The Blood of Dawnwalker: How to romance Anca

1. Meet Anca in Laslea Glen

As mentioned, you’ll first meet Anca in the prologue of The Blood of Dawnwalker. Her hut is located in the eastern woods, which you’ll also be able to easily travel to via the Anca’s Hut shrine.

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2. Complete the Withering Away quest

You’ll be sent to visit Anca in the prologue to fetch herbs as a remedy for Coen’s mother, Esme. When buying the herbs from her, you can pay either full price, half the price, or say you’ll pay her back later. I never paid Anca back and I still managed to romance her just fine, eventually.

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3. (Optional) Complete the Page-Turner quest

Anca will ask you if you’d like to stay a while and practice Latin with her. Choosing to stay will cost you time, but it’ll also launch the Page-Turner quest, where you get to flirt a little. I was being careful with my time, so I didn’t stay for this quest. I’m pleased to report that it had no knock-on effect to romancing Anca later down the line, but if you want to deepen Coen and Anca’s connection, it’s worth doing.

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4. Complete the Echoes of the Silenced Bells quest

The Echoes of the Silenced Bells quest will see you visit St. Tyna’s Convent with Anca. It’s a whole questline with a lot of sneaking, fighting, and big decisions. Eventually, you’ll come face-to-face with Leonica, one of the nuns that Anca used to know. Unfortunately, she’s transformed into something quite horrific.

Defeat her in a boss fight and you’ll be given notes to try and undo the curse. You can choose to burn the notes in the fire or give them to Anca. It really doesn’t matter which option you choose on your quest to romance Anca, but she’s obviously more pleased if things go her way.

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5. Complete Between the Words quest

You’ll retrieve some interesting literature from St. Tyna’s Convent which you can take back to the inn with Anca to inspect. Here, you’ve the option to prepare her a nice warm drink that’ll lead to a touch of flirting. But, again, it’s not essential to romance.

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6. Complete Where Old Devils Lie quest

Using the knowledge from the books, you’ll continue the quest to find the Font of Life. You’ll follow Anca to a lake where she’ll flirt with you on the way, calling you a “dashing daredevil” and making playful jibes. Once you reach the lake, you can flirt with her by picking the conversation option, “Something troubling you?” This will allow you to then say, “I care about you.” But, she’s adamant you need to keep your “eyes on the prize” and shuts down the flirting session.

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7. Complete Stronger Than Achilles quest

This is when the flirting really kicks up a notch, which is handy because it’s also the last part of Anca’s questline. As you enter the ruins, you’ll want to take any excuse there is to flirt and some will happen naturally, like when she’s covering Coen’s torso in symbols.

After fighting a lot of enemies, you’ll eventually reach a contraption that you’ll need to put your hand in, cutting it and using the blood to open a locked door. Offer yourself up, not Anca. After all, you’ll tell her, “Better me than you.” She’ll seem pleased, even if you do cry in front of her.

Eventually, you’ll find out Anca lied to you about the Font of Life (but that’s a story for a different day) and you’ll be able to pick conversation options like, “I’d do anything for you.” Followed by, “I love you.” You could also pick, “You’re a friend” here, but that would obviously put a pin in any romance.

Anca is still playing hard to get, brushing off your comments and devastatingly not telling you that she loves you back. If anything she’s actually a bit rude here. But, be patient. Your time will come.

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8. Make a choice at the Font of Life

At the end of the Stronger Than Achilles quest, you’ll finally reach the Font of Life. Here, you can decide whether Anca gets to use it to rid her of her magic or you do to help with your fight against Brencis.

It genuinely doesn’t matter what you pick, romance is never off the table. But, I suggest you do take it for yourself because you’ll unlock the Font of Life skill meanng you’ll passively regenerate human health.

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9. Finally, romance Anca

After a hard-fought battle in the ruins and a visit to the Font of Life, you’ll head back to the inn to ‘unpack’ your day and ‘blow off steam’. This is where all your flirting comes to a crux. Choose, “There’s a conversation we need to finish” and “I meant what I said.” Anca will say you’re being inappropriate, but push on.

Eventually, she’ll say she wants to tear your shirt off, which is a bit surprising considering how frosty she’s been. When she says she won’t because of decency, you pick, “Screw decency. I want you, too.” You can also choose to be just friends here, but if you’re reading this guide, I assume you’re after romance.

This conversation will lead to a very saucy scene between Coen and Anca, eliminating the tension between them and resulting in… Well, you get the picture. Afterwards, she’ll promptly get dressed and tell you that there won’t be anymore canoodling because you’re a Dawnwalker. Either way, you romanced her and that was the goal, right?

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