Bloodborne guide: NPC sidequests

Bloodborne gives players the chance to save a few Yharnam residents, if they're diligent in exploring.

Bloodborne guides: NPC sidequests

Bloodborne includes a number of non-player characters you can get to know over the course of the Hunt.

Exploring your options in this regard is fun, so don't look at this guide page if you want to go in without spoilers. That said, if you're aiming for a particular ending, or just want to know your options, it's best to know what you're getting into.

Here's the deal with each of the NPCs we've found so far. Please note that at after defeating Vicar Amelia NPCs behind windows will not interact with you as normal until you have accepted the Tonsil Stone, then made a trip to Hunter's Dream and back.

We'll talk about NPCs related to covenants on their own page.

Let's start with the two who offer you somewhere to send other characters:

Iosefka

After you have been to Hunter's Dream for the first time, go back up the stairs from the 1st Floor Sick Room Lantern and speak to Iosefka, who has locked the door behind you. She will give you a buffed-up Blood Vial, of which you can carry one at a time. She also offers to provide a haven for any other characters you meet in need of a safe space, and will give you Numbing Mist items in return when you visit her afterwards. The downside is any characters you send her will be turned into Cranium Creatures, and you won't be able to advance their plots any further.

Later in the game, when you have access to the Forbidden Woods, you can return to Iosefka's Clinic by the back door. Here, you cna kill the Cranium Creatures and collect items from them. You can also battle Iosefka - but you shouldn't. The loot she drops isn't worth ruining your chances at unlocking the third, secret ending. It's better to come back after you've defeated Rom, the Vacuous Spider and kill her as she lies on the gurney, receiving a Third Umbilical Cord.

Oedon Chapel Dweller

A blind gentleman hanging out in the Oedon Chapel in the Cathedral Ward, right by the ladder from the father Gascoigne boss arena. He looks creepy, but he's genuinely friendly and kind. He invites you to direct characters to the Cathedral to shelter in safety from the Hunt. Any characters you send to him will be safe - up to a point.

Send a character to this NPC for shelter and he'll reward you with the Triumph gesture. Several of the NPCs he shelters will also reward you, and he's very grateful for the company. Killing him yields little reward.

The following NPCs cannot be saved, as far as is known at time of writing:

Gilbert

Gilbert is the coughing man who lives in a house right by the Central Yharnam Lantern. He gives you directions early in your hunt, and after you defeat Father Gadcoigne he'll give you a Flamesprayer weapon.

Later, the plague takes him; if you return after defeating Rom, the Vacuous Spider, he will have transformed into a Walking Beast, and you'll have to kill him. This will earn you a Claw Mark Rune. There is no known way to avert this fate or bring Gilbert out into the open as a human.

Viola's Daughter

Viola's Daughter lives in Central Yharnam, in a house from which you can hear tinkling music. It's near the first Brick Brute you ever meet, but you can't get there until you've been down to the sewers and back up to unlock the shortcut gate. She will offer you the Music Box key item, and ask you to find her mother, who went looking for her father, a Hunter.

This Hunter turns out to be Father Gascoigne (AKA Papa Guacamole), and he has already killed his wife, Viola. You can find her body near the boss arena, and take a Red Brooch from it. You can return this to Viola's Daughter or leave it in your storage box and never mention it. If you don't give her the brooch, you can advise her to seek shelter at the Oedon Chapel or Iosefka's Clinic. Regardless of your actions, as far as we know, she will die, and you can retrieve her ribbon (Red Messenger Ribbon) from the Crazed Pig in the sewer below.

After defeating Rom, the Vacuous Spider, returning to this window will allow you to speak to the original NPC's sister. You can give her the ribbon (it remains unlocked for your Messengers) and she will be grief-stricken, then creepy. Later, you can find the White Messenger Ribbon at the bottom of the ladder near this window, after the sister is killed, too.

The following NPCs can be sent to havens before the Rom, The Vacuous Spider boss battle is completed:

Lonely Old Woman

There is one other window in Central Yharnam with an NPC worth interacting with. She's near the area with Hounds in cages, at the main entrance to the sewers. She explicitly asks you to find a safe place for her.

If you send her to the Oedon Chapel, she'll give you a gesture. She'll be hostile at first, but later in the game will turn friendly. If you tell her you have you "share of woes", she'll give you Sedatives.

Arianna, Woman of Pleasure

Arianna is a key character, vital to the secret ending. She's a prostitute who lives in an out of the way corner of the Cathedral Ward. Talk to her multiple times to send her to a haven.

At the Oedon Chapel, Arianna will grant you Curtsy gesture and offer you her blood. Do not accept this; the souped-up Blood Vial you receive is not worth the potential consequences, as it can result in her death at the hands of another character.

After you defeat Rom, the Vacuous Spider Arianna will become unwell. After you defeat Mergos' Wet Nurse, she will have moved to the room beneath the hidden stairs in the Cathedral Ward, and have given birth to a - thing. Kill this thing to receive a Third Umbilical Cord.

Skeptical Man

There's another window opposite Arianna's where an NPC can be saved. You don't get the option to guide the unnamed NPC behind this window to a haven until you have given Arianna directions and have access to both havens.

The Skeptical Man will appear in whichever of the two havens you don't tell him about. He seems to have no bearing on the game's plot, and will not provide any rewards, so feel free to tell him about Oedon Chapel, then kill him as a Cranium Creature at Iosekfa's Clinic.

He will talk to you about the other characters. He's not a very nice man, but he's right about the Suspicious Beggar, at least.

Adella the Nun

To rescue Adella, you need to be kidnapped by a Death Dealer and carried to Yahar'gul, Unseen Village before you fight Rom, the Vacuous Spider. You'll find her crying and praying in the basement of the Hypogean Gaol. You need to be wearing Father Gascoigne or the White or Black Church attire sets to get her to talk to you, after which you can send her to a haven.

Adella will reward you with the Church Bow gesture if you send her to Oedon Chapel, and will offer you her blood. It's probably best not to accept; taking blood from her, or from Arianna, may be one of the triggers that sends her nuts, causing her to kill Arianna.

Suspicious Beggar

You encounter the Suspicious Beggar on the roof of the mill in the Forbidden Woods. He is friendly and pleasant, but if you send him to Oedon Chapel, he will gradually kill everyone else there. If you fight him, he's quite difficult to kill; you may want to have Iosefka turn him into a Cranium Creature instead.

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