This guide is a walkthrough of a very well hidden quest in Grim Dawn: The story of Daila Thornsbury and her brother Dravis.

The quest is only available on Ultimate difficulty. You will not have a quest log entry for it at any time. When not following a guide, the player has to follow various vague hints and clues, given by letters to be found during the quest. When you do it for the first time, I recommend reading all the letters, because trying to find out where to go next can actually be fun. ;)

The quest rewards you with access to an additional Devotion Shrine, a unique legendary item, lore background and funny early access references.

All map pictures in this guide are rotated to default view for easy comparison (north = straight up). Click on any picture to see a bigger version of it.

If you find this guide not helpful for any reason, please let me know why (write a comment) and give me a chance to improve before giving it a thumbs down. Thanks. ;)

There is another secret quest in the Ashes of Malmouth expansion, here's the guide I made for that one:
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1172507753

First go to the Thornsbury Farm near Homestead. Go inside the building, pick up and read Daila's diary.


Then go back to Homestead and talk to Daila Thornsbury. Tell her you found her diary.

Well, Daila didn't tell you much, did she? By reading her diary, you can find clues on where the sword from her story - called "Stormheart" - can be found.

Go to the Tomb of Korvaak in Asterkarn Valley and destroy the urn in the marked spot to find the sword. It's a level 75 legendary sword and not totally useless by itself. Keep the sword in your inventory for the rest of the quest!



Return to Daila in Homestead and tell her that you found the sword.

Daila again wasn't very helpful. So by reading her diary one more time, we can also find clues about a lone oak tree.

Enter the Blood Grove from Sorrows Bastion and head north-east until you find the oak tree.


When you get there, you get a note on your screen. Also a letter from Dravis will be put into your inventory automatically. Read it.

Dravis' letter reveals where he went from there: Into the depths of anguish.

"Anguish" is the fifth level of the Steps of Torment. So get a Skeleton Key, make your way down there and find the hidden area by breaking some crumbling walls in the southeast. In the middle of that hidden area there are some pillars and a wall surrounding a slightly lit skeleton floor area. Stand between the pillars and you'll get another note on the screen and Dravis' second letter will be put into your inventory.

Again, Dravis' letter reveals where he went next: He was going to find his and Daila's childhood home which was "consumed by the Chthonian rifts".

Go to the Forsaken Wastes in the Plains of Strife and head for the bright spot on the map in the north. You'll find a broken house, and when you go inside, you'll find Dravis' third letter in your inventory.

Dravis' third letter reveals that he was heading for the "City of the Dead".

You will soon need a Salt Bag to continue the quest. And since that is extremely rare in Cairn, you can't just get it anywhere. But every level 1 character comes with a Salt Bag equipped (amulet). So if you don't have that anymore, create a new character and do the first quest (Burial Hill) to unlock shared stash access. Then store the Salt Bag and get it with your old character.


Also bring an Aether Cluster for the next part (optional but convenient).

The City of the Dead refers to the Necropolis. So go to the Gates of Necropolis riftgate and head northeast until you find a spot with a lot of aether crystals and a small path full of aether. Pop the Aether cluster and run through.

At the end you will find a spirit and a ritual circle. With the help of the Salt Bag, the spirit is able to "restore the ritual circle" and open a portal into a small room, the "Sanctum of the Immortal". Inside, you'll find Dravis' last letter. There is also a Devotion Shrine, which requires a Skeleton Key to be restored.


There's also a loose torch on the northern wall. Pull it to open another portal, which will send you to the "Edge of Reality".


WARNING: The quest chain ends in there. Only read on if you're ok with spoiling the surprise!

Inside you will face various enemy groups and meet multiple clones of John Bourbon. They all tell you that "you've reached the end of the content", but you can just go on. This is a reference to the early access version of Grim Dawn, where you always met that guy when you actually reached the end of the available content.

The Edge of Reality ends in Devil's Crossing where you'll get the opportunity to fight the Clone. Or better, the clone army, because he split's multiple times on death until he morphs into his final form (maybe). This is a really tough fight, make sure you're very well geared or you will struggle big time. If you manage to defeat him, you'll be rewarded with two big loot chests and the "Gazer Man":

These are the texts from the relevant lore notes and Dravis' letters. You can read them ingame too, but since you're not allowed to keep the letters after completing the quest, I thought it might be helpful to have them here too. They obviously contain spoilers!

Oliver doesn't want me writing in here anymore. He says it fills my head with dreams when there's work to be done around the farm. So I've been writing at night, when he's asleep. He cannot stop the muse that pulls the strings of my heart.

The Weeping Oak, by Daila Thornsbury

The limbs of a nearby tree tapped a steady rhythm against the bedroom window. Another storm was building up on the horizon, but Daila could not shake the feeling that this would not be just another shower. She sat up in her bed and took a quick glance at her husband, Oliver. He was still fast asleep. Not even a hurricane would stir that man from his slumber.

Daila got up, making sure not to shift the covers off her husband. She tip-toed to the wardrobe and retrieved her gear: a well-worn suit of light leather armor and her trusty sword, Stormheart. The blade sparked with electricity as she removed it from its scabbard. The enchantmeht was still as strong as the day she had found it in the tomb north of Darkvale. Daila replaced the blade and hooked the scabbard into her belt. She took one last glance at Oliver before heading out the door. It was best he did not know about her little nightly vigils. He would just worry himself sick, and Daila could not stand to see him so obsessed over her safety.

The wind whipped Daila's hair around her face as she stepped out the front door. The rain was already starting to pick up; the ground was drenched with moisture, turning the path into mud. Daila tread carefully, planting every step on a stone or where the ground was still firm. At last she arrived at the edge of the lone oak tree, a place she could be alone with her thoughts, but there was something off about the spot that night. A deep sense of dread immediately overcame her.

"I know you'd come out to greet me, Daila my dear," a ghastly voice spoke from behind the tree. Daila drew Stormheart, its sparking surface turning the rain drops into mist. A dark figure showed itself and calmly walked towards her. She could not see the man's face, but she knew well who he was. "Come now, is that any way to greet your brother?" The man spoke again. Daila did not say a word. Instead, she let her blade do the talking for her. The figure countered her blows with a blade of his own, a burning sword that left streaks of fire across the air with every swing. "I see you've been practicing," the man said with a grin forming on his lips.

Thunder crackled in the sky as lightning flared down from the heavens, briefly illuminating the scene. The light from the storm revealed the face of Daila's adversary, the grisly heavily decayed face of her brother. "Dravis," Daila hissed through clenched teeth. She dove in for another attack...

Dearest sister,
I am confident that this letter will find its way to you. You cannot resist returning to this place; I know that the memories of that night still conjure nightmares in your sleep. The face you saw, that is the price one pays for learning the truth. Truth which you deny!

Do you remember how we used to play around the old ruins as children? Father always told us not to, that we would be swept away by the harpies that fill the sky in the twilight hours. But what if he was not just trying to protect us? Perhaps there were ulterior motives to keeping us away from the old places of the world? What if, should we venture inside, we would learn more about his past than he wished for us to know?

I have done what you could not, Daila. I have defied our father and entered the depths of Anguish. It is there that my eyes were truly opened. If you are wise, you will do as I have...

Dravis

Daila,
by now you must have seen the haunting echoes from Arkovia's past. Have you never wondered how all this came to be? How Arkovia really fell? Father called it greed, but greed alone cannot condemn a man to such torment. Nay, powerful sorcery was at play here.

I could feel it in very walls. The stone screamed with unfettered rage, rage towards... me. Do the dead despise the living so? Do they yearn after what was stolen from them? To exist in such a state of endless limbo would drive any soul mad, but I do not believe that madness is what inspired this response. There was something familiar within these stones.

I have to learn more. So I intend to visit the one place I know our father had been: Our childhood home. Of course, this presents me with a bit of a challenge, as you well know why, for our home was consumed by the Chthonian rifts not long ago. But such trivialities will not stop me from discovering the answers I seek...

Dravis

Daila,
The pieces are finally falling into place. The answers were under our very noses all along. The rift violently consumed our home, but in doing so it revealed what was hidden from us underneath the floorboards. Our father kept a journal, a seemingly innocuous object, yet the pages were sealed from me with a protective rune.

Carelessly, or perhaps arrogantly, I dispelled the seal. The resulting flames consumed the book and marked my face with embers that refuse to extinguish. It is agonizing, but I will endure. Despite our fathers's efforts, I was able to rescue some pages from the inferno. He told us that our mother died in childbirth, that much is true, but what you do not know is that we were not the first. There were other women, and other children, but the dates... they did not make any sense. It was not until I turned to the final page that the answer became clear.

I must make haste to the City of the Dead. Therein lies our final clue...

Dravis

Daila,
I shake in anticipation of what is to come, I can hardly write these words with a stable hand. Our father, our legacy, it is more than I could have ever asked for, more than I could have even imagined. To deny us this heritage... it is a crime against his very children. But I have learned his secrets and I will not be denied.

Our father is immortal, Daila. It has taken him a thousand-thousand souls trapped within a single moment of agony to accomplish this impossible deed. What dark day in history served in the pursuit of immortality, I cannot say. But here, in the Necropolis, our father prepared a different ritual. This one was meant to harvest what remained of the tormented dead within the grave site, to replenish his own shattering being, but for whatever reason he never finished it. The sigil was abandoned. All that remained was to light the pyre and offer a living sacrifice.

Without hesitation, I finished what he could not. Though I am not truly immortal as he is, the power within these souls will be enough for me to track him down and repay him for all the suffering he has instilled upon us. Then, when my vengeance is complete, I shall use the calamity that now consumes the world to do as our father had before, all those centuries ago.

Should you reconsider in joining me, Daila, seek me out to the North. I shall be standing triumphantly over our father's ashes.

Dravis