The Gilded Gauntlet is Ambrus’s boss quest in The Blood of Dawnwalker, and it is the first of the three vassal confrontations most players reach. It starts with a crucified body in Maragir and ends with a night duel that you can either fight straight or rig in advance by poisoning the blood cow Ambrus drinks from. The poisoned route is the difference between a long, punishing sword fight and one you can survive by dodging alone.
Quick answer: Clear about 75% of Ambrus’s Court Activities to anger him, take Erdene’s invitation to Iulian Codrin, finish The Bittersweet Toast, then ring the bell at Maragir at night within 3 in-game days (48 time segments) of that quest ending. At the toast, refuse to drink first so Ambrus takes the poisoned blood alone.
How to trigger The Gilded Gauntlet in Maragir
Two conditions gate the quest. You need the prologue chain finished through Smoke and Ashes, and Ambrus’s Anger has to be pushed high enough through his Court Activities. You do not have to clear all of them. Roughly three quarters of his blood transports, leech camps, cellars, prisoner convoys, and dungeons is enough, and you can check the exact level by hovering his portrait in the Court menu.
Once the threshold is crossed, the quest marker appears on the south side of Maragir. Peasants are jeering at a crucified corpse and scatter as soon as they recognise Coen. The note left at the foot of the cross is Ambrus’s Invitation, which challenges Coen to a fight to the death at a place of Ambrus’s choosing and makes clear that villagers will keep dying while the duel is delayed.
A woman named Erdene approaches immediately afterwards. She serves Iulian Codrin, one of Ambrus’s own people, and says he knows his master’s weakness. Accepting sends you to his hunting lodge and opens the optional side quest The Bittersweet Toast. Letting Erdene guide you costs 1 time segment; making your own way there also burns an hour when you finally speak to Iulian, so there is no saving by walking. Refusing simply marks his location for later.
Iulian’s poison plan and The Bittersweet Toast
At the lodge, Iulian explains that Ambrus keeps personal blood cows and feeds on one before every duel. He knows which victim is next, because it is him. Answering “How would we do that?” starts The Bittersweet Toast; saying you will not poison people ends the conversation, though you can return later and the option reappears.
Note: whether you add the Tatzelwurm gland during the brewing decides whether Iulian can survive the poison afterwards, so it matters for who is still standing when the duel ends.
The 3-day window before the duel
Completing The Bittersweet Toast starts a hard clock. You have exactly 48 time segments, or three in-game days, before Ambrus notices Iulian’s condition and brings a different victim to the duel instead. Since the fight only happens at night, the practical deadline is earlier than it sounds.
| Timing rule | What it means |
|---|---|
| 48 time segments after The Bittersweet Toast | The poison plan expires and Ambrus swaps in another blood cow |
| 2 segments before sunrise on day 3 | The latest you can ring the bell and still have the poison work |
| Ringing the bell | Costs 2 time segments, and Ambrus arrives 2 segments later |
| Skipping the side quest entirely | No deadline at all; duel whenever you like, at night |
The duel objective itself does not fail even if you blow past the window, or past 30 days. The hourglass icon on it only reflects the night-only restriction. Only Iulian’s involvement is time-sensitive.
Ringing the bell and the toast dialogue choices
Track the quest and travel to the marked hilltop by Maragir. If you arrive in daylight the game offers to wait for nightfall, which wastes hours you could spend on a nearby side quest or a perk purchase. Come back after dark and ring the old bell.
Ambrus arrives with soldiers and, if the plan held, Iulian. The opening exchange of insults changes nothing. The decisive moment comes when Ambrus proposes a toast, catches the looks passing between Coen and Iulian, and insists Coen drink first.
| Your reply | Result |
|---|---|
| “Letting a peasant drink first? What kind of boyar are you?” or “I don’t trust anything you offer.” | Ambrus feeds alone and takes the full poison. Coen is unaffected. Best outcome. |
| “Gladly. To join a juicy slaughter!” | Both drink. Ambrus is poisoned but so is Coen, whose health drains during the fight. |
| “I don’t drink from humans.” | Ambrus grows suspicious and kills Iulian. He still absorbs some poison, but the weaker effect wears off partway through the fight. |
If you never did The Bittersweet Toast, Ambrus drains another villager and your answer is irrelevant. Drinking from Iulian carries a lasting cost too, since that poison sticks to Coen for 10 time segments after the duel and cannot be cured. You simply wait it out.
How to beat Ambrus
With a fully poisoned Ambrus you barely need to fight. His health drains on its own and he doubles over in pain as it does, so dodging until the finisher cinematic triggers is a valid way to win. Without the poison, he blocks ordinary combos well, and the reliable damage window is a Perfect Block into a Perfect Riposte, followed by a claw art if your bracers allow it. Keep lock-on active, because he constantly shadowsteps behind you.
| Unblockable attack | Counter |
|---|---|
| Spinning wind-up at range, then a shadowstep into an overhead aerial slash | Dodge backwards |
| Forward lean at range, then a shadowstep into a rising vertical slice | Dodge left or right, then punish during his recovery |
| Figure-eight sword spin while advancing at mid to close range | Chain dodges backwards, or claw once up close and dodge sideways twice |
His health bar has two break points. Past the first, he activates Scarlet Shield, shown by a diamond icon under a greyed-out bar. Do not attack during it, because every hit heals him. Past the second, he glows red and teleports rapidly around Coen, sometimes seeming to occupy two spots at once. Defend through that flurry and resume attacking when his normal patterns return.
Drain Ambrus or kill him
When his health is nearly gone, a cinematic gives you the choice to drain his blood or execute him. Draining unlocks the Scarlet Shield ability, or raises it by one level if you already picked it up from a phial of Ambrus’s blood. Feeding directly also pulls Coen into Anachora and awards the Realmwalker trophy if you do not have it yet.
Inside Anachora, Ambrus begs to be invited in. Accepting keeps part of his soul inside Coen rather than losing it to whatever waits for vrakhiri after death. In practice he occasionally comments on the world as you explore and later helps against Brencis. There is no known drawback, and refusing does not change the endings. Killing him outright skips the sequence entirely and is treated the same as never inviting him in.
Rewards and how to confirm the quest is finished
The quest pays out 500 XP and 1 Skill Point, plus the Scarlet Shield ability if you drained Ambrus. You know it worked when the journal shows Quest Ended for both The Bittersweet Toast and The Gilded Gauntlet, and the trophy The Right Fist of the Knyaz pops. Ambrus also disappears from the Court menu as an active threat, which frees you to move on to Bakir and then Xanthe.
Only a few things stop the poison plan from landing. Skipping the meeting with Iulian removes it completely, missing the 48-segment window swaps in a different blood cow, and telling Ambrus you do not drink from humans gets Iulian killed for a much weaker effect. Everything else in the fight is down to your dodging.
If Iulian survives thanks to the Tatzelwurm gland, he has some pointed words for Coen once the dust settles. If he does not, you can walk to his body afterwards and bury him for 1 time segment. It is not an objective and nothing tracks it, but the option is there.
