Ocha's questline is one of the more layered side stories in The Blood of Dawnwalker. The daughter of the uriash matriarch has gone missing in Svartrau City, fallen in with a crime boss named Andrei, and the whole situation can unravel fast if you make the wrong calls. This guide covers every step of the A Mother's Plea and The Heart Wants What It Wants quests, from tracking Ocha down to deciding whether she goes home or stays to run a criminal syndicate.
What quests do you need to complete before meeting Ocha?
You can't walk straight into Ocha's story. Several quests gate access to it, and skipping them means the quest simply won't trigger. Here's the order:
- A Study In Crimson: Help Vicho investigate a string of murders to track down Lacra's whereabouts.
- A Friend Like This: Meet Lacra and earn her trust.
- Song of the Mountain: Travel with Lacra to the hidden Uriash Village without starting a fight.
- A Mother's Plea: Speak with the uriash matriarch, Bakr-Erga, who explains that she's the last elder standing. Her daughter Ocha is missing somewhere in the capital.
Once Bakr-Erga fills you in, the trail leads to Svartrau City.
Where to find Ocha in Svartrau City
The only lead you get is that Ocha is somewhere in one of the city's taverns. Skip the asking-around step and head straight to the Altmarkt tavern. The bartender will point you to Ocha sitting in the corner.
She won't be happy to see you. The conversation escalates into a fistfight, so win the brawl first. After that, Ocha calms down enough to talk, and you'll also meet her friend Nora. The two of them have gotten entangled with a crime boss named Andrei, and Ocha's plan is to use her abilities to cast a hex on him. To do that, she needs a personal memento from his hideout.
Blood of Dawnwalker Guide: How to Help Ocha
How to enter Andrei's hideout
Andrei's operation runs out of a butcher's shop that serves as a front. There are two ways in, and the timing matters.
- At night: Use your vampiric powers to climb up the balcony on the side of the building.
- During the day: Activate Focus Mode near the butcher's stall and find the beggar sitting on the street. Pay him 50 denarii to get information. Then, if you have any silver item in your inventory, speak to the butcher directly to gain entry.
If you go through the butcher's entrance, you'll walk in on Andrei about to do something unpleasant to a man's arm. Keep your mouth shut and avoid any hostile responses. If a fight breaks out and Andrei ends up dead, Ocha will be furious with you for going off-script.
Which of Andrei's mementos should you steal?
Once you're inside and Andrei hasn't been provoked, keep the conversation non-confrontational with these responses:
- "Here's what I've got."
- "Who wouldn't be? What we're doing here is illegal."
- "You know how to handle it, that's for sure."
Those lines keep Andrei relaxed long enough for you to slip away and grab an item. Three options sit nearby: a cleaver, a pendant, and a ring.
The answer is the ring.
Blood of Dawnwalker Guide: How to Help Ocha
Andrei himself gives you the hint without realizing it. He mentions a memory of his father punching him hard enough that the ring nearly caved in his skull. That's the kind of emotionally loaded object a hex needs to work. The cleaver and pendant are distractors.
How to save Nora
Here's where the quest moves fast. After you leave the hideout with the ring, returning to Ocha costs 2 Time Segments. When you arrive, Ocha tells you that Andrei's men have grabbed Nora and taken her back to the same hideout you just left.
Ocha wants to storm the place immediately. That's the wrong call. Tell her "We should stick to the plan." Charging in with Nora inside risks her dying in the crossfire.
Instead, go back outside the building and activate Focus Mode. Walk over to the pigsty and select the option to open the cage. The guard gets distracted by the animals, clearing your window. Then peer through the ground-floor window.
With the ring in hand, Ocha's hex kicks in and Andrei starts slamming his own head into the walls. No messy fight, no dead Nora.
How to make Ocha go home or stay in the city
With Andrei dealt with, the quest wraps up around a campfire. Tell Ocha you'd like to eat, then head to the river and catch 3 Crayfish. Sitting down with her triggers the final conversation, and your three dialogue choices determine her fate.
Blood of Dawnwalker Guide: How to Help Ocha
First choice:
- "Do you miss home?" — pushes toward going home
- "Do you like the city?" — pushes toward staying
Second choice:
- "Meh. Nothing better than homemade food." — pushes toward going home
- "New things can be exciting, sure." — pushes toward staying
Third choice:
- "Other villagers just cared about themselves." — pushes toward going home
- "Our neighbors helped a bit." — pushes toward staying
Pick all three "home" responses and Ocha returns to the Uriash Village. If Andrei died from the hex, she leans more naturally toward staying in the city to take over his syndicate, but the dialogue choices still apply.
Rewards for completing this section: 250 XP, 150 denarii, and the Broad Swing Manual.
For players focused on skill progression, check out the guide on how to find manuals fast to make the most of every manual you earn.
What happens after you finish A Mother's Plea?
Head back to Bakr-Erga and deliver the news. Regardless of what Ocha chose, the matriarch rewards you with another 250 XP, 150 denarii, and the Soul Stigma Manual.
If Ocha stayed in the city, she and Nora take over Andrei's syndicate. Visit her and request training. She'll challenge you to a weapon sparring match, which only happens once. Beat her and she becomes a permanent vendor who sells training manuals and buys silver items.
The Ocha questline connects to a broader web of NPC decisions throughout Vale Sangora. If you're managing other companion storylines at the same time, the guide on how to keep Vicho alive and the walkthrough for how to save Coen's mother cover two of the other high-stakes NPC quests running in parallel. For everything else, the full Blood of Dawnwalker strategy guide collection has you covered.