A Deal with the Devil Quest - The Blood of Dawnwalker Finale Explained

A Deal with the Devil is the final main quest of Blood of Dawnwalker — and the point of no return. Every hour of the 30-day campaign funnels into one meeting at Shrike’s Crag, where Brencis finally puts his cards on the table. This guide explains how the quest unlocks, what actually happens inside it, and what each answer costs you.

How A Deal with the Devil Unlocks

The quest cannot be rushed or sequence-broken. It opens automatically after the full mid-game:

1. Deal with all three Boyars through the Court activities — the Ambrus, Bakir, and Xanthe campaigns — pushing your Infamy to its maximum.
2. Skip time to the next day and watch the Infamy Edict cutscene.
3. Brencis’s messenger arrives the morning after your third Boyar falls, inviting Coen to a parley. Accepting (or simply following the marker) begins A Deal with the Devil.

One warning carried over from the Brencis boss guide: any Boyar you left undealt-with reappears as a miniboss inside Greifberg Castle. Clearing all three first is both the unlock condition and the difficulty-reduction strategy.

What Happens at Shrike’s Crag

The meeting itself is short and brutal. Brencis — the Knyaz who burned Laslea, poisoned the valley’s politics, and holds Coen’s family — offers a trade: the Manumits for your family. He knows exactly where the rebel hideout is. He only needs Coen to mark it.

Follow him deeper into the crag and you get the terms. At that moment the game has already narrowed your future to two bad endings, and the only real choice left is who pays.

The Three Outcomes

Your answer	Immediate result	Long-term result
“I’ll do it.” (take the deal)	You betray the Manumits; the hideout is marked	Your family survives. Lunka returns as a vampire. The rebellion is slaughtered. Leads to the Turncoat ending and The Turncoat achievement
Any option marked with a sword (attack)	You fight Brencis at the crag instead of in the castle	Even if you win, Brencis’s soldiers murder your family before you return. Lunka still comes back as a vampire. Leads to the Folk Hero route with the heaviest possible price
Never show up / walk away from the parley	No deal is ever made	The standard allied finale proceeds — and by multiple community accounts it plays significantly easier, because the deal’s refusal keeps the rebellion intact and the castle assault goes ahead as planned

The pattern Game8’s guide makes explicit: once you follow Brencis into the crag to hear the terms, either your allies die or your family dies. The only way to protect both is to never take the meeting seriously in the first place.

Is the Deal Ever Worth Taking?

Narratively, yes — the Turncoat ending is one of the game’s eight endings, and the betrayal cutscene is worth seeing once. But mechanically the deal is a trap:

• Your family survives either way if you can beat Brencis through the normal finale, because the allied route rescues them from the Greifberg prison before the final fight.
• Taking the deal locks out the three allied endings (Folk Hero, Patricide, Knyazmaker) in that playthrough.
• The one unique reward is The Turncoat achievement — and it is safely reachable in a dedicated save, as the turncoat walkthrough explains.

Before You Light the Signal Fire

A Deal with the Devil is the point of no return. Before the messenger arrives — ideally by day 25 — finish everything on the endgame checklist: romance locks, skill manuals, gear upgrades, and any quests tied to characters you want alive in the epilogue. The final dialogue choice starts the fight immediately; there is no way to prepare once you are inside.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does A Deal with the Devil start automatically? No. The invitation arrives as a messenger after your third Boyar, but you choose when to follow it. Skipping time does not force the quest.

Can you beat Brencis without ever getting the offer? Yes. Arriving at Greifberg Castle without allies means Brencis has no one to demand you betray, so no deal is offered — you simply fight. See betraying your allies for how the presence of Lacra or Crake changes this scene.

What level should I be for the finale? The game never displays a recommended level, but the Court arc effectively gates you near the cap. The Brencis prep guide breaks down what matters more than the number on your character sheet.

Is the “deal gone wrong” path real? Yes — attack during the parley and you can defeat Brencis early, but his soldiers kill your family in retaliation. It is the Folk Hero ending’s darkest variant.

Related Guides

• Brencis boss guide — the three-phase fight itself
• Turncoat ending walkthrough — the betray-everything route
• Brencis dialogue choices — every option at the parley table
• Endgame checklist — what to finish before the point of no return
• Fighting Brencis or taking your family and leaving — the exit question, answered