The Prey

The Prey

Questline

Previous Quest

Keeping the Peace

Next Quest

The Hunt Begins

Quest Info

Reward

100 (hares)
Pebbles

The Prey is the seventh main quest in Kingdom Come: Deliverance. After being caught brawling in the tavern in Keeping the Peace, Henry must accompany Lord Capon on a hunt.

Background

In the course of my training I had the honour of making the acquaintance of Sir Hans Capon, and we didn't to a very good start; we ended up brawling in the tavern. Sir Hanush is punishing both of us by sending us hunting together. It was clear that neither one of us was looking forward to the expedition.

Quick walkthrough

• Meet Lord Capon at dawn in the courtyard of the Upper Castle
  • Follow Hans Capon
    • Bring Capon wine and bacon from his saddlebag
      • (Optional) Get bacon (0/1)
      • (Optional) Get wine (0/1)
        • Wait until dawn
• Compete with Sir Hans at hunting hares
  • Go back to the camp
    • Wait for Sir Hans
      • Talk to Sir Hans
        • Follow Hans Capon
          • Run down the boar
            • Find Hans Capon
              • Rescue Hans Capon
                • Follow Hans Capon
                  • Talk to Sir Hans
            • Check on Hans Capon
              • Talk to Sir Hans

Detailed walkthrough

After the events of Keeping the Peace, Lord Hanush orders the player character to accompany Sir Hans on his hunt. He will be waiting in the courtyard of the upper castle from the 5th hour. If the player character has not arrived between the 10th and 11th hour, Sir Hans will decide to go to the tavern or the bathhouse instead, requiring the player to wait until the next morning.

Go and speak to Sir Hans in order to set off. On the way, Hans will admit that he was out-of-order in the alehouse, but warns Henry that ordering a Lord out of his own Tavern is hardly proper. As it turns out, he has a habit of hazing new recruits to the city watch, and was aggravated by Henry's attitude in Awakening. As the lord points out, he is punished for merely putting a toe out of line, whereas Henry seems to be rewarded for defying orders.

He then asks about Skalitz. Henry is hesitant to talk about it, as it still causes him grief to think about. Lord Hans gleefully decides that he will get Henry drunk when they arrive at their location, and get him to tell him the whole story.

Talmberg woods

The two will travel to the Talmberg woods, and arrive at your campsite. The player character will find a chest with a seax, a Villager's ash bow, some arrows, and some dried food. Hans commands you to go and get some bacon and wine from his saddlebags. Henry returns the items to Sir Hans, where the player character has an opportunity to talk with Sir Hans. He grills Henry about the attack on Skalitz, while Henry may ask him about his life as a noble. At the end, they both turn in for the night.

Sleep or wait until the 6th hour, when Hans will rouse Henry to go hunting. He challenges the player character to a competition; whoever gets the most hares wins. Hans however will never succeed in catching a hare; killing even a single hare will allow Henry to win, while killing none will lead to Hans sheepishly declaring it a draw. After the competition ends around the 12th hour, you obtain 100 provided you won, and you may keep any hare meat collected.

Boar hunting

Now it's time for something more exciting - boar hunting. Follow Sir Hans as he tracks a boar and prepares to shoot it with an arrow. Henry points out that boar is hunted with spears, but Hans merely scoffs and shoots the beast, scoring a direct hit and falling immediately to the ground. As he gloats over his superior hunting skills to Henry, the boar suddenly gets up and flees.

Rescuing Hans

If Henry lacks a horse, Hans will ride off to chase the boar, leaving Henry behind. The player will then need to track Hans by following a partially concealed path leading northwest. You will eventually find Hans captured and tied up in a Cuman camp, with his horse and two dogs dead. Fortunately, the Cumans will not realize you are there at first, so you may return at night when they are asleep or simply rush them with the element of surprise.

If Henry does have a horse, he can keep up with Hans directly to the Cuman camp. Hans' animals will still be killed, but he himself will merely be dazed on the ground after falling on a rock. You will not have the option to retreat or use stealth in this scenario, so be prepared to fight off both Cumans.

In either case, once the Cumans are dealt with, you will have the chance to loot the chests in their camp. One will be for their personal items, while the other will contain some potions. After this, once Sir Hans is safely delivered back home, Henry will be summoned before Sir Hanush and Sir Radzig, who are appalled at the audacity of the Cumans, setting up camp so close to a castle. Henry enters and Hanush thanks him for saving his nephew. In honour of his loyalty and dedication, Sir Radzig officially promotes Henry to his personal service.

Captain Bernard rushes into the room with alarming news: the stud farm at Neuhof has been attacked by bandits. The assault has left many dead or injured, including Hanush's loyal vassal Smil. The only information they have so far is that the bandits killed without mercy and were led by a large man in black armor. Henry immediately recognizes the description as fitting Runt. Sir Hanush orders Captain Bernard to head to Neuhof at once, and Radzig grants Henry permission to join them. Additionally, Hanush gives Henry his very own horse, Pebbles. This begins the quest The Hunt Begins.

Strategies

• As Henry will be hunting, it is recommended to wear light clothing in order to decrease the player character's noise level.
• There are plenty of hares in the area, especially if you take the path north until just before the fork.
• Make sure to cook your hare meat so it does not spoil quickly. However, make sure to do so after speaking with Hans as cooked meat will not count as your hunting trophies.
• The player character can wait until dark in order to defeat the Cumans easier. Both Cumans will go to sleep and will be vulnerable to a stealth knockout and/or a stealth kill.

Notes

• If the player character wanders too far during your search for Hans, the player will receive a game-over screen for abandoning Lord Hans. If the player character wanders too far during the trip to the camp, the objective will update to meet Hans there, missing out on the ride's conversation.
• Getting too close to Hans while hunting for hares will deduct 15 from the hare hunt reward, as he'll accuse you of following him. He tends to hunt on the northern side of the forest, towards Uzhitz, so keep away from that area.
• Although the quest intends for you to hunt rabbits with a bow, you may kill them in any way to count as a trophy.
• Given the generous timeframe to start the hunt, you may do this the same day you ride out if you already have your own horse and leave Rattay in very early morning. Once Hans leaves Rattay, gallop past him straight to the campsite. Even the tier 1 Rocinante can easily make it to the camp in only a few minutes at full speed, upon which the quest will tell you to wait for Hans to catch up. He should still make it here well before 10 am despite his very slow trot, and the rest of the quest will proceed as normal except for Hans immediately telling you to wake up and set out.