Walkthrough
Getting the quest
There are four ways in, and any one of them will do:
- At the gallows. Examine the gallows at The River Ivlis Crossroads and you find a young Vistana hanging there with a HORSE THIEF board round his neck. Most parties meet him this way, on the road west from the village.
- Luminita, brushing horses in the pen at the Tser Pool Encampment, asks if you passed a rider with a silver earring on the road: her brother Nicu, four days gone to Vallaki to sell a mare.
- Radu, the horse-master: ask "Have you seen anyone on the road?"
- The camp dog, if someone has Speak with Animals running or can cast it. It tells you the boy who sings went toward the sun-side and smells of death now. It also gives away a hidden flask in a stump at the edge of the camp, a Potion of Fire Breath (search DC 14).
Step by step
- Deal with the body. At the gallows you can:
- Cut him down and bury him. This is the kind choice and the safe one. Someone automatically keeps his silver earring for his family. Liriel (+2), Godrick, Wren and Kip (+1 each) approve. Then say the rites: a Cleric can do it with no roll, or anyone can try Religion DC 12 (on a fail the words come out wrong, but nothing bad happens). Fill in the grave and mark it with the board turned face down.
- Look at the body with Medicine DC 12: split knuckles, a farmer's knot, and a cold that tells you something in the field behind the gallows is waiting for dark. Information only.
- Take the earring for his people: Wren +1, Liriel +1.
- Leave him. Liriel and Godrick each disapprove (−1).
- If you left him hanging, mind the night. After dark (7 in the evening to 6 in the morning), walking into the gallows field while he's still on the rope wakes him and the old hanged dead: Nicu and four more, all Strahd Zombies. They have AC 8 and 30 HP each; a hit of 5 or more bludgeoning or slashing damage can lop off a limb, which then fights on by itself, so finish limbs and bodies with piercing, fire or radiant damage where you can. Afterwards, examine the gallows again to bury what's left (Liriel +2, Godrick +1) and take the earring if you haven't.
- Tell his people at Tser Pool. Talk to Luminita ("We found a Vistana at the crossroads. Hanged.") or to Stanimir ("We found a young Vistana hanged at the crossroads."). Either one finishes the quest, and after that the other already knows. It works however you met him: on the rope, cut down and buried, or in the fight with the risen hanged men once he's laid in the ground.
- Luminita admits the mare was hers: she found it loose with a Vallaki brand and told Nicu to sell it back. If you buried him, she gives you a Potion of Healing; if you left him hanging, she sends you away angry. If you carry the earring, give it to her: Wren, Liriel and Godrick each +1.
- Stanimir takes the news hard. If you carry the earring, put it in his hand (Wren +1, Liriel +1). He tells you someone in the camp will send word to the castle that you passed, and that he'll make sure it says you went east.
While you're at the pen, Luminita also offers an Animal Handling DC 12 check to help with her skittish gelding. Passing makes her friendly; failing costs nothing, and you can try again.
Speak with Dead: Nicu
Cast Speak with Dead at the gallows (or over his roadside grave once he's cut down) and Nicu tells you a Vallaki man and his two sons hanged him over a branded mare. He also saw a farmer hide a sack behind the field wall: the cache shows on the map with a pair of Gauntlets of Ogre Power (Perception DC 14 to find without him). He asks you to tell Lumi the grey gelding is hers.
Choices and endings
The quest always ends at "told". What changes is how you got there:
- Telling either of them makes Luminita and Stanimir friendly, makes Stanimir's wine free from then on, and makes the camp's fiddle play slow when you come back.
- It also pays for your reading in The Seer at Tser Pool: Madam Eva waives her price because you brought Nicu home to his people. The one exception is if you lied to her face about Stanimir's strongbox and were caught.
- Stanimir's promise to say you went east is real: Madam Eva mentions it later.
- In The Grey Mare, having seen the gallows or told the family lets you tell Radu what the castle's promise about Nicu was really worth.
- The Potion of Healing comes only from Luminita, and only if you cut him down. If you tell Stanimir first, Luminita won't talk about it, so go to her first if you want the potion.
If you're stuck
- Don't rob Stanimir. His strongbox under a wagon (lock DC 15) holds 40 gp and a dagger. Taking it makes him confront you. You can give it back, lie with Deception DC 16 (on a fail he wants 50 gp, or just the 40 if that's all you have), or refuse. Refusing starts a fight with the whole camp (two Bandit Captains, two Bandits and two Scouts). After that Stanimir, Luminita and everyone else are gone, and nobody is left to tell.
Rewards
What your companions think
- Wren Featherfoot: +1 you took the hanged Vistana's earring home for his people; +1 you cut down the hanged Vistana and gave him a grave; +1 you gave Luminita the earring of the brother she lost; +1 you brought Luminita her brother's last words; +1 you put the hanged boy's earring in Stanimir's hand; +1 you lied to Stanimir and let his own boys take the blame
- Liriel Dawnsong: +1 you took the hanged Vistana's earring home for his people; -1 you left a hanged man turning on the gallows; +2 you cut down the hanged Vistana and gave him a grave; +2 you buried the hanged Vistana by the road; +1 you gave Luminita the earring of the brother she lost; +1 you brought Luminita her brother's last words
- Godrick Pendlebrook: -1 you left a hanged man turning on the gallows; +1 you cut down the hanged Vistana and gave him a grave; +1 you buried the hanged Vistana by the road; +1 you gave Luminita the earring of the brother she lost; +1 you gave Stanimir back what was taken from his fire; -1 you lied to Stanimir and let his own boys take the blame
- Kip Smudgewick: +1 you cut down the hanged Vistana and gave him a grave; +2 you gave Stanimir back what was taken from his fire; -2 you lied to Stanimir and let his own boys take the blame; -3 you fought the Vistani over what you'd stolen from them
Fights
- The fiddle stops mid-note. Every knife in the camp comes out at once., in Tser Pool Encampment: Bandit Captain, Bandit, Scout.
- On the gallows the hanged man lifts his head. Behind him, all across the field, the mounds begin to split., in The River Ivlis Crossroads: Strahd Zombie.
Journal
Every journal entry and hint
Found: A young Vistana hangs from the gallows at the Ivlis crossroads, with a board round his neck that says HORSE THIEF. Someone should cut him down before dark.
Hint: Cut the hanged man down at the crossroads gallows before dark, and ask at the Tser Pool camp who he was.
Asked: Luminita, who tends the horses at the Tser Pool camp, is waiting for her brother Nicu to come home from Vallaki. He rode out to sell a horse and has not come back.
Hint: Look for Nicu on the road: the gallows at the River Ivlis crossroads.
Buried: We cut the hanged man down at the crossroads and buried him in the soft earth beside the road, where he will not rise.
Hint: Go back to the Tser Pool camp and tell Luminita, or Stanimir.
Risen: The hanged man at the crossroads would not stay dead, and nor would the field of old hanged men behind the gallows. We put them all down again.
Hint: Go back to the Tser Pool camp and tell Luminita, or Stanimir.
Told (the end: success): We told Luminita and Stanimir what became of Nicu at the crossroads. The Tser Pool camp will remember who brought him home.
Every skill check in its conversations
- Medicine DC 12: Look at the body.
- Religion DC 12: Say what words you can remember.
- Animal Handling DC 12: Help her with the horse.
- Insight DC 14: Who do your people answer to?
- Deception DC 16: We never touched it.
Related
- People: Luminita, Stanimir, Radu, A Camp Dog
- Places: The River Ivlis Crossroads, Tser Pool Encampment
- More in The Old Svalich Road: Called by Name, The Count's Huntsman, The Dancing Bear, The Grey Mare, The Lantern in the Roadhouse, The Spiders' Gully, The Tinker's Wagon
Cutscenes
The Hanged Man: A young Vistana turns on the rope at the crossroads gallows.
The Horse Thief's Grave: The Horse Thief's Grave: a later beat of a long conversation picture (svalich_road/crossroads, ~ buried), Ashwin's ask 2026-10-12.
