KINGDOM COME: DELIVERANCE 1: TIME-SENSITIVE QUESTS

KINGDOM COME: DELIVERANCE 1: TIME-SENSITIVE QUESTS Deadlines, appointments, DLC and the traps that look like timers Quest and outcome spoilers throughout, with late-story and DLC sections marked below. This is a comprehensive researched checklist for the first game and its DLC. It covers actual deadlines, time-of-day appointments, live scenes, minimum waits and progression lockouts. It is not a script audit guaranteeing identical behaviour on every build. The widely copied wiki “Timed Quests” category itself is marked unverified, so disputed timings are flagged here instead of presented as exact facts. All times below are IN-GAME. Sleeping, waiting, travel and scripted time jumps can use that time. Being late may change an outcome or fail one objective without failing the whole quest. Before accepting a time-sensitive job, make a save and get your supplies ready. Once an urgent phase begins, finish it before taking an unrelated detour. The reading course, prison and construction can consume more time than you expect. A. BASE GAME: DEADLINES AND CHANGING OUTCOMES 1. On the Scent (main) Trigger: the investigation advances out of Mysterious Ways and you learn about Reeky. Do not assume the clock starts only when you enter Ledetchko or talk to his father. Window: uncertain. Fandom says roughly a day and a half; widely used community achievement guides say three days. That is a significant disagreement. Treat this as an immediate priority rather than spending the alleged full three days elsewhere. Consequence: late arrival changes Reeky's condition and the encounter; the main quest can continue. This is not simply “fail the main story after X hours.” 2. Pestilence / Questions and Answers (side quest tied to main quest) Trigger: sources disagree on whether the underlying illness clock is tied to the Rattay briefing after Baptism of Fire, learning of the illness, or entering/talking in Merhojed. Quest acquisition and underlying world-state activation are not necessarily identical. Safest route: prepare before the post-battle briefing, then handle Merhojed without a side-quest detour. Window: historical patch notes explicitly say the QUEST FAIL time was corrected to six in-game days. Do not treat those six days as a safe allowance before anyone dies: individual stages have their own risks. The detailed wiki also advises delivering the prepared remedy within 24 hours and completing the distribution objective within its subsequent window. Consequence: people can die; individual treatment objectives and the all-patients achievement can be lost. Questions and Answers still has alternate ways forward. Advice: have literacy and supplies ready beforehand; do not interrupt this with the reading course, a long prison sentence or building spree. Distribute treatment completely before doing the required recovery wait. 3. In God's Hands (side) Trigger: accepting Johanka's request to help the infirmary. There is no reliable basis here for counting a fixed deadline from the beginning of the entire game. Window: patients begin dying after roughly three or four days; different patients need different treatments and do not share a single all-or-nothing deadline. Exact per-patient script timers were not established here. Consequence: missed treatment objectives and patient deaths; you cannot restore them simply by finishing later. Advice: prepare bandages, relevant potions and First Aid; finding Father Simon through A Man of the Cloth beforehand removes a lengthy detour. Finish the actual treatments, not merely the conversations offering to help. 4. Money for Old Rope (side) Trigger: taking the job from Hermann, rather than merely hearing an innkeeper's rumour. Window: approximately one in-game week, the delay Hermann says he can arrange. Consequence: executions proceed without your preparations and the quest can fail. Advice: know how to read before accepting; finish the preparatory work and report back. The later wait for the executions is a separate scheduled event, not permission to postpone the sabotage indefinitely. 5. Waldensians (side) Trigger: treat accepting Hanush's investigation and especially speaking with the Vicar as commitment to finish promptly. Guides commonly assign the short deadline to the Vicar conversation, but reports of the earlier phases differ. Window: published walkthrough advice is two or three days; the exact timer is not confirmed from the game scripts. Some players report much longer periods before talking to/progressing with the Vicar. Consequence: investigation can resolve without you and lose your intended outcome/fail the quest. The evening observation is an appointment inside that larger chain. 6. The House of God (side) Trigger: late investigative stage, particularly agreeing with Zmola to meet at the scaffolding that night. The earlier investigation is a separate phase; the same deadline is not established for it. Window: arrive that night, after about 22:00, and pursue the live events immediately. The deadline for the earlier investigation is not verified. Consequence: delay can change which NPC survives, miss the planned encounter, or close the investigation with an inferior explanation. Quest completion and best outcome are different things. 7. A Rock and a Hard Place / Gallows Brothers (linked sides) Trigger: agreeing to the quarry robbery in A Rock and a Hard Place starts the schedule. Window: wages arrive at noon five days after quest start; the stablemaster reports the remaining time, rather than resetting it. The relevant robbery is that night. There are alternative routes, so this is an event schedule rather than a universally mandatory five-day wait. Consequence: the heist and friends' actions may occur without your chosen preparation; survival and branches can change. Do not leave the active operation unattended. 8. Emergency Supply (side) Trigger: accepting Black Lukesh's request after the poacher branch. Window: two days to return his emergency stash. Consequence: miss the opportunity to finish his request. 9. The Sport of Kings / Talmberg Horse Race (linked sides) Trigger: arranging the race with the Talmberg stablemaster. Window: noon the FOLLOWING day, at Talmberg's gate, on Zora's dappled grey. This is not “any day at noon.” Then race the actual competitors. Consequence: missing the start loses the intended result/reward; losing a completed race is a different outcome from not appearing. 10. Next to Godliness (side) Trigger: the bathhouse evening with Hans. He is available after about 21:00. Distinguish the invitation from participating in the active night; reports about postponing the initial invitation exist. Window: finish the active bathhouse errands before morning. Consequence: objectives/outcome can be lost when the night's events move on. Do not begin the night and then ride away for a few days. 11. The Hunt Begins (main) Trigger: Bernard's departure for Neuhof after The Prey, and then the investigation. Window: ride out with the party; arriving/leaving much later changes how much of the investigation happens without Henry. Wiki specifically reports a reprimand/reputation loss after more than a day away before reporting to Bernard. Consequence: missed scenes/clues, altered bandit encounter, reprimand/reputation. The main quest remains completable. Not a universal “game over if late” quest. 12. Mysterious Ways (main) Trigger: agreeing to Godwin's tavern invitation. Window: that evening. Once the sequence begins, stay with him through its immediate follow-ups and the next-morning church appointment. Consequence: you can miss this route and need another way to obtain the investigation's information. Does not end the main story. 13. Miracles While You Wait (side) Trigger: being asked for the burial shroud in the late phase. Window: the body/vigil is a limited opportunity; an exact hours figure was not reliably established. Consequence: the intended corpse source can disappear. Older claims that this inevitably makes the whole quest impossible are too strong: the wiki reports another suitable white monk's habit can satisfy the item trigger. Later riot/escape is also an immediate scene. 14. The Good Thief (side; debt consequence) Trigger: being told about the debt by Peshek; precise implementation disputed. Window: no trustworthy exact number established. Leaving the debt unresolved can lead to debt collectors and loss of access/standing, rather than a clearly evidenced one-shot quest timer. Consequence: pressure to settle debt; there is no reliable exact-days failure rule to give here. B. LATE MAIN-STORY SPOILERS: DEADLINES AND ACTIVE OPERATIONS 15. Payback Trigger: return to Rattay and orders to carry news of the attack to Divish. Window: reach Talmberg by 15:00 that day (wiki-reported precise cutoff). Consequence: game over if the delivery deadline is missed. Handle equipment quickly and go. 16. Cold Steel, Hot Blood Trigger: trebuchet-test cutscene and urgent news begins this quest. Window: older detailed wiki specifies 14 in-game hours to reach the battlefield. Current wiki rewrite omits the figure, so treat this as a reported 14-hour limit, rather than a figure independently checked in the scripts. Consequence: game-over screen for failing to arrive. Safest approach: go to the battle directly rather than detouring. 17. Family Values; Out of the Frying Pan; Night Raid; An Oath is an Oath; Baptism of Fire These contain active combat, following, retreat, rescue or assault sequences. Once combat or a coordinated operation starts, stay with it. Abandonment/distance triggers and allies being killed are not the same as a verified multi-day quest countdown. Family Values explicitly sends you to defend the trebuchet immediately. No reliable fixed-hours allowance is established for these sequences. The waiting periods while preparing siege equipment/bombarding the castle are minimum waits before the next event, not proof that optional errands will fail after that many days. C. DLC: DEADLINES, UPKEEP AND SCRIPTED SCENES 18. Rattay Tourney (free DLC/activity) Each occurrence has a registration window on tournament day; enrol while the Herald is accepting entrants (commonly reported until about 16:00; arrive earlier rather than cut it close). The event recurs about weekly. A missed occurrence can show as failed without permanently removing future tournaments. 19. Who Do You Like (Peshek's wager) The bet applies to the NEXT tourney. Skipping it forfeits that bet; it does not carry indefinitely to any future win. 20. Capon's Champion The enrolment objective is tied to competing for Hans, not an excuse to ignore the tourney's registration window. Reports indicate it can be offered/retried later, so skipping one tournament should not be treated as a permanent failure of the whole Hans story. Speak to Hans after the result. 21. A Place to Call Home / Supplies (From the Ashes) Trigger: taking over Pribyslavitz and starting its paid operation. Requirement: daily expenses must be covered by the village chest until the settlement earns enough. This is daily financial upkeep, with no fixed “finish rebuilding in X days” deadline established. Consequence: prolonged unpaid workers/unhappiness can get Henry dismissed and fail the rebuilding quests. Construction and other scripted time skips matter because expenses continue. Advice: fund the ledger/chest, make the village self-sufficient, then leave. There is no reliable universal grace-period length to count on. 22. Casting Lots (A Woman's Lot / Johanka arc) Trigger: accepting the request to address Ambrose's gambling and learning about his imminent trip. Window: he says he leaves for Kuttenberg the next day. Complete the intervention that day; if using the drunkenness route, obey the follow-up to speak after he sobers up. Do not apply this deadline to the whole Madonna storyline. Consequence: a local quest/objective can fail and affect later testimony/outcome; the overarching DLC can continue. The exact script trigger and hour count remain unverified beyond that departure warning. 23. The Madonna of Sasau: The Trial phase (A Woman's Lot) Trigger: Johanka's arrest and speaking to the Inquisitor about preparing her defence. Window: three days, explicitly granted for preparation. Do not spend it starting unrelated long questlines. Consequence: lost time to gather evidence, witnesses and do optional interventions; outcome can worsen. Starting the trial yourself also closes the preparation window early. 24. Honeyed Words (Amorous Adventures) Time-of-day requirement: meet Hans in his room in the evening, about 20:00–21:00, once the romantic visit is prepared. Follow him through the active encounter. The conversation used to keep someone occupied is genuinely time-sensitive; poor/too-short distraction changes the outcome. There is no verified global countdown for fetching the necklace or potion. 25. No Rest for the Wicked (Amorous Adventures) Waiting and scene timing: some sabotage uses rotten food, so waiting for spoilage is intentional. The finale is a staged nighttime encounter: once arranged, be present and perform the scares while targets move through the scene; then return the following morning. There is no reliable overall “finish in X days” timer established. 26. Band of Bastards quests Bad Blood, Uninvited Guests, A Tight Spot and What Price Honour? contain patrols/active battles: follow the group once you say you're ready, rather than abandoning an unfolding fight. Kuno's death may end the DLC. Uninvited Guests specifically offers an immediate attack versus waiting until dawn; that is an explicit choice with consequences, not a secret global deadline. Thirty Pieces has an OPTIONAL minimum waiting method: leave Jakey tied up at least 12 hours, then return. This is not “rescue him within 12 hours.” The Ring of Bacchus is best completed while the band/camp is still available, before finishing the DLC; character survival and progression availability matter, not a verified universal clock. 27. Theresa's A Woman's Lot story Ordinary Routine: chores can fail when you go too far/progress, while the time of day is actually held at scripted times. Calling all the chores hidden clock timers would be misleading. Finish Cry Wolf!, Matchmaker and other desired optional errands before agreeing to the evening dance, which closes them. Unexpected Visit (Theresa) / Thicker than Water: immediate escape/search scenes and enemies, not a verified multi-day open-world deadline. Ties that Bind: urgent treatment is the narrative, but neither a reliable numerical timer nor a different ultimate outcome from being faster was established. Do the treatment; faster treatment is not established as a way to change the scripted outcome. Aftermath / Angel of Mercy: finish survivor rescues BEFORE entering the Skalitz town-square progression point; the game warns you. Stanislav's confrontation is a live scene in which delaying intervention can cost him his life. 28. Treasures of the Past Treasure maps/equipment, not a separate timed questline. There is no established deadline to dig up its caches. D. APPOINTMENTS, SHORT WINDOWS AND MINIMUM WAITS - Keeping the Peace: join Nightingale between 11:00 and 19:00. This is a daily start window. Once on patrol, follow him. - The Prey: Hans waits from around 05:00 until roughly 10:00–11:00, then can be met the next morning. The hare competition ends at its specified return time. Later, leaving the rescue area can trigger game over, but waiting until dark for stealth is possible: a distance/abandonment restriction is not an elapsed-days rescue timer. - Run!: Theresa's rescue opportunity is during the actual escape scene; act there if wanted. Pursuit and bleeding make escape urgent. The later Talmberg watch includes waiting until morning. - Courtship: first invitation window 07:00–12:00; later dates have their own suitable time of day and several-day waits between them. Stay with Theresa during a date; wandering away can fail it. “Ask again in a few days” is a cooldown, not “return within a few days or lose her.” - Playing with the Devil: follow the women at night, roughly 21:00–22:00. If spotted before the gathering, they can try another night. Once the ritual/attack is underway, choices and immediate intervention matter. - Restless Spirit: overnight checks after rituals, time for the apothecary to read, and a nighttime rendezvous. Follow the current journal appointment; no substantiated global countdown. - Rocketeer: watch near midnight; Peychar may only appear on a later night and retries if he cannot enter. The midnight appointment is not proof that missing the first night irreversibly fails the quest. Document preparation/dice plans can also involve waits. - In the Cloister: genuine daily timetable: prayer 04:00, meal 06:00, fratery 08:00, scriptorium 12:00, prayer 16:00, supper 18:00, free time 19:00, curfew 21:00. Being in the wrong place can bring punishment; repeated misconduct can disrupt the undercover route. - Nasty Habits: nocturnal cellar investigation, meeting Jodok before midnight and bringing the wine back before dawn. This is a phase-specific night operation. - A Needle in a Haystack: one escape route requires blood to arrive the next day, then a meeting after evening mass. This is staged scheduling; don't confuse it with a global three-day monastery deadline. - Worldly Goods: observing the novice after morning worship is one investigative opportunity within the monastery routine, not a separate death timer. - If You Can't Beat 'em: night-time fight club/recruiter encounter. Go at the required time of day; no verified overall deadline. - Lost in Translation: stay with the captive during the active escort; getting too far away lets him escape and can fail the quest. There is no reliable multi-day timer established for finding a translator. - Pickpocketing activity: Peshek eventually tires of standing for the lesson. The activity can fail but is repeatable by asking again; the minigame also has its own seconds timer. - Hare Hunt / Sheep in Wolf's Clothing: meetings, the actual guard/poacher clash and pursuit are live opportunities. Stay with the chosen operation and pursue the fleeing target promptly. Branch failures when choosing the other side are not necessarily timeouts. - Mightier than the Sword: the reading course deliberately advances multiple in-game days. Its importance here is time consumed for OTHER active timers; learn beforehand. - A Friend in Need...: “come back in a week” is a wait before checking the friends' new job/payment, distinct from the disputed timer on its sequel. - At Your Service, My Lady: crown work requires a wait until the following evening; the archery competition is a scheduled opportunity. These do not establish an overall wedding countdown. - Chumps on the River / archery contests: once started, shoot before the moving targets/competitors finish. Repeatable sporting scenes, not a permanent quest deadline. - Hunting deliveries (Beggars' Feast, Delicacies, Fat Profits and Henry the Master Huntsman): freshness can matter to usable meat; distinguish perishable inventory from a verified quest countdown. There is no single shelf-life figure that covers all conditions. E. UNCERTAIN OR FREQUENTLY MISLABELLED - …Is a Friend Indeed: wiki says less than a week and includes 17:00 brawl / 18:00 ambush appointments. Other firsthand reports say it remained open for weeks. Treat it as time-sensitive once arranging the confrontation. The overall limit is disputed; a guaranteed seven-day allowance would be misleading. - At Your Service, My Lady: repeated community tests report weeks without failure, contradicting old “one week” claims. Its later main-story lockout is real; overall elapsed-time deadline not reliably verified. - Rob the Rich, Give to the Poor: old “Vagabond is stuck in stocks so it is timed” reports were contradicted as a patched bug. It is not a confirmed elapsed-time failure. - Ginger in a Pickle / My Friend Timmy: urgency and active bandit choices are real, but no reliable global fixed-hours deadline was established in this review. On the Scent's timer should not be assumed to apply to these neighbouring quests. - Last Will and Testament: linked to a sick character during Pestilence, so obtain/handle it while he is available; no separate well-supported independent numerical timer found. - Damsel in Distress: escort danger and a character's death can fail it; no verified general elapsed-days countdown established. Urgent rescue dialogue alone does not establish a countdown. - Ties that Bind: see DLC section. Narrative “before morning” is insufficient evidence of an independently running clock or rescuable alternate ending. F. PROGRESSION LOCKOUTS ARE A DIFFERENT CATEGORY The Die is Cast / entering Vranik is the major base-game warning point. Finish vulnerable quests BEFORE entering, even if the failure notifications arrive later, after Out of the Frying Pan. The community wiki lists these as affected: At Your Service, My Lady; Cherchez la Femme; Gallows Brothers; Hare Hunt; Next to Godliness; Robber Baron; Sheep in Wolf's Clothing; The House of God; The Sport of Kings; Thick as Thieves: Woyzeck; Skin. This is not a reason to say EVERY unfinished quest or DLC will fail. The same list marks Courtship, Rattled, the Rattay Tourney and the major DLC chains safe from this particular lockout. Daily Pribyslavitz upkeep can still fail during the story's time jumps for a completely different reason. Other completion-point lockouts: - Finish monastery side content before resolving/leaving the undercover monastery sequence. - Theresa's optional pre-raid quests close when you agree to the dance; Angel of Mercy closes at the warned Skalitz-square progression point. - Finish band/camp activities before concluding Band of Bastards or losing necessary characters. - Finish wanted remaining content before riding away to end the Epilogue. WHAT TO PRIORITISE Medical quests, Hermann's execution preparations, the horse race, the quarry operation, Lukesh's stash and late-story urgent orders deserve immediate attention once their relevant phase starts. Other entries require being there for one night, a daily appointment, an escort or a fight. Some simply ask you to wait, and others close because you advance the story. Check the current journal objective, keep a save before committing, and don't assume every urgent line of dialogue means a hidden multi-day countdown. PERSONAL OBSERVANCES Johanka’s patients — In God’s Hands I forgot about this quest and went off to do other things. Then I started getting notifications that patients were dying. I ended up reloading an earlier save and rushing back to get their treatments handled in time. From my experience, this is one to take seriously once you start it. Don’t leave those patients waiting while you go clear a bunch of other quests. Lady Stephanie — At Your Service, My Lady I’ve seen people all over the internet say this quest is timed. In my own playthrough, I waited at least three or four in-game weeks, possibly longer, and never ran into a timeout. That’s my experience, rather than a guarantee for every version or situation. It’s still worth keeping an eye on because other players have reported problems.