In the Nick of Time is one of the four gold trophies in The Blood of Dawnwalker, and it is the only one tied directly to the 30-day countdown hanging over Coen’s family. It unlocks alongside The Turncoat, the ending where you take Brencis up on his offer instead of fighting him. The trophy is easy to earn if you keep the main path tight, and impossible to earn once the clock has run past 30 in-game days.
Quick answer: Defeat Ambrus, Bakir, and Xanthe within 30 in-game days, start the final quest “A Deal with the Devil,” pick “I just want my family back.” and then “I’ll do it,” and finish by marking the Manumit Hideout for Brencis at night.
How the 30-day limit works in The Blood of Dawnwalker
Time does not tick down on its own while you stand around. It behaves more like a currency that gets spent when you make certain dialogue choices, unlock skills, and complete quests. That makes the limit far less punishing than it sounds, because nothing drains in the background while you explore or fight.
The main story can be cleared in roughly 7 to 10 in-game days if you stick to the Court Activities and the boss quests they unlock. That leaves around 20 days of slack for side content. Cross the 30-day mark before beating Brencis and you get the Time Runs Out ending instead, where the family is sacrificed. That ending awards nothing, and In the Nick of Time is off the table for that save.
Side content does not expire on its own. Quests you have not started stay available no matter how many days pass. Only objectives inside quests you have already started can be timed, and those are flagged with an hourglass icon in the journal. The game also continues after the 30 days expire, so cleanup for other trophies is still possible from a later save.
Requirements before the final quest unlocks
Everything the trophy needs happens on the critical path. Ordinary dialogue choices during the story have no bearing on which ending you get, so there is no need to agonise over conversations along the way.
| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| Esme’s medicine | During the prologue, give your mother the correct medicine before time runs out so she survives. |
| Three main bosses | Complete Court Activities to draw out Ambrus, Bakir, and Xanthe, then defeat all three. |
| Day count | All of the above must be done inside 30 in-game days. |
| Infamy | You should be at peak infamy once the three bosses are dead. |
| Manual saves | Keep a save the moment the final quest appears, so you can reload it for the other endings. |
Court Activities can be tackled in any order and are tracked from the Court menu. Once you have angered a boss enough, their fight quest appears, then you repeat the process for the next one. Avoid killing non-hostile NPCs, vendors, and quest givers along the way, since that can cut off content you still need.
Trigger “A Deal with the Devil” and accept Brencis’s offer
Mark the Manumit Hideout to close out the ending
Brencis’s price is the location of the Manumit Hideout, and you cannot hand it over until you have been invited inside. That takes a short chain of three side quests, each of which starts automatically once the previous one wraps up.
Alternate ways to trigger it from Lacra’s or Crake’s path
If you already have an ally lined up and are standing at the point of no return, you can still flip to the betrayal ending. Both ally paths offer Brencis’s deal one last time just before the final boss.
| Path | Dialogue option to pick |
|---|---|
| Lacra (The Patricide route) | “I accept your offer. I’m sorry, Lacra” |
| Crake (The Knyazmaker route) | “Please – maybe we can come to an agreement.” |
Tip: because all seven endings can be collected in one playthrough via save reloads, the cleanest approach is to bank a save before the final quest, take the betrayal route first for this gold trophy, then reload and work through the rest.
How to tell it worked, and why it fails
Confirmation is straightforward. Interacting with the hideout door at night plays the ending cutscene, and In the Nick of Time unlocks together with The Turncoat. Seeing only The Turncoat means the day count was already blown; seeing neither means the ending never actually triggered.
- You passed 30 in-game days before reaching the ending, which locks in the Time Runs Out result.
- You picked the sword option during the parley, which drops you straight into the fight instead of the deal.
- You never got invited into the Manumit Hideout, so there is nothing to hand over to Brencis.
- You approached the hideout door during the day rather than at night.
Treat the day counter as the only real constraint here. Sprint the Court Activities and the three boss fights first, bank a save the moment Brencis reaches out, and everything else in Vale Sangora can wait until after the credits have rolled once.
