While exploring the House of the Soulless you will find several statues around a mini-grid. Your task here is to make sure the shadows cast by the statues match the shadowed parts of the paintings. Once the two parts of the puzzle are completed, you will gain access to the two secret passages leading to the Ikhor fragment.
How to Access the Puzzle Room
To begin the journey, use the Teleport Waypoint located closely to the entrance of the House of Hesperides. Go up the staircase situated on the left side of the location and proceed to the nearest door.
Keep rising until you reach the place from where the desired room can be seen. Instead of using the entrance that is off-limits, choose to travel to the right and search for the entrance to descend to the bottom level.
Once inside, investigate everything in the room until a cat is found. Follow the cat and reach a vase and interact with it. This leads to the unlockable puzzle room.
Understanding the Shadow Puzzle
In this concealed chamber, there exists a 3×3 pattern of statue placements. The goal here is not to just put something in empty spaces but to ensure that every statue casts a shadow on the needed white parts of the paintings. The spots must be:
- 1: Left-up
- 5: Center
- 9: Right-down
The color of the shadow can also guide you. Yellow border indicates the figure is in the right place while red suggests moving it.
First Part: Unlock the Hidden Room
First remove any previously-placed statue from the board. Then take the Temporary Blueprint of the Snegurochka Statue lying in the corner of the vicinity.
Build the desired statue utilizing the blueprint and place the Snegurochka Statue I in two specific locations: They should be placed in locations 1 and 5 of the board.
After two Snegurochka Statues have been positioned correctly, their shadows will become aligned with relevant parts of the paintings. This will prompt the reappearance of the cat, who will trigger the mechanism, opening an area of the room.
Obtain the Second Statue
Explore the newly unlocked area for the Temporary Blueprint of Snegurochka Statue II. This statue is holding a sword and is essential to complete the last part of the puzzle.
Before leaving, make sure to pick up the Remarkable Chest and Collectible Paintings in this room. After you have picked up the blueprint, go back to the statue puzzle.
Complete the Puzzle
Use the second design to make the statue with the Snegurochka holding a sword and place it in: Slot 9, at the bottom-right position.
If placed correctly, it casts shadow over all parts of the pictures necessary for activating the mechanism of passage to the previously hidden cellar.
If there is no passage, check the statue and make sure its shadow is properly covering the designated white areas.
Find the Ikhor Fragment
Go inside the newly accessible cellar and take the path down until the Severed Ikhor Fragment is found. It can be found inside the cellar, along with some other valuables, like Lumifluorite.
In the cellar, a Precious Chest can also be collected before heading out. Collecting the Ikhor fragment will complete the task in House of the Soulless and send you on to the Procrustes’ Iron Bed.
Rewards
Solving the secret room puzzle and completing House of the Soulless lets you collect several rewards along the way:
- Severed Fragment of Ikhor
- Precious Chest
- Remarkable Chest
- Collectible Painting
- Lumifluorite
