Anca: the companion whose death closes her whole questline
She taught Coen to read, she teaches him witchcraft, and four quest chains start with her. She is also human, and hunger does not care.
She was always at Coen’s side, taught him to read and to look past what is written, and carries a secret heavy enough to set her apart from the village. She is an ex-nun herbalist and Coen’s Latin teacher; the convent in Echoes of Silenced Bells is the one she left. If you hang back in the prologue instead of calling out, you see the glyphs and scars on her hand before anyone explains them.
Her quests, from the prologue to the Font
1. Withering Away
Starts: The prologue sends you to her hut for medicine.
She asks 50 denarii for the herbs. You can talk her down to 25, or say you cannot afford them and pay later.
2. Page-Turner
Starts: Agree to stay out the storm after buying the herbs.
A Latin lesson, a tree through her shed, eleven scattered herbs and a wound to dress. She may notice if you bring back all eleven, or it may make no lasting difference either way.
3. Echoes of Silenced Bells
Starts: Opens when the prologue ends, as long as she is alive.
St. Tyna's Convent, where she used to be a nun. She is reportedly happier if you let her cast the spell.
4. Between the Words
Starts: Straight after the convent.
Back at the Crossroads Inn, where she lives now. Make her tea. This is also where she points you at Albertus, which starts A Monk and a Saint.
5. Where Old Devils Lie
Starts: Return about a day later, once she has deciphered the books.
Ends with her painting runes on Coen: the Runic Enchantment, a legendary chest piece with no armour value and no weight that steals health on hit.
6. Stronger Than Achilles
Starts: Follows Where Old Devils Lie.
The ancient temple and the Font of Life. The confession sits here, and so does the decision below.
Once you are Notorious, a letter reaches you either through her at the inn or from a smuggler in Altenmarkt, and it starts the Arbiter armour hunt. The convent is also a likely place to pick up a saint's relic.
The Font of Life, three ways
| Choice | What it does |
|---|---|
| Coen drinks | A Witchcraft perk, Font of Life: passive human health regeneration by day. Anca is reportedly not too upset, and the romance survives. |
| Anca drinks | Her carvings vanish and she can leave witchcraft behind. No gameplay change, though it may buy unique epilogue cutscenes. |
| Destroy it | Nobody gains the perk, and a pair of legendary Ancient Greaves is behind the niche instead. |
Whether that choice touches the romance is discussed in the questions below. The wider decision, including who benefits most, is on the Font of Life page.
Winning her
The lines that seem to matter are spread across three quests rather than one scene. In Between the Words, offer to make her tea and say it is your pleasure when you hand it over, then ask what she means by always, and about her feelings towards you. In Where Old Devils Lie, thank her for trying to help, ask whether a friend is really all she sees, answer the map with who knows what else you have in store for her, and tell her you care while you are looking at the lake. In Stronger Than Achilles, put Coen’s own hand in the idol, and when the corridor dead-ends, say you would do anything for her and then that you love her. That confession is reportedly the moment the game refers back to.
Back at the inn the scene seems to need three more picks: that you beg to differ or that you meant what you said, then that you should do something fun for once, then that decency can wait. All three romances can run in one playthrough, so pursuing her costs you nothing with the other two.
Her age, her death and the Font
- How old is Anca in The Blood of Dawnwalker?
- The closest thing to a figure is a line in conversation where she tells Coen she is some twenty years older than he is — and the game gives Coen only as a young man. She calls herself an old woman while looking no older than thirty, which may be the point: plague and hard work age people here.
- How do you accidentally kill Anca?
- By talking to her as a vampire when you are nearly empty: below one chunk of health, or simply low on blood, so keep your blood level high before speaking to her at night. Either way Coen feeds, which kills her and ends her questline along with the romance. Feed first, or talk to her by day.
- Do you have to let Anca use the Font of Life to romance her?
- Maybe, maybe not. Letting her use it may be what establishes the relationship, with Coen drinking it himself making her hesitant — or it may not be a requirement at all, and she has been romanced in at least three playthroughs where Coen took it. The safe choice: she is probably happiest if you let her have it.
- What does Anca give you?
- Compel Soul on day one, then Burning Blood and Astral Communion, the Runic Enchantment chest piece, and the leads that open A Monk and a Saint. The Arbiter armour letter may also reach you through her at the inn, and she is reportedly among the people who sell skill manuals.
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