The Last Lesson

Summary

Wren Featherfoot's old master, a dusk elf called Sorrel, died before Wren's training was finished, and left him one errand: a sealed letter for a brother named Kasimir, in the valley where the sun does not rise.

Walkthrough

Getting the quest

This is Wren Featherfoot's personal quest (the Halfling Monk, Warrior of the Open Hand). It starts by itself at the very beginning on The Old Svalich Road: when you look back into the mist at its east end, or, if you never do, when you reach the wolves in the narrows, with Wren in the party. A custom hero in his place never gets it, and every beat needs Wren in the party.

There's no level or approval gate on starting it. Kasimir is just outside Vallaki, a level 4–5 region. Patrina is in the Amber Temple (level 9–10), and Rahadin is in Castle Ravenloft. After a Long Rest, "Wren wants a word" from a handstand about Master Sorrel (+1).

Step by step

1. Deliver the letter. Go to The Vistani Camp outside Vallaki's west gate. Kasimir Velikov sits by a shuttered wagon, mending a net. Pick Wren's Give him Master Sorrel's letter. Kasimir reads it aloud: Sorrel was his younger brother, and the letter says "Let her rest, brother." The quest moves to The Brother (+5).
   
2. Hear about Patrina. While you're there, either (Sit with him a while, and say nothing.) (+2 Wren, +1 Liriel) or pass Insight DC 13. Kasimir then tells you about his sister. This matters: it puts the Amber Temple on your travel map, and it lets you name Patrina to her face later. A Long Rest after this brings Wren's talk about the letter; "He was right" is +3.
3. Patrina. In The Amber Temple: Hall of the Faceless God, Patrina Velikovna's ghost is turning crumbling pages. How her story ends is up to you (The Wailing Hall):
   • With Kasimir travelling with you. He only joins if Madam Eva's cards named him your ally. Wren's option (Have Kasimir read her the last line of Sorrel's letter.) gives +3, and she rests. Don't tell Kasimir about the vestige in the vaults; that costs Wren -3.
   • Without him. Name her ("You're Patrina. Kasimir's sister."), then pick "Your brother grieves for you" and pass Persuasion DC 15 ("He's been too afraid to come...", +2 Wren). If that fails it's gone, and she drives you out or you fight. Or pass Religion DC 16 ("Let them lie, and rest", +2 Liriel, +1 Wren); a failure there doesn't close it.
   • Fight her. She's a Banshee with 110 HP, with four Specters. Her once-a-day wail hits everyone within 30 feet who isn't undead or a construct.
   • Kasimir's bargain. He can buy her back from Tarakamedes. That's the failure ending of Patrina's own quest, but it still counts for Wren.
4. Let her rest. At the next Long Rest after Patrina's story is over (at rest, destroyed or restored), "Wren wants a word". He doesn't feel finished. The quest moves to Let Her Rest. This talk only comes if you haven't already met Rahadin as Wren (step 5).
5. The chamberlain. In Castle Ravenloft, find Rahadin: first in the long hall of Castle Ravenloft, the Court of the Count, and after that in his room in Castle Ravenloft, the Rooms of Weeping. Pick Wren's Tell him who your teacher was, which is available from The Brother onward and stays until the quest ends. Rahadin calmly admits killing the Velikovs' mother, and one of the voices screaming around him calls Sorrel's name. The quest moves to The Chamberlain.
   
6. Choose how it ends.
   • (Tell him what Sorrel thought of him.) Wren pities him and walks away. That's the Learned ending (+8).
   • (Go for his throat.) That's the Unlearned ending (-4), and a fight with Rahadin: 135 HP, AC 18, three scimitar cuts a turn, and an aura of screams. Anyone within 10 feet of him at the start of his turn makes a DC 16 Wisdom save or takes 3d10 psychic, so keep your casters back.
   • (Pull Wren back.) This gives +3 and takes you back to Rahadin's menu. Nothing is lost: Wren's Tell him who your teacher was is still there, then or on a later visit, and picking it again skips the introduction ("Wren steps out in front of the chamberlain again") and goes straight to these three choices.

Optional, Madam Eva: Wren's truth (he isn't finished) gives +3 and Heroic Inspiration. Spending the one question on "Where is Kasimir?" is +3.

Choices and endings

• Learned (success, +8): "Leave my sight." If Wren is Close or better (approval 25 or more), he stops on the landing afterwards and says the last lesson out loud ("You don't get finished on your own"), and he gains Heroic Inspiration. If he's Strained or worse (-25 or lower), the pity option doesn't appear at all, and he won't take the party's way. Mend his approval before you go to Rahadin; his Strained camp talk can give up to +10.
• Unlearned (failure, -4): you fight Rahadin then and there.

Either way, Strahd greets Wren at dinner as "the little monk" whose teacher's manners unsettled Rahadin, if Wren has met him by then.

If you're stuck

• You pulled Wren back. That's fine. His option with Rahadin stays until the quest ends, so go back to Rahadin (step 5 says where he is) and pick it again. If the pity option was missing because Wren was Strained, pull him back, mend his approval at camp, and then return.
• Kasimir's reading needs Kasimir as an ally. Kasimir only travels with you if Madam Eva's cards named him. Without him, use the Persuasion or Religion routes to give Patrina rest.
• The Let Her Rest talk is skipped if you meet Rahadin first. That's harmless; the quest simply goes on from The Chamberlain.

Rewards

What your companions think

• Wren Featherfoot: +3 you told me I didn't need a joke for what Strahd did; +2 you offered to find me a joke after Strahd's visit; +10 you asked how to earn my trust back; +5 you told me you were sorry; -6 you told me it's my loss; +6 you said we'd watch our hands

Journal

Related

• People: Kasimir Velikov, Patrina Velikovna, Rahadin, The Wolves
• Places: The Vistani Camp, The Amber Temple: Hall of the Faceless God, Castle Ravenloft, the Rooms of Weeping, Castle Ravenloft, the Court of the Count, The Old Svalich Road
• More in Companions: A Knight, More or Less, A Seat at the Table, Aurel's Last Chapter, Carry the Dawn, Cold Prayers, Count Off, Grandda's Trail, The Fine Print