Side quest Lake Zarovich Level 8

The Baron's Island

Some nights the Baron's boat rows out to the Reed Isle on Lake Zarovich with somebody tied up in it, and rows back with nobody.

Walkthrough

Getting the quest

Old Nistor mends nets at Lake Zarovich: the Fishers' Landing from 7:00 to 17:00, except in storms. Once your party is level 5, his menu has "What's on that island out in the reeds?" The option doesn't appear if the council ended up running Vallaki. Some nights the Baron's boat rows out to the Reed Isle with someone tied up in the bottom of it, someone who complained too loudly about the festival, and it comes back empty. Nistor lends you his boat, which leaks on the left. The journal opens at Asked.

Step by step

  1. Row out. The Reed Isle now appears on the travel map: an hour from the landing in Nistor's boat.

    loc zarovich reed island 1

  2. Meet the castaways. In the reeds in the middle of the island there are a dozen huts, low cookfires and fish drying on lines. Ostap, a big bald cooper with a fish-spear, stands up to meet you. The Baron's men took him from his bed for calling the festival a waste of good wicker. Nobody drowned: fourteen of Vallaki's unhappy are living out here, and they're the only cheerful people for a day's walk. If Ireena is with you, he bows to her. Insight DC 12 at the faces round the fires shows how easy they are with each other; it changes nothing either way.
  3. Stay for the boat. When you offer to take them home, Ostap laughs, then asks for your help instead. The Baron's boat is coming tonight with another castaway, and last time a boatman saw the smoke. Pick "(Wait at the landing for the boat.)".

    Walking away isn't the end

    If you choose "(Leave them to their fires.)" or "(Leave them to it.)", the next time you talk to Ostap he skips the introductions and says "Keep your voice down when the moon's up." "Come back with us. We'll get you home." is still on offer: pick it, and he asks for your help with the boat again.

  4. The boatmen (reed_isle_boatmen). After dark the boat runs up onto the shingle. If Lady Wachter holds Vallaki, the boatmen wear her grey instead of the Baron's colours. You fight:

    It's Low to Moderate for a level 5 party and easy from level 7. The veterans and the captain do most of the damage, and the captain parries. The snake grapples and crushes whoever it catches, so don't wander into the reeds alone. Winning moves the journal to Defended.

  5. Talk to Ostap. The castaways have cut the newest of them free, a young woman who laughed at the Baron's sun, and pulled the boatmen's boat up into the reeds. Now they have a boat, and a choice:
    • "Stay. Keep the boat hidden, and nobody in town will know where it went." They'll row out for salt by night.
    • "Come home with us. We'll walk you in through the gate ourselves." They'll row home to Vallaki by daylight, all fourteen, singing.

    Either way Ostap gives you the Dimensional Shackles the boatmen brought for the girl, and 80 gp. Thistle +3, Wren Featherfoot and Godrick Pendlebrook +2, and Kip Smudgewick +1. The quest ends at Done.

Choices and endings

Both endings pay the same. If they stay, Ostap is still on the island when you visit ("Fourteen, and the girl makes fifteen"), rowing out for salt at night. If they go home, Ostap is gone from the island.

If you're stuck

  • Nistor has no island question. You need level 5. He doesn't offer it if the council runs Vallaki, and he's only at the landing from 7:00 to 17:00.
  • The Reed Isle isn't on the map. It appears once Nistor has told you about it. The trip leaves from the landing.
  • Ostap just tells you to keep your voice down. That's his greeting once you've walked away from him before. Pick "Come back with us. We'll get you home." and then "(Wait at the landing for the boat.)" (see step 3).

Rewards

What your companions think

  • Thistle: +3 you stood on the Reed Isle with the Baron's castaways
  • Wren Featherfoot: +2 you stood on the Reed Isle with the Baron's castaways
  • Godrick Pendlebrook: +2 you stood on the Reed Isle with the Baron's castaways
  • Kip Smudgewick: +1 you stood on the Reed Isle with the Baron's castaways

Fights

Journal

Every journal entry and hint

Asked: Old Nistor at the Lake Zarovich landing says the Baron's boat rows out to the Reed Isle some nights with somebody tied up in the bottom of it, somebody who was unhappy too loudly, and rows back with nobody. He's lent us his boat. It leaks on the left.
Hint: Take Old Nistor's boat from the Lake Zarovich landing out to the Reed Isle, and find who's living there.

Defended: The castaways on the Reed Isle didn't drown. Fourteen of Vallaki's unhappy are living there on reeds and fish. The Baron's boatmen came for the smoke, and we met them on the shingle.
Hint: Talk to Ostap by the cookfires on the Reed Isle.

Done (the end: success): The castaways of the Reed Isle have a boat now, and the choice of what to do with it.

Every skill check in its conversations
  • Insight DC 12: (Look at the faces round the fires.)