Valor Mortis: Homesick Side Quest Walkthrough in the Caverns

Homesick is the only side quest in the Caverns, the region you explore during Chapter IV: Dark Descent in Valor Mortis. It is short and linear, and it involves no choices. You find a wife’s letter at an abandoned family camp, track down the body of the man she was waiting for, and bring the news back to the camp. The game has no map, so the Lanterns are your only landmarks, and the whole quest happens near the first one, Last Sunlight.

Quick answer: Take the Longing Wife Letter at the camp past Last Sunlight. Then drop through the torch-lit hole to the boat quay, take the Death Notice from the body in the rowboat, and walk back to the camp’s bedroll.

What you need before starting Homesick

The Caverns open once Louis Moreau gives you the Cave Grotto Key at the Abandoned Church. That happens after you rescue him and return to the hub at the start of Chapter IV. From the church, take the left path, grapple across the broken bridge, and use the key on the gate to the left of the locked one ahead. The game shows “The door was opened with Cave Grotto Key” when it unlocks.

Chapter IV: Dark Descent must be active, and you need the Cave Grotto Key from Louis.
You need the Fire Transmutation to burn the orange webbing on the way back to the camp.
You need the grapple ability, which you already use to reach the cave gate.
All the stops are in the first stretch of the Caverns, before the Old Mine Lantern.

Homesick stays available after you finish the main story, so you can come back for it later if you skip it the first time.

Homesick walkthrough: Longing Wife Letter to Death Notice

Enter the Caverns, grapple along the linear path, and rekindle the Last Sunlight Lantern. A route on the left is blocked by a blue node from the far side. That is a shortcut you open later, so keep to the only open tunnel.

Follow the tunnel about 30 m to a small camp. It has a campfire, a cooking pot hanging from a tripod, a bedroll on the floor and a wooden crate beside it.

Step 1: Start Quest Area — The family camp is the first stop past the Last Sunlight Lantern. You come back here to finish the quest. Shown at 00:21 in Ghosts of Reykjavik’s video. Image: One More Level

Watch the blue Echo of the Concerned Mother comforting her child on the bedroll. Then pick up the Longing Wife Letter from the crate with E TAKE. Weronika wrote it to her husband, saying the children are pining for him and asking when he will get them out from underground. The “HOMESICK / NEW SIDE QUEST” banner confirms the quest has started.

Ghost Memory & Starting Note — The mother's Echo plays on the bedroll, and the letter that starts Homesick sits on the box beside it. Shown at 00:25 in Ghosts of Reykjavik’s video. Image: One More Level

Continue into the large chamber ahead and stay on its left side. Most enemies here are Shambling Civilians. There is also a red-eyed elite at the left campfire and Spewers on the ceiling. Shoot the Spewers first, ideally while they are forming a poison orb.

Ignore the holes in the floor except the last one, in the far left corner. You can tell it apart by the torchlight below and a torch on the ground beside it. Drop through it.

Land at the underground quay, where an Echo of fishermen hauling boats ashore plays near the water. Take the right path first and kill the Sapeur on watch. The next group includes two Rapier fighters.

Step 2: Exploring Waterway — The fishermen's Echo marks the flooded quay where the Death Notice is. Shown at 01:22 in Ghosts of Reykjavik’s video. Image: One More Level

Skip the grapple point straight ahead, because it drops you onto a Risen Grenadier. Climb the ledge on the right and shoot the red explosive barrel next to the enemy group. Pick off the remaining enemy below with your Pistol.

Hop down and cross on the boat. Wait until the Grenadier stands under the glowing Nephtoglobin orb on the ceiling, then shoot it. The falling rock kills him without a fight.

Open the red ornate chest on the cloth among the crates with E OPEN (HOLD) to get the Lucky Shot Amber. A Legendary Catalyst Clot sits to the right once the rifleman is dead.

Dock Platforming & Chest — The optional chest near the boat holds Lucky Shot. Grab it while you are here. Shown at 02:04 in Ghosts of Reykjavik’s video. Image: One More Level

Find the rowboat pulled up on the rocky shore below the chest ledge, with a small lantern on its bow and a shrouded body inside. Take the Death Notice with E TAKE. It is roughly 118 m from Last Sunlight.

Finding Courier Body — The father's body lies in this beached rowboat. Taking the Death Notice from it advances Homesick. Shown at 02:35 in Ghosts of Reykjavik’s video. Image: One More Level

The note is a medical message. The man died of typhus, carried no papers, and gave only his wife’s name, Weronika, asking that his love be passed on. You will see “QUEST UPDATE / HOMESICK” followed by “NEW ENTRY ADDED TO THE JOURNAL”, and the journal now confirms the father was on his way home.

Finishing Homesick at the family camp

Pull the blue node past the boat. This opens the shortcut into the waterfall area. Grapple up the blue anchors and follow the cliffside path past the waterfalls.

Rest at the Lantern along the way if you need to heal. You can also fast travel to Last Sunlight and walk the opened shortcut from there.

Step 3: Backtrack Path — A Lantern on the return route is a safe place to rest before the walk back to the camp. Shown at 03:41 in Ghosts of Reykjavik’s video. Image: One More Level

Burn the orange webbing that blocks the tunnel back to the camp with the Fire Transmutation.

Walk up to the bedroll and crates where you found the first letter. William delivers the father’s message to the family on his own, so let the dialogue play out.

You know it worked when the “HOMESICK / QUEST COMPLETE” banner appears with a Tab VIEW QUEST prompt. Your Catalysts go up by 2,000, and a Bottomless Well notice slides in on the right. The final journal entry says the father’s letter was read at the camp. You can check the quest at any time under QUESTS > SIDE QUESTS > Homesick.

Homesick journal stages and letters

Homesick has three journal stages and two letters. Use the table to see which stage you have reached.

Quest log menu showing the main quest Revival, Chapter I, with a text entry and a sepia illustrated card of a banner and hourglass. — The Quests tab of the journal shows the active main quest “Revival” from Chapter I, with its story entry and illustrated card.

Stage	Triggered by	Where	Journal says
1	Longing Wife Letter	Family camp, ~30 m from Last Sunlight	A family waited for a missing father
2	Death Notice	Beached rowboat at the quay	He fell ill on his way home
3	Returning to the camp	Family bedroll	The message was delivered

Bottomless Well and Lucky Shot Amber values

Homesick pays out one Amber, and the quay route gives you a second. Both have three ranks. Picking up a copy of an Amber you already own raises its rank rather than adding a duplicate.

Amber	Effect	Max rank	Copies placed
Bottomless Well	Gradually restores depleted Nephtoglobin.	3	3
Lucky Shot	10% / 15% / 20% chance a Firearm shot uses no Ammunition	3	4

Bottomless Well comes from a chest in The Battlefield, a drop from the Risen Lancer in the City of Orphans, and a conversation reward, which is the copy Homesick hands out. If you already took the Battlefield copy, this one moves it up a rank. Lucky Shot is in chests in the Caverns, Vale of Wrath and Fortress, where one is trapped, and you can also get it in conversation.

Neither Amber does anything until you equip it in an Amber slot at a Lantern. Slot Bottomless Well at the next Lantern you rest at, before you count on its Nephtoglobin regeneration in a fight.