Necessary Evil is a main quest in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II.
Walkthrough[]
Note that as soon as you talk to Hans, this quest will start with you having to go down to the prison, so if you want to do other things, handle that first before talking to Hans.
If you waited before talking, Hans will eventually make his way to just outside the torture chamber to wait. Discuss with him the situation then, when ready, interact with the torture chamber to start.
Interrogation[]
Depending on your speech check stats and if you already discovered part of the truth at Nebakov Fortress in the last main quest, you can get all the information you need without laying a hand on the prisoner. To do this route, talk to him, where you can eventually choose to respond you're not a traitor, view tongs, or slap him. Regardless what you choose, you then have three questions:
- Ask where his band is hiding
- Ask who their leader is
- Ask about Istvan
If you ask about Istvan first, you won't get any details initially, so wait on that one (you get a chance to repeat the question later though if you do ask it first). The first two questions have hard speech checks to get him to reveal information (or require you to reveal you already know about Nebakov). With Istvan, you'll need to pass a medium speech check for him to tell you what he knows. You can try to ask about the sword as well, but won't get any details on that.
The next two questions, you can ask if someone's helping them and about your ambushed group. Again, you'll need to pass a medium speech check if you want to avoid torture. Regardless how you get the information though, he'll reveal the name: Olda. However, the prisoner will warn you if you reveal this to Otto von Bergow, von Bergow will likely have Semine attacked and innocents will be killed. If you ask why they ambushed you, he'll just reveal his sentiments about killing people during war: there are no innocents and especially those he views are on von Bergow's side. You can argue against this or not, but it won't provide anything to change outcomes later.
Afterwards, you'll talk to Hans for a bit before getting to the big dilemma: if you should reveal Olda or not. Note that what you pick here won't actually set your choice yet, which is done instead when you go talk to von Bergow.
Inform von Bergow[]
When ready, go talk to von Bergow about what you discovered. Here, you'll then have to make the choice if you want to keep quiet about Olda or not. If you choose to keep quiet, note that if you had mentioned Olda having left his wedding in the last quest, you'll have to pass a very hard speech check here to convince him you made a mistake (otherwise if you didn't mention him in the last quest, no speech check is required). If you choose this route, you won't have to go to Semine, where a bloody fight will break out regardless who you side with. The achievement Silence is Golden is related to keeping quiet here. The rest of the topics you can discuss without issue, such as Nebakov and Istvan. The quest will also end here and go immediately into the next.
Attack on Semine[]
If you instead inform Von Bergow that Olda is involved, or failed to convince him Olda's not involved, he'll then question if others in Semine were aware. While you can try to say you don't think so, even if you pass the speech check, this will not have any bearing on the final outcome in Semine. After discussing everything, he'll then order Hashek to get his men ready to confront Semine. At this point, you can either wait around/go do other things, or go talk to Hans and wait with him until Hashek is ready to set out.
When the time is right, Hashek will order everyone to mount up. Follow him out the side gate where he'll call out to his men to also ride out. Settle in for a long ride, where Hashek will talk to you for a bit, opening the way to ask him what exactly happened when his group was ambushed. Eventually, the group will arrive at Semine's gate and a cutscene will play out before they're let in. Hashek will argue with Jan and Gnarly regarding Olda, though it soon becomes clear Hashek is out for revenge for what happened to his people and won't consider Jan's pleas to let his son live. Note while you have a few interjections, your choice doesn't lock in until the final one, where Heshek will ask who's side you're on. At this point, you'll have to either side with Semine (saying nothing is going to burn) or with Hashek ("I'm on your side").
If you side with Hashek, you'll have to kill all of Semine's guards there, including Gnarly and Tuma. When they're all down, Hashek will task you to find Olda, while he lets Jan survive long enough so he can watch his son be killed. While you can argue with Hashek here, you'll have no choice now but to find Olda while the rest of the men kill everyone in sight. Head up into the tower where you'll see Agnes be killed right before your eyes. Head all the way to the top to confront Olda. You can discuss with him a bit on why he did the things he did, where he'll make remarks that he considers von Bergow a traitor and that Olda still stands firmly with his views that he was helping the people in the area.
At this point, you can either confirm you're arresting him to stand trial or let him go. If you re-confirm you're turning him in, Hashek will appear, revealing he had been hiding around the corner to make sure you weren't going to turn on him. However, Hashek will refuse to take Olda back to face trial, and instead kills him. If you choose to let him go, Hashek will still appear, though this time mad at your decision and will force you to defend yourself from him. You'll then have no choice but to kill Hashek and all his men. The conversation will then turn to talking to Jan and Olda like if you'd sided with them before (but with a lot more dead).
After the cutscene, ride back, where you can talk a bit with Hans about all that transpired. Once it's morning, go report to von Bergow. While Hashek gives his report though, you can interject a few times to call out his brutality, of which von Bergow will admonish Hashek for his actions. Otherwise, you can remain silent. The quest will then wrap up.
If you instead side with Semine, a fight will still break out, though this time you'll need to kill Hashek and his men. After they're all down, Jan will argue with Olda a bit over his actions, and where you can then ask Olda why he ambushed von Bergow. Eventually though, the conversation turns to the fact you'll need to hide that you helped kill Hashek and all his men. No matter what you answer here (cover tracks or use the attack on Nebakov as a distraction), the group realizes they have no choice but to set their estate on fire while Jan and Olda flee the area. You'll similarly ride back with Hans, with a quick discussion on what occurred.
In the morning, report to von Bergow, who'll soon ask where Hashek is, and he'll be informed he died during the attack. It's best in this case to let Hans do all the talking. Note at the end of the conversation, you have an option to say you killed Hashek, but this only leads to a special game over: you'll see a short cutscene of Henry being in prison and then hanged. Afterwards, the quest will end here to go into the next main quest.Objectives[]
- Speak with Capon.
- Interrogate the prisoner in the torture chamber with Capon.
- Inform von Bergow of the interrogation results.
- Only if you told von Bergow about Olda:
- Wait until Hashek has prepared his men. (Optional)
- Speak with Capon about Semine.
- Ride with the soldiers and Capon to Semine.
- If you get too far away from the group:
- Catch up to the party heading for Semine.
- If you side with Hashek:
- Defeat Semine and his men!
- Speak with the burgrave.
- Search the tower and find Olda.
- If you let Olda go:
- Defeat Hashek in a duel!
- Get rid of Hashek's men.
- Speak with Semine.
- If you side with Semine:
- Kill the soldiers!
- Speak with Semine.
- If you ran ahead of Capon to get back to Trosky Castle:
- Wait until Capon returns from Semine and talk to him.
- Report to von Bergow in the morning.
Notes[]
- Despite Hans not wishing to torture, if you don't lay a single hand on the prisoner, you'll still lose some reputation, with a small gain. Whether as, if you did torture at least once, you lose no reputation. It's unclear what causes this (as reputation changes don't currently appear during the interrogation).
Achievements[]
- Silence is Golden - Prevent the raid on Semine