The Blood of Dawnwalker Withering Away — Quest Walkthrough — Wiki & Guide

Withering Away is the first real morning of The Blood of Dawnwalker and the quest the prologue most wants you to complete cleanly — do it right and you bank relationship progress with Anca, unlock her shrine, and open two follow-up quests (Page-Turner and Like Father, Like Son). It plays as a chain of small household errands, and nearly every one of them hides a choice.

The morning, in order

1. Get dressed. Open the chest beside your bed for clothes. Grab the weapon and odds and ends to the left of the door on your way out — the house chests hold a few more pickings.
2. Chores first. Split the wood in the yard, then light the kitchen stove. The stove triggers the family breakfast cutscene.
3. The breakfast choice. Asked how to handle your little sister's appetite, take the gentle line — promising not to force her to eat. It costs nothing and sets the tone of the household scene.
4. Visit Anca for herbs. Follow the objective to Anca's hut at the edge of the glen. Arriving here automatically unlocks Anca's hut shrine — your first reminder that shrines are where trait and skill points get spent. There is loot in the chest by her house.
5. The riverside scene. Anca is washing at the river to the right of her hut. The dialogue chain that follows is the important part — see below.
6. Back inside for the payment. Follow her in to settle up for the herbs, then decide how the morning ends.

The riverside dialogue chain (Anca bond route)

By the river, the bond-building path reads:

1. Keep watching rather than look away.
2. Ask about her scars — "But what about those scars of yours?"
3. Apologize for prying — "Sorry. I shouldn't have asked."
4. "I'm fine" to close the scene.

This sequence advances Anca's romance arc; brushing the moment off closes it. She is one of the companions with a full quest line, so this five-minute scene is among the highest-value choices in the prologue.

The herb payment

Inside the hut you can pay 50 gold for the herbs or say you're short. Paying pushes her bond up. Promising to settle the debt later also works — as long as you actually pay before you head to the monastery much later in the story, the outcome holds.

The reading invitation

At the end of the hut scene, the warm answer — "I'd love to, I miss evenings like this too" — spends 2 time segments and triggers the Page-Turner side quest, Anca's poetry date and romance on-ramp. If your build of the morning can spare the segments, take it.

The homestretch

Walking home, you can unlock the Laslea Glen center shrine on the way. At the house you'll overhear Vladimir and Pieter talking at the door. Inside, your father prepares a bath — answer heat the water, then add three spoonfuls of herbs, then "sounds good," and close with "Father, if you ever want to talk…" to end the quest on the warmest available note.

Keep reading:

• Page-Turner
• Like Father, Like Son
• All Good Things