One of the ways into Scadu Altus (if you don’t want to go through Castle Ensis and fight Rellana), the Fort of Reprimand is a seemingly normal fort with a dark secret. This small dungeon can be avoided, even if you are trying to enter Scadu Altus from the Cairn-locked Spiritsling, but it is filled with quite a few very rare items that you might want. So long as you are ready to go down the mysterious hole.
Unique and Valuable Rewards:
Blessing of Marika
Flamedrake Talisman +3
Marika’s Rune
Iris of Occulation (guaranteed enemy drop)
Messmer Soldier Ashes
Ash of War: Aspects of the Crucible: Wings (boss drop)
Battlefield Priest’s Cookbook (2)
From the Ellac River Cave Grace in the Gravesite Plain, go down through the cave. Once there, make your way to the hovel on the far side of the cliff. You can destroy a Rock Cairn that will unlock a Spirit Sling (see below), allowing Torrent to jump up to the “Behind the Fort of Reprimand” Site of Grace, which is the ideal place to start the dungeon to get everything.
If you are already in Scadu Altus, at the “Moorth Highway, South” Site of Grace, don’t enter the Fort of Reprimand through the front. Instead, go around the castle’s side (defeating Abductor Virgins and collecting loot along the way; see the first section below) and drop down to the Spiritsling below, letting you leap to the “Behind the Fort of Reprimand” site of grace.
Around the Fort’s Side
When you go to begin the Fort of Reprimand, you should do so by clearing the side of the Fort first. If you are starting from below the Fort, coming up from the Spirit Sling, jump up it, but don’t land on the Fort — instead, land on the ledge to the right. Near the ledge, there will be a Blessing of Marika on a body near the ledge. Further along the side, you will encounter 2 Abductor Virgins and a corpse with a Smithing Stone [6].
If you are coming from in front of the Fort of Reprimand, from the Moore Highway, South Grace, then go around the side of the Fort to the left. This is just the reverse of the other route, so there are still 2 Abductor Virgins to take down, a Smithing Stone [6], and a Blessing of Marika.
After clearing the side of the Fort, get on Torrent and leap down to the Spirit Sling (Image 1). Then, use it to jump up, this time landing on the actual Fort’s Ramparts (Image 2), where you can light the “Behind the Fort of Reprimand” Site of Grace.
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Around the Back
After lighting the Grace, continue along the castle ramparts. Upon turning a corner, you will find an Omen Killer that you can dispatch. Careful with backstabbing this one, as if you do, it is likely to fall down, as opposed to simply attacking it, letting you take it on now. After killing the Omen Killer, look to your right to find a ladder, which you can climb in order to find a chest containing a Smithing Stone [8] (Image 1)
Climb back down, then jump down the ledge that the Omen Killer was looking over. Climb up the stairs, but don’t go to the door leading to the Grand Hall (directly in front of the Stairs). Instead, grab the item on the hanging body, 3x Dewgem, then climb more stairs to the Grace. Go a bit past the Grace, and you will see a body hanging. Go get its item (A Blessed Bone Shard), wary of the Messmer Spearman who will try to ambush you and push you off when you do.
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Looting the Fort
Now that you’ve cleared out the top of the wall (aside from the Main Hall, which we will come back to), it’s time to go loot the castle. Go back to where the Omen Killer dropped down, and go down those stairs, looking out to your left to grab a Broken Rune on a body before going through the door leading down into the Fort itself (Image 1).
At the bottom of the stairs, there will be two Footsoldiers in the stairwell, and two just beyond it, standing around 2x Festive Grease. Just past where the Festive Grease was, though, you can actually jump on and through the metal cages here, which will lead to a chest containing the Flamedrake Talisman +3 (Image 2)
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After collecting the Talisman, jump over the railing behind the chest and go does the hall until you reach a door going to your right. Go through it, then look over the side of the railing here (Image 3). Below, there are some items, but be ready to get ambushed by 3 Messmer Footsoldiers as soon as you drop down. Once you’ve dispatched them, you can collect 3x Spiritgrave Stone, 7x Smithing Stone [5], and 8x Smithing Stone [6] in a chest. So glad they were gaurding something valuable.
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Once you’re done, climb the ladder and go back out the door you came in (to your left). Turn to your right, and look to your right before you go up the stairs leading out to find a Fireproof Pickled Liver. Then, head out to the courtyard, where you’ll face an Omen Killer (who you can backstab), as well as a few pieces of simple loot on some corpses:
Blessed Bone Shard on the Gallows.
8x Throwing Dagger at the bottom of the smaller gallows to the south.
Broken Rune on a body in the center of the courtyard.
Broken Rune Under the Wagon near the main entrance to the courtyard.
5x Redflesh Mushroom in the northeast corner of the courtyard.
After grabbing those, you can find a hole leading down in the north section of the courtyard. Drop down it.
Down the Corpse Pit
After dropping into the mysterious hole, you will quickly come across a body with a Shadow Realm Rune [4]. Then, you can continue deeper into this alcove, dropping down into the corpse pit (Image 1). Several bodies here have loot, but be careful when you approach: an Omen Killer is waiting to attack you from behind the corner to your left. The first time you defeat this Omen Killer, it will drop an Iris of Occultation, an important item for later.
After grabbing everything here, continue on until you get outside, where you can grab the Messmer Soldier Ashes sitting on a grave before climbing the ladder back up to the ramparts. At the top, you can continue along the ramparts to your right until you reach a missing section of battlements, then drop down, putting you right in front of the high hall you passed by earlier.
Looking inside, you will be able to see the Black Knight Edredd, the boss of the Fort. While Edredd shares most of his move set with other normal Black Knight enemies, his large health bar and golden wings can be a bit troublesome, so we’ve prepared a guide for you.
After you’ve killed Black Knight Edredd and claimed his Ash of War: Aspect of the Crucible: Wings, you can climb the ladder at the back of the room, then the ladder leading up the tower on the roof. This will lead you to a chest containing the Battlefield Priest’s Cookbook (2). And, with that, you will have completed Fort of Reprimand.
Graves is an avid writer, web designer, and gamer, with more ideas than he could hope to achieve in a lifetime. But, armed with a mug of coffee and an overactive imagination, he'll try. When he isn't working on a creative project, he is painting miniatures, reading cheesy sci-fi novels, or making music.
