Are you planning to complete The Gilded Gauntlet in The Blood of Dawnwalker? This quest is the culmination of your efforts to stymy Ambrus, the arrogant vampire boyar who’s also one of Brencis’ lieutenants. Our guide has all the details that you need, but be ready for a few spoilers. We tackle not just The Gilded Gauntlet, but also a related mission called The Bittersweet Toast.
In This Article
Ambrus’ end – The Gilded Gauntlet and The Bittersweet Toast
The Bittersweet Toast: Time progression
The Bittersweet Toast: The ritual for Iulian
The Gilded Gauntlet: Drinking with Ambrus
The Gilded Gauntlet: Ambrus boss fight
The Gilded Gauntlet: Ambrus’ death and rewards
Ambrus’ end – The Gilded Gauntlet and The Bittersweet Toast
The Gilded Gauntlet quest in The Blood of Dawnwalker becomes available after you’ve fully angered Ambrus. That means you just need to keep sabotaging his blood transports, leech collectors, and other operations until the quest pops up in your journal. Once it’s available, track it and go to the town of Maragir. As soon as you approach the area with crucified people, a cutscene will play.
The Bittersweet Toast: Time progression
The mere act of approaching the yard already costs 1x Time Segment. From there, should you wish to battle Ambrus immediately, you have to ring the bell at the ruins to start your duel. This can only be done at night and it costs 2x Time Segments.
However, if you want to make the fight a lot easier, you can undertake a side quest called The Bittersweet Toast. That’s where a nobleman, Iulian, hatches a plan that will surely weaken Ambrus. Consider this option carefully since it uses up a lot of Time Segments.
Follow Iulian’s servant (left) to learn about a sneaky plan (right).
The Bittersweet Toast: The ritual for Iulian
The Bittersweet Toast quest in The Blood of Dawnwalker has the following steps:
Go with Iulian’s servant to his home. This costs 1x Time Segment.
Chat with Iulian and agree to his plan. This costs 1x Time Segment.
Go to Vera’s hut with Iulian. This costs 1x Time Segment.
Inspect the alchemy table in Vera’s hut. This costs 1x Time Segment.
Examine Vera’s remains at the altar and ask Iulian what happens next. This costs 1x Time Segment.
Look for Vera’s ritual scroll. This costs 1x Time Segment.
Perform the ritual by using Astral Communion on the altars. You’ll periodically fight spectral enemies, and then you’ll have to force-feed Iulian with the poison. This whole sequence costs 3x Time Segments.
All in all, you’re looking at 9x Time Segments for The Bittersweet Toast. But there are additional caveats:
Remember, you can only start your duel with Ambrus at night. The action of ringing the bell to summon Ambrus still requires 2x Time Segments. This means you should only do this a bit earlier in the evening, not when it’s almost daybreak.
Vera’s poison is now coursing through Iulian’s veins. That’s why there’s an additional requirement that you have to “show up on time”–i.e. You must duel Ambrus within three days of finishing The Bittersweet Toast.
Poor fella.
The Gilded Gauntlet: Drinking with Ambrus
Regardless of how you handled The Bittersweet Toast, you still have to do The Blood of Dawnwalker Gilded Gauntlet quest. Assuming it’s nighttime, go ahead and ring the bell. Once Ambrus and his lackeys arrive, you should see Iulian with them.
Coen and Ambrus will have a chat. Pick any reply you want until Ambrus says that the two of you need to have a toast first. There are four options:
“Gladly! To a juicy slaughter!” – Both Coen and Ambrus will feed on Iulian and both will get poisoned. Coen’s status effect only lasts briefly, but Ambrus’ will persist until the end of the battle.
“I don’t drink from humans.” – Ambrus will gut Iulian and kill him outright. Iulian’s blood will seep through Ambrus’ skin, causing him to get poisoned. Unfortunately, this debuff only lasts for a single health segment.
“Letting a peasant drink first? What kind of a boyar are you?” and “I don’t trust anything you offer.” – Only Ambrus will drink from Iulian. The poison will persist throughout the battle.
Don’t let Iulian’s sacrifice be in… vein (pun very much intended).
The Gilded Gauntlet: Ambrus boss fight
If you never went through with Iulian’s plan, then Ambrus won’t be poisoned at all. You have to fight him normally, so watch out for his lightning-fast melee strikes.
He’ll often teleport away, and then charge up a lunging attack or a spinning slice attack.
He also deftly defends your blows–i.e. you have to do perfect blocks, followed by ripostes, to land a hit on him.
Ambrus’ ability, Scarlet Shield, also heals him if you attack him while it’s active.
Later once he’s down to his last health segment, he’ll continuously teleport and stab at your location.
Conversely, if Iulian’s blood was poisoned and Ambrus fed on him (via the aforementioned dialogue options), then Ambrus boss fight will be significantly easier. You just have to keep dodging whenever he does his unblockable attacks. Eventually, Ambrus will die from the poison.
Note: If you picked “I don’t drink from humans,” the poison effect won’t last as long. You have to fight Ambrus normally for the remainder of his health bar.
You’ll have a tougher time against Ambrus if he’s not poisoned.
The Gilded Gauntlet: Ambrus’ death and rewards
Regardless of how you took down Ambrus, you’ll be given a chance to drink his blood. Here how things will pan out:
You’ll be teleported to Anachora, the hellish realm for lost vrakhiri souls. You can invite Ambrus in if you want to spare him an eternity of suffering.
The Scarlet Shield ability is automatically unlocked. It restores a portion of your vampiric health after a perfect block, with a chance to trigger from directional blocks and omniblocks.
You can loot Ambrus’ Cuirass from his ashes. This legendary heavy chestpiece has vampiric ability cooldown, attack stamina cost, AC restoration (attacks), and AC restoration (blocks).
Ambrus’ weapon, the Sword of Valor, is epic-tier. It has damage against mortals, AC restoration (actions), and AC restoration (passive).
You can invite this Emperor’s Children wannabe if you want.
As for Iulian, he sadly didn’t survive the ordeal. The poison coursing through his body, coupled with being drained of blood, were just too much to bear. You can bury his body, though, which costs 1x Time Segment.
That does it for our guide on how to complete The Gilded Gauntlet in The Blood of Dawnwalker. You’ve just taken out one of Brencis’ lieutenants. Perhaps you’re planning on eliminating the others. If you’re raring to go, you can head over to our Bakir: The Lunar Game guide and Xanthe: The Cycle of Love guide.
