Sovereign Tower How to Recruit Tarcus

Tarcus of Mavignac is the Gavault-shaped knife you hire when you decide the rebellion is a problem to solve, not a romance to court. Wild Wits hides him behind Act 1 investigation cards rather than a Map Room portrait. Finish the right inquiries, survive the mother’s-side audience, and confirm you will stop Brunhilda. Curve Games’ August 2026 launch build still matches that mid-August community sequence.

Heavy Act 1 spoilers for the Gavault county thread. If you have not picked Groveshire versus Gavault yet, read Act 1 Gavault and How to Get Brunhilda before you lock a tone.

What Tarcus offers

Community sheets put Tarcus near Strength 6 / Agility 3 / Charisma 1 / Magic 0 / Wits 10 / Luck 5 with armor 8 at level 1 — a Wits assassin in plate, not a diplomat.

• Nobility Primes — score swings with the Nobles versus People gap. A noble-heavy court makes him look brilliant; a populist court makes him look expensive.
• Nobles Defender — successful quests can add +1 Nobility satisfaction.
• Unpleasant (hidden) — Diplomacy penalty. Do not send him to smile at merchants.
• Killer (hidden) — bonus on Assassination and Duel.
• Likes Assassination and Hunt; dislikes Woods (hidden dislike: Scouting).
• Favourite meals — Brizhian Butter Shortbread and Préfou (Cooking).
• Ending slides — Tarcus is one of the knights whose farewell changes with Tyrannic outcomes, Surrender, and defeat (Endings Guide).

He is also the cheat key for How to Get Zolta. If you want the Kutnar derby shortcut, hire Tarcus before Act 2 caravan sports begin.

Sovereign Tower — Act 1 county politics and investigations

Step-by-step recruitment

1. Take the Gavault major-quest spine in Act 1 (or rewind into it). Groveshire-only saves do not see this audience on the first pass.
2. Send knights on Noble investigations or Taverns investigations. Both community routes funnel you to the mother’s-side audience.
3. Complete that investigation chain with honest Wits coverage — Quest Scoring still starts from −10 and wants averages, meals, and traits.
4. At the follow-up audience, pick the dialogue that confirms you will stop Brunhilda. Soft “we will see” lines do not hire Tarcus.
5. Accept him with a free seat under the Act 1 cap of six. Secrets like Chester, Wolf, and Brunhilda compete for the same chairs (Secret Knights).

If you are simultaneously courting Brunhilda via the day-3 Demon rewind, understand the contradiction: Tarcus wants a sovereign who will stop her. You can still recruit both on some saves, but your archetype and later ending options will argue with each other. Plan which story you are telling.

Investigation advice

• Use Intendant scans the day before you commit a weak scout to taverns.
• Feed Préfou or Shortbread to the investigation party for the +0.5 score crumb.
• Keep People satisfaction from collapsing if you still need populist audiences this act — Tarcus will then punish you on mixed cards.
• Pair with Act 1 Gavault so you do not spend the Demon on the wrong county fork.

Using Tarcus after he joins

Assassination and Hunt are his honest work. Woods and pure Scouting are where he steps on rakes. When Kutnar’s Rush in Laik Vallée appears in Act 2, sending Tarcus is the documented way to open the “cheat through treacherous mountains” unexpected outcome for Zolta.

Do not send Tarcus on Epicrate’s prison-break variant in Act 3 — community notes say that pairing spoils the break. See How to Get Epicrate.

Common failures

• Never taking Gavault — no mother-side audience, no Tarcus.
• Finishing investigations but refusing to stop Brunhilda — he hears the dodge and stays home.
• Full six-seat table — Act 1 secrets eat chairs; leave slack or wait for Act 2’s eight-seat cap.
• Hiring him then sending him to Diplomacy week — Unpleasant plus Charisma 1 is a Critical Failure machine.

Related pages

• Get Brunhilda — the rebellion leader he wants stopped.
• Get Zolta — why you want him before Kutnar.
• Get Childeric — another Act 2 seat competitor.
• Guides Hub — View all when the PC dropdown truncates.

Tarcus is Gavault’s answer to “what if the detective was also the executioner.” Investigate the mother, say you will stop the rebellion, and keep Shortbread in the Kitchen.