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Earthen Peak Walkthrough

Start and Assassin's Nook

Entering from the Harvest Valley upper walkway, venture forward and around the toxic pool. As you approach the stairs take note of the break in the wall on the left. Inside there is a Poison Brumer, which will emit a gas as you pass. Run past it and kill the other Brumer on the next platform, halfway up the flight of stairs. At the top, you'll also encounter the Desert Sorceress that has been bombarding you on your journey up, on the ledge on the left. Before proceeding, drop into the crack with the first Poison Brumer we encountered. Behind it you can find some Skeptic's Spice.

Again go up the stairs, but before heading to the fog door head into the room on the right to find an Abandoned Hollow facing the wall. Kill him quickly as a Masked Manikin  will attempt to ambush you. Make quick work of him, then turn your attention to the Poison Brumer in the room on the left. DON'T RUSH IN as there is a second Poison Brumer hiding on the left of the entrance. Try to take the visible one out using ranged attacks, to make your life easier against the second. There will also be another Hollow in this room, and a booby-trapped chest. Opening this chest will (as every other booby-trapped chest so far) emit a poison mist, so get ready to roll away as soon as the cehst is opened. Inside the chest. you will find a Torch.

Pharros' Contraption and Lucatiel of Mirrah

Still delaying the inevitable boss fight, look the pool of poison (area of the stairs you entered from). You'll notice a metal grate sticking out with a Poison Brumer at the entrance. Take it out from range then line yourself up at an angle, so you don't roll off the grate, and make the leap.

Pay attention to the floor in the next room and avoid the trap switch. It will activate a contraption to shoot arrows from behind. Just past the next door is a Manikin on the right waiting to ambush you. For a laugh, you can pull the Undead Huntsman into the first room and activate the arrow trap when the enemy walks through the door, taking care of both the trap and the enemy. Down the hall, you'll find a chest and yet another Manikin waiting on the left. Across from this enemy, a corpse holds a Soul of a Nameless Soldier and 3x Titanite Shard, while the chest holds a Heavy Crossbow +3, and 15x Heavy Bolt. Head back to the ledge overlooking the pool, jump towards the ramp on your left: if you land in the poison here, you're dead. Be wary, as soon as you land there, another Masked Manikin  will ambush you here as well.

Now, you're back at the lower entry from the poison urn room in Harvest Valley. Venture down the ramp and run toward the body at the end of the toxic hallway. Halfway down take a right and enter the room , on the left you will meet Lucatiel of Mirrah. If it is the third time meeting her, she will give you a Ring of Steel Protection +1. After talking to her, investigate the Pharros' Contraption to have a mark appear on the wall behind you. Punch it to reveal a open a secret door which holds a chest containing the Poisonbite Ring and Soul Of A Proud Knight. Return to the hallway and claim an Repair Powder from the body to the right.

Slayer of the Covetous

With all that out of the way venture back to the fog gate. Head up the ramp and into the doorway on the left. If you have followed the guide so far there will be 2 Hammer Ogres in the big room full of poison jars. Either kill them or run to the ladder to the right and continue on through the door to reach the upper level once again. Return to the fog door to face the first of two bosses, of Earthen Peak.

BOSS FIGHT: Covetous Demon

Quick Tip: In the boss room, look above for Urns hanging from the ceiling. They contain Undead, which when shot down, will cause Covetous to lunge at them. This distracts him for a good amount of time to give you free hits. (No one ever says this on their guides but breaking the pots only work with Iron Arrows/Heavy Bolts. Trying to shoot it with wooden ones will just break themselves.) 

Lighting the Windmill

Shortly after the boss you'll find your first Bonfire of the area. Continue on and turn to the right. There you will see a Masked Manikin hiding behind a chest. To save yourself  some trouble later, you can take care of him from here with ranged attacks, then go up the stairs to the left, but be carefull, a Manikin and a  Steelworker Undead will engage you. There is a switch on the wall by the stairs that lifts/lowers the pot of poison in the room, like the second one below; be careful, as it can break. In the corner you'll find a Radiant Lifegem guarded by some poison pots. Through the door is a narrow walkway with a Spear-wielding Grave Warden at the end. Watch out to your right as there are archers that shoot poison arrows at you. Try to take them out from range before engaging/aggroing the Warden. The battle with him is tough on the walkway so lead him back to the room you came from. He keeps his shield up 90% of the time, so use guard break to stun him then lay into him; he's also susceptible to backstabs. He will also try to heal himself once he is low on life.

Move across the now clear path and through the doorway. The first door on the right leads to the walkway where the archers were standing. There is an item across the broken pathway, but don't try the jump. We will be reaching it another way much later. Instead, go back out and through the door past the hanging poison pot. To the right is a lever which raises the pot to the ceiling (significance ??). You'll also find a summon sign for Devotee Scarlett in this room.

Head down the stairs to find yourself on a ledge with a chest containing a Pike, at the end on the left. As you approach it, a Masked Manikin will leap out from behind it, and attack you. This is the same chest we saw earlier when coming from the bonfire. Head back up to the room with the hanging poison contraption, and find ladder straight across the room. Similarly, approaching it will prompt not one, but two Masked Manikin to drop down from the top of it. Climb up and dead ahead, you'll find a Grave Warden standing by some stairs. There a a small ledge off the left side of wall leading up to the WINDMILL BLADES. Use your torch to light the windmill on fire as this will remove the poison water from the boss fight area!!! This is the one and only way to do this! Once that is done move up the small stairs and go through the fog door to find the second Bonfire.

The Laddersmith

Head back out and up the stairs to the left. Once again, heading upstairs will prompt another two Masked Manikins to jump out and attack you. You can also loot a corpse here for 3x Black Firebomb, and another in the corner for their Manikin Mask. If you let the last assassin run up the stairs, a small gate will block off the doorway that you initially come across. In this case, take the ladder up, to your left. Head right, into a thin corridor with an enemy on the other side of it, hitting you with ranged attacks. Be careful as two Masked Manikins will jump out of nowhere and attack you from behind. In the middle of the corridor, you'll find a Flame Butterfly. At the end of the corridor, you'll be attacked by an Desert Sorceress, try to kill her with a ranged attack. On the right you see some poison urns, if you destroy them, you can take out the two Masked Manikins with ranged attacks. There is also a chest, we will get to this one later. For now, drop down to fight another Masked Manikin. Kill him, then break one of the poison vases, blocking your exit. Drop down to the lower level and fight the two Masked Manikins, that will drop down from above of where the ignored chest is (if you haven't defeated them already). From here you have two ways you can go: either you go left through the hallway, or you drop down on the wodden plattform and go through the hallway on the right. We will take the second option for now, it leads us to the the opposite side of the gate the Masked Manikin closed earlier.

Destroy the first wooden reiling on the right to find a Simpleton's Spice, then kill the Masked Manikins further down the way. If you follow the small way on the other side of the wooden railings, you will reach the NPC Laddersmith Gilligan. Speak to him and he will offer to build you a ladder leading down for 2000 souls. After the cutscene, exhaust his dialogue to move him to Majula, and learn the "Prostration" Gesture. Go down the ladder he provided and follow the ledge to a corpse with a Pharros' Lockstone and Twinkling Titanite, head back up the ladder and follow the ledge back to the area you came from.

Meetings with the Mild Mannered

Back at the balcony go through the archway and you will notice the lever on the wall, this activates the lift ahead. However don't pull it yet. Continue on and go up the ladder, to get back to the hallway we ignored previously. Down the hallway is a Grave Warden; kill him then take the first door to the right in the hall. Down the stairs you'll encounter, for the second time if you interacted with him fully in the Forest of Fallen Giants, the NPC with the peculiarly-specific name, Mild Mannered Pate. He will give you several items: his Spear, Shield, Armor set and the Ring of Thorns. 

The door in this area doesn't open from this side so talk to him then head back upstairs. Continue past where the Warden was, and up the small stairs. There's a path to your right, but ignore it for now and go left up the large stairs. We will arrive on the opposite of the hole we jumped down a while ago.If you have beaten all the enemies here previously, there will only be one Desert Sorceress on the left. There is another poison-mist trapped chest behind the Desert Sorceress on the left, which contains a Pharros' Lockstone.

After taking the treasure, head back downstairs and go right into the hallway we skipped before. There's a break on the floor, and on the opposite side you can see a corpse which holds a Radiant Lifegem (NG+ divine blessing x3) and a chest containing a Soul Of A Brave Warrior and a Crimson Water, guarded by a Grave Warden. You can make the jump, but its a close one. Aim for the section of broken floor on the left. As soon as you approach the broken section, a Masked Manikin will jump down to attack you.

Jumping back over, break the fence on the left and drop down to the platform below. On this platform is the locked door leading to Pate's area. Open it, then turn around to see the corpse below. That is the broken archers walkway from earlier on. From here you could make the jump but first head into the small opening in the wall and turn right to find a chest ahead containing Great Heavy Soul Arrow. Jump back and head to the left, past Pate's door. 

Drop to the lower platform and pick up the Lightning Spear from the chest under the structure then make the jump (surest way is to angle yourself towards the item, that way you'll likely roll into the wall and not out of the platform) down to the corpse's walkway below to collect the Poison Broadsword and a Human Effigy. Use a Homeward bone or Darksign to return to a bonfire; alternatively, you can make the jump to the nearby ledge. Its on your right facing away from the loot. After returning to the second bonfire and head up the stairs to the left once more.

Tying up Loose Ends

Remember that lever on the wall of the archway ahead? Pull it to start the lift. Run to it quickly, as it will move without you. Follow it all the way up to an area with multiple poison jars. Behind them were the various enemies you had just cleared out before. There is a chest containing the Mirrah Shield here. By now you may have noticed the lift has descended. If so, jump back down. Pull the lever once again but this time, let the lift raise without being on it. You can find underneath the lift is a corpse holding a Soul Of A Proud Knight and a Divine Blessing. Make sure you grab them and return to the ladder for safety before the lift returns! After claiming all the items in this area, head back to the top of the stairs near the second bonfire, and go to the ladder.we used when the gate was closed (be carefull of the traps and respawned aenmies if you rested or homewarded in the meantime).

Head up the ladder and you will see a doorway on both left and right. Since last time we went right, we're going left instead. There are three poison urns when you enter, break them from far away, approach the wall and press the "use" button on your controller to reveal a secret door. Remember the rain of fire balls back in Harvest Valley, when you approached Earthen's Peak?, Here you will finally dealing with the responsible Desert Sorceress. There is also a corpse containing a Spell Quartz Ring +1.

Turn around and head up the stairs, passing (or destroying from a safe distance) the multiple poison urns in this hallway. Ahead is an area that contains another Desert Sorceress and a Nimble Shadow. To your left are two more Grave Wardens guarding a set of stairs which lead to the boss fog. Ignore them for now and go up the stairs in front of you. Up the stairs, to the right is an area with six Poison Brumer amongst a bunch of Poison Jars. Using a long hit range weapon like a halberd or a spear could come in handy, in this area. In this room is a corpse holding a Small Smooth & Silky Stone in the corner. As for the chest in this room, it's not a chest: is a Mimic. So attack it, or use a Lloyd's Talisman on it to wake it. It drops Dark Gauntlets and the Work Hook.

Also inside this room is a Pharro's Mechanism. Activating it causes it to spill out poison into a small pool in front of it, draining it from a hallway leading to the spinning blades. If you burned the windmill it becomes water that cures poison and gradually heals. Exit the room and go up the stairs in front of you. To reach a balcony with many poison jars.

All Hail the Queen

There are two illusory walls one to the right and one to the left of the archway. Press the "use" button to open them. The one on the right contains a Bonfire. The one on the left contains a chest holding a Petrified Something! Head all the way back downstairs and confront the final two Grave Wardens as well as two Hollow Crawler you'll have to deal with before the boss, guarding atop the set of stairs from earlier. On the left side of the steps leading up to the boss, you'll find a Poison Stone, on right, can also summon the NPC Jester Thomas for the boss fight. When you are ready approach the boss fog.

BOSS FIGHT: Mytha, The Baneful Queen

Killing her gets you a nice sum of 20,000 Souls and her Boss Soul. Head forward up the stairs and into the lift to enter Iron Keep. Note: It is recommended to follow the route starting by going down The Pit in Majula to reach the Grave of Saints before continuing in Iron Keep.

How to Slay the Queen

• MAKE SURE YOU BURN THE WINDMILL BEFORE THIS BOSS AS THIS WILL RID THE FIGHTING AREA OF POISON!
• Mytha's Attacks:
  • She has a few different attacks and is very quick; reminiscent of Medusa with the whole, snake-body / woman-torso thing.
  • One attack she sometimes opens with is spiting a fan of souls arrow type projectiles out of her head.
  • When she is up close and personal she jabs and swipes at you with her massive lance.
  • She will throw her head as well and will explode with soul-like residue wherever it lands.
  • Her other attacks include tail whips and swipes.
• Mage Build: This battle is a breeze. Stay far enough away to dodge he spear jabs and smash her with your spells. At range she seems to alternate between her spear and throwing her head / Soul arrow; all are easily dodged.
• Strength Build: The fight requires a little more caution but still is pretty manageable. Using the same tactic as above, bait her spear jab and side step it. This animation leaves her wide open for a few hits. Don't get greedy though, if you stay close to her for too long she will attempt a devastating grab attack. (The grab can be easily dodge by constantly strafing left or right and leaves her very vulnerable.) Give her a few slaps then retreat to safety. If she throws her head, move away from it and rush in and attack when she goes to retrieve it.
• READ IF YOU EXPERIENCE POISON DRAINING GLITCH.
  • Many people have been encountering a glitch where the poison does not drain from the boss fight area. So far there has not been a patch to fix this glitch and its making this boss fight near impossible for many. If this happens, there is still one area where you can be free of the poison. Try standing at the far end of the room in front of the fog gate. THE STONES DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF THE FOG GATE WILL KEEP YOU SAFE FROM POISON. Hope this helps anyone unfortunate enough to experience this glitch.