Bad Blood is a side quest in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II.
Walkthrough[]
Shortly after you're able to roam freely around the world, you can make your way back to Bozhena's hut, where she'll reveal Pavlena should have returned by now and is worried something happened to her daughter while she was off selling baskets in Troskowitz. You can press for more details but if your skill checks are too low, Bozhena will refuse to reveal her past with the town. Otherwise, she'll reveal that a childbirth didn't go well and so the villagers blamed her and chased her out of town.
You can do a quick search of Pavlena's loft, namely checking the bed, the clothes on the floor/next to the bed, the felt cap on the stool, and the unfinished baskets. This will allow a short questionnaire with Bozhena, but won't lead to much.
Asking around town[]
Now head to Troskowitz, where you can talk to a number of people, including the bailiff, Betty, the scribe, and several others. To get a more thorough background though, go talk to the innkeeper, Betty. She'll reveal more about why Bozhena was run out of town and direct you to talk to Jakesh if you want to learn more. You can also talk to the town's scribe or the bailiff, who will direct you to talk to Dushko, as he's friends with a local named Roman and who Pavlena has been seen with.
If you talked to Betty, or just happened across Jakesh, talk to him and he'll reveal the reason he hates Bozhena so much and had her driven out of town: 5 years ago, when his late wife was in labor with their fourth child and first son, things went wrong and by the time he called on Bozhena to help as midwife, it was too late and both his son and wife died. However, he insists he harbors no ill will towards Pavlena. If you found him on your own at his son's grave, you can talk to him a bit more about his family, but this isn't vital for outcomes.
Talk to Dushko[]
If you want a good ending for almost everyone but have low stats for speech checks, when you find and talk to Dushko, press him about what he was about to say regarding Pavlena and Roman. If you pass the speech check here, he'll reveal a vital detail: Pavlena is pregnant. This information will allow you to bypass later checks if needed.
Regardless if you got that information out of him or not, he'll direct you to check Roman's home for clues. At Roman's home, you can either pick the lock of the door or simply climb up the ladder that goes into the attic and jump down to the main floor from there. Once in, check the kitchen space to see the baskets and fresh food, but no signs of the couple.
Go back to Dushko, who'll reveal the couple's favorite spot out in the woods. Head out here, though you'll find an unsettling scene: no sign of the couple, but there's a bloody rock and a blood trail going off into the woods. Follow the trail a short distance to find a scrap of fabric: part of Pavlena's dress. If you have Mutt with you, this can be used to help find Pavlena without talking to others, but otherwise it's not vital to needing Mutt here. Regardless, continue to follow the blood trail first to find an unfortunately dead Roman, with a pig nearby. You'll also be hearing a villager, Hugo, crying out in the distance for the missing pig so go to the villager to talk to him. He'll reveal he saw a hired farmhand, Straw, coming out of the woods earlier with a spade.
Note you can go talk to Jakesh about Straw before talking to the hired hand, but he won't have much to say/won't give additional choices later.
Confront Straw[]
Confront Straw, where there's a speech check involved. If you fail it, you'll have to weaken him enough to get him to yield and explain what happened. Otherwise, passing the speech check will make him reveal it without fighting.
He'll reveal that Jakesh takes him and Straw's brother, Ota, out for drinks from time to time, and when Jakesh gets drunk, he'll start to rant about Bozhena and his lost son and wife. The brothers then decide to take matters into their own hands to try and win Jakesh's favor by trying to scare Pavlena just enough that she won't come back into town and make Jakesh think she was dead. Their plan goes awry though when Roman caught them trying to do this and tried to defend Pavlena and a panicked Straw then killed Roman with a stone to the head. Ota then dragged Pavlena off while Straw hastily tried to bury Roman.
You then have the option to kill Straw there, let him go, or turn him in to the bailiff. If you turn him in, you can then say he deserves death, a heavy punishment (noting he tried to win favor out of trying to scare Pavlena, this will lead to his hanging), or a lighter punishment (on account of not originally intending to kill anyone). Regardless there, the bailiff will thank you and will decide Straw's punishment.
Finding Pavlena[]
You can either find Pavlena's location by getting the information out of Straw or, if you used Mutt's tracking ability to bypass talking to Straw, Mutt will eventually lead you to a rocky area with a ladder. However, there's a white dog, Bristly, at the foot of the ladder. You can either quickly run pass and up the ladder to avoid fighting it, fight it enough to scare it off, or kill the dog entirely.
Regardless how you handle the dog, go up the ladder to find Pavlena being held hostage by Ota. Don't get too close, just enough to see the negotiate prompt. Either shoot the farmhand, or hit the corresponding button/key to negotiate. Here, there's a number of speech checks, but they can be hard to pass at low levels. If you learned about Pavlena being pregnant though and want to save Pavlena, do the following:
- State you're Henry
- Lie that nobody sent you or, with enough skill check, ask for his name
- Reveal Pavlena's pregnant
- Promise he can walk away
Doing this will save Pavlena, but she'll in turn strike Ota down from behind as revenge for Roman. If you instead tell him you can't let him go, he'll kill Pavlena and force you to fight and kill him.
Note also that while you can let Straw go free (don't kill him and don't turn him in) and not kill Bristly, this only opens up additional speech check options to save Pavlena without revealing she's pregnant, but the outcome will be the same: if you pass she'll kill Ota himself, while failing it he'll kill her.
Afterwards, if Pavlena survived, you can talk to her, including about her being pregnant if you learned of it, though she'll ask you to not reveal this to her mom on account that Bozhena may try to get Pavlena to abort. When you're ready, she'll ask if you can walk her back home or go separately. No matter what you choose, you'll need to talk to Bozhena. Bozhena will eventually ask you to kill Jakesh as she's tired of him constantly targeting them, but you can try to ask her about reconciling. Even if you fail this speech check with her or outright agree to kill him, you can still try to talk to Jakesh about making peace instead of killing him.
Dealing with Jakesh[]
If wanting to make peace, reveal to Jakesh about his hired hands, then ask him to try and make peace. If you learned about Pavlena's pregnancy, you can reveal here to bypass the speech checks, otherwise use a speech check option and, if you succeed, he'll relent and finally agree to bury the hatchet. He'll also give money as compensation to Pavlena regarding Roman. You can then head back to Bozhena to tell her, though you can secretly keep the money or give it to Bozhena. She in turn will be thankful and, if given the money, she'll offer half to you, which you can deny or accept (accepting will give 50 Groschen). After that, while the quest is finished, if you want, you can then head back and let Jakesh know Bozhena has accepted his peace offering.
Outcomes[]
If you outright refused to help Bozhena and Pavlena with Jakesh (instead of agreeing or noting you'd try to get him to reconcile) after a few days time, you'll find that Bozhena committed suicide by hanging and Pavlena, likely after trying to take justice into her own hands and attacking Jakesh, was hanged by the Troskowitz bailiff from a tree outside the village.
If you turned Straw in but requested harsh punishment, the bailiff sentences him to be hanged and his body will be found on the tree leading into town from the southwest.
If you kill Straw, fail the speech checks (or don't talk enough with Ota), and fail (or not try) to persuade Jakesh, you'll cause a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions by having Pavlena, her unborn child, both farmhands, Jakesh, and obviously Roman all die.
Objectives[]
- Find Pavlena.
- Ask about Pavlena in Troskowitz.
- Search Pavlena's room.
Notes[]
- This is the only quest in the Trosky area where someone asks you to commit murder as the crime system understands it, and a good opportunity to get branded if you wish to do so without killing an innocent NPC.
- It's impossible to not get away with killing Straw: he hides in a corner away from the paths of other NPCs.