Nest of Vipers

Nest of Vipers
Description
Quest Giver	Sir Radzig
Suggested items	Poison or Bane potion (x4) (Optional) Torch
Type	Main Quest
← Quest	My Friend Timmy
→ Quest	Baptism of Fire
Enemies	Bandits Cumans

Nest of Vipers is the thirteenth main quest in Kingdom Come: Deliverance. After completing My Friend Timmy, Sir Radzig will order Henry to scout out the bandit camp at Pribyslavitz

If the player has integrated with the bandits OR gotten hold of a full Cuman outfit, they will be able to walk around the camp unmolested. Otherwise, they will need to enter with stealth or in force.

In order to sabotage the camp, you will need a torch and up to four doses of harmful potions.

Background

Sir Radzig asked me to scout out the location of the camp where the bandits who attacked Neuhof are holed up. I've got to find out as much as I can about the camp and, if possible, sabotage things a little.

Quick walkthrough

• Go and scout out the bandit's camp
• The woodcutter's camp by the northern road from Talmberg.
  • Go to the fork with the ruined cabin.
    • Go straight ahead to the next fork by a clearing with a big beech tree.
      • Take a left and continue on the path to the next fork.
        • Take a left and carry on to the junction.
          • Carry on straight at the crossroads all the way to the camp.
• Find the bandit's camp
  • (Optional) Sabotage the bandits before the battle begins
    • (Optional) Sabotage: you can poison their food
    • (Optional) Sabotage: you can set fire to the arrows.
  • Look around the camp and see what could be useful information for the attack
    • (Optional) Follow the Cuman to Morcock OR Follow the bandit to Morcock.
      • (Optional) Wait for Morcock or run away.
        • Save yourself.
    • Go back to Sir Radzig.
      • Ask Sir Divish of Talmberg for reinforcements.
        • When you're ready for battle, speak to Sir Divish.

Detailed walkthrough

North of Talmberg and Rovna is the abandoned village of Pribyslavitz - now occupied by the Cuman army and Runt's gang of bandits. Depending on how they completed My Friend Timmy, the player is suggested to either start from Rovna (following Morcock's instructions) or Talmberg (following Timmy's instructions).

If starting from Rovna, simply head northeast following the stream. Starting from Talmberg has more steps. In that case, start heading north until you reach the woodcutter's camp. Keep left at each fork until you reach the crossroads, and continue west until you reach Pribyslavitz.

The bandits and the Cumans are in two separate camps - the bandits to the West and the Cumans to the North. When entering the bandits' side without aggroing the camp, Henry will see a man being dragged up to the nearby Church, where Runt emerges. The man has been accused of starting a fight that resulted in the death of two Cumans. Runt is furious, reminding everyone they are supposed to be a united army. Although the Cumans are willing to let the man go as a sign of cooperation, the man accuses Runt of taking orders from heathen dogs. Runt promptly runs him through with a sword before leaving for the church.

Runt dispenses justice

It is possible to simply sneak around and scout Pribyslavitz, looking for entry points or other areas of interest. However, to make the upcoming attack easier, the player should work to sabotage the bandits by poisoning the food pots and setting the arrow caches on fire. This will reduce the number of enemies in the coming battle.

Joining with Morcock

If Henry has gained Morcock's trust, he can walk right in. When stopped by any enemy, namedrop Morcock and they will take you to the bandits' camp. Once Morcock shows up, talk to him and have a drink while he gets the chief.

The bandit commander seizes up Henry

It soon becomes clear that Runt leads the camp, as the other thugs can be overheard whispering about his murderous exploits. Unfortunately, Runt is not here, only his second-in-command. Even worse, Morcock overstepped his authority when he "recruited" Henry, and Runt's second-in-command orders Henry killed. The whole camp will now turn hostile.

Given that actually meeting with Morcock will end in disaster, the player may instead use Morcock's referral to scout the camp and conduct some initial sabotage. This will still prove insufficient for sabotaging all objectives though.

Using a Cuman disguise

If Henry did not get recruited by Morcock, he can put together a Cuman outfit to enter the camp in disguise. The bandits won't pay much attention to him unless he acts suspiciously. However, Cumans will investigate Henry if he gets too close, prompting a persuasion check. The player can pass the check three times, once with each stat, before blowing Henry's disguise.

Just as with Morcock's referral, the camp will still turn hostile if Henry is caught conducting any sabotage, and some objectives will be impossible to reach peacefully.

Other approaches

At any point, the player may choose to infiltrate the camp conventionally. For the best chances, wait until nightfall where many enemies will go to sleep and visibility is worse. Alternatively, the player can enter in force and attempt to wipe out all the enemies before conducting sabotage. This will have no effect on enemy numbers in the following battle, but will ensure there is nobody to stop the player from fulfilling all objectives.

Setting fire to an arrow cache.

Regardless of which approach Henry uses, there are two arrow caches and two pots in each camp. You can poison the pots silently provided nobody is watching, but setting fire to arrows will immediately alert nearby enemies. In any case, once you have scouted the area sufficiently, and done what you want to sabotage the enemy, go back to Sir Radzig.

Final report to Radzig

Henry will need to give Radzig a full report: the location, the combination of bandits and Cumans, the arms and armour, the presence of ladders, and how many enemies are present. Radzig will then ask whether Henry managed to sabotage the camp. At the end of Henry's report, Radzig will reward you with 250 and tell you to ride to Talmberg to request reinforcements from Sir Divish. Divish will ask if you are ready, or if you need time to prepare.

Once the player is ready, Sir Robard will accompany them to meet Radzig in Pribyslavitz. There, Radzig will grill Henry on his proposed battle plans, and they will ultimately decide to cross the bridge and try to engage the enemy in the clearing, beginning Baptism of Fire.

Strategies

• WARNING: Being caught lockpicking or sabotaging an objective will immediately turn the camp hostile.
  • It is not possible to fully complete the sabotage objectives stealthily, as the bandits' side has all objectives in plain sight.
• There is a stable building on the northernmost side of the Cuman camp containing an easy chest with free Cuman armor that can be used as a disguise.
• The criteria for a valid Cuman disguise is a Cuman body garment and a Cuman visored helmet.
  • Wearing non-Cuman body chainmail OR body plate on top of a Cuman body garment will invalidate the disguise, though this may be canceled out by wearing another Cuman body armor in a different slot.
  • Cuman body chainmail and body plate do not work on top of non-Cuman body garments.
  • Weapon slots and all other clothing slots will not affect the disguise.
• There are five vials of Poison already in the camp in case the player was not able to brew something in advance. There is one on a barrel in the back of the bandit camp, three in various easy chests in the Cuman camp, and one on a barrel in the stable building north of the Cuman camp.
  • The stable building is the same one with the easy chest containing a free Cuman disguise.
• Aside from Poison, valid potions to poison the pots are: Bane potion, Dollmaker potion, Lullaby potion, Unknown potion, and Witch potion.
  • Food items (including poisoned ones) and other potions may not be dropped into these pots. Attempting to do so will not remove them from the player's inventory.
• It is highly recommended to raid with a powerful bow and arrows as most enemies in each camp only have body chainmail at most. Very few wear body plate or particularly strong helmets.
• A high courage horse will allow Henry to easily kill the whole camp from horseback. Any horse with the Warhorse perk will also work for this approach.
• It is possible to kill all the Cumans and return in a Cuman disguise without rousing the bandits' suspicion. Note that while the Cumans mostly patrol on their camp's side, there will usually be one or two guarding the western entrance with the bandits.
  • Getting Henry's cover blown with the Cuman disguise on will prevent it from working again on enemies that saw him in it, even if Henry wears a different Cuman disguise.
  • Enemies which did NOT see Henry get caught in the Cuman disguise will still be fooled by it.
• The sabotage objectives will have the following effects in Baptism of Fire:
  • Poisoning food pots will reduce the enemies that spawn. Each food pot is tied to a specific group of enemies of the faction which owned that camp.
  • Burning arrows will reduce the ammunition the archers have. Each arrow cache affects the archers of the faction which owned their camp. When out of ammo, the archers are forced to engage in melee.
  • The player does receive partial credit if not all sabotage objectives were completed, but it is still recommended to complete them all.
• The massive quantity of loot means that it is impossible to carry it all in one trip, much less sell it at a single vendor. Consider making periodic raids for a chance to distribute loot to merchants throughout the region.
  • To store more loot for later, it is recommended to stash it in any of the chests lying around the camp.

Notes

• Approaching Pribyslavitz without Morcock's referral or a valid disguise will cause the hostile NPCs to warn Henry to leave.
• Straying too far from the NPC escorting the player to Morcock will turn the camp hostile. Additionally, this objective will still start even if Morcock was killed after he recruited Henry.
• Even with the bare minimum scouting until the objective is completed, Henry will be able to report on almost all aspects of the camp to Sir Radzig.
  • Failing to observe the actual entry route used in Baptism of Fire will not affect that quest. Henry will always report on all three possible entry routes.
• Henry's report of enemy numbers will affect how many reinforcements Sir Radzig requests from Sir Divish. Choosing to send all troops will lead to the Kolben's farm being burned.
  • The biggest friendly army the player can field without negative consequences is available by picking the option There's quite a few.
• A few enemies in either camp carry an abnormally high number of arrows or swords. The exact number seems to vary slightly, but this could be a good opportunity to get a lot of free better long-distance arrows as enemies normally spawn with much weaker arrows.
• Much like elsewhere in the game, sleeping inside the camp will despawn any corpses. This is notable due to the high amount of potential loot.
  • Any dropped weapons or items will still be on the ground.
• The gate to the church where Runt appears in the cutscene will sometimes stay open as a bug. If this happens, it is possible to scale the church completely and use it as a chokepoint against the entire camp, though you can't easily shoot down the ladders and can still be swarmed.
  • Aside from being a potential chokepoint, the church has a few baskets of food, but otherwise nothing of particular interest.