Withering Away Herbs Recipe – The Blood of Dawnwalker

1 – Split Logs for Firewood

Mission Text:
“My father has a list of chores ready for me, as usual. I better get to it.”

Before you head out to chop wood, take Coen’s clothes from the chest in his bedroom and put them on in the inventory. Then leave the room. The chopping block sits right outside the bedroom, and you split three logs by following the on-screen prompts.

The logs are picked up automatically. Walk into the other part of the house and drop them at the kitchen fireplace. The room opposite the kitchen holds a chest you can loot if you want the extra pickings. The family then sits down to breakfast, where Coen’s mother refuses to eat.

2 – Pick up Your Sword

Mission Text:
“I should get my sword – it’s a dangerous world out there”

The sword is in the room opposite the kitchen, so if you skipped the chest earlier this is your second chance at it. Remember to equip the sword in the inventory menu before you leave.

Picked up:
Training Sword

3 – Obtain Medicinal Herbs from Anca

Mission Text:
“I need to go to Anca and fetch new herbs to help my mother. She’s getting worse and it’s Blood Mass tonight …“

Anca lives at the bottom of the village. The front door is open now, so you can leave the house freely. Cut through the forest and two boars will attack you, which is what the Training Sword is for. Follow the path south instead and you get there without a fight.

As you approach Anca’s home the game introduces time progression. Activities and quests eat time blocks off your day bar, and this visit costs one block as a minimum, or two if you choose to stay longer. There is a shrine in front of Anca’s hut where you can spend Perk Points, fast travel, or reach your storage.

You can knock on the door, but Anca is down by the stream. Talk to her and follow her back to the house, where she hands over the herbs and the recipe.

If you stay for two time blocks, you first get to pick what to read: the Poem, or the red book, Catullus. Insist on Catullus if you like a romance storyline.

The storm then interrupts the reading, and you help Anca rescue the herbs from her collapsed shed in the middle of the thunderstorm. Head into the shed and take the herbs off the drying beams.

Pick up all of the herbs to keep Anca happy. While you are in there she trips and hurts her back, and Coen treats her by following the on-screen prompts.

4 – Bring the Herbs Back and Read the Recipe

Mission Text:
“I have the herbs from Anca – now I need to bring them back to Dad and read the recipe.“

Return to Coen’s house at the top of the village and brew the herbs exactly as Anca described: three scoops of dried herbs, no more and no less, with hot water poured over them. If you did not memorise it, the note “Instructions from Anca” is in your inventory and you can read it before you start.

What Happens if You Get the Recipe Wrong?

Brew the herbs correctly and Esme survives Mass and returns home with the family.

Get the measurements wrong and Esme is killed during Mass in the follow-up quest, Sacred Covenant. The story then carries on the same way either way, and the group still heads to the mines afterwards.

So the recipe changes whether Esme lives, not where the story goes next.