How to Get the Whetstone in the Northri Stronghold of God of War
The God Of War Family Business quest has you chasing a whetstone in the Northri Stronghold for Sindri, and follows on from the Fafnir’s Hoard quest – speak to the dwarf once you’ve completed that initial quest to proceed. However, if you can’t reach that location or don’t know how to proceed, we can help you.
How to Get To Northri Stronghold
The main thing, if you can’t get started on this God of War mission, is to make sure you’ve completed the A New Destination quest first. This will see you talk to the World Serpent a second time and lower the water level again. With the lower water levels, you will now be able to reach the Northri Stronghold via the newly revealed Northri Gorge.
Family Business Walkthrough
When you reach Northri Gorge, continue down the river until you reach a locked gate. If you’ve completed Fafnir’s Hoard Sindri should have given you a Key Stone you can use to open the way forward.
Head inside once the gate is open, where you’ll find Sindri has set up shop. If you get out of the boat here and then face away from the dwarf you should see one of Odin’s Ravens behind you.
Leave Sindri and keep walking until you reach a giant gate blocking your way. You’ll now have the mission target ‘Find a way to open the gate’. As Kratos and Atreus comment, the giant waterwheel is the key – head ashore and fight your way to the bridge on the far side of the waterwheel. Look back at the Waterwheel from here and you should see a breakable seal you can smash with the axe to get the wheel turning again.
The gates will open and you’ll be able to get through them. There’s also a chest behind a Scorn Pole you can reach if you move from the bridge, but otherwise your work here is done.
Carry on with the boat until you reach another landing point with a fire. There will be a troll and some enemies to fight here, so take them all out. Once all the enemies are dead, you can look up to the left of the closed gate to see a lift with stone blocks on it. Hit it with the axe to drop it and open up a path you can use to climb up. There’s also a wooden structure opposite you can climb to reach some lore and hacksilver.
When you eventually climb up the stone block, you’ll find some tree sap on the right which Atreus can blast with his electric arrows to reveal a path, via a Scorn Pole, to reach a chest with some Soft Svartalheim Steel and World Serpent Scale crafting resources.
Collect all that and then follow the path round to reveal another bit of tree sap you can blow up. This will clear a path back to where you were. Head up there and then, before you follow the path towards a ship you can see docked below, check a small ledge you can climb to the left. You’ll find a chest on the other side.
Once you’ve got the chest, head on towards the boat where you’ll trigger the next step of the mission, ‘Investigate the reaver ship’. When you get to the ship you’ll be able to grab the whetstone, but this will trigger a big fight against one of the Traveller enemies, so be ready. However, for defeating him you’ll get the Shattered Gauntlet of Ages, a powerful talisman that effectively lets you get the God of War Infinity Gauntlet.
At this point, you can leave and head back to Sindri. Look for some exploding resin you can clear that will open up a gate back to where you fought the troll. Keep an eye out to your right as you head there to see a small opening you can duck under to reach a resource chest behind a Scorn Pole.
When you’re heading back to Sindri you’ll reach another gate you’ll have to unlock by pulling a chain. When you do, investigate the area behind you, where you can jump over a small gap in a bridge, to find another resource chest before you leave.
It’s time to head back to Sindri to complete the quest to get Hraezla Farmadr’s Grip. This is a legendary axe pommel that has a low chance of activating a health burst on a successful hit.
