Bleak Oath – Pillars of Eternity Quest

This guide is for a quest in Part 2 of Pillars of Eternity: The White March. The guide has a walkthrough of the area, and a map with a legend.

Map Legend

1 – The Gref’s Rest
2 – Haddi’s House
3 – Dyrford Mill

Background

You’ll receive this task from Kern inside the Gref’s Rest in Stalwart Village (#1).

Walkthrough

Kern will tell you that he is in the middle of an ugly land dispute with a neighbor of his named Haddi. The dispute drove him to drink, and that’s when he met a paladin named Cevestin who offered to help. Kern accepted the offer and paid Cevestin his fee — and only later realized that Cevestin is a Bleak Walker, which means he probably plans to kill Haddi. So Kern will ask you to intervene, and he’ll let you know that Haddi lives in Whitestone Hollow to the east.

You’ll find Haddi’s house in the southeastern part of Whitestone Hollow (#2). When you get there, you’ll meet a couple of goat herders out front. They’ll tell you that some “suspicious people” were already there, and that they burned down Haddi’s barn. Inside the house, you’ll confirm that you’re too late — you’ll find Haddi and his wife dead. However, you’ll be able to read Haddi’s soul, and you’ll see that Cevestin is on his way to Dyrford Village to kill Haddi’s son Eska next.

When you enter the mill in Dyrford Village (#3), you’ll arrive just as Cevestin and his party are planning to kill Eska. You’ll have two ways to proceed:

• You can create a schism between Cevestin and his allies. To do this, you’ll need to be a Bleak Walker yourself, or you’ll need to select the dialogue option “These sadistic games are beneath your order” when it shows up after the introductory portion of the conversation. (Note: the dialogue option won’t always be available. As of version 3.01, the game doesn’t show what unlocks it, and it isn’t based on something simple like an attribute or skill.)
  
  Once you’ve gotten Cevestin’s attention, you’ll next need to say:
  
  
  • Any fool can inflict violence without purpose.
  • Do your friends agree, Cevestin?
  
  If you can impress Cevestin’s friends — by, for example, pointing out that you’ve killed a dragon — and if you have Intellect 14, Resolve 18, or Cruel 3, then they’ll kill Cevestin for you. At that point you can kill them, you can let them kill Eska, or you can let Eska walk away.
  
  
• You can simply kill Cevestin and his party.

If you kill Cevestin’s party, then Eska will pay you 2000 cp, and you’ll earn a “moderate” amount of reputation with Stalwart Village. You’ll also find Minor Bracers of Deflection, Minor Gauntlets of Accuracy, and a collection of “fine” and “exceptional” gear on the corpses. Either way, Cevestin will also end up dead, and you’ll find Siegebreaker Gauntlets plus some “exceptional” items on his corpse.

When you return to Kern in Stalwart Village (#1), one of two things will happen:

• If Eska is dead, then Kern won’t want to pay you, and you’ll take a “moderate” reputation penalty with Stalwart Village. With Resolve 15, you can force Kern to pay you 5000 cp. You can also attack Kern, but doing so will turn everybody in the Gref’s Rest against you, which is probably a bad idea.
  
  
• If Eksa is still alive, then Kern will pay you 3000 cp.

1 – The Gref’s Rest


2 – Haddi’s House


3 – Dyrford Mill