A Knight, More or Less

Walkthrough

Getting the quest

This is Godrick Pendlebrook's personal quest (the Goliath Paladin). It starts by itself at the very beginning on The Old Svalich Road: when you look back into the mist at its east end, or, if you never do, when you reach the wolves in the narrows, with Godrick in the party. A custom hero who takes Godrick's place never gets it, and every option below is Godrick's own, so keep him in the party for each scene.

There's no level or approval gate on starting it, but everything happens at Argynvostholt, which the game expects you to reach at level 7 or 8. Until then Godrick talks about it at camp. After a Long Rest he may want a word about the ladle: "He knew you were ready" is worth +3 approval, and the other two answers +1. Once you've found the Order, another talk has him admit he can't read. "We'll teach you. Starting tonight" (+4) means he can read most of the oath Sir Godfrey gives him later.

Step by step

1. Optional, at Madam Eva's Tent. If Godrick pays Madam Eva with his truth (that he can't read), he gains +3 approval and Heroic Inspiration, but the camp talk about learning to read won't come later. If you spend her one question on "Is the Order of the Silver Dragon still in this land?" you get +3, and she tells you to look low on the wall.
2. Show the Order the sword. Travel to Argynvostholt. The first time you walk up the drive, Sir Godfrey Gwilym is waiting on the front steps. Pick Present Sir Aldric Ashgrove's sword. He knows the name but can't remember why it hurts. The quest moves to The Order Found (+3). After this, Godfrey is in his room on Argynvostholt, Upper Floor. Heed his warning about the courtyard: at night, until the Order's fate is settled, two Phantom Warriors attack anyone who crosses it (three at level 7, four at level 8).
   
3. Read the wall. In Godfrey's menu, pick Ask what his wall says about Aldric Ashgrove. He kneels by the oldest charcoal, and Ratatouille, Liriel or Wren reads it out if one of them is with you: "Aldric Ashgrove rode for help. The dragon sent him. He did not run." The quest moves to Kept Faith (+4).
4. Optional: ask the commander. In the great hall on Argynvostholt, Ground Floor, pick Ask the commander to knight Godrick with Sir Aldric's sword. Vladimir Horngaard calls Aldric a deserter and refuses. If you've already read the wall, Godrick quotes it back at him and the journal skips The Deserter. You have to meet Vladimir either way, because the next step needs it.
5. Give Godfrey back the Order's oath. Once you've met Vladimir, Godfrey's menu offers Your commander won't fight to end Strahd. Will you? Any one of these makes him remember:
   • Read the oath stone in the chapel on the ground floor first, then say the oath to him.
   • Read "Writing on the wall" in his own room first, then read him the bottom of it.
   • Ask Argynvost's echo at the chapel window "Why can't your knights rest?", then "What did you ask of him, at the end?", then tell Godfrey the dragon's last words.
   • Pass Persuasion DC 15 ("You don't need the words..."). If it fails, that option is gone for good, but the three readings above still work.

   He remembers the oath, gives you his good plate from the chest upstairs, a +1 Plate Armor, and Godrick approves (+4).

6. The knighting. Godfrey's menu now has Ask Sir Godfrey to knight him. You can also ask from his travelling menu if he's with you as an ally. He asks who knighted Godrick first, laughs until his helmet rings at the answer, and dubs him with the old blade. The quest ends at Knighted.
   

Choices and endings

There's one ending, Knighted, and Godrick's approval decides how it plays:

• Strained or worse (approval -25 or lower): Godrick won't kneel. He says he's been riding with people who don't keep the oath, and Godfrey tells him to come back when he can say it. Nothing is lost. Mend his approval (his Strained camp talk can give up to +10) and ask again.
• Otherwise: Godfrey gives Godrick Sir Aldric's sword as a Weapon, +1, and Godrick gains +8 approval.
• Close or better (25 or more): Godfrey asks Godrick to name his fellowship, and Godrick names the party. The sword becomes a Weapon, +2, the whole party gains Heroic Inspiration, and Godrick gains +8.
• At the beacon: if you light the beacon before the knighting, Godfrey knights Godrick at the top of the tower instead (see below). It's Godfrey's last moment, so Godrick kneels there even at Strained. At Close or better he still names his fellowship, for the Weapon, +2, the party's Heroic Inspiration and +8; otherwise he gets the Weapon, +1 and +8.

Later, Strahd greets him at dinner as "Sir Godrick, of the Order of the Silver Dragon" instead of "the large young man who calls himself Sir". A camp talk after the knighting follows, in which Godrick gives the ladle to Ratatouille if he's in the party, and Godrick and Wren get a banter exchange about it.

If you're stuck

• The knighting option needs two things: the quest at Kept Faith (step 3) and Godfrey remembering the oath (step 5). If either is missing, the option doesn't show.
• Do this before you settle the Order's fate. Godfrey's "Will you?" talk in step 5 disappears once the Order has a fate: swearing Vladimir's pact, calling the muster, winning the trial of arms, or lighting the beacon. After that, the only way left for him to remember is the talk that opens if Madam Eva's cards named him as your ally ("Madam Eva's cards named you, Sir Godfrey"). Saying the chapel's oath with him there, or reading him the bottom of his wall, counts just the same: he remembers, the Order's quest moves on, and he gives you the +1 Plate Armor before he joins you (he only gives it once, whichever way he remembers).
• Lighting the beacon lays the Order to rest, Godfrey with them (The Dragon's Beacon, The Order of the Silver Dragon). If Godrick is in the party when it burns, has shown Godfrey Sir Aldric's sword (step 2) and isn't knighted yet, Godfrey ("The light can wait for this") knights him there at the top of the tower first, even if steps 3 and 5 aren't done; if Godfrey isn't travelling with you, he comes up the tower stair behind you. He takes Sir Aldric's sword from Godrick's hands, dubs him, and, if Godrick's approval is Close or better, asks him to name his fellowship, so the Weapon, +2 and the party's Heroic Inspiration are still there to win. If Godrick isn't with you, or hasn't shown Godfrey the sword, Godfrey sits down on his cot for good when the beacon burns, and the knighting is lost unless he's travelling with you as an ally.

Rewards

• Weapon, +2
• Weapon, +1

What your companions think

• Godrick Pendlebrook: +4 you lit Argynvost's beacon and let the Order go home; +8 you stood with me while I was knighted, and I named you my fellowship; +8 you stood with me while I was knighted; +3 you came with me to put Sir Aldric's sword in the Order's hands; +4 you read me what Sir Godfrey wrote on his wall
• Liriel Dawnsong: +3 you lit Argynvost's beacon and let the Order go home
• Kip Smudgewick: +1 you lit Argynvost's beacon and let the Order go home
• Thistle: +1 you lit Argynvost's beacon and let the Order go home
• Wren Featherfoot: +1 you lit Argynvost's beacon and let the Order go home
• Ratatouille: +1 you lit Argynvost's beacon and let the Order go home

Journal

Related

• People: Vladimir Horngaard, Argynvost, Sir Godfrey Gwilym, The Wolves
• Places: The Beacon Tower, Argynvostholt, Argynvostholt, Upper Floor, Argynvostholt, Ground Floor, The Old Svalich Road
• More in Companions: A Seat at the Table, Aurel's Last Chapter, Carry the Dawn, Cold Prayers, Count Off, Grandda's Trail, The Fine Print, The Last Lesson