The Grimm Troupe
Reward/s	Grimmchild Charm Notch Carefree Melody Trophy/Achievement
Location	Dirtmouth Howling Cliffs
Prerequisite/s	Summon the Grimm Troupe.

Location: Southwest portion of Howling Cliffs. After finding a chest that drops only 1 Geo, jump inside the box to find a cave guarded by two Elder Balder and the charm. The Baldur Shell is a protective charm that can be incredibly useful early on, but is generally considered less useful than other charms. A quick video on how to find the Charm Notch hidden in Fog Canyon.

The Grimm Troupe is a Quest in Hollow Knight. Quests can provide rewards from items, unlocking Trophies/Achievements, and uncovering more information to the lore. Quests can only be activated by speaking to NPCs.

The Grimm Troupe Objectives

Summon the Grimm Troupe.
Speak to Troupe Master Grimm.
Defeat all three Grimmkin Novices with the Grimmchild charm equipped.
Defeat all three Grimmkin Masters with the Grimmchild charm equipped.
Defeat all the Grimmkin Nightmares with the Grimmchild charm equipped.
(Optional) Help Brumm and banish the Grimm Troupe from Dirtmouth.
(Optional) Follow through the ritual and help Troupe Master Grimm.

The Grimm Troupe Locations

The Grimm Troupe Walkthrough

To start this quest, players will need to summon the Grimm Troupe into town. And to do that you will need to make your way to Howling Cliffs (its location is indicated above).

From there, you will find a breakable wall that can be destroyed with The Nail which leads to a secret passage where at the end, you will find a corpse of a large bug. At this stage of the game, we will assume that you have already acquired the Dream Nail which you will need to strike it at the body of the bug - by doing this, red colored lights will appear and dream gates to float at the background.

After hitting the bug with the Dream Nail, head back to the previous path where you'll find a canister with an unlit torch, strike the cannister multiple times for the torch around the area to burst out red flames along with music that will start to play. This will summon the gang and they will set camp in Dirtmouth.

Immediately head back to Dirtmouth and enter the large tent with two Grimsteeds resting in between the entrance to find Troupe Master Grimm, speak to him to receive the Grimmchild charm and to learn about the task he will provide.

Hollow Knight Charm Notch Locations

After speaking to Grimm, open your map to find red flame pins which indicate the location of the Grimmkins and its flames you will need to find and harvest (which is shown on the photo above). The first task will be easy since all you need to do is proceed to its location, kill the Grimnkin Novice, absorb its flame and head back Troupe Master Grimm - returning to him will reward you with an upgraded Grimmchild and at the same time he will send you off again to collect three more flames.

Up next, the second task will be similar to the first, as to proceed to the area with the flame pins marked on the map and harvest the flames, only this time the Grimmkin Novices have now been replaced by Grimmkin Masters and their location has been pushed further into the depths of Hallownest to make the quest a bit challenging - one can be found in King's Pass, one in Kingdom's Edge, and one in Resting Grounds.

Once you've collected all three, head back to Dirtmouth and speak to Grimm which will trigger a boss battle. His attacks consist of emitting multiple projectiles, quick dash attacks both on the ground and mid-air and summoning spikes on the ground. And upon entering his second and third phase, his movement increases and adds more projectiles to his attacks - after defeating him, he will upgrade the Grimmchild to its next phase as well as Charm Notch. However, he will still ask you to harvest the last three flames to complete the ritual.

After that's done, head outside and check your map to find the location of the last flames, where one is found in the Distant Village, one in the Fungal Wastes near the Mantis Village and one in the Ancient Basin. At this point, it will be more difficult to obtain the flames since it is now heavily guarded by Grimmkin Nightmares and are located even further compared to the first two tasks. As the same as before, defeat all three the Grimmkins and consume its flames before moving forward. Now, you will have two options on how to finish this quest. First is to help Brumm banish the troupe from the town or to continue the task and deliver the remaining flames to Grimm, whichever decision you make will add an impact to the game and you will no longer be able to redo it after saving the game.

The first option is choosing to help Brumm in banishing the troupe. To do this, head back to the Howling Cliffs where the torch was lit to summon the troupe to find Brumm. Speak to him and he will tell you about defying his master and wanting to cast out the troupe since he has learned that he and his acquaintances are just tools and that he no longer wants to be a part of. After listening to him, he will thrust his staff on the cannister, causing the mechanism to break. Shortly after, you will gain control of The Knight and you will have to continue striking the cannister to destroy it - as you continue hitting it, the flames within the torch will explode and the screen will turn into white. The Knight will regain consciousness in the same area where the torch along with Brumm will disappear implying that you have successfully banished the menacing gang of bugs.

In doing this, there will be a couple of things that will happen. First, the Grimmchild charm will disappear from your inventory making it unable to be used. Second, the Grimm Troupe along with anything that is related to them disappears as well. Third, any fragile charm that is currently consumed and unrecovered from Divine will be left near the camp of the gang, and you can no longer upgrade any Fragile Charms into its Unbreakable variation. And finally, a new NPC called Nymm who seems to be Brumm who has lost his memories will appear into town and provides the Carefree Melody charm upon talking to him. Choosing this path will also grant you with the Banishment Achievement/Trophy and closes the quest.

The second option is to continue with completing the task and providing the flames to the Troupe Master Grimm. Upon collecting the last flame, head back to Dirtmouth and to Grimm's tent - you will notice that Brumm is no longer inside the tent and you can now walk further inside where you will see Grimm upside down on the ceiling, sleeping in a bat-like position. From here, make sure you have equipped the Charms you prefer and have saved the game since you will be ported into the dream world and a boss fight between Nightmare King Grimm and The Knight will initiate once you use the Dream Nail on Grimm - Nightmare King Grimm's attacks are similar to Troupe Master Grimm only that his trail leaves a path of flame making it even challenging to avoid its attacks.

After defeating the Nightmare King Grimm, the screen will fade into white and The Knight will awaken outside with a fully evolved Grimmchild. With regards to this, Troupe Master Grimm's tent along with the Grimsteeds will no longer be found, however, Divine will remain in town which will give you the chance to upgrade any fragile charms into its unbreakable variation. Choosing this path will also grant you with the Ritual Achievement/Trophy and closes the quest.

Hollow Knight Notch Locations

The Grimm Troupe Notes & Notable Loot

Steam Community :: Guide :: [Spoiler Safe:] Complete Charm ...

Every time you return to Troupe Master Grimm, make sure you have the Grimmchild charm equipped.
If you head to Millibelle's stand while you have the Grimmchild charm equipped, the familiar will consider her as an enemy and will start to attack her making it unable to speak to her.

All Notch Locations Hollow Knight

Quests
A Nailsmith's Obsession ♦ Bretta (Quest) ♦ Delicate Flower (Quest) ♦ Dream No More ♦ Grubfather's Lament ♦ Millibelle (Quest) ♦ Nailsage's Pride ♦ Secret of the Stagways

2021.09