Gaming Guide

The Blood of Dawnwalker: All Brencis’s Flag Locations in Svartrau City

Where all five Banners of Oppression hang, how to cut each one down, and what unlocks when the last falls.

Where all five Banners of Oppression hang, how to cut each one down, and what unlocks when the last falls.

Brencis’s flags hang above the entry gates of Svartrau City, and pulling them down is one of the shorter collectible chains in The Blood of Dawnwalker. There are five of them, all within the same city, all handled the same way. Cut every banner and you finish the “Tear down all of Brencis’s flags” objective and pick up the Capture the Flag trophy and achievement.

Quick answer: Climb the gatehouse at the North East Gate, North West Gate, West Gate, Dragosti Gate, and South Gate, kill any guards inside, and interact with the rope holding the banner in each gatehouse interior.


All five Brencis’s flag locations

Every banner sits on a gate leading into Svartrau City, so you can ring the walls and clear them in a single circuit. On the map they appear as a white flag icon. The markers populate automatically once you get close, or all at once if you climb the towers inside Svartrau City first, which is the faster approach if you have not scouted the area yet.

World map screen with the Map tab open, showing quest and location markers around Svartrau
The map screen with banner and location markers filled in. Image: Rebel Wolves
GateIn-game banner name
North East GateBanner of Oppression: The North-East Gate
North West GateBanner of Oppression: The North-West Gate
West GateBanner of Oppression: The West Gate
Dragosti GateBanner of Oppression: Dragosti Gate
South GateBanner of Oppression: The South Gate

The West Gate and Dragosti Gate sit on the western side of the city, so pairing them in one trip saves travel time. The two northern gates are close enough to chain together as well, leaving the South Gate as a natural endpoint.

Map view with a district west of Svartrau City outlined in yellow as the selected area
The map area selection highlighting the western district of Svartrau City. Image: Rebel Wolves

How to tear down a banner

The routine is identical at all five gates. You cannot cut a banner from the street below, since the rope mechanism sits inside the gatehouse room above the arch.

Travel to the gate at night. Darkness lets you use Shadowstep, held on R2 or RT, to teleport straight up the wall instead of hunting for a climbing route.
Scale the exterior of the gatehouse. Some gates have wooden scaffolding propped against them, such as the North West Gate, which works as an ordinary climb if you are approaching during the day.
Enter the gatehouse interior. The objective tracker updates to tell you to get inside, and the room is small enough that there is only one way in from the walkway.
Quest HUD reading Get inside the gatehouse as the player approaches the gate structure
The objective prompt to get inside the gatehouse. Image: Rebel Wolves
Deal with the guards. Not every gatehouse is occupied, but several hold a soldier who will engage the moment you step in.
Interact with the rope holding the banner. The flag drops away from the outside wall and the counter in your objective ticks up by one.

Note: Each banner you cut advances time by one segment. If you are running the whole set at night to keep Shadowstep available, factor in that five flags will push the clock forward five segments.


Loot inside the gatehouses

Several gatehouses hold a chest next to the banner mechanism, and the fallen guards are worth searching too. Open them before you cut the rope so you are not tempted to leave early. Contents cover weapons, armor pieces, currency, and crafting or consumable items, including a Reliable Battlesword, Studded Bracers, Denarius, a Requisition Letter, Major Aetheric Attunement, Yellow Sweet Clover, Chanterelle, and Fruit Juice.

Gameplay screen with the E Loot prompt highlighted over a downed enemy
Using the loot prompt on a defeated enemy. Image: Rebel Wolves

Confirming the Capture the Flag achievement

The objective reads “Tear down all of Brencis’s flags,” and the trophy pops the instant the fifth banner falls. If you follow the loop described above, that will be at the South Gate. If nothing unlocks, one gate is still standing. Open the map, look for a remaining white flag icon on a city gate, and check the gates you visited during the day, since it is easy to reach a wall top, get distracted by a chest, and leave without touching the rope.

The final Brencis banner falling from the South Gate gatehouse in Svartrau City
The last of the five banners coming down at the South Gate. Image: Rebel Wolves

Brencis rules Vale Sangora from Greifberg Castle above Svartrau, and the banners are his mark on every road into the city. Stripping them off the gates is quick work compared to the rest of the map, but the flag icons only appear once you have been near the gates or scouted from the city towers, so it is worth getting those towers out of the way first.