The Jackals’ Scheme is a Pailune faction quest that sends Kliff to Skallcove, a small settlement being held by the Lonely Jackals. There is one objective on the tracker and no puzzle, no timer, and no escort to babysit. You ride in, cut through the bandits holding the village, and kill their vice captain.
Quick answer: Travel north of the City of Pailune to Skallcove, fight through the Lonely Jackals occupying the village and the riverbank, then kill the Lonely Jackals vice captain. The liberation cutscene plays on its own and the follow-up quest, The Clue for Chaos, appears on your map.
The Jackals’ Scheme quest details
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Faction quest (Stjar Clan) |
| Region | Pailune |
| Location | Skallcove, north of the City of Pailune |
| Objective | Defeat the Lonely Jackals vice captain |
| Enemies | Lonely Jackals bandits and guards |
| On completion | Skallcove liberation cutscene |
| Next quest | The Clue for Chaos (talk to the chief of Skallcove) |
How to reach Skallcove
Clearing the village and the river
The fight is split across two spaces. Bandits hold the huts and paths inside Skallcove, and another pocket of them fights along the river that runs past the village. Neither group is scripted to stay put, so expect the two to merge as you push through.
Fighting in the shallows costs you mobility. Movement and dodges are slower in the water, so pull enemies onto the bank whenever you can rather than trading hits mid-river.
If your health dips, back off and open the menu to top up and check what you have equipped. Food and quick-use items sit in the Function menu, and this is the moment to sort them out rather than mid-combo.
You will also find villagers held captive around the settlement. Walk up to one and the Untie prompt appears on the interaction button, so you can free them between fights.
Defeating the Lonely Jackals vice captain
The vice captain stands with a handful of guards inside the village. He is not a health-bar boss with phases, and he does not teleport or transform. He is a tougher bandit surrounded by ordinary ones, which means crowd control matters more than his moveset.
Lock on to the vice captain and stay on him. His guards will keep swinging at you while you do it, so use a wall or a hut to keep them on one side instead of standing in the open where they can surround you. Light attack strings between his swings do the job; there is nothing here that demands a specific skill.
Once the vice captain falls, mop up the guards left standing. The objective does not close until the immediate area is clear.
How to confirm the quest completed
A cutscene of the freed village plays automatically once the last enemies are down. That cutscene is the completion signal; there is no turn-in to ride back for.
After it ends, The Clue for Chaos appears as your next tracked quest, with the objective to talk to the chief of Skallcove. If you want to double-check, open the Journal and look at the Quests tab, where finished entries are listed with their details.
If the cutscene has not triggered, an enemy is still alive somewhere in the settlement. Sweep the edges of the village and the riverbank before assuming something is broken.
If your skills are gone during the fight
Some players reach Skallcove and find that their unlocked skills have been wiped, leaving only basic attacks. Opening the skill menu shows the tree reset rather than the abilities you paid for, so moves like Blinding Flash Finisher and Turning Slash simply will not fire.
The quest is still completable in that state. Light attacks, blocks, and dodges are enough for the vice captain and his guards, it just takes longer. If you would rather not fight through it, reload an earlier save before entering Skallcove and check the skill tree before you engage.
One more thing worth knowing about this stretch of the map: Skallcove is also where the One-Eyed Jackal Captain shows up, during the Where Lightning Strikes faction quest. That fight works differently, since his mobs respawn endlessly until he is dead, so ignore them entirely and focus on him. He drops nothing on defeat.
