THE FIELD GUIDE
Dawnwalker’s 30-Day Time Limit and Time Segments
The rescue begins with 30 days after the prologue. Actions, training and waiting spend time; ordinary exploration is not a real-time countdown. Check each objective’s cost and any separate deadline before committing.
Eight segments per phase, sixteen per full day
The time bar tracks the current daytime or nighttime phase. Spending eight segments moves to the other phase; a complete day-and-night cycle contains sixteen. The initial 30-day rescue budget begins after the prologue.
Ordinary exploration is not a real-time race. Particular activities can still advance the clock when you engage with them, and a blinking time bar warns about some automatic costs. Check that cue before entering an encounter when a timed appointment is waiting.
8 daylight segments
One daytime phase.
8 night segments
One nighttime phase.
16 per full day
Day and night together.
480 starting segments
30 days × 16 segments, beginning after the prologue.
Read the cost of the current objective
The journal uses gold segments for time already spent and silver segments for the selected objective’s cost. The hourglass marks a time-consuming action. A moon or sun marks the required time of day, while a time-sensitive warning concerns a deadline.
A multi-stage quest can charge time at several objectives. The amount shown now covers the selected step, not necessarily the whole quest. Some story steps also move the clock to a particular hour.
Objective tiers use different clock advances
The following objective costs use PC build 25232147. The relationship is not a fixed duration per segment: a one-segment tier advances the clock by 30 minutes, while a six-segment tier advances it by eight hours.
| Objective bar cost | In-world clock advance |
|---|---|
| 1 segment | 30 minutes |
| 2 segments | 1 hour |
| 3 segments | 2 hours |
| 4 segments | 4 hours |
| 6 segments | 8 hours |
| 8 segments | 12 hours |
| 16 segments | 24 hours |
Leave room for long steps in a quest
Completing the trials and leaving the ruins in Stronger Than Achilles is a six-segment, eight-hour objective. Uncovering Kallias’s secrets in The Night of Horrors has the same cost. Those values describe the named objectives, rather than a fixed total for either entire quest.
Start Lacra’s expedition near the beginning of the night if you want the later romance conversation. Finishing the main investigation after night ends can remove that opportunity.
Combine wanted skill purchases with a phase change
Learning a skill rank can spend time as well as skill points. At a shrine, compare the displayed cost with the phase you need next. A purchase you already wanted can advance your plan while also moving the clock.
Read each rank individually. Every listed rank of Mercurial Fervour and Shapeshift costs one skill point and zero time segments, so learning either is not a way to switch from day to night.
If you still need to wait, use the shrine’s pass-time option and allow for the cost. Buying an unwanted skill simply to avoid waiting spends skill points you may need elsewhere.
Mercurial Fervour
ShapeshiftA waiting objective and an expiring quest are different
“Wait for a day” means a full 16-segment day-and-night cycle. Completing one phase is only half that interval. Use the active objective to tell when the next conversation is ready.
| Quest situation | How to plan it |
|---|---|
| Lacra after Hive and Seek | Allow a full day, then meet her in the fort at night for Our Rotten Roots. |
| Lacra after Our Rotten Roots | Allow a full day, then use the appropriate tower dialogue for the optional expedition or final assault. |
| A Closer Look | Speak to Marat within its one-day deadline; do not spend the window on unrelated objectives. |
| The Hedgehog Herb | After feeding the plant, wait a day and return when the objective changes to checking it. Planting, checking and crafting have their own costs. |
Group your route by the form it needs
- Use daytime for shop visits and Witchcraft interactions such as Compel Soul and Astral Communion.
- Use nighttime for vampire traversal, including Shadowstep routes to ledges and scouting towers.
- Record a location you need to revisit in the other form, then finish nearby tasks available in the current phase.
- At a shrine, arrange storage, skills, equipment and blood quickslots before leaving for the next route.
Check the shrine and inventory when fast travel is unavailable
Fast travel connects discovered shrines. Interact with a usable shrine and select another discovered shrine as the destination. Some shrines need repair or have enemies to clear before they are usable.
Exceeding the inventory weight limit prevents fast travel. Move spare equipment into shrine Storage or sell what you no longer want, then check again. Second Skin reduces armour penalties without removing inventory weight.
The rescue deadline and the Tsarina’s extra day
The 30-day deadline determines whether you can still rescue Coen’s family. Final-assault journals allow revenge outcomes after the rescue window is lost, so the deadline and the possibility of confronting Brencis are separate.
When the Sanzhani Tsarina’s special-reward dialogue becomes available, that reward adds one day to the family-rescue deadline. It is separate from her reward in The Ring. Check the resulting campaign clock after claiming it rather than planning around an extension you have not yet obtained.
Before accepting an ending departure, keep a manual save and complete the optional business you want to revisit. The ending guide compares the available assaults and their consequences.