A Pilgrimage for Power: Dark-Thing Walkthrough in The Blood of Dawnwalker

A Pilgrimage for Power: Dark-Thing is one of four sacred stone encounters in The Blood of Dawnwalker, and it is the one tucked into the mountains of Rockfalls. There is no quest giver and no marker pointing you to it, so the trail only starts once you get close enough to hear the windchimes. Finish it and you walk away with a Ravenous Flock Manual, one of four books needed to fully unlock the Witchcraft ability of the same name.

Quick answer: Fast travel to the Westridge Outpost Shrine, climb north while following the windchimes, kill the Essence of Grief, tell the uriashi pilgrims “Just a wanderer.” and then “I killed the dark-thing.”, and spend 2 Time Segments inspecting the stone glyph to receive the Ravenous Flock Manual.

Dark-Thing quest details and reward

The quest sits on the western side of Vale Sangora and can be done during the day or at night. It has no prerequisites beyond having access to the open world, and there is no fail state, so you can leave and come back.

Detail	Value
Region	Rockfalls
Starting point	North of the Westridge Outpost shrine
Quest giver	None — triggered by approaching the trail
Objectives	Follow the windchimes; Locate the source of the scream; Inspect the uriashi glyph
Miniboss	Essence of Grief
Time cost	2 Time Segments (spent on the glyph)
Reward	250 XP and a Ravenous Flock Manual

Getting to the windchime trail north of Westridge Outpost

Fast travel to the Westridge Outpost Shrine. If you have not unlocked it yet, head west of Boar’s Back Tower and work your way through the Rocky Glade to reach the outpost.

Walk north from the shrine and start up the rocky slope above the abandoned outpost. The quest triggers here and the objective changes to “Follow the windchimes.”

Hold Focus Mode (L2/LT) to pick out the windchimes hanging along the route. They mark the correct line up the mountain whenever the path forks or the rock face looks impassable.

Coen following the Follow the windchimes objective with a windchime hanging on the trail ahead — A windchime marks the correct branch of the mountain path. Image: Rebel Wolves

Pick your route based on the time of day. At night you can take the left path and use Shadowstep and Planeshift to cross the wall; during the day, take the right path and slide along the rock face instead.

Keep climbing past the lower ledges. A group of uriashi on the lower stretch of the route can turn hostile, so either fight through them or slip past and continue upward toward the smoke.

Climbing over a rocky ledge with the HUD waypoint showing 50 metres to the next objective — The waypoint distance on the HUD ticks down as you pull yourself over the ledges. Image: Rebel Wolves

Essence of Grief fight and loot

Near the upper level the objective switches to locating the source of the scream, and the Essence of Grief apparition ambushes you. This is the “dark-thing” the uriashi are worried about, and killing it is the cleanest way through the encounter.

Its drops are Dust of Anachora, Vial of Aether, and Glob of Usha’s Light. Sweep the bags and barrels around the ledge afterwards for Denarius, a Golden Crest, a Wolf Heart, a Potent Regenerative Salve, Dog Hide, and food items like Radish and Saffron Milk Cap.

Journal update for A Pilgrimage for Power: Dark-Thing appears while facing a red-marked enemy — The Journal updates the Dark-Thing quest as the apparition closes in. Image: Rebel Wolves

Uriash Pilgrim dialogue options that avoid a fight

Follow the chimes a little further and you reach a small camp with two Uriash Pilgrims waiting beside the sacred stone. They will not let you near the glyph until they are satisfied the creature is dead.

Pick “Just a wanderer.” and then “I killed the dark-thing.” They thank you and leave the site, which frees up the stone and everything around it. If you climb up here without killing the Essence of Grief, you either have to go back down and deal with it or fight the pilgrims guarding the stone — the manual is still obtainable either way, but the peaceful route is faster.

The mountain camp where the two Uriash Pilgrims wait beside the sacred stone

Copying the uriashi glyph and confirming completion

Loot whatever is left in the camp first, because the glyph interaction burns time. Then walk up to the tall stone pillar and inspect the glyph. Coen copies it over 2 Time Segments, which is roughly two hours of in-game time.

Coen standing in the snowy camp with the objective to inspect the uriashi glyph active — The final objective points at the stone pillar in the snowy camp. Image: Rebel Wolves

You know it worked when the clock advances, the quest closes out, and 250 XP plus the Ravenous Flock Manual land in your inventory. The manual is filed as an Epic Character Development item and reads as “Arcane Arts and Corvids, Part 3.”

Unlocking Ravenous Flock at a Shrine

Holding the manual is not the same as having the ability. Open your inventory and read it, which makes the next Ravenous Flock perk available in the Witchcraft tree. To actually learn it, travel to any Shrine, open Perks, and pay the cost.

Ravenous Flock hits a target with an Area Attack and a Stun, and while it is active, attacking that target sets off extra area attacks. Each of the four perk ranks needs its own manual, so a single sacred stone only gets you one step of the progression.

Perk rank	Cost
1st	1 Skill Point, 1 Time Segment
2nd	1 Skill Point, 1 Time Segment
3rd	2 Skill Points, 1 Time Segment
4th	3 Skill Points, 2 Time Segments

Fully upgraded, the ability deals 470 Area Damage, lasts four hits, and stays active for 20 seconds.

The other three sacred stones you still need

Dark-Thing is one quarter of A Pilgrimage for Power. The other three stones each award 250 XP and a manual as well, and they can be done in any order.

Sacred stone	Region	Encounter
Bear Trouble	Briar Sloughs	Ravenous Bear
Fanatics	St. Tyna’s Grove	Wolves, then an uriashi conversation
The Ritual	Tantari Woods	Witch of Barren Peaks

Note: the stones are unmarked by default. Completing A Mother’s Plea for the Elder in Uriash Village, while staying on good terms with the uriashi, reveals all four on your map.

Dark-Thing is one of the shorter pilgrimage stops once you know where the trailhead is — a single miniboss, two dialogue picks, and a couple of hours of copying. The bigger cost is the time you spend at each glyph, so it is worth clearing the loot and any nearby business before you commit to the interaction.