The Varnhold Vanishing (2024)

The Varnhold Vanishing is a quest in Pathfinder: Kingmaker.

Journal[ | ]

Walkthrough[ | ]

• Although this quest shares the name with the chapter, but the main objectives are all handled in The Lost Relic quest.

• Until the quest is completed you will be receiving undead attack events, days shown in An Ancient Curse quest deadline timers for convenience:
  • Undead Sightings 207AAC4, 177AAC4
  • Undead Cyclopes Attack 147AAC4, 127AAC4, 107AAC4, 87AAC4, 67AAC4
  • If you delay for too long, you will get warnings about the quest's deadline: 117AAC4, 87AAC4, 78AAC4, 71AAC4, 64AAC4
  • On 57AAC4 you will get The Call of Abaddon Game Over event.
• A reasonable time to spend on this quest is completing it before "Undead Cyclopes Attack" events. But the sooner you complete it the better.

Discover what happened to Varnhold's inhabitants[ | ]

• Locations related to information for this quest are following: Varnhold, Varnhold Stockade, Special Encounter (Barbarian Hunting Party), Overgrown Cavern and Kellid Barbarian Camp.

Varnhold, Varnhold Stockade[ | ]

• In Varnhold and Varnhold Stockade you will meet spriggans and no sight of original inhabitants of the town.
• When you get to the Throne Room of Varnhold you will meet Agai.
  • You can attack him right away or do Diplomacy DC 30check(+720xp) to find out about Overgrown Cavern, but he will attack you after that anyway.
    • You can gain more experience if you skip this check, see below.
  • After beating up Agai or killing several of his henchmen you will talk to him again.
    • If you didn't pass the previous [Diplomacy] check you can ask him about his old home
      1. Diplomacy DC 30check(+720xp), failure allows you to try the other option, unless you have Tristian in party who will back you up.
      2. Intimidate DC 25check(+180xp), failure allows you to try the other option.
    • If you manage to persuade him to tell about Overgrown Cavern this way you get an extra +135xp.
  • In the end you need to decide what to do with the spriggans:
    1. [Requires Lawful] makes him go away, you get +202xp and unlock additional dialogue options with Bolga whom you will meet in Overgrown Cavern.
    2. (Chaotic Good) option lets him go away.
    3. (Lawful Evil) [Attack] is to finish him off.
• Upon exiting the location you will be greeted by Raven who will try to pry out your name.
• You can try to scare him off with Dexterity DC 18check(+33xp) or engage in dialogue for some alignment choice options.

Special Encounter (Barbarian Hunting Party)[ | ]

• Visiting Varnhold unlocks Special Encounter (Barbarian Hunting Party) where you will meet Nober.
• If you have Amiri in the party his group will be friendly from the start. Otherwise you will have to persuade them:
  1. Tell them that you are baron/baroness of the local lands: Diplomacy DC 19check(+45xp) if you are an Elf, Half-Elf, Halfling or Gnome. No check for other races. Valerie will back you up if you fail the check.
  2. Hidden Perception DC 21check or having Tristian in party to notice the sick woman and help healing her. (Neutral Good) and (Lawful Neutral) choices, 469 as a reward. [Ashman_likes_us +1]
  3. Give them Camping supplies and rations x2.
• Once they are friendly you can ask them several questions and reveal Kellid Barbarian Camp location. Also you can heal the woman without any checks if you haven't done so already. [Ashman_likes_us +1]
• For four races mentioned above you can kill them with (Lawful Evil) choice, but only when they are unfriendly. If you had Amiri do the negotiations then you get (Chaotic Evil) options.
• For the rest of the races it's (Chaotic Evil) in both cases.

Overgrown Cavern[ | ]

• There you will meet a barbarian group led by Bolga.
• First you will have to pass through the guards.
  1. If you have Amiri you get auto-pass here as well.
  2. Tell them that you are baron/baroness: Diplomacy DC 20check(+45xp) for Elf, Half-Elf, Halfling or Gnome races and no-check for others. Valerie will back you up on failed check.
  3. Tell them that you are just a traveller: Diplomacy DC 20check(+45xp)
  4. Intimidate DC 25check(+180xp), failure leads to combat.
  5. Pay 500
  6. [Attack] to kill them all. Can be done as (Lawful Evil) for Elf, Half-Elf, Halfling or Gnome.
• As long as you persuaded them to let you come in you can talk to Bolga
• Most of the information is flavor, but you can reveal Kellid Barbarian Camp location. Also you can rest one for free or [Attack] them.
• But the most notable is "The spriggans who lived in this cave are under my protection. Please leave so they can return to their home." line, if you have used [Requires Lawful] choice with Agai back in Varnhold Stockade.
  • Do not select this option until you have finished all the dialog options that you want, because they will immediately leave the cave if you succeed at the check.
• You get to persuade Bolga and her group to leave.
  1. Intimidate DC 23check(+90xp)
     • Success: [Ashman_likes_us +1].
     • Failure: leads to combat.
  2. Diplomacy DC 22check(+67xp), failure allows you to [Attack] or give up.
  3. Bluff DC 21check(+56xp), failure allows you to [Attack] or give up.
  4. (Chaotic Neutral) option to give up.
• If you have persuaded the barbarians to leave or killed them in this way then next time you enter the location Agai and spriggans will be here.
  • You can mention your part in helping him by driving off the barbarians +1440xp
  • Also you can ask him about spriggans, but that would require passing Diplomacy DC 20check(+45xp) or Intimidate DC 17check(+28xp)
  • You can [Attack] them if you wish so.

Kellid Barbarian Camp[ | ]

• Entering the location will cause Bolga and her group to leave the Overgrown Cavern and also lock out Special Encounter (Barbarian Hunting Party) if you didn't get it yet.
• Once you try to get into the camp Book Event (Kellid Barbarian Camp) will happen, you can make there several choices that will earn you respect among barbarians or anger them, including Diplomacy DC 21check(+56xp) and Athletics DC 20check(+45xp) on the last page.
• Then a dialogue with Dugath will begin which will start The Lost Relic and you can talk to Defaced Sister (Kellid Barbarian Camp) for Along the Cold Trail.

Conclusion[ | ]

• The rest of the things you need to do is handled in Along the Cold Trail and then The Lost Relic.
• But nothing really stops you from ignoring those two quests and going straight for Vordakai's Tomb and defeating Vordakai.

Unused codes[ | ]

• Addendum_2_4 (a86e56e7de08d974fb1a1e3a115dcfac)
• Addendum_3_2 (2656faf7b82ff0c498414ecd9a8dc8a0)
• How did barbarians end up here? They sure are far from their homeland! Maybe these warlike strangers are behind the disappearance of the region's peaceful residents...
• Addendum_3_3 (daa9f45af77e3224b9ebd1b094162501)
• Addendum_3_4 (f68710e4755d5b34cbc04a7e4a8f106e)