Vicho is one of the most quietly tragic characters in The Blood of Dawnwalker. He runs a curio shop in Svartrau City, sells some of the best legendary gear in the game, and has no idea he's been murdering people. Three quests determine whether he lives or dies, and picking the wrong dialogue option in the final confrontation costs you 4 Time Segments and a vendor you can never get back.
How do you find Vicho in Svartrau City?
Vicho's location doesn't appear on your map at the start. Ask around Svartrau City, the capital of Vale Sangora, and you'll hear about an emporium owner who trades in curios. His shop sits roughly halfway between Altenmarkt and the Cathedral Complex.
Reaching him takes a bit of effort. The front door stays locked, so you need to arrive at night and use your Shadowstep and Planeshift powers to climb up to the second-floor balcony. Once inside, activate Focus Mode and examine the glowing items scattered around the room.
What dialogue choices should you pick when meeting Vicho?
Your first conversation with Vicho sets the tone for the entire arc. Pick these responses in order to earn his trust and unlock the investigation:
- "Please, I mean no harm."
- "It's Coen."
- "That's right."
- "I'm looking for help."
- "Alright, I'm listening."
- "Ignorance breeds fear."
- "Very well. Tell me more."
After this exchange, Vicho asks Coen to help him figure out what happened to two friends, Eli and Devora. This kicks off the A Study in Crimson quest. You can also loot items from his home at this point without any negative consequences.
Blood of Dawnwalker Guide: How to Keep Vicho Alive
How to complete A Study in Crimson
Investigating Eli and Devora's home
Follow Vicho across the rooftops until you reach the ransacked home of his friends. Work through the location in this order:
- Head upstairs, examine the items, check Devora's corpse, and read the note she left behind.
- Go down to the basement and examine Eli's body. Pick up the Jeweller's Key and use it to open the locked container under the stairs. You'll find a Lump of Silver and a Silver Cross inside.
- When you exit the building, guards stop you and demand payment. Pay them 200 denarii to secure a proper burial for Eli and Devora.
Defeating Doctor Simeon
The trail leads to Doctor Simeon, who has turned into a vrakhiri himself. The basement confrontation becomes a boss fight with a few patterns worth knowing:
- Simeon closes distance fast with claw strikes and can teleport to reposition.
- His Piercing Shriek fires in a frontal cone. Sidestep left or right the moment he winds up.
- Vicho joins the fight, but Simeon tends to prioritize Coen as his main target.
After the fight, respond to Vicho with these three lines:
- "Immortality, it's a gift."
- "That's a cruel fate."
- "It does make sense."
What do you get for finishing A Study in Crimson?
The Mercenary's Amulet is a letdown given the effort involved, but the Murohn Blood and the letter are what actually matter here. Read the letter to plant the seed for the next stage of Vicho's arc.
What is Vicho's legendary item shop?
Once A Study in Crimson wraps up, Vicho operates as a curio vendor at night. His stock is worth checking regularly, especially if you're building around Witchcraft or vampiric abilities. Here's what he carries:
- Relic of St. Dasius – Witchcraft ability damage, Witchcraft ability health cost, Activation Charge restoration (actions and passive)
- Corrupted Ring – Maximum vampiric health, vampiric ability health cost, vampiric health segment regeneration, damage against mortals
- Ring of Focus – Activation Charge restoration from attacks, blocks, and perfect blocks, plus magical damage reduction
- Mindbrace Amulet – Activation Charge restoration from attacks, blocks, perfect blocks, and actions
- Ring of the Night – Maximum vampiric health, vampiric health segment regeneration, vampiric ability cooldown, blood drinking restoration
The Ring of Focus and Mindbrace Amulet pair well with aggressive combat styles that rely on perfect blocks to rebuild Activation Charges. If you want to maximize this synergy, check out the best early skills and perks to unlock first before spending currency at Vicho's shop.
How to complete The Good Samaritan
The letter about farmer Ivo points you southeast in Svartrau City to a medic's shop. Talk to the herbalist there to pick up The Good Samaritan quest, which starts as a simple medicine delivery but turns into something much darker.
At the farm:
- Examine the corpses scattered around the property.
- During the day, use Coen's ability to compel the soul of the dead woman inside the hut. Combine the farmer's sword and wedding headband as prompts to piece together that someone escaped.
- Follow the blood trail southwest into the fields and kill the wolves blocking the path.
- Investigate the second corpse and pick up the note. This step costs 1 Time Segment, so plan accordingly.
The note makes it clear that Vicho is responsible for the deaths on this farm, likely during an uncontrolled feeding episode he has no memory of.
What dialogue choices keep Vicho alive in Unquenchable Thirst?
This is the sequence that decides everything. Save your game before entering Vicho's shop for this conversation. A single wrong response sends Vicho to his death, and he'll ask Coen to watch the sunrise with him, burning 4 Time Segments before he turns to ash.
Pick these exact responses:
- "Vicho, we need to talk."
- "You don't remember."
- "I'm sorry, but I think you're the killer, Vicho."
- "What happened to you, it's terrible."
- "Your condition, it's a gift."
- "But you have me now."
- "I'll provide you with blood."
- "From blood transports."
- "I don't think you're a monster."
These choices convince Vicho that he has a reason to keep going. Deviate from this path and he dies, which costs you his entire vendor inventory permanently.
Blood of Dawnwalker Guide: How to Keep Vicho Alive
What is Vicho's Cross and what does it do?
Regardless of whether Vicho survives, you receive Vicho's Cross as a legendary amulet. The stats are the same either way:
- Weapon critical hit damage
- Damage against supernatural enemies
- Activation Charge restoration from perfect block
- Physical damage reduction
If Vicho lives, he hands it to you directly. If he dies, it sits on a bench on the second floor of his shop. The amulet's combination of critical hit damage and perfect block restoration makes it a strong pick for builds that mix sword pressure with defensive timing. Pair it with the combat fundamentals covered in the Blood of Dawnwalker combat guide to get the most out of the perfect block bonus.
How do you keep Vicho fed after Unquenchable Thirst?
Saving Vicho doesn't end the quest. Unquenchable Thirst stays active in your journal, and every couple of nights Vicho needs blood. Acceptable items include:
- Vial of Human Blood
- Tainted Marrow
- Murohn Blood
- Kobold Blood
Blood of Dawnwalker Guide: How to Keep Vicho Alive
Blood barrels found in Ambrus' camps are a reliable source for these items. The key rule: when the feeding prompt appears, have something on hand and deliver it before the night ends. Letting it roll over to daytime causes the quest to fail.
Managing this ongoing supply is straightforward once you know where to look, but it does require keeping a small stock of blood items in your inventory at all times. For everything else Vicho's arc connects to, the full Blood of Dawnwalker guide collection covers every major quest and system in the game.