Should you confront the smugglers or report refugees to Captain Aelfyr in Avowed? (Escape Plan Side Quest)

Early on in Avowed, you can get the ‘Escape Plan’ side quest from Remei, who asks you to help a young couple flee to Thirdborn. After acquiring Ondra’s Kiss and the deeds for land in Thirdborn for the refugees, they’ll tell you that they’re essentially wanted for murdering two people, and the smugglers who will ferry them out of Paradis have doubled the agreed-upon price as a result. This leaves you with two options, confront the smugglers, or report the refugees to Captain Aelfyr in Paradis.

What happens if you report refugees to Captain Aelfyr in Escape Plan side quest?

If you choose to report the refugees, Captain Aelfyr will simply thank you for reporting them and will dispatch agents of the Steel Garrote at once to take care of them. She tells you that they’ll ‘fashion a visible lesson to everyone in this city that justice does not discriminate.’

I didn’t have a high enough ‘Resolve’ stat for one of the dialog options after she said this, but I don’t think it changes the outcome of the conversation.

You’ll get 470xp for completing the quest, but Kai will be disgusted with your decision. He’ll tell you that you’ve sent them to their deaths and both yourself and the empire gain nothing from this. In my opinion, this is the less satisfying decision and outcome of the quest of the two.

What happens if you confront the smugglers in Avowed’s Escape Plan side quest?

If you choose to confront the smugglers, there are a few ways this can pan out. The first and best outcome depends on whether or not you free Ilora in the ‘On Strange Shores’ main quest. Ilora is one of the smugglers and if you chose to free her, she’ll tell Captain Soldis that you saved her life at Northreach. Eventually, Soldis will admit defeat and will tell you to inform the refugees that the deal is settled, free of charge.

If you didn’t choose to free Ilora from her prison cell, there will be no way of convincing Soldis to honor the originally agreed price and you’ll need to pay the difference. Turns out it pays to trust people in the land of Eora!

This objective earns you 78xp, but you’ll still need to return to Leoflaed to let them know the good news. Upon doing so, you’ll then receive the remaining 392xp as well as the following:

• 10 Softwood Branch
• 10 Pelt
• 2 Paradisan Ladder
• 10 Iron Chunk

When you reach Thirdborn as part of the main questline, you’ll be able to find Leoflaed and stood outside a house, just to the left of the entrance gates. Speak to them, and they’ll tell you they’ve settled well and thank you again for your help. More importantly, they’ll also give you some ‘exceptional quality’ unique light armor called Gambeson of the Grand Empire that they found in the house they’ve inhabited.

This comes with two perks, Steel-Threaded, giving you +3% damage reduction, and Greater Gunnery, granting +15% reload speed. It’s damage reduction stat is pretty low at just 8%, but it makes up for this with very low reductions to your Maximum Stamina and Essence.

If you’re really not a fan, you can always break down the armor for the following materials:

• Stelgaer Leather x2
• Admeth’s Wyrt x2
• Awakened Adra

Whatever you choose to do with the armor, it’s better than having the guilt loom over you of sending two refugees to their deaths.

Should you confront the smugglers or report the refugees in Avowed?

The better rewards come from confronting the smugglers and hopefully not having to pay the difference. Even if you do have to pay it, the items that Leoflaed gives you are useful for upgrading your armor and weapons early on in Avowed, and the armor you get in Thirdborn is very viable for the mid-late-game section of your adventure. Plus, it’s technically a nicer ending than sending some poor refugees to their deaths.

If you can’t afford to pay the difference to the smugglers, didn’t free Ilora, and just want the side quest done, you can report the refugees to Captain Aelfyr. You’ll just have to live knowing that Kai is really, really disappointed in you.

As far as I can tell, though, the decision you make here doesn’t have any meaningful impact on the main storyline in Avowed, so you can rest assured this isn’t going to have any major consequences later on in the game.

For more on Avowed, be sure to check out our guides on hiding Godlike hair and facial features, burning Brambles, and getting the Premium Edition armor and skin sets.