The three boyars

Ambrus

The youngest of the three — recently turned, a betrayed mercenary in life, with everything to prove. His territory is the north: Briar Sloughs, Maragir Wealds, St. Tyna’s Grove, and the region map lays out who holds the rest. His quest is The Gilded Gauntlet, and his cellars are the cheapest Infamy on the court table, one segment each — and each kill is worth a whole Infamy level, reportedly.

The duel

Anger him and The Gilded Gauntlet appears in Maragir. Erdene, who works for Codrin, tells you Ambrus wants a duel and asks you to visit her master first — that is The Bittersweet Toast. It can take nearly a full day and night after meeting Codrin, and following Codrin’s advice reportedly makes him much easier to defeat. When you are ready, go to the cathedral west of Maragir, Planeshift up the wall behind it, and ring the bell in the clearing.

• Three phases, each adding an ability; he teleports constantly and chains multi-hit combos that are hard to parry.
• He is immune to Voracious Bite. Swap it out of your quick slots so you do not waste an activation, and bring another way to heal in vampire form — Closing Wounds reportedly works well.
• Two unblockables. Up close he pauses and spins his sword repeatedly: dodge backwards until it stops. From range he pulls the sword in and teleports at you with an overhead slash: dodge it and answer with your weapon art. The whole fight can reportedly be won on that one exchange.
• At two-thirds health he periodically shields — hitting him while it is up heals him, so hold your attacks.
• Leave at least two segments for the fight itself.

After: drink, and invite?

Drinking his blood gives Scarlet Shield — healing on Perfect Block, either every block or a chance to heal. You are then asked whether to invite him in. It changes almost nothing: he becomes a voice in your head for the rest of the game, helps a little in the final boss and can be turned against you there. No effect on Corruption or abilities.

Bakir 9.3% have The Mad Khan

“The Mad Khan” rules the south-west: an experienced warrior who enjoys cruelty, who hands out the regime’s rewards and punishments and every so often turns it into a game show — and who is hard to read whether he wants to kill you or befriend you. His quest is The Lunar Game.

The route through The Lunar Game

1. Anger him via his pillories and headhunters until The Lunar Game triggers.
2. If the quest says “wait for the right opportunity”, destroy one more of his stations at Lunar Manor — that can be what brings Farkas the Fox out.
3. Farkas is Bakir’s scorned servant. He will smuggle you into the Lunar Tournament, a masked maze run whose winner gets a face-to-face with Bakir. He wants his family’s amethyst ring back.
4. At the tournament, before sundown, you have time to talk to three contestants or two plus poison the drinks with berries from the bush beside them. Talk to The Porcupine (he promises not to stand in your way) and The Marten: be honest that you want Bakir dead, then suggest doing it together rather than belittling her. Poison the punch. The Rat and The Cockroach are not worth the time; looting the food is pointless, it does not come with you.
5. Stay quiet during his speech. Cheering changes nothing; shouting for a fight means the whole cohort, every contestant and then Bakir, with almost no inventory.
6. The maze: undead wolves, Murohn, the Great Bog Wurm, an optional fight with The Porcupine. Loot the cracks — you need the gear.
7. The riddle — “Silver coin shimmers on the right, middle feels like a summer light, left reeks of blood and fear” — choose left.
8. The dying Marten hands you the Darkbane Amulet (crit and damage against supernaturals). Fight a Giant Bog Wurm. The Cockroach is too poisoned to fight if you poisoned the punch.
9. Do not use Vrakhiri powers. Farkas will try to distract Bakir from it, but eventually Bakir catches on, ends the tournament, and you fight him and the cohort with nothing.
10. At the willow tree in the centre, Bakir asks you to cut the token out of The Rat. Agree and you are invited to a feast — and to a choice.

Feast or fight

Fight and you get his cohort’s loot, then his: the Vrakhiric Bracers, Bakir’s Armour and the epic amulet Sunlight’s Boon, plus Farkas’s way into the Treasury. Rather than hand the amethyst ring to Farkas, tell him it is full of magic you want advice on — that can launch The Ring, ending at the Uriash Matriarch in the mountains. Or attend the feast, keep your sword and mask on, talk of what you dream of, and Bakir likes you enough to walk you to the Treasury alive. Killing him is probably the better call. Drinking his blood gives Shadowstorm.

Xanthe

Her quest is The Cycle of Love: max out her anger, take the lantern to Howling Keep, and beat her there, after which you decide whether she lives and whether you take her ability, Blood Surge, by drinking her blood. She can also be fought early, at night inside Svartrau Cathedral during A Monk and a Saint, though that route may leave only her death as an option. Her soldiers are the ones who cleared out the second kobold cave near Tantari in Forge It Anew. The Xanthe page has her activities, her attacks and what each choice changes.

Vrakhir blood

Drinking from a defeated boyar grants their ability directly and raises Corruption considerably. It probably needs no skill points, though Scarlet Shield may need one to unlock. What each gives:

Two more come from Lacra’s questline rather than a boyar: Piercing Shriek for completing Our Rotten Roots, and Mesmerize for eating the mandrake at the end of The Night of Horrors. Vials of Vrakhir blood also drop from Murohn in their dens at night, and come through quests such as Xanthe’s Recruiters in Tantari Woods and The Silts and Lost Blood in St. Tyna’s Grove; they work like ability manuals.

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