After your Infamy reaches the maximum level in The Blood of Dawnwalker, Lord Brencis will send an invitation to parley at Shrike’s Crag that unlocks the A Deal with the Devil quest. Meeting your sworn enemy carries immense story consequences, particularly since he brings Coen’s captive father along as leverage.
The short answer is: yes, you should attend the parley, but you must never fight Brencis at Shrike’s Crag. Visiting there will give Coen a chance to meet his father and unlock a massive chunk of combat experience, but attacking Brencis on the spot will trigger the worst ending of The Blood of Dawnwalker.
How to Unlock and Start the Parley
The parley invitation arrives the morning after you push your Infamy meter to “Dreaded,” and it happens when you dismantle Brencis’s court operations across the valley by ambushing blood transports, freeing kidnapped villagers, burning his illicit distilleries, and eliminating his three ruling Boyars: Ambrus, Xanthe, and Bakir.
After the herald has delivered Brencis’s letter, head to Shrike’s Crag in the western mountains but only at night. Climb the scaffolding of the Scouting Tower overlooking the quarry, where you’ll find an unlit brazier. Lighting the signal fire will cost 4 Time Segments, so make a hard save beforehand. A cutscene will trigger immediately as you light the brazier, and Brencis will arrive with Coen’s father held at knifepoint.
Meet Pieter and Talk to Brencis
Before the negotiations start, Brencis will allow Coen some privacy to hug and talk to his father. If you completed the side quest Letters for Lunka, Pieter will also confirm that Lunka received Coen’s messages, validating your earlier efforts to keep in touch with your sister.
Once Brencis pulls you aside, he’ll spill some beans on Shrike’s Crag. The location is infamous as the execution ground where the valley’s former tyrant, Knyaz Skender, massacred hundreds of surrendered peasants. Brencis wants to avoid a full scale uprising led by the Manumit rebels and the exiled heir, Catalin Dragosti. In exchange for returning your family unharmed, Brencis will ask you to betray the Manumits by revealing their secret headquarters in Svartrau.
What Happens If You Attack Brencis?
The dialogue option with a sword icon “Enough. Time to end this,” lets Coen draw his blade and fight Brencis on the spot. Doing so will initiate the game’s final boss encounter right in the quarry.
The battle is deadly. In the first phase, you must fight Brencis’s humanoid form while juggling endless waves of Vidmo Specters. Depleting his health bar will drag you into the crimson realm of Anachora, where you must slay his Grotesque Ascendant monster form. Beat him down there, and you still don’t get a win since you have to pay the price for the parley violation and attack, and Brencis’s contingency plans will take effect immediately.
When you emerge from Anachora, you’ll be informed in a cutscene that Brencis’s guards executed Pieter during the chaos. By the time you return to Laslea Glen in the epilogue, you’ll find out the wardens even killed the rest of your family at Greifberg Castle. Coen is left mourning over a field of graves with literally nothing to show for his crusade.
What Happens If You Accept the Brencis Deal?
If you agree to Brencis’s terms by saying “I’ll do it,” he will hand you a vial of his blood. To fulfill the bargain, you must have completed the prerequisite quest Where Loyalty Lies so that you’re allowed to enter the Manumits’ hideout in Svartrau.
Head to the hideout and interact with the front door to mark it with Brencis’s blood. A cutscene will trigger in which Brencis and his blood guards attack the building, slaughtering the rebel fighters, and Lord himself will execute Crake by tearing out his throat. Brencis will honor his word and return your surviving family members to Laslea Glen, though Lunka will be permanently afflicted with vampirism. This choice unlocks The Turncoat trophy/achievement, but it comes at the cost of butchering every mortal ally who helped you at some point.
What Happens If You Refuse or Stall the Deal?
There’s another and better way out of the situation. You can hear Brencis out and pick non-committal or dismissive responses without wielding your sword, like you can tell him “I’ll think about it” or “What do I have to do with it?”
When the conversation stalls, dozens of hostile specters will rise from the quarry floor, but don’t worry, Brencis will temporarily fight alongside you as a friendly NPC to wipe out the undead. This encounter will net you thousands of XP and let you test your combat loadout against high-level phantom creatures.
Once the area is cleared, Vampire Lord will take Pieter back to Greifberg Castle with a threat of his coronation time being running out. Because you didn’t provoke an early death match, the Coen family will be safe in the cells for now, and you’re now free to ignore Brencis’s blood marker and finish the main story by assault routes:
- Fall Before Dusk: Storm the castle gates alongside Crake and the Manumits to rescue your family.
- Midnight Reckoning: Infiltrate the castle with the ancient vampire Lacra.
- A Lone Wolf’s Hunt: Breach the fortress alone without putting any rebel allies in danger.
Should You Parley With Brencis in The Blood of Dawnwalker?
Visit Shrike’s Crag to parley, but use the meeting to see your father, confirm your sister’s status, and farm the specter encounter alongside Brencis for massive XP. Once the fighting ends, reject his betrayal offer and do the final rescue on your own terms through the normal quests. Drawing your blade at the quarry will guarantee your family’s death, while outright accepting his deal turns Coen into a traitor who butchers his own friends.
