# The Hunter's Ledger

> From the Curse of Strahd game wiki (it covers the whole game, spoilers included): https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-hunters-ledger.html. Unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy, not approved or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast.

> [!infobox]
> **Type:** Side quest
> **Region:** [Van Richten's Tower](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/regions/van-richtens-tower.md) · level 8
> **Given by:** [Ezmerelda d'Avenir](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/ezmerelda-davenir.md)
> **Starts at:** [The Abbey of St. Markovia](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-abbey-of-st-markovia.md)
> **Rewards:** [Crossbow Bolt](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#crossbow-bolt) ×10, [Potion of Healing (Superior)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#potion-of-healing-superior) ×2, [Potion of Healing (Greater)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#potion-of-healing-greater) ×3, [Potion of Healing](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#potion-of-healing) ×3, [Alchemist's Fire](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#alchemists-fire) ×3, [Holy Water](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#holy-water) ×4, [Scroll of Protection (Plant)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#scroll-of-protection-plant), [Scroll of Protection (Fiend)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#scroll-of-protection-fiend), [Antitoxin](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#antitoxin) ×2, [+1 Crossbow Bolt](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#ammunition-1) ×10, [Scroll of Protection (Undead)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#scroll-of-protection-undead), [Potion of Resistance (Necrotic)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#potion-of-resistance-necrotic), [+2 Crossbow Bolt](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#ammunition-2) ×8, [Potion of Resistance (Fire)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#potion-of-resistance-fire) ×2, [Scroll of Protection (Aberration)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#scroll-of-protection-aberration), [+1 Light Crossbow](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#weapon-1), [Mage Breaker (Dagger)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#mage-breaker)

## Summary

Ezmerelda d'Avenir keeps a book of the valley's killers with a price beside each name, and pays in a hunter's goods for proof that one is dead.

## Walkthrough

### Getting the quest

You ask [Ezmerelda d'Avenir](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/ezmerelda-davenir.md) for work; she never offers it. Wherever she stands, her menu has "Have you any paying work?" (it shows while her trust is 0 or more). Choosing it, or clicking her while she travels with you, opens her own talk and starts the quest at **Heard**. The first time, she unwraps a battered book from its oilcloth: the valley's killers, a price beside each name. She pays for proof, not promises, in a hunter's goods, and she names three at a time.

She can be in four places:

- **[Van Richten's Tower](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/van-richtens-tower.md)**, at her camp on the shore by her painted wagon. She's here if Madam Eva's cards didn't name her as your ally, until she leaves for Vallaki (and again if she comes back). See [The Hunter's Tower](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-hunters-tower.md).
- **[The Abbey of St. Markovia](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-abbey-of-st-markovia.md)**, on a boulder at the top of the switchback, but only if the cards named her.
- **[The Blue Water Inn](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-blue-water-inn.md)'s stable yard**, by [Rictavio](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/rictavio.md)'s wagon, after you've told her her teacher is there. She waits while he's still at the inn, and stays after their reunion until he leaves.
- **In your party.** Click her anywhere.

Her three chance meetings on the road (the Svalich road at night, the fields of Berez, below Argynvostholt) don't have the option.

### Step by step

1. **Open the ledger.** In her talk, choose "Let us see what work is in the ledger." She fills three slots, in this order:
   - names you've already killed and she hasn't paid for, in the book's order (the table below). Kills from before you ever met her count;
   - then open hunts in the region you're standing in, if your lowest-level hero is high enough for them;
   - then the hardest open hunts your level reaches, counting down from the Eye Below.

   With nothing killed, that's Dragan alone at level 3; the wagon and Dragan at level 4; Morgantha, the Vine Mother and the fowlers at level 5; Wintersplinter, Morgantha and the Vine Mother at level 6; Khazan, Kiril and the Grandsire at level 7; Baba Lysaga, Khazan and Kiril at level 8; and the Eye Below, Sarkhaza and Lysaga from level 9. Where you stand matters when she travels with you: on the Old Svalich Road at level 7 she names Dragan, the wagon and the Huntsman instead. Below level 3 with nothing killed, she says nothing in reach is worth your boots and closes the book.
2. **Ask about a name, if you like.** "Tell us about Dragan at Tser Falls." (and the same for each name) gets her briefing: where it is, and what to watch for. It's words only, and nothing starts a fight. "That's enough names for now." takes you back to her menu.
3. **Kill it.** Each name is a fight somewhere else in the valley, most of them inside another quest (see the table). Only the kill the story records counts.
4. **Claim the bounty.** Open the ledger again, wherever she is. A dead name now shows as a claim, such as "Dragan is dead at Tser Falls." or "We killed the tinker's wagon and freed Iosif." She strikes it out and pays. Then the ledger opens again with the next three names, so you can collect several payments in one visit. The first payment moves the quest to **Paying** and raises her trust by 1. The seventh moves it to **Half Struck**.
5. **The fourth and eighth names.** Whichever names they are, the fourth payment also brings her spare light crossbow, a [+1 Light Crossbow](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#weapon-1): you're no longer lucky beginners, she says. The eighth brings a dagger from her wagon, [Mage Breaker](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#mage-breaker): +1, and a concentrating creature it hurts has Disadvantage on the Concentration save.
6. **Strike the thirteenth.** When the last name is paid, she closes the book and the quest ends at **Ledger Struck**. The ledger option leaves her menu.

### The thirteen names

In the book's order, which is also the order she pays them in:

| # | Name | Where it dies | She names it from level | She pays |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dragan, one of Kiril's werewolves | At night, at the lip of [Tser Falls](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/tser-falls.md): a [Werewolf](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/werewolf.md) (71 HP, AC 15, a bite that can curse you), a [Dire Wolf](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/dire-wolf.md), four wolves and a rat, and you're surprised | 3 | 10 [Crossbow Bolt](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#crossbow-bolt) |
| 2 | [The Tinker's Wagon](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/the-tinkers-wagon.md) | [The River Ivlis Crossroads](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-river-ivlis-crossroads.md) ([The Tinker's Wagon](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-tinkers-wagon.md)) | 4 | 3 [Alchemist's Fire](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#alchemists-fire), 10 [Crossbow Bolt](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#crossbow-bolt) |
| 3 | The count's fowlers ([Vampire Spawn](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/vampire-spawn.md) and bats) | By the silver cage on [The Hill Trail above Lake Zarovich](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-hill-trail-above-lake-zarovich.md) ([The Ravens' Ransom](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-ravens-ransom.md)) | 5 | 3 [Holy Water](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#holy-water), 10 [Crossbow Bolt](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#crossbow-bolt) |
| 4 | [The Vine Mother](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/the-vine-mother.md) | The Seventh Row at [The Wizard of Wines](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-wizard-of-wines.md) ([The Black Row](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-black-row.md)) | 5 | [Scroll of Protection (Plant)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#scroll-of-protection-plant), 3 [Alchemist's Fire](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#alchemists-fire) |
| 5 | [Morgantha](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/morgantha.md) | [Old Bonegrinder, the Loft](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/old-bonegrinder-the-loft.md) ([The Children in the Mill](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-children-in-the-mill.md)) | 5 | [Scroll of Protection (Fiend)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#scroll-of-protection-fiend), 2 [Holy Water](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#holy-water), 2 [Antitoxin](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#antitoxin) |
| 6 | Wintersplinter, a [Tree Blight](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/tree-blight.md) | Destroyed on [The Crown of Yester Hill](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-crown-of-yester-hill.md) ([The Wizard of Wines](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-wizard-of-wines.md)) | 6 | 3 [Alchemist's Fire](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#alchemists-fire), 6 [+1 Crossbow Bolt](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#ammunition-1) |
| 7 | [The Count's Huntsman](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/the-huntsman.md) | Under the gallows at [The River Ivlis Crossroads](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-river-ivlis-crossroads.md) ([The Count's Huntsman](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-counts-huntsman.md)) | 7 | [Scroll of Protection (Undead)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#scroll-of-protection-undead), [Potion of Resistance (Necrotic)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#potion-of-resistance-necrotic), 3 [Holy Water](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#holy-water) |
| 8 | [The Grandsire](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/the-grandsire.md) | In [Krezk](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/krezk.md)'s square at the full moon ([The Pack's Runt](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-packs-runt.md)) | 7 | 10 [+1 Crossbow Bolt](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#ammunition-1) |
| 9 | [Kiril Stoyanovich](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/kiril-stoyanovich.md) | The challenge fight in [The Werewolf Den](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-werewolf-den.md) ([The Pack in the Hills](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-pack-in-the-hills.md)) | 7 | 10 [+1 Crossbow Bolt](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#ammunition-1) |
| 10 | [Khazan](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/khazan.md) | Destroyed for good [Under Van Richten's Tower](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/under-van-richtens-tower.md) ([The Name Over the Door](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-name-over-the-door.md)) | 7 | [Scroll of Protection (Undead)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#scroll-of-protection-undead), [Potion of Resistance (Necrotic)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#potion-of-resistance-necrotic), 4 [Holy Water](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#holy-water) |
| 11 | [Baba Lysaga](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/baba-lysaga.md) | [The Ruins of Berez](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-ruins-of-berez.md) ([The Witch of Berez](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-witch-of-berez.md)) | 8 | 6 [+2 Crossbow Bolt](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#ammunition-2), 3 [Alchemist's Fire](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#alchemists-fire) |
| 12 | [Sarkhaza](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/sarkhaza.md) | [Under Mount Ghakis](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/under-mount-ghakis.md) ([The Warm Snow](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-warm-snow.md)) | 9 | 2 [Potion of Resistance (Fire)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#potion-of-resistance-fire), 8 [+2 Crossbow Bolt](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#ammunition-2) |
| 13 | [The Eye Below](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/the-eye-below.md) | [Under the Vaults](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/under-the-vaults.md) of the Amber Temple ([The Amber Debt](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-amber-debt.md)) | 9 | [Scroll of Protection (Aberration)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#scroll-of-protection-aberration), 8 [+2 Crossbow Bolt](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#ammunition-2) |

Every payment also carries healing, set by your lowest-level hero at the moment she pays:

- **Below level 7:** 3 [Potion of Healing](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#potion-of-healing).
- **Level 7 or 8:** 2 [Potion of Healing (Greater)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#potion-of-healing-greater), or 3 for Lysaga, Sarkhaza and the Eye Below.
- **Level 9 and up:** 1 [Potion of Healing (Superior)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#potion-of-healing-superior), or 2 for the Huntsman and every name after him.

### Choices and endings

There's one ending, **Ledger Struck** (success), when all thirteen names are paid. She closes the book herself and, for once, isn't in a hurry. There's no deadline, no penalty and no companion approval either way. Each name's own quest carries what changes in the world; the ledger only pays.

Your choices elsewhere change which names she'll still brief as hunts:

- **Morgantha**, once you've bought the children back and left the coven standing.
- **Baba Lysaga**, once you've bargained with her or Strahd has broken her.
- **Kiril**, once he leads the pack.
- **The Grandsire**, once you've given Petru to him.

Only a kill strikes a name. Morgantha and Lysaga can still be killed after a bargain: "Your bargaining days are over." at the mill, or "We never said we'd leave you alive." (or "End it." by her broken hut) in Berez. Kiril can too, if you left the children in the den: go back, tell him "We've changed our minds about the children.", then "Then we'll take them." She pays for those kills like any other, briefed or not.

### If you're stuck

- **No "Have you any paying work?"** Her trust is below 0. Robbing her wagon (−2), a failed lie about her teacher (−1) and telling her Kiril leads the pack (−1) all lower it. Giving her the letter from the tower, telling her where Rudolph is, the reunion, and each chance meeting with her on the road all raise it.
- **Can't find her.** Once you tell her Rudolph is at the Blue Water Inn, she leaves the tower that night for the inn's stable yard. If he's left the inn before she gets there, she's back at her tower camp. The easy way round all of it is to have her join you ("Hunt with us." at trust 2, or at the abbey if the cards named her) and click her wherever you are.
- **A name she won't brief.** She only names what your lowest-level hero is ready for, three at a time, hardest first. Stand in that name's region with her in the party, or simply go and kill it: kills are always paid.
- **A kill she doesn't list.** Only the kills in the table count. Dragan is the werewolf that waits at the lip of Tser Falls at night, not the wolves that find your camp. Wintersplinter has to fall on the crown of Yester Hill. Khazan driven out of his body comes back; only destroying him for good counts.
- **Better healing.** The healing in a payment follows your level when she pays, not when you made the kill.

## Rewards

- [Crossbow Bolt](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#crossbow-bolt) ×10
- [Potion of Healing (Superior)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#potion-of-healing-superior) ×2
- [Potion of Healing (Greater)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#potion-of-healing-greater) ×3
- [Potion of Healing](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#potion-of-healing) ×3
- [Alchemist's Fire](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#alchemists-fire) ×3
- [Holy Water](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#holy-water) ×4
- [Scroll of Protection (Plant)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#scroll-of-protection-plant)
- [Scroll of Protection (Fiend)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#scroll-of-protection-fiend)
- [Antitoxin](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#antitoxin) ×2
- [+1 Crossbow Bolt](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#ammunition-1) ×10
- [Scroll of Protection (Undead)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#scroll-of-protection-undead)
- [Potion of Resistance (Necrotic)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#potion-of-resistance-necrotic)
- [+2 Crossbow Bolt](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#ammunition-2) ×8
- [Potion of Resistance (Fire)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#potion-of-resistance-fire) ×2
- [Scroll of Protection (Aberration)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#scroll-of-protection-aberration)
- [+1 Light Crossbow](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#weapon-1)
- [Mage Breaker (Dagger)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#mage-breaker)

## Journal

> [!quote]- Every journal entry and hint
> **Heard**: Ezmerelda d'Avenir keeps a Hunter's Ledger: a battered book of the valley's killers, each with a price beside the name. She names three at a time and pays, in a hunter's goods, for every one the party kills.
> *Hint:* Ask Ezmerelda about her ledger: at Van Richten's Tower, at the abbey switchback, in the Blue Water Inn's stable yard, or by clicking on her if she travels with the party.
>
> **Paying**: Ezmerelda has paid for a name struck from her ledger: silver-headed bolts, holy water, remedies, and later scrolls and better bolts. She will name the next three whenever we ask.
> *Hint:* Ask Ezmerelda about her ledger again, wherever she is, for the next three names, and for payment on the ones that are dead.
>
> **Half Struck**: Seven names are struck from Ezmerelda's ledger, and she has stopped calling us lucky beginners. The hardest names are all that is left.
> *Hint:* Ask Ezmerelda about her ledger: at Van Richten's Tower, at the abbey switchback, in the Blue Water Inn's stable yard, or on the road beside her.
>
> **Ledger Struck** (the end: success): Every name in Ezmerelda's ledger is struck through. She closed the book herself and, for once, was not in a hurry.

## Related

- **People:** [Ezmerelda d'Avenir](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/ezmerelda-davenir.md)
- **Places:** [The Abbey of St. Markovia](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-abbey-of-st-markovia.md), [Van Richten's Tower](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/van-richtens-tower.md), [The Blue Water Inn](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-blue-water-inn.md)
- **More in Van Richten's Tower:** [The Drowned Library](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-drowned-library.md), [The Hunter's Tower](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-hunters-tower.md), [The Name Over the Door](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-name-over-the-door.md)