“Give it to Sigrid” is what one player got, not a rule. The bonus follows the word printed on your copy, so read that first — here is which NPC owns which word.
Short answer
Check the word your cipher carries and hand it to the NPC who owns that word. The advice everywhere else — including an earlier version of this page — is "give it to Sigrid for a Ripple Gem", and that is what one player got. But the bonus is chosen by the cipher's word rather than by its name, and Sigrid owns Sealing Wax, Residual Heat, Acid, Malt and Cloves. If your copy shows one of those, Sigrid is right. If it shows Anvil, Dramm is.
How you get it
From in-game mail, as part of the second-wave launch reward announced on 1 August 2026 after the game passed 500,000 players.
The bonus is matched on the word your cipher carries, not on which cipher it is — so the right NPC differs between two players holding the same one. Type what is printed on yours.
Try
Where are the words?
Open the cipher in camp or in your bag. It prints two clue words. 47 words are mapped across the seven camp NPCs below, and handing a cipher to the wrong one still pays the base result — the only thing at stake is the bonus.
A grade describes sourcing, not truth. An unverified row is not one we think is wrong — it is one nobody has stood behind.
OfficialThe Ashen Cipher is part of the second-wave mail bundle, which was claimable until its window closed 2026-09-01 00:00 UTC+0.
Bellring Games — The Second Wave of Launch Rewards, 2026-08-01.
CorroboratedA Ripple Gem was received from Sigrid for an Ashen Cipher.
allthings.how (2026-08-02) and NerdsChalk (2026-08-03). Two outlets report the outcome, and nothing contradicts it.
UnverifiedThat Sigrid is the right NPC for every Ashen Cipher.
The bonus is chosen by the word on the cipher, not by its name, so a single report generalises to one word rather than to the type. Sigrid owns Sealing Wax, Residual Heat, Acid, Malt and Cloves.
CorroboratedLevel 5 gates the Decipher option, all seven camp NPCs offer it, and the cipher is consumed on use.
Both press sources agree, and neither is contradicted by the official announcement.
UnverifiedThat the widely-quoted four-decimal odds table describes this cipher.
The table is official, but it is the Golden Cipher's. Nothing has been published about what an Ashen Cipher pays.
§01
Why this page no longer just says “Sigrid”
Deciphering is a one-shot: the cipher is consumed when you accept, so the NPC you walk up to is the only lever you have. Every page on this keyword, this one included, used to answer it with a name — Sigrid, for a Ripple Gem. Then the actual mechanic surfaced. Each cipher carries word clues, and each camp NPC owns a themed vocabulary tied to their job. The word decides the NPC, not the cipher's name. Which means "the Ashen Cipher goes to Sigrid" is most likely a true report of one player's cipher, generalised into a rule it never was.
Sigrid, the tavern wife, owns Sealing Wax, Residual Heat, Acid, Malt and Cloves. If your Ashen Cipher shows one of those, the old advice happens to be right for you.
Dramm the blacksmith owns Fire, Brimstone, Ashes, Anvil, Furnace and Smoke. Merimo, Pip's giant goat, owns Hay, Cheese, Rugs, Caravan, Camel Bells and Salt Licks.
The full 41-word lookup is on this page, under the short answer — type the word and it names the NPC.
Deciphering does not appear on any NPC until you reach level 5.
Handing it to the wrong one does not waste the cipher. You still get the base payout; you only lose the bonus.
§02
What the Ripple Gem report is worth
It is not discarded, because it is a real observation: two independent outlets reported a Ripple Gem from Sigrid, and nothing contradicts that a Ripple Gem was received. What is doubtful is the generalisation hung on it. Treat it as evidence about one cipher rather than an instruction for yours, and spend the ten seconds reading your own — the downside of checking is nothing, and the downside of guessing is a bonus item you never see.
§03
The odds table you have seen is not this cipher's
A reward table quoted to four decimal places circulates under Ashen Cipher headings: 90.7761% for 450 Gyldenblod, down to 0.002% for a Lifetime Season Pass. The figures are genuine — Bellring publishes them, and the eighteen rows add up. They are the Golden Cipher's figures, from the Gylden Rush event page. No table has ever been published for the Ashen Cipher. So the error in those write-ups is not the number, it is the heading above it, and this page will not tell you what an Ashen Cipher pays because nobody has said.
The published table covers the Golden Cipher only, and includes physical prizes the Ashen Cipher does not award.
An earlier version of this page called the whole table invented. That was wrong, and correcting it is cheaper than defending it.
§04
Claim it before the window shuts
The Ashen Cipher that arrived in every account's mail at launch is a reward, not a permanent fixture. It arrived with Pip's Rare Pouch Voucher (3 Days), 500 Soul Coins and an Abyssal Cipher, and the official announcement puts a hard deadline on collecting it: the claim window closes 2026-09-01 00:00 UTC+0, and unclaimed mail expires with it. Ciphers also drop during normal runs, so the deadline is on this particular gift rather than on the item type.
Locked chests, which are the most reliable placed source.
Marked enemies — the ones carrying a purple brand — and the containers they guard.
Unidentified items: every one of them has a chance to resolve into a cipher.
Citations
Every source, with its date
Including the one this page disagrees with. A claim you decline to repeat still has to be attributed, or the reader cannot check your reasoning.
The level-5 gate, the seven camp NPCs who offer Decipher, and that the cipher is consumed on use. Also where the claim that Sigrid alone adds a Ripple Gem originates, and where the four-decimal odds table entered this niche under an Ashen Cipher heading.
That Sigrid's Ripple Gem bonus belongs to the Ashen Cipher rather than the Abyssal one — the correction that makes the two pages differ.
Ashen Cipher FAQ
Read the word on your copy and hand it to the NPC who owns that word — the bonus is decided by the word, not by the cipher's name. Sigrid, the tavern wife, owns Sealing Wax, Residual Heat, Acid, Malt and Cloves, which is why "give it to Sigrid" circulates as the answer. If your cipher shows Anvil or Furnace it belongs to Dramm the blacksmith; Hay or Cheese belongs to Merimo.
