How to taunt the villagers in Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred

Diablo 4 Wayward Friendship - Ajtzak
(Image credit: Blizzard)

The Wayward Friendship sidequest is one of the new ones you can pick up while exploring the region of Nahantu in Diablo 4's Vessel of Hatred expansion, and it might give you a little trouble. In the quest you have to help a well-meaning stranger called Ajtzak save a lacuna—apparently a kind of local cat—that he's recently befriended.

The quest is pretty simple overall, but it does have a confusing step that seems to be a bit bugged. All that said, here's how to help Ajtzak save the cat and taunt the villagers so you can complete the Wayward Friendship quest.

How to taunt the villagers in Wayward Friendship

After you meet Ajtzak in Ichorfall, he'll ask you to meet him at Drowning Rock to the north, just outside of the town. When you arrive there, you'll find that poachers have trapped his lacuni friend. He'll ask you to approach the camp and taunt the poachers in order to distract them so he can get at the cage and free his furry pal trapped inside.

To do this you need to first enter the camp and then when the objective changes to "Taunts the Villagers", use the taunt emote. If you haven't used emotes in a while, you can bring up the emote wheel by pressing E and then cycling left with the mouse wheel to find it—or by pressing up on the D-pad on the controller and then using the left bumper. 

You might have already tried using the taunt emote unsuccessfully—it's worth noting this quest is pretty buggy. Your best bet is to use the emote close to the firepit where the guards are, so stand there and try doing it a few times in different positions. After a while, it should work and Ajtzak will free the lacuna. Then all you need to do is defend Ajtzak from the angry poachers and you've completed the quest. 

Sean Martin
Senior Guides Writer

Sean's first PC games were Full Throttle and Total Annihilation and his taste has stayed much the same since. When not scouring games for secrets or bashing his head against puzzles, you'll find him revisiting old Total War campaigns, agonizing over his Destiny 2 fit, or still trying to finish the Horus Heresy. Sean has also written for EDGE, Eurogamer, PCGamesN, Wireframe, EGMNOW, and Inverse.