Playing with the Devil
Playing with the Devil is a side quest in Kingdom Come: Deliverance. After hearing a tip-off from the Innkeeper of Uzhitz, Henry goes to see Father Godwin, who has recently been involved with some kind of an argument with Gertrude, the local herbalist.
If you interfere in the ceremony, you will lose the chance to earn the achievement Virgin.
Synopsis
Three village wenches in Uzhitz want to use a magic ointment, risking their lives and immortal souls.
Objectives
- Go and see Gertrude, the herb-woman, and find out what she incited the Uzhitz women to do.
- Speak to the village women about the magical ointment.
- Follow the women to the woods
- (Optional) Go to the village women's meeting place at dusk
- Try following the women the next night
- (Optional) Follow the women at a distance and don't interfere.
- Interject the chanting
- Cavort with the women
- Speak to the village women about the magical ointment.
- Tell the Parish Priest what happened
- Tell the herb-woman how it ended up
Walkthrough
Talk to Father Godwin in Uzhitz, and ask him if has any work for you. As rumoured, Godwin has been conflict with the local herbalist, Gertrude. Although he admits she's not evil, he's concerned after some of the local gossips tell him that she is inciting some of the local women to witchcraft. Up till now, Gertrude has only concerned herself with healing minor ailments with her herb treatments, but now she's gone too far.
Travel west of Uzhitz to Gertrude's herbalist hut, and tell her that people are saying she's a witch. She denies the charge, saying it's merely idle chatter. Henry will need to convince her to tell him more.
Gertude's Stats
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She eventually confesses the truth - three women from Silver Skalitz, now living in Uzhitz, convinced her to make them a magic ointment, against her better judgement. In short, it's a psychedelic, but it can be unpredictable - it's just as likely to show you things of wonder and awe as it is to make you see horrifying visions.
Feeling pity for the women, who had lost their families and homes in the attack on Skalitz, (and probably influenced by the coin they gave her), Gertrude gave them the ointment. It will allow them to speak with their dead families if God wills it, and call upon the devil to drive the Cumans out of Bohemia if He does not.
Now though, she's overcome with guilt and fear that they will hurt themselves, and she'll be blamed for practicing witchcraft ... and burned. Agree to help her, and go back to Uzhitz to find either Vera, Zlata and Khuta, who will let slip that they intend to meet that at the crossroads. You can talk to them all to get the whole story, but one is enough to figure out what their plan is.
| Khuta (A) | Vera (B) | Zlata (C) | ||||||||
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| 7 | 6 | 7 | 11 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 10 | ||
They're wary about being followed and will decide to try again the next night if they spot you, so be sure to remove any noisy gear and sneak after them. They'll meet at the crossroads west of town at about the 21st hour, and set off for the clearing by the 22nd if you aren't hiding nearby. They'll light lanterns as it gets dark, so just worry about staying close.
The ladies will make their way to a clearing, where a bonfire is raging. Stay back and watch as they begin the ritual, or barge in and interrupt them. Either way, if you enter the clearing, they will spot you, identify you as 'The Prince of Darkness', and offer to satisfy your desires if you will satisfy theirs. In their drug addled state, they stroke your face lovingly and beg you to either rid Bohemia of the Cumans, or else give the women wealth in order to start new lives, far away.
Unfortunately for Henry, it turns out they still have the ointment on their hands, which begins to make him see a vision of a terrifying figure watching them from beyond the trees. Henry passes out for a moment, and awakens to find that Vera has turned into a horse, Zlata to a pig and Khuta into a chicken.
What a trip.
The horse questions why you don't have a broomstick or a tail, then they once again beg you to pick one of them to satisfy yourself. The sky has turned blood red and you find yourself mysteriously back at the campsite if you try to leave, so pick one of the animals... literally, you need to use a lockpick on them. Seriously kids, don't do drugs, or you'll end up using lockpicks on the behinds of farm animals.
Henry, now well and truly wasted, wavers on the spot as the women begin asking him when the magic will take effect. At that moment, two 'devils' appear and attack the women. Either watch it happen, attack the women along with them, or take out the 'devils', before passing out. You'll be unconscious till morning, and will awaken besides either the bodies of the three women, or else those of two local woodcutters.
In any case, get yourself back to Uzhitz and tell Father Godwin what has happened - I mean, what little you remember of it. No matter what, Godwin is aghast that blood has been shed, and will chastise you for not doing more (no matter what the outcome). Although the quest is finished, you can go back to Gertrude and tell her what happened. She too is horrified, and both Godwin and Gertrude, despite their differences, will tell you that all three of you have blood on your hands, and must pray for forgiveness.
Alternatively, when the 'devils' spawn, you can just run away and let them kill the 3 women, when you wake up, report to Godwin, you won't lose any reputation if you just answer "I did everything I could", not "I left the area". You will still lose reputation when you report back to the herbalist though.
Note that the devils won't stop fighting if you try to fist fight them, they only stop fighting when you use a weapon, so to not get their blood on your hand, you just run.
Notes
This page is a Trivia
- Towards the beginning of the ritual one of the women starts chanting. The chant is the same as the one recited by the three witches at the beginning of William Shakespeare's play Macbeth.
Achievements
ru:Игра с дьяволом pl:Igraszki z diabłem