All 22 Side Quests and How to Start Each One in Valor Mortis

Most Valor Mortis side quests start with something small: a note on the ground, a soldier in a stranded wagon, a cradle in an empty house. Walk past it and you've skipped a quest that can pay an Amber or unlock a hidden achievement. Do them as you go, because the last stretch of the game has no fast travel back.

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Valley of Ashes

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#1An Unheard Farewell

Region: Valley of Ashes
How it starts: Talk to the soldier in the stranded wagon after the first grenadier in Valley of Ashes and agree to help him. Picking up the Letter to all Commanding Officers of the Line Infantry near The Climb Lantern starts it too.
What to do: Follow his unit into the cave near The Climb Lantern and look for survivors. Take the orders you find back to his wagon.
Your choice: Tell him the truth about his unit, or spare him and send him after them.
Reward: Sleight of Hand Amber
Steam achievement: Aggressive Reconnaissance

#2The Emissary

Region: Valley of Ashes
How it starts: Pick up the Emissary's Seal in the abandoned wagon camp past the destroyed bridge near The Other Side Lantern. Gas fills the area, so come back later if you can't get through yet.
What to do: Read the letter in the tunnel below the old windmill in Vale of Wrath after the Slaughtermill fight. Then return to the gassed camp in Valley of Ashes, read the escort's letter and examine the bodies.

Fallen Village

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#3Lullaby

Region: Fallen Village
How it starts: Enter the house with the empty cradle near the water and the Marketplace Lantern in Fallen Village. The quest starts on its own.
What to do: Pick up the key on the ground near the enemies outside the back door and use it on the locked house across the river. Take the Toy from the bed and put it in the cradle.
Reward: Tomorrow's Promise Amber

#4The Scarecrow

Region: Fallen Village
How it starts: Talk to the body strapped to the scarecrow post in the fields near the Fields Lantern in Fallen Village. Keep talking to it until you know what it wants.
What to do: Find the Lover's Pendant on the corpse at the foot of the big tree past the barn, and a letter with a drawing in the house on the hill above the haystacks. Bring both back to the scarecrow, then follow the crows to the barn in the next field and finish the quest upstairs.

Caverns

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#5Homesick

Region: Caverns
How it starts: Read the Longing Wife Letter beside the memory of the worried mother in the area past the Last Sunlight Lantern in the Caverns.
What to do: Drop through the hole in the floor of the big cavern, get past the grenadier and jump the water to the boat that holds the Death Notice. Take it back to where you found the first letter.
Reward: Bottomless Well Amber

Vale of Wrath

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#6The Lost Boy

Region: Vale of Wrath
How it starts: Pick up Mirek's Note from the bench in the house on the main path near the Wolfsbane Field Lantern in Vale of Wrath.
What to do: The cellar door beside the house needs a key. Follow the cave past the mini-boss to find the Cellar Key next to Mirek's body, then unlock the cellar and read the note on the table.

#7In the Name of Art

Region: Vale of Wrath
How it starts: Get into the painter's house on the road near the Under the Bridge Lantern in Vale of Wrath. The front door is blocked, so shoot the weak point in the window from the right side. Upstairs, move the painting beside the corpse.
What to do: Take the Basement Key from beside the gravestone on the nearby hilltop and open the door at the back of the ground floor. Watch the memory in the basement and read the painter's letter in the last room.

#8The Deserter

Region: Vale of Wrath
How it starts: Pick up the Wanted Notice for Private Henri Dufour in the cabin by the road under the bridge, near the Under the Bridge Lantern in Vale of Wrath.
What to do: Beat the soldier past the grapple points outside the In the Name of Art basement for the beekeeper's cottage key, then read the Deserter's Diary inside. Search the hives for the Anubis Figurine fragments and leave the hives marked with a red X alone. Finish In the Name of Art first, since its basement is the shortest way to that soldier.
Steam achievement: Hand in the Jar

#9The King of Smugglers

Region: Vale of Wrath
How it starts: Wade through the poison swamp, vault onto the cargo at the village port near the Ship Graveyard Lantern in Vale of Wrath and read the Cargo Manifest.
What to do: Follow the trail to the harbor in The Outskirts: cross the swamp to the dock near the Harbour Lantern and fight through the ships to the cabin. The mini-boss there holds the Harbor House Key. Unlock the harbor house and read Crusty Benek's Journal on the top floor.

Cursed Hollow

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#10Sleeping Beauty

Region: Cursed Hollow
How it starts: Go to the big tree in the village in Cursed Hollow, turn right, crouch under the fence and follow the path down to the shrine island. The note on the ground starts the quest.
What to do: Beat the mini-boss in the second room of the next building for the house key. Unlock the house, go upstairs and read the note on the table. The spinning wheel is where you choose.
Your choice: Wake the girl, or let her keep sleeping.
Reward: Distilled Transmutation Material

#11The Curious Case of Seamus Diggory

Region: Cursed Hollow
How it starts: Cross the river on the platforms near the Silent Cannons Lantern, wall-run to the house by the artillery enemy and interact with its window. Seamus hands you an Empty Bottle.
What to do: Fill the bottle with clean blood from the pig in the grove (tainted blood won't do) and grab a bottle of wine from a barrel in the hut with animals hanging from the ceiling. Take them back to Seamus's window.
Your choice: Give Seamus the blood or the wine.
Reward: Ferrofluid Flask Power Upgrade
Steam achievement: Blood and Wine

#12Till Death

Region: Cursed Hollow
How it starts: After you beat Anna, walk to the altar at the end of the boss area in Cursed Hollow and examine the wreath.
What to do: Take the Red Ribbon from the grave behind the Village Church (leave through the back door and turn right) and put it on the wreath. If the quest doesn't close, rest at a Lantern and examine the wreath again.
Reward: Tomorrow's Promise Amber

The Outskirts

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Spoiler warning: a quest title in this section names a late-story character.

#13Laudanum

Region: The Outskirts
How it starts: Start at the sick house in The Outskirts, where the old woman who runs it is asking for laudanum.
What to do: Find the laudanum and talk to the children in the house about what they want done with it. Deliver the bottle, rest at a Lantern and come back to see how it ends.
Your choice: Go along with the children's plan, or refuse it.
Steam achievement: The Bitter Cure

#14The Shrike's Anthem

Region: The Outskirts
How it starts: Pick up the torn page beside the wooden shrine near the Island of Whispers Lantern in The Outskirts.
What to do: Several verses are missing. Search the buildings around the island, including a barn across the bridge, and look for holes in walls and attics. Collect every verse to finish.
Reward: Tiny Whisker Gift

City of Orphans

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#15Monster Hunt

Region: City of Orphans
How it starts: Take the first monster drawing from the tree beside the Tribunal Square Lantern in City of Orphans.
What to do: Collect every drawing. They hang on walls, pillars, cabinets and crates around Tribunal Square, along Shamble Street and down in the Sewers. The last one closes the quest.
Steam achievement: The Book of Beasts

#16Bedtime Stories

Region: City of Orphans
How it starts: After the tunnel of burning wood near the Tribunal Square Lantern, take the stairs straight ahead and talk to the children through the hole. Offer to help them.
What to do: The storybook is in the cellar of the same building, reached through the trapdoor in the larger room upstairs. Bring it back to the children.
Your choice: Offer to help or ignore them, and read them the story or decline.
Reward: Tiny Whisker Gift

#17Misericorde

Region: City of Orphans
How it starts: Talk to the soldier tied to the wood pile near the stairs down to the shortcut gate, a little past the Shamble Street Lantern in City of Orphans.
What to do: Climb to the top floor of the nearby building, step outside and shoot the weak point in the attic. Go back and talk to the soldier again.
Your choice: End his suffering, or do nothing.
Reward: Remnant's Return

#18Mummy and Daddy

Region: City of Orphans
How it starts: Interact with the hole behind the ladder across the sewer near the Sewers Lantern. The Mice give you the Cheese.
What to do: Follow the main sewer path down the stairs, burn the golden vines to the left of the chest where the sewer key was and go into the next room. Calm the parents with the music box, then leave the Cheese on the plate in their cell. Don't attack them: if they die, the quest fails.

#19Afraid of the Dark

Region: City of Orphans
How it starts: Talk to the Mice about their fear of the dark.
What to do: Go into the sewers from the Sewers Lantern and light every unlit torch. The sewer key you pick up nearby opens the doors along the way.

Napoleon's Prison

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Spoiler warning: the quests in this section are late-story. You can't fast travel in or out, so finish them before you leave.

#20The Choir

Region: Napoleon's Prison
How it starts: Read the Prison Warden's Journal, Part One, in the room on the left along the escape route near the Prison Lantern in Napoleon's Prison.
What to do: Read Part Two in the small room upstairs and take the Chapel Key from the side room on the upper floor. Unlock the chapel and take the list of dead prisoners from the counter. Once you're out in the city, post the list on the noticeboard on the boulevard.
Reward: Remnant's Return
Last chance: Before you leave Napoleon's Prison

#21The Forgotten Fortune

Region: Napoleon's Prison
How it starts: In the starting cells, read the Prisoner's Note. A neighbor talks about a hanged man and a hidden treasure.
What to do: Get your gear back, then burn the hanged prisoner's body with Fire to reveal the Silver Lockpick inside. Use it on the locked cell nearby to claim what's hidden in it.
Last chance: Before you leave Napoleon's Prison

Across Several Regions

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Spoiler warning: this quest follows a late-story group of enemies to a hidden chamber.

#22The Oathbound

Region: Several regions
How it starts: Defeat any Eternal Guard. A hidden emblem on the body starts the quest. The first one waits in the Battlefield, behind a wall you shoot open.
What to do: Collect an emblem from each Eternal Guard. They're spread between the Battlefield and the Fortress. A few sit behind areas you can't reach until later, so expect to backtrack. With every emblem, a hidden chamber opens in the Fortress near the Courtyard Lantern, and the quest ends there.
Steam achievement: We Wear the Same Colors

How Valor Mortis Side Quests Start and Why They're Easy to Miss

Most side quests start quietly. Some start when you pick something up, like Mirek's Note in Vale of Wrath or the Wanted Notice in the cabin under the bridge. Others start with a conversation, like the soldier in the stranded wagon in Valley of Ashes, or when you walk into the right house, like the one with the empty cradle for Lullaby. Till Death begins at the altar after Anna's fight, so it's easy to leave Cursed Hollow without noticing it.

Plenty of quests refuse to stay in one place. The Emissary pulls you between Valley of Ashes and Vale of Wrath, and the gas around its first camp stops you finishing it on your first visit. The King of Smugglers begins at the Vale of Wrath port and ends at the harbor in The Outskirts. Warp to the nearest Lantern instead of walking back.

Side Quest Rewards Worth a Detour in Valor Mortis

The best payouts are Ambers. An Unheard Farewell pays Sleight of Hand, Lullaby and Till Death both pay Tomorrow's Promise, and Homesick pays Bottomless Well. If you're chasing the Ambersmith achievement, skipping An Unheard Farewell leaves a hole in your set.

Some quests help your weapons and flask. The Curious Case of Seamus Diggory pays a Ferrofluid Flask Power Upgrade, which raises how much each flask dose heals, and Sleeping Beauty pays a Distilled Transmutation Material, a Tier 3 material that upgrades Transmutations. Neither one is a scarce Tier 4 material, so don't count on them to fix a shortage. The upgrade materials page shows what each Transmutation level asks for.

Misericorde and The Choir both pay Remnant's Return, a consumable that soaks up the Catalysts you drop when you die. It's cheap insurance before a boss you haven't beaten yet.

Which Valor Mortis Side Quests Count Toward Achievements

Several quests carry their own Steam achievement. For the ones below, finishing the quest is all it takes. Aggressive Reconnaissance comes from An Unheard Farewell, Hand in the Jar from The Deserter, Blood and Wine from Seamus Diggory's quest, The Bitter Cure from Laudanum and The Book of Beasts from Monster Hunt. The achievements page has the full list.

Blood and Wine and The Bitter Cure both count whichever way the quest ends, so choose by story and not by the achievement. Monster Hunt is the long one, and every drawing is in City of Orphans, so clear it while you're there. The Deserter is easier right after In the Name of Art, because the basement in that quest is the shortest way to the first soldier you need to beat.

Which Valor Mortis Side Quests Ask You to Choose

Several quests end in a choice: telling the soldier the truth in An Unheard Farewell, waking the girl in Sleeping Beauty, giving Seamus the blood or the wine, going along with the children in Laudanum, reading the children a story in Bedtime Stories, and ending a wounded soldier's suffering in Misericorde. Pick the ending that fits how you want the story to go.

Spoiler: Late Side Quests and the Regions With No Fast Travel

Spoiler warning: this section names late-story places and enemies.

Napoleon's Prison has no fast travel, and neither does Entropy after it, so treat the Fortress as your last cleanup stop.

The prison holds The Choir and The Forgotten Fortune, and both have to be finished before you leave. You start the prison without your gear, and The Forgotten Fortune needs Fire to burn the hanged prisoner's body, so get your weapons back first.

The Oathbound is the quest that ties your cleanup together. Beating any Eternal Guard starts it, and the guards are spread from the Battlefield to the Fortress. Once you hold an emblem from every guard, a hidden chamber near the Courtyard Lantern opens. A few guards sit behind areas you can't reach until later in the story, so you'll backtrack. Start collecting as soon as you meet the first one. The achievement on this quest, We Wear the Same Colors, also unlocks if you defeat every Eternal Guard instead.

FAQ

Can you fail a side quest in Valor Mortis?

Yes, in Mummy and Daddy. Don't attack the parents in the sewer cell: if they die, the quest fails. Calm them with the music box and leave the Cheese on the plate instead.

How do I find every drawing in the Monster Hunt quest?

Look at vertical surfaces. The drawings hang on walls, pillars, cabinets and crates. The hunt starts at the tree beside the Tribunal Square Lantern and runs around Tribunal Square, along Shamble Street and down into the sewers. Pick up the sewer key on your way down, because a locked round room holds a drawing.

What if Till Death won't finish after I put the ribbon on the wreath?

Rest at a Lantern, walk back to the altar and examine the wreath again. The quest can need a second visit before it closes.

Do I have to start The Oathbound on purpose?

Spoiler warning: this answer names a late-story enemy. No. Beating any Eternal Guard and taking the emblem from the body puts the quest in your journal, so it starts with whichever guard you reach first.