The Blood of Dawnwalker: The Highland Grave Walkthrough

The Highland Grave is one of the quieter side quests in The Blood of Dawnwalker, and also one of the most generous. There is no boss, no puzzle, and no timed chase. All that stands between Coen and a legendary ring is a locked door, a key on a dead scholar, and two very large mountain dwellers who would rather you left.

Quick answer: Inspect the skeleton crushed under the landslide in the west of the Rockfalls region to take the Scholar’s Map and Scholar’s Key, follow the road north to the ancient ruins, defuse or avoid the two Uriashi guards, then use the key on the sturdy door inside and loot the chest for the Ring of Quick Strikes, the Ancient Hero’s Talisman, the Blasphemous Echo Manual, and 250 XP.

The Highland Grave quest requirements and cost

Nothing gates this quest behind story progress beyond the prologue, and there is no way to fail it. It does consume time, though, which matters in a game that measures your 30 days in day and night segments.

Detail	Value
Quest type	Side quest
Region	Rockfalls, in the mountains of Vale Sangora
Quest giver	Note on a dead scholar in Rockfalls
Requirement	None; available any time after the prologue
Fail state	None
Time cost	1 time segment
Objectives	Find the place marked on the map, open the sturdy door, search the inner chamber

Start with the skeleton, not the ruins

Two things can trigger The Highland Grave. Walking into the ancient ruins starts it, and so does inspecting the dead scholar buried under the landslide. Always do the skeleton first. The scholar is carrying the Scholar’s Key, and without it the treasure chamber stays shut no matter how far into the ruins you get.

Fast travel to the Rockfalls Pasture Shrine and open your map. The remains sit in the western part of the Rockfalls region, along the road that runs from the shrine toward the mountains.

World map screen in The Blood of Dawnwalker with the MAP tab open on the Rockfalls area — The world map with the MAP tab open, used to line up the route through Rockfalls. Image: Rebel Wolves

Follow the road on foot and watch the snowy slope for a wrecked wooden cart half buried under fallen rock. The skeleton is pinned underneath it.

Inspect the map still clutched in the skeleton’s hand. Coen picks up the Scholar’s Map, the Scholar’s Key, and a Tattered Journal in one go, and the quest appears in your log with a search area marked on the world map.

The Scholar's Map parchment shown full screen with a Back prompt at the bottom — The Scholar’s Map taken from the crushed scholar, which marks the grave’s location. Image: Rebel Wolves

If you stumbled into the ruins first and the quest is already active, the skeleton is still worth the walk back. The key is the only thing that opens the inner chamber.

Reaching the Highland Grave ruins in Rockfalls

From the landslide, keep to the road heading north and follow it to the end. The terrain climbs steadily until an old stone entrance comes into view against the rock face. Coming from the shrine instead, the ruins sit up in the mountains to the northwest.

Coen approaching the weathered stone entrance of the Highland Grave ruins in the mountains — The stone entrance to the Highland Grave, at the far end of the mountain road. Image: Rebel Wolves

How to get past the two Uriashi guards

Two Uriashi are stationed at the entrance, and they open the conversation by asking what Coen is doing there. They assume you are another thief. The exchange can end in a fight, but it does not have to.

Cutscene of Coen facing two horned Uriashi guards who accuse him of coming to steal — The Uriashi confront Coen at the entrance and accuse him of theft. Image: Rebel Wolves

Which peaceful line you get depends on your standing with the uriashi. If you already resolved Song of the Mountain without bloodshed and count as their ally, pick “I’m friends with the uriashi.” Without that history, choose “I just want to look around.” Either answer keeps weapons sheathed and lets you walk deeper into the ruins.

Fighting them is an option and does not block the quest. It just costs you resources and closes off the friendlier route through the area.

Open the sturdy door and search the inner chamber

Move past the guards and head inside. The objective updates to “Open the sturdy door,” and the door itself is on the right as you go deeper into the ruins.

Objective tracker reading Open the sturdy door as Coen walks up to the locked door inside the ruins — The tracker switches to “Open the sturdy door” once you are inside the grave. Image: Rebel Wolves

Interact with the door and use the Scholar’s Key. There is no lockpicking minigame and no alternate entrance, so the key is mandatory here.

Step into the chamber and open the container inside. Taking its contents clears the final objective and closes the quest.

You will know it worked when the quest log marks The Highland Grave as complete and the 250 XP payout appears on screen as Coen leaves the ruins.

Highland Grave rewards, including the Ring of Quick Strikes

Everything the quest gives you comes out of that single chest. The ring is the headline item, and it suits a build that leans on fast, aggressive attacks rather than heavy swings.

Reward	Details
Ring of Quick Strikes	Legendary ring, geared toward faster offensive builds
Ancient Hero’s Talisman	Purple neck-slot talisman
Blasphemous Echo Manual	Witchcraft manual
250 XP	Paid out on quest completion

Looting the ruins without turning the Uriashi hostile

Vases and smaller chests are scattered around the rest of the ruins, and none of them are needed for the quest. They are worth grabbing purely to sell, but the Uriashi treat some of it as theirs.

Anything highlighted in red counts as stolen. Picking those items up while the guards are nearby draws their attention and drops you straight into a fight. Stay in stealth and take only the unmarked loot, or deal with the guards first and then clear the place at your leisure.

Note: Skipping the extra loot entirely has no effect on the quest or its rewards.

Why the quest stalls at the sturdy door

There is really only one way this quest gets stuck. If you triggered it by walking into the ruins rather than by inspecting the scholar, you never received the Scholar’s Key, and the sturdy door will not budge. Head back down the road, find the skeleton under the landslide, take the key, and return.

For a side quest that eats a single time segment, the payoff is unusually good. A legendary ring, a talisman, and a manual for one short climb into the mountains is about as efficient as the 30-day clock in Vale Sangora gets.