The street-level door of Vicho's Emporium is meant to be locked. Track Visit Vicho's Emporium in Koenigsstein, go there at night in vampire form, circle to the side of the marked building, and use Shadowstep to reach the second-floor balcony. Enter through the upper door; there is no street-level key you need to find first.

Confirm the correct building before climbing

  1. Open the journal and track Visit Vicho's Emporium under the wider family-rescue objective. Use its yellow search area to reach the correct part of Koenigsstein.
  2. Walk to the marked building and try the ground-floor entrance once. A plain Locked prompt is the expected result and confirms that this is the door the route is designed to bypass.
  3. If there is no related journal objective, continue the story until the Vicho lead appears. The exact unlock point can vary with quest order, so the journal remains the reliable check.

Do not spend time searching nearby guards for a key or trying unrelated lockboxes. This entrance is a traversal problem: the usable door is above street level.

Locked street-level door at Vicho's Emporium
The locked prompt confirms the lower door; the balcony itself is outside this frame. Source: All Things How / Rebel Wolves.

Enter through the second-floor balcony

  1. Return after nightfall so Coen has his vampire movement abilities. Stand back from the wall rather than pressing against it; you need enough camera angle to target the ledge above.
  2. Follow the exterior wall around the side of the building and keep the camera tilted upward. Look for the only accessible second-floor balcony and the upper door behind it.
  3. Aim Shadowstep at the balcony floor. If the target will not lock on, back up one or two steps, move sideways until the ledge is unobstructed, and aim at the floor rather than the doorframe.
  4. Teleport onto the balcony and walk through the upper door. Crossing the threshold, rather than merely landing on the balcony, is the useful completion check.

If Shadowstep is unavailable, confirm that it is night and that Coen is in vampire form. A daytime visit can still help identify the building, but it cannot complete this entry route.

Check that you entered Vicho's actual shop

The interior is dark and may initially appear abandoned. Continue inside until Coen comments on blood and then identifies it as fresh; the dialogue distinguishes the emporium from a neighbouring accessible room. Inspect the whip in the room as an optional environmental clue.

If no dialogue or objective update occurs, return to the balcony door and verify that the tracked quest marker still overlaps this building. Landing on a nearby roof does not count as entering the shop.

What to collect before leaving

Sweep the room with Focus and inspect every container before moving downstairs. The cited guide records currency, gold tableware, a Razor Claw Vial, a Vrakias Attunement item, an Odd Rock, and an Old Blade in its captured build. Treat that as a search checklist rather than a guaranteed fixed inventory because patches, prior looting, and quest state can change what remains.

Some prompts are marked Steal instead of Loot. Read the prompt before taking the item if you care about theft consequences, and confirm each valuable in your own inventory rather than relying on a published quantity.

Continue into A Study in Crimson

Once the shop entry is complete, descend and follow the objective that asks you to find the source of the noise. The next required inspection is more specific than simply reaching the lower floor: examine the dead rat on the wall-side shelf, rotate it to check the visible clues, put it down, and open the room's door to trigger Vicho's scene.

From there, use the A Study in Crimson full route for the jeweller's house, Eli's key, Doctor Simeon's property deed, warehouse balcony, and Vicho outcome. If your only blocker was the locked shop door, do not restart the quest—the second-floor balcony is the intended route.