Quests (classic)

The help window that pops up the first time you receive a quest.

There are many ways to receive quests, and each can be very useful for you and your party. They can give bonuses to both renown, morale, often give denars or thalers, and most importantly can improve your standing with other entities in the game.

Villages

Found in villages, these quests are quite useful--although completing the quests won't give you any reward in denars, they will make the village's population like you more. A population that likes you more is more likely to give you both more and better trained recruits. As they are available only sporadically, it is best to start doing these early in villages that give recruits you will need later in the game, such as Rhodoks, Vaegirs, and Nords. Additionally, if you own the fief, these quests raise the village's prosperity, which leads to higher tax income.

Village Elder

The Village Elder can only give a few quests, but completing them can increase the village’s prosperity.

• Deliver grain: You'll have to buy a certain amount of wheat and take it back to the village. Later in the game when you gain the ability to store items in your castles, shops, and wife, it can be helpful to stockpile a few bags of grain for quick access to quickly solve this quest.
• Deliver cattle: You'll have to buy or locate a certain number of Cattle herds and bring them to the village. This can be very tedious because it's quite difficult to find Cattle at a fair price, although it is not that difficult, just requires patience, to drive it back to the village. Stealing cattle is faster, but detrimental to your reputation with the village you robbed them from.
• Train peasants: You will be asked to train a militia to defend the village against bandits. This can be time-consuming if your Trainer Skill is low. Every time you finish training some militia, you'll have to face them as a test. After you have trained 5 villagers, the village will be attacked by bandits and you will have to help defend it.

Others

• Bandit Infestation: Occasionally Bandits will take up residence in the village and will need to be cleared out. This quest is initiated through several means: entering the village during the infestation, completing the Train peasants quest, or meeting a Farmer in a nearby Tavern.
• Help peasant: Within a village center, talking to random villagers will sometimes yield one who has suffered recent disaster, especially if the village is poor. Giving them 300 denars will raise your reputation by 1. While this is more expensive over the long run, it is almost always available in a village with poor or worse prosperity and can sometimes be the only way to improve your standing with it.

Towns

Found in towns, these quests involve helping the people of the town in some way. Completing the quests will make the town's population like you more, and it will allow you to gain some denars.

Quest Merchant

Warband introduced new tutorial quests through the Quest Merchant.

• Collect five men: Recruit at least 5 troops through any means and return to the Quest Merchant in the town's tavern.
• Learn where the hostages are held:Defeat the Band of Robbers that are just outside the town.
• Attack the bandit lair: When you defeat the robbers, you get the quest to retrieve the Merchant's brother. Attack the bandit lair then return to the Merchant.
• Save town from bandits: After defeating the bandits, the Merchant will ask you to assist him in defending the town. If you accept, you will lead a group of townspeople and guards against a band of looters and bandits.

Guild Masters

The Guild Masters stand around in towns in various locations. While they are clearly visible in some towns, in others they can be hard to find. Just look for someone who is better dressed than the average townsman and is not standing near a merchant stall.

• Deliver wine: You will be asked to deliver some Wine to the Tavern of a certain town. Simple and quite rewarding.
• Escort merchant caravan: You will be asked to escort a Merchant Caravan to a certain city. Quite simple and low-rewarding in terms of thalers, but you can get few hundreds of experiences; the exact amount perhaps depends on the distance between the two cities. The caravan will follow you until you get to the city, then you will have to speak with them to complete the quest. You will have to speak to the caravan master twice in total.
• Deal with troublesome bandits: You have to kill a large group of bandits, which usually will spawn nearby. It is advised to do it quickly, as they will not wait in one place. The quest is failed (not cancelled!), when someone else kills the bandits before you. Even providing help to anyone fighting them has the same result. If the bandits should join with another group when you engage them, they no longer count as your quest target, making even a victory cause the quest to be failed. The only way to succeed is to attack them before they meet another lord, or engage you with another group of bandits. The reward is quite low (usually less than 100 denars).
• Rescue kidnapped girl: You will be asked to rescue a kidnapped girl from some bandits who are demanding a ransom; the guild master will give you the money for the ransom at the beginning of the quest. After you have found the bandits (on the map they are called "Bandits Awaiting Ransom") you can choose to pay the ransom off, or you can choose to fight them and keep the money. Of course, if you choose the second option you won't be asked to return the money at the end of the quest. After you have dealt with the bandits, you have to take the girl into your Party and escort her to the town.
  • -Bug- (Fixed in Latest patch) If you do NOT complete the quest within the time frame, the "Bandits Awaiting Ransom" will not disappear allowing you to rescue the girl, but NOT take her back. She will be stuck in your party until you find some way to get rid of her, for example: get imprisoned (You cannot disband her).
• Move cattle: This quest seems similar to the one with the caravan. Unfortunately the cattle run away from the player instead of following you. It is not as difficult as it sounds, but requires some practice. Your party is usually quicker than the herd, so careful maneuvering should make the cows to follow the right path. Doing zigzags behind them usually is the best way to prevent them from escaping. It's easier to steal cattle from other villages.
• Persuade lords to make peace: You will be asked to stop the war between the Guild Master's faction and another one (the guild master's faction has to be at war for this quest to be available) within 30 days. To achieve this, you have to convince one named lord from each of the factions to accept a peace treaty. This can be achieved either through bribery (with the possibility of using persuasion to reduce the price), or by capturing the lord in question. Capturing a lord is very difficult, as he will usually escape when defeated. Bribery is a lot easier, though you will still have to find the lord first. Bribery costs 7000 for one of the lords and 1500 for the other one. The one you speak to first always seems to be the one who requires the higher sum. The reward for completing this quest is quite a bit higher than for any of the other quests as you will get 4000 experience and 12,000 denars in addition to an improvement in your relation with the town where you got the quest by 5 and a small increase in renown.
• Deal with looters: You have 30 days to deal with bands of looters in the surrounding area, with each elimination earning you a reward in denars. You can report back to the Guild Master during the 30-day period and you will be rewarded accordingly.
• Track Down Bandits: This quest can be very frustrating. You have to kill a specific bandit unit which is somewhere on the map within 60 days. You can question other travellers (lords, villagers and merchant caravans) and get the time and place of their last encounter. After completing this quest you are rewarded with 2000 experience, 1000 denars and your reputation with the city increases by 2. It's worth taking if you have high spotting and tracking skills.
• Deal with night bandits: The guild master will ask you to deal with the night bandits who attack lone travellers at night, in this quest you must fight alone versus two or more bandits.

Others

• Help townsperson: Within a town center, talking to random townspeople will sometimes yield an unemployed one who asks you for 300 denars to help, especially if the town is poor. Paying the 300 denars will raise your reputation by 1.
• Bandit Infestation: A farmer in the tavern lives in a village nearby the town where you will meet him. He asks you to deal with the bandits in his village. If you go to the village, the bandits are there, raiding the village. Attack and defeat them to complete the quest. Note: If you use cheats to level up above level 62, the quest will nearly be impossible, as there can be thousands of bandits in that village, against which you are no match (also freezing/melting your computer during it) and you will have to forget the quest.

Nobles

Lords

Found in towns, castle keeps, or with their party, their quests include collecting taxes, catching criminals or delivering messages. They may also wish to borrow one of your heroes.

• Collect taxes: You will be asked to collect the taxes from a town or a village. While collecting, and after enough time has passed, you will be asked if you wish to continue collecting (citizens/villagers will get angry and even revolt; you'll have to fight them and you'll lose relationship with that town/village) or to halve the taxes (the Lord who gave you the quest won't give you any reward). If you collect all the taxes, you'll get one fifth of them from the Lord. Note: once you've completed this quest, the time limit is removed. If you are feeling a little greedy, you can keep the money for yourself (usually about 5000 denars). There is no penalty for not completing the quest except that you can no longer get quests from the lord who gave it to you. This means that the only time it is particularly problematic to not finish this quest is if you need your relationship with the lord to be increased. You can always finish the quest a later date if you want to, but gaining this much money earlier in the game is much more beneficial than later in the game.
• Hunt down fugitive: You will be asked to kill a criminal who took refuge in a village. You must go to the village center, and find a character named "Nervous Man"; talk to him and kill him. Go collect your reward (usually 300 denars); if you refuse to get paid, you'll gain honor, but will always lose reputation with the village you found and killed the man in.
• Escort lady to town: A lady related to the lord who will give you this quest will join your party. Escort her to the destination (a town) and she will give you a reward.
• Lend companion: You will be asked to lend one of your heroes to the Lord for about a week. After some time go back to the Lord and he will return your companion to you (Warning, if the lord you lent your hero to is convicted of treason, that hero will be lost forever).
• Lend surgeon: You will be asked to lend one of your best Surgeon to the Lord for a few hours.
• Deliver message to friendly lord: You will be asked to deliver a message to a certain Lord. Find him and speak to him. A simple quest for beginners.
• Collect debt from lord: You will be asked to return some money lent to a Lord on behalf of another Lord. To convince the lord into giving you the money back (usually 3500 denars), you can sacrifice your relationship status with him, effectively diminishing your standing in his eyes, or pay him (persuading him may rise/lower the cost). Return the money and you'll get one fifth of the income.
• Meet spy: You will be asked to travel to a certain town and talk to a spy. You have to search during the day for the spy amongst the townsfolk. Just speak to every wandering townsperson you see. If someone answers the secret code word, then you have found the spy. If the Townsman/Townswoman says "Eh, what kinda gibberish is that?" you know you have not found the Spy. In With Fire and Sword, the spy is named townsman. If you see the nametag say townsman, then you have found the spy.
• Incriminate commander: You will be asked to send one of your elite troops inside an enemy town with incriminating evidence against an enemy Lord. Accepting to send your men in will make you lose honor. Declining the quest will decrease your relation with the lord, but increase your honor.
• Train troops: You will be asked to train a random number of troops to a specific type, e.g. you are given 10 Vaegir Recruits and will train them to Vaegir Infantry. Be sure not to train them any higher or they won't count. Note that you do not have to give the lord those exact troops; in the example given, any Vaegir Infantry would do, rescued, captured, converted or otherwise. A good way to do this is to recruit a few more than the lord gave you and train them to a reasonable level at a Training Field before bringing them into combat to level them up faster.
• Kill merchant: You will be asked to kill a merchant in the town to prevent him from causing a ruckus about the lord's debts. After accepting the quest, and waiting for a time, a message will pop up saying you have cornered the merchant in an alley. After the first few hits he will beg for mercy and you will get two options: kill him, or let him live if he agrees to drop the debts. Killing him results in the full reward and a loss of honor while letting him live cuts the reward in half. NOTE: It is also possible to kill the merchant with a one-hit kill, preventing him from asking for mercy (e.g., a head shot with a bow).
• Capture prisoners: A straight forward quest, capture the specified number of the specified troop type and return them to the king. Remember to order your companions to use blunt weapons or you may have a hard time keeping them alive.
• Capture enemy lord: Capture an enemy lord and return him to the king.
• Bring back runaway serfs: After accepting this quest, a few groups of serfs (peasants) will spawn close to the city you are in and quickly run away. When you talk to them you get the options to let them run which boosts your relation with their original village, or tell them to return which damages your relation with their hometown. Be sure to keep fairly close to those you tell to return; if you wander too far they will try to run again.
• Be a Hired Mercenary: You will be asked to join that faction as a mercenary and be paid. While a mercenary, the enemies of the faction you were hired by become your enemies and likewise with your employers allies. While a mercenary, you cannot capture land for yourself, but you can boost your relation with that faction enough so the king may ask you to become a vassal.
• Follow spy: You will be asked to follow a spy who is trying to meet with his accomplices. You should have a decent Tracking skill to do this. After you have found the accomplices of the spy you'll have to deal with them and then return to the town to receive your reward. Be advised, the spy leaves immediately! He won't wait "for a while"; the moment you leave town he'll be there.
• Destroy bandit lair: You will be asked to find and eliminate a hideout for nearby bandits within 60 days. It will appear once you walk close enough to it on the map, but you can often guess its location by watching the movement of nearby bandits. The sight range might be affected by spotting range, so searching for it during daylight is adviseable. Note that you cannot follow them back to their hideout because upon seeing you they will abandon their original route and flee directly away from you - however you may be able to follow their tracks. Completing the mission will reward you with a boost in relation with the lord by 4, 3000 experience and 1500 denars.
• Denounce Lord: You will be asked to denounce a rival lord, either to their face or to the faction's king. Simply go to the party and select the dialog option. Denouncing a lord to their face will cause a large drop in their disposition towards you. Failing when denouncing a lord to the king causes a large drop in their disposition towards you as well. You are given the option to turn in the lord who put you up to it. If you turn them in, you lose honor but regain all but 1 of the disposition you lost with the king. If you don't turn them in you gain honor. If you succeed in denouncing the lord, you get a large boost (~8) to disposition when you return to the lord who gave you the quest.
• Rescue/Ransom a Prisoner: A Lord will beseech you to recover one their family members from a prison in an opposing castle or town. Unfortunately the Ransom option does not appear to work. You can bribe the prison guard 100 denars to be allowed entry to the prison, but this does not appear to help as he keeps the key to the lord's chains (proably designed for the Deliver message to prisoner lord quest). It is necessary to either: fight the guards (convincing a nearby village to fake a fire (up to 300 Dinar bribe) drastically reduces the number of guards) or pose as the prisoner and he leaves disguised as you while you stay in prison (the guards will then discover the plot after a few days and let you go). Oddly enough, whatever your method in completing the quest, neither your relationship with the Lord of the castle, nor that of the Faction he represents will be harmed. However, you will receive a fair relationship boost with the freed prisoner and a significant boost with the quest giver in addition to 2000 denars and 4000 experience points.
• Raid caravan: A lord will ask that you provoke a war with another faction within 30 days. Accepting the quest will require you to attack a caravan of the other faction. Attacking a caravan will cause you to lose 5 relation with the opposing kingdom and also net a loss of one honor; the good thing is you get the goods that come with destroying a caravan. Once the quest is completed you will gain 10 relation with the lord who gave you the quest as well as 500 denars and 2000 experience; unfortunately you will also lose another point of honor.

Monarch

The rulers of factions provide most of the same quests as regular lords, but there are a few exceptions.

• Give an Oath of Homage: Go to the king and give him your oath of homage.

Marshall

The chosen Marshall will often summon the player when on a military campaign. When first summoned, you are given directions to his current location, though if you are far away when you receive them, it can sometimes be difficult tracking him down.

• Report to the Marshall: Go to the Marshall of your Faction. Talk to him and he will give you another quest.
• Follow Marshall: Follow the army of the marshall. If you get too far away from the army, you will fail, although the game will give you a warning first. In Warband, you can right-click on the marshall's party and select 'Accompany Party' to automatically follow him. This quest is postponed while completing any other quests given by the marshall, and reinstated upon their completion. Following the Marshall until their campaign is over can grant you a lot of Experience.
• Bring cattle: You have to buy (or steal) cattle in a village and deliver it to the marshall's army.
• Join an assault: Your marshall asks you to join an assault of a town or a castle.
• Scout: You will be asked to scout three places (usually nearby castles and villages) and then report back. To scout the places, you just have to walk close enough to them until a message appears saying that the (name) has been scouted.

Ladies

Found in towns or castle keeps, ladies need the player to champion themselves for their sake.

• Deliver message to prisoner lord:
• Duel for lady: You will be asked to defend the honor of the lady and defeat the lord that sullied her name. You must visit that lord and challenge him, in a one-on-one full equipment available battle in the tournament area. If you win, you'll lose a lot of relationship points with the lord and gain a lot with the lady, who also gives you a reward (usually 3000 denars) no matter what you say.
• Rescue prisoner lord: You will be asked to free a noble (normally the lady's husband) from a prison in an opposing castle or town. This is essentially the same quest as is given by lords.

Minister

Found at your court if you have your own faction, in addition to managing your realm, he can also issue quests that will help your control over it.

• Resolve Dispute: Two Lords have a dispute with each other, requiring your intervention.

With Fire & Sword

Main Quests

• False Dmitriy: The main quest line of the Muscovite Tsardom.
• The Deluge: The main quest line of the Polish Commonwealth.
• The Secret of the Black Mace: The main quest line of the Cossack Hetmanate.