This quest is acquired during Chapter 2, about 156 days before An Ancient Curse, Part Two begins. Visit your throne room after this date, but before Chapter 2 ends to trigger the event Letter from Fredero Sinnet. The man insists that Valerie be freed from any responsibilities to your kingdom, and returned to his service immediately.

The first thing you should do before anything else is speak with Valerie. If you’ve maintained good relations with her, she will most likely prefer to remain in your service. Go to your capital square and find Valerie on the map, just east of the entrance to the throne room.

Speak with Valerie and provide her with the letter from Fredero Sinnet. Regardless of your relations with her, she will state her determination not to return to Sinnet. Rather than send a message by letter, she wants to inform him in person at Oleg’s Trading post. You now have four options:

1. “Then it’s time to visit Oleg and Svetlana.”
2. (Chaotic Neutral) “You do know we could just ignore this letter, right?”
3. (Lawful Evil) “What if I just throw these Paladins off my lands? I’d be well within my rights.”
4. “We don’t have the time to bother with this.”

Option #1 is the most lucrative, facilitating a scenario in which you please Valerie, earn 240 Experience, and gain some valuable armour at the end of the quest. Option #2 will earn you 54 Experience and contribute to a [Chaotic Neutral] alignment, but you will still need to visit Sinnet at the trading post. The same goes for option #3, with the only difference being your preference in alignment and disapproval from Valerie. If you select option #4, you will earn 54 Experience and the quest will end.

Whatever option you choose, assuming it isn’t option #4, you will now need to visit Oleg’s Trading Post with Valerie to meet Sinnet. Be sure to take her with you and restock any essential supplies before the trip.

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The location of Oleg’s Trading Post, in the north of your kingdom.

To reach Oleg’s Trading post from your capital (default Tuskdale), take the following directions:

• Northeast
• North
• Northeast
• Northeast
• Northwest
• East
• North
• North
• Northeast
• Northwest
• Northwest
• Northwest

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(1 of 4) Buff Valerie extensively before talking to Sinnet.

When you reach Oleg’s Trading Post, be sure to equip Valerie with your best weapons, armor, and accessories before you do anything else. A fight here is unavoidable, and Valerie will have to do it alone. Even a well-built Valerie might struggle with this, but there are some cheap tricks you can do to help come out on top. First, ensure Valerie has healing potions and a Potion of Blur equipped. If she has points in the Use Magic Device skill, give her a Wand of Acid Arrow or some other similar device that deals damage with a touch attack. Also be sure to buff her ahead of the fight - Shield of Faith, Mage Armor, Bull’s Strength, etc. Finally, the best power-move you can pull is to cast Grease where Sinnet will end up dueling Valerie, which is southeast of his starting position. You might need to start the fight, note his location, then reload to target this properly.

When you’re ready, save your game and talk to Fredero Sinnet. You’ll have a number of dialogue options from this point, but all lead to the same outcome; you’ll eventually either have to choose to attack [Chaotic Evil], which botches the quest, or pick the option “I think you should talk to Valerie alone.”, after which the two will bicker and you can interrupt to little effect… unless, of course, you opt to outright attack.

Assuming you let things play out, the two will agree to duel, with you serving as Valerie’s second… which basically means you have to call the fight in the case of Valerie’s defeat. What follows is a lengthy, dull slugfest between two heavily armored characters, although Sinnet likely has superior offense given the fact that Valerie is… well, Valerie. Even with buffs it’ll likely take Valerie a good bit of luck to hit Sinnet, and although Sinnet doesn’t have a lot going for him in the way of Hit Points, his Armor Class is high and he’ll use a variety of buffs. In addition to these buffs, he’ll repeatedly use “Lay on Hands” to heal himself, prolonging the fight even further, so you absolutely shouldn’t feel any guilt in popping potions and buffing ahead of time.

Without some intervention, Valerie’s chances aren’t good, especially if you’re around level 7-8. Casting Grease where Sinnet will make his stand is a huge boon, as it’ll knock him off balance regularly and allow Valerie to score some cheap hits. Failing that, using wands to pelt Sinnet with spell effects is also a viable strategy, as Sinnet’s touch Armor Class is pretty awful. You can also chuck Alchemist’s Fire and Acid Flasks at him, should you lack the ability to properly use wands. As for Sinnet’s own offense, he’ll largely stick to spamming Sunder Armor, which would normally be crippling to Valerie, but with Mage Armor and other defensive buffs, it’ll hopefully just be a nuisance.

Regardless of whether Valerie wins or loses the fight, she won’t be going with Sinnet at this point. However, should you lose the fight, you can always reload that hard save recommended earlier, and if you want Sinnet’s excellent loot, we suggest reloading until you win. Once Valerie emerges victorious, you will have two options: let Sinnet go, or kill him. Valerie will approve of either, but only the latter earns you some decent equipment in the form of Full Plate +2, Heavy Shield +2, Flail +2, Amulet of Natural Armor +2, Ring of Protection +2, and a Belt of Giant Strength +4.

However the fight ends, you’ll notice a permanent scar across Valerie’s face from this point on. Return to your capital and speak with Valerie to complete the quest, which you can do at your leisure when you’re done with your business in the north. If you haven’t done so already, we suggest completing the quest [The Court Alchemist], since you’re already at Oleg’s Trading Post.