The Blood of Dawnwalker · Story Walkthrough
The Blood of Dawnwalker isn't structured like a simple quest checklist — it's a linear Prologue that funnels into a 30-day open-world race, which then branches hard at the end. This walkthrough follows that actual shape: the full Prologue quest-by-quest, how the open-world "race the clock" phase works, and how it all funnels into the endgame.
Three phases: a linear, story-driven Prologue that teaches you the basics and sets up the stakes; an open-world middle where you're free to explore Vale Sangora against a 30-day countdown; and an endgame that branches into one of seven endings depending on who you sided with and how you handled the final confrontation. If you want the full breakdown of that last part, see our endings guide — this page focuses on getting you there.
The three phases of Coen's story
The Prologue is fully linear and roughly the same for everyone — the choices you make here don't change which quests you get, but they do change what state your family and village are in once the open world begins.
The Prologue's six quests, in fixed order
You search a gorge for your sister Lunka after harrowing visions, crawling through tunnels and squeezing past an icy crevasse. It ends in a forced fight against Blood Guards where Coen is fatally stabbed — Lunka lets him drink her blood, transforming him into a vampire on the spot and unlocking Shadowstep. Use it to close the distance to the church and end the quest.
A slower, choice-driven quest: do chores, then travel to Anca's hut for herbs to brew medicine for your ailing mother Esme.
This choice isn't cosmetic — it directly decides whether Esme survives the Blood Mass in Sacred Covenant.
A training duel with your father Pieter that teaches blocking and dodging — winning or losing doesn't change the outcome. After training, talk to Pieter until dialogue runs out, then make your choice:
The Blood Mass at Laslea Glen Church. Sit with your parents and watch the ceremony play out — Esme's fate here is determined entirely by the medicine quality from Withering Away. Brencis arrives, the ceremony turns violent, and Coen and the other men are ambushed and knocked out at the Silver Mines afterward.
You wake in the mines and have to fight your way out.
You wake at Anca's hut and investigate what's left of Laslea. Follow Anca back to the village, search the marked clues around Coen's house, and take the Compel Soul hex from her — a witchcraft ability that lets you interrogate corpses for information. Use it on the dead soldier near the burned house with Brencis's banner as the catalyst, then clear the rubble at the village gate to close out the Prologue.
This is the point where the game actually starts the countdown: finishing Smoke and Ashes unlocks the open world and starts your 30-day clock to save your family.
Once the Prologue ends, the structure changes completely. There's no more fixed quest order — you're free to explore Vale Sangora, and story content unlocks through the Court Activities menu and environmental investigation rather than a linear checklist. For how the day/night split and the ticking clock actually work moment to moment, see our day/night cycle guide and beginner tips.
The open-world goal is to build infamy against three vampiric vassals who serve Brencis, by disrupting their operations through Court Activities. You can go after them in any order.
The three Vrakhiri Court vassals feed into the same endgame trigger
Disrupt his operations across Briar Sloughs and Maragir Wealds — cargo seizures, leech collectors, prisoner rescues — to trigger his personal quests, The Gilded Gauntlet and The Bittersweet Toast, and eventually the fight itself. Draining his blood grants the Scarlet Shield ability.
Found around Boar's Back and Rockfalls — headhunter fights, transport interceptions, distillery sabotage. His personal quests are The Lunar Game and The Ring. Some reporting also ties a hidden quest, "A Mother's Plea," into this chain, gated behind Lacra-related content — treat that as unconfirmed until we verify it ourselves.
Her personal quest is The Cycle of Love. The Court Activities menu itself only unlocks after Smoke and Ashes, so none of these three vassals are accessible until the Prologue is fully done.
Two of the seven endings require finishing a specific companion's full questline before the 30-day clock runs out, so it's worth knowing the chain exists even before you're ready to commit to an ending. We don't yet have verified step-by-step detail for each of these individual quests, so treat this as a checklist of names to watch for, not a walkthrough. Both chains also double as romance arcs — see our romance guide for the relationship beats layered on top.
A Friend Like This → Song of the Mountain → Hive and Seek → Our Rotten Roots → The Night of Horrors (optional) → Midnight Reckoning.
The Firebrand → Shadows in the Woods → Where Loyalty Lies → What Hunts the Night → What Hunts the Dead → Who Pulls the Strings → (optional: Distant Shadows, A Closer Look) → Rise at Dawn → Fall Before Dusk.
Once you've maxed infamy against all three Court members within the 30-day window, "A Deal with the Devil" becomes available and the story funnels toward its final confrontation. What you do from there — fight alone, bring Lacra, bring Crake, or take Brencis's deal — determines which of the seven endings you get. We cover every branch, trigger condition, and the save-file trick for seeing all of them in one playthrough in the full endings guide, and every fight along the way — including the two-phase Brencis final battle — in our boss guides.
Practical takeaway: get through the Prologue with Esme's medicine right, then use your first few open-world days to scout all three Court members before committing hard to one questline — if you know you want The Patricide or Knyazmaker ending, start that companion's chain early, since both require finishing a full quest sequence before your 30 days run out.
Is the post-Prologue story a fixed checklist?
No — once the Prologue ends, content unlocks through the Court Activities menu and exploration, and you can go after the three Court members in any order.
Do the choices in Withering Away and Sacred Covenant matter?
Yes. The medicine you brew in Withering Away (hot water, three spoonfuls of herbs) determines whether Esme survives the Blood Mass in Sacred Covenant.
How long is the Prologue?
Six quests — All Good Things, Withering Away, Like Father Like Son, Sacred Covenant, Bad Blood, and Smoke and Ashes — after which the 30-day open-world clock begins.