Revision 1

The prologue introduces Coen's family, the Blood Mass, his transformation and the escape from Laslea. Its opening errands have a limited time budget of their own. The main thirty-day rescue window starts after Smoke and Ashes, when the rubble at the village gate is cleared.

Opening sequence

All Good Things

Follow Lunka north through the forest, climb the ledges and crawl through the gap. Continue through the cave and the ice passage. The soldiers provide the first combat tutorial, followed by a dream version of the night form and Shadowstep. Follow Lunka to the church to wake from the nightmare. The reward is the Minor Mending Ointment recipe.

Withering Away and Esme

Take the clothes and book from the bedroom chest, chop firewood in the backyard and add it to the stove. Collect the sword from the storage room. Pieter provides 25 denarii for the herbs. Anca's hut is southwest of Laslea beyond the centre shrine, beside a stream.

Anca supplies the herbs whether Coen pays 50 denarii, bargains for 25 or cannot pay. When the storm starts, accepting her Latin lesson costs 2 segments and starts Page-Turner. Refusing costs 1 segment and closes that quest for the run.

Back at home, prepare the medicine with hot water and three spoonfuls of herbs. Boiling or cold water, or one or two spoonfuls, produces the wrong medicine and Esme dies at the Blood Mass. Read the recipe before beginning the brewing conversation. Withering Away grants 100 XP; completing the optional Page-Turner lesson adds 100 XP.

Training and the Blood Mass

Follow the path beside the house to Pieter at the ruins. Winning or losing the sparring match has the same outcome: a Charge Manual and 100 XP. Choosing to wait with him spends the remaining opening budget and begins Sacred Covenant. Leaving instead spends 1 segment and allows more errands.

The opening daytime budget is limited. Attacking a non-hostile villager can cause arrest and consume the remaining time, skipping directly to the Mass. Finish the medicine and any desired errands before waiting with Pieter. At the church, speak with villagers if desired, then sit beside the family. Esme's medicine and the Blasphemy decision determine which villagers survive.

Bad Blood and Vladimir

After the mine ambush, follow the blood trail to Kostel. Feeding on him is scripted even if Coen resists. Escape using Shadowstep across gaps, feed on rats, defeat the kobolds and learn Planeshift on the wall and ceiling. Clawride down outside instead of jumping from the cliff.

The soldiers outside can escort Coen directly to Brencis, saving a segment but preventing Vladimir's rescue. Fighting them leaves the detour open. Keep more than one nighttime Health Segment if a voluntary dialogue choice is needed; critical hunger can force a bite.

At the fork toward Laslea, take the uphill southeastern path to Vladimir's burning house. Defeat the soldier and Vrakhiri Banneret for 250 additional XP. Feeding on Vladimir kills him and removes later content. Brencis normally defeats Coen and advances the story; winning both phases instead produces an early ending.

Smoke and Ashes

Follow Anca back to Laslea and equip gear before approaching the dogs outside the house. Investigate the broken door, Lunka's toy, table, windows, blood in the storage room, backyard footprints and bed. Return to Anca to learn Compel Soul.

The dead soldier initially needs a catalyst. Take the yellow banner near the burned house and use it when casting again. On Steam from Hotfix 1.0.4, investigating the rag is optional. Clearing the gate costs 7 of the quest's 8 segments and ends the prologue. Optional tasks such as The Firebrand can be handled before clearing it so their time does not come from the main rescue window.

Prologue side quests

The errands below compete with the opening daytime budget. Check the hourglass before accepting an optional step. Some tasks remain available later, while others close when Sacred Covenant begins.

Fishing and the free errands

For Live Bait, follow Yanna, Mirto and Lunka to the northeastern river. Playing tag is optional and spends another segment. Use Focus Mode to locate four fishing rods in the bush behind Yanna, place them at the four rock piles and bait a hook. A sword-marked reply to the guard begins a fight, but its win or loss leads to the same closing scene.

Dead Drop follows footprints from the grave to marked tree bark. Turn left there, continue to the large fallen tree with matching marks and inspect the stash. If a Tree Falls in a Forest follows tracks from the crushed body past a dead soldier to a dead uriash by the river. Read the Patrol Order and report to Zdislav in Laslea.

Disturbed

Inspect the torch, clay and tracks at Crina's grandson's grave. Follow the trail through the alley beside Mircea to Kostel's shed and its broken shovel. The hidden trapdoor advances time and leads to a confrontation with Kostel, then Vladimir.

Demand Kvet's cross back to return it to Crina, or cover for Vladimir and leave it with him. The explanation given to Crina does not change completion. Helping rebury Kvet costs an additional segment; declining completes the quest without that extra cost.

Deep Down

Follow Lazar's trail from the peat bog beside Northern Foothills shrine, defeat the wolves and descend through the hole. His condition depends on when the search is made, so begin early if attempting to find him alive. Continue into the ancient ruins, search the central tomb for Mireleaf Bracers and defeat the Forgotten Guardian to leave. Report to Gavril for the reward.

Blasphemy and Gremla

Use Focus Mode at Gremla's loom, the nearby tracks and the torn banner. Turn the scrap over to inspect its blood. Alois, Otokar and Dana provide optional leads; Premysl can also be confronted directly at the house northeast of Laslea Centre shrine.

Page-Turner

Accept Anca's invitation before leaving with the herbs. Choose the Black Book for the answers Fear and Lightning, or the Red Book for Kisses and Grains of Sand. The Red Book produces more flirtatious dialogue, but either book completes the lesson.

After the storm, collect all eleven bundles of Dried Herbs in the shed. Help Anca inside, clean the wound with the wet cloth and then apply balm from the blue jar. Refusing the original Latin invitation closes this quest for the run.

Enter Not and the later reward

Climb the broken roof on the side of the noisy house by the peat-bog path. Investigate inside with Focus Mode, read the Last Confession on the body and take the Figurine of St. Jude. Returning it to Father Florin in Laslea during the prologue awards 100 XP. Returning it to the church after the prologue awards 1,000 XP instead. The quest has no time cost and remains available afterward.