Bad Blood Walkthrough – The Blood of Dawnwalker

1 – Search for Your Father

Mission Text:
“We went to the mines to go get silver ore for the rebellion – but Brencis caught wind of our plans and attacked. I was wounded, I passed out – I don’t remember what happened afterwards. All I know is that my father went missing and I need to find him.”

Bad Blood opens with Coen wounded and trapped underground with Vladimir. Some of the men ran deeper into the mine when Brencis attacked, and Coen’s father may be one of them. There is only one route out of the starting corridor, and it opens into a larger chamber with several exits.

2 – Aid Ludwig

Mission Text:
“Ludwig is trapped under a beam – if we don’t help him, he will die.”

From the first chamber, head left to find Ludwig pinned under a fallen beam. Talk to him and lift the beam. Nothing you do here saves him, his injuries are too severe, but the scene sets up how little control Coen has over what is coming.

3 – Continue the Search for Your Father

Return to the large chamber and keep looking. Several barrels and chests are worth opening before you move on, and one of the boxes holds a Crude Pickaxe with 37 DPS, the first real weapon of the quest.

Follow the footprints out of the chamber. At the crossroads, take the uphill corridor on the left, where more loot containers and a second body are waiting.

Inspect the victim. There are three points you can investigate and find clues:
-> The wooden boards next to the victim’s head
-> the area of the yellow belt
-> a point near the hand.

The investigation will show that it is not Coen’s father.

Head back to the crossroads and turn left to go deeper into the mine, checking this corridor for loot boxes as you pass. You will reach a mine shaft with a ladder out of reach and a body hanging in it. Two more containers can be looted here before you carry on along the footprints.

A cutscene triggers when Coen walks into a swarm of fireflies. More loot containers follow, and then Coen starts to hear a heartbeat. At the next crossroads, turn right into the dead-end corridor to find silver inside a chest.

4 – Help Kostel

In the next room, Coen and Vladimir find Kostel badly wounded. Coen goes to help him, and the hunger takes over instead. This is the first time the game takes the choice out of your hands, and it ends with Coen falling into the lower levels of the mine.

5 – Find a Way Back Up

Mission Text:
“I fell down a shaft, into the lower levels of the mine. I need to find a way back up.”

After the cutscene, squeeze through the gap in the wall into a green lit chamber with more to loot. The skeleton in the screenshot below carries a Superior Shortsword, the Wicked Falchion with 77 DPS, along with a letter you can read.

Follow the bone-strewn path through the crouch space. At the far end there is a loot point in a nest-like feature surrounded by animal bones.

Kobolds and Tainted Marrow in the Lower Cave

Two routes lead on from here, one dropping down to the left and one following a narrow ledge up to the right. Take the left path down first. At the bottom, follow the stream to the right and a group of Kobolds attacks. They drop Tainted Marrow, which heals Coen while he is in his vampiric state, so this detour is worth the fight if your health bar is low.

Shadowstep Across the Abyss

Both sides of the stream end in dead ends, so climb back up and take the narrow ledge instead. At the end of it, Coen has to use Shadowstep to cross the abyss. Place the orb on the far side and pull yourself across.

The other side opens into a larger cave segment. Search it for Cave Fungus, an epic ingredient, and loot the skeleton on the floor along with another nest.

From here, Shadowstep upwards. The glowing mushrooms on the cave walls mark the route every time you are unsure where to aim.

Voracious Bite and Blood Drinking

Higher up, the game introduces Blood Drinking. If you skipped the Kobolds in the lower cave and never picked up the Tainted Marrow, your health is still low at this point. Refill it by consuming the rats with Voracious Bite, which works from a surprising distance, so you do not need to corner them.

How to Use Planeshift to Walk on Walls

Another group of Kobolds attacks in the next cave. Defeat them and keep climbing, following the mushrooms. At the top of this cave is a wall smeared with white paint. That marking means the surface can be walked on. Use Shadowstep on it and Coen shifts onto the wall, an ability the game calls Planeshift. It drains stamina the whole time you are on the surface, so plan the route before you commit.

Shadowstep in combination with Plainshift can also be done on ceilings. So if the abyss is to long to simply shadowstep across, use the ceiling in the next section. It helps to place the shadowstep orb as much ahead as you can to save stamina when crossing. Jump down on the other side and exit the mine at the top.

6 – Exit the Mine and Clawride Down

Leave the cave and look for the high ledge above the valley. Use Clawride on it to bring Coen down the rock face and back towards Laslea. The map screenshot below shows exactly where the cave exit sits if you want to line the route up first.

7 – Find Vladimir (Optional)

Fight the Soldiers or Go With Them

Finding Vladimir is optional, and the game gives you an early way out of it. Two soldiers block the path with orders from Brencis to bring Coen in. Fight them and the Vladimir section opens up. Go with them instead and you skip it entirely, travelling straight to the family house.

Vladimir is hiding in the burning building up the hill, guarded by two Vrakhiri. Defeat them to trigger the conversation.

How to Save Vladimir in Bad Blood

Vladimir can survive this quest, but only if Coen still has control. Keep your health above the second bar, because dropping below it makes Coen succumb to the hunger automatically once the scene starts. If you are running low on the way up the hill, use Voracious Bite on the wildlife first. Killing the two Vrakhiri starts the cutscene straight away, so top up before the fight, not after.

With a full health bar, you can talk him out of the house without feeding on him. Vladimir then leaves to warn the rebels and becomes a point of contact for Coen later in the game.

What Happens if Coen Gives In to the Hunger

If Coen goes into the scene on low health, or you select “Give in to the Hunger” in the conversation, he feeds on Vladimir and kills him. The quest continues either way, but you lose the contact.

If Vladimir dies, loot his body before you leave. He carries a letter from Mert warning Crake, which hands you the code word flour.

8 – Return to Laslea and Save Your Family

Before heading down, sweep the bodies around Vladimir house. There are some decent items on them. If you saved Vladimir the Vrakhiri bodies are gone, and if you killed him there is noticeably more loot on the soldiers.

When you are done, Clawride the cliff towards the family house or take any route you like down. The cutscene with Pieter and Brencis in front of the burning house triggers at the bottom, and it plays the same way whether you went with the soldiers, saved Vladimir or lost him.

Brencis and the End of Bad Blood

The fight against Brencis cannot be won. There is no build, no timing and no health threshold that changes it. He overpowers Coen and tries to feed, then recoils from something in Coen’s blood, pins him to a tree with a pickaxe and leaves. Bad Blood ends there, with Coen waking up in Anca’s hut, finishing the game’s Prologue.