Patches’ Questline
Patches is a bandit leader, a merchant, a Recusant and a liar, usually all at the same time. He ambushes you in Murkwater Cave, grovels when the fight goes badly, and then keeps popping up across the Lands Between with advice that is sometimes useful and sometimes a trap. Old FromSoftware fans will know exactly what they are dealing with.
Following him pays off with a solid shop, the Magma Whip Candlestick, a handful of gestures, and a surprisingly tender errand that ties into Tanith‘s story at Volcano Manor.
Walkthrough
- Spring the trap in Murkwater Cave. In Murkwater Cave in Limgrave, go through the golden fog into the boss room and open the chest for the Cloth Garb and Cloth Trousers. Patches drops down and attacks. Bring his health to half and he gives up, granting you the Grovel for Mercy gesture. Reload the area and his shop is open.
- Mercy works both ways. If you keep hitting him he fights again. If he gets your health low, he offers the Extreme Repentance gesture, and using it makes him stop.
- Open the other chest (optional). After you return, a second chest sits in his room. It is a trap that teleports you to the Mistwood, and you cannot fast travel until you rest at a Site of Grace. Go back to Patches afterwards for the Calm Down! gesture.
- Meet him on the Scenic Isle (optional). In Liurnia of the Lakes, Patches camps near the Scenic Isle Site of Grace. He talks about Rya and about the Abductor Virgin beneath the Academy of Raya Lucaria, which he claims will carry you to the base of the Erdtree. It actually sends you to the Subterranean Inquisition Chamber on Mt. Gelmir. Clear that chamber and return to him for new dialogue, plus the Calm Down! gesture if you did not get it earlier.
- Get kicked off a cliff (optional). On Mt. Gelmir, head west from the First Mt. Gelmir Campsite Site of Grace, past the siege tower, then north. Patches tells you to follow a trail of Glowstones to a ledge, and then kicks you off it.
- Take his contract at Volcano Manor. After you join the Recusants, Patches waits in the entrance corridor of Volcano Manor. Once you have finished Tanith’s first request, he passes you his own target: Great Horned Tragoth.
- Hunt Great Horned Tragoth. Tragoth is in the Magma Wyrm Makar boss room in the Ruin-Strewn Precipice. Kill him, return to Patches and talk until he runs out of words. Rest at a Site of Grace, speak to him again and he gives you the Magma Whip Candlestick.
- Check in after Rykard. Once Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy is dead, go back to Patches in the manor and exhaust his dialogue.
- Find him wounded in The Shaded Castle. Patches now sits, badly hurt, in the hallway leading to Elemer of the Briar in The Shaded Castle. Talk to him to receive the Dancer’s Castanets.
- Deliver the castanets. Offer them to Tanith in Rykard’s boss room. She refuses them, but they disappear from your inventory all the same.
- One last ambush. Return to Murkwater Cave and open the chest in the boss room. Patches attacks again. Hit him once and he stops, giving you the Patches’ Crouch gesture, and his shop is back in business.
Missable steps & failure conditions
- Killing him ends it all. If you kill Patches you get Patches’ Bell Bearing, his Spear +7, his Leather armour and a Golden Rune 1, but whatever is left of his questline is lost.
- The Tragoth contract needs Tanith’s first request. Patches only hands you the job after you have finished Tanith’s first hunt in the Volcano Manor Questline.
- Do not trust the second chest. The extra chest in Murkwater Cave teleports you away and blocks fast travel until you rest.
- His Abductor Virgin tip is a trick. His tip about the Abductor Virgin under the Academy drops you into the Subterranean Inquisition Chamber, not at the Erdtree.
Endings & consequences
- Tanith. Tanith was a dancer before she became Rykard’s consort, and Patches wants the castanets returned to her. Giving them adds a small, sad note to the end of the Volcano Manor Questline.
- Patches survives. As long as you spare him, he ends the story back in Murkwater Cave, shop open and still scheming.