Unwelcomed Guests is the main quest that sends Kliff back to Hernand to find Damiane before the Demeniss delegation arrives. The objective that stops most players is the second one, “Check the commotion in front of the castle gate,” because it hands you a loose horse and a balance minigame with no warning.
Quick answer: Approach the guards and carts north of Hernand Castle to trigger the cutscene, chase down the loose horse, mount it, and push the left stick opposite the direction it pulls until the taming gauge fills.
Unwelcomed Guests quest requirements and objectives
The quest sits in Chapter 5: Guest Unbidden, under the Uninvited Guest sub-chapter, and it is the 61st main mission in the campaign. It becomes available only after Double-Sided Invitation is finished, and it pays out no items on completion.
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Region | Hernand |
| Quest location | City of Hernand |
| Chapter | Chapter 5: Guest Unbidden |
| Requirement | Finish Double-Sided Invitation |
| Unlocks | Demenissian Delegation |
| Reward | None |
The quest log lists four objectives in order: Head to Hernand, Check the commotion in front of the castle gate, Tame the horse, and Take the horse to the stable.
Reach the castle gate and trigger the commotion cutscene
After the conversation with Ross and Marius, the marker points back to Hernand Town. If you already activated the Abyss Nexus north of the city, open the map and fast travel to the City of Hernand instead of riding the whole way.
From the arrival point, run through the streets toward the castle gate. The commotion itself is on the field just north of Hernand Castle, where a row of colorful carts is parked and a group of guards is struggling with a panicking mare. Walking into that group plays the cutscene: the horse rears, knocks a guard down, and bolts, and the guards ask the Greymane for help calming her.
How the horse taming minigame works
Once the objective flips to Tame the horse, the game introduces tutorial entry 904. Horse Taming. The rules are short and they apply to every wild horse you meet later, not just this one.
- Move the left stick in the opposite direction of the horse’s pull to stay in control.
- Each successful counter adds to the circular taming gauge shown on screen.
- Fill the gauge completely to tame the horse; holding on to the end is the win condition.
- A hidden timer runs in the background. Take too long and the horse throws you off.
- Being bucked off costs nothing. You can chase the horse down and retry as often as you need.
In practice the direction mapping is simple. If the horse drives forward, pull the stick down. If it swings left, push right. The on-screen prompts during the minigame label the left stick as Control and Circle as Cancel.
Point the camera straight down while you ride. From that overhead angle you can read exactly which way the horse is facing, which makes countering far more reliable than guessing from a chase camera.
Taming the loose horse step by step
If stamina is what keeps cutting your attempts short, the Stamina node in the Armed Combat branch of the skill tree can be enhanced with artifacts between attempts, and the horse stays where it is while you are in the menu.
Take the horse to the stable and finish the quest
The stable sits a short ride north, back along the dirt road and past the carriages. Follow the waypoint on the minimap; nothing chases you and there is no timer on this leg.
Pull up at the wooden stable yard and a cutscene starts on its own. The mare rears at the stablehand until Damiane steps in and settles her, calling the horse Althea and noting that she has never behaved that way before.
Kliff asks whether the Demenissian delegation is a problem. Damiane explains that she planned for it, since one of her informants travels with them, and that she is hunting for her swordmaster, who vanished amid a conspiracy that also left Damiane framed as a fugitive. She wants the charges against her swordmaster cleared.
How to confirm Unwelcomed Guests is complete
The quest ends the moment that dialogue finishes. A Quest Completed banner appears for Unwelcomed Guests, and Demenissian Delegation is added as the next main quest in the journal. Open the Journal under Guest Unbidden to check that the new entry is tracked on the map.
One small thing to plan around afterwards: Damiane is not playable until she returns to camp, so do not count on swapping to her straight after this scene. If you want to revisit the taming rules before the next wild horse, entry 904. Horse Taming lives in the Minigames section of the guide list under the Others menu.
