Follow this Sekiro walkthrough to revisit Ashina Castle, find hidden items like the Shelter Stone, and prepare for the Return ending by aiding the Divine Child.
Since we've got all of our underwater goodies (for now), we have some more things we can do. We're going to wrap up exploring an area really quick (it will be quick) and then do some things to set up some endings. First up, the exploration!
Head back to the "Ashina Reservoir" Sculptor's Idol and make your way back to the well. Grapple upwards at the end and continue forward to the "Ashina Depths". There's some geckos down here you can kill (two of them) and of course there's the Schimenen Warrior below (we're killing him soon, but focus on exploring for now).
Jump to the area down below, on the right side of the area. There is a Bulging Coin Purse down here (a lot of Sen!). From here head forward and claim the "Sculptor's Idol: Bottomless Hole" Idol. Very nice!
Head forward now and you'll meet another woman. Talk to her and she'll tell you to jump in the hole. Yeah...
This seems like a really bad idea, right? Well... we're going to do it. Go ahead and jump in the hole but be ready to grapple ASAP (while looking around). If you hit the first grapple point (there are multiple) and at the very top you'll find some Mibu Balloon of Soul x2. Follow the path and head downwards to a bigger area.
There is one of those corpse enemies down here, so kill him off and pick up the Fistful of Ash x2 nearby. From here you can head out to find the other (lower) areas you could have grappled up from, but instead look around in the big room and drop down the small hole. This leads you back to the "Poison Pool" area where we've already been (completing this little exploration section).
Next up is some ending preparation. If you're going for the bad ending or the normal ending, you don't need to bother with this stuff. This is for the "Return" ending, but even if you do this you won't be "locked into" this ending yet. We're just doing some required steps.
With that said, head back to the Divine Child and we'll give her the tome we found (one of the key requirements to the "Return" ending). Next, take some rice from her and warp away somewhere and use it. After that, head back to the Divine Child.
If you've been following the guide, the child should be sick now (this is triggered by taking rice from her three times, which we've done now). However, we still have the chance to help her! She actually requires a "Persimmon" and, once again, if you've been following the guide you should have one (it is in the Senpou Temple area if you don't... you can check that section of the guide to find it).
After that, you will gain some Rice and Rice for Kuro. That's new! The Persimmon really helped her! Naturally, you want to go and give that rice to the Divine Heir who will have some unique dialog for us. You also want to give Emma the gourd seed we found to increase our health drinks (if you haven't already).
That's all we're doing to do for the "Return" ending for now. Time to continue on with the main guide!
Once you are ready to continue with the main walkthrough, teleport back to the "Wedding Cave Door" Sculptor's Idol and continue forwards. This area is quite beautiful!
Up ahead on the center table is the Shelter Stone. This is the item we needed for Lord Kuro. Note the "Wedding Palanquin" in the middle of the area. We'll come back for that. For now though, we need to return to Lord Kuro.
Which... is not going to be easy. Return to the Idol and you'll see you can't warp to ANY of the Ashina Castle idols. The vast majority of them have been disturbed! We'll have to head to "Ashina Castle - Abandoned Dungeon Entrance". Makes you wonder what happened, right?!
Go eavesdrop on soldier nearby to learn the next shift is late. Kill him off and ten kill the dogs and the bell giant nearby. Head out to the bridge and kill the hiding man here, then kill the red hat samurai (just deflect to take him out). Head onward and talk to the man who is dying here, the grab the Pellet x2 behind him.
So... basically what is happening here is an attempted coup. The soldiers here are under attack by these red-hat samurai, but that's not all there is here. You'll also face those midgets that we've fought earlier (don't underestimate them!) and more importantly those purple-clad ninja. Who is leading them though? You'll see in a bit!
Drop into the moat here and grab the Yashariku's Sugar you find. Since we can dive down now, you can find a Treasure Carp swimming around in the moat. Kill it for a Treasure Carp Scale. Swim through the bottom area now and grapple up at the other end.
Once you're on dry ground, you can go into the room nearby and drop down to reclaim the nearby "Ashina Reservoir" idol. Make your way back up and head to the front door. On the way you'll see a red samurai fighting a soldier. The samurai will eventually win, so you can kill him off and then go get the "Ashina Castle" Idol back. We're slowly regaining ground!
Head up the stairs here and grab the Oil x2. You can talk to another man dying up ahead if you want and then head up to the doors. That... turns out to not be a good idea, as there are THREE red samurai that show up! That's too much for me, so I went and hid on upper right roofs, lost aggro, then stealth killed one before fighting the other two one on one (since they spread out). You can head inside the castle from here to grab two more items: an Adamantite Scrap and some Oil x5, but the door here is locked. Still, listen to those sounds! There is definitely an Ogre locked up inside. That will be fun later...
Needless to say, with the door locked, we're forced to go the long way around again. There's a few new items to pick up though. If you go right of the Ashina Castle Idol, you can find two soldiers attacked by a red hat samurai. Kill everyone. By the lone tree in the back here are a couple items: some Oil x2 and some Black Gunpowder x3.
Head up to the rooftops now and make your way
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