I fumbled my Blood of Dawnwalker playthrough by losing one ally and accidentally sending another to hell

As we enter RPG Club's third week in The Blood of Dawnwalker, allow me to refresh your memory. After learning to fight in Duelist mode in the first week, followed by a second week where we killed our first ruling vampire, we're now ramping up our fight against Brencis. With our 30-day deadline to save Coen's family fast-closing, there's a lot that still needs to be done – so this week I'm sinking my fangs into the main story proper, chasing every lead that will give me the upper-hand come next week's confrontation.

When we left off in part two, we'd just killed Ambrus, the youngest undead in Brencis' court, and agreed to harbor a piece of his soul in Coen to prevent him from being consumed by an evil presence outside our realm. I'm still not entirely clear on what that presence is, but it seems to be a corruption that feeds on anyone who deals with its power; be it vampires, witches, or (in Coen's case) both. It's likely going to be a problem: per the rules of RPG Club I've seized every opportunity to further Coen's vampirism, so if there are consequences for doing so, I'm all but guaranteed to see them.

Quest Log

The one where Isbrand goes to vampire hell

Our first port of call for the week is Lacra, our new vampire ally. We saved Brencis' sire, Isbrand, but two years of having his flesh eaten by kobolds means he's not much use – so instead we take the night to search through his memories. In snatches we see Brencis, then a mortal Roman soldier, turned by Isbrand in Teutoburg Forest. The freshly-undead Brencis then attempts a grisly reunion with his wife, despite Isbrand's warnings, and she sets herself on fire rather than join him in undeath.

Brencis' story is fascinating, though I'm falling out of love with The Blood of Dawnwalker's combat. This quest is fight-heavy, filled with spectral enemies I've killed many times before, and the repetition turns directional combat into paint-by-numbers. The upshot is a recently-acquired ability that lets me pop creatures from the inside-out using their blood, killing even ghosts (who are presumably just happy to play along) in a single satisfying hit.

We eventually meet Isbrand's spirit as we did Ambrus in part two, shifting hazily in crimson fog. Lacra has a bitter relationship with Isbrand, refusing to invite his soul in, and although I have the choice to offer myself, it doesn't really feel like my place to weigh in. Still, I'm surprised by how quickly Lacra moves on. We return to the real world, where I realize my awkward silence has condemned Isbrand to otherworldly hell.

Moving swiftly on

Isbrand's demise reminds me that we have unfinished business with another old vampire. Specifically, St Mihai – the gnarly Dawnwalker we killed last week. He left us with a broken sword hilt, and while a capable smith proves easy to find, the blade's shards are scattered in kobold nests across Vale Sangora. While zig-zagging to collect them I do everything in my power to enrage Brencis' surviving court members, Bakir and Xanthe, by smashing distilleries and disrupting recruitment efforts.

I also follow a lead on the gruesome golems we encountered last week. Working with the rebels points to a tower in the south of Vale Sangora, where I find an old tome used to create Brencis' monsters. Climbing the tower traps Coen in a Groundhog Day-style loop, imagining a day back home with his family, and requires digging into his deepest trauma – the untimely death of Coen's youngest brother – to escape. My colleague Jasmine wrote this excellent feature on Home Sweet Home, so I'm not going to go into too much more detail, but consider this an essential side quest if you're playing along with us.

Before handing in the book, I detour to a rural village where rebel leader Crake would like me to spy on someone without being seen. Still thinking about Home Sweet Home, I fumble the stealth and blow Coen's cover. When I return to Svatrau, Crake is furious, storming off before I can hand him the pilfered tome. His second-in-command offers to tell me where he's gone to cool off, but I misread the room (I thought he wanted to be left alone!) and in no uncertain terms I'm told not to count on Crake when it comes to fighting Brencis. Reloading is banned in this playthrough, so we'll just have to make do without the rebels' help going forward – though it does mean I'm left with the cursed book in my inventory.

I handle the break-up as anyone would – by reforging the rest of St. Mihai's sword and anointing the blade in an orb of floating blood. But just as I fall for my big goth Master Sword, it's taken away. One of Bakir's lackeys approaches with an opportunity to kill the vampire, offering to help Coen infiltrate one of his master's nocturnal 'games' – where all outside weapons and gear are banned. After losing the rebels, striking at Brencis' court seems prudent – so away we go.

Bakir's blood sport involves masked contestants racing through winding ruins by moonlight, fighting hellhounds, the undead, and each other, to reach a silver coin hidden in the center. Coen is competing in 14th century Fortnite incognito, which means there's no using vampiric powers – y'know, everything I've built into – lest Bakir clocks Coen.

I commit to the pretense, even cutting the silver coin out from a living contestant's stomach when asked, only to fumble the whole charade when Bakir asks me to take my mask off. I oblige, though in hindsight I'm not sure what I thought would happen – of course Bakir recognizes Coen immediately. Reloading my save is against RPG Club rules, so I'm thrown into a two-stage fight against Bakir's allies and the main vampire himself.

It's the hardest boss fight yet: Bakir alternates between powerful blood magic and good old-fashioned brawling, with a special attack that kills me in one shot if it lands. It does (often) and there is no checkpoint between stages, so each time Bakir punches Coen to smithereens, I have to fight his henchmen before getting to the main boss fight. But it only delays the inevitable – Bakir folds under Coen's claws, but unlike Ambrus, his spirit goes willingly into hell. Different strokes, eh?

Two for two

Xanthe is the last vampire standing between Coen and Brencis. An opportunity to take her out presents itself when two of Brencis' soldiers accost Coen on the road – not to try and kill him, for a change, but to ask for help. Young women have been disappearing in Xanthe's domain, as have the men they've sent to investigate. They offer a lantern that grants access to Xanthe's mansion, which I'm happy to take in exchange for finding the missing girls.

I find the girls inside Xanthe's hilltop abode. Rather, bits of them – their arms and legs piled in bloody pyramids, the rest unidentifiable gore in a hellhound's kennel. Xanthe appears shortly afterward, but the ensuing boss fight is far shorter than Ambrus or Bakir's as she's a rather squishy caster. I cling to her with shadow-step, chaining claw-swipes with vampire abilities until Xanthe calls for a parlay. Spare her, she says, and the sorceress will be on our side when it's time to fight Brencis. I'm tempted to drain her anyway, but now having almost every vampire ability now unlocked, it seems more effective to team up on the condition that her killings stop.

With only Brencis left to defeat, there are just two things left to handle. Lacra has one more lead to gain a leg-up over Brencis, while a mysterious letter from beyond Vale Sangora offers help in the form of powerful armor – provided I source the rare materials to make it.

My plan for next week is to meet Lacra, snag the armor, and head straight to Greifberg Castle. The less I risk screwing up, the better: I've fumbled a lot this week, and don't know how losing the rebels' help is going to affect us. But we have a sick sword, two vampire allies (plus a third's ghost), and a monstrously evolved Coen on our side. What could possibly go wrong?