The Seer at Tser Pool

Walkthrough

Getting the quest

Walk into the Tser Pool Encampment, the Vistani camp on the Old Svalich Road between the River Ivlis crossroads and Vallaki. Stanimir, the big grey-bearded elder with the fiddle, comes over to greet you as soon as you're close. He says Madam Eva has been expecting you in the big tent, and the quest starts. Simply walking into Madam Eva's Tent (the flap at the north end of the camp) starts it too. There's no time-of-day restriction: she's always at her table.

You may have heard of her already. In Blood of the Vine in the village, the Vistani women Alenka and Mirabel tell you their camp is at Tser Pool and that Madam Eva reads the cards for strangers. That only changes one line of her greeting.

Step by step

1. Sit down with Madam Eva. She knows you're coming, and mentions Death House if you've survived it. If Ireena is with you, Eva recognises her as someone who has "come round again", which comes back later in Ireena's story.
2. Settle any debt first. If you've robbed Stanimir's strongbox and not paid it back, Eva won't read until you deal with it:
   • Give back the 40 gp (Kip +2, Godrick +1).
   • Lie with Deception DC 18. On a success she lets it pass. On a fail she has caught you lying, and you then have to give it back or keep it.
   • Keep it. She reads anyway, but grudgingly, and turns hostile (Kip −3, Godrick −2, Wren −1, Liriel −1).
3. Pay her price. The cards are free, she says, but the one who turns them is not: ten gold, or one true thing.
   • Free, if you've told the Vistani about Nicu. If you finished The Hanged Man at the Crossroads by telling Luminita or Stanimir, she refuses your money and reads at once ("That is paid already, and more"). The exception is if you were caught lying to her about the strongbox: then you pay like a stranger.
   • Pay ten gold. Only offered if the party has 10 gp. With less, you get "We can't spare ten gold." instead, and she sends you to the true thing.
   • Tell her a true thing. Each companion in your party has their own confession. Picking one earns that companion +3 approval and Heroic Inspiration:
     • Godrick: he can't read.
     • Liriel: she's afraid of the dark.
     • Thistle: she doesn't fit anywhere.
     • Ratatouille: he'd rather cook than cast.
     • Wren: his master died before his last lesson.
     • Kip: he signed the devil's contract behind his father's back.

     Anyone can instead lean close and whisper something to her (no approval). If you can't spare ten gold, this is where she sends you.

   • Persuasion DC 15, "read for us because the valley needs it": on a success, a free reading (Godrick +1, Liriel +1). On a fail she just asks you to pay or tell the truth, and you still can.
   • Intimidation DC 18, "Turn the cards, old woman." On a success she reads, but turns hostile and the reading is "forced" (Godrick −3, Liriel −2, Kip −1, Wren −1). On a fail, Stanimir fills the tent flap and the music stops. You can back down and pay double (20 gp, offered only if you have it, or a true thing). Or you can go through them, which turns the whole camp against you (Godrick −3, Liriel −3, Kip −3, Wren −2) and ends the conversation with no reading.
   • "We didn't come for fortunes" refuses the reading. The quest waits at "Refused", and you can come back whenever you like.
4. Hear the reading. She deals five cards in a cross, and every candle leans.
   
   The cards are dealt once per playthrough and never change: one for the Tome of Strahd, one for the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, one for the Sunsword, one for your destined ally, and one for the room in Castle Ravenloft where Strahd will wait. Each card shows its name, then she speaks its verse. Every card and verse is listed on The Tarokka Reading.
5. Take the Diviner's gift, if you drew it. If any of the three treasure cards is the Diviner, Eva unlocks the chest behind her and hands you that treasure on the spot, and its quest is done before it starts. It goes to your party leader, and her painted chest is empty from then on.
   
6. Ask your one question. Pick carefully: there's only one. The general questions (how to leave Barovia, how he is destroyed, why you were brought here, what he wants with Ireena if she's with you) give lore. If she's with you, Eva's answer about Ireena ("keep her away from high places and still water") comes back at the Pool of the White Sun in Krezk. Each companion also has a personal question, worth +3 approval with them:
   • Godrick: the Order of the Silver Dragon.
   • Liriel: whether dawn will come.
   • Thistle: Grandda Fen.
   • Ratatouille: the Wizard of Wines.
   • Wren: where Kasimir is.
   • Kip: a way out of his contract.

   The older companions' questions also exist, for Ilse, Tamsin, Hedda and Silvain. Tamsin's moves The Woman in the Locket on, and paying with Hedda's truth starts Cold Prayers. "We've heard enough" is also an answer.

Choices and endings

The quest ends at "Read" however you paid, and the reading itself starts five main quests: The Tome of Strahd, The Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, The Sunsword, The Destined Ally and Where the Devil Waits. Several places the cards name (the Abbey of St. Markovia, Yester Hill, the werewolf den, Van Richten's tower, Old Bonegrinder, the Amber Temple) appear on your travel map the moment a card points there.

How you paid matters afterwards:

• Paid honestly (gold, truth, persuasion or kin): Madam Eva becomes friendly. Come back later and she offers more: hear the whole reading again, "Tell us about yourself", what the Vistani are to the castle, and, if the respec option is on in the pause menu, "Read for one of us alone: a different road", which lets one character be rebuilt from level 1.
• Forced (a successful threat, keeping the stolen gold, or reading after the camp brawl): she reads, but the cards "are not kind", she ends with "Now get out of my tent", and she stays hostile, so the personal reading is never offered. You can still have the reading repeated.
• Fighting the camp: after a failed threat, choosing to go through them makes every Vistani at Tser Pool hostile. When you leave the tent, the camp ambushes you, with your party surprised: two Bandit Captains, two Bandits and two Scouts. Win, and the camp is empty for good: Stanimir, Luminita, Big Tobar, Zora and the rest are gone, along with every side quest they give. Madam Eva stays, and on your next visit reads for you anyway, as a forced reading.

If you're stuck

• Refused, or walked out? Just go back in. She's always there, and the cards wait.
• She keeps asking about forty gold pieces? That's Stanimir's strongbox. Pay it back, or lie well.
• No respec option on later visits? It needs her friendly and the respec switch on in the pause menu.
• No "Pay ten gold" option? It only shows when the party has 10 gp (and "Pay twenty gold", after a failed threat, only with 20 gp). A poorer party pays with a true thing: "We can't spare ten gold" takes you there.

Rewards

What your companions think

• Wren Featherfoot: +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 put the hanged boy's earring in Stanimir's hand; -2 you fought the Vistani over what you'd stolen from them
• Kip Smudgewick: +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
• Godrick Pendlebrook: +1 you gave Stanimir back what was taken from his fire; -1 you lied to Stanimir and let his own boys take the blame; -2 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.

Journal

Related

• People: Madam Eva, Stanimir
• Places: Madam Eva's Tent, Tser Pool Encampment
• Next in the story: The Tome of Strahd