Mortal Shell 2: Mushroom Village walkthrough (Part 3)

Mushroom Village is the first major enemy area you'll find in Mortal Shell 2. It's also the region you'll need to pass through in order to reach the first major boss of the game. It's dense with pickups and secrets, and it's easy to get lost amid all its winding pathways and bridges.

In Part 3 of our Mortal Shell 2 walkthrough, I'll guide you through every step of the journey through the Mushroom Village. We'll tackle every challenge, collect every pickup, clear every Beacon and dungeon, and get you started on a couple of key NPC questlines while you're at it.

Want the walkthrough for a different area of the game? You'll find the full list of all our guides on our Mortal Shell 2 walkthrough hub page!

Mushroom Village walkthrough steps:

1. Open the Offerings Chest.
2. Reach the Mushroom Village Beacon.
3. Cleanse the Passenger's Shrine.
4. Unlock the Caged Pup.
5. Switch to Nighttime.
6. Obtain the Chapel Key.
7. Complete the Shrine Of Sorrows.
8. Return to Daytime.
9. Complete the Shrine Of Trials.
10. Find Hilga and Grom.
11. Complete the Corrupted Statue Trial.
12. Clear out the rest of the Village.
13. Reach the Mushroom Village Gate Beacon.
14. Cleanse the Hall Of Illusions.
15. Unlock Mether's Breath.

To see this content please enable targeting cookies.

Manage cookie settings

1. Open the Offerings Chest.

Last we left off, you were back at the noticeboard by the entrance to Mushroom Village. Go ahead and enter the Village now through the left-hand doors.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

You'll see a number of dancing Babka enemies capering about a locked chest. Kill the Babkas, and interact with the chest; it'll tell you that it's locked until "3 Offerings" are made.

To make these Offerings, you need to find and light the three candles in the area. While you're at it, interact with every door of every hut in the vicinity for some optional dialogue and lore. Just past the door of the leftmost hut (up the steps) you'll also find some Common Moonshine. There's also so much Weltcap everywhere that I'm not going to point out each individual one.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

As for the three Offering candles, here are their locations:

• On the platform just behind the locked chest.
• Up the left path, around the back of the hut with the Burnt Effigy. This candle is guarded by two more Babkas.
• Straight across from the previous candle, nestled in the left-hand corner beside the path.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

From the third candle, head back down towards the chest, but take the first left as you go, and follow the path around the cliff edge for another Burnt Effigy guarded by a lone Babka.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

Back on the main path down towards the chest, take the next left again, and you'll find another Babka on the cliff edge. Further around the corner you'll find a marble chest containing a Laterite.

Now head back to the Offerings chest and open it up to receive a Glimpse and a new Tarstone - the Auspicious Stone. This is a good one to always have equipped for now.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

Mark step as completed.

2. Reach the Mushroom Village Beacon.

This next step is nice and quick! If you haven't done so already, head to the Mushroom Village Beacon and activate it. You'll find it on your left side as you move from the second candle to the third candle.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

Mark step as completed.

3. Cleanse the Passenger's Shrine.

Rest at the Beacon, and choose "Cleanse Beacon" to enter a new dungeon: the Passenger's Shrine.

Down the steps from the elevator, kill the Batushka, and then descend the next elevator and kill the other Batushka just beyond it.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

Destroy the wood wall at the end of the path and drop down into the room below for another Batushka to slay. Slice through the wooden door and kill the two Torch Cultists in the room beyond to reach a 500x Coin Pouch and a journal entry.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

Now head down the stairs and follow the path, killing the next two Torch Cultists and collecting the Laterite from the bone statue. Around the corner is another Torch Cultist and Batushka to cut down.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

Around the next corner, open the chest up for the Emberseed Stone - a Tarstone which consumes Resolve to add Burn to your sidearm's Critical hits. It's merely okay, not great, but it's your first sidearm damage Tarstone, so equip it anyway for now.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

Around the corner from the chest, the Beacon corruption is guarded by two poison-throwing Ranged Cultists, and a large hammer-wielding Faceless Clerik. Dodge the Clerik for now and kill off the two Ranged Cultists first, to stop them healing the Heavy and bombarding you with poison. Then take out the Clerik carefully using well-timed Blocks and Ripostes.

Cleanse the corruption for an Ovum and a Glimpse, then teleport back to the Beacon.

Mark step as completed.

4. Unlock the Caged Pup.

Level up at the Mushroom Village Beacon if you haven't already. Then take the left-hand path and you'll enter a Grisha Hunter camp. The Hunters here are passive; they won't attack you unless you attack them.

The nearest Grisha Hunter on your left is a trader; interact with them to see their wares.

Now, there's lots of ways to do this, but I'm gonna walk you through the absolute min-maxed best method, which leaves you with the most Coin, Glimpse, and items.

First, clear the camp of collectibles. Follow the path behind the trader to a Gloom Tentacle, and then check behind the giant gravestone to the left of the tentacle for a Laterite.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

On the opposite side of the camp, on the northeast side, you'll find a tent with a 250x Coin Pouch beside it. Just behind it, there's a bone statue containing another Laterite.

You should also note the locked door at the far end of the camp. It can't be opened without the Chapel Key, but we'll find the Chapel Key later, so just make a mental note of this door's location for now.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

Now, interact with the Grisha Hunter Trader. You'll see he has three things for sale:

• Cage Key (DON'T buy this)
• 5x Weltcap (buy this if you want)
• 3x Common Moonshine (buy this if you want)

The Cage Key is used to open the lock on the cage of the Grisha Pup in the camp, but you should just save your 250x Coin. Instead, after purchasing the other items if you wish (this is your last chance to do so): carefully attack the lock on the cage to break it without needing the Cage Key.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

The moment you break the lock, the Grisha Hunters will all become hostile (because you hadn't paid them for the Cage Key and therefore the Grisha Pup). Kill all the Grisha Hunters. They are a bit tough - try to deal with them one at a time.

Once the Grisha Hunters are all dead, collect any Coin Pouches they dropped, and then return to the Grisha Pup and interact with him to receive a Sheephead Totem consumable.

Did you accidentally hit the Grisha Pup? An extra tip from Ollie

If you accidentally attacked the Grisha Pup, then not only will the Grisha Hunters become hostile, but the Pup itself will also turn hostile towards you. But don't worry! Just run away back to the Beacon and reset the area.

When you go back into the Camp, then as long as the cage is unlocked, the Grisha Hunters will still be hostile but the Pup should be passive once more. It will remain there for each reset until you interact with it to receive the Sheephead Totem.

Fun fact - you don't even need to kill the Grisha Hunters (although killing them obviously also gets you some Gloom and Coin). If you free the Pup and interact with it quickly to get the Sheephead Totem, then you can run back to the Beacon and reset the area to proceed to the Matron stage of the mini-quest (explained below).

Now, go back to the Mushroom Village Beacon and rest to reset the area. Head back to the Grisha Hunter Camp, and you'll find that things have changed. Grisha Hunter corpses litter the area still, and the Grisha Pup now has a motherly Grisha Matron standing beside it.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

Approach the Grisha duo. The Matron will growl angrily at you, but don't attack it. The Grisha Pup will stop the Matron from attacking you. Interact with the Grisha Pup one more time to obtain a Glimpse. You should also search the Grisha Hunter corpses nearby for a Ventrium, a Common Moonshine, and a Coin Pouch.

Now for the final step: attack the Grisha duo. The Pup goes down very easily, but the Grisha Matron is a powerful and challenging foe at this early stage. Luckily, as long as you stay close, it spams an easy-to-block three-step melee combo. Vatra's Seal is perfect for this fight.

If you defeat the Grisha, you'll gain around 3000x Gloom and a special consumable item: a Grisha Remnant.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

Go back to the Beacon and reset the area one more time. Back in the camp, the only difference is that there are now 5x Weltcaps growing in the ground. Pick them all up, and then return to the Beacon.

Mark step as completed.

5. Switch to Nighttime.

For the next couple of steps, I'll show you a special secret area of the game hidden inside Mushroom Village, but it's only available during Nighttime.

So, rest at the Mushroom Village Beacon and use the menu to teleport back to the Marrow Keep. Head up the elevator to the top of the tower, and (provided you followed the steps in our Widow's Overlook walkthrough to obtain the Gloombound Flame), speak with Thestus to switch the world to Nighttime.

This will make all enemies significantly stronger, but we only need it to be Nighttime for a limited time. Now use the north platform at the top of the tower to teleport straight back to the Mushroom Village Beacon.

Mark step as completed.

6. Obtain the Chapel Key.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

From the Beacon, head to the right, and take the first right after that. You should see a few more Babka enemies dancing in front of a bridge. Kill the enemies and cross the bridge to reach a pyre, with several more Babkas dancing around it.

Kill all enemies (take your time; even minor enemies can be tough at Night). Then check to the left of the bridge you crossed, following the cliff edge round until you find a 250x Coin Pouch. You can also interact with the pyre itself for a Burnt Effigy, and also with the statue to the right of the pyre (next to the broken bridge) for another Burnt Effigy.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

On the northwest side of the pyre, you'll also see a freestanding archway. Move around to the other side of it (so that you can see the pyre through the archway), and then step through. You'll see that there is now a giant statue at the cliff wall by the pyre.

Interact with the rope dangling from the statue to obtain the Chapel Key. Remember that locked door in the Grisha Hunter camp? We can now open that door - but we'll get to that shortly. There's more to do here first.

Mark step as completed.

7. Complete the Shrine Of Sorrows.

Beyond the pyre there's a fence. Before going through the fence opening, follow the fence to the right-hand side, around the large rock. On the other side of the rock you'll find a Ventrium.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

Now head beyond the fence and cross the bridge. Ahead of you is a strange mushroom which opens up as you approach, allowing you to step inside it. Before you do that, head around the left side to find 3x Ventrium which only spawn at Nighttime. Then interact with the mushroom to enter the Shrine Of Sorrows.

Surprise! It's a first-person dungeon! The only such one in Mortal Shell 2. There's no fighting involved here - it's a puzzle dungeon, and a very creepy one at that. The puzzle has a fair few steps to it, so here's exactly what to do:

1. Turn around and follow the path to the house, but don't enter it yet.
2. Head through the graveyard to the right of the house. Follow the cliffside around for a Ventrium.
3. Check around the left side of the house for a chest which requires three Offerings.
4. Light the candle opposite the chest.
5. Just past the first candle, turn right and light the second candle on the edge of the cliff.
6. Turn around and light the third candle at the well.
7. Open the chest for your first Dorsalite - an even better upgrade material than Laterite.
8. Now enter the house and read the note on the lap of the corpse in the chair.
9. Interact with the soup cauldron to obtain the Tempered Iron Key.
10. Unlock the door to the right, just beyond the corpse.
11. Obtain the Moonlight Sonata from the corpse in the room beyond.
12. Back out of the room and head to the end of the corridor and around the corner.
13. Read the note in the bookshelf, and then pick up the Sunlight Sonata from the floor.
14. Head back to the front door. Once the headless corpse... dies... head past it and back outside.
15. Turn right and you'll see a new doorway has opened in the fence. Inside is a lone gnarled tree.
16. Head around the back of the tree and read the note.
17. As the note says, face the general's head on a pike at the back of the tree, and spin on the spot twice until the screen turns white.
18. In the new area, head beyond the tree and interact with the lone gravestone to obtain the Starlight Sonata.
19. Return to the general's head and spin again to return to the previous realm.
20. Enter the house again and return to the room at the end of the corridor.
21. Place all three books in their holes in the table.
22. Interact with the shelf at the bottom of the table to obtain the Alluring Mushroom.
23. Go back to the soup cauldron and add the Alluring Mushroom and then drink the soup.
24. In the new area you're transported to, head into the house once again.
25. Take the Basement Key from the table, and use it to unlock the door beside the front door.
26. Head down the steps and walk around the dancing Cultists until you're jump-scared by a cultist in your face.
27. You'll be transported out of the Shrine Of Sorrows and receive a Tooth Of Nochte for your trouble.

Phew! That was a lot of steps, I know, but with that done, the Shrine Of Sorrows will close up behind you, and you're done with that creepy and confusing secret dungeon forever.

Mark step as completed.

8. Return to Daytime.

Now there's no need to be in Nighttime anymore. Return to the Mushroom Village Beacon, transport yourself back to the Marrow Keep, and interact with Thestus to switch to Daytime once more.

Once that's done, return to the Mushroom Village Beacon, ready to continue your journey.

Mark step as completed.

9. Complete the Shrine Of Trials.

Now that you have the Chapel Key, head back into the Grisha Hunter Camp to the left of the Beacon. Use the key to open the door at the far end of the camp, and then head through the fog to enter the Shrine Of Trials.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

Kill the four Cultists in your way (starting with the ranged Frog Cultist healers at the back). Then read the inscription on the back of the statue, which tells you to back off into the wall while facing the statue. Do this and you'll go straight through the wall, allowing you entry into the rest of the dungeon.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

Kill the Wraith beyond, then open the iron maiden around the corner and kill the Wraith that appears out of it. After that, strike the stone statue (twice, in the correct directions) to move it onto the stone pressure plate and open the doorway beyond.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

Kill the Brigands in the next room, and the Wraith inside the iron maiden in the corner. There's also a little area to the left with another Wraith-filled iron maiden. Once you've dealt with all enemies, go back to the start of this room.

There are two pressure plates in the room, with two stone statues to move atop them. Strike the right-hand statue to send it just past the right-hand plate, and then strike the left-hand statue over to the right to move it to where the right-hand statue used to be. Then hit it again so that it smacks into the first statue.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

After that, carefully angle yourself so that you will only strike the far statue and not the other. Hit it over to the corner of the room with the iron maiden to trigger both pressure plates at once, and open the next door.

The next room is the final one, and it's guarded by an Armed Knave - the kind you faced back in the Prologue. Show it your new and improved blocking skills.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

Once it's dead, pick up the Axe and Dagger weapon from the statue at the far end of the room. Yes, that's right - a brand new weapon type! The Axe and Dagger attack considerably faster than the Iconoclast, though predictably with less damage and stagger potential per strike. Use whichever suits your playstyle!

Once you've picked up the Axe and Dagger, you can interact with the glowing light that appears in the centre of the room to teleport back to the start of the dungeon. Exit the way you came and return to the Mushroom Village Beacon.

Mark step as completed.

10. Find Hilga and Grom.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

Take the right-hand path from the Beacon, and when you get to the area of hanging corpses, take the bridge to your left. This will lead you to two new NPCs: Hilga and Grom.

Loot the Burnt Effigy from the barrel to the right of Grom, then speak with Grom himself for a few short words. Then drink from Hilga's Cauldron for a bit more dialogue, and if you like, interact with Harwald the Frog on the back of Hilga's cart.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

Hilga and Grom have their own questline, and you've just kicked it off. We'll be back later!

Mark step as completed.

12. Clear out the rest of the Village.

There's one other bridge leading away from the platform you're on - it's to the right of the bridge you took to get here. Take this remaining bridge across, and you'll encounter a nasty-looking new enemy: a Necrite.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

As with other intimidating-looking enemies so far, the key is to be brave. The Necrite can be stunlocked pretty easily by repeated Perfect Guards/Parries/Hardens, completely breaking its rhythm. All its attacks are telegraphed pretty well, so it won't take you long to get the better of this foe.

After killing the Necrite, look around and you'll see that you're on the other side of that section with all the hanging corpses. Head up to it and you'll see another nasty new enemy type guarding the way: a Neophyte Sester. These spear-wielding women have some fast thrust attacks, one of which is unblockable and can cause a tonne of damage, so be careful facing her.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

At the bridge, turn back around to face where the Necrite was before. On the right-hand side you'll see a wooden slope leading up to a higher ledge. Head up there and kill the lone Cultist amid all the statues. Then loot the statues for a Coin Of Mammon and 2x Burnt Effigies.

Mark step as completed.

13. Reach the Mushroom Village Gate Beacon.

Go back to where you found the Necrite, and head to the far end. Cross the bridge, and you'll reach a final platform. Loot the statue on your right for another Burnt Effigy, and then activate the Mushroom Village Gate Beacon on this platform.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

You can rest if you want, but there's one more thing to do before entering the Beacon's dungeon. Take the only other bridge off this platform, a long one which leads to a tiny lower platform guarded by three Cultists. Kill them all and loot the chest for 1000x Coin.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

Now you're ready! Head back to the new Mushroom Village Gate Beacon and select "Cleanse" to enter the Hall Of Illusions.

Mark step as completed.

14. Cleanse the Hall Of Illusions.

The final step in this part of our walkthrough is to cleanse the Hall Of Illusions dungeon, because doing so will open up Mortal Shell 2's first "Legacy Dungeon" - a large multi-stage dungeon with one of the game's major bosses at the end.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

Head down the elevator and kill the Sester in your way. To the left is another trick archway, like the one you used to get the Chapel Key. Behind the archway is another Cultist; kill it, and then step through the archway to reveal a passage in front of you.

In front of you is a bone statue holding a Laterite, but watch out for the Torch Cultist on your right as you approach. There's another archway in the corner; head around to its other side and step through to reveal another hidden passage.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

Kill the two Cultists in the next room, and then break the wall in the far corner. Once you're in the next room, turn around and look up to see a figure waving its staff at you. A moment later, the floor will disappear out from under you, and you'll land down in a boss arena, facing Vrannic, the Grand Illusionist.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

Vrannic is a boss variant of a regular enemy you'll encounter later, called a Hunchback. They can summon projectiles which home in on you, but as long as you're at a decent distance you can dodge them just fine.

In melee, Vrannic is a bit annoying, because he has two near-identical staff attacks, but one of them is unblockable while the other isn't. If you're comfortable with the timings, then block as many of the blockable attacks as possible to build up Break damage, but if you're getting caught out by the unblockable variants then just play it safe and dodge the attacks instead.

Once Vrannic is at half-health, he'll disappear and deploy multiple copies of himself, all of which will start firing projectiles at you. Go around and kill all the copies as quickly as possible - they die in a single hit each. Running Light Attacks are good for this, they keep you moving while you attack so you're less likely to be hit.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

Once the true Vrannic reappears, use what you've learnt and all the tools at your disposal to kill him. When he dies, you'll receive a Glimpse and a new Tarstone - the Volatile Fragment. Another good one to equip right away, in the absence of other Tarstones to fill that particular slot.

With Vrannic gone, head to the source of the corruption and cleanse it. You can then take the 3x Ova within and return to the overworld, earning yourself another Glimpse for the cleansing.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

Outside, you'll see that the corruption behind the Beacon has cleared, revealing a blinding bright gateway. This will be your next major step: the Legacy Dungeon of the Glutted Mire.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

Mark step as completed.

15. Unlock Mether's Breath.

There's one more thing which we might as well slot in here. Rest at the Beacon and return to Marrow Keep. Once you're there, head into the Ova Nursery and use the Gloom Siphon to retrieve Gloom from your newfound Ova.

Normally the Gloom Siphon only gives you Gloom, but in this case you've just passed a threshold of Ova brought back to the Nursery. At this point, using the Gloom Siphon also gives you a unique item: Mether's Breath.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack

You'll immediately get a tutorial pop-up explaining this, but I'll say it anyway: with Mether's Breath, you can now do two things which are extremely useful going forward:

• You can fast travel from one Beacon to any other from inside the Beacon menu.
• You can cleanse corrupted areas on the map which previously blocked access through certain pathways.

If you'd strayed at all off the path of this walkthrough, you might have seen those corrupted areas. Until now, interacting with them brought you naught - but with Mether's Breath you can dispel them as you wish.

We'll get to that later on in our walkthrough. For now, our next stop is the Sunken Village in Glutted Mire, beyond the gateway at the Mushroom Village Gate Beacon.

Mark step as completed.

That's Mushroom Village cleared, and several secrets uncovered while you're at it. Let's keep up the momentum: check out Part 4 for our full Sunken Village walkthrough!