A Mother's Plea: bringing Ocha home, or not
The Matriarch sends you to find her daughter. The daughter is in a Svartrau tavern, owes a crime boss, and has her own plan for him.
A Mother's Plea comes from the Uriash Matriarch — Polygon calls her the Elder, GameSpot names her Bakr-Erga. GameSpot's setup is that she is the last in line of the village elders because her daughter, Ocha, is missing. The r/Blood_of_Dawnwalker route post says choosing the peaceful approach in Song of the Mountain unlocks both A Mother's Plea and Ocha's own quest, The Heart Wants What It Wants; Game8 and the route post put them at 3 and 4 time segments. You do not have to go in that order: Polygon says you can stumble on Ocha's quest in a Svartrau tavern first, and IGN plays it before the Uriash quests even begin.
In Svartrau: Ocha, Nora and Andrei
- 1.
Find her in Altenmarkt
GameSpot says only that she is in one of Svartrau City's taverns; IGN pins it to the bar on the west side of Altenmarkt.
- 2.
Take the fistfight
Talking to her starts one. GameSpot says to win for a calmer talk; Polygon says winning or losing does not matter. Afterwards Nora steps in.
- 3.
Get a memento from Andrei
Ocha and Nora are under the crime boss Andrei, and Ocha means to hex him — which needs something of his.
- 4.
Take the ring, not the cleaver or pendant
GameSpot and Polygon both say the ring is the only memento that works. Andrei and his men attack if you intervene in what you walk in on; Polygon warns that killing Andrei yourself skips Ocha's spell.
- 5.
Nora is taken
Back with Ocha, GameSpot says to answer “We should stick to the plan.” Polygon: open the pig pen to distract the guard, then draw the symbol on the window. IGN says that with the ring the hex makes Andrei kill himself.
- 6.
Crayfish by the river
Meet Ocha by the water — Polygon puts it at the bridge southwest of Svartrau City — and catch three crayfish. GameSpot has you sit by her campfire; Polygon says the crayfish do not change the outcome.
Getting into Andrei’s hideout
By day
Pay for the way in: the beggar on the street for 50 denarii (Polygon calls it the better deal) or Katja for 400. Then tell the butcher at the front entrance you have silver to sell — Dragan in Polygon’s guide.
By night
Climb to the balcony with your vampiric powers. Polygon says to Shadowstep onto it on the south side of the building and go in through the unlocked door.
The talk by the fire decides her future
| Outcome | Polygon’s lines, in order | What follows |
|---|---|---|
| She goes home | “Do you miss home?”, “Meh, nothing better than homemade food,” “Other villagers just cared about themselves.” | Polygon: she returns to Uriash Village to become the new Elder. |
| She stays in the city | “Do you like the city?”, “New things can be exciting, sure,” “Our neighbors helped a bit.” | GameSpot: she and Nora run Andrei’s syndicate. Polygon: Ocha becomes the new crime boss. |
GameSpot describes two outcomes and gives the same opening questions; Polygon counts four, adding Ocha travelling with Nora or alone. Either way, both guides say the Matriarch rewards you when you return to Uriash Village, even if her daughter stays away. With Ocha as the city's crime boss, Polygon says mentioning her makes bandits leave you alone, and GameSpot notes the same thing. Polygon also has her teaching Swordmastery afterwards, in a place that depends on the ending; PC Gamer says the teacher only unlocks in certain endings. Her manuals are among the ones listed on the skills page.
What the two quests pay
| Quest | Reward | Who says so |
|---|---|---|
| The Heart Wants What It Wants | 250 XP, 150 denarii, Broad Swing Manual | IGN and GameSpot; Polygon names the denarii and the manual |
| A Mother’s Plea | 250 XP, 150 denarii, Soul Stigma Manual | GameSpot |
The Matriarch comes back later, too: she is one of the three people who will take Bakir's amethyst ring off you in The Ring, for an epic amulet.
The Ocha bugs
Three different problems get searched as the Ocha bug. Hotfix 1.0.4 fixed Ocha turning on Coen — its note reads “Ocha will no longer attack Coen when attacked by guards.” — and, separately, an unnamed blocker in The Heart Wants What It Wants. A Steam thread reports the later training duel with Ocha as bugged, and the only workaround passed around there is to speak to Ocha before telling the Matriarch she has returned. And one Reddit player could not start A Mother's Plea at all after doing Ocha's quest before reaching the village, and suspected the out-of-order route. The details and status are on the known issues page.
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