Assassin's Creed Valhalla, the latest title in the long-running historical RPG series, has arrived. Players are already jumping into the furry boots of Eivor, a Viking raider in 9th century Europe. Like its most recent predecessors, Assassin's Creed Valhalla wears the trappings of an RPG proudly, with upgradeable abilities, weapons and armor.
Abilities in Assassin's Creed Valhalla are found through Books of Knowledge, shining tomes scattered across the game world. Each Book of Knowledge teaches a specific skill, and finding multiple copies will upgrade it. One of the best of these skills is Mark of Death, and one of its books is cunningly hidden in the town of Alrekstad.
Getting Your Hands Dirty
The town of Alrekstad is in Norway, which is the starting region in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, though players will return at later levels. Alrekstad can be found in the northern part of the map, along the southern coast of the Hordafylke region. To start the search for the Book of Knowledge, players will need to find the small red house with the pigsty outside.
Inside, there will be a muddy-half eaten note on the table. The text on it reads "The pigs got loose in the house, and now the cellar key is gone. It is your turn to dig through the shit". Following this fairly obvious clue, players should head outside and find the nearby pigsty. From there, simply dig through the fresh pile of droppings to retrieve the cellar key. It's not the most picturesque spot, so no need to launch Assassin's Creed Valhalla's Photo Mode.
Into The Cellar
Once players have acquired the key, the next challenge is revealing the door to the cellar itself. This isn't immediately obvious, and does feature some minor property damage, though nothing that should worry one of Assassin's Creed Valhalla's Viking warriors. Near the house there is a full fishing net slung from a hook, shoot the weak point and the whole thing will fall, opening the path to the cellar.
With the way down cleared, players should jump into the hole and follow the tunnel. They'll soon run into a locked door, which can be opened using the key from the pigsty. In the room beyond there's a shining pedestal, on which sits the Book of Knowledge. Reading the book will unlock the Mark of Death ability, or upgrade it for players who have found one before. It's a powerful skill, especially for ranged-characters, that allows the player to mark multiple targets before unleashing a hail of arrows.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla is out now on PC, PS4, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. A PS5 version launches alongside the console on November 12.