What to do after the prologue: your first scouting route

If the first open-world fights feel overwhelming, make From Above your next exploration objective. Follow its tower marker at night, use Shadowstep and Planeshift to climb, then investigate every scouting clue before leaving the vantage point.

The goal is to discover nearby leads and practise vampire movement before choosing another demanding encounter. You do not need to rescue the miller first. If you already learned about his capture, read the deadline warning below before spending more time.

Start from your current objective

Still inside Laslea

Check Smoke and Ashes in your Journal. If you are still investigating with Anca, finish the currently tracked village objective before treating this as an open-world route. The investigation includes using Compel Soul on the dead soldier, finding objects connected to him, and returning to your family home and Anca. Your current Journal entry identifies the part that remains.

When the objective becomes Go to the village gate, follow the marker to the exit. Continue the conversation there, then complete Remove the rubble blocking the gate using the interaction at the blocked gate. A guide’s “day one” label alone is not enough to identify your progress.

Already outside the village

Look for From Above in your Journal. Track Reach the tower and follow its marker to the tower. If you went straight to a difficult story fight, return toward Laslea’s exit and check for the nearby tower lead. The objective changes to Climb to the top of the tower when you reach it.

If you already completed From Above, skip to choose your next lead.

Prepare for the climb

Use vampire form at night. Shadowstep, Planeshift and Clawride are vampire traversal actions. From Above’s objectives are nighttime objectives too.

If it is daytime, a Shrine offers Time Skip when waiting is available. Use its selection and “Wait until” preview to choose night, check how much time you are skipping, then use Wait. Review any active deadlines before confirming. If waiting is locked, finish the current introductory objective first; do not assume every shrine option is available during the introduction.

Use the action names in your control settings:

Shadowstep: hold the ability input, aim with the camera, then release to travel. A quick tap goes forward without aiming, so hold it when choosing a wall.
Planeshift: Shadowstep onto a flat wall or ceiling to walk on it. Walking this way consumes stamina.
Clawride: use Crouch while on the wall, or approach a ledge and use Crouch, to slide down without spending stamina.

At zero stamina you slide down a wall or fall from a ceiling. Start with stamina available and use a stable ledge to reassess before the next climb.

Reach the vantage point

Follow the tower objective to its base. Confirm the Journal has changed from reaching the tower to climbing it. This avoids confusing a distant landmark with your tracked destination.
Aim Shadowstep at a flat part of the tower wall. Release onto the wall to enter Planeshift. Choose the wall surface rather than a window opening or open sky.
Walk upward toward the open top. Keep the stamina bar in view. At a projecting ledge, reposition on a usable surface and aim again if necessary. Repeatedly tapping Shadowstep forward does not select the next landing surface.
Move onto the upper platform and approach the vantage point. Check that the objective now reads Scout the area from the vantage point. If it still says to climb, move farther onto the top instead of descending.

The short ascent video shows the tower entrance at 0:00, wall traversal at 0:20–0:30, and the scouting interface at 1:51. Use it to recognise the surfaces and prompts alongside these steps.

Finish scouting before you leave

Enter the vantage-point interaction. Move the inspection camera to a clue, then hold the displayed Interact input to investigate it. Follow the camera controls shown on screen; keyboard and controller prompts differ.

Inspect each available clue. Tower completion depends on its individual observations, so arriving at the top or looking in one direction is not enough. Continue until the observations are exhausted, leave the inspection when it finishes, and check the Journal for From Above’s completion.

If the task remains active, return to the vantage point and look for an unexamined clue. If the interaction is unavailable, check your current form and that you are at the top’s interaction point.

Choose your next lead

For a clear story destination, track Echoes of Silenced Bells: Meet with Anca at the old inn. Anca’s meeting place is the old inn near St. Tyna’s. This gives you a specific rendezvous; later monastery encounters may still require more preparation.

Before the next fight, prepare the current form’s healing and loadout. If ordinary exchanges still drain your stamina, practise one controlled exchange before adding more simultaneous enemies. If you have points to spend, choose a skill for your current problem.

Before you detour to the miller

Learning about the miller’s capture can start a 4-day rescue timer after the conversation ends. Hearing it from his wife is one of the triggers. If you already have that lead, do not assume you can spend several days on unrelated preparation with no consequence.

For a first scouting trip, leave this conversation until you are ready to pursue the rescue. If you already triggered it, review your active Journal and time commitments before detouring. The tower’s three objectives do not themselves advance time on completion, but waiting or other activities you undertake on the way can do so.

When the route does not match your game

Human form and no wall traversal: check whether you are still in the village departure sequence or have returned to daytime. Finish the tracked departure objective, or review the cost before waiting for night.
Sliding back down: check stamina. Planeshift consumes it; reaching zero on a wall leads to Clawride. Return to a stable surface and prepare another attempt.
At the top, but the quest will not finish: use the vantage point and investigate every clue. Check completion after leaving the inspection.
A story fight is still too difficult afterward: scouting supplies direction; it does not guarantee combat readiness. Check healing, equipment, defensive execution and difficulty settings before retrying.
You already completed the tower: track Anca’s old-inn objective or review the leads you discovered. This page covers the first departure and scouting trip, rather than a fixed order for the whole campaign.