I have come across some pretty vague quests in my 96 hours to date of KCD but “Besmirched” takes the cake by a mile. Needless to say, spoilers ahead. The pointer comes from Andrew, the innkeeper at the “inn on the Glade” (or whatever its name is).
I find the true quest giver, Adam, in Rattay. Andrew had said Adam was complaining about the loss of an improbable amount of money. Adam himself, however, won’t shut up about a kettle and a cross. Furthermore, Adam mentions the perpetrator had not only looted the aforementioned items but also a grand (yet conveniently non-specific) quantity of other items that belonged to his family. He makes this latter claim on the basis of the size of the sack the looter was carrying, and he says “everything” was stolen, but he neglects to tell me about any specific items of concern (this becomes important later).
So before I even begin my searching, I am already confused about the priorities of this quest. What is most important?: the money, the cross, the kettle (presuming sentimental value), or the undefined miscellaneous items? In other words, returning what item(s) to Adam would result in the greatest satisfaction for my good-morals role-played Henry? The quest never says.
What the quest does say is I have the optional objective of finding and returning all of Adam’s valuables. No count, no description, just a pass/fail.
So I begin the search. After pulling a suspect’s name out of Andrew, I head to the charcoal burners. Of the three NPCs I find there, the named suspect only has on his person a hefty sack of money. While interrogating another, my Henry goes way more aggressive than I was role playing him at the time and I am unexpectedly rewarded with a ring from this guilty-conscience burner. Does the ring belong to Adam? Does the ring constitute the grand total of the miscellaneous treasure? I have no clue.
This guilty-conscience charcoal burner goes on to say (after repeated interrogation of trying different dialogue paths) something about a procession that was heading “south” with an unknown destination of no fewer than three different towns/hamlets on the map. Neither the quest nor the map update to reflect a possible search area. Finally, the third charcoal burner does not give me any treasure, Adam’s or otherwise, but he does cough up yet another area where I could possibly search for something – the dialogue was becoming a blur to me at this point – amidst a mass grave of slain refugees somewhere on the road to Talmberg. Once again, neither the quest nor the map update to cover this new objective.
So at this point I am completely, utterly lost. My head is spinning. I’ve spent a couple of in-game days running back and forth on the roads. I’ve found an unanswered forum post by mbarbaric mentioning a clue (concerning the stolen treasure) given by their charcoal burners that I don’t recall ever hearing from my charcoal burners. I’ve read another forum post, by HenryV, that says Andrew lied and in fact has the cross in his possession, but I still have no idea where I am supposed to find the remainder of Adam’s treasure. Why do I care about finding the treasure? because so far the only things I have to show to Adam for all of my efforts on his behalf are a pouch of money and a to-be-acquired cross. I don’t have his kettle, I don’t have any of his possessions, and I haven’t a single blasted clue where to tell him he can find them if I feel like giving up. Poor Adam is going to be heart-broken. …Isn’t he? I mean, I still don’t know! Maybe he’ll be happy with that pouch of money. But my Henry sure won’t be!
The vagueness in this quest is eating me alive. Nothing, nothing in this entire game has been anywhere near this confusing. Someone please help bring clarity and direction. Please. Mercy!
