Viscount

The Viscount is the second boss fought in The Courtyard.

History
"The feasting and revelry would last for weeks at a time. Great stone tables were set with such an abundance of rare delicacies that we would stuff ourselves until the exotic became mundane. When the lavish spread began to spoil, a ravenous gourmand gleefully proposed that we sample from the fetid pile of composting refuse! The notion was dismissed as decidedly unhealthy, but days later he was found cackling madly atop a heap of rancid comestibles, licking his fingers in delight. Narration_cc_loading_02.wav."

- The Ancestor.

During the times the Ancestor rubbed elbows with nobility, he often set up lavish feasts that lasted for weeks, and all present would stuff themselves with delicacies from all over the world until even the most decadent and exotic morsels became par for the course. Meals started piling up faster than they could be eaten, and soon began to decay. But even then, one particular gourmand was undeterred by the rot, continuing to stuff himself full every day and night even as the once-fine feast decayed into putrid slurry. Neither the years nor the Crimson Curse have stopped the Viscount's endless feasting, but his tastes have changed very much for the worse.

As the corruption spreads over the Estate and rumours about monstrosities reach the gourmand’s ear, the Viscount wanted to try out these new delicacies. Soon he has dining on soups made from the Bone Broth of Undead, eating roasted Swine-Man with Necrotic Fungus Sauce, and sampling seafood dishes made from Pelagic creatures. However these new "decadent" and "exotic" delicacies have hideously unforeseen side effects upon his already twisted body and mind, to the extent that his tastes have become truly cannibalistic in nature. Even other members of the Court don’t dare to enter his mansion out of fear to be eaten.

Reaching the Boss
Equipment needed is typical for the courtyard. Bring torches to clear mist and use on nests, shovels to clear blockages and dig up potted plants, food to sustain your party, bandages aplenty both for bleed and bone piles, and a stack of The Blood to feed your Vampiric party.

As always you will be facing massive amounts of Bloodsuckers, roaming beasts and undead and the Crimson Curse for every hero you bring will become a Vampire, if they aren't already.

Unlike the previous area which was more of a gauntlet with three seperate areas, this quest takes the form of a maze with a single, long winding route twisting and turning with many other side paths looping in back on themselves, and often disorienting the unwary or careless.

To begin with, move to the right to the first room. Once there, head straight up and keep following the path up through the many combat encounters as it curves to the right.

Continue moving forwards, not deviating from this path until you find the blue key. At this point, you techically have two options. heading back the way you came to unlock the blue gate is something the cautions might try, but in truth the massive stress build makes it unwise. The safest route (oddly enough) is to push onwards to the right, then heading down at the threeway junction.

Continue to head downwards until the path branches to the right and left. Going right is a waste of time without the yellow key, as you will need it to progress, so head left.

Moving left keep to the bottom, heading down whenever possible to eventually discover the yellow key. Once this is done, head back the way you came until you are back at the three way junction, this time heading right. This time keep heading up past the yellow gate and to another three way junction with paths heading to the right and left. Head right keeping to the left hand wall until you find the red key, once this is done, go back the way you came heading up whenever possible, to open the red key.

The room immediately after the red lock contains the Viscount.

A map of the area can be found.

Fighting The Viscount
The fight consists of the Viscount himself plus three bodies which occupy the other ranks.

The Viscount as his first action will always eat one of the bodies, healing, buffing, and/or debuffing himself. Eating the biggest body will use 2 of his actions, and has a 3-turn cooldown.

Because of this, the player should focus on killing the bodies first, so that the Viscount, unable to buff himself, will be weaker.

Another strategy can be to burst the Viscount down and try to kill him quickly, doing to him more damage than he heals.

When the Viscount eats any of the bodies that have bleed or blight, it will transfer onto the Viscount, making killing two of the bodies and injecting the last with lots of bleed and blight damage another viable, though risky way of killing him.

With 3 attacks per turn and most attack targetting multiple positions, bleed and stress will be the biggest problem. Increase bleed resistance through trinkets and holy water. Bring heroes that can stress heal.

Trivia

 * In contrast to the Emaciated Body and Body, which appear to be normal humans, the Bloodstuffed Body appears to be one of the Viscount's fellow Bloodsuckers (a Manservant, judging by the wig and general placement of the limbs).
 * The Viscount is voiced by Youtuber/Streamer Baertaffy, whose longest and most popular series consist of Darkest Dungeon playthroughs, going well over 400 episodes and hundreds of hours of playtime. Baertaffy is also the voice of The Baron and The Fanatic.