The Burgomaster's Son

Walkthrough

Getting the quest

Ilya Krezkov, eight years old, has had a fever for a month, and his parents have already buried five children by the pool. The quest starts at Heard in any of these ways:

• Go into The Krezkovs' House (the big house past the well inside Krezk) and talk to Anna Krezkova, who sits by Ilya's bed in the room upstairs.
• Say to Dmitri Krezkov in the hall "You look like a man carrying something heavy".
• Ask the Krezk Watchman "Heard anything interesting?" once the gate is open.
• Give the watchman the priest's reason at the gate (a Cleric in the party). See The Gate of Krezk.
• Up at the abbey, The Abbot offers to heal the boy in exchange for a wedding dress. That starts it straight at Abbot Offer.

You need Krezk's gate open to reach the house.

Step by step

There are three cures. Any one of them will do.

1. A cleric's prayer (the best). If you have a Cleric, choose "[Cleric] Let me pray over him." at Ilya's bedside. No roll. Ilya wakes up hungry and the quest ends at Healed. Anna gives you the 40 gp she saved for his gravestone and her mother's Amulet of Health, and the Cleric earns Heroic Inspiration. Liriel +3, Kip +2, Godrick +2, and Thistle, Wren and Ratatouille +1. The prayer stays on Anna's menu until Ilya is healed, so it also works after the pool water has made him frail.
2. Water from the Pool of the White Sun. Walk north from the well square up the lane to The Pool of the White Sun, use the pool and choose "Fill flasks from the pool." (once only; you get 2 Holy Water). Back at the bedside, "Bathe his brow with water from the Pool of the White Sun." breaks the fever but not the sickness under it, and the quest moves to Frail (Kip +2, Liriel +1, Godrick +1). He'll live. After that a Cleric's prayer at the bedside or the Abbot's hands can finish the cure, as the journal's hint says. If you have a Cleric, you don't need the water at all.
3. The Abbot's hands. At the abbey above Krezk, the Abbot offers to heal Ilya if you bring a wedding dress for his stitched bride (Abbot Offer). If you've heard about Ilya before the Abbot raises it, you can ask him yourself ("The burgomaster's son is dying. Will you help him?"), which leads to the same bargain. Anna will give you her own dress for this. Once you deliver it, the Abbot goes down at dawn and heals the boy in three of his endings: the wedding, his repentance, and the broken ending after the bride fight. He doesn't if you kill him or flee with Ireena. The whole climax is in The Abbot's Bride.

At the bedside, Medicine DC 13 ("Let us look at him") only tells you what will work: a prayer with a real answer behind it, or a hand that has healed before.

Choices and endings

• Healed (success). Ilya plays at the well in the square by day, shouting his name down it, and wants to climb the wall. If the Abbot cured him, Ilya tells you about the angel with cold hands, and Dmitri admits he owes the Abbot and hates owing him. A healed son also wins Dmitri over at once in Clovin's Audience (no roll needed), and in Lighter Than It Should Be you can let Ilya meet his lost brother (frail works for that too). The epilogue remembers him.
• Frail. The quest stays open. Ilya is out of bed but thin, and Anna carries him to the well each morning. If you never finish the cure, the epilogue still has a line for a frail Ilya.
• Never cured. If you kill the Abbot or flee with Ireena before Ilya is cured, a Cleric's prayer can still heal him, whether or not you've used the pool water. Without a Cleric, the pool water can still save his life (Frail), but nothing else finishes the cure.

If you're stuck

• The pool lane is inside the wall, so you need the gate open to fetch the water. You can only fill flasks once.
• A Cleric can finish the cure at any point. The prayer stays on Anna's menu until Ilya is healed, so you can bathe him first and still pray afterwards.
• The Abbot only heals Ilya after the climax at the abbey, and only in the three endings where he lives: the wedding, his repentance, and the broken ending. If you plan to fight him, cure Ilya another way first.

Rewards

• Potion of Healing ×2
• Amulet of Health
• 40 gp
• A level (milestone)

What your companions think

• Liriel Dawnsong: +5 you brought an angel back to himself; -6 you stood back and let the Abbot give Vasilka to the devil; +3 you healed Ilya Krezkov; +1 you bathed Ilya's fever with water from the White Sun; +1 you told Anna the truth about what the Abbot wanted her dress for; +1 you wouldn't take a dead daughter's dress from her mother
• Godrick Pendlebrook: +2 you brought an angel back to himself; -5 you stood back and let the Abbot give Vasilka to the devil; +2 you healed Ilya Krezkov; +1 you bathed Ilya's fever with water from the White Sun; +1 you told Anna the truth about what the Abbot wanted her dress for; -1 you let Anna give up her dress without knowing what it was for
• Wren Featherfoot: +1 you brought an angel back to himself; -3 you stood back and let the Abbot give Vasilka to the devil; +1 you left the Abbot alone with what he'd done; +1 you healed Ilya Krezkov
• Kip Smudgewick: +1 you brought an angel back to himself; -3 you stood back and let the Abbot give Vasilka to the devil; +2 you healed Ilya Krezkov; +2 you bathed Ilya's fever with water from the White Sun; -1 you let Anna give up her dress without knowing what it was for; +1 you wouldn't take a dead daughter's dress from her mother
• Ratatouille: +1 you brought an angel back to himself; -2 you stood back and let the Abbot give Vasilka to the devil; +1 you healed Ilya Krezkov
• Thistle: -3 you stood back and let the Abbot give Vasilka to the devil; +1 you healed Ilya Krezkov

Journal

Related

• People: The Abbot, Vasilka, Clovin Belview, Anna Krezkova, Ilya Krezkov, Dmitri Krezkov, Krezk Watchman
• Places: The Church of St. Markovia, The Krezkovs' House, Krezk
• More in Krezk: Clovin's Audience, Lighter Than It Should Be, The Gate of Krezk, The One-Horned Billy, The Pack's Runt, The Pool of the White Sun, The Waystone