The Count's Huntsman

Walkthrough

Getting the quest

Old Paraschiva, the cook at the pot in The Vistani Camp outside Vallaki, starts it. She's at her pot from 7 in the morning to 9 at night. Ask her "Heard anything interesting?" and she tells you about the horn in the Svalich woods and the bodies under the crossroads gallows.

Whose scent the Huntsman has depends on how much Strahd has noticed you at that moment. If his attention on you is at Marked or higher (7 points or more), the horn has blown three times for you. Otherwise it has blown for Gavril, the camp's groom, who sold the castle a horse with a painted blaze. Either way the quest begins, and Paraschiva tells you the rule: the hunt ends under the gallows at moonrise, and a quarry who stands and beats the Huntsman ends it for good.

Although the region is a level-4 area, this fight is built for a level-8 party. Don't go looking for it early.

Step by step

1. Read the quarry stones first. At The River Ivlis Crossroads a new spot appears once you have the quest: "Cairns with names" along the verge. Examine them to learn the names of everyone the Huntsman has run down. This is optional but makes the fight much easier (step 3).
   
2. Be at the crossroads at night (7 in the evening to 6 in the morning). The Huntsman stands on the east road and comes to you. If the scent was Gavril's, Gavril waits by the junction too; talking to him is only flavour.
3. Talk before you fight. When the Huntsman speaks, you have up to three things to try before you draw steel, in any order:
   • Insight DC 15 (look at him, not the hounds): pass or fail, it only tells you more about him. A failed Insight is spent, but nothing depends on it.
   • "Who were you, before you were his?": he tells you he was Toader, a poacher Strahd ran down in his first winter.
   • Call the hounds by the names on the stones (only if you read the stones in step 1): several hounds lie down and stay out of the fight.
4. Fight the hunt. Pick "Draw steel." What you face depends on your lowest party member's level and whether you called the hounds:

   Party level	Hounds called	Hounds not called
   10+	Huntsman, his mare (Nightmare), 4 hounds	Huntsman, mare, 8 hounds
   9	Huntsman, mare, 3 hounds	Huntsman, mare, 6 hounds
   8	Huntsman, mare, 2 hounds	Huntsman, mare, 4 hounds
   below 8	Huntsman (130 HP), 1 hound	Huntsman (130 HP), 3 hounds

   The hounds are Dire Wolves. The Count's Huntsman himself has AC 17 and 165 hit points, attacks twice a turn with a reach-10 spear or black arrows (each hit adds 2d8 necrotic), resists necrotic, shakes off two failed saves a day, and between your turns can loose an arrow or slip away without opportunity attacks. His horn frightens everyone within 60 feet who fails a DC 16 Wisdom save. Spread out so the horn doesn't catch everyone, and kill or ignore the hounds based on how many you called off.

5. Search his saddlebag. When he falls, "The Huntsman's saddlebag" appears in the road. Examine it to finish the quest.

Choices and endings

There's one ending: you stand, you win, and the hounds' ghosts walk off in every direction. The saddlebag holds 300 gp and a Ring of Animal Influence. Thistle (+3), Godrick (+2), Liriel (+1), Wren (+1) and Ratatouille (+1) approve. Beating him also adds 1 point to Strahd's attention on you. Afterwards Paraschiva says the woods have gone quiet.

If you're stuck

• No Huntsman at the crossroads? He only stands there at night, and only while the quest is at its first stage.
• Calling the hounds isn't on the menu? You have to examine the quarry stones before the fight starts; once you're talking to him it's too late to go and read them.
• While you're at the crossroads, a Survival DC 13 check at the unmarked mounds reveals a newer mound with Boots of Elvenkind (search DC 14), a hollow behind the milestone holds a Wand of Web (Investigation DC 14), and a farmer's cache behind the field wall has Gauntlets of Ogre Power (search DC 14). At night, walking into the gallows field while the hanged man is still up wakes the dead there (see The Hanged Man at the Crossroads).

Rewards

• Ring of Animal Influence
• 300 gp

What your companions think

• Thistle: +3 you stood at the crossroads and ended the count's hunt
• Godrick Pendlebrook: +2 you stood at the crossroads and ended the count's hunt
• Liriel Dawnsong: +1 you stood at the crossroads and ended the count's hunt
• Wren Featherfoot: +1 you stood at the crossroads and ended the count's hunt
• Ratatouille: +1 you stood at the crossroads and ended the count's hunt

Fights

• The Huntsman sets the pack on you with one note of the horn, and the hounds come up the road in silence., in The River Ivlis Crossroads: The Count's Huntsman, Nightmare, Dire Wolf. Scales with your level.

Journal

Related

• People: Old Paraschiva, Gavril, The Huntsman
• Places: The Vistani Camp, The River Ivlis Crossroads
• More in The Old Svalich Road: Called by Name, The Dancing Bear, The Grey Mare, The Hanged Man at the Crossroads, The Lantern in the Roadhouse, The Spiders' Gully, The Tinker's Wagon