The objective “Look for Albertus in the Middens” gives you almost nothing to work with. Like most quest markers in The Blood of Dawnwalker, it drops a wide radius over an entire district instead of a pin, and the Middens is a cramped warren of alleys full of things that want to eat Coen. The good news is that the district itself tells you where to go, as long as you know what to look at.
Quick answer: Enter the Middens, west of Svartrau City, and follow the yellow scribbles painted on the walls to the westernmost edge of the district. The house completely covered in writing is Albertus’ home, and he is inside.
How the “Look for Albertus in the Middens” objective starts
The search for Albertus sits inside the A Monk and a Saint quest. It opens after Coen returns from St. Tyna’s with Anca and reads a seemingly blank book back at the inn, which points to a sword capable of ending Brencis. Nobody knows where that sword is, so Anca and Coen settle on the one person who might: Albertus, a monk and scribe now living somewhere in the Middens.
Finishing Echoes of Silenced Bells is the most natural way to reach this point if you are following Anca’s thread, though it is not the only route into the quest. Once it is active, check the journal entry for A Monk and a Saint to confirm the current objective before you set out.
Albertus’ house location in the Middens
The Middens lies west of Svartrau City on the map. Open the map, zoom into Svartrau, and head for the district; the quest radius covers the whole thing, so ignore it and navigate by landmarks instead.
Note: travel and detours through the district burn clock time, and this game does keep score of that. If you are managing a tight schedule around other objectives, take the direct western route rather than sweeping the whole district.
The wolf-like enemies blocking the route
The streets between the shrine and Albertus’ house are patrolled by a pack of red-eyed, wolf-like beasts. They come at Coen in groups and they close distance fast, so fighting them in the open street works better than getting cornered in a dead-end alley.
Sword swings and claw attacks both handle them fine at this stage of the game. Keep an eye on the quest tracker while you fight so you do not lose your bearings and wander back east once the pack is down.
When a beast is staggered or isolated, the Voracious Bite prompt appears. It is worth using here, since the pack is the main resource drain on the way to the house.
Clear the corpses before moving on. The pack drops Hellhound Pelt, and the Loot All option saves you from picking through each body one at a time.
Dialogue choices to get the crypt location out of Albertus
Finding the house is only half the objective. Albertus is not lucid, and walking up to him gets you brushed off while he keeps writing. What he is doing is transcribing text he has memorized and is terrified of losing, so pressuring him for answers goes nowhere.
Play along with him instead. Pick up the charcoal and answer as though you are part of the text he is reciting. Select these options in order:
| Order | Dialogue option |
|---|---|
| 1 | [Pick up the charcoal] |
| 2 | Abelard the Sorrowful |
| 3 | Svartrau Plaza |
| 4 | His penance, the place of his Redemption |
| 5 | Never once set foot inside it |
| 6 | St. Mihai, a great warrior, arrived in Vale Sangora. |
How to confirm the objective is complete
Work through all six picks and Coen pieces the recitation together into a conclusion: the sword of St. Mihai is sealed in a crypt beneath Svartrau Cathedral. The objective updates and the marker moves off the Middens and onto the Cathedral, which sits in the main part of Svartrau City and is one of the tallest structures there.
If the objective has not moved, the usual cause is stopping the conversation early or trying to demand the information rather than feeding his recitation. Talk to him again and run the sequence through to the final line about St. Mihai arriving in Vale Sangora.
From there the quest splits depending on when you show up at the Cathedral. Arriving in daylight puts you through Father Florin, the Deacon, and the Almshouse before you reach the library; arriving at night sends you up the scaffolding with Shadow Step and past Xanthe. Both routes end at the same crypt, so there is no reason to burn time segments waiting for nightfall on Albertus’ account.
