The Blood of Dawnwalker: Bad Blood Full Quest Walkthrough

Bad Blood is the main story quest that turns Coen from a villager into a Vrakhir. It begins immediately after Sacred Covenant, with Coen alone in the silver mines under Laslea and his father Pieter nowhere in sight. The quest runs on rails from there through a mine descent, a forced transformation, two traversal tutorials, and a fight you are meant to lose.

Quick answer: Follow the torch-lit tunnels deeper into the silver mines, help Kostel by pressing his wound, survive the transformation cutscene, then use Shadowstep and Planeshift to climb out. Return to Laslea, drain Vladimir, and lose the Brencis fight — Anca’s rescue completes the quest and starts Smoke and Ashes.

Bad Blood objectives in order

The quest tracker updates in a fixed sequence. Nothing here is missable in a way that blocks progress, so if you are only checking where you are, match your current objective against the list below.

Objective	What it involves
Search for your father deeper in the mine	Linear tunnel run with Vladimir; find Layos’s body and a fork with a silver chest
Aid Ludwig	Lift the beam pinning him; he dies and warns you about the Vrakhir
Help Kostel	Press the wound, then resist the bloodlust dialogue
Find a way back up	Crawl out of the bone pit and follow the light to a dead end
Use vrakhir skills to cross the precipice	Shadowstep tutorial across the chasm
Leave the mine	Kobold fight, then Planeshift up the walls to the surface
Return to Laslea and save your family	Kill the soldiers at the mine exit, head southeast to the burning village
Find Vladimir	Clear the soldiers outside the burning cabin, then drain him
Go to Laslea with Anca	Post-rescue dialogue that closes the quest

Searching the silver mines for Pieter

Head down the narrow passage ahead of you, following the wall torches. There is a loose torch on the ground you can pick up and use to light the others as you go, which makes the tunnel far easier to read.

Keep moving forward until Vladimir stops you and the first cutscene triggers near Layos’s body. Barrels and crates in this stretch hold early consumables and junk like Mouldy Bread, Rags and a Torch, so sweep them if you want the crafting stock.

The Talk with Vladimir prompt on screen inside the dark silver mine tunnel — The Talk with Vladimir prompt appears as you catch up with him in the mine. Image: Bandai Namco Entertainment

Coen takes a sharp headache after the scene. This is the first of several vampiric symptoms and it resolves on its own. A Common Sword sits on the ground nearby — pick it up, since you are otherwise unarmed for the fights later in the quest.

Crouched approach toward a lit torch with the Search for your father objective tracked — Torches mark the route while Search for your father deeper in the mine stays active. Image: Bandai Namco Entertainment

Further in you find Ludwig trapped under a heavy wooden beam. Lift it with Vladimir. Ludwig dies regardless of how quickly you act, but his warning about the Vrakhir is what sets up the rest of the descent.

Continue down the linear path until it splits. The right branch dead-ends at a chest containing silver, which is worth the short detour. Return to the main route and carry on past the corpse pinned to the tunnel wall.

The Kostel choice and the transformation

Coen hears a heartbeat before he sees anything. Kostel is slumped and bleeding badly, and the game gives you two options: do nothing, or press the wound to slow the bleeding. Press the wound.

Dark mine passage with the Bad Blood objective tracker visible before reaching Kostel — The last stretch of tunnel before Kostel, with the mine objective still tracked. Image: Bandai Namco Entertainment

Handling the blood pushes Coen’s hunger to the front. Dialogue options start getting overridden by the craving, which is the game demonstrating how bloodlust interferes with conversation. Tell Vladimir you don’t feel well, then keep picking the resisting options. Kostel panics and calls Coen a monster either way.

Note: resisting does not save Kostel. The transformation is scripted — Coen feeds, becomes a Vrakhir, and blacks out. You wake alone in a pit of bones with claws, fangs and glowing eyes.

Escaping the lower mine with Shadowstep and Planeshift

The climb out doubles as the tutorial for Coen’s new movement kit. Both abilities are introduced one at a time, and neither is optional.

Ability	What it does
Shadowstep	Teleports Coen to a marked landing point across a gap
Planeshift	Lets Coen walk on flat walls and ceilings, draining stamina while active
Voracious Bite	Restores health by drinking blood from rats, neutral creatures or enemies

Squeeze through the crevice at the base of the pit. The route beyond is a single bone-strewn corridor — follow the light until you hit a dead end and trigger the cutscene.

Skeleton-filled cavern with the Find a way back up objective active — The bone-filled cave section runs under the Find a way back up objective. Image: Bandai Namco Entertainment

Use Shadowstep to cross the precipice when the prompt appears. Hold R2, aim at the landing zone with the right stick, then release R2 to travel. You chain this across the chasm to reach the far ledge.

Shadowstep tutorial prompt showing hold R2, aim with the right stick, release to cross — The Shadowstep tutorial spells out the hold-aim-release input used to cross the precipice. Image: Bandai Namco Entertainment

Try Voracious Bite on the rats scattered through this area. Feeding restores health and is the only reliable way to top up during the Kobold fight ahead, since you have no meaningful healing items yet.

Fight through the Kobolds in the large open cavern. Mixing normal sword strikes with bites works best — the bites keep your health topped up while you clear the group.

Planeshift unlocks after the fight. Use it to walk up the vertical rock faces and reach the surface. The objective flips to Return to Laslea and save your family the moment you step outside.

Laslea, Vladimir, and the Brencis fight you are meant to lose

Slide down the slope past the mine exit. Two of Brencis’s soldiers are waiting at the bottom and will threaten to detain you. Kill them and head southeast toward the smoke.

Vladimir is hiding inside a burning cabin. More soldiers block the approach, so clear them first, then get close enough to trigger the scene. Lure him out of the building so he doesn’t burn.

The hunger takes over during the conversation and Coen drains Vladimir. Like Kostel, this is scripted — Vladimir dies here regardless of your dialogue choices.

Follow the marker to Brencis, who arrives holding Pieter captive and executes him in front of you. The fight that follows is a loss condition, not a boss you need to clear.

Brencis has two attacks worth reading. At range he charges a blood lance, telegraphed by a blood-draw animation, so dodge as soon as you see it. Up close he Shadowsteps to you and follows with a slow sword swing that is easy to sidestep. Fighting well only delays the outcome — he impales Coen with a pickaxe, pins him to a tree, and leaves him to burn as the sun rises.

How to confirm Bad Blood is complete

Coen wakes healed inside a cabin with Anca. Speaking to her closes out Bad Blood and immediately opens Smoke and Ashes with the objective Go to Laslea with Anca. If the journal still lists Bad Blood as active, you have not finished that conversation.

Ludwig, Kostel, Vladimir and Pieter all die over the course of the quest, and Laslea is burned down by Brencis’s forces. None of those outcomes can be avoided, so a reload will not produce a different result. Two trophies, Balanced Diet and Feral Hunger, are tied to how you feed during this stretch, and they are the only genuinely optional thing on offer here.