The Firebrand Walkthrough in The Blood of Dawnwalker: Save Mert in Time

The Firebrand is the side quest that introduces Coen to the manumits, the rebel group pushing back against Brencis. It looks like a simple errand about a missing miller, and then it quietly starts a clock. Mert dies if you take too long, and his death permanently closes off a follow-up quest.

Quick answer: After Renna asks you to rescue Mert, you have four in-game days (64 Time Segments) to reach Stoneward Post, get past the overseer Friedo, and speak to Mert in the cells. Talk to him inside that window and the quest ends safely, unlocking Shadows in the Woods.

The Firebrand quest info, time cost, and rewards

Detail	Value
Starting location	Vlad’s Hut, northeast of the Laslea Centre Shrine
How it starts	Automatically when you approach the hut during Smoke and Ashes
Missable	No
Time available	Day and night
Time cost	1–4 Time Segments
Rewards	75 XP, plus 75 XP for speaking with Renna, plus 75 XP if you killed Brencis’ soldiers at the mill
Unlocks	Shadows in the Woods, and potentially Under Watchful Eyes and Taking Back What’s Mine

The four-day window that decides whether Mert lives

The timer does not start at Vlad’s hut. It starts the moment Renna gives you the objective at the mill. From that point you have four in-game days, or 64 Time Segments, to reach Mert at Stoneward Post and actually speak to him.

Only story-relevant actions burn segments, so exploring the valley between objectives costs you nothing. Speaking with Renna costs 1 segment, speaking with the overseer costs 1 segment, and getting the guard away from Mert’s cell costs 2 more. Levelling up at a shrine also consumes time, so plan any skill spending around this quest rather than in the middle of it.

Outcome	What it changes
Talk to Mert in time	He stays alive, Under Watchful Eyes unlocks, and he and Renna later appear in Svartrau
Miss the deadline	Friedo tells you Mert has been hanged, Under Watchful Eyes is locked out, and Mert never appears in Svartrau

Shadows in the Woods unlocks either way, so the quest chain does not dead-end. You simply lose the rescue and the character who came with it.

Search Vlad’s hut for the silver spearhead

Return to Laslea with Anca during Smoke and Ashes and walk up to Vlad’s ruined house. The quest triggers on approach, with no NPC to talk to first.

Hold LT on Xbox or L2 on PS5 to enter Focus Mode, then inspect the yellow-highlighted objects. Outside the front door there is a mark of the traitor, and inside you can pick up the Half-Burnt Letter from M, examine burnt papers on the floor, check the clothing to the right, and find the Half-Burnt Letter from C sitting on the logs beside it.

Head into the room on the left, check the wine on the ground, then inspect the flour sack next to it. Hold X on Xbox or Square on PS5 on both the silver arrowhead inside the sack and the cross mark on the outside to collect the Silver Spearhead. A loot chest in that same room holds Denarius and Linseed Oil, which is worth grabbing before you leave.

Talk to Renna at Mert’s Mill (day and night differ)

Mert’s Mill sits by the river in Briar Sloughs, southeast of the Laslea Glen Shrine. You may need to push the main story a little further before the game lets you leave Laslea Glen at all.

World map open in Briar Sloughs with a yellow search area marking the quest location — The map marks the search area in Briar Sloughs before you set out. Image: Rebel Wolves

Arriving in daylight is the cleaner route. Renna meets you outside and asks for help with a cart. Play along and fix it so the two of you can speak privately, away from Brencis’ soldiers in the shed. Refuse, and the soldiers are alerted and you have to kill them.

Arrive in the evening and Brencis’ soldiers confront you instead. Avoiding the dialogue option marked with a sword icon means they simply turn you away, and you can rest at the nearby shrine until morning and try again. Pick the sword option and you fight three guards inside the mill, after which Renna comes out and asks you to rescue her husband.

Either way, the conversation with Renna costs 1 Time Segment and reveals that Mert was accused of being a manumit and taken to Stoneward Post. Your four days start here.

Enter Stoneward Post without giving up your weapons

Travel to Stoneward Post during the day. Approaching the camp entrance at night makes the guards attack on sight, which forces you to cut your way to the cells.

The Post Guard stops you at the gate. Choose [I want to enlist] and then [A soldier without a weapon?]. That combination gets you inside with your gear still equipped.

If you pick anything else in that second prompt, you hand your weapons to the guard and enter unarmed. Retrieving them later becomes an optional objective, and any fight inside the camp until then is a bare-handed one. During daylight Coen also cannot switch to his awakened form, so an unarmed brawl is genuinely harder.

Get past Friedo, the overseer

Friedo is in the tower on the eastern side of the camp, and he controls access to the prisoners. Speaking with him costs 1 Time Segment. There are three ways to make him move.

Coen climbing stone steps toward a dark tower doorway with the objective seven metres away — The stone tower on the eastern side of the camp, where Friedo waits. Image: Rebel Wolves

Approach	What it takes
Bribe	Pay Friedo 300 Denarius and he waves you through immediately
Beat Cerbus	Head to the training grounds outside the tower, challenge Cerbus, and win a fistfight, then report back to Friedo
Leverage the scam	Gather proof that the guards are robbing prisoners, then confront Friedo with it and pay nothing

The leverage route is the cheapest. Talk to the angry woman arguing with a guard just outside the tower, and she names a shifty merchant, Yenno. Find him near the camp entrance and choose [I’m taking this to the commander]. Any other line scares him into alerting the guards, and the entire camp turns hostile.

Yenno gives up the arrangement between Friedo and Cerbus. You can report the findings to the commander by the large tent in the southwestern corner of the camp before returning to the tower, or go straight back and tell Friedo you know about the scheme. Either way he stops stalling and lets you down to the cells.

Speak with the miller and free Mert

Head downstairs to the prison and talk to Mert through the bars. When he asks about his wife, tell him about Renna. A guard is standing watch, so you need to deal with him before the conversation can go anywhere useful.

Dialogue wheel open in front of Mert's cell with a reply option highlighted — Talking to Mert through the cell bars while the guard listens in. Image: Rebel Wolves

Dialogue option	Result
Officer! He’s going to be sick!	The guard leaves peacefully; costs 2 Time Segments
[try whispering]	Provokes the guard and starts a fight
You will leave the two of us alone	Starts a fight

Choosing a sword-icon line turns the whole camp against you and immediately begins Under Watchful Eyes, meaning you have to fight everyone to get Mert out. If you want to preserve time rather than segments, killing the guard is an option, though it may have to be done with fists if you surrendered your weapons at the gate.

Coen striking an armored guard in a torchlit dungeon corridor as the enemy health bar drains — Fighting the dungeon guard is the alternative to the sickness ruse. Image: Rebel Wolves

Loot the downed soldier for the Prison Keychain along with Aconite, Denarius, and Artisanal Braces. A Weathered Sword also sits on the table inside the cell block, which is useful if you came in unarmed. Use the keychain on Mert’s cell door to open it.

Loot window open on a body showing Denarius currency selected — The guard’s body carries the Prison Keychain along with coin and gear. Image: Rebel Wolves

At the end of the conversation you can free him on the spot or come back for him later. Both choices end The Firebrand.

How to confirm The Firebrand is complete

Talking to Mert about Sara costs 2 Time Segments and ends the quest. He explains that he gave the soldiers a rendezvous point, a bridge south of the post and southeast toward a clearing, and that Sara is with the manumits there. The quest log closes The Firebrand, awards the XP, and immediately opens Shadows in the Woods with the objective to go to the bridge near Stoneward Post.

Note: if you left Mert in his cell rather than freeing him, Under Watchful Eyes stays in your log as the follow-up. That is the quest that actually gets him out, and it is also what puts him and Renna in Svartrau later.

If Mert is already dead: the Wedding Ring route

Miss the four-day window and Friedo will tell you that Mert has been hanged. The quest can still be closed out, but only through Coen’s daytime witch magic.

Walk around to the back of the tower to find Mert’s body. Be ready for a jumpscare as you approach the corpse.

Enter the tent nearby and loot the sack on the floor to pick up Mert’s Wedding Ring.

Compel Mert’s soul using the Wedding Ring as the catalyst. Speaking to him this way ends the quest, though Under Watchful Eyes remains locked out for the rest of the run.

Going loud at the camp instead

The camp can be cleared by force rather than talked through, which is the fallback if you trip the alarm with Yenno or pick a sword-icon line in the cells. Even after surrendering your weapons, a chest inside one of the tents holds high-tier gear including a Tempered Dueling Sword, so you can arm yourself before anything turns hostile.

The Prison Keychain also sits on a shelf behind Friedo in the tower. Taking it makes him attack immediately, and from there you fight your way down to the cells and through the guards below. It is the loudest version of the quest, but Mert still walks out at the end of it.

Whichever way you handle Stoneward Post, treat the deadline as the real constraint. Four in-game days is generous if you go straight there, and very tight if you stop to level up, chase side objectives, or wait out a night at a shrine.