Learn how to complete Blood in the Snow in Ghost of Yotei. Atsu must travel to the Red Crane Inn in Teshio Ridge to find a lead on the Kitsune. After barely surviving her last encounter with him, knowledge will prove the most useful asset for this hunt.
Table of contents
How to start Blood in the Snow
You’ll be able to start this mission shortly after arriving in Teshio Ridge. When you survey the area, you’ll be able to see the Red Crane Inn ahead. Make your way inside and take a seat at an empty table.
Listen in on the two samurai ahead, they’ll mutter something about the Kitsune. Approach them and get information from them through a game of Zeni hajiki. You’ll need at least 660 mon to proceed.
Zeni hajiki minigame
You’ll have a flashback tutorial where you’ll learn to play Zeni hajiki. The rules are simple:
- Flick your coin into another coin
- You can only hit one coin at a time for a point
- Do not knock coins off the table
The actual game will be a tad more challenging than the tutorial due to the abundance of coins, making it easier to hit more than one. Mind how much you pull your trigger before flicking your coin.
Even if you mess up, these guys are very bad at playing this game so you can easily catch back up.
After losing the game, the samurai will send you upstairs to their commander. After an unproductive meeting with said commander, you’ll instead need to fist fight all of the soldiers at the inn to make any progress.
After beating up all of the samurai, the Shamisen player, Oyuki, wants to meet you outside. This is where you start the mission, Blood in the Snow.
Speak to Oyuki Outside
Oyuki will be a short walk to the right of the bounty board, next to a tan horse. After some conversation, observe the mill, stables, and the forge. With the samurai being unproductive, Oyuki seeks your help with taking out the Nine Tails shinobi.
Follow her on your horse to a shrine and pay 200 mon to use as bait. When night falls, the shinobi will appear. Using your spy glass, you’ll see they left a mysterious symbol on a stone.
Follow the Nine Tails
Follow them and stay within the tall grass. Halfway down the forest path, they’ll turn around to check for followers. Keep following them when they start to move again and go through the small opening under the boulders.
When you reach the fox on the other side, the shinobi will pop out of the snow like daisies. The Oni’s Flame and Kusarigama are good here to either burn or break their shields.
After the battle, Oyuki finds a map that might lead to a hideout. It’ll be a short trip to the southeast of your current position. When you find a strange fox altar, you’re in the right place.
Enter the Nine Tails Hideout
The Nine Tails shinobi are a crafty lot, so you’re going to encounter puzzles wherever they hide. This first one requires you to grab a torch from the braziers, then light the two lanterns with the kitsune on them.
With the path forward open, crawl through the passage and platform across the terrain to a training area. More shinobi will amush you, defeat them to start working on the next puzzle.
Look near the brazier for a kitsune statue. Bring it to the gate and place it on the right pillar.
The second statue will be found along the left wall near the locked gate. Pick it up and place it on the left pillar to unlock the gate. The kitsune should be facing towards the locked gate.
Investigate the Nine Tails Hideout
Follow the path ahead and climb up the ledges to reach a platforming section. Once you’ll make it through, you’ll find the hideout’s main building. Go inside and investigate the scroll in the back of the room.
Defeat the shinobi that attack and investigate the cipher. Make a copy using your touch pad and now you’ll know what those symbols they were leaving behind mean.
The symbol in the center is their logo, while the red symbols indicate moving forward in a direction, engaging with something, or if something is deadly. The outermost symbols represent cardinal directions.
Go back to the main entrance and you’ll see three of these symbols. The way forward is through the door, but there are two kitsune statues on both sides. Avoid the kitsune on the right as it has the death symbol.
Instead, interact with the kitsune to the left. This is a secret lever that will open the way outside, leading you straight into an ambush.
Defeat all the shinobi and look for the five kitsune statues. Each of them will have a symbol underneath them, with the center statue having symbols for “Engage” and all cardinal directions.
The solution to this puzzle is quite easy, simply rotate the four kitsune statues to the direction of the symbol beneath them. From left to right, they’ll need to be set to: right, down, up, and left.
Use the ladder to climb into the building above. Inside you’ll find an armor stand and a purple chest with your name on it. Take the armor to unlock the Nine Tail Armor.
This set of armor is designed for stealth which increases the effectiveness of quickfire weapons, assassinations providing a chance to grant Quickfire ammo, and reduce enemy detection and assassination noises.
Go through the door with the “Engage” symbol to exit the building and end the mission. With no trace of the Kitsune at the hideout, Oyuki might be able to provide another lead.
