Court activities, and the cheapest way to raise Infamy
These are the repeatable jobs that drive the main story forward. They all cost the same — except the ones that cost a third as much.
After the prologue the main story is not a corridor. You anger the three vampiric vassals — Ambrus, Bakir and Xanthe — by disrupting their operations across the valley. Each disruption is a court activity, and each one raises Infamy. Reach maximum Infamy in Vale Sangora and the final quest opens up.
Court activities — 3 segments each
- Transports · 3 seg
- Collectors · 3 seg
- Prisoners · 3 seg
- Dungeons · 3 seg
- Headhunters · 3 seg
- Distilleries · 3 seg
- Pillories · 3 seg
- Recruiters · 3 seg
- Excavations · 3 seg
- Blood Guards · 3 seg
10 types. Doing one of each comes to 30 segments — about 1.9 days.
Ambrus’s cellars — 1 segment each
- Seeing Red · 1 seg
- Uninvited · 1 seg
- Trouble Brewing · 1 seg
All three for 3 segments, less than half of one court activity.
The order the boyars are meant to be fought
For the fights themselves — the Ambrus duel, the Bakir maze, and what each one’s blood gives you — see the boyars page.
PowerPyx recommends Ambrus, then Bakir, then Xanthe, on level range rather than story reasons. IGN says the order is yours to choose, with Ambrus meant to be first because he rules the north; Rock Paper Shotgun’s Bakir guide assumes he comes last. Nothing forces it. Each has a quest attached — The Gilded Gauntlet, The Lunar Game and The Cycle of Love. Once all three are dealt with and Infamy is maxed, skipping time to the next day unlocks A Deal with the Devil, the final quest. What each Infamy level does to the valley, and what stays locked until level 4, is on the Infamy page.
If Ambrus or Bakir is still alive, they turn up as bosses inside the castle assault instead — PC Gamer’s endings guide puts Ambrus in the entrance hall and Bakir in the dungeon, and says that in a daytime assault you cannot drink their blood or invite them in — so skipping one is a trade, not a saving. Xanthe works differently; the Xanthe page covers what killing or sparing her changes in the castle.
Is it worth doing more than you need?
Only if you want them. Court activities are repeatable, so it is possible to spend a lot of budget here — 30 segments per full sweep — but Infamy caps out, and past that point you are paying for loot and XP rather than progress. Given that combat itself is free, grinding activities is one of the few genuinely wasteful things you can do with your time. The planner counts each activity once, so if you intend to run several, add 3 segments per extra run on top of what it shows before you commit to a sweep.
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