Start the errand and finish the chores
Withering Away begins after All Good Things at Coen’s home in Laslea Glen. It belongs to the prologue, so finish the medicine errand before the Blood Mass begins.
- Get dressed if you wish. Open the bedroom chest and equip the clothes from your inventory.
- Chop firewood. Go into the backyard, interact with the axe at the stump and follow the on-screen prompts.
- Fuel the stove. Take the wood into the adjoining living room and interact with the stove to begin breakfast.
- Collect your sword. After the conversation, find it beside the storage chest in the next room and equip it before leaving.
The breakfast exchange about feeding Esme does not complete the medicine objective. Pieter sends you to Anca for stronger herbs.
Find Anca beside the river
- Follow the road southwest out of the village toward Anca’s hut, near the stream.
- Knock at the door. When she does not answer, use Focus Mode outside.
- Inspect the partly watered vegetable patch and the empty water barrel. Follow the path around the house to the river.
- Speak to Anca and follow her back to the hut for the medicine.
You can call to her immediately or keep looking first. The latter reveals her scars for conversation; it does not replace the herb errand.
Get the herbs even if money is tight
Anca asks for 50 Denarius for the stronger mixture. You have three ways to resolve payment:
| Choice | Immediate result |
|---|---|
| Pay the full asking price | Receive the herbs for 50 Denarius. |
| Explain that money is tight | Anca accepts 25 Denarius. |
| Say you cannot afford them | She supplies the herbs against a promise to pay later. |
Do not abandon the errand because you lack the full price. Once you have the herbs and recipe, the storm conversation decides whether you stay for a lesson.
Stay with Anca or go straight home
| Rain dialogue | What happens | Displayed time cost |
|---|---|---|
| Gladly — I’ve missed it too | Starts the optional Page-Turner quest. | 2 segments |
| I really have to go | Returns you to the medicine errand and skips Page-Turner. | 1 segment |
These are the costs attached to the dialogue choice. Staying is the option to take if you want the Latin lesson: declining closes that opportunity for this prologue.
If you stay: finish Page-Turner, then return with the medicine
During the lesson, the Petronius answers are fear and lightning; the red-cover book’s answers are kisses and grains of sand. After the storm damages the shed, gather its herbs, including the bundles behind the door. PowerPyx records 11 bundles in total. Help Anca inside and treat her injury, then leave for Pieter.
The Page-Turner walkthrough covers the optional sequence. Later relationship decisions are in the character and romance guide.
When budgeting the day, read the actual confirmation instead of adding overlapping estimates for the whole errand. The linked guides count the combined activities differently.
Prepare Anca’s recipe correctly
Return home and approach Pieter. After his conversation with Vladimir, hand over the herbs and prepare the mixture at the stove.
- Choose hot water. It should not be boiling.
- Add three spoonfuls of herbs.
- When Esme resists drinking, choose to tell her a story.
The correct mixture helps her through the Blood Mass that evening. Cold or boiling water, or a different number of spoonfuls, is not the recipe Anca gives you. This scene has consequences, so check both selections before continuing.
After Esme drinks, Withering Away ends and Like Father, Like Son begins.
Already gave Esme the wrong mixture? The guides checked here do not document a way to replace the dose after she drinks it. If you want to change that choice, check whether you still have a save from before preparing the medicine; a recovery method within the current save remains unconfirmed.
Deadline and Esme’s outcome
Complete the medicine errand while the prologue still gives you time. The detailed Sacred Covenant route distinguishes its appearance in the journal from the later Blood Mass: returning to Pieter to wait skips the daylight you have left.
Story consequence: if Esme has not received the correct medicine, she is killed during the Blood Mass sequence. With the correct dose, she is not immediately killed in that scene. This is the outcome the recipe changes; it does not settle every later event involving her.
Use the prologue quest route to decide which other village errands to fit around the medicine and training. Exact XP assignments vary between the published guides, so this route does not promise an optional-quest XP total.
Follow the errand on video
WoW Quests’ Withering Away video includes the route that stays with Anca. Its chapter links are finding Anca, following her back, the Page-Turner chapter and returning to Pieter.
Questions before you continue
What is the correct recipe for Esme’s medicine?
Use hot water, not boiling water, and add three spoonfuls of herbs. Then tell Esme a story to help her drink it.
Can I get Anca’s herbs without 50 Denarius?
Yes. You can ask for the reduced 25-Denarius payment or explain that you cannot afford them and promise to pay later.
Should I stay for the Latin lesson?
Stay if you want to complete Page-Turner. The stay option displays two time segments; leaving displays one and closes the optional lesson for this prologue.
Does making the correct medicine guarantee Esme survives the whole story?
No. It prevents her immediate killing at the Blood Mass. The medicine result does not guarantee every later outcome.
Related guides
Sources and coverage
- PowerPyx: Withering Away — Investigation, payment options, medicine and next quest.
- Game8: Withering Away — Opening steps, major choices and recipe alternatives.
- PowerPyx: Page-Turner — Optional lesson and return route.
- PowerPyx: Sacred Covenant — Blood Mass timing and Esme’s scene-specific outcome.
- PC Gamer: prologue route — Day-planning context and combined activity accounting.
- WoW Quests: full quest video — Video chapter index for the route that accepts the lesson; uploaded September 2, 2026.
Reviewed September 7, 2026. This guide combines the attributed launch-version walkthroughs and footage; it is not a report of a separate playthrough by this site. Check your current quest journal and action-cost prompts when a patch or choice changes the route.