Carry the Dawn

Walkthrough

Getting the quest

This is Liriel Dawnsong's personal quest (the High Elf Cleric of the Light Domain). It starts by itself at the very beginning on The Old Svalich Road: when you look back into the mist at its east end, or, if you never do, when you reach the wolves in the narrows, with Liriel in the party. A custom hero in her place never gets it. Each later beat needs Liriel in the party at that moment, so keep her with you at St. Andral's Church, at the Abbey, at the Abbot's unveiling and in Castle Ravenloft.

There's no level or approval gate on starting it. The Abbey of St. Markovia is a level 6–7 region, and the last step is in Castle Ravenloft.

Step by step

1. The silence (first Long Rest). After a Long Rest, "Liriel wants a word": she's kneeling at the edge of camp, praying into a silence. This talk is only offered while the quest is still at The Vision. Kneeling beside her is +1. "Maybe that's why you were sent. To be the next room" is +2, "He sent you here..." is +1, and "Do you want to stop?" is -1. The quest moves to The Silence. A later rest brings a second talk, about the little light in her bedroll; Insight DC 10 plays out the same pass or fail, and staying with her is +3. That talk doesn't come if she told Madam Eva she's afraid of the dark.
2. Optional, Madam Eva. Liriel's truth (she's afraid of the dark) pays for the reading, for +3 and Heroic Inspiration. Spending the one question on "Will dawn ever come to this valley?" is also +3.
3. A spark (optional). When you bring the Bones of St. Andral home to Father Lucian in Vallaki with Liriel present, she feels her god for one breath. The quest moves to A Spark, Liriel gains +5 (and the others +1 to +2), and Lucian gives you two Holy Water. If Vallaki's milestone level hasn't come yet, it comes now. See The Bones of St. Andral. You can skip this; the Abbot moves the quest on anyway.
4. The angel. Go to The Abbey of St. Markovia above Krezk, and meet The Abbot in The Church of St. Markovia with Liriel beside you. On that first meeting she knows him for an angel of the Morninglord and kneels. The quest moves to The Angel. If she wasn't with you the first time, it isn't lost: the next time you talk to him with her in the party, she kneels just the same and the quest moves to The Angel then. That works whenever he's still in his church (see step 5).
   
5. The fall. Ask him Clovin says you have work in the wards. What is it? with Liriel present. He tells you he's making Strahd a bride, Vasilka, and Liriel goes white. The quest moves to The Fall. If you heard this without Liriel, it isn't lost: when you talk to the Abbot again with her in the party, she looks from him to the door of the wards and understands, and the quest moves to The Fall then. That works whenever he's still in his church: any time before the unveiling, after the wedding (or after you leave with Ireena and he sends the bride down anyway), and after he's left broken, when he sits mute on the altar step. It doesn't work once he has repented or been killed, because he's no longer there to talk to. Missing The Fall no longer blocks her quest (step 8).
6. Ask about the sun (do this). While the Abbot's fate is still open, his menu has Liriel's option Ask him whether he still remembers the sun. He remembers the snow going pink at dawn. Liriel gains +4 and Heroic Inspiration, and this opens her own way to save him at the unveiling.
7. Settle the Abbot's fate. This runs through The Abbot's Bride: bring him a wedding dress and he wakes Vasilka. At the unveiling, Liriel's Remind him of the sun he told her about needs no roll, and he repents and unmakes his bride. That gives Liriel +5 and Godrick +1, and then the repentance's own approval on top: Liriel +5, Godrick +2, and Wren, Kip and Ratatouille +1 each. You also get two Potion of Healing, and Ilya is healed if he's still ill. Any other ending also moves Liriel's quest on:
   • The wedding ("It's your abbey...") costs Liriel -6, and the rest of the party loses approval too.
   • Stopping the wedding starts a fight with Vasilka (a Flesh Golem) and armed Belviews. Afterwards you can still bring the kneeling Abbot to repentance, leave him broken, or kill him.
   • "Kill him" is a fight against the Abbot himself, a Deva with magic resistance.
8. Faith kept. At the next Long Rest after the Abbot's fate is settled, "Liriel wants a word". The quest only has to be at The Angel or later, so this comes even if Liriel never heard about the bride. If he repented or was killed before she ever met him, it comes anyway, as long as her quest has reached The Silence (her first rest talk). Her lines depend on what happened to him; either answer leads to her decision to carry the dawn herself. The quest moves to Faith Kept (+2).
9. The dawn. In Castle Ravenloft, the Chapel, examine The altar step in front of the upside-down sunburst. It only appears with Liriel in the party at Faith Kept. Choose (Let her.) and she sings the morning hymn. On the third verse, real dawn comes through the windows. The quest ends at The Dawn (+8).
   

Choices and endings

There's one ending, The Dawn, and Liriel's approval shapes it:

• Strained or worse (approval -25 or lower): at the altar step she can't hear her god, or the party either, and won't sing. The step stays there, so mend her approval and come back. Her Strained camp talk can give up to +10.
• Otherwise: she sings the dawn and gains +8.
• Close or better (25 or more): afterwards she takes each of your hands and gives away the sunburst from her first vows, an Amulet of the Devout, +1 that goes to whoever is speaking for the party. The whole party gains Heroic Inspiration.

The Abbot's fate is the choice in this quest that changes the rest of the game (Krezk, Ilya, Vasilka, the wedding). The dawn itself isn't checked anywhere else in the files.

If you're stuck

• Bring Liriel to the Abbey for your first meeting with the Abbot. If she missed it, she can still catch up while he's in his church (before the unveiling, after the wedding, or left broken on the altar step): talk to him with her beside you and she kneels (The Angel). If you've already heard about Vasilka she understands on the same visit (The Fall); otherwise ask him about his work in the wards. If he repented or was killed before she ever met him, her quest skips ahead instead: her Faith Kept talk still comes at a rest.
• The Faith Kept talk needs two things: The Angel or later (or just The Silence, if he repented or was killed), and the Abbot's story over (wedding, repentance, left broken, or killed). Camp talks come one per Long Rest across the whole party, and a Strained or Doubtful talk of Liriel's plays before her quest talk.
• Strahd's final room: if Madam Eva's reading put Strahd's final room in the chapel, walking into the nave starts the final battle, and the altar step has to wait until after it.

Rewards

• Amulet of the Devout, +1
• Holy Water ×2
• A level (milestone)

What your companions think

• Liriel Dawnsong: -3 you agreed to find a wedding dress for the devil's bride; +3 you refused to dress a corpse for the devil; -3 you drew steel on an angel in his own chapel; +3 you told me I didn't choose to kneel to Strahd; +2 you promised he'd never get that close to me again; +10 you asked me to show you the way back
• Godrick Pendlebrook: -2 you agreed to find a wedding dress for the devil's bride; +2 you refused to dress a corpse for the devil; -1 you drew steel on an angel in his own chapel; +1 you let me remind the Abbot of the sun at the unveiling; +2 you brought St. Andral home to his church
• Kip Smudgewick: -1 you agreed to find a wedding dress for the devil's bride; +1 you refused to dress a corpse for the devil; +1 you brought St. Andral home to his church
• Thistle: -1 you agreed to find a wedding dress for the devil's bride; +1 you refused to dress a corpse for the devil; +1 you brought St. Andral home to his church
• Wren Featherfoot: +1 you brought St. Andral home to his church
• Ratatouille: +1 you brought St. Andral home to his church

Fights

• The candles go white. He doesn't draw a weapon. He opens his hands, and there is suddenly a mace of light in…, in The Church of St. Markovia: Deva, Mongrelfolk. Scales with your level.

Journal

Related

• People: The Abbot, The Wolves, Father Lucian
• Places: The Church of St. Markovia, Castle Ravenloft, the Chapel, The Old Svalich Road, St. Andral's Church
• More in Companions: A Knight, More or Less, A Seat at the Table, Aurel's Last Chapter, Cold Prayers, Count Off, Grandda's Trail, The Fine Print, The Last Lesson