The Festering Banquet

1. Shivering Shore, Salt and Sanctuary

Head right and open a door to enter an area called The Festering Banquet. Enemies here drop various useful consumables and upgrade materials. You might want to farm the enemies for salt, gold, as well as the items they drop. The area has a number of useful items described below. Collect as many of these as you can. The most important item is the Stone Blacksmith as it can be used to spawn the Blacksmith NPC. You need this NPC to upgrade your weapons and armour pieces. Near the boss arena is a shrine. Rest at the shrine to restore your HP and Red Flask and make any last minute preparation prior to fighting the area boss. Farm enough salt with a view to obtaining the skill Class 1 Heavy Macefighter as well as the skill Class 2 Heavy Macefighter. These skills are required to use the Warhammer, the main weapon we will use in many upcoming areas of the game.

2. Farm salt & gold at Shivering Shore, Salt and Sanctuary

Notable loots:

• Red Shard x 9. Can also be farmed from Rotten Walkers, Rotten Crossbowman, and Skullbat.
• Torch x 3. Also dropped by Rotten Walker and Rotten Crossbowman. Many areas in the game are dark and some are pitch-black. Having plenty of Torches ready would greatly help to illuminate your surrounding as you navigate your way around an area. Torches can be purchased from various merchants.
• Lock of Hair. Dropped by Rotten Crossbowman. You need Lock of Hair x 3 to upgrade the Varangian Spatha, which is your starting weapon as a Knight, to Varangian Spatha II. Do not worry if you cannot get the Rotten Crossbowman to drop Locks of Hair. You would be able to purchase the upgrade material later on, after defeating the area boss.
• Rotten Walker's Ear. Dropped by Rotten Walker. Exchange Rotten Walker's Ears with a Leader in return for a reward of your choosing. In later areas of the game, you will collect an item called the Stone Leader. Offering the item at a sanctuary would spawn an NPC called a Leader. The presence of a Leader in the sanctuary of an area would boost your salt gain by 10%, provided you defeat enemies found in that area. Offer various items to a Leader in order to increase your Creed Devotion and obtain a number of rewards in return.
• Skullbat Wing. Dropped by Skullbat. Exchange Skullbat Wings with a Leader to deepen your Creed Devotion and choose a reward.
• Pouch of Salt. Found on a corpse near a grated gate.
• Bundle of Salt. The same location as where you collect the Stone Merchant.
• Stone Merchant. Found near a shortcut. Kick down the ladder to unlock the shortcut. Offer at a sanctuary to spawn the Merchant NPC from whom you can purchase various consumable items, among other items. Strictly speaking, you need to spawn the Merchant NPC at only one sanctuary. You can then use the services of the Guide NPC to travel to the particular sanctuary and purchase items from the Merchant. If you are to spawn only one Merchant NPC, you might as well do so at the sanctuary of Shivering Shore.
• Bell of Return. A consumable item that returns you to the last sanctuary or shrine at which you rested.
• Stone Cleric. Offer at a sanctuary to spawn the Cleric NPC from whom you can purchase Prayers and other items. For a Strength build, the most useful consumable sold by the Cleric NPC is the Blessed Page. Buff your melee weapon with a Blessed Page to add holy damage to your attacks. Stock up on Blessed Page because many bosses in the game are vulnerable against holy damage. If you want to spawn the Cleric NPC, you might want to do so at least at the sanctuary of Shivering Shore or at the sanctuary of The Village of Smiles.
• Rogue's set. A lightweight armour set that offers decent protection and allows you to equip a heavy weapon without being overburdened.
• Bandaged Ring. As you take more and more damage from enemies, your HP bar would decrease due to wounding. The Bandaged Ring reduces the effect of wounding so your HP bar would not decrease as much as compared to when you do not equip the ring.
• Mend. A Prayer that restores HP and reduces wound. Can also be purchased from a Cleric. The Prayer is found next to a lever that unlocks a shortcut.
• Stone Blacksmith. Offer at a sanctuary to spawn the Blacksmith NPC who can upgrade your weapons and armour pieces. You do not need to spawn the Blacksmith NPC because one will be found at the sanctuary of The Village of Smiles. Use the services of the Guide NPC to travel to the particular sanctuary and avail yourself of the services of the Blacksmith.

The Sodden Knight

3. The Sodden Knight, Salt and Sanctuary

Offer the Stone Merchant at the sanctuary to spawn the Merchant NPC. Purchase approximately Birian Firepot x 15 from the Merchant; you might need to farm for gold to purchase up to Birian Firepot x 10. The fight against The Sodden Knight can drag on for quite some time if you use your starting weapon against him. You can shorten the fight by throwing Birian Firepots at the boss.

Defeat The Sodden Knight to obtain the Fortress Key and The Sodden Knight's Ashes. The Fortress Key opens the path to two areas: The Village of Smiles and Bandit's Pass.