Step 01
Wonder Weapon: NekoMancer
Collect all parts from around the map:
- Bell (3 spawns): Staging Area hanging off a wooden beam / Training Area hanging above the wallbuy on the right / Stables at the entrance of the buried house
- Karakuri (3 spawns): Storage Room near crates / Workshop next to a wicker basket / near the wooden boxes opposite PhD Flopper
- Maneki-Neko (3 spawns): Kitchen on barrel near the Mystery Box / Kitchen on top of a barrel / Gatehouse on top of a barrel
At the Tenshu Eaves, find the cat trapped in a hanging cage opposite Mule Kick. Knock it down using PhD Flopper, either wall jumping with the Stuntman augment or by flopping underneath. Pick up the cage and take the cat to any Lava Pool.
Get a kill on one of the marked spots to reveal paw prints: Flower Garden near the stairs, Stables, Kitchens, or Training Area. Follow the paw prints and keep getting kills to spawn the next set. Eventually the paw prints will form a circle. Throw the Maneki Neko into the middle to spawn an Abomination.
Tip
The lava in the area must be flowing to spawn the Abomination. If your lava is solid, use lethals to break the rocks and get the lava flowing again.
Kill the Abomination. The cat will run away. Progress one round and the cat will respawn in one of the rooms with creaky floorboards: Training Area, Kitchens by the Mystery Box, or Kitchen by Double Tap.
Sneak up on the cat and interact with it to pick it up. Stepping on a creaky floorboard scares the cat, causing it to run out of the map. You will need to wait another round. Death Perception shows which floorboards creak but is not required.
Take the cat to the seed near PAP and interact with it to start a pulsing attack. Avoid the pulses and melee the seed until the cat transforms into the NekoMancer. Interact to equip it. Can be PaP'd up to 3 times (4 in Cursed T3).
After picking up the NekoMancer, there are 11 lanterns around the map to hit within a time limit (10 seconds, or 13.5 seconds in Directed mode) using the weapon's melee or shoot attack. Each lantern will glow purple when hit. After all 11 are lit, go upstairs in the War Room and interact with the ghost on the ground for a mid-game cutscene.
Evidence 1
Motive
Key Item: Fox Mask
Take the glider from the roof and lean right near the tree. Interact mid-air to collect the Fox Mask. Then take it to the Storage Room and hang it on the wall, a lockdown triggers. Play Simon Says by shooting zombies wearing masks in the order they light up on the wall.
Find the Fox Mask under the stairs in the Workshop inside the bookshelf (pipe). Shoot it. The mask will fly to the Collapsed Study above the support beam (Takeo's case).
It will then fly near Elemental Pop in the Onsen Baths through the zombie spawn (collect the Comb evidence).
The mask will then fly into the seed. Interact with the evidence shelf in the Meditation Room and place all of the evidence to reveal the 1st painting.
Evidence 2
Accomplice
Key Item. Coin Purse
A coin spawns at a Mystery Box location, check both sides of the box. Throw a Maneki Neko at the location while the box is present, then spin the box. The Coin Purse will appear on the box. Pick it up and go to spawn, where it floats near the rampage inducer, interact to trigger a cutscene.
Grab a bucket (Stables near Death Perception / Tea Garden in the Ornament Room / Onsen Baths Top Floor) and take it to a pool of water (Onsen Baths or Tea Garden). Interact with the pool to fill the bucket. You have three charges of water. Getting hit, running, or jumping will spill the water.
In the Gardens, water all three plants by interacting with them. A Gardener Zombie will spawn alongside a Golden Flower. Shoot the Nekomancer on the flower to make the Gardener vulnerable, then kill him to drop the Shears.
Go to the Kitchen and knock down one of the red fruit. Leave the area and return, a zombie will be eating it. Approach slowly and he will follow you with the fruit in his mouth. Walk him to the Staging Area and kill him in front of the window barrier.
A Merchant Zombie will spawn. Kill him to drop the Sales Note and Mercantile's Abacus evidence.
In the Training Area, throw a decoy at each Wooden Window above the blown-up wall. The Noble Zombie will throw grenades down, pick them up and throw them back at the window to kill him. He drops a Note and the Noble's Hat.
Place all evidence on the shelf to reveal the 2nd painting.
Evidence 3
Poison
Under the bridge in the Flower Garden, pick up a plant. Collect the pouch from the rafters in the Training Area (shoot it down with a charged NekoMancer shot or any explosive).
Stand in an active ashfall zone with the Pouch equipped to collect Volcanic Ash. The ash fills while you stand inside it, which takes 50 seconds solo. It is quicker with more players in the ashfall: about 40 seconds with 2 and about 29 seconds with 4. Then plant the seeds and ash in the pot near the exfil machine in the Tenshu Entrance.
Defend the pot while the Flower Power tornado effect from a nearby cherry blossom tree is active (melee a tree three times to activate it). Then collect the Monkshood Flower.
In the Kitchens, melee the green vegetable off the wall and jump on it 3 times to collect plum seeds.
In the Storage Rooms, find the 3x3 scroll grid. Interact with it and a Maneki-Neko will spawn as a timer. Shooting or meleeing a cell pushes it in and toggles adjacent cells. Use the solver below to find which cells to target based on your starting state. The Pestle and a Note will drop from the center once all scrolls are in.
Take the Pestle to the bowl on the stone slab in the center of the Kitchens. Fill the soul box with 40 kills solo / 60 in co-op. They must be toxic-element kills inside the area (Brain Rot or charged Nekomancer kills), and a brain-rot kill counts as 5. A cutscene plays, then pick up the Pufferfish from the corner of the room.
Place all evidence on the shelf to reveal the 3rd painting.
Evidence 4
Location
After completing Evidence 3, the 3rd painting appears on the evidence wall along with a Ceramic Shard. Take this and the Shard from the War Room to the Tea Garden Kintsugi Station and craft the Sake Cup.
Progress a round. The Sake Cup will start glowing blue. Interact with it to play a short cutscene.
Place the Sake Cup at each of the three locations in any order. Survive the defense wave at each to obtain the item that spawns there:
- War Room: back left corner, Horse Statuette
- Study Room: left of the Wunderfizz machine, Calligraphy Brush
- Tea Garden Kintsugi Station: Tea Whisk
Dog Mechanic
Whichever location you visit third, a fast dog will spawn after the defense wave instead of dropping the item directly. Kill the dog to make it drop the item. The dog runs quickly but follows a fixed circular route around the map: once you learn its path you can cut it off rather than chasing it.
Place all evidence on the shelf to reveal the 4th painting.
Evidence 5
Suspect
While unlocking PAP you will need to kill an Oni. Killing him drops the Shogun's Hanko, place it on the shelf in the Meditation Room.
In the Stables, wait for the lava to harden. The Netsuke of Brothers Statue will be sitting in the center, use an explosive tactical on it to loosen it, then pick it up. It is very small so look carefully.
After completing Evidence 4, a clock will be revealed in a pile of rubble in the Storage Room (after the 4th image appears in the Evidence Room). Interact with it to display a combination of 4 numbers: note these down in exact order.
Search for blue glowing Chinese numerals on walls around the map. The locations change each round, but the four possible spawn locations are Spawn, Stables, Flower Garden, and Central Courtyard. Note which numeral appears at which location, as this determines where you place your flags later.
- 一1
- 二2
- 三3
- 四4
End the round to trigger a defense round. Zombies will be glowing red and carrying flags: kill them all. Once the round ends, all flags will be placed in the Staging Area.
Place up to 2 flags beneath each blue glowing number so that their values add up to the corresponding number from your clock. The order of placement must match the order your clock showed. For example, if your clock showed 6, 3, 5, 2, place flags summing to 6 beneath the first glowing number, 3 beneath the second, and so on.
Once all flags are correctly placed, return to the clock and interact with it to open it. Pick up the Crest Medallion inside.
Now, you'll need to get kills with the traps to find out if it was the Gardener, Noble (courier), or the Merchant. After getting 20 kills in a single trap activation (the count resets each activation), a ghost will spawn behind or near it. Interact with it to hear its story about what happened the night of the murder.
- The Flower Garden trap will tell you if it was the Noble.
- The Castle trap will tell you if it was the Gardener.
- The trap at spawn will tell you if it was the Merchant.
Tip
If the guard you talk to mentions their person's name, they are the suspect. If nothing is mentioned, for example "I saw no activity that night", then it was not that suspect.
Step 07
Solving the Murder Case
Return to the Meditation Room and place your Evidence Items in front of the paintings. Use the solver below to determine what goes where.
Once solved, a bright orange orb will float to the World Seed. You can now purify the sword. If you fail, skip a round and retry.
After the orb reaches the World Seed, interact with the incense in the Meditation Room to complete this step.
Step 08
Boss Fight
After purifying the sword you will be teleported to a Mini-Boss Arena. Kill the mini-boss to be teleported back to the World Seed Room where a cutscene with the Dragon will play.
A Fast Travel Flag spawns in the World Seed Room. Use it to travel to the Boss Arena.
The Path of Sorrows ultra rarity Katana sword will be stuck in the floor inside the World Seed Room after completion.
Note
The Path of Sorrows will only appear if you solved the Murder Case correctly on the first attempt. If you failed and retried, the sword will not spawn.
Reference
Key Items
Fox Mask: Take the glider from the roof and lean right near the tree. Interact mid-air to collect it. Then take it to the Storage Room and hang it on the wall. A lockdown triggers, play Simon Says by shooting zombies wearing masks in the order they light up on the wall. Collect all three evidence pieces for the mask afterwards (see Evidence 1).
Ceramic Shard: On the floor to the left of the door in the War Room. Can be placed on the Kintsugi Station in the Tea Garden.
Pouch: In the rafters in the Training Area (shoot down with a charged WW shot or explosive).
Volcanic Ash: Collected by standing in an active ashfall zone while holding the Pouch (50 seconds solo, about 40 with 2 players, about 29 with 4).
Pestle: Obtained from completing the 3x3 scroll puzzle in the Storage Rooms (see Evidence 3).
Coin Purse: A coin spawns at a Mystery Box location. Check both sides of the box for it. Throw a Maneki Neko at the location while the box is present, then spin the box. The Coin Purse appears on the box. Pick it up, then go to spawn where it will float next to the rampage inducer. Interact with it to trigger an evidence cutscene.
