Greetings, fellow Hunters
The Night has been long for yours truly and during my myriad ventures there is still one mystery that eludes both myself and most of you Good Hunters.
This mystery is none other than the appearance of Eileen, The Crow in the Cathedral Ward. After the fight with the lost Father Gascoigne we enter the inner part of the Cathedral Grounds, open the main gate and then rush off to meet her. Only, sometimes, she is nowhere to be found, no matter how hard we look…
After experimenting via use of secret Blood Rituals and countless hours of taking notes and comparing them with others', I think I might be getting close to cracking the puzzle… suffice to say my research goes in two directions:
i) There is actually a hint of “luck”, or lack thereof, tangled in the yarn of her actions. She might or might NOT actually appear on a whim. That, in layman’s terms my brethren, is a bug. Or a glitch, if one can cause it to trigger consistently.
ii) The other idea I am getting - like many of you - is that there is some sort of secret trigger involved, some criteria we know nothing about as of yet. This one, hopefully, is the truth and we will learn to follow the correct steps in due time. But, for now, I highly doubt this is the case.
So, following my first thought process I shall present to you a formula, one that I have used multiple times and met with successful results, allowing me to reach the conclusion of her story. Please, take note: The steps beyond this point are the results of testing, trial and error. I cannot by any means, with a clear conscience, tell you that the method is 100% foolproof. But, as it stands, it surely is better than most.
Enjoy the read then, Hunters and I hope it helps you as much as it has helped me.
Piece of advice: Backup your entire save file in a FAT32 Flash Stick before returning to Oedon in step 4. After this point it can all go south so you can load your back-up and try again.
MeetingEileenin the Aqueducts (NOT required): You will meet Eileen in the Aqueducts right after the Old Lady’s House. She will tell you a bit about the Hunt and give you a couple of things. According to the intended script this step in NOT required but I’ve had better luck clearing the quest by talking to her here before killing the Cleric Beast. So, by following this train of thought talk to her BEFORE killing any of the bosses in Central Yharnam.
Kill the Cleric Beast and take Gascoigne out of his misery. Save the Echoes to purchase required key item from the Messengers (Hunter Chief Emblem). Light the Oedon Lamp and teleport to the Hunter’s Dream.
Quit the game and load OFFLINE. This is very important and seems to help in most cases. FROM released 1.3 today and supposedly fixed this but I’m not ready to bet my Echoes on this yet.
Purchase the 10K key from the Messengers (Hunter Chief Emblem) BEFORE heading back into the Cathedral Ward via Oedon Lamp.
Light the Cathedral Ward Lamp, trek the dungeon until you unlock the gate by using the aforementioned key. Then, go left and wander in the back alleys until you reach the rooftops.VERY IMPORTANT:DoNOTopen the first shortcut leading to the two giant Executioners there. This might glitch your whole attempt. Instead, keep going until you reach the shortcut that leads to the Wooden Plank Shield. Pull the lever, cross your fingers and run straight down.
6i)Spot Eileen to the left of the Cathedral Ward main path (right behind the cart as you are facing going down the stairs) and rejoice! Exhaust her dialogue.
COMBAT SCENARIO:Run straight to the Oedon Lamp to confront Henryk.DO NOT RETURN TO THE DREAM PRIOR TO THIS.In this combat scenario it is IMPERATIVE you keep Henryk’s aggro on you since he can easily kill both you and Eileen, in which case the quest is over win or lose. Gank him up and kill him with precision. Be very careful: If you overdamage Eileen she will turn hostile and the quest will be over nonetheless. After the battle you talk to Eileen, go through ALL her lines and use the Lamp to leave the area. At this point you are pretty much done. Keep playing until after you defeat Rom, the Vacuous Spider. Then go back to the Grand Cathedral, Red Moon looming high, talk to her until you get the “Wait” gesture, confront her last mark solo and upon victory talk her again outside to reap your rewards. Among them is the Oath Rune “Hunter” that allows you to join the Hunter of Hunters Covenant.
6ii) Eileen is not there. Reload your backup because at this point it’s 80% de facto that you missed progressing the quest. Some people have triggered her to spawn by killing the Blood Starved Beast or even Amelia but I would not waste 45' - 90' minutes of my life just to linger on this hopes. Reloading is your best bet of saving time and spawning her.
- After a successful loading of you backup follow the steps down from “5” until the Henryk encounter and take it from there.
THINGS NOT TO DO:
1)Do not kill Gascoigne BEFORE the Cleric Beast.This might glitch your whole effort.
Don’t forget to talk to her before encountering EITHER Central Yharnam Boss. That is, exhaust her dialogue before triggering their fog gates.
Avoid dying on your run towards the Chief Hunter Gate. Sometimes this might cause the glitch to appear.
Granted you reach the Henryk encounter avoid using wide-swinging weapons like the Axe’s trick form or the Cleaver’s trick form. Stay at medium distance, attempt to parry but don’t over-extend. He hits really hard and has a ton of health so you should take it easy with your attacks to avoid hitting Eileen in the process.
Hope this helps fellow Hunters. The following video is a work of my own, created during the first week of the game’s release. It pretty much is a step by step guide showing how you’re able to trigger her to appear.
So, this is the fruit of my labours whilst trying to understand the mystery of Eileen’s appearance. Hope I was able to assist in some way. Also feel free to check my YouTube channel for more guides and gameplay related to Bloodborne and other titles (Witcher 3 footage/guides/gameplay imminent).
Until next time Good Hunters be well, stay frosty and always strive for Perfection
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