The Hermit is a side quest in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II.
This quest is only given if you went to the blacksmith Radovan in Tachov for his help to attend the wedding. After assisting him by completing The Jaunt, he'll then bring up the sword he wants to make for the wedding, starting this quest.
Walkthrough[]
While you can go directly to Apollonia to locate and talk to the hermit, to really get all the information and have an easier time getting details out of him, head to Troskowitz to ask around about the hermit. Eventually, the innkeeper Betty will relent and give you two names who swear they saw something: the apothecary's wife, Gerda, and a local shepherd, Stanislav. Note though that the option to talk to the villagers won't go away until you go around and ask several others, like the merchant Jurg Thomel and Bailiff Thrush.
Investigate[]
Talk to Gerda, who will think you're just there to make fun of her. If you pass the speech check though (or pay her), she'll point you to the location of a cross to the west to investigate. Head out here, where you may run into some wolves. After dealing with any dangers, dig up the grave and loot it to reveal no actual valuables were taken, meaning it wasn't some common thief that Gerda saw. Make sure to grab at least the Crusader cloak, the book, and letter and read them.
For Stanislav, he's located east of the graveyard. If you pass the speech check, he'll also reveal more information, mainly how the horse and rider he saw appeared to not know exactly which way they needed to go, further confirming it's not an apparition or devil. If you also already helped out Siegfried earlier during Sheep among Wolves, Stanislav will also give a separate task involving a familiar ram, but you can complete that later.
If you're wanting to piece everything together, before going to the hermit, head over to the area marked to explore in Apollonia, where you should see an abandoned hut with a small paddock with a black horse. Investigate the horse to confirm this is likely the horse the others saw.
Find the hermit[]
Now with everything in hand, go to the hermit, who's across the road, in the rocky area of Apollonia. Talk to him and after you've pointed out a few indicators you discovered, you can then directly confront him. However, he'll reveal he's not Ambrose, but rather was a friend of his. The real hermit, Ambrose, had died some time ago, but before he did he had asked that Konrad help him settle his affairs. When Konrad made it there though, Ambrose soon passed away before he could complete everything.
Konrad will then request you help with Ambrose's final wish: to deliver a cross to a widow named Margaret in Troskowitz, telling her that Ambrose forgives her but his brother must get what is rightfully his, giving the task A Sinful Soul.
After you complete the task, go back to Konrad, only to discover some knights from the Cross with the Red Star have shown up, looking to kill Konrad just as Konrad was about to run away. If you talk to Arn, he'll tell you that Konrad isn't the hermit, but a fraud and murderer, claiming that the Inquisition hired Konrad to kill their Grand Master in Prague. You can then say you don't want to get mixed up in this or help. Note that even if you agree to help, you can still side with Konrad. If you still want to side with him, agree to help Arn, but then head into the hermit's area just enough for the prompt to look at Konrad appears, who'll tell you not to move any further. Try to get answers from him and then note you're not his enemy. Some reputation is lost but he'll allow you to come closer to talk. You can then confront him with timed responses to ask where the sword is and he'll tell you and, if you want, to ask about the killings, which he'll note he had proof of the Grand Master's treachery (which lines up with the earlier letter) but the others refused to believe it.
After that, your only options are either to attack and kill Konrad, or help him fight against the three knights. If you agree to help, the knights will soon come in. Note with the tight spacing in the tunnel and all the bushes near it, this can make fighting in this area difficult unless you draw them out into the clearing or have Mutt to help provide distractions.
If you chose to attack Konrad, you'll need to look for his journal to learn roughly where the sword is instead. The journal itself is hidden upstairs, behind 3 movable sacks. Note that if you help Konrad, this journal will disappear after Konrad leaves the area so if you want to read it, you'll need to find a way to secretly steal it before he does so.
At the grave itself, the sword is planted at the head of grave. Note that while you can dig up the grave, there's nothing to loot.
You can return to Gerda and tell her what really happened at the cross to receive the skill book, On the Composition of Alchemy II.
Objectives[]
- Get the hermit's sword.
- Find out more about the hermit.
- Find out the truth about the devil. (Optional)
- Talk to the villagers. (Optional)
- Investigate the cross. (Optional)
- Talk to witness Gerda. (Optional)
- Talk to the witness Stanislav. (Optional)
- Explore Apollonia. (Optional)
- Bring the message of forgiveness to the widow.
- Return to the hermit.
- Find out what's going on.
- Kill or save the hermit.
- If you side with the knights:
- Set fire to the hay in front of the hovel.
- Find another clue.
- Read the diary you found.
- Find the hermit's grave.
- Take the sword to the blacksmith.
- Forge and hand over the sword.
Notes[]
- As Ambrose is dead and one can only go by all the available documents and conversations, it's ambiguous on who's telling the truth. Konrad will note that Ambrose and him found proof about the grand master committing treason against the order, which caused issues in Prague for them. However, Konrad never revealed he attempted to kill the Order's Grand Master. On the other hand, the knights attacking Konrad will inform you he attempted to kill the Grand Master, Zdenyek, but failed, to which Konrad will remark that they (the Order) refused to believe the proof he had about the Grand Master's treachery.
- Finding Konrad's journal will reveal this is likely the truth: Konrad discovered the Grand Master had a hand in the archbishop's murder and when he learned Konrad knew of this, tried to have Konrad killed. Konrad then tried to seek out his old friend as he still held the rank of seneschal and so he was the only one that could convict Zdenyek, but Ambrose died shortly after Konrad found him.
- When you first talk to Betty, she'll remark how four strangers that looked like monks appeared to take an interest in the story when Ambrose and the apparition got mentioned. But she could tell something was fishy as they had daggers hidden on them. This turned out to be the Arn and his fellow knights, but there's not a way to find and confront them about this before meeting them during the quest.