Gothic 1 Remake: How to Complete The Focus in the Monastery Ruins
Turn into a meatbug, beat the Shadowbeast, and grab the Monastery Ruins Focus Stone for Saturas.
Turn into a meatbug, beat the Shadowbeast, and grab the Monastery Ruins Focus Stone for Saturas.
by Shivam Malani
Chapter 3 of Gothic 1 Remake sends you across the Valley of Mines to collect Focus Stones for the Water Mages, and the closest one sits inside the Monastery Ruins in the northeast. The gate is sealed, the courtyard is packed with Snappers, and a Shadowbeast guards the stone itself. The trick to getting in has nothing to do with your sword.
Quick answer: Meet Gorn at the ravine, loot the Transform into Meatbug scroll from the chest in the lower cellar, use it to crawl through the crack left of the locked gate, open the gate with the winch, clear the courtyard and cave, kill the Shadowbeast, take the Focus Stone, then fight the young troll with Gorn’s help and return the stone to Saturas.
Image: Alkimia Interactive
Quest overview and what you need
This is a main quest tied to both “The Focus Stones” and “The Water Mages’ Plan.” It starts when you reach the Monastery Ruins and speak to Gorn, who is waiting near the ravine. The single most important item is the Transform into Meatbug scroll, which is your only clean way past the front gate. Bring a decent weapon, because the area has multiple combat encounters.
Travel to the Monastery Ruins, marked at the upper-right point of the pentagram star on Saturas’ map. The monastery sits just across the bridge from the Fogtower. You’ll find Gorn standing near a ravine crossed by a log, with a path leading down to the right.
Talk to Gorn. He wants to scout the path for ambushes before exploring the monastery, so tell him you should go together. He’ll lead you down into the ravine.
Follow the path down to the right. Snappers will attack along the way, so deal with them, then head into the cave on the far side. Let Gorn take the front of fights when you can, since he’s strong enough to handle the creatures while you stay safe.
Inside the cellar that once belonged to the monastery’s monks, open the chest in the corner and loot everything. This chest holds the Transform into Meatbug scroll plus a Monastery Key you’ll use later inside the ruins. The full contents are below.
Item
Amount
Transform into Meatbug scroll
1
Monastery Key
1
Lockpicks
2
Arrows
7
Coins
16
Parchment
3
Open the locked gate with the Meatbug transformation
Head back up to the top of the ravine and cross the log to reach the monastery side. A pack of Snappers will drop on you and Gorn, so clear them before moving on.
Go around the corner to the locked iron gate. You can’t climb the walls and you can’t force it open. Look to the left of the gate, near a patch of pink flowers, where Meatbugs are crawling in and out of a small crack in the wall.
Equip and use the Transform into Meatbug scroll, then move into the crack to slip inside the monastery. Once you’re through to the other side, press Enter to cancel the spell and return to your normal form.
Use the winch (lever) in the yard to open the gate so Gorn can follow you in. Talk to Gorn again afterward. Do not try to use the winch while still in Meatbug form, as that causes an action lock-up that’s hard to escape.
Tip: If you’ve already used up your Meatbug scrolls, you can parkour in using the rocks and structure to the right of the crack. Save spare scrolls when you can, since they’re useful for other situations later.
The inner courtyard is full of Snappers. Lure them back into the narrow passage near the gate so you can fight them one at a time, blocking or rolling backward to avoid their jump attacks.
While you’re here, you can grab solid loot. The Monastery Key opens a door upstairs leading to a chest with an Essence of Strength (+1 strength) and an amulet. Climbing the corner tower rewards you with the Willow Bow, one of the best mid-game bows in the area.
To reach the Focus Stone, get to the upper floor. Take the corner door at the back, go through the gap in the wall, use the ledge on the right to climb into the tower, then follow the right-side corridor to the cave entrance near the large pillar at the back.
Inside the cave you’ll hit a fork. The right path leads to a chest with the Blood Harvester schematic (a two-handed axe), healing potions, lockpicks, arrows, and ore nuggets. Take the left path to push forward toward the Shadowbeast. A Light scroll or Light spell makes the dark tunnels and the fight much easier.
Fight the Shadowbeast in the large cave. It moves fast, so running away isn’t an option, but its attack chains are slow with clear rest windows. Circle the cave pillars to bait its swings, then hit once or twice and back off. Downward strikes can stagger it. Avoid bows and crossbows, since it’s too agile to let you line up a shot.
Note: The Sword of Death (48 damage) is stuck in the ground at a dead-end path just before the Shadowbeast. Grabbing and equipping it mid-fight is risky, so it’s usually safer to collect it after the beast is dead.
With the Shadowbeast down, take the path behind it to a cliff and the room beyond. The Focus Stone is wrapped in magic there. Interact with it to claim it.
Don’t backtrack through the cave. Instead, take the archway behind you, follow the corridor up, and you’ll reach a small room with a collapsible door. Pull the lever to open it, which unlocks a shortcut back to the courtyard.
Before leaving that small room, open the chest. It contains an Ice Block Rune (60 damage for 3 mana), 40 ore nuggets, arrows, a lockpick, two healing potions, and another transformation scroll.
Back in the courtyard, a young (juvenile) troll ambushes you. Its hits drain huge chunks of health, so don’t trade blows alone. Run toward Gorn at the main gate and let him join the fight.
Unlike an adult troll, a young troll can be killed with normal attacks, and magic works very well too. Bait its swings, dodge backward, and counter. With Gorn helping, it goes down without special tactics, and it drops roughly 1,000 XP.
Mistakes that block this quest
Using the winch while still a Meatbug, which triggers an action lock-up.
Spending your Transform into Meatbug scrolls before this quest, leaving no clean way through the gate.
Forgetting to press Enter to cancel the transformation after crawling through the crack.
Fighting the young troll alone instead of pulling it onto Gorn.
How to confirm the quest is complete
After the troll falls, Gorn says he’ll stick around the monastery and the conversation ends. At that point you have the Focus Stone in your inventory. Head back to Saturas in the Water Mages’ headquarters at the back of the New Camp cave and hand over the stone to close out the quest and bank the experience.
With this stone delivered, you’re one step closer to gathering all five and helping the Water Mages blow the ore pile to break the barrier. The remaining Focus Stones wait at Troll Canyon, the Mountain Fortress, and below the Stone Circle, each with its own puzzle and companion to meet.
