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The Herder's Lament
May 8, 2026 at 06:56 AM
Removed third-party site name attributions
The Herder's Lament is a Life challenge in the Above the Law category of Challenges in Crimson Desert. It is unlocked by picking up a Sealed Abyss Artifact along the side of the road in Haunted Hilland requires the player to sell three goats to the livestock vendor Bram at the ranch inside Howling Hill Camp. Completing it rewards the Bloodbane I Abyss Core.
Field | Detail |
|---|---|
Category | Life (Above the Law) |
Region | |
Unlock Location | Haunted Hillon the roadside heading toward Ivynook |
Objective Location | Howling Hill Camp ranch |
Quest Giver | Unlocked via Sealed Abyss Artifact |
Vendor | |
Prerequisites | None listed on the challenge itself, but access to Bram requires progressing the Greymanes faction questline far enough to unlock the ranch via Field of Abundance. |
Rewards |
The Herder's Lament becomes active once the player picks up its Sealed Abyss Artifact at the side of the road in Haunted Hillon the route heading toward Ivynook. Supplementary guides describe the exact spot as on the road northwest from the Torchlight Beacon in Hernand. The same pickup sits near a small pile of rocks. Using Blinding Flash near the location will highlight the artifact, which helps when the roadside geometry blends in with the surrounding stones.
Interact with the artifact to add The Herder's Lament to your active challenges. You can also reference the Interactive Map for the exact map pin.
The challenge entry shows no formal prerequisites, but the goal cannot actually be completed until Bram has set up shop at the Howling Hill Camp ranch. Reaching that state requires the ranch itself to exist, which is the end result of a chain of Greymanes faction missions. Community guides specifically call out the following steps:
Progress the Greymanes faction questline under the Grounds of the Sunrise section until you reach Field of Abundancethe mission that actually builds the ranch at Howling Hill Camp.
Complete Ben's Requestthe livestock slaughter task that teaches you how to handle animals at the ranch.
Have room in your current schedule to physically lead goats back to camp. The challenge cannot be hand-waved with a menu option; you have to bring real goats to Bram.
The core loop is simple: find a goat in the wild, shepherd it back to the ranch, and let Bram take it off your hands. Repeat three times. The stages below break this down.
Stage | Action | Notes |
|---|---|---|
1 | Collect the Sealed Abyss Artifact in Haunted Hill. | This registers The Herder's Lament as an active challenge. |
2 | Travel to the wild goat herd east of Howling Hill Camp. | This herd sits in the open field east of the camp, above Dragon's Stone Chamber. These goats are unowned, so herding them does not count as stealing. |
3 | Catch a goat by chasing it down on foot. | Once caught, you can lead the goat by hand back toward the camp. |
4 | Deliver the goat to Bram at the ranch. | Walk into Bram's middle stall inside the ranch. He will automatically take the goat and credit one sale toward the challenge. |
5 | Repeat for a total of three goats. | Any extra livestock goats you own on the ranch will also count toward the requirement, so you can substitute farm stock for wild captures if you have spares. |
6 | Collect the Bloodbane I Abyss Core. | The challenge auto-completes after the third sale. |
The fastest source of unowned goats sits right next to the ranch you are trying to fill. A large herd of wild goats spawns in the open field east of Howling Hill Campdirectly above Dragon's Stone Chamber. Because these animals are not owned by any NPC, catching them is not flagged as theft, and you can walk them straight back to the ranch without a bounty.
To catch a goat, chase it on foot until you are close enough to grab it. Running on a Horse can close the gap faster, but you will want to dismount for the actual capture so you can lead the goat by hand.
If you have already built up a stable of livestock at your ranch, the extra goats you own also count toward the three-sale requirement. For players deeper into Ranchingthis can let you clear the challenge from existing stock instead of going out to round up strays.
Completing The Herder's Lament grants the Bloodbane I Abyss Corechallenge entry. Abyss Cores are slotted through the Abyss menu, and the Bloodbane line is a combat-oriented set that shares naming with higher tiers unlocked through other Above the Law challenges, such as Bloodbane II from The Crow's Crown and the Last Chivalry as confirmed by current community data.
The Sealed Abyss Artifact itself also counts toward your global All Abyss Artifact Locations completion.
Above the Law category overview, which groups The Herder's Lament with the other Life challenges.
Field of Abundance and Ben's Requestthe Greymanes missions that unlock the ranch and teach livestock handling.
Bramthe livestock vendor you sell the goats to.
Ranching for a broader guide to managing animals at the ranch.
Sealed Abyss Artifact and Abyss Cores for context on how these rewards fit into progression.
You do not need to talk to Bram to initiate a sale. Walking into his middle stall with a goat in tow triggers the pickup automatically.
If the challenge does not progress after a delivery, check that you collected the Sealed Abyss Artifact first. Without it, goat sales go through as a normal transaction but do not advance the challenge counter.
The goat herd east of Howling Hill Camp respawns, so there is no worry about running out of wild goats if you miss a grab.
This is a short challenge and is a good pairing with other ranch-related tasks, since you will be moving through the same areas for multiple objectives.
