Mortal Shell 2: Thieves Retreat Walkthrough and Revered Gland Location

Thieves Retreat is a short optional dungeon in Mortal Shell 2 built around one trick: a collapsed bridge whose floor you cannot see. Get the entrance open, learn to read the mist, and the whole place takes only a few minutes. Fall off, and you land in a flooded pit full of crawling monsters with a long climb back up.

Quick answer: Head north from the Nochtean Gate Beacon, press the stone switch on the wall to the right of the iron gate, then shoot the glowing white circle on the ceiling just inside the gate with a ranged weapon. Ride the elevator down, cross the invisible misty bridge to the candle-lit altar room, and pick up the Revered Gland.

Thieves Retreat location and how to open the gate

The dungeon sits just north of the Nochtean Gate Beacon. Fast travel there, leave the beacon room, and follow the stone battlements. You will run into an armored soldier on a wooden platform and a heavier brute on the stone bridge further along, plus a hostile Stoner near the arched doorways on the lower floor. The entrance is past the arched passageway opposite that Stoner.

Map screen with the Nochtean Gate beacon selected and labeled — The Nochtean Gate Beacon on the map, the closest fast travel point to Thieves Retreat. Image: Cold Symmetry

Walk up to the closed iron gate and look at the wall on its right side. There is a stone button set into the masonry. Press it, and the on-screen prompt reads “A gate has lifted.”

Step through the raised gate and look straight up. A glowing white circular emblem is set into the ceiling. Aim a ranged weapon at it and fire — a crossbow works fine — to open the way down.

Descend the stone stairs into the dark entryway and stand on the stone pressure plate. It works as an elevator and drops you into the dungeon proper. The title card appears as you land, usually alongside a crawling insect-like enemy.

Map screen showing the Thieves Retreat dungeon marker with a Mark Complete option — Thieves Retreat registers on the map, but the interior itself displays “MAP UNAVAILABLE FOR THIS AREA.” Image: Cold Symmetry

Bring lightning resistance before you go in

Most of the danger here comes from floating ghosts that throw Lightning spells, and none of those attacks can be blocked. Since you are fighting them on a narrow ledge you cannot fully see, resistance matters more than damage.

Setup	Why it helps
Proxima with Ampereon at level 2 or higher	Cuts incoming Lightning damage and makes you immune to the Lightning status effect
Galvanic Shard in your passive slot	Adds further Lightning damage mitigation
Proxima’s Biosampler	Hooks ghosts and pulls them to you instead of letting them spam spells from range

Space is tight on the bridge, so stay aggressive. Letting a ghost hover at distance is how most runs end with a fall into the pit.

Crossing the invisible bridge

The main chamber is a ruined bridge over a flooded pit. Your target is the doorway on the far side, marked by two lit torches. The missing sections of the bridge are still walkable, you just have to find them.

Walk to the edge of a broken section and look down. A wispy white outline drifts across the gap, like flowing mist shaped into a floor. That outline is solid ground.

Move slowly along the mist rather than sprinting or rolling. Walking gives you time to correct course when the path bends, and it is the single biggest reason people fall.

Use the floating corpses suspended in the air as waypoints. They line up with the invisible route and show you where it turns.

Clear the ghosts on each stable platform before stepping back onto the mist. There is a real gap near the stone archways partway across that needs an actual jump, and you do not want to be taking Lightning damage when you commit to it.

Player character walking through a dim cavern passage with the HUD visible — The final stretch of invisible pathway leads toward the altar room. Image: Cold Symmetry

Two glowing white pillars sit along the route, one down in the pit area and one near the archways. Break them for Gloom on your way past.

If you fall into the pit

A fall is survivable, but the pit floor is crawling with monsters and a root golem, all fighting you in shallow water. There is an elevator that returns you to bridge level, controlled by a lever.

Either kill everything down there first or pull the pack away from the lever before you double back to it. If the elevator platform is sitting at the top when you need it, pull the lever to recall it, then ride it back up. Missing a landing on the way up simply drops you to the bottom again, so take the elevator a second time rather than trying to salvage the jump.

Character climbing over rubble beside a stone pillar in a dark ruined chamber — Landing at the bottom of the pit means fighting back to the elevator before you can retry the bridge. Image: Cold Symmetry

All Thieves Retreat loot

The pit is worth a deliberate visit rather than something to avoid. Everything except the Revered Gland is down there.

Item	Where to find it
Ventrum	In the pit near the rundown shacks, by a chest tucked behind a glowing pillar on a wooden platform. You need to drop down to grab it.
Laterite (x2)	Two separate stone chests in the flooded lower area, one guarded by a crawling enemy in the water.
Gloom	Two breakable glowing pillars, one in the lower area and one near the stone archways.
Revered Gland	On the floor of the candle-lit altar room at the far end of the invisible path, surrounded by statues.

Armored character sprinting through shallow water toward wooden stairs in the dungeon pit — The wooden platforms in the flooded pit hold the dungeon’s Ventrum. Image: Cold Symmetry

Armored character finishing a downed crawling enemy with a spear in shallow water — Clear the crawler in the water before opening the stone chest that holds Laterite. Image: Cold Symmetry

There is one more thing worth checking. Near the dungeon entrance, on the left side, another invisible floor leads to a hallway lined with traps and enemies. Resolve roots grow in that hallway and in the pit, which suggests Shell abilities or ranged attacks have some use there, but no additional secret has been confirmed inside Thieves Retreat.

Revered Gland: What it does and how to leave

Picking up the Revered Gland is the completion trigger. The moment it enters your inventory, a portal back to the dungeon entrance opens — interact with the pedestal and choose “RETURN TO ENTRANCE” to get out without recrossing the bridge.

The Gland itself is consumed at a Beacon to increase your Mether’s Pulse capacity, meaning more healing charges before you need to rest. It does not do anything sitting in your inventory, so spend it at the next Beacon you clear.

This is one of several Revered Glands scattered across the world, with others in places like the Glutted Mire, the Citadel of Penance, the Holding Cells, and the Forgotten Tower. Note that the Thieves Retreat one is the only reward for finishing the dungeon, so there is no reason to keep hunting the interior once you have it.

If the gate outside will not budge, the usual culprit is the ceiling emblem rather than the wall switch — the button only lifts the outer gate, and the way down stays sealed until you land a ranged shot on the glowing circle above you.