Valor Mortis: How to Complete the Sleeping Beauty Side Quest

Sleeping Beauty is a side quest in Valor Mortis that plays out in the toxic marsh around the Village Church, inside the Cursed Hollow region during Chapter VI: Punishment. It turns on a single moral choice at a spinning wheel, and both endings hand William the same crafting reward. The hard part is getting there: you need to start the quest at a hidden altar, defeat the Headman for his key, and loop back to a locked chamber.

Quick answer: Read the Headman’s Daughter’s Prayer at the altar under the dead tree to start the quest. Enter the Headman’s house, defeat him, and take the Headman’s Key to unlock the chamber. When you reach the spinning wheel, select “Let Her Sleep” or “Wake her up”; either choice grants one Distilled Transmutation Material.

Where Sleeping Beauty starts in Cursed Hollow

The quest begins near the Village Church lantern. From the first lantern in Cursed Hollow, take the shortcut ladder, deal with the Volunteer enemy on your left, then look right into the open area where an enemy patrols. Slip under the broken wooden fence to reach a blue memory about the Headman’s Daughter. A locked door sits nearby — you will come back to it later.

Keep moving across the raised wooden platforms toward the large dead tree. The water here is poisonous, so stay on the planks. Enemies also surface from the swamp as you cross, and flying pests will harass you, so keep pistol rounds ready.

Weapon menu showing a Lvl 2 Pistol with stats, a Nephtoglobin Infusion description and a locked upgrade tree on the left. — The Pistol weapon screen shows the Lvl 2 Pistol at 33 Damage rising to 36, with its Nephtoglobin Infusion — Bullet ability and a locked skill tree.

Sleeping Beauty walkthrough

Cross the flooded walkways to the candlelit stone altar beneath the dead tree. This hidden spot is easy to miss if you rush the platforming.

Finding the Altar — The altar under the dead tree is where the quest begins — reach it along the marsh walkways. Shown at 00:30 in Game Guides Channel’s video. Image: One More Level

Pick up the Headman’s Daughter’s Prayer on the altar to trigger the Sleeping Beauty side quest. The prayer sets up the story: the girl fears her father, who keeps her at the spinning wheel from dawn to noon.

Reading Headman's Daughter's Prayer — Reading the Headman's Daughter's Prayer starts the quest and logs the first journal step. Shown at 00:32 in Game Guides Channel’s video. Image: One More Level

Follow the plank paths to the Headman’s workshop. Inside, bookshelves line a timber room, with a candlelit table.

Entering Headman's Building — The Headman's workshop holds the Cryptic Note and the Headman himself. Shown at 01:12 in Game Guides Channel’s video. Image: One More Level

Read the Cryptic Note — Spindle on the table. It confirms the spindle was built to hide its true nature, which ties into what happened to the girl.

Finding the Cryptic Note & Key — The Cryptic Note — Spindle sits near the Headman, who drops the key you need. Shown at 01:09 in Game Guides Channel’s video. Image: One More Level

In the bedroom, the Headman springs an ambush. His health bar is sizeable, so parry his attacks and keep wearing him down. Defeat him to obtain the Headman’s Key, which the game identifies as the item used to open the Headman’s home.

Cross the swamp again to reach the locked door you saw earlier. For a quicker route, leave through the bedroom window and follow the blue wall.

Returning to Headman's House — The locked chamber door opens only with the Headman's Key you just collected. Shown at 01:48 in Game Guides Channel’s video. Image: One More Level

Open the door with the Headman’s Key. On the round table downstairs, read the Apothecary’s Note from Doctor Jan Nowicki. It explains that the Red Plague, set with the spinning wheel, was meant to beat the girl’s consumption but instead took over her body — and that waking her will turn her into a blood-hungry creature.

Unlocking Chamber & Finding Apothecary's Note — The Apothecary's Note spells out what the plague did and why the chamber was sealed. Shown at 01:55 in Game Guides Channel’s video. Image: One More Level

Climb upstairs, read the Headman’s Daughter’s Diary, then approach the spinning wheel beside the bed. Her writing says she would choose death over becoming one of the mindless creatures. Interact with the wheel to bring up the choice.

Let Her Sleep or Wake her up: both endings

At the spinning wheel you get two prompts. Picking “[E] Let Her Sleep” pushes the pedal and lets the plague take full hold, leaving her asleep forever. Picking “[F] Wake her up” removes the spindle, and she transforms into a monster you must kill. The fight is short and no tougher than a regular villager.

Letting her sleep matches the wish she wrote in her diary, so it reads as the kinder outcome. Waking her forces William to put her down, and he regrets it immediately. Neither path is a happy ending, and the item reward is identical, so decide on the story rather than the loot.

Choice	Outcome	Reward
Let Her Sleep	She stays dormant forever, no fight	Distilled Transmutation Material (+ Catalysts)
Wake her up	She mutates and you kill her	Distilled Transmutation Material (+ Catalysts)

Read the diary before you touch the wheel. It is the only place the girl’s own wish is stated, and it changes how the two outcomes land.

Distilled Transmutation Material: what the reward does

The quest hands you one Distilled Transmutation Material regardless of your choice. It is an upgrade material used to level up Transmutations, and it carries a shop value of $8,000, making it worth holding rather than selling. Louis’s Laboratoire stocks one from Chapter 9 (In Ruins), and copies also sit in chests and in the world across several regions.

It feeds the level 4 upgrades for three Transmutations, each needing two of the material:

Transmutation	Upgrade	Cost
Fire Transmutation	Level 4	x2
Stasis Transmutation	Level 4	x2
Shield Transmutation	Level 4	x2

The Headman’s Key is a one-use quest key. It is found only in Cursed Hollow, dropped by the Headman when you defeat him, and its sole purpose is opening the daughter’s chamber.

How to confirm the quest is done

You will see a “QUEST COMPLETE” notification and the Distilled Transmutation Material added to your inventory the moment the choice resolves. If you woke her, the prompt fires after she collapses in the brief fight; if you let her sleep, it fires as the plague closes over her. Either way the Sleeping Beauty entry in the side quest menu updates to its final step, and the chamber has nothing left to interact with.