Follow Sara is the short escort segment that closes the first half of Shadows in the Woods in The Blood of Dawnwalker. Once Sara is free, she leads Coen north into the Boar’s Back region along a single snowbound forest trail, talking as she walks, until the pair reach an overlook above the manumits’ camp. Nothing here is combat or puzzle based — the objective ends on one interaction.
Quick answer: Stay close behind Sara on the linear path through Boar’s Back until she stops at the cliff edge overlooking the camp, then press E on the Talk prompt. The game autosaves and plays a cutscene, which completes the objective.
Getting Sara free so the Follow Sara objective starts
Shadows in the Woods opens after The Firebrand and Under Watchful Eyes, when Mert points Coen toward Sara, the manumits’ contact. She is held south of the Briar Sloughs, past the bridge near the Stoneward Post, and reaching her means clearing the guards there, including the minor boss Vrakhiri Banneret. Cross the bridge and head southeast into the trees to find two soldiers holding her.
You can talk your way past the pair or fight them. The peaceful route costs money but avoids the brawl entirely.
| Moment | Choice |
|---|---|
| First guard prompt | That girl is my sister. |
| Second guard prompt | Not sure. Maybe these coins hold an answer? (costs 100 denarii) |
| If you refuse to pay | Defeat both guards in combat instead |
| Talking to Sara | Tell her Mert sent you, then pick “I want to join the manumits” |
Asking to join the manumits is what makes Sara start walking. The tracker then switches to Follow Sara.
Follow Sara through the Boar’s Back forest
E to talk to Sara. The game writes an autosave and rolls the cutscene of the pair arriving at the camp.What Sara says on the way to the camp
The dialogue plays automatically and needs no input. Coen asks about the rendezvous point, and Sara teases him that the question sounds like something a spy would ask. He then asks why she joined the manumits at all, and she says she is after adventure.
None of it branches, so there is no wrong answer to worry about here. The exchange is context for the manumits rather than a check on Coen.
How to confirm the Follow Sara objective is done
Three things happen back to back and confirm the step registered. A Saving indicator appears, the arrival cutscene plays, and the quest tracker moves off Follow Sara. If you are standing at the overlook and nothing has changed, you have not used the Talk prompt yet — distance alone does not advance the step.
Note: the campaign timer keeps running in the background. The HUD shows the countdown to rescue Coen’s family, so the walk still consumes in-game time even though the segment itself is short.
The capture dialogue and quest reward
The camp welcome does not go the way Coen expects. The manumits seize him, and he is questioned by their leaders, Crake and Drogos. Picking the responses below carries the conversation through to the end of the quest.
| Order | Response |
|---|---|
| 1 | I wish I knew. |
| 2 | I don’t. |
| 3 | Any option (no effect) |
| 4 | Forget it. You won’t believe me anyway. |
| 5 | What now? |
| 6 | Very well. I’ll meet you in Svartrau. |
Agreeing to the meeting in Svartrau ends Shadows in the Woods and pays out 1,000 XP.
What opens up after Shadows in the Woods
Two threads pick up from here. The tracker can roll straight into Echoes of Silenced Bells, which sends Coen to the old mill, and the larger follow-up is Where Loyalty Lies, the quest that actually gets him into the manumits.
Where Loyalty Lies will not start until Coen’s notoriety reaches the Notorious milestone, which is level four or higher on the bar in the Court tab. Raising it means hitting the regime’s forces — clearing out Ambrus’s camps, outposts and transports first, then chipping away at Bakir’s and Xanthe’s troops. Once you are Notorious, head to Svartrau City during the day and walk near the Plaza, where Sara turns up again and asks Coen to follow her to the base.
