Forbidden Underground Waterway is a location in Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. It is the widest and most sprawling zone in the game, spanning roughly the full width of the castle portion of the game map and situated just under the ground level of zones like the Entrance and Garden of Silence.
Progression[]
Very early in the game, when about to enter the Entrance zone through the castle's drawbridge, you can go underneath the drawbridge and find a red door leading to the northwest corner of the Forbidden Underground Waterway. You cannot progress further because of your inability to travel underwater, though you have the opportunity to slay the Forneus enemy swimming nearby for its shard drop with some kind of directional attack.
The first major portion of the Waterway that can be explored is its east half, and it can first be explored by dropping down through a well at the east end of the Garden of Silence (after winning the shard from the Craftwork boss). There are no mandatory goals to fulfill in the east half of the Waterway, and your inability to propel yourself through water makes you incapable of reaching the west half of it yet, so the main attraction is to collect shards, particularly a Shortcut shard located at bottom of the first Waterway room from the well entrance, gear, and experience before proceeding into the Towers of Twin Dragons and then Livre Ex Machina.
If you had previously given a Waystone to Benjamin in the Entrance, holding right as soon as you start dropping past the waterfall at the east end of the zone should make you land on a ledge next to the cave behind the waterfall's midpoint, where he has since relocated. Give him another Waystone to get 5000G and make him relocate to the Oriental Sorcery Lab near the end of the game. At any rate, falling down past the waterfall is a one-way trip, and your only way back is by heading northwest up through a slanted "chairlift trail" to make it into the southeast corner of the Entrance zone (where you can both pick up an HP Max Up and flip a lever to permanently open a door from the inside). One recipe book, Steel Equipment/R, can be found along the way there, west of the waterfall area.
Once you have won the Double Jump shard from the Andrealphus boss in early Livre Ex Machina, you have the option of dropping again into the northeast part of the Waterway through the well in the Garden of Silence to gather three more recipe books that are no longer out of reach. A 1x3 cave northeast of the waterfall room contains Elemental Ammunition/R, and you can Double Jump from the top of the waterfall left to the opposite ledge to find Curry Dish/R. Lastly, in the 2x5 cave room northwest of the save point west of the waterfall, you can Double Jump kick off purple lanterns to get to a tightly enclosed green chest containing Fish Dish/R.
Much later in the game, when you have beaten the Bloodless boss in Dian Cécht Cathedral, use the Blood Steal shard to drain the blood fountain in the Entrance zone to open up a route into the Waterway's west half. Just past the save point, the path branches southwest and southeast, and either path will eventually lead you to an area where you can slay Deeseama enemies for their Aqua Stream shards (the only mandatory shard in the game that is randomly dropped). You can explore the west branch first just so you can also unlock a warp point that can be used later, but the mandatory route will require you to use Aqua Stream to propel yourself through the Deeseama room far into the east branch. A route through a dangerous course of underwater traps will lead you southeast into the Hidden Desert zone at the southeast corner of the castle part of the map.
There is one more portion of the Waterway zone at the south-central part of the castle map that is entirely separated from the rest and effectively acts as a transitory space between the west exit of the southeast Hidden Desert zone and the east exit of the southwest Inferno Cave zone. You cannot use it at first to reach Inferno Cave's exit, but visiting this part from the Hidden Desert side is worthwhile for establishing a warp room and finding the Ultimate Dish/R.
Once you have found the Deep Sinker shard shortly after the boss in Hidden Desert, it becomes possible to perform Reflector Ray underwater, so you can return to the warp point at the west end of the zone mentioned earlier and bypass a narrow gap west. This will bring you into a partly submerged cave room with a green chest containing the Swordfish above; break open a wall right of that to find the second Plunderer's Ring. Head west into the short Secret Sorcery Lab zone, which then leads into the Inferno Cave zone underneath that. Once you defeat the Orobas boss in the Inferno Cave and win the Invert shard, you can now take its east exit back out into the south-central transitory area of the Forbidden Underground Waterway, and you can now reach a breakable wall in the 1x4 cave shaft containing the Supreme Dish/R.
Characters[]
- Benjamin Judd (second appearance)
Enemies[]
East half:
West half:
From west exit of Hidden Desert:
Items[]
Weapons[]
Armor[]
Accessories[]
Shards[]
Materials[]
Blue Chests[]
Possible contents of earlier chests:
Possible contents of later chests:
Recipe Books[]
Bookcases[]
- Crimson Storm technique
- Sansetsuzan technique
- Penetrate technique
Other modes[]
Bloodless Mode[]
Bloodless initially cannot access most of this area but for a different reason than Miriam: she can swim but rapidly loses HP while in water. To properly explore it, she must first go to the Towers of Twin Dragons and defeat Valac to claim the Blood Steal ability. Using the Blood Steal, she must then drain the blood fountain in the Entrance to access dry parts of the Forbidden Underground Waterway.
By carefully platforming over the shaft with the large waterfall, Bloodless can find the Blood Pillar; this is one of few items in the area that can be acquired before the Blood Steal. A different corridor that is accessible only after the Blood Steal contains the Water Demon's Blood, which makes it safe to swim. She can then proceed to the Hidden Desert or the Secret Sorcery Lab in any order. The Hidden Desert contains the Blood of Flight – a movement ability. The Secret Sorcery Lab contains the Vampiric Blood – an upgrade for the Blood Steal – and leads down to the Inferno Cave.
Blood Shards[]
- Blood of Brutality × 1
- Blood of Erudition × 2
- Blood of Faith × 1
- Blood of Fortune × 2
- Blood Pillar
- Water Demon's Blood
Aurora Mode[]
Like Miriam, Aurora will initially only float near the surface of water. This limits her exploration of this area whether she has the ability to fly or not. To properly explore the area, she must first defeat Valac in the Towers of Twin Dragons, which will cause her to grow back into an adult who can swim freely. She can then proceed to the Hidden Desert or the Secret Sorcery Lab in either order. The Waterway itself is also worth exploring for a Shard stand for Igniculus, where Miriam previously found the Shortcut Shard, as well as chests that contain Confessions and Firefly Elixirs.
Trivia[]
- The waterfall found in this stage is most likely a reference to a similar underground waterfall appearing in the Underground Caverns stage in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
References[]
- ↑ On their second visit to this stage, after having obtained the Deep Sinker shard in the Hidden Desert, the player can return and use it in conjunction with the Reflector Ray to explore the previously unreachable underwater sections and reach the entrance to the Secret Sorcery Lab.