Crimson Desert – Chapter 1: The First Encounter Walkthrough

After dying and coming back to life in Crimson Desert, Kliff sets his sights on Hernand Town, determined to uncover answers and track down his killer.

Now it’s your turn to explore the town and see what you can discover, but things are not going to unfold quite the way you expect.

Note

This is part of our Crimson Desert – Walkthrough Hub, so if you want more content, guides or walkthrough about the game be sure to check it out.

Trials Of Kindness

The first thing that you need to do is enter the town and head toward the Hernand Tavern.

Feel free to explore the town, but we do not recommend going outside until you completely finish the first chapter of the game.

The tavern is located south of your current location, so make your way there. You will recognize the tavern entrance by the sign on the door.

Here, you will find a man sitting on the table in front of you; you can interact with him to try the mini-game arm wrestling.

Help The Beggar

After you win your match, head outside the tavern, and you will see a beggar to the left who is being bullied by some boys. Wait for the boys to leave and interact with him; you will be able to give him some coins.

The beggar will find this act very kind and will give you a special key, but he will not tell you what it is for, and will narrate a riddle your way.

Help The Lady In The Sewers

You do not have to wander far because the beggar was laying on the sewer entrance, and the key will open the trap door there. Head down, and on the other side, you will find a woman whose hands are tied, and she will ask for help.

Approach her and untie her hands to free her. She will smile and hand you a letter. What Kliff does not know is that all of this is a test.

Help The Little Kid

There are two more people that you need to help. Then, a kid just north wearing green; approach him, and you will see that his cat is on the rooftop and does not want to come down.

You can climb to the rooftop, pick up the cat, and give it back to the boy. Just as the boy leaves, he will drop a strange green pendant behind; be sure to pick it up.

Help The Distressed Couple

Moving on, your next task is to go and help the family living southeast of the town. As you approach the house where smoke is coming out, you will see the man falling from the rooftop.

He is supposed to clean the chimney, but the wife accuses him of acting up because that is just what he does, of course. Kliff, for some reason, has to help with this.

You will be given the broom item, and you need to climb up to the rooftop and reach the top of the chimney. Interact with the chimney using the broom; this will prompt Kliff to clean it.

After you help the couple, you will receive the Hernadian attire as a gift. Make sure you keep this, because you will need it if you want to enter the Hernand castle later on.

Trace

Just as you finish all these trials, the key that the old man gave you will start to emanate a strange aura, and you need to examine it. Simply open your inventory and inspect the Shabby Wooden Key.

This will make the key transform into an elegant one, and it will indicate that it unlocks the alchemist’s chamber inside the Hernand castle.

Make your way there, which is located to the north of the town. Before you approach the gate, make sure you equip the Hernadian attire that you were given. With this attire, the guard will allow you to enter the castle.

Go inside the castle, then take the stairs to the entrance on the right. Head to the right, and the alchemist’s chamber is the first door on the left.

Here you will find a treasure chest, and upon interacting with it, a portal will activate on the wall. Go through it.

The Abyss

You will find yourself in what is called the Abyss, which is a location in the sky. Here, you will see a building in front of you, and you need to make your way inside.

But first, step on the platform in front of you. This is an Abyss Nexus, and it acts as a fast travel point that you can use to move around the land.

Approach the building ahead, and a white bird will stand on your hand. It will give you a power and mention that this is a tool to help you go inside.

You will be granted a new ability called the Axiom Force. With this, you will be able to grab and move objects around the world. For this specific puzzle, you need to use this ability to rotate the disks to align the circuits and open the gate.

You can use your lantern or Blinding Flash to see the visible lines of power that you need to connect together. Doing so will open the door to the building, and you will be able to get inside.

A Familiar Face

Once you go inside, you will see a man in red. When you approach him, you will realize that this is the beggar from the town.

It seems that he was testing you and directed you to meet him in this place to learn more about the world. He has an important task: you need to restore the balance and save the world, but Kliff has no idea what he is talking about.

Just as he is about to finish his words, he will send you to a different location called Skybridge. You need to restore it in order for it to function.

To do so, use your Axiom Force on the panel behind the gate and rotate it until it turns blue.

This will bring up the path to the other side, which you need to take. You will need to do some jumps and platforming until you reach your destination.

Activate The Abyss Nexus

This is the Nexus, and you will need to activate it. You will notice that the left pedestal has a blue cube on it, so this is working.

What you need to do is use the Axiom Force to grab the second cube from below and place it on the second pedestal to the right. With both of them active, there will be a power cell that you can grab and put in its placement on the wall.

Now approach this, and you will see a ghost performing a special attack to activate it. This will unlock a new ability called Force Palm, which you will need to use to punch the cell inside for it to function.

This will activate the round mechanism on the upper floor, and you need to climb to its center. Use Force Palm on it, which will fully activate the Nexus, and you will see an item appear on the upper floor.

Make your way there and pick up the Abyss Artifact. This will also trigger a cutscene where the same bird from earlier will come up to you and transform into a lady.

As you speak to her, you will notice that she is the same woman from the sewer, and she was only testing you as well.

She will grant you wings that will make traveling the open world easier and ask you to return to the town, but what she means is that she wants you to jump.

Return to Hernand

Your character will trust them and will jump. You will get the tutorial on how to use the wings, so get familiar with them.

Make sure you land near the town, and this will complete the first chapter of the game.

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