Styx: Blades of Greed – Quartz and Consequences

Description

Thanks to Wren, Styx learns of a forgotten ritual that could trap the Flux inside him. But twisting it to fit a goblin means claiming two massive Quartz Stones. If it works, Styx might save the world. But if it fails, the Flux will consume everything – including him.

Shard of Quartz at the Wall

The Embassy’s Stone

“Some treasures are guarded by traps. Others, by monsters. Some, by both. Then there are those just locked in a safe, behind velvet curtains and half-dried glasses – like Quartz Stone. The Ambassador’s pride. For now.”

1 – Get the Invitation

Travel to Harlow’s Shop at the Wall Market.

Talk to Helledryn there at the balloon stop. You then get the choice to either reach the Gang’s Den or Reach the Tavern. I decided for the Gang’s den, since it seemed closer. But they’re approximately both the same. There is an opening, where you can enter the Gang’s Den workshop.

On one of the tables in here is a letter – it looks like a blueprint – on the table. I picked it up already, but I marked the location on the screenshot below. Go downstairs and “Spy” in the corner of the room.

Follow those two gangsters discretely.

At the end they will meet in a house near the fishers harbour. Head downstairs and dash through a crawlspace to get inside. The invitation is on the table. There is also an Emerald Thief Emblem in this room. Take the invitation to Djarak at Harlow’s Shop. You can use the nearby “Fishermen’s Smugglers” balloon.

2 – Meet Djarak at the Noblemen’s Quarters

There are a couple of paths you can take to reach Djarak. The best solution for me is to travel to the Garrison balloon, then glide down to the crystal wall and climb up.

3 – Retrieve 3 Artifacts

Styx has to find three artifacts now. One at the embassy, one at the nobles’ quarters and one at the garrison. Let’s start with the embassy, since it is the closest. You will see a locked door with three symbols. Follow the tracks of each symbol on the floor. Note: The golden skull for Helledryn’s Score 5 is up the stairs to the right. At the top, it is in the room to the left.

Unlocking the door to the artifact is less complicated than I thought. Follow the tracks to the pressure plate at the end and stand on it. Stand on all three pressure plates to open the door to the artefact.

The second artifact is in the Nobles’ Quarters. There is also a balloon there. You now have to climb the building up. There is a staircase in the room with the pressure plates that leads further up. From here you can use a couple of grapple points and ledges to climb up to reach the big windows in the hall. Here you can reach the upper courtyard. Here you can climb up a blue crystal wall. Note: There is a platform with an easel and a painting. Here’s also a blueprint on the floor.

Keep climbing the crystal wall until you reach the top. Here you can reach an overhead grapple point to reach an area just above the Nobles’ Quarters artifact. You can glide down to a tower-like building with a metal gate. The artifact is inside.

Enter it and go upstairs into the room there. At the back, you can investigate a “weird base” and get a “Spy” option under the table.

You will learn that there is a vase that opens a secret stash stored in the library. But it had gone missing, with spilled wine all over the floor. The guard suspects the kitchen staff being involved. Follow the guard discretely to the kitchen. He’s leaving footprints in Amber vision.

The guard has a conversation with the kitchen staff and then leaves to the dining hall, where you can retrieve the vase. It’s on the floor just at the end of the hall, up the stairs. You can take care of the guard by dropping that chandelier. Grab the vase and return to the quarters, where you can drop the vase on the socket and grab the artifact.

I then went to unlock the Nobles’ quarters balloon. Exit the room with the artifact and head to the right, up the stairs. You can use a lever at the top to open a gate. Exit to the terrace and go left, where you can look down onto the embassy. Here you can see the balloon. From here you can glide down to the room and drop down to where the dock is. Defeat 3 guards there and close the grid.

Then, I took the balloon to the garrison, where I could easily reach the building with the artifact. Drop down on the rope but be careful: There is a guard just below who will see you.

Head down to the building’s ground floor entrance, where you can use another rope on a platform to climb one floor up. From here, you can reach the room with the artifact through the staircase.

Take care of the guards inside the room. There is a chandelier you can drop. You can reach it by climbing up the rope outside of the room, by the staircase.

With the guards gone, you can now inspect the mechanism in front of the artifact room. And read the pinned note. A thief has locked the mechanism. They trapped him in the basement.

Head to the basement, where I previously entered the building. The lever is on the table behind the big guard.

The second lever is in the building next door. I entered through the top to first take care of the one guard. The furniture in the was buggy (see through). The guard did spot me even when hiding behind it. Down below, drop the chandelier, then take the second lever. Return to the artifact to retrieve it.

4 – Get Inside the Vault

The vault is at the base of the prominent, large embassy building. There is a smaller building with a dome at its base. You can enter it through a window on the roof. It’s where Styx met Djarak.

Once you enter you will see one purple glowing platform. It is one of 25 to step on to reach the Quatz stone at the end of the room. Only the first one is visible, the others only appear once you stand on it.

I created the graphic below to show a birds eye view of the platforms and where they are. Once you stand on the 25th platform you can jump across to absorb the Quartz Stone. Exit the vault after collecting the stone.

Shards of Quartz at Turquoise Dawn

The Amberlake Stone

“Once a sacred voice of the orc shamans, the Turquoise Stone now just screams. Hard to say if it’s haunted by memory or madness…”

At Turquoise Dawn, for the Amberlake Stone Quartz, the first objective is to free the orc refugees. I started from the Broken Bridge Cave Balloon and travelled through the cave above of the sawmill to the friendly orc village. Unfortunately it has now been taken over by the Inquisition. Secure the area to from 8 guards. And talk to the orc chief.

Head to the Inquisition Zeppelin. There is a new, big one behind the Fortifications balloon. There are now boats at ground level, where you can cross to board the Zeppelin.

Climb the ropes into the Zeppelin. On the ground floor, there is a scroll with instructions. It says that there is a key to open the Quartz cage. – You will get two markers, where the key could be. The first search area is above the mass hall, where the small Zeppelins dock, at the front of the main deck. The main Inquisitor is carrying the key and can be pick-pocketed from him.

The second opportunity for the key is in the upper part of the Zeppelin, in case you couldn’t get it from the first one. When you have the key, open the box at the bottom of the Zeppelin and return to the Orc chief in the village. They will open the only blocked passage in the village to follow them. He will tell you to “climb up there and stay alive”. There is a crystal wall, where you can start your climb.

You now have to approach the Quartz Stone. It leads through a bug-infested area. Here is a single bug next to a mushroom. If you get over there, you will find an Emerald Thief Emblem next to a dead orc.

From there I jumped over to the crystal wall to the left and decided that I will approach the Quartz counter-clockwise, using the available crystal walls. Up here I met another bug mother and her eggs.

I crossed her nest in a rush and used the glider to reach a long crystal wall going up on the other side of the cave. At the top is another bug mother and some mushrooms.

I crossed her nest in a rush and used the glider to reach a long crystal wall going up on the other side of the cave. At the top is another bug mother and some mushrooms. The target is the next crystal wall ahead. Near the wall, I threw a bottle to distract the bugs so I won’t interfere with the mushroom. Then I started my climb. There is a grapple at the top, that takes you to the next bug’n’mushroom area (sounds like a twisted meal). There is another crystal wall at the end. This last wall will lead to the Quartz stone and it can be absorbed.

After the absorption, the deadly bug swarms arrive. Keep in mind that you are safe from them in the bright-green, big-leafed mushrooms. Now you need to grapple your way out. Glide all the way down to the island with the glowing mushrooms, where Styx gets the idea to follow them.

From the island, use the grapple to reach the next green mushroom patch. Jump across to the crystal wall and climb it to the other end.

Cross over from there with the grapple, landing on the next green mushroom patch. Here you will already see the next crystal wall and the grapple. At the top of this wall, look backwards to see a path of green mushrooms leading away.

In this cave is a rock with lots of pots. Here is also an emerald thief emblem. Be quick or endure the pain to retrieve it. Cross over to the other end, where you can use a grapple to reach a crystal wall that leads up and to the right. Climb up here, not using the mushrooms. There is a green patch here right at the base of a crystal wall.

Here, at the base, just double-jump wall-run up the wall with the green mushrooms. You will arrive a the location, where you encountered your first bug, the dead orc and an emerald thief emblem. Just head to the exit and glide down to the orcs to complete this mission.