If a Tree Falls in a Forest: Witch’s Pendant Location in Blood of Dawnwalker

The Blood of Dawnwalker hides one of its earliest amulets behind a body nobody tells you about. “If a Tree Falls in a Forest…” is an optional prologue quest in Laslea Glen that costs zero time segments, which makes it one of the few detours in Coen’s opening hours that doesn’t push the clock closer to his family’s deadline. The payoff is the Witch’s Pendant, plus a short trail of corpses that explains what happened to a patrol of Brencis’s men.

Quick answer: Fast travel to the Northern Foothills shrine, walk north to the snapped tree, and inspect the body crushed beneath it. Follow the tracks northwest in Focus Mode until you reach the riverbed, loot the dead uriash for the Witch’s Pendant, then report to Zdislav in Laslea.

Quest requirements and start location

Everything happens in the Northern Foothills of Laslea Glen, just north of the Blackwater Hollow peat bog. The quest only exists during the prologue, and it is flagged as missable, so treat it as something to clear early rather than something to come back for.

Detail	Value
Region	Laslea Glen, Northern Foothills (Vale Sangora)
Quest giver	Corpse under the snapped tree near the Northern Foothills shrine
Prerequisite	Complete “All Good Things”
Time cost	0 time segments, daytime only
Missable	Yes — must be finished before “Sacred Covenant”
Objectives	Follow the tracks, then report your findings to Zdislav
Completion reward	100 XP

Note: the shrine is a fast travel point, so unlock it during your normal prologue exploration and the whole detour takes a couple of minutes on foot.

How to trigger the quest at the fallen tree

Travel to the Northern Foothills shrine and head north on foot. You are looking for a large tree snapped in half across the logging path, with the site itself abandoned.

Deal with the two wolves that attack near the log. They drop Animal Bones and Wolf Claws, both useful crafting ingredients later.

Hold Focus Mode to highlight the wreckage in yellow, then inspect the tree and the body pinned underneath it. Coen suggests the wind brought the tree down, and the inspection of the crushed man is what puts “If a Tree Falls in a Forest…” into your journal.

Inspect prompt appears beside the fallen log and the body crushed underneath it — The inspect prompt on the body under the snapped tree — this is what starts the quest. Image: Rebel Wolves

Focus Mode is bound to right-click on PC, L2 on PlayStation, and LT on Xbox. Without it, the trail is effectively invisible and the quest cannot progress.

Follow the tracks to the riverbed

The trail runs northwest, deeper into the foothills, before bending west to the river. Each marker along the way confirms you are still on the right path, and whispering audio grows louder the further you go.

Keep Focus Mode active and follow the glowing footprints away from the logging site. The first thing you should find is an empty scabbard lying in the dirt — inspect it.

Inspect prompt over glowing footprints on the forest floor while tracking the patrol — Highlighted footprints mark the route northwest away from the logging site. Image: Rebel Wolves

Continue along the tracks to the second body. This soldier tripped on a root and struck his head on a rock, and from here only one set of large footprints continues.

Yellow highlight on a body and the glowing trail continuing through the foothills — The second casualty, with the trail still highlighted ahead. Image: Rebel Wolves

Push on and you will pass a dropped shield and a discarded blade. The shield cannot be taken, but the Common Sword can be picked up. The walking prints turn into running prints around here.

Check your map if you lose the thread. The route stays on the northern path before cutting west toward the riverbank, so keep the marker centred and carry on.

Map screen with the quest location marker highlighted and ready to track — The map marker for the trail, north of the Blackwater Hollow area. Image: Rebel Wolves

Find the single lost shoe, then look over the drop. The man never slowed down and went straight off the edge onto the rocks. Climb down to the snowy riverbed to reach him.

Witch’s Pendant location and stats

The last corpse is an uriash wearing a Brencis uniform, lying on the riverbed below the cliff. Loot him and the amulet is yours along with the rest of his effects.

Highlighted body lying on the snowy riverbed at the end of the trail — The final body on the riverbed holds the Witch’s Pendant. Image: Rebel Wolves

Loot	What it is
Witch’s Pendant	Level 6 Superior Amulet, +6% Passive Activation Charge Restoration
Regenerative Salve	Healing consumable
Orders: Patrol	Letter ordering Sergeant Lubor to sweep the woods outside Laslea
Gold	Loose coin carried by the soldier

Reading the orders fills in the story. Captain Bohumil’s men were sent out because of reports of strange sounds and lights in the woods. The whispers Coen hears on the trail confirm that part of the report was accurate, and the four bodies confirm how it ended.

Report to Zdislav to close the quest

Head back to Laslea and find Zdislav, the village elder. He stands near the blacksmith close to the Laslea Centre Shrine and is marked on your map once the objective updates.

Coen’s reasoning is practical rather than noble. Brencis’s men died on ground the village works, and if nobody reports it, the vrakhiri may decide Laslea was responsible. Zdislav takes the news badly but agrees to handle it, saying he will speak to Brencis’s men himself and make sure the village is cleared.

You know it worked when the dialogue ends and the journal closes the entry with the outcome that you reported the dead men to Zdislav, awarding 100 XP. If you leave without speaking to him, the journal instead records only that you found the bodies, and the quest never resolves.

Common reasons the quest fails to appear or finish

“All Good Things” has not been completed yet, so the quest cannot be triggered.
You inspected only the tree and not the body underneath it, which is the actual trigger.
Focus Mode was never held down, leaving the footprints and objects unhighlighted.
You looted the final body but skipped the return trip to Zdislav.
You progressed into “Sacred Covenant”, which locks the quest out for that playthrough.

Because the whole thing costs no time segments, there is no trade-off in taking it on during the prologue. Grab the Common Sword on the way, pocket the Regenerative Salve, and slot the Witch’s Pendant early — a Level 6 amulet with charge restoration is a meaningful head start when Coen’s abilities are still limited.