the Superior Firearm Parts.
Deep Water Lantern
You will now be in a place where you see a sprawling tree on one side, and an opening that you can crouch to on the other side. This opening leads to a side quest that we will get to in a moment, for now, we will make a run to our next Lantern.
The tree has 3 Spewers who spew Poison, and 2 hits means instant death. So, while there is ammo around that you can loot and take them down, the best thing to do before that is hit the Lantern, and then come here if you feel like it.
Now from the tree, make a right, follow the path, and then stick to the left. You will see a more dangerous version of the Iron Marshall patrolling ahead, but before that, just after the carriage loaded with crates on one side and a tree on the other, there will be a left turn and the safety of the next Lantern. Go there, and save. Speak to Lucjan and complete the conversation.
Sleeping Beauty Side Quest
You can start and complete the Sleeping Beauty side quest in the area on the other side of the sprawling tree with the Spewers. Crouch and enter that area, where you will come across a note that begins this quest. For more details and a full guide, check our Sleeping Beauty side quest guide.
While you are here, making your way towards this area you can get into through crouching, if you look to your right, there will be a ramp you can use. This takes you to the patrolling Volunteer that we shot from a distance. On the other end of the bridge that he was patrolling is a Remnant’s Return. Unbolt the door ahead, to lead to the area where you fought Anna.
Wound That Heals Amber
Now it is time to fight the other Iron Marshall that we glimpsed before taking a left to the safety of the Lantern. This is a Red Eye enemy – so its hits cause much more damage. The other thing to watch out for is his weapon slams also create and spread poison mist around the area. Even when you land melee hits, just coming close to the enemy also slightly starts filling the poison meter.
Use your Fire + Blunderbuss to good effect, and attack the weak spots on its back. Do not let the poison build up start filling up the upper half of the meter, since after that a couple of hits from its weapon slams can do you in.
Defeating the enemy gets you 10,000 Catalysts and Wound That Heals Amber. The area also has Superior Firearm Parts and a chest ahead that gets you Distilled Transmutation Material. All in all, not a bad haul – definitely worth the effort it takes to bring this enemy down.
The next platforming section is a pretty simple with – with Grapples all lined up one after the other with adequate places to pause in between. An Iron Marshall from the opposite side fires grenades, but they are easily dodged. Once you land there, go ahead and dispose him.
This leads you to a deserted camp. There are no enemies here, so you can explore without looking out for an ambush. Take the Deadly Rounds, and loot the chest with Exquisite Firearm Parts. Continue ahead and listen to the blue Echo and read the Note on the table.
This Note reveals that it was on the orders from the headquarters that the water downstream was poisoned to defeat the rebels. Before taking the path that winds to the right, check a tent on the left with another Note. This reveals that it was the army that destroyed the dam, which caused the flood and killed all the village folk. William gets shocked by these revelations – but there is more to come. Listen to the blue Echo ahead, and then grab the Legendary Catalyst Clot.
Silent Cannons Lantern
William starts to here the voice of The Shrike once again, till it looks like both Napoleon and Shrike are having a back and forth in his mind. Rest ahead at the Silent Cannons Lantern. The next section is made difficult in equal measure from platforming, and figuring out where to go next. Here are the clear steps to complete this section, starting from the Silent Cannons Lantern.
When you begin, the left Grapple point with the Nephtglobin thread running along with is inaccessible. So, you have to reach the one on the right. You do this by taking help of the flotsam and jetsam that is making its way from right to left – only thing here is, you have to go against the tide, and keep jumping in the opposite direction to the flow, to make it to the Grapple point.
The next section is simple – you have to keep moving ahead, but is made complicated by these creatures, who keep releasing wasps that divebomb at your location and cause damage, plus throw you off from your platforming.
Either take them out with the Pistol, or time your jumps to reach to the first of the two creatures, and melee attack. Loot the Pure Transmutation Material next to the first creature. You can actually ignore the second one and make a quick run to the next place where you are safe from these attacks. Jump on the floating debris, and this time, move in the direction that the debris is moving – to the left.
From here, continue left, till you arrive at the roof with 2 Nephtoglobin Formulations to activate. There will be an Iron Marshall lobbing grenades at you from a distance. You can’t do much about it for now, so time your next move in between the grenade shots. You will be able to see some shrapnel fall across when taking cover behind the Nephtoglobin Formulations, so use that as your cue to move out.
Now, from here, the route ahead lies to our right. But, we will unlock a shortcut back first. So, take the Grapple on your left. Jump across the roofs till you come across the one where the Nephtoglobin thread disappears into. You will be able to shoot the Nephtoglobin from that window. This frees up the Grapple point that we were earlier not able to reach from the Lantern.
Save if needed, and make your way back to the roof with the 2 Nephtoglobin Formulations. Now, take a right instead of a left, and use the last row of floating debris to help you land on solid ground. Collect the Legendary Catalyst Clot on the way, and now you can take down the Iron Marshall who was causing us all this trouble.
Seamus Diggory Side Quest | Ferrofluid Flask Power Upgrade | Indestructible Shell | Warrior’s Fury Amber
Before proceeding ahead, take the ramp as I have put up in the image above. This leads to a highly rewarding side quest – The Curious Case of Seamus Diggory. Check the guide for the full description on how to start, progress and complete the quest. I would recommend you to do this – it is a short quest, and gives you 2 Ambers, a Ferrofluid Flask Power upgrade, and a Silver Trophy.
Let’s now continue ahead with the main quest progression and grab the Legendary Catalyst Clot from the swamp, moving in the general direction of the Church looming in the background. On the right will be an area with enemies – a Volunteer patrolling the bridge above, a Volunteer below, and several Shambling Civilians.
Before we begin to clear them, straight ahead, you will see a shiny – a Legendary Catalyst Clot. Go there first, this opens up a shortcut to the third Lantern in the area. Now let’s start clearing the enemies that we saw on the right. This area has quite a few chests on the 1st level above the ground – which are to be accessed by ramps and Nephtoglobin Formulations.
First, enter the building under the Nephtglobin Wall that you can activate. Burn the Vines and grab the Standard Firearm Parts. Bait the sword – wielding Volunteer here and take him out. Now, below the bridge where the other Volunteer is patrolling, take the Nephtoglobin Vial. Go underneath the bridge and on the right, you will see a ramp that lets you climb up. Clear this area of all the Shambling Civilians so that we can explore it properly.
Take the Stasis Whetstone from the second house on the left, and unlock the ladder on the right, looting the Nephtoglobin Vial next to it. Turn back, this time to the left of the ramp that you climbed up from, and loot the Crude Blade Material and Legendary Catalyst Clot.
Now, jump over to the right ramp with the Axe wielding Shambling Civilian and continue ahead. You should now be at the place in the image above, with the Nephtoglobin Wall on your right. Use that, and the Nephtoglobin Formulation straight ahead to jump over into the building. Loot the chest to get Pure Blade Material.
Now, climb the shortcut ladder, and look at the right, there is a platform you can jump on to. Continue ahead, use the Nephtoglobin Formulation as a ledge to swing over. The next building has a chest with Pure Blade Material (If for some reason the ledge does not activate, go down, then the Activate option should appear, and make the climb again).
Now, go ahead into the right area with the haystack in the middle of the swamp and an Iron Marshall patrolling it. Jump to the left after clearing this area, and take the Legendary Catalyst Clot at the end. Now, continue towards the Church straight ahead, to collect another Legendary Catalyst Clot.
We can go to the left to unlock another shortcut to the Lantern and the next area, but there is one unfinished business – a door that was locked in the previous area. Take the ramp as I have shown in the image above – this will be to the right of the last collectible that you grabbed. Continue ahead on the path, and then jump to the building on the left to loot Distilled Blade Material from the chest. Retrace your steps, get the Nephtoglobin Vial from behind the hut with the ramp.
Move now towards the Church. Do not enter through the broken wall section inside. Continue ahead, and to the right, you will see an area with explosives and enemies. After disposing them, collect the Legendary Catalyst Clot, Stasis-Clad Rounds, and Mythic Catalyst Clot. With that we are done with this area.
Spot the cart with a Nephtoglobin, this will unlock the shortcut to the Village Church Lantern.
Now, we are onto the last part of Chapter 6: Punishment in Valor Mortis. Enter the Church, and you will be swarmed by 5-6 flying creatures. Take them out one by one. It may happen that one of them grabs you – this is their red glowing attack. This attack will have them carrying you to an inaccessible area, where you have a chest containing Pure Blade Material! So, my suggestion is to use up all your Catalysts, and then let them do this attack.
Getting the Claymore
Loot the Mythic Catalyst Clot in front of the locked gate with your Lantern after the Anna boss fight on the other side. There are 2 Nephtoglobin to shoot to open up the entrance to the Church. One is on the left wall, and the other on the right side of the Church. These are easily visible and shouldn’t be a problem.
Enter the Church, and you now get the next addition to your arsenal … this time it is a two-handed Claymore – you can’t parry with this – the weapon is for brute force and carving enemies in one fell swoop. It also has the ability to use Nephtoglobin for Fire and Stasis led effects on melee attacks!
Use it on the unfortunate enemies who seem to have been called upon just for that purpose. Once done, exit the Church from the left to complete Chapter 6: Punishment in Valor Mortis.
