Bozhena the wise woman and herbalist saved you at the beginning of Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, so now it’s time to pay back your debts. Speak to her at her hut outside the village and she’ll reveal a worrying development: her daughter, Pavlena, brings her weaved baskets to Troskowitz to make a little money, but she’s been missing since her last trip.
This is the Bad Blood quest, where Bozhena asks Henry to look into Pavlena’s disappearance and bring her home safely.
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 Bad Blood quest guide
To start, Bozhena recommends looking through Pavlena’s things for clues, before asking around in town.
Head into their hut and climb the small staircase in front of you. Investigate the loft and you’ll see some of Pavlena’s unfinished work, suggesting she intended to return soon, as well as a man’s cap – might this belong to a friend who knows where she is? If your lockpicking skill is high enough, you can also investigate her storage box too, but depending on where you are in the game, that might not be possible. Either way, your only choice is to head to Troskowitz.
In town, speak to the Bailiff. He knows everyone and everything going on in town and can point you in the right direction. Ask him about Pavlena and he says she was friendly with the woodcutter’s son, Roman, who lives in the southeast of the town.
Make your way there and you’ll find another hired hand calling out for Roman. Speak to Dushko and ask about Roman. Ask “where should I look for them”, then “Why would Roman want to move out”. When Dushko hesitates, choose your best persuasion technique (I had the most success with “It could be important”, even though it wasn’t highest) and you’ll be given an absolutely vital piece of information that’s key to blowing the rest of this quest wide open and getting a peaceful and wholesome resolution: Pavlena is pregnant.
Remember, since you got a free quest save when you spoke to the Bailiff, you can just reload if this conversation goes wrong, so retrace your steps from that point if you don’t get the information. Like I say, it’s vital to the best resolution of this quest.
Where to find Pavlena
With a new impetus for finding Pavlena and Roman safe, Dushko will ask you to search Roman’s house yourself, since he can’t be seen fiddling with the lock in his own town. Agree and you can either pick the “very easy” lock for some practice and experience, otherwise climb the ladder on the side of the house to enter through the hayloft. In the main room of the house, you find a table set for two with fresh food and Pevlena’s baskets by the window; they were definitely here recently.
Return to Dushko and he’ll send you towards the couple’s oft-visited spot by a pond to the south. Return to Roman’s front door and turn to face south. There’s a path which leads through the farm gate to a bubbling brook running downhill. Follow the water until you reach two large boulders, then turn left up the hill until you reach a clearing.
Here you find a picnic basket with food and wine, along with an altogether more ominous object: a sharp rock covered with dried blood.
Turn away from the water and you’ll find a scrap of women’s clothing which can only be Pavlena’s along with a trail leading into the forest. If you’ve collected your dog Mutt, you can have them lead you from here as a scenthound – but otherwise, follow the black blood into the forest where you make another chilling discovery.
Look to the north and speak to the pig farmer. They witnessed a farmhand running away from the scene with a shovel and identify them as Straw, a local labourer.
Make your way to his place of work, where you find Straw tending the chicken coop. You can try to persuade or intimidate him as you like, but if things turn violent, it’s a simple task to put away your weapons, dodge his attacks and land a few socks to the jaw before he yields and spills the beans.
Straw was the one that hit Roman with the rock, but pleads that his intentions weren’t to kill. Him and his brother simply wanted to curry favour with the farm’s owner, Jakesh, who blames Bozhena for his wife and son dying in childbirth, by scaring Pavlena from coming to Troskowitz.
This is obviously not as purely intentioned as he maintains, so you can either turn him in to the bailiff or dish out some country justice. This is not before Straw reveals the location of the stony gorge where Ota is holding Pavlena, which is then marked on your map.
How to rescue Pavlena in Kingdom Come Deliverance 2
When you’re done, make your way down to the gorge, watching out for bandits who appear on the road (which is much easier if you’ve got a horse). As you approach, you find the entrance guarded by Grisly, a white dog tasked with standing watch.
You do not have to hurt the dog at all, just run past them and climb the ladder into the gorge.
There you find Pavlena and Ota, who has a sword to her throat.
Because you slipped past the dog, you can reassure Ota that they weren’t harmed. However, this conversation is more scripted than it first appears. Pretty much every option will result in Ota releasing Pavlena, who you can then speak to.
Before you leave, speak with her for a moment and tell her that you know she’s pregnant. She’ll ask you not to tell anyone else, but that information will come in very useful later. Either way, there aren’t any consequences for divulging her pregnancy, so you can either promise or not, both are fine.
Return with Pavlena to her mother’s hut and speak to Bozhena. She’ll be overjoyed that you managed to return Pavlena safe, but swears to take vengeance on Jakesh, asking if you’ll assassinate him on their behalf.
You can agree if you want, but to get the “best” resolution to the quest, you need to push Bozhena towards reconciliation. The attempt will fail, but you can make her see reason by revealing the pregnancy (Pavlena doesn’t really mind). If you’d prefer to keep your promise, you can say that you’ll still try to reconcile them, even if Bozhena doesn’t agree, afterwards.
How to reconcile Bozhena and Jakesh
Now you need to speak to Jakesh, who’s at his farm north of Zhelejov. During the day you can find him out in the back field praying at his son’s grave (which is also a conveniently secluded spot if you’re up to no good).
Talk to Jakesh and relay what happened with his farm hands. He’s aghast at their actions, but steadfastly refuses to make peace with Bozhena – in his mind she’s wholly responsible for his son’s damnation.
When you press him on why he should reconsider, select the “Pavlena is pregnant” option. Confronted with the prospect of another unborn child facing the same fate as his own son, Jakesh concedes that his hatred has gone too far and pledges to pay reparations to Bozhena and Pavlena for Roman’s death and the kidnapping. He also invites them to move back into the safety of the village boundary.
With the good news, and a sack of gold, in-hand, return to Bozhena and let her know what transpired. You can be dishonest and keep the gold for yourself, but you get plenty from fighting bandits and the like as the game progresses, the reputation is probably more valuable.
Relieved and swung to your way of thinking, Bozhena thanks you and offers half of the reparations as a reward, which you can either take or cede back to Bozhena for her help back when you staggered into her hut with Hans. Either way, the matter is resolved and a decade-long feud is put to rest.
Back caring for her mother, you can speak to Pavlena again in Bozhena’s hut. Interestingly, a life scavenging in the forest has taught her all manner of skills which Henry can put to his own use, including archery, survival, thievery and all sorts – Pavlena is a good person to know!
For more side quests and help on your adventure, here’s our Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 walkthrough!