Welcome to the second part of our walkthrough for Death Howl.
After completing the first zone and defeating Cantharsis, the Great Spirit, we’ve managed to unlock the path to The Howling Mountain. However, Ro is still not strong enough to brave the dangers that await her in the mountain. On her quest to save her son, she must turn her gaze towards the Realm of Piercing Winds.
For more information on the game, check out their official website here.
Table of contents
Realm of Piercing Winds Overview
Similar to the Realm of Distorted Hollows, the Realm of Piercing Winds is split up into three zones:
- The Breathing Chasm
- The Hidden Vale
- The Glacial Maw
You can enter the realm through either The Breathing Chasm or The Hidden Vale. Both of these locations can be accessed via The Meadows of Delusions.
For this walkthrough, we’ll enter through The Breathing Chasm. So fast travel back to the northern Sacred Grove in the Meadows of Delusion.
From here, continue heading north till you see the terrain change, and the region text will appear above your screen.
The Breathing Chasm
Unlocking the First Sacred Grove and Map
Similar to the previous zone, you’ll have to activate the first Sacred Grove in the region before the map opens up. The closest Sacred Grove to you is in the northeast.
Go east for your first Spirit encounter in the region.
Continue onward after defeating the Spirits. There’s a cave door up ahead that you can open by clicking on the rock. This leads to some crafting materials that you can collect for free.
Exit the cave and continue heading north to spot the Sacred Grove. Activate it to reveal the map of this zone.
How to Complete the Reap or Weep Side Quest
Take a moment to look at the map and note down the location of the next Sacred Groves. There’s an upper path and a lower path that you can take.
The upper path leads through only two encounters, but both of them are Elder Spirits, while the lower path has more Spirit encounters.
When you’re ready, head northeast to the small empty section. We’ve marked it with an X in the image above.
A large creature will appear. Exhaust his dialogues, and he’ll ask you to retrieve his lost eyes. This triggers the Reap or Weep side quest in the game.
To complete this quest, you’ll have to find the creature’s lost eyes. The eyes are in a hidden cave near the northwestern Sacred Grove. Take the upper path from the quest giver and make your way to the next Sacred Grove.
You’ll have to get past two Elder Spirit encounters. There’s also a nest along the way that you can loot for the Bear Skull Totem.
| Bear Skull (Totem) | Kill: Gain 3 Block |
Talk to the Moose spirit, who you’ll find standing near the Sacred Grove. This will give you a free Teardrop point.
Once he’s gone, go down the passage next to the Moose (shown in the image above) and click on the rock to reveal a cave entrance. Head inside.
Continue heading through the cave to spot the eyes.
Go up to it and grab it to get the quest item: Reaping Eye. As you’re about to leave the cave, you’ll get ambushed by a group of enemies.
This is a tough battle, so if you’re not prepared, you’ll have a hard time getting past them.
After defeating the monsters, you can exit the cave and return to the quest giver to complete the quest. You’ll get the Opal Totem as a reward for completing this side quest.
| Opal (Totem) | Each Turn: Reduce the Mana cost of a random card by 1 this turn. |
How to Complete the Two-Headed Spear Hidden Side Quest
There’s a hidden side quest in this zone that you’ll want to complete before you move on to The Hidden Vale. To unlock this, first make your way to the third Sacred Grove in the southwest part of the map.
You can either take the bottom path from the entrance of the zone, or go down from the second Sacred Grove near where you talked to the Moose.
From the Sacred Grove, go up and read the inscription on the rock on your left. It says something about two pieces of a spear.
Now you have to find two Spear Head quest cards. These are pretty easy to find.
The first one can be found near the Nest at the entrance of the zone when coming from the Meadows of Delusion.
The second one is located just below the northwestern Sacred Grove.
When you gather both pieces of the Spear Head, enter a battle. It doesn’t matter which one.
On your first turn, you’ll have the two Spear Heads in your inventory. Use either one of them and then combine them with the other one to create the Two-Headed Spear.
Complete the battle. Then go back to the rock with the inscription and interact with it. A hole will open up, and you’ll fall into an underground cave.
This will trigger an Elder Spirit encounter against two enemies. Defeat the enemies to get transported back outside the cave. The Two-Headed Spear will break and disappear from your inventory.
As a reward for completing the quest, you’ll get three Teardrop upgrade points.
The Hidden Vale
Unlocking the First Sacred Grove and Map
When you’re ready to move on to the next zone, return to the Sacred Grove in the southwest section of The Breathing Chasm. From here, head left, and you’ll soon find yourself in the steps of The Hidden Vale.
From here, continue along the lower path and defeat the first set of Spirits that come up.
Continue past the encounter, and you’ll spot another group of enemies. This is an Elder Spirit encounter, so we suggest avoiding it for now.
Instead, continue along the path on the left to find another Spirit encounter to the north with only two enemies. Defeat the spirits.
The Sacred Grove is just beyond this encounter. You’ll also see a fallen Spirit on the rocks next to the Sacred Grove.
Activate the Sacred Grove to reveal the map.
How to Complete The Laughing Face of Death Side Quest
After resting at the Sacred Grove, Ro will notice that it also revived the Spirit. But before you can do anything, the Spirit jumps off the cliff and falls to its death.
Rest at the Sacred Grove again. This time, when the Spirit comes back to life, you can talk to it. After a brief conversation, it jumps off again.
Rest at the Sacred Grove one last time. Exhaust the dialogues, and the Spirit will give you the Boulder quest card. Your task is to take it all the way to the top of the mountain. In return, the Spirit will stop jumping off the cliff.
To complete this quest, all you have to do is take the quest card to the top of the mountain. The location is marked on your map after accepting the quest card.
There are four Spirit encounters that you’ll have to go through along the way. But thankfully, they aren’t too difficult.
When you make it to the top of the mountain, Ro will put the boulder down where the Spirit wants it.
Now you can just fast travel back to the Sacred Grove near the Spirit. Rest and talk to the Spirit again to complete the quest. You’ll get the Thick Fur Totem as a reward.
| Thick Fur (Totem) | Once Per Battle: Saves you from one fatal strike |
Exploring the Bottom Part of The Hidden Vale
The Hidden Vale is a much bigger zone compared to The Breathing Chasm. After completing the side quest, take some time to explore the bottom section of the map.
There are multiple Nests behind Elder Spirit encounters that will give you free Teardrop points and upgrade materials. This will help you craft all the cards you’ll need for the Realm.
Also, make sure you activate the second Sacred Grove in the southern section of the area. This will give you easy access to a later region in the game.
How to Get the Cone Realmless Card (Secret)
In the eastern part of the map, marked in the image above, you’ll find a hidden cave.
Reveal the entrance by clicking on the snow.
Head inside. There will be an Elder Spirit encounter. Defeat the Spirits.
When the Spirits are down, interact with the Cone at the end of the cave to receive the Cone Card.
It’s a Fylge card that essentially gives you a summon in battle.
How to Get the Frozen Driftwood Totem (Secret)
With the southern half covered, fast-travel back to the Sacred Grove at the center of the zone. Go up into the frozen lake. Note the faded symbols on the ice.
As you continue moving forward, you’ll see that the ice is beginning to crack. You’ll also spot the silhouette of a whale-like creature swimming beneath the icy surface.
Check your map to see that there are three Elder Spirit encounters nearby: one to the northwest, one east, and one west.
Each of these encounters has a white symbol on the ground. Defeating the spirits causes the symbols to fade away.
Remember the symbol on the ground that you saw earlier? After completing all three encounters, return to the symbol.
You’ll see that the upper section of the symbol is now white. Stand on the circle, and you’ll get the hidden Totem: Frozen Driftwood.
| Frozen Driftwood | Each Turn: Gain 1 Block |
With that done, we’re ready to move on to the next zone of the Realm, The Glacial Maw.
Head north from the central Sacred Grove and through the passage. You’ll have to go through a Spirit encounter to reach the next zone.
The Glacial Maw
Unlocking the First Sacred Grove and Map
After defeating the Spirits, keep moving north to enter The Glacial Maw.
There’s an Elder Spirit encounter waiting for you just up ahead. This one even has a Totemite.
Defeat the enemies and continue forward. When the area opens up a bit, head left to find a Nest. Loot it for a free Teardrop point.
Keep heading north for another Spirit encounter.
The Sacred Grove for the region is located past this battle. Interact with it to reveal the map.
How to Get the A Sight to Behold Realmless Card (Secret)
As you can see from the map, The Glacial Maw is a pretty small, straightforward zone. But there’s a secret card here that you’ll want to pick up first.
Go to the location marked in the image above.
Interact with the “bleeding landscape” to get the A Sight to Behold Realmless Card for free.
When you’re ready, from the unlocked Sacred Grove, continue north, past the three Elder Spirit encounters and a Nest to reach the next Sacred Grove.
Continue past the Sacred Grove to encounter the second boss battle of the game against another Great Spirit.
How to Beat Tradontoz, Great Spirit of Piercing Winds
Like Cantharsis, the fight begins with you having to choose your starting position. Choose either the left or right tile that’s directly in front of Tradontoz’s hands. This is the only place where you can damage the boss in the first phase of the fight.
When the fight starts, you’ll notice that Tradontoz has only a small health pool of 20 Hitpoints. However, before you can hit the boss directly, you’ll have to destroy its hands.
The hands have 10 Hitpoints each and also gain 2 Block each turn. As long as you’re not standing in the tile right next to the hands, the boss can’t damage you directly. So make sure you bring enough ranged cards to give yourself the edge.
What makes the fight tricky is the falling ice boulders on the map. You’ll see the tile where the boulders will land turn red, giving you a turn to react to them. Make sure you stay off the red tiles, as the ice boulders can deal massive damage if they fall directly on top of you.
You also have to worry about the Chill effect that constantly ticks down your health the longer the fight goes on. To counter it, make sure you’ve unlocked the Special Card for the zone from your Teardrop Skill Tree: Light a Fire.
Light a Fire negates the damage from Chill when you’re standing near it. You’ll also occasionally get the Ember Temporary Card that lets you deal massive damage at the cost of only 1 Mana and 1 Health.
When you destroy both hands, the boss will get stunned for a turn and drop face-down into the ice. This is your chance to actually damage Tradontoz.
The boss will quickly recover after 1 turn, and you’ll have to destroy the hands again before you get an opening to attack it. Deal as much damage as possible and back away when the boss recovers. Keep the pressure up, and eventually the boss will go down.
As a reward for defeating the Tradontoz, you’ll get the A Burst of Ice Realmless Card.
This concludes the second part of our walkthrough for Death Howl. For other interesting articles related to indie games, check out the links below:
- Into Indie Games Home Page
- Routine Walkthrough Hub
- Sleep Awake Complete Walkthrough – All Chapters
- Marvel Cosmic Invasion Review
- Winter Burrow Review
Muhit Rahman lives off two things: gaming marathons and endless cups of tea. He writes guides, reviews, and occasionally forgets that real life doesn’t come with checkpoints. His favorite genres are Soulslike and Metroidvania, with Dark Souls III, Hollow Knight, and Dota 2 forever holding top spots on his all-time list.
