Mortal Shell 2 Secret Dungeon - Shrine of Sorrows - Riddle & Puzzle Solutions

There’s a secret area tucked away in Mortal Shell 2 that most players will walk right past. It’s packed with riddles, key items, hidden crafting materials, and even a first-person view segment, of all things. The whole detour exists for one reward: the Blackmarrow Key, which unlocks a special shell skin called the Bonegrafted Shade for one of your shells. I’ll help you solve the “By the light of day, the truth remains sealed, and yet in the darkness, all shall be revealed.” riddle as well as the “Look at the young general. Spin around. Look at the young general. Spin around. The next time you look to young general, it will change your surrounds.” riddle and find all books, Tempered Iron Key and Basement key with this guide. There are spoilers ahead, so be warned if you’d rather stumble onto this yourself.

Mortal Shell 2 Shrine of Sorrows: Solving the “By the Light of Day” Riddle

The secret begins near a pyre surrounded by aggressive babushkas who will attack on sight. Cross the wooden bridge past them and you’ll find an engraving that reads: “By the light of day, the truth remains sealed, and yet in the darkness, all shall be revealed.” This riddle is pointing you toward a special mechanic in Mortal Shell 2 that lets you turn day into night, which makes the game harder but improves the rewards you get for the trouble.

Gloombound Flame Location and How to Turn Day into Night

To trigger the day-to-night mechanic, you first need to track down a Gloombound Flame. Starting from the Widow’s Overlook beacon, head to the area where a mini-boss is guarding the path. The Gloombound Flame can be picked up here, and defeating the mini-boss itself is entirely optional.

From there, travel back to Marrow Keep from any beacon and take the elevator up. You’ll spot a lantern sitting on a table, and interacting with it summons a special NPC. Talk to this NPC and he’ll eventually offer to turn day into night for you, making the world noticeably more dangerous.

Once that’s done, head back to the Mushroom Village beacon and return to the spot with the riddle engraving. The level will have transformed, and there’s now an interactable object that transports you to an entirely new location: the Shrine of Sorrows.

Shrine of Sorrows Puzzle Walkthrough

You’ll be dropped into first-person view once you arrive at the Shrine of Sorrows, so don’t be thrown off by the perspective shift. Before heading to the main shack, it’s worth grabbing three offerings scattered around the grounds to unlock a chest containing a rare Dorsalite crafting material.

• From the chest, the first offering is nearby.
• The second is tucked back in a corner.
• The third is found at a well.

Once all three offerings are collected, the chest opens up. There’s also a second hidden crafting material, Ventrium, located just to the right of the shack.

Tempered Iron Key and the Three Books

Stepping into the shack, you’ll quickly notice a locked door requiring a Tempered Iron Key. To find it, check the cauldron close by; it’s interactable, and picking it up hands you the Tempered Iron Key needed to proceed.

Once inside, the first room holds the Moonlight Sonata book, one of the three books needed to solve the shack’s central puzzle. The room next door contains a pedestal you can interact with to place all three books, though you won’t have all of them yet. This second room also holds the Sunlight Sonata book.

That leaves one book unaccounted for. Around this point, you’ll start hearing banging on the shack’s door. Head to the entrance and a headless corpse will burst through, which also unlocks a previously inaccessible area outside.

“Look at the Young General” Riddle Solution

In the newly unlocked area, centered around a tree, you’ll find a note with a second riddle: “Look at the young general. Spin around. Look at the young general. Spin around. The next time you look to young general, it will change your surrounds.“

The solution is stranger than it sounds. Look at the head mounted on a pike nearby, then spin around and look at the head again, then spin a second time. Doing this transports you to a frozen landscape. From there, run toward the grave to find the Starlight Sonata book, the third and final book needed for the shack’s puzzle.

To get back, return to the general’s head, spin around twice more, and you’ll be teleported back to the shack at the Shrine of Sorrows.

Completing the Shrine of Sorrows and Finding the Basement Key

With all three books in hand, head back inside and place the Moonlight, Sunlight, and Starlight Sonata books on the pedestal. This opens a secret compartment containing a mushroom, which you then need to place in the cauldron you interacted with before. Drinking from the cauldron transforms the area once again.

This change also reveals the Basement Key, sitting on the edge of a table. Head to the basement door next to the shack’s entrance, and you’ll witness a ritual taking place below. After some movement and a well-placed jump scare, you’ll be teleported back to the real world.

Mortal Shell 2 Blackmarrow Key Location and Bonegrafted Shade Reward

Completing the ritual rewards you with the Blackmarrow Key, along with an additional item that can be sold to a vendor for 500 gold. That wraps up the entire Shrine of Sorrows secret: both riddles solved, all three books collected, and every puzzle cleared.

With the Blackmarrow Key in hand, head back to Marrow Keep and return to the elevator room. Chests line the sides of this room, and for any shell you’ve already unlocked, you can now use the key to claim a special white-colored Bonegrafted Shade skin as a reward for the effort.

It’s worth noting that Blackmarrow Keys have a broader use across the game too, since the elevator room contains chests corresponding to each of the eight shells, and each one requires its own key to open. So even after clearing the Shrine of Sorrows, keep an eye out for more of these keys if you want to unlock every available Shade.