This questline takes place in The Forgelands, the area in the NE of the main island and will likely be the last of the 4 you play through although you can go right there from the get go if you like a challenge. There are 7 quests that compile this questline and will be listed below under spoilers.
Who Art Thou?*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***Start off by reaching the top of the huge Hephaistos' statue with a hammer in the SW portion of the area and use far sight to open up the map. After the cutscene, check out the noise below the statue near a cave for another cutscene. You need to find each of his hands with one in a lake surrounded by enemies and the other in a pit surrounded by more enemies - both will be on your map. Return these to the robot to finish the quest.
Light My Fire*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***You must go the huge Forge of the Gods area in the mid-eastern part of the map and light the 4 furnace chimneys with some basic puzzles.
For the SW one, clear the enemies then the corruption with your axe. Throw in a nearby piece of coal (bumpy, black rock) into the chute then fire an arrow through the torch down the path (also behind corruption), into the chute and onto the coal.
For the next one, head up the stairs and to the left before the next set of stairs is a pit with more coal so grab one of those and continue to the top of the stairs. Once there, stand on the hero plate to open the barrier and throw the coal into the chute. Then again shoot an arrow through the torch, into the chute and onto the coal. Be careful as enemies will spawn after igniting this one.
Proceed NW towards the other side of the Forge for the other two chimneys. For the upper one, clearing the corruption reveals a lever which opens the barrier. There's some coal down the stairs and in the area to the left. Then as before, open the barrier, throw the coal, shoot an arrow through the torch and onto the coal which will unleash more enemies.
Lastly, head down the stairs towards the lower chimney but no need to carry coal as there are some next to the chimney itself. There isn't a barrier on this one so just chuck some coal in there and light it up to finish this quest.
Fan Service*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***Now that the chimneys are lit, the Forge needs a little more love before it'll get going so we need to turn on the 2 ventilation fans nearby to the NW up the cliff and beyond the pit in an area called Atmos Mechanikos. After defeating the enemies, clear the corruption and you'll notice a light and a heavy pressure pad. The associated boxes are beyond the red barrier nearby which can be pushed onto another pad to lower the barrier but save yourself some time and just throw the boxes over the little fence. Once the pads are activated, push the button in the middle to start the fan.
The other fan is to the W with more enemies. Thankfully, no puzzle is required and the button can be pushed after clearing them out along with the corruption clogging it up. After activating the second fan, the quest is complete but the Forge still isn't fired up.
Churned On*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***The last step to activating the Forge is freeing up the water wheels at The Aqueducts to the E of the Forge along the coast. There aren't any puzzles here so you can either fight the enemies or race pass them and break through the corruption. You'll know the wheel(s) is free when they start spinning with water and you must clear two on the southern aqueduct and one other on the northern one and the quest will be completed as well as opening the Forge.
Shaken To The Core*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***Time to finally enter the Forge! Go for a trip or fast travel yourself there and proceed through the large entrance door. We need to do the old coal-on-fire-in-chute ordeal as before on both the left and the right. The left just requires busting the corruption, pulling the lever and lighting the 3 braziers to lower the chute barrier. You'll find some coal right next to the chute. Once the coal explodes, there will be a brief cutscene.
For the right room, only specific braziers must be lit - the middle left, back right and front right. Once those are lit, the chute barrier will drop and it's time to blow up more coal. After another short cutscene, head outside and talk to Hephaistos for yet another cutscene. This will unleash a boss fight in the Clanking Automaton Lieutenant but he is a squishy boss so shouldn't cause much trouble. After he is defeated there will be a long cutscene and the quest will be complete.
A Breakthrough*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***This is a quick one - just fly up the wind platforms towards the top of the forge for some enemies to battle then shoot the arrow switch to continue to the top of the roof. Fight some more baddies then interact with the flame for a cutscene to finish the quest. One more to go!
Dark Arts*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***It's time to grab Hephaistos's Essence from his Vault which is just below at the base of the Forge triggering another cutscene where Fenyx does their best Thor impression. The Vault isn't too bad as you just need to finish 2 wings, one to the left and one to the right. Proceeding forward, you'll notice particles in the air indicating the direction the wind is blowing. This can be changed by shooting the Forge Steam statues but will only blow two directions. Hit the first one and fly across then platform up to another Forge Steam (FS), shoot that and continue around to the first save.
Shoot this FS and fly away to the next area. The button here drops a light ball which gets effected by wind so shoot the FS allowing you to roll the ball up the ramp into the Coal Exchanger (CE) and hit the switch. This turns it into, well, coal, so take it and chuck it into the chute to fire it up as it's already engulfed for a quick cutscene explaining Hephaistos's issues.
Left Wing
Heading first to the left, you'll pass the CE we need to get the ball to. Continue to a save and a button which drops 3 boxes - flip the switch to bring the wind in to push the two large ones to the left, push the small middle one onto the heavy plate in the back then use Phosphos' Clone (
+
(hold)) on the right light plate to speed up the puzzle and move on. If you don't have this skill (you should) you can push the little box to the large box on the left then shoot the FS in the back to switch the wind keeping the front box in place and sliding the back to the right then close the barriers with the switch and push the little box onto the heavy plate.
In the next room (there's a chest outside on the left you can get when the barrier is down), push the button to spawn the boxes, push the little box back in line with the furthest large box, shoot the FS and flip the switch bringing in the wind. You can use the Clone on the right light plate and push the heavy box onto the back heavy plate to speed it up again or you will have to keep flipping the switch so the back box doesn't go too far while the middle box remains on the right plate. Lastly, push the little box onto the back heavy plate and move on.
For the next room, hit the button to spawn a heavy ball and push it up the ramp. Use the switch to move the large boxes to the right then move the little box next to the gap of the two raised platforms. Shoot the FS and hit the switch again and the large box will stop between the platforms. Roll the ball across and to the right then shoot the FS and pull the switch again moving the large boxes back to the right. Roll the ball forward to the edge then move the small box onto the heavy plate and the Clone on the light plate to raise the platforms and raise the path for the ball to roll to the left. Again, if you don't have this skill you need to put the small box to the left of the light plate and flip the switch so the large box stops on the light plate while standing next to the middle box so it doesn't slide. Shoot the FS to stop the wind then move the small box onto the heavy plate and roll on. Lastly, shoot the FS to blow the large box to the left and roll the ball into the socket.
Push the new light ball down a ramp and off a jump then another ramp and into the CE then flip the switch. Once it's transformed, chuck it into the chute for a quick cutscene and this half off the Vault is complete!
Right Wing
Head all the way around to the far side to tackle the next wing. Zip past the CE and shoot the FS on the left before flying across the large gap to a save. There's a lot of flying coming up here (no more boxes at least!). Time the next jump to fly out right as the portal statues disappear. Continue around to another FS, shoot it then fly through by timing between the lasers. You can help yourself by holding back or forward on the stick for speed, jumping to pause or Athena Dashing to speed up (+
). After another long flight to the other tower, you'll come to a save and more portal statues. Time it up again (or double jump then fly over them) and continue around to the next FS. Shoot it and fly through the laser field/portal statues (remember, upgraded Athena Dash won't let lasers hurt you) to another save.
Now for another long flight to the other tower in which you'll jump on top of the portal statues to ascend further to the next save. Jump up another portal statue to get to the roof and off the side by the FS is another chest. Get back up and shoot the FS then fly to the other tower dodging the corruption clouds along the way. Continue to a save and a button but shoot the nearby FS before hitting the button to spawn a light ball down the ramp. Once the ball rests on the 4x platform, flip the nearby switch to activate the elevator and head down with it. Roll the ball out, down the ramp and into the CE. Flip the switch and throw a touchdown with the flaming coal for a short cutscene.
Main Tower
Use the wind platforms to ascend up the middle tower where you'll notice some switches but keep going up for another chest. Then drop down to flip a switch and push the corresponding buttons as you continue to rise (the third button is lower) until you exit onto a save. Platform your way around to a cutscene introducing the boss fight, Polyphemos the Enraged. He's not too bad if you pop your buffs and use charged Ares' Wrath (+
) to quickly stun so you can wail on him. Once he's been dealt with, you can fly across the gap and reach Hephaistos's Essence and another cutscene.
Final step! Get your butt back to the Hall of the Gods (just fast travel) and talk with Hephaistos to allow him to transform to his godlike form after more cutscene. Once this is done, you'll get his last blessing and finally have the achievement!