Crimson Desert: Ashen Steps Questline Walkthrough

#1 – Healing Pailune

Healing Pailune is the first quest of Chapter 8: Blood Coronation -> Ashen Steps. It follows right after defeating Ludvig in Twisted Fate.

Description:
“You have reclaimed Pailune, yet Myurdin remains at large. Consult Torstein to plan your next steps and gather any available intelligence on where the traitor might be hiding.”

Meet Torstein

Torstein is waiting in the north of Pailune City, next to the Constabulary. Follow him to the nearby docks. He will give you a letter from a mysterious woman and Jian’s journal.

#2 – A Bond

Read the Letter

The letter is called Maegu’s Letter. If you’re fast enough after the conversation with Torstein, you can open it with the menu button. If not, open your inventory and read the letter from there. You can also read Jian’s journal while you’re there.

The Letter reads:
My name is Maegu, and I hail from the eastern continent across the sea.
While traveling here with my sister, we were attacked and now find ourselves in grave danger, so I send this letter in haste.
White Crow has promised to deliver it, so I write with the hope that it reaches you safely.
Please, do not turn a deaf ear to our plea. I beg of you.
Follow the path this letter takes you.

Go to the Location Indicated in the Letter

The letter will take you to the southeast of the map, east of Howling Hill and Pororin. The location is the Bamboo Forest Seonangdang, in the middle of hostile forces from the nearby Fort Ironclad.

There is an altar, where you have to perform a ritual. Light the two stone lanterns at the shrine to summon Maegu, a witch from the east.

#3 – Ritual Preparations

Description:
“On Shipwreck Shore lies the wreckage of a ship that appears to have carried the foreign sisters. Investigate the surroundings.”

Read the Memories of the Shipwreck

Travel further east to the coast of Shipwreck Shore to find the ship that the two sisters arrived on. The place is crawling with Inquisitors. At the marked location, use Blinding Flash to read the Memory.

After reading the memory, find three items for Maegu. They are highlighted in purple on the minimap. A Talisman and the Bells are outside the shipwreck.

The door into the shipwreck is locked and requires a special key. Notice that you can lift the wreck with Nature’s Grasp and suspend it in the air. There is a hole in the floor of the wreck. Lift it, suspend it in the air, and use the brief time to run to the hole. Let the wreck drop down on you while standing below the hole to get inside. You then have enough time to get the Censer. You can then open the door from the other side and exit the wreck.

#4 – Where the Wind Guides You

Description:
“You have recovered all the items needed to find Maegu’s sister. Return to the altar.”

Return to the Altar

Return to the altar at the bamboo forest. Examine the floor in front of it to perform the ritual.

Find the Fortress on the Hill

Now it is time to find and liberate Fort Ironclad, northeast of the bamboo forest. There is also an Abyss Nexus along the way. The castle approach is complicated.

You have to fight two factions: The Inquisitors with their Boss Gregor, and the Shadow Harpies. While the Inquisitors respond well to normal attacks and Gregor will disappear after you hurt him enough, Shadow Harpies can only be destroyed with Blinding Flash – Spot Weakness (In-game Guide #111). Once you’re on the path leading to Fort Ironclad, things will calm down.

Find Woosa

Once you’re close enough to Fort Ironclad, the quest focus changes to finding Woosa. There are more Inquisitors and Shadow Harpies at the top of the hill, at the Fort entrance.

Fight them in waves. Inquisitors first, then focus on the Harpies with Blinding Flash. Woosa is inside the main building, behind the metal gate across the bridge. But you have to defeat Gregor before you can rescue Woosa.

Reward:
Golden Vanguard
Abyss Artifact
Radiant Necklace

Move with Woosa

Find Woosa outside the main building and talk to her. Then take her to her sister in the bamboo forest. This will complete the Ashen Steps questline of Crimson Desert’s Chapter 8 and Demeniss Bound starts.