Trophy / Achievement Overview

Welcome to our The Blood of Dawnwalker Trophy Guide and Roadmap. The game features 47 trophies on PS5, consisting of 1 Platinum, 3 Gold, 5 Silver and 38 Bronze trophies.

The Platinum can be earned in a single playthrough, but careful manual-save management is essential. More than 15 trophies can be missed through story decisions, failed quests, inaccessible merchants or progression beyond certain points. You must also complete one full ending on the highest difficulty without changing its preset.

Estimated Trophy Difficulty: 5/10
Approximate Time to Platinum: 50–60 hours
Offline Trophies: 47
Online Trophies: 0
Missable Trophies: 15+
Minimum Playthroughs: 1 with strategic manual saves
Difficulty-Related Trophies: Yes
Highest Difficulty Required: Yes – complete one full ending on Duelist
Free Roam After the Story: No – reload a pre-ending manual save
New Game Plus: Not yet, but announced
Manual Saves: Yes – strongly recommended
Trophy Autopop: No
DLC Required for Platinum: No

Roadmap Overview

The Platinum can be earned in one playthrough, but the route depends on careful save management. Begin on Duelist, complete one full ending without changing any difficulty settings, and then return to a permanent pre-ending save for everything else.

Vale Sangora runs on a 30-day deadline. Each day contains eight daytime and eight nighttime segments. The clock does not move while you explore; time is spent when you finish quests, learn certain upgrades or select time-consuming actions. Your first priority is therefore not to clear the map, but to become strong enough to finish the main campaign while preserving enough days for the ending requirements.

After the Duelist ending is complete, you can reload, lower the difficulty and work through the remaining endings, character stories and open-world cleanup.

Before You Begin: Protect the Playthrough

• Select the Duelist preset before starting and do not change the preset or any individual difficulty option until Uphill Battle has unlocked.
• Do not attack friendly characters, merchants or quest-givers. Their deaths may remove quests, vendors and trophy opportunities.
• Rotate through several manual-save slots instead of continually overwriting one file.
• Create permanent saves after the prologue, before every Boyar confrontation and before starting the final quest.
• Quicksave before combat and during long exploration sessions. Free-roam progress is not always protected by an autosave.
• Treat Day 24 as the preferred point for reaching the finale. This leaves a useful buffer before the 30-day deadline.

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Step 1: Survive the Prologue on Duelist

Start the game using the untouched Duelist preset and play through the opening chapter until Vale Sangora becomes fully accessible.

During Withering Away, prepare Esme’s medicine with hot water and three spoonfuls of herbs. Finish this objective before its timer expires or Esme will die. Continue through Smoke and Ashes, where the story introduces Compel Soul and eventually releases Coen into the open world.

Do not worry about completing every optional prologue activity. The purpose of this stage is to establish a clean Duelist run and unlock free exploration without wasting early time segments.

Create a new manual save as soon as the prologue ends.

Trophies associated with this step:

• Dead Man Talkin’ – use Compel Soul during Smoke and Ashes.
• A Dawnwalker is Born – complete the prologue and enter the open world.
• Antique Aficionado – can be earned early through Deep Down, although it can also wait until later.

Step 2: Build a Fast Travel Kit and Reveal the Map

Before committing to the main campaign, improve Coen’s movement. Purchase Shapeshift from Vampirism and Mercurial Fervour from Witchcraft when possible. With no mount available, these abilities significantly reduce the time spent crossing the map.

Use nighttime exploration to reach all 11 towers. Vampiric traversal, especially Shadowstep, makes climbing easier after dark. Activating a tower reveals nearby points of interest as question marks, turning the unexplored map into a practical list of levelling opportunities.

While travelling between towers, enter Svartrau, pass through villages and use vampiric movement whenever possible. These actions build progress toward several exploration trophies without consuming story days.

Trophies associated with this step:

• Bird’s-Eye View – activate all 11 towers.
• Shadow Roamer – travel 1,000 metres with vampiric traversal abilities.
• Big-City Living – enter Svartrau.
• Tour Guide Training – visit all eight villages.
• Absolutely Insatiable – may become available after Shapeshift, Mercurial Fervour and another Passive Ability are equipped.

Step 3: Reach a Safe Power Level Without Spending too many days

Use the newly revealed points of interest to strengthen Coen before tackling the Court. Monster Lairs, Persons in Danger, Soldier Camps, Bandit Camps and Ancient Circles provide experience, equipment and Skill Points without forcing you deep into character questlines.

Begin in the northern half of the map, where encounters are more manageable. Move south only as Coen becomes stronger. A red skull indicates that an enemy is far above your current level and should be avoided on Duelist.

Aim for approximately Level 22. At that point, most regions become survivable and the Court campaign is much less punishing. Try to finish this preparation before Day 15. Avoid starting large side-quest chains unless you already understand their time cost; they can be completed safely after the first ending.

This is also a good moment to work on simple combat and resource trophies. However, never delay the story merely to grind something that can be cleaned up later.

Useful trophies to progress or complete here:

• Untouchable – perform five consecutive Perfect Blocks.
• Balanced Diet – restore health by feeding ten times.
• Feral Hunger – trigger an out-of-combat feeding incident before Closing Wounds makes it less convenient.
• Better Safe than Sorry – combine Burning Blood with an Artery Strike decapitation after obtaining the required Manuals.
• Miser – hold 5,000 denarii at once.
• Selfish – sell fish back to the Svartrau Fishmonger before maximum Infamy.
• Smuggler – begin storing silver; the trader becomes available at Infamy Level 4.
• Mastery – fully upgrade one Ability if the required Manuals and points are available.

Step 4: Break the Court and Deal With the Three Boyars

The campaign advances through the Court Activities belonging to Ambrus, Bakir and Xanthe. Completing their operations raises each Boyar’s anger meter. Once a meter reaches its limit, that character’s confrontation quest becomes available.

You only need roughly three quarters of the available Court Activities, not every activity on the map. Use the Court menu to track progress and prioritize the shortest route to all three boss quests. Court Activities consume time, so continue watching the calendar and aim to finish the three Boyars by about Day 22.

Their major quests are:

• The Gilded Gauntlet – confrontation with Ambrus.
• The Lunar Game – confrontation with Bakir.
• The Cycle of Love – confrontation with Xanthe.

Your decisions during these confrontations do not remove the four full ending trophies. Xanthe can be killed or convinced to cooperate. If you want Blood Surge for Make It Rain, either consume her blood directly or collect the Phial of Xanthe’s Blood from the cathedral treasury.

Complete Selfish and Smuggler before reaching Infamy Level 9. At maximum Infamy, Svartrau becomes hostile and normal access to its merchants is lost.

You may encounter Home Sweet Home during this part of the game. Do not force its secret ending on Duelist. Save it for the post-Duelist cleanup when the combat can be reduced to Story difficulty.

Trophies associated with this step:

• The Right Fist of the Knyaz – defeat Ambrus.
• The Mad Khan – defeat Bakir.
• The Dark Mistress – neutralise Xanthe.
• Throne of Thorns – reach Infamy Level 9.
• Delivery Delay – destroy eight Vrakhiri transports encountered through Court Activities.
• Make It Rain – unlock Blood Surge through Xanthe’s blood and explode an enemy.
• Realmwalker – may unlock early through Boyar blood or later during the Brencis battle.

Step 5: Create the Master Save and Secure the Duelist Completion

After all three Boyars have been handled, maximum Infamy should be reached. Advance to the following day if necessary and watch the sequence announcing the latest Infamy Edicts. Brencis will then request a meeting, opening the final quest A Deal with the Devil.

Before accepting the quest, make a new manual save in a separate slot. This is the most important save in the entire roadmap. Do not overwrite it after entering the finale.

For the first completion, accept Brencis’s offer and follow The Turncoat route. This ending avoids the final boss fight, making it the safest way to complete the required full ending on Duelist. Because it rescues the family within the deadline, it can unlock the difficulty, timed and story-completion trophies together.

Keep every difficulty option untouched until the ending has finished and Uphill Battle appears.

Trophies associated with this step:

• The Turncoat – accept Brencis’s deal.
• Uphill Battle – finish a full ending on the Duelist preset.
• In the Nick of Time – rescue the family within 30 days.
• The Blood of Dawnwalker – finish the story.

Step 6: Rewind the Finale and Unlock Every Other Ending

Reload the master save created before A Deal with the Devil. Once Uphill Battle is confirmed, change the difficulty to Story for faster cleanup.

The remaining full endings require preparation rather than another entire playthrough. Complete Lacra’s storyline to make her available for the final confrontation and do the same for Crake. Return to the master branch before each finale and select the appropriate ally or solo route.

Use additional manual saves before important decisions inside the Lacra and Crake questlines. Their optional quests are also connected to Misery Loves Company and The Manumit, so complete those requirements before advancing to their ending missions.

The two early endings are separate from the Brencis finale:

• A Hero They Deserve is triggered by leaving Vale Sangora through the western exit in Briar Sloughs.
• Together Forever requires repeatedly completing the combat loop in Home Sweet Home and refusing the escape offered by the well.

Reload after each ending so the main cleanup file remains usable.

Trophies associated with this step:

• The Patricide – defeat Brencis with Lacra.
• The Knyazmaker – defeat Brencis with Crake.
• The Folk Hero – defeat Brencis without either ally.
• A Hero They Deserve – abandon Vale Sangora.
• Together Forever – remain with Coen’s family inside the dream.
• Misery Loves Company – complete The Night of Horrors before Lacra’s ending mission.
• The Manumit – complete Distant Shadows and A Closer Look before Crake’s ending missions.

Step 7: Finish Character Stories, Equipment and Level 50

Return once more to the master save and use it as the permanent cleanup timeline. The 30-day rescue limit no longer needs to dictate your route because the timed ending trophies are already complete. Work through all remaining character quests, unexplored locations, activities and equipment objectives.

Prioritize quests and Court content when levelling because they award more experience than repeatedly killing ordinary enemies. Reaching Level 50 will likely be the final long-term requirement and may demand most of the available content.

Complete the Arbiter weapon and armour questlines, collect missing legendary jewellery and equip a legendary item in every slot. Remove the five flags, finish the Sanzhani tasks and close the remaining character stories for Anca, Vicho and Ocha.

For the Ultimate Perk trophies, do not permanently spend every Skill Point as soon as it is earned. Swordmastery and Witchcraft each require 39 available points for the fastest save-reload method: 35 invested in that tree’s Perks and four more for an Ultimate Perk. Once enough points and Manuals are available, create a manual save, unlock one Ultimate, reload and repeat in the other tree.

Vampirism works differently. Raise Corruption to Level 15 by consuming blood and purchase any Vampirism Ultimate for Creature of the Night.

Trophies normally completed during final cleanup:

• Glass Ceiling – reach Level 50.
• Master of Arms – purchase a Swordmastery Ultimate Perk.
• Arch Warlock – purchase a Witchcraft Ultimate Perk.
• Creature of the Night – purchase a Vampirism Ultimate Perk at Corruption Level 15.
• Arbiter’s Blade – restore St Mihai’s sword.
• Arbiter’s Regalia – complete the enhanced Arbiter armour set.
• Gear of the Gods – equip Legendary gear in all eight slots.
• Capture the Flag – remove all five of Brencis’s flags.
• Sins of the Past – finish Anca’s storyline.
• The Unquenchable Thirst – finish Vicho’s required quests.
• The Outcast – complete Ocha’s quest.
• The Tsarina’s Favourite Human – complete the five required Sanzhani tasks.
• Any unfinished exploration, combat, currency or vendor trophies from the earlier steps.

Once every remaining trophy is complete, Every Last Drop will unlock and award the Platinum.

Unlock every other trophy in the base game to earn the Platinum. No additional DLC trophies are required.

Visit the market in Svartrau City during the day and locate the vendor identified as a Fishmonger when approached. Buy a Dried Fish and immediately sell it back to unlock the trophy.

Complete this before reaching Infamy Level 9. Once the city gates close, the Fishmonger is no longer available.

Reach Infamy Level 9, shown in the Court menu. Infamy rises as you complete Court Activities, clear Soldier Camps and deal with the three Boyars. Each defeated Boyar grants an entire Infamy level, so this should come naturally while pursuing the main story and related trophies. You do not need to finish every Court Activity.

Start the game on the Duelist preset and complete one of the four full endings without lowering the difficulty or changing any individual difficulty option. Adjusting a modifier changes the preset to Custom and invalidates the trophy.

The two early endings, A Hero They Deserve and Together Forever, do not qualify. You must finish the full campaign and save Laslea. The trophy can be completed in the same playthrough as the Platinum, but keeping a clean manual save before major ending decisions is strongly recommended. When you face Brencis, the easiest thing to do is just choose to let your family go without a fight. You can fight him on second playthrough (reload save) when you can change your difficulty.

Burning Blood becomes available through Witchcraft after the prologue, while Artery Strike must be learned from its Skill Manuals. During the day, build three Ability Charges against a human enemy, cast Burning Blood and then finish that enemy with Artery Strike.

The base decapitation chance is low. Additional Artery Strike Manuals improve the ability, with its maximum level guaranteeing a decapitation against a bleeding target. Make a quicksave before attempting the combination so you can reload if the finishing effect does not trigger. I got it just by playing naturally.

To unlock this trophy, you need the Vampirism ability Blood Surge. Despite the trophy description mentioning an Active Ability in general, Blood Surge is the ability you need to make an enemy explode.

First, you must consume Xanthe’s Blood before Blood Surge becomes available to unlock. There are two ways to do this:

You can drink Xanthe’s blood after defeating her during her story-related boss fight. If you decide not to drink it at that point, you can still obtain a Phial of Xanthe’s Blood later in Svartrau City.

Head to the large cathedral in Svartrau City, preferably at night. Being there at night allows you to climb the cathedral walls and enter through the tower, making it easier to avoid the enemies around the area.

Once inside, reach the ground floor and look for a storage room in the northern corner. Inspect the book on the table and check its back to obtain the Treasury Key.

Next, head to the square treasury building on the northern side of the courtyard. Go upstairs and enter the side room, where you can loot a golden chest containing the Phial of Xanthe’s Blood.

Consume the phial from your inventory and you will be able to unlock Blood Surge. Equip Blood Surge in one of your active ability slots and use it against a regular enemy without a skull icon. The enemy will explode and the Make It Rain trophy will unlock.

Equip three Passive Abilities simultaneously in the Active Abilities menu. Passive skills use icons without the solid white fill and are not assigned to quick slots. Mercurial Fervour and Shapeshift count in their dedicated slots, meaning you may only need to equip one additional Passive Ability.

Complete Forge It Anew and restore the Broken Sword of St. Mihai. The questline requires the broken sword and three Sword Shards, with relevant progress tied to Night Terrors and A Monk and a Saint. Take all pieces to the Uriash blacksmith in Briar Sloughs, then follow the final objective to temper the repaired sword. The trophy unlocks when it becomes the legendary Imbued Sword of St. Mihai.

Required quests:

• Forge It Anew
• Night Terrors
• A Monk and a Saint

Gather all parts of the Arbiter’s armour set and unlock their full potential.
Type: Bronze | Questline | Equipment

Complete A Bulwark Against Darkness to receive the legendary Enhanced Armour of the Arbiter. The quest invitation arrives after reaching approximately Infamy Level 4. You must collect four crafting materials because the quest does not place objective markers on them:

• Large Lizard Moult: Found in a cave south of the Witchcraft Vendor, near the border between Briar Sloughs and Maragir Wealds.
• Amulet Relic: Either the Relic of St. Tyna from Anca’s Echoes of Silenced Bells, or a Relic of St. Dasius. A guaranteed St. Dasius relic can be collected in Howling Keep during Xanthe’s The Cycle of Love.
• Flask of Quicksilver: Found at the top of Silts Tower after completing Home Sweet Home and escaping the dream sequence.
• Silk Threads: Sold by the Sanzhani Merchant for 6,500 denarii after Pearly and Precious.

Return the complete set of materials to the Uriash blacksmith in north-west Briar Sloughs to finish the armour and unlock the trophy.

*quest invitation will happen randomly, NPC will just arrive without your control. To me he arrived while visiting Svartrau.

Equip Legendary items in all eight equipment slots at the same time, using either the Day or Night loadout. Arbiter’s Blade supplies a legendary sword and Arbiter’s Regalia provides the full legendary armour set, leaving two rings and one amulet to obtain elsewhere. Items only need to be equipped; matching their level to Coen’s current level is unnecessary.

Find and remove all five of Brencis’s flags located throughout Vale Sangora.

Reach and interact with all 11 towers. Besides unlocking the trophy, scouting from them reveals nearby open-world activities, making this one of the most useful exploration objectives to complete early. You can do this only during Night

At night, reduce Coen’s vampire health to one segment or less and repeatedly initiate dialogue with a non-hostile NPC. At critically low health, Coen can lose control and drain the character before the conversation begins.

The Closing Wounds perk can make this harder because it automatically restores health to the nearest complete segment. If necessary, use an earlier save, let enemies reduce your health to roughly half of the final segment and then repeatedly speak to an innkeeper.

This unlocks automatically during the early main quest Smoke and Ashes, when the story requires you to use Compel Soul for the first time.

Spend at least 35 Skill Points on Swordmastery Perks, then spend another four points on any available Ultimate Perk. Points invested in coloured Abilities on the right side of the tree do not count toward the 35-point requirement.

There are not enough Skill Points to purchase everything across all trees. Save at least 39 unspent points, make a manual save, unlock a Swordmastery Ultimate and then reload that save for Arch Warlock. The required perks must first be made available through their Skill Manuals. You can just buy it and then reload so you can use points elsewhere.

Spend 35 Skill Points on Witchcraft Perks and four more on one of its Ultimate Perks. Ability upgrades do not contribute to the 35-point threshold. Because Skill Points are limited, use the same manual-save method described under Master of Arms to earn both trophies without permanently committing points to both trees. You can just buy it and then reload so you can use points elsewhere.

Raise Corruption to Level 15, then purchase any Ultimate Perk in the Vampirism tree. Corruption increases when Coen consumes blood, including blood from consumables and blood taken from animals or enemies. Regularly use Voracious Bite throughout combat to reach Level 15 naturally. You can just buy it and then reload so you can use points elsewhere.

Reach the maximum character level. Level 50 is unlikely within the initial 30-day deadline, so prioritize the timed story and ending trophies before extending the playthrough. Afterwards, complete remaining quests and Court Activities for the largest XP rewards. Camps and ordinary enemies can supply additional XP if required. This will be your last trophy, in the end map can be very empty and you will need to find camps and guards to farm xp. However new game plus has been announced and we are yet to see what happens.

Unlocks automatically during Smoke and Ashes when Coen leaves Laslea and gains access to the open world.

After completing the prologue, travel to the broken bridge on the western side of Briar Sloughs. Visit at night and use Planeshift and Shadowstep to scale the canyon wall and reach the open gate. Select [leave the valley forever] to trigger this early ending.

Keep a save beforehand so you can return to the main playthrough immediately afterwards.

Complete Ambrus’s Court Activities until his anger reaches its maximum, which unlocks The Gilded Gauntlet. Defeat him during the duel to earn the trophy. An optional poisoning objective can weaken him and is especially helpful on Duelist.

Complete Bakir’s Court Activities until his anger meter is full, then finish his boss quest The Lunar Game and defeat him.

Complete Xanthe’s Court Activities until her anger reaches its maximum and then undertake The Cycle of Love. The trophy is awarded whether you kill Xanthe or reach an agreement with her.

Complete Anca’s storyline, beginning with Echoes of Silenced Bells after the prologue and ending with Stronger Than Achilles. Her first meeting takes place at the Crossroads Inn on the eastern side of the map.

Required questline:

• Echoes of Silenced Bells
• Between the Words
• Where Old Devils Lie
• Stronger Than Achilles

Most Precious Thing is an optional branch and is not required for this trophy.

Complete the optional quest The Night of Horrors during Lacra’s storyline. It must be finished before advancing to her ending quest, Midnight Reckoning.

Lacra’s quest order:

• A Friend Like This
• Song of the Mountain
• Hive and Seek
• Our Rotten Roots
• The Night of Horrors — required for the trophy
• Midnight Reckoning — ending quest

Progress through Crake’s storyline and complete the optional chain Distant Shadows followed by A Closer Look before committing to his ending quests.

Crake’s quest order:

• The Firebrand
• Shadows in the Woods
• Where Loyalty Lies
• What Hunts the Night
• What Moves the Dead
• Who Pulls the Strings
• Distant Shadows — optional prerequisite
• A Closer Look — unlocks the trophy
• Rise at Dawn / Fall Before Dusk — ending quests

Choose the path that allows Coen to abandon his allies and accept Brencis’s agreement. This is one of the four full endings. Keep a manual save before the final sequence so the other endings can be completed without replaying the entire story.

Complete Lacra’s questline and secure her as Coen’s ally for the final confrontation. Select the Lacra ending path and defeat Brencis with her assistance.

Complete Crake’s questline and secure his support for the finale. Follow his ending route and defeat Brencis alongside him.

Enter the final battle without Lacra or Crake as your chosen ally and defeat Brencis alone. Use a save from before the ending lock-in to obtain this alongside the other full endings.

Complete any of the four full endings and rescue Coen’s family before the 30-day deadline expires. The two secret early endings do not meet this requirement. Monitor the remaining time and avoid spending unnecessary segments once you are ready to finish the campaign.

Trigger any ending. Both full campaign endings and the two secret early endings count, meaning this can technically unlock soon after the prologue through A Hero They Deserve or Together Forever.

Land five consecutive Perfect Blocks without missing the timing. Hold guard and push the left stick toward the incoming attack as it connects. Below Duelist difficulty, the enemy’s central shield indicator turns orange at the correct moment. If needed, attempt this on Story difficulty, where attacks are slower and the timing window is more forgiving.

Destroy eight of the ten Vrakhiri transports found in Vale Sangora. These moving enemy groups are tied to Court Activities and patrol the roads. Their markers only appear once you move within roughly 100 metres, so a dedicated location guide is recommended.

Accumulate 1,000 metres of travel with Shadowstep, Planeshift or Shapeshift. Shadowstep and Planeshift are available when Coen receives his vampiric powers. Once unlocked, Shapeshift is the quickest method because its wolf form covers long distances rapidly.

Hold 5,000 denarii at the same time. This is not cumulative. Sell unwanted equipment and valuables as you progress, then avoid major purchases until the trophy unlocks.

This trophy is very easy to get at the very beginning of the game. During Bad Blood mission (prologue) once you become a vampire, you will also learn how to use feeding skill to get your health back. On your way from cave to surface there will be many rats you can feed on. Feed on 10 of them and trophy will unlock. Avoid feeding early on humans due to nature of this game, some trophies may become missable

Upgrade any single Ability to its maximum rank. This refers to the coloured Ability icons on the right side of a skill tree, not ordinary Perks. Collect the relevant Manuals and reserve enough points to complete every rank of one chosen Ability.

Begin A Study in Crimson by locating Vicho’s house in Svartrau, finding one of the relevant notes or learning about him through Lacra. After completing the opening objectives, allow several in-game days to pass. The Good Samaritan will then become available in Svartrau during the day. Complete it to unlock the trophy and continue Vicho’s story.

Complete The Heart Wants What It Wants. The quest begins by speaking to Ocha, who sits at a table in the corner of a tavern in central Svartrau. The trophy unlocks regardless of the quest’s final outcome.

Enter Silts Tower in the far south, reach the upper-floor door and select [open the door] to begin Home Sweet Home. Inside the repeating dream, defeat both enemy groups and the Gargoyle boss four times. Ignore the highlighted well that offers an escape route. At the beginning of the fifth cycle, speak to Coen’s family and choose to remain with them.

Save before completing the fourth loop. After earning the trophy, reload and use Focus Mode on the well during the second combat area to escape the dream and complete the quest normally.

Complete every task given by the Sanzhani.
Type: Bronze | Questline | Missable

Complete all five Sanzhani quests. Good Home must be finished first because the other quest-givers will not appear beforehand.

Required quests:

• Good Home
• Come Hither
• Burrow Sorrows
• Pearly and Precious
• Tiny Dancer

Letters to Lunka is not required. After finishing the five tasks, return to the Sanzhani leader at Yawning Burrow in Svartrau Outskirts to recover one in-game day.

Enter Anachora, the afterlife realm connected to the Vrakhiri. It can be reached early by consuming the blood of a defeated Boyar or through Lacra’s questline. If you do neither, the story takes you there automatically during the second phase of the final confrontation with Brencis.

Enter any Ancient Ruins location. The earliest opportunity is during Deep Down in Laslea, which is available during the prologue. Ancient Ruins also appear in later quests and Court Activities, including Xanthe’s Excavations, so this should unlock naturally.

Enter Svartrau for the first time. It is the large central city on the world map and is visited through normal exploration and story progression.

Discover all eight villages across Vale Sangora.

Sell silver items worth a cumulative total of 1,000 denarii to the Silver Trader in Svartrau. He only agrees to trade once you reach Infamy Level 4, so store any silver collected earlier.

Do this before killing the trader or reaching Infamy Level 9. At maximum Infamy, Svartrau closes its gates and its guards become hostile, preventing normal access to the merchant.