The Hornwitch Crone is a minor character in the Elden Ring expansion Shadow of the Erdtree. The Crone is part of the Hornwitch race, which was almost completely exterminated by Messmer the Impaler. You can find her in Belurat, behind a locked door in the pantry, where she spends all her days praying to the Sacred Lions, hoping to finally take revenge on her offender.
You can find out how to start the quest, talk to the old woman and get all the rewards from this article.
How to find the Horned Old Woman
Find the door to the pantry
You can get to Belurat from the “Cross at the Main Gate” waypoint. Just go straight up the stairs to the northwest until you reach the room with the scorpions, follow the stairs up and go to the exit. At the end, on the left by the large doors, you will see the first grace of this location, “Belurat, settlement near the tower.”
From there, turn right to the southeast and you will come to a small square with a fountain. Here, turn into the next alley, go to the end, and soon you will see a door arch on the left. Enter the room and go up until you reach the closest point to the Horned Old Woman – “Small Private Altar”.
From this point, exit the room and turn left, where there will be two shadows. Walk a little forward along the bridge until you see a locked door.
To find the key to it, from the same grace, follow straight to the northwestern exit. Climb up the stairs and, before reaching the cliff, turn right. Follow the shadow-infested alley to the top of a small waterfall.Â
Turn right and enter the room. Go up the stairs and on the corpse at the exit you can pick up the key to the storage room, in which the Old Woman Hornbill is located.
Return to the locked door, open it and you will see the Old Woman on the right. During the first conversation, she will mistake your character for a minion of Mesmer the Impaler, shower you with curses and refuse to talk.
How to talk to old woman-hornbill
Defeat the Sacred Beast
To talk to the old woman, you need to defeat the Sacred Dancing Lion. To do this, from the previous point of grace, return to where you got the key to the pantry.
Only this time, from the corpse with the key, go forward up the stairs until you reach the roofs. Go along the roofs directly to the north, dealing with the stone birds along the way and come out to a large staircase and a shadow carrying a pot. Follow forward until you see a huge tree, next to which you can find Ashes of a Glorious Spirit.
Head west and climb the stairs to the very top to reach the Front of the Stage grace. Before entering the arena, find the summon sign for Freya the Red-Maned Knight and summon her to your side.
Once your character opens the doors to the arena, you will see the Sacred Dancing Lion lying in the distance, which will begin to come to life under the prayers of the Hornbill Crone.
The Dancing Lion is a rather difficult boss, which, unlike the others, has three battle phases. It does not provide respite between attacks, and in the third phase its attacks become completely unpredictable.
The lion is vulnerable to bleeding, equip the character with items with a similar effect: weapons, spells and ashes of war.
After defeating the lion, you will receive the Dancing Lion Memories and the Sacred Beast Head mask.
By putting on this mask, you will be able to talk to the Horned Old Woman, who will finally change her anger to mercy.
Return to the Old Woman and Talk
Talk to the Old Woman, who this time will mistake your character for the vessel of the Sacred Beast. She will be glad that her prayers have finally been answered.
The Crone will reward you with the Vigilant Spirit prayer, which can summon a guardian spirit. She will then ask you to destroy Messmer, avenging her clan.
Talk to the old woman again. She will note that you must be starving and give you Scorpion Stew. This item will allow your character to temporarily increase resistance to physical damage, as well as gradually restore HP.
The Hornwhisper Old Woman will continue to supply you with stew for the duration of her quest if you talk to her periodically.
You can also bring one Scorpion Stew to Hornwhisper, in exchange for which he will give you the “Face of the Oven Giant” – an extremely rare material for crafting a Large Oven Pot.
Destroy Messmer the Impaler
Where to find Messmer
The main boss of this quest can be found in the Haven of Shadows, which is located in the location of the Shadow Altus.
You can get to Shadow Altus either through Ensis Castle or by a shortcut, which you can learn about in this article.
Once you reach Shadow Haven, defeat the Golden Hippopotamus and go left. The path will be fairly straight until you reach the Sample Storage area. You need to get to the very top to find Messmer.
Go straight for the first scarecrow and find a ladder up. Follow the bookshelves and go up the next ladder, which is on the north side.
Climb even higher until you see a huge crucified effigy. Climb on it and go to the next save point “Storage, fourth floor”.
Go outside and head left until you see a doorway to the northwest. Go inside and head right until you come to some stairs. Go up the stairs and turn southwest to find the next waypoint, “Storage, 7th Floor.”
From her, go down the stairs again a little lower and follow south to a dead end. There will be a lever there, activating which will open the way up.
Climb onto the back of the first scarecrow, then jump onto the next one and drop down onto the balcony. Go outside again and climb up the stairs until you see the Red Knight and a huge door, behind which lies the entrance to the battle with Messmer. Defeat the knight, take the Winged Beast Helmet and Ashes of War: Blazing Spear from him.
Messmer will be at the very top, behind the door at the grace “Entrance to the Dark Chambers”. Before entering the place of the fight with Messmer, you will see two summoning signs to summon Hornet and Swordswoman Iolana.
Messmer is vulnerable to bleeding, but is much weaker than the Sacred Dancing Lion. At the beginning of the second part of the fight, a cutscene will begin where Messmer will unleash the power of the serpent, tearing out his eye and breaking the seal in it. In his snake form, he will give you less time between his attacks, and will also begin to attack in quick dashes. Striking the enemy's head in this phase will add more damage.
Return to the Horned Old Woman
Return to Belurat to the Old Woman and talk to her again. This time, you do not need to put on the mask. She will tell you that she already knows that Messmer the Impaler has been defeated.
She will also tell you that she has prepared a festive dish and invite you to share the meal with her. This time, an Exquisite Scorpion Stew will appear in your inventory, significantly increasing resistance to physical damage and gradually restoring HP.
In further conversations, the old woman will only talk about how she wants to rest. After spending enough time with the grace, you can return and see the old woman sleeping soundly, and in front of her you will see and be able to pick up another Exquisite Scorpion Stew.
< p>At this point, the quest of the Horned Crone in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree can be considered completed. We hope that our guide will help you find the character and talk to him.
