Valor Mortis: How to Escape Napoleon’s Prison (Chapter 10)

Late in Valor Mortis, William is stripped of his gear and thrown into Napoleon’s Prison, which kicks off the Shackled main quest. The place is dark, crawling with Eternal Guardsmen, and deliberately disorienting, but the way out is linear once you know the order of the key, your weapons, and the exit.

Quick answer: Climb the crates to the rafters and grab the Armoury Key, unlock the Armoury to recover your gear, then shoot the Nephtoglobin node by the Shrike sign and burn the webs to drop into the sewers.

Image credit: Lyrical Games, One More Level

Reach the rafters and find the Armoury Key

You start with nothing, so this whole stretch is stealth. Sneak past the patrols and avoid fights until you have your weapons back.

From the cell where William wakes up, climb the stairs. Wait for the nearby guard to turn away, then slip into the gap behind the broken wall.

Crawl the length of the narrow passage and out the gap on the far side. Move left through the door quickly, before the guard turns back toward you.

Push deeper through the rooms until you reach two doors with chains lying on the floor. If William was kind to Mimi and Agnes, the mice open the door straight ahead as a shortcut. If not, take the left door and work your way around while the guard steps into the small office.

Both routes meet at the large room with a cage in the middle. Hide behind the crates and watch the guard circle the cage. You will spot the Armoury here, but it stays locked for now. Once the guard moves away, turn right and head up the stairs.

Go left into the first small room and climb the stacked boxes to reach the upper beams.

Move along the beams slowly so you do not alert the soldiers below. Jump across the gap when the patrol turns away, keep right, and drop into the open room lit by a torch on each side.

Take the Armoury Key from the table. This reinforced iron key is the only thing that opens the Armoury.

Recover your weapons from the Armoury

With the key in hand, backtrack to the Armoury. If a guard catches you on the way, there is a gap on the right you can drop into to break line of sight.

Leave the key room and head for the door on the far left. Go down the stairs beyond it.

When the guard looks away, squeeze through the narrow opening on your hands and knees, then continue straight to the cage room.

Let the guard circle away from the Armoury, then unlock its door with the Armoury Key and open the chest to get all of your gear back.

Now that you are armed, backstabbing the Eternal Guardsmen deals heavy damage and makes the rest of the prison far easier to move through.

Open the Shrike door and drop into the sewers

After collecting your weapons, Mimi and Agnes direct you to the Shrike-marked door. It is the exit, located past the Nephtoglobin node along the corridor that contains your gear chest.

Return to the long corridor and find the red Nephtoglobin node glowing in front of the Shrike symbol. Shoot it to clear the blockage.

Burn away the webs covering the opening with the Fire Transmutation.

Head through and drop down into the sewers beneath the prison. Follow them until you reach a Lantern, which confirms you are clear of the cells and the Shackled quest moves forward toward the burning city.

Items to grab before you leave

You cannot return to the prison once you escape, so clear the guards and collect everything before you drop into the sewers.

Eternal Catalyst Clot — Burn the hanging corpse back in your starting cell for a Silver Lockpick, then open the locked cell. The clot grants 5,000 Catalysts.
Distilled Blade Material — Smash the glowing red bulb in the corridor close to the Armoury Key room to uncover a chest.
Remnants Return — On the ledge across from the door you first escaped through, destroy the second red bulb for another chest.
Two Distilled Transmutation Material — Open the one-way door near the Armoury by pulling the blue bulb to clear the wood, climb the stairs, and drop through the gap on the left into the room below.
The Choir side quest — Read the Prison Warden’s note in the small office near the Mice’s shortcut door to start it.

Eternal Catalyst Clot. Image: One More Level

The Choir cannot be finished inside the prison. It asks you to collect the warden’s notes and unlock the chapel, but the quest only wraps up once William reaches the burning city on the other side of the sewers and pins the paper of prisoners’ names to the board near the Lantern there.