Summary
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2returns with random encounters from the first game with unique NPCs and interesting narrative events that make them stand out. These encounters are usually found when traveling the roads of Trosky and Kuttenberg, and can be both very rewarding and even dangerous in unexpected ways.
Other than the occasional bandit or Cuman ambush, Henry can encounter all sorts of odd figures and helpful strangers that make traveling far more interesting. While not always providing monetary rewards, some encounters are worth keeping an eye out for while spurring Pebbles along.
9Hornet The Mercenary
You can first meet Hornet, a traveling mercenary looking for gold and glory, near Zhelejov or even in the tavern. Upon first meeting him, Hornet will challenge you to a duel as a way to practice his skills, and offers you a wager should you beat him.
If you do beat him, you can instead choose for him to give you an experience boost in Agility, which is usually the better choice thana handful of groschen. You can meet Hornet again in Kuttenberg, offering you the same choice after a slightly tougher duel.
8The Unluckiest Man In Bohemia
While passing by trees near roads, you might encounter a hurt man begging Henry for aid, claiming he had just fallen out of the tree. Afterbandaging his wounds, he will thank you and tell you the story of why he climbed the tree in the first place.
Claiming to be born unlucky, the man will describe his life story, from being constantly swindled of all his money, his wife leaving him, and constant sickness and injury. Despite Henry’s protests and explanations, even he admits that his tales of constant woe must mean he is supernaturally unlucky.
7Lady Of Death
While traveling at night, you might encounter an elderly woman dressed in white walking alone. She will explain to you that she is resting from her work, which involves relieving people of their suffering and aiding their pain in an eerie manner.
She will also claim to know Henry, and that she has been by his side many times, implying she is connected to Henry’s wake of death. This is one of the more supernatural elements of KCD2, and one of the few that make the world seem more surreal than just a medieval simulator.
To add to the mystery, you cannot attack her or sic Mutt on her after you finish talking.
6The Dark Lord Henry
Not the first time that Henry gets mistaken for another, you can meet a traveler on the road that immediately claims Henry is the dark lord himself. You can then choose to keep up the ruse, pretending to be the Devil and asking the stranger what he desires.
He will ask from Dark Lord Henry the power of always winning at dice to get back at his rival for stealing his fortune. you may either choose to accept the villager’s soul as an acceptable payment, or claim some groschen, which might be more beneficial to Dark Lord Henry.
5Taking Drinks From Strangers
In one of the riskier random encounters you can find along the road, a nearly drunken man will call to you, asking to join him in a celebration. Claiming his son was just born, he asks Henry to join him in a toast using an old brandy given to him by his late father.
If you suspect nothing and take a drink, you will immediately fall unconscious and wake up hours later with less groschen than you started the day with. If you deny the drink, you will get into a fistfight, and later finda Lullaby potionin his inventory, so make sure you aren’t too wounded before taking him on.
4Balthazar
A dark and mysterious stranger you may find taking rest at campsites, Balthazar will claim to know you, and admit you are lucky not to be a current contract of his. Through dialogue with Balthazar, it is clear he is a sort of hired assassin, who is aware of both you and your adventures in Trosky.
Balthazar also acts as a vendor, selling various poisons and poison recipes as well as one of the die pieces needed to complete the Devil set. If you don’t feel any sort of way about killing paid assassins that are willing to take bounties on your head, you can choose to kill Balthazar and loot his inventory from his body.
If you do not loot or buy from Balthazar when you first meet, you won’t get another chance later in the game.
3Jarda The Great
Along the road you will eventually be stopped by a well-dressed gentleman and his shirtless friend, who he claims to be Jarda the Great. Jarda’s friend will command you to pay tribute to Jarda the Great, on account of him being the toughest man in the world.
If you refuse, you will duel Jarda in hand-to-hand combat, who turns out to be a surprisingly strong opponent. Even if you win the fight, Jarda will twist the situation in Jarda’s favor and claim him to be an even greater fighter than ever before.
2Riddler Barley
Riddler Barley is a traveling riddlemaker and adventurer who claims to make his wealth off of wages involving his many riddles. You can encounter Barley up to four times during your adventure, with varying degrees of difficulty when solving his puzzles in return for hundreds of groschen at a time.
Upon successfully solving his puzzles, he will either offer you groschen for your wager or have him give you experience in a handful of skills instead. Luckily, Barley appears in both regions, meaning you won’t have to travel back and forth in Trosky to trigger all the riddles.
1Henry’s Almost Wife
When traveling the roads of Kuttenberg, Henry is stopped by a woman wearing a floral crown, claiming Henry is the man she has been waiting for. She admits to seeing Henry in her dreams, and that she won a sort of competition involving floating wreathes down a river, which makes her claims true.
However, as soon as Henry lets it slip that he is from a peasant village and not from the city or any sort of royalty, she immediately loses interest and claims it couldn’t have been Henry in her dreams. Although a slightly misogynistic take on courtship, it is nonetheless an encounter that is hard to forget.
