Dog Days: where a heart once beat, and the Garou King

1. Meet Vannaka and read the garou ritual

MetaBot’s objective list also includes a line asking you to find a friendly face in the Ghornfell Highlands who is interested in garou rituals; that leads to Vannaka. A second variant asks you to search the wyrm-bone camps for information on the King’s Token, which sends you back to the camp where the scrap lies.

The Highlands sit under a permanent storm, and Wild Lapulis Vines also deal shock damage. That is why the wiki now recommends the Grounded perk, which reduces shock damage taken for 150, 300 or 600 seconds.

1. Find Vannaka beside a campfire under a rock overhang. The wiki’s walkthrough and The Game Slayer put his camp on the eastern side of the Stormtouched Highlands; the wiki’s quick-start box and Destructoid say the centre. Talk to him to start Dog Days.
2. Head west from his camp to the garou camp beneath a giant wyrm skeleton (two guides say south-west). The Ritual of Purification lore scrap lies under the bones next to a chest; Game8 places it at the west end of the spine.
3. Approach from the north, where the wiki reports fewer garou. A Garou Thane stands beside the book but faces away, so you can sneak in and read it without a fight.
4. Read the scrap. It contains the shrine riddle and the ritual items, and the objective moves on to challenging a Garou King.

Where a heart once beat: the riddle answer

The objective asks you to purify the token “at the ancient shrine where a heart once beat”. The Ritual of Purification scrap gives the same clue as “Seek the altar that sits where a heart once beat.” It adds that pillars of bone rise toward the sky at the spot.

The answer is Lougrim’s Shrine, a garou shrine in the north of the Stormtouched Highlands. Some guides name the spot Wyrm’s Heart, which matches the riddle’s heart and bone pillars. From Vannaka’s camp, head north: that is the direction the wiki and Gaming Toolkits give. Game8 says the northern Highlands and The Game Slayer says the north-east; one Early Access guide puts the shrine across from the Garou King’s fortress. If you are unsure, follow the quest marker once the objective is active.

Game8 reports three garou guarding the shrine; the wiki identifies them as garou druids. Clear them before you use it. If you use the shrine before you have everything, its message lists what the ritual needs; with all the items in your bags it offers to perform the Ritual of Purification.

Spoiler clip · Where a heart once beat: Lougrim’s Shrine among the wyrm bones · reveal

Checked on screen · Oct 19, 2026 · Version 1.0

2:15–2:39 · 24 sWhere a heart once beat: Lougrim’s Shrine among the wyrm bones

2. Defeat the Garou King at Highlands Castle

The wiki says the King fights like a Garou Thane and suggests Windstepping onto the arches of his ruined temple to safespot his attacks. Game8 recommends ranged attacks or spells and kiting him, because he only attacks at close range. An Early Access guide adds that heavy strikes and full combos break his guard, and that he swings upward as he recovers, so back off then. Kingy has not tested any of these approaches.

A Brutal Bladehead teaches the Thane’s Authority greataxe recipe. It is a random boss drop, not a Dog Days reward.

1. Travel to Highlands Castle, the ruined fortress on the highest ground in the north-west of the Highlands. Use Windstep wherever you can to skip garou along the way.
2. Destructoid’s Early Access route crosses a broken bridge with Windstep and suggests placing a Lodestone once you are across, because the climb is crowded with enemies.
3. Fight the King at the top. He blocks every hit behind a tower shield until his stance breaks, is staggered for a moment, then counter-attacks and cannot be staggered. One of his attacks can kill you in a single hit.
4. Loot the Tainted King’s Token. It goes to your quest inventory; keep it there.

3. Collect the offerings and purify the token

Sources disagree on the horn count. The shrine’s in-game message and the lore scrap, as recorded by the wiki, ask for 2 Ram Horns and 3 bulbs, and the 1.0 Gaming Toolkits route agrees. The Game Slayer says 3 horns, and Destructoid’s Early Access guide says 4. Use the shrine once early if you are unsure; its message names the items it wants.

1. Gather the horns and bulbs before you travel to the shrine. Each vine drops at most two bulbs, so plan on at least two vines. Rams lower their horns before a charge that can cause Bleed.
2. Vines stay dormant until you come close. The wiki suggests staying in close, where they only use a slam you can parry or block, or attacking from 20–25 metres with ranged or magic.
3. Return to Vannaka if the objective asks you to; he identifies the token as tainted and sends you to purify it.
4. At Lougrim’s Shrine, defeat the garou druids. Drink antipoison before engaging: their homing dart and gas both poison. They are weak to Fire and resist Crush.
5. Use the shrine and choose to perform the Ritual of Purification. The Tainted King’s Token becomes the Purified King’s Token.

4. Hand in the token: the Garou Highborn’s Cloak

Return to Vannaka’s camp and give him the Purified King’s Token to finish the quest. The reward is the Garou Highborn’s Cloak, a cape that the wiki lists at +2 melee, ranged and magic defence. Since update 0.11 you can craft more of them at the Armour Bench after the quest.

The cloak is the quest reward. The Garou Pack, Ascension Shards and Brutal Bladehead come from the Garou King’s loot table, not from the hand-in.

If the shrine, token or hand-in won’t work

These checks cannot fix every quest-state bug. No Dog Days-specific bug was found in the Steam discussions or Jagex notes checked on October 19, 2026. If the quest stays stuck, record the objective text, your platform and the installed version for a bug report.

1. The shrine says you lack the items: check for 2 Ram Horns and 3 Shocking Plant Bulbs in your inventory and the Tainted King’s Token in the quest inventory. Read the shrine’s message for the exact list.
2. No token after the fight: check the quest-item tab before fighting the King again. Since update 0.8.3 the token can be destroyed from the quest inventory, so don’t discard it.
3. Vannaka won’t hand over the cloak: free some inventory space and talk to him again. The wiki’s transcript records a line where he says you are carrying too much.
4. The objective still points at the garou camp: read the Ritual of Purification scrap under the wyrm bones, even if you have already killed the King.
5. You can’t advance or pick answers in Vannaka’s dialogue: check your keybinds. Jagex’s 1.0.1 notes removed rebinding for Continue Conversation and answer selection because custom bindings could soft-lock players.
6. In co-op, compare each player’s objective and quest inventory before repeating a step. The sources checked don’t say whether every player needs their own token.