Pledging to a cause and gathering a boss’ essence
There are four NPCs in Eldest Souls that would ask you to pledge to their cause. You might think that you’re already locked if you choose one, but that’s not the case. You can actually pledge to all four and the only “point of no return,” technically speaking, is once use the vessel to obtain a god’s essence. Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s talk about the Alchemist first.
The Alchemist’s requirements and the Empty Vessel
Location: Concord Sanctuary – The Alchemist is at the left-hand corner of this zone close to the entrance to the Spire.
- Step 1: Citadel – Get the Amethyst Vial in front of the locked door (opened by the Rusted Key) and give this to the Alchemist.
- Step 2: Spire – You’ll need to defeat Hyem first. This will open the door previously blocked by ice.
- Step 3: Negative Zone – This area has broken sections connected by floating platforms. You’ll also get bombarded by shadow orbs as you move around. From the initial spawn point, take a platform and go right, then up. You’ll find the Research Papers here. Bring this to the Alchemist.
- Step 4: Moon’s Way – Next, you have to beat the Deer God/Warden of Purity to open the path to Moon’s Way. There are several lasers here and you need to go north then left at the junction. You’ll find the Abyssal Stone here.
- Step 5: Concord Sanctuary – Return to the Alchemist to receive the Empty Vessel.
The Empty Vessel is a quest item that lets you collect the essence of a particular boss that you’ve already defeated. Just return to that location to pick it up. If you bring the filled vial to an NPC that you pledged to —and, yes, you can pledge to all of them first if you want — you’ll receive a special item/accessory/relic for your troubles.
You can only collect one type of essence/vessel each playthrough. Moreover, unlike skills and shards, special items such as this will be removed from your inventory when you start a New Game+ run.
If you’re really unsure about which vessel buff you want, you can make a backup of your save file. Just go to “C:Users/<username>/AppData/LocalLow/FallenFlagStudio/Eldest Souls.” You’ll see a long string of numbers (your Steam user ID). Open this folder and copy EldestSouls.sav, 54V3B4NK.sav, and the other .sav file with a long string of characters.
NPC pledges and vessel items
| NPC Pledge | Location and Special Requirements | Boss Essence | Reward |
| Abyssal Crow | Citadel – Lower-left corner. Give the Abyssal Effigy found in the Abandoned Battleground. | Azikel | Abyssal Eye – Damage taken is stored in the Abyssal Eye. Every 15 seconds, the Abyssal Eye pulsates to deal 150% of the stored damage. |
| Forest Sage | Everforest – He’s just chilling in the middle on top of his platform. Find the Hunter’s Charm in the Spire and bring it to him. Pledge, and then defeat the Deer God/Warden of Purity. | Deer God/Warden of Purity | Hunter’s Blessing – Taking at least 30 damage within 0.5 seconds causes a Wild Burst that heals for 25% of your HP. Can only trigger once every 45 seconds. (You need to cleanse the three shrines in the Everforest first if you want to obtain this.) |
| Bright Inquisitor | Everforest – Door below the Forest Sage. Pick up the Smothered Heart of Fire close to where the Alchemist is in Concord Sanctuary. This lets you open the door to his chamber. | Eos | Kindled Heart of Fire – Healing charges the Heart of Fire up to 35 HP. Once fully charged, it explodes for 250% of the healing accumulated. |
| Frigid Father | Spire – Lower-left corner. Get the Truice Prism at the lower-right corner of the Everforest. Use it on the icicles near the fast travel point. Walk gingerly across the frozen lake to speak with this entity. | Hyem | Blessed Trueice Prism – Damage taken that would’ve been fatal would instead leave you at 15% HP. Can only happen once per fight. |
All right, let’s go to the next part of our Eldest Souls guide to talk about any important changes after this point.
