Salt And Sacrifice: Ashbourne Village Walkthrough

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• How To Get To Ashbourne Village

• Root-Ceil Cavern And Greymoss Mire

• How To Beat Uryks Necklace-Of-Ears

• Obtain The Grappling Hook

• Craterstone Mine And Ashbourne Village

• How Mage Hunts Work

• Speak To The Talking Tree

• EVERYTHING BELOW THIS POINT IS OPTIONAL

• Archridge District

• How To Beat The Green Huntsman

• Ashpeak Castle

• Optional Tasks

Ashbourne Village is the first area you'll visit in Salt and Sacrifice, and it's a great way to get to know the game. It has plenty of verticalities to explore, secrets to discover, and branching paths to ponder. Add to that enemies to beat and loot to collect, and you're in for a good time.

This is the first part of our six-part walkthrough, where we'll take you through every step required to beat the game from beginning to end. We won't tell you how to explore each and every nook and cranny, but we'll highlight the important things you'll want to pick up, even if they are optional.

How To Get To Ashbourne Village

When you wake up after the introduction and short tutorial, you’ll be in a small hut in Pardoner’s Vale. This is the main hub area of the game, and it’s where you’ll find your stash, the statue you use to level up, and everything you need for crafting.

After learning all you can, head to the west, jumping down the hill and meeting Runesmith Zak on the way. This is where you’ll craft and upgrade equipment. Head further west, and you’ll meet Champion Hera, who is your primary quest giver.

From Hera, head southwest until you reach a cat with antlers. Pet it if you wish, and then head southeast until you reach a large portal. Talk to Runereader Diedela here and you’ll learn the rune combination for Ashbourne Village. Interact with the runes to the left of the portal and you’ll be able to travel to the village.

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Root-Ceil Cavern And Greymoss Mire

Your first goal in Ashbourne Village is to kill the first boss of the game, Uryks Necklace-Of-Ears. Make sure you interact with the obelisk on your left and then head west. Obelisks are your checkpoints in this game – think of them as the bonfires from Dark Souls or the sanctuaries from Salt and Sanctuary.

Make sure you harvest all of the red and green plants you see on the way, as well as any sacks and boxes you find on the ground. The red plants are especially important as they give you Valley Herbs, which are used to fill your Hearthen Flask, and Bloodberries, which are useful healing items at these early stages of the game. Your consumables are refilled every time you die or rest at an obelisk.

Other important items to get multiples of are Irona Ore, Haze Spirals, and Wispleaf. These are used for crafting Ammunition, Haze Decoctions, and Antidotes, respectively.

Head to the west, killing the small Skallins and the big Brute on the way if you wish, and enter the Root-Ceil Cavern to the southwest. This cavern is full of Skallin and Yew Nobles, as well as some loot to pick up. Mine the crystal outcrops for Irona Ore.

Directly underneath the entrance is a sack containing a Guiltless Shard. You can use this to purge yourself of the Spellmark and regain some of your lost HP bar, as well as access multiplayer options once you’ve unlocked them. From the sack, head east to Greymoss Mire. Open the chest to get the Golden Candle and Bronze Snuffer (items used for playing online), and then drop down the ledge to the right. You’ll take some damage, but you can rest and resupply at the nearby obelisk. Head to the east, and you’ll encounter Uryks, the first boss of the game.

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How To Beat Uryks Necklace-Of-Ears

Uryks is a very easy boss, but he might take a little bit of practice if this is your first encounter with an enemy like him.

Uryks Necklace-Of-Ears Attacks

• Downward Stab: This is a slow attack with a decent amount of range. When he gets low on health, this attack is followed up with a spin into an uppercut.
• Downward Slash: This is another slow, telegraphed attack. When low on health, Uryks adds another strike to this attack.
• Leaping Plunge: Uryks leaps at you, plunging his weapon into the ground. This attack is the easiest to dodge and the easiest to punish.

Uryks Necklace-Of-Ears Strategy

• The key to this battle is staying behind him at all times, striking his back when he’s too busy attacking the air. A good strategy is to roll through him, strike twice, and then roll through him again before he attacks you again.
• Once you get him down to around half health, Uryks will enter a second phase where he gets a bit more aggressive. He’ll start following up his attacks with a spinning attack, but this still only attacks in front of him.
• Keep up the strategy of staying behind him at all times and pepper him with ranged attacks every now and then. When you beat him, you’ll get some Ashpyr and probably a relic that you should equip.

Now would be a good time to return to Pardoner’s Vale using the nearby obelisk. Head up to the northeast to upgrade your weapon using the Ashpyr, go to the southeast to meet Trista and learn any recipes you may need, and then head northwest to level up a few times with the salt you earned from Uryks at the statue.

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Obtain The Grappling Hook

With Uryks beaten, you can now go grab the Grappling Hook. From the battlefield, head to the east and enter the small cave. Drop down the ledges, and you’ll find the corpse of an Inquisitor. Interact with it, and you’ll get the Grappling Hook Inquisitor tool.

To use the Grappling Hook, you need to press either Left Shift (on a keyboard) or the Right Trigger (on a controller) when in midair and in range of a grapple point. These are denoted with shining stars. Use this cave as a tutorial to get used to the physics of the feature.

Don’t miss the semi-hidden chest on the west wall of the cave. It contains a Beloved Idol, a Legendary Defensive Artifact that you should equip immediately.

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Craterstone Mine And Ashbourne Village

With the Grappling Hook, you can reach the ledge above the entrance to the cave to the east of Uryks’ boss arena. Interact with the obelisk above the wooden platforms and then head further east into another cave, Craterstone Mines.

Make your way up this mine, exploring the paths to the left and right to pick up loot. You’ll eventually notice a sealed door that glows red – these doors will only let you through once you’ve devoured a certain number of Named Mage hearts.

You’ll have to fight Skallins, Brutes, Yew Nobles, and possibly a Valley Bat before you reach the topmost exit. This will bring you to Ashbourne Village proper. Immediately grab the obelisk to your left and head west – killing the enemies as you go – until you reach a gatehouse.

The person on top of the gatehouse will tell you what you need to do next – you need to talk to the talking tree above the gatehouse after you’ve devoured the heart of a Named Mage. Luckily, you can begin a hunt inside the gatehouse – how convenient! Before you do that, though, interact with the lever inside the gatehouse and you’ll open the door, nabbing yourself a shortcut from the area’s spawn point.

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How Mage Hunts Work

Every area of the game has certain mage types that it can spawn. Ashbourne Village, for example, is home to five varieties of mage that don't often appear elsewhere. Usually, in order for the game to start spawning these Mages, you’ll need to defeat and then consume the heart of a particular Named Mage.

To do this, you’ll need to find a clue, such as the corpse of a Mage’s victim, and then begin the hunt. Once you begin a hunt, a few things will happen:

• A particle trail will start emanating from your character, pointing in the direction of the Mage you want to hunt.
• More enemies will spawn. These will often drop unique loot and Silver, and they'll attack the normal enemies you'd find.

You can choose to end the current hunt if you die, saving it for a time when you are stronger.

For a guide to all of the Mage Hunts in Ashbourne Village, check out this guide. You'll only have access to the Pyromancer and the Cryomancer to begin with.

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Speak To The Talking Tree

With either the Pyromancer or the Cryomancer beaten, head back to the gatehouse and use the Grappling Hook to reach the platform with the talking tree. Talk to it, and you’ll learn a new Mirrorgate Rune and also the combination for Bol Gerahn, the next area you'll need to go to.

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EVERYTHING BELOW THIS POINT IS OPTIONAL

Archridge District

The Archridge District is a series of buildings that can be accessed as soon as you have devoured two Named Mage hearts. The entrance is directly to the east of the Ashbourne Village square.

Make your way up the building, killing everything as you go. You’ll have to deal with some shaky platforms that break when you walk on them, but you can get the Fencer’s Set and the Steel Rapier from a chest a few flights up.

When it’s possible to leave the building to the west, do so and carefully make your way down the ladders and platforms. Eventually, you’ll reach the lowest platform with a chest containing the Ranger’s Set and the Hunter’s Cross Spear. Also, you can create a shortcut by kicking a ladder down. Return to the building.

The first exit on the east side of the building is where you’ll find the clue that starts the hunt for Kundry Kahn, the Hydromancer. There’s also a chest on a platform above this clue that contains the Simple Key.

Re-enter the building through the door above the chest and you’ll be able to drop down and open up a shortcut by kicking down another ladder. Now continue your journey upwards. Head to the very northeast of the building and you’ll reach a narrow passage that must be wall-jumped up. At the top, you can grapple over to a sack with three Frospyr inside. Head to the west, grapple over the gap, and then wall jump up to the platform for another chest with the Wooden Scythe inside. Keep heading west across the top of the map, and you’ll reach a metal lockbox that requires the Simple Key. Inside is the Hideout Key.

Head back down to the inside of the building and instead of northeast, find the most northwest point of the building. At some point, you’ll be able to head outside to find a shortcut to Ashpeak Castle – ignore this and continue up the building to find an obelisk and a sealed door. Through the door is Valesnight Square and an immediate boss fight against The Green Huntsman.

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How To Beat The Green Huntsman

The Green Huntsman has two ways to attack you. The first is by closing in on you and swinging his axe at you, and the second is by staying at range and shooting you with his bow.

The Green Huntsman Attacks

• Axe Chop: This is a simple, slow attack that deals a lot of damage if it hits. This is a good attack to punish by attacking him during the windup and then rolling through him before the attack connects.
• Axe Chop Combo: When the Huntsman gets low on health, he’ll add another strike to his usual axe attack. The first strike launches you upwards, and the second strike launches you across the arena. It’s harder to punish the attack when this gets added.
• Leaping Axe Chop: The Huntsman can make a leaping attack that ends in a powerful swing, just like Uryks could.
• Dash Attack: When the Huntsman is very low on health, he’ll be able to make a short dash attack before using his Axe Chop Combo attack. This dash is very fast and hard-hitting, which makes it very dangerous to stay in melee range with low health.
• Bow Attack: If the Huntsman finds himself far away from you, he’ll shoot at you from afar. This is an easy attack to roll through or away from, but it will heavily punish you if you create distance to heal.

The Green Huntsman Strategy

• You’ll need to dodge a lot in this fight, so make sure you have the lightest equipment load. This will boost the rate your stamina regenerates and improve your dodge rolls. You know you’re in the lightest equip load category when the bag icon next to your Carry Weight is green – this requires your equipment to weigh 25 percent of your maximum.
• Ranged attacks don’t work too well, as they don’t stagger the Huntsman all too well and he’s more than happy to fire his own arrows back at you.
• Consider waiting until you’ve upgraded your hunter tools and equipment with materials retrieved from Bol Gerahn before taking this boss on.

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Ashpeak Castle

To get inside Ashpeak Castle, you’ll need to have devoured four Named Mage hearts in the area. Once complete, you can enter.

If you head down from the entrance, you can unlock a shortcut by opening the door. There will be a Rust Knight mini-boss on the other side; defeat it, and you'll get a Dawning Memory.

Continuing further down and then to the west will let you access the platforming challenges that Ashpeak Castle has to offer, which all culminate in the acquisition of the Gray Tome of Fates, found in a sack at the very northwest of the map. This lets you take on daily challenges in Ashbourne Village.

You can also find hunts that lead to Nameless Mage fights. These act like normal Mage Hunts but reward higher-level loot in exchange for higher difficulties.

Heading up from the entrance, on the other hand, leads to a few chests to loot, including one that holds the Knight Set and the Knight’s Vanguard. Further up from there is a Magnesin pulley and the other end of the top of the castle. Drop down right next to the horizontal Magnesin pulley to find a sack containing a Blueblossom.

You'll need the Magnesin Supply from Bol Gerahn to use the Magnesin pulleys.

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Optional Tasks

• Once you have devoured a mage’s heart, you can enter the smuggler run below the Ashbourne Village gatehouse. Take the southwestern exit to Greymoss Mire and grapple across the gap to meet an Inquisitor and unlock online co-operation.
• If you take the eastern branch in the cave below the gatehouse, beware of a swinging log trap and two bats. At the end of the path, you’ll find a Shimmering Bud, an item that you can use to improve your Hearthen Flask.
• Also in Greymoss Mire, head to the obelisk near the entrance to Craterstone Mine and grapple across the gap to the northwest. There’ll be a sealed door. Open it to meet Inquisitor Amben. Exhaust his dialogue and he’ll head to Bol Gerahn.
• Inside Craterstone Mine is a sealed door that opens after you’ve devoured two Named Mage hearts. Inside is Stonehall Dungeon, where you can get a Shimmering Bud, the Crude Greatblade, and start the Venomancer hunt.
• Once you have the Magnesin Supply, you can head to the lower-west area of Ashpeak Castle by activating the pulley in the northwest of the starting area. Here you will find Inquisitor Selet who will request a Guiltless Shard. You can also find some Smithing equipment in the nearby chest.
• There is a sealed door in Root-Ceil Cavern that contains a mini-boss fight against a Rootspoken Knight that rewards you with a Gray Starstone and a Twin Ashpyr.

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