The Homestead quest in Crimson Desert kicks off Chapter 3 and is where the game really opens up. You’re rebuilding the Greymanes from scratch — finding old comrades, setting up camp at Howling Hill, cooking for your crew, and eventually breaking someone out of a restricted facility. It’s a mix of story beats, light tasks, and one optional but very handy trick at the end.
Homestead is made up of six subquests: Old Friend, First Step to Rebuilding, A Fresh Start, Reward for Their Sweat, Return of the Comrade, and Familiar Curses. Finishing all six kicks off the next major story block, The Face Behind the Mask.
TL;DR – Homestead Quest Walkthrough Summary
- Old Friend – Find Marius in the back alleys of Hernand
- First Step to Rebuilding – Meet Marquis Serkis at Oakenshield Manor; Damiane joins your team
- A Fresh Start – Complete camp construction at Howling Hill: move sacks, drive in stakes, push the wagon, raise the banner
- Reward for Their Sweat – Cook Clear Soup for the workers; read the recipe before you start cooking
- Return of the Comrade – Ride to the Scrapfold southwest of Hernand, find Marius, escort him back on horseback
- Familiar Curses – Head to St. Halssius’s House of Healing; buy a disguise from the guard outside for easiest entry
Quest 1 – Old Friend
Old Friend starts automatically at the beginning of Chapter 3, right after defeating Kailok. You receive a tip that a Greymane has been spotted in Hernand’s back alleys.
Head to the northwest section of Hernand, near the blacksmith and inn. Look for Marius leaning against a wall in a grassy yard. Talk to him. He confirms that Andrew and Naira are still alive, then tells you to meet the Marquis to start rebuilding the Greymanes properly. That’s all there is to this one — it’s a short opener that transitions straight into the next quest.
Quest 2 – First Step to Rebuilding
This quest sends you to Oakenshield Manor in the west of Hernand to meet Marquis Serkis. Ride over and approach the group at the entrance — a cutscene plays automatically.
After the cutscene, follow the soldier along the path. Take a moment to look around as you go — if you see a glowing lantern, that marks a nearby memory fragment you can interact with before moving on.
Keep following the path until you meet Marshal Middler and are introduced to Damiane. She joins Kliff’s team as a Comrade from this point on. You can switch between Kliff and Damiane using the Character menu (press up on the D-pad). The quest completes here and flows into A Fresh Start.
Damiane is a strong character to build alongside Kliff — see our best dual wield swords build and the Wanderer of Faith armor set guide if you want to hit the ground running with her.
Quest 3 – A Fresh Start
This is the camp construction quest. You arrive at Howling Hill and need to lend the workers a hand to finish setting it up. There are four tasks to complete:
- Move sacks – Look for orange dots on the minimap. Those are the three sacks. Carry each one to the small yellow circle near the broken shelves (marked with an X on the map). This is the most confusing step — the destination isn’t obvious at first glance, but the minimap makes it manageable.
- Drive in stakes – Follow the marker and interact with the stakes to hammer them in.
- Push the wagon – Walk up to the wagon and push it to the marked spot.
- Raise the banner – The final step. Interact with the banner pole to complete construction.
Once the camp is up and running, Howling Hill becomes your main base for the rest of the game. From here you can access the Greymane management system, dispatch Comrades on missions, and expand the camp over time. Check our guide on how to unlock camp features and how to upgrade the Howling Hill Camp to get the most out of it early.
Quest 4 – Reward for Their Sweat
The camp is built — now it’s time to feed the workers. You need to cook Clear Soup and serve two portions to the crew.
Before you touch the cooking pot, walk over to the nearby table and read the recipe first. The recipe and all the ingredients you need are right there next to the pot. Pick them up, then start cooking.
This step trips some players up because if you start cooking without reading the recipe first, or if you accidentally make something else, you might not have enough materials left and will need to gather more. Keep it simple — read the recipe, grab the listed ingredients, cook exactly two servings of Clear Soup, and serve them.
Clear Soup is one of the easier recipes in the game and something you’ll come back to regularly. If you want to know more about cooking and the best healing food in the game, check our best healing food guide.
Quest 5 – Return of the Comrade
The camp is running. Now go get Marius. He’s at The Scrapfold, a beggar’s camp southwest of the City of Hernand.
Head there and look for Marius in the middle of the settlement — he’ll be surrounded by beggars and children. A tip worth knowing: if you get too close to the beggars before reaching Marius, you’ll be prompted to give them a coin. It’s not a big deal, but if you want to avoid it, approach Marius carefully and wait for the beggars to move before interacting with him.
Talk to Marius using the interact prompt. He agrees to come back. After the conversation, call your horse, mount up, and wait for Marius to get on behind you. Then ride back to Howling Hill together.
When you get close to camp, a cutscene triggers automatically. Kliff dismounts and meets Carl and Ross, two Greymane warriors who found their way back on their own. Marius also reveals that Naira and Andrew are away escorting a count, and that another Greymane is locked up at St. Halssius’s House of Healing to the east. That sets up the final quest. Carl and Ross become available as Freeswords for dispatch missions after this cutscene.
If you’re still getting comfortable with riding in the game, our horse guide covers everything from sprinting to swapping mounts.
Quest 6 – Familiar Curses
The final quest in the Homestead block sends you to St. Halssius’s House of Healing to rescue a trapped Greymane — Yann. The facility is restricted to outsiders, so you need a way inside.
There are two ways in:
- Buy a disguise from the guard outside – costs 10 Silver; the easiest and fastest option. Walk straight in without raising suspicion. This is the recommended method.
- Get a St. Halssius Visitor’s Pass from the Church of Hernand – also costs 10 Silver, but requires you to go back to Hernand first. Only worth it if you’re already there.
The disguise is the better pick because it’s reusable — handy if you ever want to return to the facility later. Pick it up from the guard near the entrance before heading inside.
Once in, make your way to the central courtyard, then head into the prison area. Climb to the second floor, move through the dormitory section, and follow the quest markers to find Yann. A disturbance triggers as you get close — work through it to complete the rescue and finish the quest.
Completing Familiar Curses wraps up the entire Homestead quest cluster and unlocks the next story block: The Face Behind the Mask. If you want a full breakdown of how to enter St. Halssius’s, check our dedicated guide on how to enter Halssius’s House of Healing.
Homestead Quest Rewards and What Unlocks After
The Homestead questline doesn’t drop a single big reward — its value is structural. Completing it:
- Fully establishes Howling Hill Camp as your main hub
- Unlocks the Greymane Comrade and dispatch system — you can now send Carl, Ross, and others on background missions for resources and currency
- Adds Damiane as a playable Comrade
- Unlocks The Face Behind the Mask story block, which continues Chapter 3
Once camp is up, there’s a lot to explore and set up. For inventory and storage, consider picking up the Sturdy Gatherables Chest and the Collectibles Chest from Hernand — both are easy to grab while you’re in the area and make a big difference for managing materials. Also check out the camp donation quests if you want to push camp upgrades early — our camp donation quest guide explains the fastest approach.
If this is your first time going through Chapter 3 and you want to know how the difficulty system works or want to adjust the challenge, see our all difficulty modes guide for a full breakdown of Easy, Normal, and Hard.
For everything else, the Crimson Desert guide hub has all our walkthroughs in one place.
