Forbidden Knowledge is the third part of Chapter 4 in Crimson Desert’s main story. This section contains quests that send Kliff to the Scholastone Institute and up into the Abyss once more via the Spire of Stars. This IGN guide will show you how to beat the troublesome bosses at Scholastone and how to ascend the Spire of the Stars by solving puzzles.
Stuck on a specific part of the Forbidden Knowledge questline? Use the links to jump to our dedicated walkthrough sections below:
The Words of Alustin
The Words of Alustin quest sends you back to the City of Hernand. As you walk through the city streets, a messenger will deliver a letter from the wizard himself.
Read the letter to receive your next objective. Alustin needs you to investigate Scholastone, a research institute located in the frosty western reaches of Hernand.
The Words of Alustin
Goddess of Abundance
While you’re here, a noble will be calling for your attention near the overlook. Speak to him to accept a side quest that you can finally complete with the help of your Greymane comrades!
He asks you to build a Goddess of Abundance Statue at the Nas River Fishing Dock. Now that you’ve fully set up the camp at Howling Hill, more requests like this will pop up as you explore Hernand. Dispatch your Freeswords to work on these in the background while you continue the main quest.
Goddess of Abundance
Scholastone
Gaining access to Scholastone requires a disguise, but Alustin has thankfully prepared one for you. There’s no need to seek out a secret vendor like you did at Saint Halssius’s House of Healing.
Head to the fence that Alustin contacted to get your new threads. The building is in the town square near the bell tower.
Head inside, then speak to the goblin upstairs to receive the Scholastone Uniform. Now, you can start your journey westward to reach the institute.
Scholastone is located in a very cold part of Hernand, and the freezing temperatures can drastically reduce your stamina recovery rate. Wear armor with Ice Resistance and consume food like Beer to further increase your resistance to the weather.
The Frostcursed Armor set is perfect for this, but you’ll have to explore some potentially dangerous areas to get it.
The path to Scholastone is long and winding, and there are plenty of cool things to check out along the way.
If you’d rather just continue with the main story, use this link to jump straight to finding the entrance to Scholastone.
Senia
One major milestone you’ll spot on your journey to Scholastone is the small town of Senia, situated on a cliff surrounded by water. There’s an Abyss Nexus on the southern side of the settlement.
Inside a house to the right as soon as you pass through the front gate, you’ll find a crafting book for Accessories of the World Vol. I.
Whispering Grotto
Located just slightly southwest of Senia, you’ll find the Whispering Grotto waterfall. To get behind waterfalls in Crimson Desert, you have to perform a stab attack with R1+Triangle / LSHIFT + RMB.
The entrance to this waterfall can be found about halfway up the cliff face. The unique reward for the Whispering Grotto waterfall is the Duskfang Leather Armor.
Whispering Grotto
Fort Perwin
A huge stronghold called Fort Perwin is blockading most of The Witchwoods and the area east of the Scholastone Institute.
It’s not recommended to clear the stronghold just yet unless you have a bunch of gear upgrades under your belt, but those who brave Fort Perwin can challenge an optional boss called The Crimson Nightmare. This is a really tough fight, so check out our Crimson Nightmare boss guide for tips.
The Crimson Nightmare
Precipice of Echoes Puzzle
Right next to Fort Perwin is the Precicipe of Echoes puzzle, which presents you with a grid of tiles that you have to step on in a specific order.
There are three parts to the Precipice of Echoes Ruins puzzle, and you need to complete all of them successfully to solve it.
Step one is simple: step on the one raised block in the large grid, then move forward to the one symbol that appears ahead of you.
The remaining two parts require you to take very particular paths across the grid. You need to step on all the symbols that appear on the ground blocks without stepping on any square you’ve already stepped on.
Editor’s Tip
If you fail the pathing for this puzzle, the whole grid will go red, and you’ll need to walk off the front (southeast) section of blocks, then wait for everything to lose color.
For notation’s sake, consider the starting block as row 1 and the bow at the back of the grid as row 7. From left to right, then they’re A-G.
First Precipice of Echoes Ruins Puzzle Path
The first Precipice of Echoes Ruins puzzle path is fairly simple. Here’s the path you need to take for the first puzzle solution:
- Step 1: D5-D1
- Step 2: D1-E1
- Step 3: E1-E6
- Step 4: E6-C6
- Step 5: C6-C1
- Step 6: C1-B1
- Step 7: B1-B7
- Step 8: B7-F7
- Step 9: F7-F5
- Step 10: F5-G5
Second Precipice of Echoes Ruins Puzzle Path
Once you reach the end of the first, additional symbols will appear, and you’ll need to do the same process again, but this time, you’ll be walking over the entire grid. Here’s the path you need to take:
- Step 1: G5-C5
- Step 2: C5-C3
- Step 3: C3-F3
- Step 4: F3-F2
- Step 5: F2-B2
- Step 6: B2-B6
- Step 7: B6-G6
- Step 8: G6-G7
- Step 9: G7-G1
- Step 10: G1-A1
- Step 11: A1-G1
- Step 12: G1-G4
- Step 13: G4-D4
Provided you follow both paths and do not deviate from them, like by stepping on any other block in the grid as you go, you’ll unlock the Abyss Cresset and solve the Precipice of Echoes Ruins puzzle. Fun, right?
Precipice of Echoes Ruins Puzzle Solved
Find the Entrance to Scholastone
As you approach the Scholastone Institute’s general location, you’ll reach a seemingly impassible cliff wall in the Black Forest.
To get past it, scan the cliff face for a hole that you can crouch through. It’s in a clearing where there aren’t any trees to hide it.
Through the hole, you’ll find a small deposit of Bismuth Ore. Normal Bismuth Ore can be mined with a standard pickaxe, but there aren’t any ore nodes to hit on this deposit.
To clear the way, you’re going to have to exploit Bismuth’s weakness to electricity. Approach the Bismuth Ore deposit and you’ll see a hologram that’ll teach you Focused Force Palm.
Scan the hologram to learn the ability, then use it to smack the electric orb hiding behind the ore. Just press L3+R3 to activate Focus, then hold R3 while Focus is active to deliver a Focused Force Palm strike. Basically, just use Force Palm while you’re restoring Spirit via Focus.
As you hold R3 to aim the Focused Force Palm ability, you’ll start to see through the walls in front of you. Aim for the highlighted orb behind the Bismuth Ore, then unleash a Focused Force Palm strike to detonate the ore.
You can keep this orb in your Kuku Pot! Just grab it with Axiom Force and then press Triangle/Y to store it in your inventory.
On the other side of the cliff, you’ll finally reach the Scholastone Institute. Follow the path forward and talk to the scholar at the top of the hill to get some info about the dean.
Walk with him and he’ll show you the way to reach the institute atop the hill.
While you can climb straight up the cliffside to reach Scholastone, it’s better to take the path that runs through the nearby settlement of Kharonso.
Kharonso
Kharonso offers many of the services you’d expect to see in larger towns, so take a moment to explore the settlement instead of sprinting straight through it.
There’s also plenty of ore on the cliffs surrounding Kharonso. Bring a pickaxe if you need some upgrades!
Nork, the blacksmith runs an equipment shop where you can pick up some necessities like arrows, plus some new equipment like a Bekker Axe and Bekker Large Shield. Nork also sells Ranged Weapons of the World – Guns, Vol. I, which unlocks new pistols, rifles, and shotguns to craft for Damiane.
By the fields past Nork’s stand, you’ll see some colorful tents and a fenced-in arena. You can participate in some grappling duels here. These are a bit different from the unarmed duels you participated in earlier, but they pay just as well.
There are also two notice boards in the center of town just past the grappling arena. If you see a purple icon on the map for them, check out the posters to learn something new. If not, they’re safe to ignore for now.
There’s a small apiary along the road leading north out of Kharonso, and there you can find a bounty target waiting to be captured.
Simon de Montfort Bounty Collected
Lastly, don’t forget to activate the Abyss Nexus overlooking the northern side of town so you can come back later.
Keep following that road up the mountain and you’ll reach the Scholastone Institute. Your quest will automatically change once you get close enough.
Scholastone
This page is a work in progress. More quest steps will be added soon!
