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A Bitter Rival
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Details
Start
Complete The First Step on the Road to Glory
Location
Ancient Tomb
Pine Patch
Old Sycamore
Old Sycamore Caves
Time Limit
Fail Stolen Land
Type
Chapter quest
Parent Quest
Stolen Land
Reward
1000Coin
Previous Quest
The First Step on the Road to Glory
[Show Code]
BitterRival (7ff3ad3e202ada04ba10f48774005c65)

A Bitter Rival is a quest in Pathfinder: Kingmaker.

Journal[ | ]

The gnome sorcerer Tartuccio — our leader's rival for the baron's coronet — is wandering somewhere in the Stolen Lands. He is cunning, dangerous, and definitely preparing something nasty for us. One way or another, we must defeat him!
Meet with Tartuccio in the Stolen Lands +45xp 01_SeekTartuccio (4ab9cadd6fdf0e947bfdb1aa7719667a)
Our daring {name} and the insidious sorcerer Tartuccio received a special task from Jamandi Aldori — a chance to claim their own barony! But only one of them may prevail. We must seek Tartuccio out in the Stolen Lands and find out what our rival is busy with.
Examine the ancient tomb +45xp 02_ExploreOldTomb (7123d03aec749b34bb76dd36e622dfa9)
Tartuccio, our leader's ignoble rival, is searching a nearby tomb for a certain ominous artifact. Let's go there and intervene!
  • While we were chasing the bandits, Tartuccio surely had time to escape from the tomb! Will we be able to find anything there?
    Addendum_T1_WeTooLate (5fd994b3b22af2847b17fc637efad5b7)
Follow Tartuccio's trail +54xp 03_FollowTartuccioTrail (b85378eeb72d6bd4a8b00996e7c49706)
He won't fool us so easily! We'll follow the trail and find their leader!
  • We've lost too much time examining the Stag Lord's former dwelling. Wherever the trail leads us, Tartuccio may have had enough time to escape, or prepare for the encounter.
    Addendum_T2_WeTooLate (b31ecc1c73e34c444b3817123f8c14d5)
Wait until Tartuccio shows up again +54xp 04_WaitTartuccioReemerge (991e3fc1b74ce734f82c756fa58993d1)
We lost the trail, but Tartuccio can't escape so easily! Sooner or later we'll meet him again — or someone who can help us find him. And then he'll know the meaning of pursuit!
  • The old house of the Stag Lord revealed many mysteries. But who knows what our insidious rival has managed to do in the meanwhile?
    Addendum_T22_WeTooLate (9e115ee2f743e034bb93f4cd15adadba)
Explore the vicinity of the Old Sycamore +54xp 05_GoToOldSycamore (002d59dfe2fff874f9309be1c6e1e5f4)
Tartuccio, now in the guise of a kobold, has disappeared. All we know is that he's searching for a certain artifact or relic, in the vicinity of the Old Sycamore. That means our road leads there too!
  • While we fought the bloodthirsty beasts at the Temple of the Elk, Tartuccio might have found his artifact, or done something else insidious!
    Addendum_T32_WeTooLate (49ee4e38c77b8c24fb25107f4f0cd1e1)
Deliver Tartuccio to Kesten, dead or alive +72xp 06_BringTartuccioToKesten (25eaf12e12167bf419a322577a35e5bb)
As it turns out, our rival isn't quite so simple. And by that I mean, he's even more insidious than expected! Kesten Garess, Jamandi Aldori's envoy, informs us that Tartuccio is in fact a spy from the kingdom of Pitax. We need to find him immediately and deliver him to Kesten, dead or alive!
  • We made an alliance with the kobold tribe. They will help us find Tartuccio.
    Addendum_KoboldAlly (f13f4b8af902d0a4ca47cfbfe4fd1305)
  • We made an alliance with the mites. They will help us find Tartuccio.
    Addendum_MiteAlly (eac8d6dc866adcf4388fd4d669443c4f)
  • We managed to find out that Tartuccio is in the caves under the Old Sycamore!
    Addendum_TartuccioDungeon (3480c1d17c195f24caeef9e9498e81b1)
  • Tartuccio was seen entering the sacred hall under the Old Sycamore. To enter it, we shall require the mite relic, which was seized by the kobolds.
    Addendum_TartuccioChamber (4c301cafcde6fe549a810a08629dd8d8)
  • While we fought the bloodthirsty beasts at the Temple of the Elk, Tartuccio might have found his artifact, or done something else insidious!
    Addendum_T3_WeTooLate (1ff1fbb4e1ce5b74abccfab7d0a3d45d)
Tell Kesten of Tartuccio's fate +480xp 07_ReportToKesten (8a73959956cd6674098a1f5a00ab1ac5)
Alas, Tartuccio preferred to fall in battle rather than to surrender. Kesten Garess and the swordlords must learn of his fate.
Decide the fate of the relics +72xp 08_DecideRelicsFate (cc7d4afcff444fd4f8058850b644f2a4)
With Tartuccio's death, both sacred branches of the Old Sycamore came into our possession. These priceless relics were the whole reason the mites and the kobolds clashed in their cruel war. We must deal with these treasures wisely — for the dungeon dwellers, as well as for our own sakes.
  • We returned the kobold relic stolen by Tartuccio to its rightful owners!
    Addendum_BranchToKobolds (414be8296186a19479ce4c040475e664)
  • We returned the mite relic stolen by the kobolds to its rightful owners!
    Addendum_BranchToMites (c3fc3cb0e5274c541a7f4d9c7d30feaa)
  • Our leader offered {his/her} gloves as a new relics for the inhabitants of the Old Sycamore caves!
    Addendum_ChaoticChoise (1458a2964f9d10945b69303105d8126d)
  • We kept the kobold and mite relics for ourselves, and attacked our former allies instead!
    Addendum_NotGiveAnyone (a231ed83f1224d84686db1e5a4e242cf)
  • We returned both relics to their rightful owners, and brought peace to the kobolds and mites in the Old Sycamore caves!
    Addendum_ReturnedAllBranch (767650edd3403ab4a9d9d86f3f621753)
Tartuccio, the scoundrel, turned out to be a Pitax spy! He faced our glorious leader in a battle, was roundly defeated, and met his end.

Walkthrough[ | ]

Meet with Tartuccio in the Stolen Lands[ | ]

  • After exiting Oleg's Trading Post and traveling a little you will get Special Encounter (Remus) in which you meet Remus an insane or senile old man, he will reveal the Ancient Tomb for you.
    • Throughout the conversation you can optionally end it with (Neutral) choice or kill him with (Chaotic Evil) choice.

Examine the ancient tomb[ | ]

  • Visit the Ancient Tomb. If you haven't been to Thorn Ford yet, then you will meet Tartuccio here. You can convince one of the two companions that followed him to join you instead with a Diplomacy DC 10 check.

Follow Tartuccio's trail[ | ]

  • Exiting the Ancient Tomb will activate the Book Event Book Event (Ancient Tomb)
  • You can give up on chasing Tartuccio right away or pass the Lore (Nature) DC 11 check to try and chase after him, there are several information checks and dialogue options will be available, but eventually it all boils down to those choices:
    1. Follow the bigger trail, along the path beside the gully. You get Special Encounter (Tartuccio Trail Ambush) +90xp from kills.
    2. Follow the single set of footprints, down into the gully. Pass the Mobility DC 11 check and get to Pine Patch and gain extra +144xp, fail the check and lose the trail.
      • Overall tracking down Tartuccio will give more experience because of all the extra skill checks to pass.

Wait until Tartuccio shows up again[ | ]

Explore the vicinity of the Old Sycamore[ | ]

  • In Old Sycamore the war between Mites and Kobolds have begun, you can now access lower levels. At the entrance you will be greeted by Kesten Garess, if you haven't seen him there already.
  • If you prioritized Temple of the Elk over this quest and went there first, then the phrase "While we fought the bloodthirsty beasts at the Temple of the Elk, Tartuccio might have found his artifact, or done something else insidious!" will appear in the Journal. That imply something should play differently for the following steps of this quest, yet so far there's no information about any difference.

Deliver Tartuccio to Kesten, dead or alive[ | ]

  • Directly north from the place you arrive at you will witness the clash between Kobolds and the Mites. You can decide to attack them all, side with one of the groups or keep neutrality with Neutral-only dialogue option.
  • In this location you can do the following errands:
  • Tartuccio is hiding on Old Sycamore Caves level in a sanctum next to where Warrior Queen Bdaah is. But in order to get to him you need Mites' Relic which can be obtained only from Chief Sootscale through dialogue or combat.
  • In the section where you find Chief Sootscale there is a cage with the remaining companions that were in Tartuccio's team.
    • After freeing the prisoners if Octavia is in the party you get to make an alignment choice: (Lawful Good), (Chaotic Good), (Neutral), (Lawful Evil), (Chaotic Evil).
    • Warning! If any of the four companions (Harrim, Jaethal, Linzi, Valerie) is still taken by Technic League during Hand of the Technic League quest - the dialogue will bug out thinking that the companion is in kobold cage. After telling the remaining companions to join you - pick the "Tell me more about the story of Tartuccio and the kobolds, and getting locked in their prison." dialogue option and the dialog will abruptly end. Otherwise you will lose all the caged companions forever. You won't get Octavia's alignment/romance talk about freeing people from cages either, but that is a minor loss.

Decide the fate of the relics[ | ]

  • If Warrior Queen Bdaah and/or Chief Sootscale are still alive and not exiled by the time you exit Sycamore Hall, they will ask for their relics to be returned. You can either give them the relics, kill them, or pick Chaotic-only dialogue option to make them worship your gloves instead.
  • When dialogue begins you can either tell the truth or lie with (Chaotic Neutral) alignment option.
    • Truth-only options:
      1. (Lawful Good) Return both branches if you kept neutrality and both leaders are alive, you get extra +384xp
      2. (Chaotic Good) Give the branch to your ally if the other leader was exiled.
    • Lie-only choices:
      1. If you kept neutrality, give one branch to ally of your choice, the other will attack you.
    • Shared choices:
      1. (Lawful Neutral) Give the branch to your ally if the other leader was killed.
      2. [Requires Chaotic] Keep both branches and ally with remaining tribes, you get extra +72xp
      3. [Attack] Betray your allies by killing them.
  • You unlock Kobold Quarters if you allied with both, kobolds only, or chose [Chaotic-only] option when allied with Mites.
  • You can drop the relics on the ground before dialogue, so you don't have to give them away in order to sell them.

Tell Kesten of Tartuccio's fate[ | ]

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