The Son Who Didn't Fly

Walkthrough

Getting the quest

Stefania Martikov gives it, at The Wizard of Wines at any hour. Before the winery is reclaimed she's at the cook-pot in the family's camp under the trees; afterwards she's in the yard by the house. Ask "Your father won't speak of Elvir." Last spring Davian Martikov sent his sons Elvir and Adrian to watch Yester Hill. The druids' blights caught them in the bracken, and Adrian came home alone, saying only "I flew." Davian has hardly spoken a kind word to him since. The journal opens at Heard. The story belongs with The Wizard of Wines, and most of it happens on the same trip to Yester Hill.

Step by step

1. Adrian's side (optional). Talk to Adrian Martikov. He's at the camp at first, then in the winery's fermenting hall once the family is home. Say "Stefania told us about Elvir." and he repeats "I flew. Elvir didn't." Then try Insight DC 13 ("There's more to it than 'I flew.'"). On a success he admits that a root had Elvir pinned so he couldn't change, and that Elvir ordered him to fly, in their father's voice. This opens a Persuasion route with Davian later, but it isn't proof. On a failure he shrugs, and the option is gone for good.
2. Find the truth. Any one of these moves the journal to Truth Found:
   • The post of the last cage, in the wardens' camp on the shoulder of Yester Hill. Examine it; there's no roll. Scratched over and over: I SENT HIM. I TOLD HIM FLY. TELL FATHER. E. The wardens attack when you walk into their camp, until the hill is broken (see The Wizard of Wines). If Adrian is with you, he reads it too.
   • Kostin at the foot of the hill, who is only there if you talked him out of his faith in the press house. Ask "A raven-man died up there last spring." He used to take Elvir water in his cage.
   • Mother Ruxandra on the crown. Before the summit fight, ask "A raven-man died on this hill last spring." After it, as she lies among the roots, ask "Tell us about the raven-man you caged."
   • Elvir's bones among the roots on the crown, after the summit fight. Ask the dead man with Speak with Dead, either a casting that's still running or one cast on the spot.

   You can only ask Kostin and Ruxandra once Stefania has told you the story; the cage post and the bones don't need it. At the bones, Medicine DC 12 (one try) shows a shin pierced clean through and fingertips worn to the knuckle, but that alone doesn't count as the truth.

3. Bring Elvir home (optional). At the bones, pick "Cut him free. He's going home." (Liriel Dawnsong +2, Godrick Pendlebrook and Kip Smudgewick +1). If Adrian came with you, he asks to carry his brother. Then tell Davian "We brought Elvir home." The family buries him at the end of the last green row, under the cairn that had nothing beneath it until now (Liriel +2, Godrick and Kip +1 again, for a separate reason).

   

4. Tell Davian. Any of these three reconciles father and son:
   • "Elvir sent Adrian away. He wrote it on his cage." This option appears once you know the truth by any route, not only the cage. There's no roll.
   • "Adrian says Elvir ordered him to fly." This one is for when you have Adrian's word from step 1 but no proof yet. Persuasion DC 14 ("Because he knew you'd call it an excuse"). If the roll fails, or you answer "We don't know.", Davian refuses and the option is gone, but the truth route is still open.
   • Insight DC 14 ("It isn't Adrian you're angry with."), available once Stefania has told you the story. One try. On a success Davian admits he can't forgive himself for sending his sons up that hill. On a failure his face stays shut.

   Whichever you use, Davian crosses the yard and gives Adrian the press. The quest ends at Reconciled, with Kip +2, Wren Featherfoot +2, and Liriel, Godrick and Thistle +1 each.

Choices and endings

There's only one ending, Reconciled. The quest pays no gold or items of its own. The Periapt of Wound Closure in the box above is Stefania's gift for getting her kitchen back, and you get it once the winery is reclaimed whatever you do about Elvir. What reconciling changes:

• Adrian talks about the press being his. Davian's ally scene (if Madam Eva's cards named him) mentions it.
• If wine also flows, the epilogue shows Davian and Adrian working the press side by side.
• In The Black Row, "Your father forgave you" talks Adrian round without a roll. Knowing the truth without having reconciled them yet gives you "Elvir ordered you to fly" there instead.

Burying Elvir turns the empty cairn at the camp into a grave. It also changes a scene in The Black Row: Adrian talks to his brother at the end of the row, and a face that isn't quite Elvir's shows in the Vine Mother's bark.

If you're stuck

• No Kostin or Ruxandra question. They only appear after Stefania has told you the story. Kostin waits at the foot of the hill only if you talked him round, and only until the summit fight is won.
• The bones only appear after the summit fight on the crown of Yester Hill.

Rewards

• Periapt of Wound Closure

What your companions think

• Kip Smudgewick: +2 you got Davian and Adrian talking again; +1 you cut Elvir Martikov out of the roots to take him home
• Wren Featherfoot: +2 you got Davian and Adrian talking again; +1 you sent Kostin home instead of up the hill; +2 you let Ruxandra crawl off the hill alive; -1 you finished Ruxandra where she lay
• Liriel Dawnsong: +1 you got Davian and Adrian talking again; +1 you sent Kostin home instead of up the hill; +2 you let Ruxandra crawl off the hill alive; -1 you finished Ruxandra where she lay; +1 you burned the Gulthias tree; +2 you cut Elvir Martikov out of the roots to take him home
• Godrick Pendlebrook: +1 you got Davian and Adrian talking again; +1 you burned the Gulthias tree; +1 you cut Elvir Martikov out of the roots to take him home
• Thistle: +1 you got Davian and Adrian talking again; +1 you finished Ruxandra where she lay; +2 you burned the Gulthias tree; -1 you left the Gulthias tree standing

Fights

• The humming breaks into a shout. The effigy's chest splits like a log in frost, and out of it, unfolding,…, in The Crown of Yester Hill: Tree Blight, Twig Blight, Druid, Berserker, Vine Blight. Scales with your level.

Journal

Related

• People: Davian Martikov, Stefania Martikov, Kostin, Mother Ruxandra
• Places: The Wizard of Wines, Yester Hill, The Crown of Yester Hill
• More in The Wizard of Wines: The Black Row, The Third Stone, The Wizard of Wines