Full prologue walkthrough and quest order for The Blood of Dawnwalker

How time works

• Time-sensitive quests are marked with a clock 🕑 in your quest log.
• There are eight time segments each day (and eight each night).
• Quests that use up time have an hourglass symbol ⏳ and number to indicate how many segments they use.
• ⚠️ Getting caught stealing will waste four time segments with the guard.
• ⚠️ Be careful about learning skills at shrines during the prologue; some use up time to unlock.

Full prologue walkthrough

Your first choice in the prologue is whether Coen should force-feed his mother Esme at his father Pieter's direction. TL;DR: this choice doesn't have any long term impact but after that you'll need to start managing your time as the prologue begins in earnest.

Prologue quest order: the best route

Which quests should you skip?

• Someone Needs A Lesson: Getting between Vasil and his dad gives Coen a chance to see other people's home lives, but doesn't factor into the broader plot.
• On The Run: Finding Iorgu's pig lets Coen confront his feelings about bloodshed and the uncomfortable analogy of humans as vrakhiri livestock, but there's more pressing stuff in town during the prologue.
• Into The Den: This one's not time-sensitive, so come back for it after the prologue.

1 Morning

Live Bait

Right after leaving Coen's house, walk down the hill to talk with your sister Yanna standing around with Lunka and Mirto.

1. I've got time. I'll help you. Agree to escort them to the river to fish.
2. Take your pick on how to respond when Yanna asks what their father would think.
3. Do not waste time by playing tag with your siblings on the way. Tell them to stop complaining right now. Coen scolds them a bit harshly, but Yanna appreciates the backup.
4. Choose either response when reminding Yanna not to go into the water.

Go find the four fishing rods stashed under a bush just northwest of where Yanna is standing and then place them in the four different pole spots along the bank. The choices in the next conversation don't have long-lasting effects, but there are subtle differences in how the siblings all interact and I think this is the best version:

5. Tell Yanna "You should be. I might not be around forever." when talking about the worms before moving on to get a bit of extra conversation with Mirto, either to argue or level with him as you choose.
6. Tell Lunka any opinion on whether worms are hurt by getting put on a hook, she's upset by it no matter what. Personally, I just own up that I don't know how worms feel.
7. Say "You're upset by something else," when Lunka cries over the worms to get a shot at the most sibling reconciliation version of the conversation.
8. Tell Mirto "I'll take care of you," to bring out his trust in Coen rather than deflecting to Anca or their mother.

Same goes for the conversation with Brencis's officer, the scummy jerk. You can get into a fight with him if you want, but I prefer not to. You can also get more lore out of the conversation with the Uriash guard that joins after.

9. I don't know: Play dumb to keep the conversation from going sour fast.
10. Why all this interest in my father? Again, this keeps things from escalating.
11. Leave her out of this: Hold off on pulling your sword and another guard will interrupt before things get out of hand.
12. No. Nothing of the sort. Tell the Uriash you don't know anything about rumblings of a rebellion (because so far you don't!)
13. Then why do you serve the vrakhir? Ask the Uriash about his loyalty to get a surprisingly earnest answer about the power dynamics between them, humans, and vrakhiri.
14. Thank you. I appreciate it. Respect the Uriash's show of kindness.
15. Maybe they aren't all the same. Instill a bit of healthy solidarity in your siblings.

2 Morning

After you're done fishing, take a moment to wander around Laslea village picking up quests. Grab these quests, but don't pursue them yet:

• Disturbed from Crina, the woman in the graveyard by the keep.
• Blasphemy from Gremla, the woman in the village crying in front of onlookers.
• Deep Down from Gavril working in his field on the way to the forest.
• Do not chase down and tackle Vasil, the annoying lad insulting you around town. It takes time, and I recommend skipping that quest (Someone Needs A Lesson).

Dead Drop

After accepting a few quests, score some extra coins and loot by taking the small path up a hill directly east of Coen's house to the outcast's graveyard marked with a large, gnarly tree on the map.

1. Inspect a grave in the north corner to learn more about Vasil (still not doing his quest though, sorry)
2. Immediately behind the trees in the north corner, climb a ledge into a small cave to loot 37 Denarius, a regenerative salve, golden tableware (to sell), and an Amulet of Fortitude
3. Back at the graves, inspect the one in the south corner to start the Dead Drop quest
4. Use Coen's focus to follow the footprints and carvings up into the woods to a dead drop hidden under a tree where you'll loot a mysterious letter, Ring of Purging, 19 Denarius, and 100 XP

Withering Away

Next, head to Anca's house down the small western path out of town for the Withering Away quest to get herbs for Coen's mother as Pieter directed. Your choices here don't have any major impacts aside from Anca's immediate reaction to Coen's attitude. Here's what I consider the best options:

1. Choose to [keep on looking] instead of calling out to Anca when you approach her to see an extra hint about her backstory, but don't press her about the scars right afterwards.
2. Take your pick on how Coen reacts to Anca saying that he must be worried for his mother.
3. "I understand", to pay Anca the double rate she requests, which she appreciates, since you can afford it after looting that cave.
4. (Optional) "Gladly – I've missed it too," to stay with Anca for the Page-Turner quest, especially if you're interested in romancing Anca later.
   Otherwise, say "I really have to go" and you can spend an extra time slot elsewhere instead.

3 Noon

Page-Turner

If you're interested in having a relationship with Anca later, definitely stick around to spend extra time with her before trotting off home. Despite how the dialogue choice makes it look, this only takes one extra time slot, meaning your entire time with her to complete Withering Away and Page Turner together takes two time slots.

1. "How about this book with the red cover?" Choose this to read a slightly saucier poem than the one Anca initially suggests.
2. Continue to insist with "This Catullus sounds more interesting." and then "You sound like your prioress." and finally "Thank you for not smacking me."
3. As Coen reads, the correct translations are "Kisses" and "Grains of sand" though you're not penalised for guessing wrong first
4. When you run outside to help Anca save the herbs in her shed, use Coen's focus and collect 11 dried herbs hanging from the ceiling. Including the herbs she already gave you for Coen's mother, you should have 12 dried herbs in your inventory before you talk to her again. You'll get slightly different dialogue choices depending on whether you saved them all or only some of them.
5. When Coen cleans Anca's wound, either dialogue option for lowering or removing her shirt will wind up with topless Anca, so choose as you will
6. "I enjoy the company more than the books." One more chance to get in a compliment for Anca before leaving.

4 Noon

Withering Away part 2

Herbs in hand, hurry back home to Coen's house. You'll witness a mysterious argument between Pieter and Vladimir, which we'll uncover more about later. For now, help Coen's dad brew Anca's recipe for Esme. Do not screw the recipe up or else things are going to go very badly for Coen's family at mass tonight. If you've forgotten what Anca said, it's:

1. [use hot water]
2. [add three spoonfuls of herbs]

After that, you can answer Pieter how you like about his training plans and then convince Esme to drink the brew. Then just say "Let's" to Pieter instead of pressing him to talk. Either is fine, really, but I like to think Coen understands what kind of man his father is.

DO NOT follow Pieter to go train together up the hill. Don't worry, he'll wait around until Coen comes back at the very end of the day instead.

5 Afternoon

Enter Not

Head into the forest across the bridge north of Anca's house and follow the road until you reach an abandoned house on the left side of the path. Approach it to start the quest Enter Not, then find your way into the plague house by climbing the lower roof on the right side and dropping down inside. Grab all these things from the house:

• Loot the corpse for the Last Confession and Figurine of St. Jude
• Loot the small chest by the hearth for 17 Denarius, gold tableware, a recipe for mending ointment, and Knyaz Skender's Orders

You'll complete Enter Not a bit later in the day by returning the figurine to the church. For now, keep following the road north. When you reach the Blackwater Hollow shrine, do two things:

• Use Coen's focus to inspect the abandoned wagon of peat; that's your first clue on Lazar's whereabouts
• Head just north of the shrine. Off to the right of the path is an abandoned house with a chest inside. The loot in this chest is randomized, but I've found a sword better than Coen's practice sword in it each time so grab and equip whatever luck hands you there. You'll want the damage boost for a couple upcoming fights.

If A Tree Falls

Forget about Lazar for a moment and keep heading north towards the Northern Foothills shrine. Right beside it is a tree that's fallen and killed someone. Follow the trail of that dead body along the road (fighting some wolves along the way) until it ends in a gorge where you'll pick up the quest If A Tree Falls by looting the Orders: Patrol off the body of an Uriash guard. We'll turn that one in later too.

Into The Den

If you're feeling a bit frisky for combat, here's where you can take a detour to fight a bear at its den on the east side of the bog. The fight's a bit of a bear (pun slightly intended) but you can get through it if you're confident in your ability to pull off directional blocks so you don't drain your stamina. Loot the body in the cave to get:

• Tall Boots (equip these)
• 17 Denarius
• Transylvanian White Wine
• A couple consumables
• Tattered Letter which begins the Into The Den quest

If you did not spend extra time with Anca, you can complete Into The Den by looting the treasure from a hut at the logging site you've already walked through here in the bog. Digging up the treasure uses a time slot though, so if you already did Page-Turner, pass this one over. You'll need to complete this quest before you can sell silver later in the game but it isn't time sensitive, so you can come back for the marked treasure after the prologue.

Deep Down

Head back south into Blackwater Hollow and pick up Lazar's trail, heading west until you find a couple wolves guarding a clearing. Kill the wolves and drop down into the deep hole in front of the gnarled tree. Good news: Lazar is alive down there and none too worse for the wear. That's why we're doing this quest now. If you wait until evening to do Deep Down, you'll find Lazar's corpse instead, bummer.

The conversation with Lazar isn't terribly important, but you'll get the most out of him if you don't dismiss his concerns and choose these dialogue options:

1. "How to you know?"
2. "You don't sound convinced."
3. "Could be a vrakhir - or an uriash?"

When you get to the round room with a sarcophagus, inspect all the murals on the left wall to get some ancient vrakhiri lore. Inspecting the last image lets you open the stone coffin to loot the Mireleaf Bracers (30 extra armor, which you'll want in a minute) and the Claw Art active ability. Go on and equip those.

Details

In the next room you'll fight The Forgotten Guardian. You should be level three by now with a decent sword equipped and those new bracers. The guardian hits hard but you can put the hurt on it as long as you dodge away from its unblockable double sword slash. The fight isn't actually as long as the bear fight.

Loot the Forgotten Guardian and equip its Undead Warrior's Sword to replace whatever standard blade you wound up rocking. Loot the chests in this room also to grab some gold valuables to sell back in Laslea later.

Shimmy your way out of the ruins with Gavril and wrap up this section:

• I'll walk you to Gavril. Lazar will get back safely if you don't walk with him, but it's easiest to just get teleported back to town to turn the quest in since you should be done in the bog for now.
• I could go talk with him. Tell Gavril you'll let the elderman know about the haunted ruins. You've got to turn in a quest to him anyhow.

6 Afternoon

Now that you're back in Laslea, it's time to run some errands:

• Talk to Zdislav the elderman just north of the blacksmith.
  • I found a dead soldier: This will complete the If A Tree Falls quest
  • I found haunted ruins in the bogs: There's no reward for this, but Zdislav says he'll send soldiers to block off the ruins so that's your due diligence done.
• Visit Mircea the blacksmith to do some shopping. You should have junk and a lot of gold valuables to sell after the ruins and the quest tour you've been on. Sell all that and treat yourself to some gear upgrades. I shelled out for the Gold-Knee Trousers and the Voyager's Ruddy Cotehardie. The Grey Knightly Gambeson is better armor but hey, sometimes fashion wins out.
• Visit Laslea Center shrine to use some of your perk points if you haven't already. But be careful not to take any perks that spend time to unlock!

Blasphemy

Now it's time to find that missing banner for Gremla to complete the Blasphemy quest. Head back to her house near the Laslea Center shrine. Use Coen's focus to find three clues:

• Footprints
• Holes from a cane
• A torn piece of banner in the dirt with blood on the back

You can go straight for the guilty party (it's Premysl) but if you want the full investigation experience, here's all the neighbors you can harangue until you find the truth:

1. Alois, standing in front of Gremla, who has a cane but hasn't hurt his hand.
2. Otokar, chopping wood east of Laslea gate, who has injured his hand but doesn't have a cane.
3. Dana, sitting on a bench outside a house just west of Coen's, who's started walking with a cane but has not injured her hand either.
4. Premysl, sitting outside the house with huge stacks of hay, just southeast of Coen's house.

Confront Premysl and decide whether he should return the banner to Gremla.

• "Angering Brencis will put my family at risk" / "This is just an empty gesture": Coen convinces Premysl to return the banner.
• "Maybe you're right…": Premysl keeps the banner.
• "You haven't convinced me": Coen shames Premysl into returning the banner.

If you want to complete the prologue with all Coen's neighbors alive (for now) then tell Premysl to return the banner. Whether Premysl returns it himself or not, you'll need to head back to Gremla to complete the quest.

You can go either way on this quest though. Honestly, I think the mass and Pieter's reaction afterwards makes the most sense if it gets gruesome. Maybe Gremla is the necessary sacrifice to really show that Laslea is at a breaking point under Brencis.

7 Evening

Disturbed

Head to Crina at the graveyard and inspect Kvet's grave site for clues. You'll find footprints in the red soil to lead you towards the culprit. Use Coen's focus to follow the footprints down the hill, into the center of town, and to the right of the blacksmith's where the trail ends. Continue straight ahead towards the house in front of you and inspect a broken shovel covered in red soil outside Kostel's shed. Head inside the shed and inspect the trap door on the floor to confront Kostel and Vladimir.

You get a few yellow dialogue options with Kostel and Vladimir but they all result in essentially the same conversation. You do have an opportunity to warn Vladimir that Brencis's guards know something is afoot from how they pressed Coen at the river earlier, not that Vladimir is put off by that.

• I'll keep this between us: You'll have to tell Crina you couldn't find the cross, bummer.
• Give Kvet's cross back: Vlad will give up the cross for Coen to return.

Head back to Crina to return Kvet's silver cross and complete the quest:

1. I found it lying in the bushes: You don't get anything but more heartbreak for Crina if you tell her Vladimir's the thief, so keep it to yourself.
2. I really need to go: Sorry Crina, Coen still needs to train with Pieter, so no time for re-burying Kvet's grave.

8 Evening

Enter Not

Before you run off to train with Pieter, grab a last bit of experience by heading into the keep and the church. Talk with Father Florin to complete the Enter Not quest by handing over the Figurine of St. Jude.

Like Father, Like Son

At last, go back to Coen's house and follow Pieter up the hill to train together. He usually follows up his unblockable attack with a quick swing afterwards, to be ready to dodge and block right after. You've got a couple dialogue choices here, but they're just for the sake of roleplaying Coen because Pieter is going to get himself involved in this rebellion scheme either way. Buckle up!

Mass

If you've followed along with this walkthrough so far, here's how mass should go:

• Gremla's blasphemous banner will hang in the church (but it won't be her hanging over the altar, which is what happens if you don't do her quest)
• Vladimir will ask Coen whether Pieter is on board with the plan and Coen will have to say he's not sure
• Anca asks how Esme is doing and Coen can flirt just a bit more if you want
• Lazar is alive—he and Gavril are grateful
• Crina says she can feel Kvet is at peace
• Esme survives mass, thank goodness, because her death is pretty brutal if Coen brews her medicine wrong

During mass, Coen has two opportunities to speak out or fall in line. They're shown as timed choices that you have to make quickly but don't seem to affect how the night goes, so roleplay at will.

No matter what happens at mass, Pieter will muster up his revolutionary spirit at home afterwards and drag Coen off, sword in hand, to help Vladimir's crew break into the silver mines in an attempt to throw off vrakhir rule. It doesn't go well!

Full prologue quest list