The Blood of Dawnwalker: Smoke and Ashes & From Above Walkthrough

Smoke and Ashes has two mandatory progression gates: the investigation chain around Coen’s home and the rubble at Laslea’s village gate. Once the gate is cleared, From Above starts immediately and sends Coen to a tower roughly 200 metres southwest of Laslea. Complete the house search methodically, use Compel Soul before leaving the soldier area, then clear every tower guard before attempting either Planeshift climb.

Table of Contents (12)

Quest order and the one route that advances both quests

Smoke and Ashes begins automatically after Bad Blood, starting at Anca’s House in Laslea Glen. It is part of the prologue’s main route, so there is no separate quest giver to locate and no alternate path around its core objectives.

• Finish Bad Blood to start Smoke and Ashes.
• Follow Anca into Laslea.
• Search Coen’s home and inspect every required clue.
• Return to Anca, then use Compel Soul on the dead soldier.
• Collect the three soldier-related clues near the road.
• Reach the village gate and remove the rubble.
• Start From Above, clear the tower base, and use Planeshift twice to reach the scouting position.

The important distinction is that the village gate rubble is a hard stop. There is no confirmed bypass, hidden route, or alternate interaction that advances Smoke and Ashes. Use the gate prompt when it becomes available.

Smoke and Ashes walkthrough

Follow Anca into Laslea

Start by following Anca to Laslea and entering the village. The next story beat does not trigger from standing outside the settlement, so cross into Laslea before checking the quest log for a new objective.

The quest then directs Coen to his family home. This is the section where incomplete searching causes the most wasted movement, because several small environmental interactions are required before the route continues.

Search Coen’s home without missing a clue

Enter Coen’s home and inspect the objects in a complete loop rather than moving straight toward the exit. Begin in the main room with Lunka’s doll cloth, then inspect the blood on the floor and the nearby door. Continue outside into the courtyard for the footprints.

Return inside and check the eastern room’s bed, the broken table, and the window near the entrance. The game treats these as investigation progress, so a room that looks fully searched can still hold the single interaction preventing the next trigger.

Practical scan check: near Brenics’s Banner, press L2 to highlight the banner and nearby bodies. Interact with the highlighted points to collect the items of importance. If the trail feels inactive after leaving the home, return to this area and scan it again before roaming farther through Laslea.

Return to Anca, then use Compel Soul on the soldier

After searching the house, return to Anca. This return costs one time segment. The next mandatory mechanic is Compel Soul, used on the dead soldier. Do not treat the body as ordinary loot: Compel Soul is the investigation action that advances the soldier’s clue chain.

Once the ability has been used, search the road and the immediate area around the soldier for three specific clues:

• A drinking gourd.
• Pitchforks.
• A trampled apple.

Keep the search tight around the road, bodies, and nearby points of interest. The goal is to complete the catalyst chain, not to clear every container in the village. If the quest marker remains fixed after inspecting one clue, continue until all three objects have been found.

Clear the rubble at Laslea’s village gate

With the soldier clues resolved, go to the village gate and interact with the rubble blocking it. Removing it advances the story through a cutscene and closes the route through Laslea. This interaction costs seven time segments, making it the largest documented time expenditure in these two quests.

Those seven segments apply to the rubble action itself, while the earlier return to Anca costs one segment. They are not a full completion-time estimate for Smoke and Ashes; treat them as planning information when managing the prologue’s hourglass-based time system.

From Above walkthrough

From Above starts directly after Smoke and Ashes. Leave Laslea and head about 200 metres southwest to the tower. The tower is the only relevant destination at this stage, and its vertical route remains blocked until the soldiers at the base have been dealt with.

Clear the soldiers at the tower base first

Approach the tower carefully and open on one soldier with a sneak attack if positioning permits. That first elimination reduces the opening pressure and gives Coen more room to manage the remaining enemies.

Do not try to trade hits because Coen is in vampire form. Dodge instead of absorbing repeated attacks, especially if multiple soldiers are still active. The tower ascent is a post-combat movement sequence, so attempting to Planeshift away while the base encounter remains unresolved only delays progress.

If health is low after the first two enemies fall, feast on the third enemy to recover health. Use this as sustain between kills rather than entering the climb at low health, since the upper route requires controlled positioning around broken architecture.

Use Planeshift on the rear scaffolding

After the base soldiers are dead, circle around to the back of the tower. The climb begins at the scaffolding, where Planeshift is required to reach the upper levels. The front-facing structure is not the route forward, so move around the tower rather than repeatedly testing inaccessible walls.

Planeshift is required twice during From Above:

• First, use it on the rear scaffolding to climb into the tower.
• Second, use it from the broken wall or ledge on the top floor to reach the final vantage point.

The second use is easy to miss because it is positioned as a vertical continuation of the tower interior rather than a new combat arena. On the top floor, look for the damaged wall and usable ledge instead of descending or searching for another staircase.

Complete the scouting objective at the vantage point

At the top, aim the camera outward and investigate the three white dots visible in the distance. All three must be checked to finish the objective. The final interaction may be described as scouting, investigating, or syncing the watchtower, but the completion condition is the same: reach the vantage point and inspect every marked distant point.

If the quest does not end after reaching the top, remain at the vantage point and sweep the camera across the horizon. One missed white dot is the usual cause. There is no further tower combat requirement after the soldiers at the base and no additional Planeshift route beyond the broken-wall ascent.

Common stalls and the direct fix

• The investigation will not progress: return to Coen’s home and confirm the doll cloth, blood, door, courtyard footprints, eastern bed, broken table, and entrance window have all been inspected.
• The soldier clues are inactive: use Compel Soul on the dead soldier before searching for the drinking gourd, pitchforks, and trampled apple.
• The route through Laslea seems blocked: go to the village gate and use the rubble interaction. There is no confirmed alternate passage.
• Planeshift does not solve the tower route: kill the base soldiers, then move to the rear scaffolding. Combat must be cleared before the climb proceeds.
• The tower top does not complete the quest: investigate all three white dots from the final lookout position.
• Health is too low after the tower opener: use the third enemy as a feeding opportunity after the first two are dead, rather than forcing the rest of the encounter at low health.

What Smoke and Ashes unlocks

Completing Smoke and Ashes ends this part of the prologue and opens the Witchcraft and Vampirism skill trees. Its reward listings vary, but 150 XP, Burning Blood, and Astral Communication Spells are listed with the quest. The skill-tree unlock is the important progression change before moving into the next route.

From Above ends at the completed tower vantage point. Once the third distant marker has been investigated, the Laslea investigation and southwest tower sequence are complete, with no need to return to the rubble, re-search Coen’s home, or continue climbing the tower.