The Scarlet Knightly Gambeson is the strongest chest armour you can realistically wear during the opening hours of The Blood of Dawnwalker. It sits in a chest at the Silver Mines, guarded by a small group of elite bandits who will not let you walk past them peacefully. Beat them, open the chest, and Coen jumps well ahead of the gear curve for the rest of the prologue.
Quick answer: Travel to the Silver Mines at the top of the map, draw your weapon on Ambrus’s Soldier, kill him and the two elite bandits with him, then loot the chest under the wooden shelter to receive the Scarlet Knightly Gambeson and the Recipe for Mending Ointment.
Scarlet Knightly Gambeson stats and chest contents
The gambeson is a Master-rarity light chestpiece. Its armour value alone puts it far above anything looted from ordinary guards this early, and the health bonus matters a lot while Coen’s damage output is still low.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Master light chestpiece |
| Level | 4 |
| Armour | 61 |
| Bonus 1 | +8% Maximum Human Health |
| Bonus 2 | -7% Block Stamina Cost |
| Second chest item | Recipe for Mending Ointment |
The Mending Ointment recipe is the quieter prize. The finished ointment restores 50% of Coen’s human health, which covers the stretch of the prologue where healing options are thin and fights drag on for minutes.
Before you go: save and pack food
Three elite enemies at once is a genuine spike in difficulty for a prologue character. Make a manual save before you approach the mines so a failed attempt costs you nothing, and carry consumables you can eat mid-fight. Uriashi Smoked Cheese, apples, and garlic all work as stopgap healing while you are still learning the directional block timings.
Note: combat here rewards patience over aggression. Block and counter one enemy at a time rather than swinging into all three, since Coen’s early weapon damage is low enough that trading hits rarely goes in your favour.
Silver Mines location and how to trigger the fight
Looting the bodies and both chests
How to confirm you have it equipped
Open the Journal radial menu and select Inventory, then check the chest slot. The gambeson should be listed as a Level 4 Master light chestpiece showing 61 Armour, with the +8% Maximum Human Health and -7% Block Stamina Cost lines under it. If your armour rating did not move, you picked up the item but never equipped it — light chestpieces need no proficiency unlock, so it will slot in straight away.
The Recipe for Mending Ointment lands in your recipe list rather than your bag, so check your crafting entries instead of your inventory if you are looking for it.
Common reasons the fight goes wrong
- Attacking from inside the mine entrance lets all three enemies surround you at once, which removes any room to dodge.
- Going in with no food means there is no way to recover health once a single exchange goes badly.
- Relying only on the last autosave forces you to replay the approach every time instead of retrying the fight directly.
Once the gambeson is on, the rest of the prologue is considerably less punishing, and the armour holds up long enough that you can leave chest upgrades alone until the legendary pieces start appearing later in Vale Sangora.
