“Speak with the miller” is the objective that closes out The Firebrand in The Blood of Dawnwalker. The miller, Mert, is locked in a cell underneath Stoneward Post, and reaching him takes two things: permission from the overseer to open the cell door, and a way to keep the guard standing in the room from cutting the conversation short.
Quick answer: Get Overseer Friedo to unlock the cells, drop down the stairs below his tower to Mert’s cell, interact with the cell door to start the conversation, then answer the guard with “Officer, he’s going to be sick!” so he leaves. That spends 2 time segments and lets you finish talking to Mert without turning the whole post hostile.
What has to be done before the miller objective unlocks
The Firebrand starts automatically at Vladimir’s hut in Laslea after Smoke and Ashes is finished. The trail runs through the mill and only then points you at Stoneward Post.
| Objective | What it involves |
|---|---|
| Search Vlad’s hut | Inspect the sack of flour in the back room. Tilting it reveals silver arrowheads hidden inside, linking Vlad to his cousin Mert. |
| Go to the mill | By day, Renna plays out a story about a broken cart in front of the soldiers. Play along and she tells you Mert was arrested and is held at Stoneward Post. |
| Go to Stoneward Post | The post sits roughly 300 meters southwest of the mill. This objective starts the countdown on Mert’s life. |
Approaching the mill at night instead puts Brencis’s soldiers in your way. Giving them a name and saying you were only stepping into the bushes gets you waved off, and the objective changes to returning during the day at no extra time cost.
The four-day limit on reaching Mert
Once the Go to Stoneward Post objective appears, you have exactly four days to speak with Mert. That is 64 time segments. Miss the window and he is hanged before dawn on the fourth day, and the quest resolves down a different path entirely.
Note: the conversation with Mert costs 2 time segments on its own, and talking to the overseer costs 1. Budget for three segments before you set off, and avoid burning days on unrelated errands in between.
If you reach him in time and tell him you will come back for him later, Mert stays safely in his cell indefinitely until you decide to break him out.
Getting inside Stoneward Post
By day, the guard at the gate asks why you are there. All three replies get you in: “I’m here to visit a prisoner,” “I have a message for the commander of this post,” or “I… I want to enlist!” The catch is that you have to surrender your weapons at the gate. Following up the enlistment line with “What? A soldier without a weapon?” is the one way to keep them on you.
At night the gate guard simply attacks. That removes the peaceful route to Friedo, but Coen keeps his vrakhiri claws and vampire abilities regardless of the weapon check, so a night approach is worth considering if you already plan to fight your way out with Mert.
Three ways to get Overseer Friedo to unlock the cells
Friedo sits in the tower at the back of the fort and will not open the cell door for nothing. Both opening lines you can give him lead to the same demand, so pick whichever you like and then choose one of the routes below.
| Route | What you do | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Bribe | Pay Friedo 300 Denarii and he unlocks the door immediately. | 300 Denarii |
| Blackmail | Speak to the angry woman outside about guards stealing from prisoners, then confront Trader Yenno in the entrance yard and threaten to tell the commander. He names Cerbus and Friedo. Return and tell Friedo you know about the arrangement. | Free |
| Favor | Ask if there is another way to persuade him. He points you at Cerbus, the soldier who gave him a black eye. Beat Cerbus, pass on Friedo’s regards, and he lets you through. | One fight |
Be careful with Yenno. If you press him without threatening to involve the commander, he calls the guards and you end up fighting the entire military post. Whichever route you take, the moment Friedo unlocks the door the time segment for Speak to the Overseer is spent.
Finding Mert’s cell below the overseer’s tower
The guard interruption and the only reply that avoids a fight
Mert will not say anything useful while the guard is standing there, and the guard soon asks what is going on. One of the three responses gets him out of the room. The other two put the whole camp on alert.
| Choice | Result |
|---|---|
| “Officer, he’s going to be sick!” | The guard steps away long enough to finish the conversation. Costs 2 time segments. |
| [try whispering] | Angers the guard and leads to combat. |
| “You will leave the two of us alone.” | Starts a fight that alerts the entire post. |
If you have already decided to break Mert out on this visit, those two time segments buy you very little, since you will be fighting through the camp anyway. In that case, grab the Weathered Longsword in the room before starting anything, especially if your own weapons were taken at the gate.
What Mert says and which reply ends The Firebrand
With the guard gone, Mert explains that his captors tortured a location out of him. He was due to meet a manumit contact, and now her life is at risk. The rendezvous is a clearing southeast of the bridge in the woods.
Mert then asks what happens to him, and your answer decides which quest starts next.
| Reply | Outcome |
|---|---|
| “I’ll return for you later” or “There’s too many of them” | The Firebrand ends and Shadows in the Woods begins. Mert stays safe in his cell until you come back. |
| “I’ll try to get you out now” | Starts Under Watchful Eyes. You have to fight or sneak Mert out of the post immediately. |
How to confirm the objective completed
The Speak with the miller objective ticks off as soon as the cell conversation ends, and The Firebrand closes out with a 75XP award for completion. Shadows in the Woods appears in your journal automatically, pointing you toward the clearing in the woods.
If the objective has not cleared, one of three things is usually the cause. Friedo never actually unlocked the cell door, so the interaction prompt on the cell is unavailable. The guard interrupted and you picked whispering or the direct order, which drops you into combat before the conversation finishes. Or the four-day window expired and Mert is no longer alive to talk to.
If Mert has already been executed
Arrive after the deadline and Friedo tells you outright that you are too late. His body has been dumped behind the tower and his possessions sold off. Approaching the corpse triggers a brief vision, and the objective changes to Find Mert’s body, then Question Mert’s corpse, followed by Look for Catalysts. The rendezvous information still surfaces, but Mert and the extra scenes with Renna are gone for good.
Save him instead and the pair turn up later in Svartrau City. Head to the Cathedral Complex and into the almshouse beside it, where Mert and Renna are resting on the second floor.
