Exotic dangers from far-off lands have always had a lurid appeal to European imaginations, be they slavering Huns, heathen Turks or bloodthirsty Mongolian hordes. Despite these fearsome foreigners, reality is often more pedestrian - neighbors are almost always a greater threat to your property and wellbeing than some fantastical distant terror. Princes will war over national boundaries, villages will feud over pasturage and peasants will brawl over property lines, and in many cases these domestic disputes are more bloody and inspired more deeply-rooted hatreds than any foreign invasion. This page will provide a walkthrough for the side quest Frogs in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2.

Page Breakdown¶

Starting Frogs¶

To start this quest, you need to travel to Zhelejov during the day, where you should find Old Olbram - an old man wearing red either lounging about or working about the farm. You may have heard of a feud between Tachov and Zhelejov, and sure enough, if you talk to Old Olbram he’ll be only too keen to tell you about how the Tachovites are smug, pasture stealing bastards. Fortunately Old Olbram has a cure for Tachov’s arrogance - steal their precious maypole and bring it back to Zhelejov.

You can chat quite a bit to learn about the animosity between the two villages, but as far as this quest is concerned the major takeaways are: you need to chop down the top of the maypole to get the wreath, you must not get caught or the Tachovites will kick your arse, and you are not to murder anybody. This is a prank against an obnoxious neighbor, not a blood feud. Of course, casual fisticuffs does seem to be very much part of the Zhelejov-Tachov relationship, but as an outsider your greatest asset is your anonymity. This starts the quest Frogs.

Learn About the Maypole¶

Before you get up to any petty vandalism and theft, you’ll need to gather some intel. Head to Tachov and go to the inn/tavern, where you’ll want to seek out several key NPCs: Innkeeper Prochek (Old Olbram’s main nemesis, it seems), Innkeeper Voyka, and Manka, all members of the same family. Bring up the maypole and you may have to pass a Speech check, but in return you’ll learn about Henik, who is courting Manka, much to her parents’ (the two Innkeepers) chagrin. Both want you to beat Henik up, and apparently you can provoke him by insinuating he and his brothers are rootless vagabonds.

Manka, on the other hand, wishes Henik could sneak away from this whole maypole-guarding business so they could meet up. This gives you two ways to deal with Henik, guardian of the maypole.

Deal with Henik¶

Henik can be found in or around a house south of the maypole, and you’ve got two ways of dealing with him - smack him around a bit after provoking him, or arrange a date between him and Manka. The former is more lucrative, as Old Olbram will give you 25 groschen if you beat up Henik, and most of Tachov will admire or even praise you for it, but Manka, of course, will be unhappy. The date approach is easier as you don’t have to win a fist-fight, it’s just a bit of playing errand boy between Manka and Henik.

Pick a Fight with Henik¶

If you want to fight Henik, talk to him and ask about his brothers until you get the option to say “So when will you run off?”, which will provoke Henik to violence. You can fight him with armor on, giving you a massive advantage - nigh insurmountable if you don’t let your stamina deplete, even if your Unarmed skill is low. Henik honestly isn’t much of a fighter, despite his reputation, and a few solid punches should cause him to quit the fight, abandon the maypole, and spend the rest of the day sulking. You can talk to Manka’s parents to gain reputation after this, while you’ll lose reputation with Manka if you talk to her.

Get Henik a Date¶

Alternatively if you don’t care to fight, talk to Henik and avoid mentioning his brothers. Instead, say “I talked to Manka about you.”, then “I’ll take over for you, so you two can go out.”. After this, talk to Manka, then return to Henik to finalize the plan. Once that’s been decided, head up to the maypole and wait until 22:00, then talk to Henik and send him off on his date, and more importantly, away from the maypole.

Steal the Maypole¶

Once you’re done dealing with Henik, one way or another, rest at the maypole until 24:00 or so, then make sure the coast is clear - no guards wandering around with torches on the nearby roads, no nosey innkeepers coming to love on Mutt, or anything else. When the coast is clear, climb the maypole and a fairly lengthy scene will play out. Once it’s over, be sure to grab the Tachov maypole from off the ground - Henry doesn’t automatically pocket it, and if you run off without it, it’ll eventually be collected by a Tachovite (likely one of the innkeepers) and locked away. For the effort of climbing and chopping down the maypole you’ll gain EXP in Strength, Agility and Vitality.

When the maypole is secured, sneak away and navigate back to Zhelejov. You’ll have to wait until morning (around 8:00) until Old Olbram wakes up and starts roaming about where you can talk to him. Give him the maypole and he’ll reward you with 45 groschen, as well as an additional 25 groschen if you beat up Henik.

Old Olbram isn’t done yet, however - he’s got another prank he wants you to play on the Tachovites: drive some of their sheep off the disputed pasturage. This is accompanied by two subobjectives: “give Alshik a digestive potion” (which Old Olbram will furnish for you) and “soil the Tachov lot’s laundry”. This requires a bit more sneakiness than the maypole heist did, but if you’re patient and aware of the Tachovite’s routines, you can accomplish these tasks without being detected and losing any reputation, and it pays a good bit more than the maypole caper did. If you decline to keep pranking on Old Olbram’s behalf, Frogs will fail.

Give Alshik a Digestive Potion¶

Your primary goal is to drive off the Tachovite’s sheep, which are located on a field along the southwestern edge of the village, just west of the Grocer. The sheep pen is further west, near a road, while the laundry is between the pen and the Grocer, drying on the grass. Your main obstacles are an old woman who watches over the laundry and Alshik, who watches over the sheep. You can, if need be, knock Alshik out via stealth chokehold or fisticuffs, but Old Olbram gave you an easier means of incapacitating Alshik.

Head to the Tavern along the northeastern edge of the village, head inside where the stew pot is being kept, then exit through a door near said stew pot to the north. Once outside, immediately turn right (east) to find a bench and on a stump nearby a bowl containing Alshik’s snack. You should get a prompt to “Improve Alshik’s snack”, and if you do this you’ll empty the digestive potion into the bowl. You’ll need to do this before 13:00, as that’s when Alshik eats his lunch. Head over to the aforementioned location sometime in the morning, make sure you’re sneaking and nobody is around, then spike the bowl. Wait until 13:00~ and the objective to deal with Alshik should automatically complete, removing him from the pasture and allowing you to scare off his sheep unimpeded.

Chase the Sheep Out of the Pasture and Soil the Tachov Lot’s Laundry¶

You should find a herd of unguarded sheep near the pen along the southwestern edge of Tachov. To scare the sheep, all you need to do is walk up to them, run into their rear if you have to, then just walk behind them to keep them moving. If they start to veer in a direction you don’t want them to, circle around to their flank to get them to turn back towards your destination. Note that the sheep are more afraid of Mutt than of Henry, and Mutt’s meandering can make this marginally more annoying so command him to stay somewhere out of the way. You should also endeavor to sneak while doing this so you don’t get caught. This will be easier if you have the Creeping Phantom perk(s), but they’re not strictly necessary.

With Alshik gone, the only possible fly in the ointment should be the old lady on the nearby hill watching the laundry. The sheep aren’t her responsibility, but you’ll still lose reputation if she sees you running off with them, or if you guide them onto her laundry. To do this, just chase the sheep in the method described above onto the piles of laundry. There are several clusters of sheets lying around, each of which counts as one of the four objectives you need to befoul, and there are also some less visible clothes near these sheets. With some skillful herding you can quickly run a single sheep across all the laundry you need and be done with this sub-objective… the only problem, of course, is the old lady herself.

Fortunately she’s not single-mindedly devoted to her task, and will wander off from time to time, giving you the opportunity to drive a sheep over the laundry. Wait an hour and see if she goes, and if so, try to mess up as much laundry as you can. Once that’s done, turn your attention to the six sheep you need to chase off the pasture - same thing as the laundry, except your goal is the woods to the southwest. Drive them into the forest one at a time (while sneaking, if the old lady on the hill is around) and once the sixth is gone this main objective will be complete. It’s entirely possible to do this without losing a bit of reputation, but if you get caught repeatedly, you could lose 40+ reputation. That said, the old lady didn’t seem keen on calling any guards, so you’re mostly just mitigating reputation loss here.

Once all six bleaters have been spooked into the woods, return to Old Olbram and report your deeds. For scaring off the sheep you’ll get 45 groschen. Complete all three objectives and you’ll get 85 groschen as a bonus. If you manage all these feats without being detected your bonus will instead by 135 groschen. All in all, 200~ groschen for a few juvenile pranks isn’t a bad day at the office for Henry.

Old Olbram has more in store for you, however, and he’ll invite you to join the Zeheljovites when they head to the pasture to confront the Tachovites about the land. Inquiring about it will start the quest [Battle of Frogs and Mice], but you can just avoid picking the dialog option “What’s the next step of your master plan?” if you prefer to take care of other business, first… like heading back to Tachov and talking to Innkeeper Prochek to start the Tachov quest [Mice]. Old Olbram will also serve as a trainer now, training you in Craftsmanship, Houndmaster and Horsemanship (all basic tier), if you’re willing to pay.