Payback

This article or following section is likely to contain spoilers! Please proceed with caution.

Payback is the twenty-first main quest in Kingdom Come: Deliverance. It begins immediately after Henry arrives back in Rattay after being imprisoned at the bandit camp of Vranik.

Background

We finally tracked down the nest of vipers and now it's time to crush the head of the biggest and most venomous of them with our heels.

Simple walkthrough

• (Optional) Ask for your equipment.
  • (Optional) Go to the armoury for your kit.
• Go to Captain Bernard.
  • Go to Talmberg to give news of the attack to Divish.
    • Break into the camp
      • Secure the gate
        • Advance across the burnt ground and secure it
        • Secure the first part of the scorched encampment
          • Secure the centre of the scorched encampment
            • Secure the last part of the scorched encampment
• Attack the top gate
  • Defeat the bandits once and for all
    • Search the homestead (0/1)
      • Take the letter to Lord Hanush

Detailed walkthrough

Divish and Henry ride to Vranik

Henry awakens in his room at Pirkstein castle. Go straight outside and talk to Captain Bernard, who is gathering troops in the yard. He will order Henry to get to Talmberg as quickly as possible and tell Sir Divish about the imminent raid on Vranik. The player will have until 15:00 to get to Talmberg, and failing to do so will result in a game over.

If the player did not retrieve Henry's belongings during The Die is Cast, Henry can request access to the Pirkstein Armory from Bernard. In this case, he will give Henry a key to a chest which contains some equipment. This is listed under the Strategies section of this article.

Once at Talmberg, head to the second floor of the manor and speak to Sir Divish and Sir Robard. After Henry's debriefing, the two will rally the Talmberg men and march to Vranik, leaving only a token garrison in Talmberg. A cutscene will play which ends in the Talmberg force linking up with the Rattay and Skalitz men led by Sir Hanush and Sir Radzig. As their attempt to parley ended in their messenger being shot, there is no other course but battle.

Battle preparations

Henry, Robard, Divish, Radzig, Hanush and Bernard

The lords then consult with Henry about the weaknesses he spotted during The Die is Cast. Henry recounts that the bandits are well fortified, with both an outer and inner wall protecting the farmhouse where Isvan and Erik are likely hiding. In the outer section are the tents, and at least 80 men. Hanush optimistically points out that the allied army has the bandits slightly outnumbered, and that they are definitely better armed than the enemy rabble.

As night falls, the lords formulate the battle plan. Divish will attack the gates at full force to distract the bandits inside, while the archers set fire to the tents. Simultaneously, Robard will lead a small squad to the rear and attempt to breach the wall at its weak point. With the plan finalized, Hanush leads the troops with a rousing speech as the army prepares to descend upon Vranik's garrison.

Storming Vranik

Storming Vranik's inner walls

Charge with the men while the flaming arrows fly overhead. Once the allied troops break down Vranik's front gate, the battle will begin in earnest. Take out all the bandits in the initial wave, and Captain Bernard will order two of his men to assist Henry in securing the burned area. The enemy must not be allowed to attack from the rear, so take out the few waves of stragglers before they can cause any harm. Once the burnt area is secure, attack the top gate with the allied army. Once the enemies are defeated, two men will batter down the inner gate - the final stretch towards victory. Deal with the last of the bandits, and the battle is won.

But as it turns out, Istvan isn't here, and neither is Erik. As Radzig points out to a furious Hanush, it seems that nobody was even in command, and most of the troops are gone. Henry will be ordered to search the farmhouse for clues. A slip of paper can be found inside on Erik's desk: the letter from Vranik. If the player reads it in their inventory, it will say in part, "...I believe I will soon succeed in seizing the castle, of which we spoke previously."

Hanush takes care of the laughing bandit

Take the letter to Sir Hanush, who unfortunately cannot read. Sir Radzig instead will read the letter, though he cannot make any sense of it either. At that moment, the soldiers drag up a bandit that they have captured alive. Radzig attempts to reason with the man, offering to spare him if he helps them, but the bandit only laughs. He reveals that Istvan took most of the troops and left, marching on a nearby castle, one they left unguarded. As Sir Divish realizes with horror that Istvan has taken his troops to Talmberg, Hanush kills the laughing bandit with a swift blow from his mace. The army then rushes back to Talmberg, immediately starting Out of the Frying Pan.

Strategies

• The free equipment from the Pirkstein Armory contains the following:
  • Weapons: Dogwood hunting bow, Merchant's sword, Stalwart, 19 Piercing arrows, and 6 Wounding arrows
  • Armour: Aachen brigandine chausses, Bell-shaped kettle hat, Dyed Milanese brigandine, Hunter's gloves, Kuttenberg gambeson, Mail coif, Padded chausses, Pilgrim's shoes, Red hose, Riveted pauldrons, and Short common hauberk
  • Potions: Bowman's Brew, Lazarus potion
  • Other: 2 Bandages
• The battle section in this quest is quite straightforward. Allied soldiers tend to overwhelm the enemy waves even with little to no assistance from the player. Additionally, there are five immortal NPCs.
• When ordered to secure the burnt ground, the player does not actually need to defeat the enemies there. Simply running past will mark this objective as complete and trigger the next part of the quest.
• The first wave of bandits guarding the inner walls has many polearm wielders. Looting their dropped weapons can provide a very substantial power boost, and any equipped polearm will remain equipped when the player starts Out of the Frying Pan.

Notes

• The option to retrieve free armor from the Rattay armoury is only available if Henry did not retrieve his belongings during The Die is Cast. If the player was successful at that, the journal entry will automatically update to Henry neglecting to ask Bernard for armoury access.
• During the cutscene of the ride to Talmberg, some of the soldiers may glitch out and be rendered in just their underwear.
• Henry's armor in the aforementioned cutscene will always be the same no matter what the player is currently wearing. It is almost identical to the free equipment given in the case Henry did not retrieve his belongings, except for the following changes:
  • Reinforced mail collar instead of a Mail coif
  • Milanese brigandine instead of a Dyed Milanese brigandine
  • In addition to the fixed armor, Henry's horse will always be shown as Pebbles with a Plain Saddle.
• The free armor and cutscene armor are heavily based on Henry's armor in the launch trailer. The main difference is the Bell-shaped kettle hat instead of an Italian bascinet (or its visorless variant, the Open bascinet.)
• The NPCs battling atop the battlements cannot be interacted with.
• Strangely, the time of day changes to dawn after defeating the final wave of bandits, though the following cutscene will still be rendered as if it is night. This is most likely done to change the world state for Out of the Frying Pan.