The Blood of Dawnwalker: How to Get the Forbidden Sigils Manual at Briar Sloughs Watchtower

The Briar Sloughs Watchtower is a ruined stone tower in The Blood of Dawnwalker that hides one of the more useful Witchcraft pickups in the region. A chest near the top holds the Forbidden Sigils Manual, and standing on that same platform ends the “From Above” quest.

Quick answer: Travel to Briar Sloughs Watchtower, south of Leslie of Glen, use Shadow Step to climb the outside of the tower to the wooden platform, loot the chest for the Forbidden Sigils Manual, then trigger the “Scout the area” prompt to finish “From Above” for 100 XP.

Briar Sloughs Watchtower location

The tower is marked on the map as Briar Sloughs Tower and sits south of Leslie of Glen. It is a scouting tower, so the climb itself is the puzzle — there is no interior staircase to take you up. Approach from the base and look for the scaffolding boards attached to the outer wall.

You need the Shadow Step ability before this is worth attempting. The short teleport is what gets you from one section of broken masonry to the next, and without it the upper ruins are out of reach.

Climbing the tower with Shadow Step

Stand at the foot of the ruined tower and face the scaffolding on the exterior wall. Aim Shadow Step at the first set of wooden boards to teleport up onto them.

Keep chaining Shadow Step upward along the outside of the tower, using ledges, beams, and collapsed stonework as landing points. The route wraps around the structure rather than going straight up one face.

At the upper ruins, work through the narrow rocky passage that leads inward. This is the last stretch before the platform opens up.

Aiming through the narrow rocky passage in the upper ruins of the watchtower — Working through the rocky passage in the upper ruins on the way to the platform. Image: Rebel Wolves

Cross onto the wooden platform. The chest is sitting in the open here, so there is nothing else to search for.

What the chest contains

The platform chest carries four items. Take all of them — the manual is the reason to be here, but the ring and the attunement are worth having.

Item	What it does
Forbidden Sigils Manual	Unlocks the Forbidden Sigils perk, which increases the number of Witchcraft Ability Slots
Band of Persistence	Level 8 Master Ring: +1.8% Physical Damage Reduction, +12% Blood Drinking Restoration
Minor Vrakhri Attunement	Superior Consumable: +5% Vampiric Ability Damage
Golden Chalice	Valuable item for selling

Loot menu on the platform chest with the Forbidden Sigils Manual selected — The Loot menu with the Forbidden Sigils Manual highlighted before taking it. Image: Rebel Wolves

Reading the manual and unlocking Forbidden Sigils

Open your inventory and read the manual. It presents itself as a document titled GEOMETRIA ARCANA, PART 1, and reading it registers the Forbidden Sigils perk in the Witchcraft skill tree under Superior Character Development. The perk description confirms it: it increases the number of Witchcraft Ability Slots.

Inventory screen showing the Forbidden Sigils Manual and its item details — The Forbidden Sigils Manual in the inventory, ready to be read. Image: Rebel Wolves

Note: reading a manual makes the upgrade available, but it does not spend the point for you. Skill Manuals in the game unlock Witchcraft and Swordmastery perks, and you still have to visit a Shrine and put a Skill Point into Forbidden Sigils before the extra ability slots apply.

If you miss this chest or want a second copy, the Forbidden Sigils Manual also turns up with several Witchcraft vendors, including the Matriarch, the Sanzhana Merchant, Anca, and Mevasser. Vendor stock rotates, so a merchant may not have it on a given visit.

Completing the From Above quest

The quest finishes on the same platform. Once you have looted the chest, look up and out over the landscape until the square-button “Scout the area” prompt appears, then press it.

The Scout the area button prompt on screen at the top of the watchtower — The “Scout the area” prompt appearing on the wooden platform. Image: Rebel Wolves

A short cutscene sweeps across the surrounding terrain. When it ends, the game shows the Quest Ended card for “From Above” and awards 100 XP. That card is your confirmation — if you do not see it, you either have not stood on the correct wooden platform or you dismissed the cutscene before it finished playing out.

Quest completion screen for From Above with the exit button highlighted — The end of the cutscene, closing out the “From Above” quest. Image: Rebel Wolves

Briar Sloughs Tower is a two-for-one stop, and the pattern repeats elsewhere in the game. Scouting towers such as St. Tyna’s Grove, Boar’s Back, Rockfalls, and Tantari all place a Witchcraft manual in a chest near the summit, so if the Shadow Step climb here felt manageable, the same approach pays off at the rest of them.