MARREND'S PROFILE

Last time, Geralt made a visit to the Bloody Baron, who's got a fortress at Crow's Perch. The baron is willing to exchange what he knew about Ciri's current whereabouts in exchange for finding his wife and daughter. Which turned out to be it's own small mess, as he's been abusing his wife for who knows how long, and the ladies must've felt enough was enough and fled. The situation became even more complex, as the baron's wife was with child, but a miscarriage happened after the latest scuffle between husband and wife. To make a long story short, Geralt helped the spirit of the miscarried child become a guardian spirit that will watch over the baron's house.

Geralt also learned that the baron's wife bore strange markings on her palms, and that she was taken away by some kind of beast. The daughter is, presumably, alive and well in Oxenfurt, a town that lies beyond the Pentar River in the northwest section of the map. There's quite a bit of distance between me and that location, so you will have to excuse me if I do some exploration and/or side-questing.

That done (for now), we manage to cross over the bridge, and get into Oxenfurt. I wonder around a bit to get a few service markers on the map, then hit up the notice board before making any attempts at finding the baron's daughter. Things went about as well as I thought. She brought no additional information about the beast that kidnapped her mother. However, while I might have liked to help out with the rescue, that didn't seem to be an option here. She's getting assistance from a band of witch hunters, and I can only hope that's enough. I did not ask, or say anything about the miscarriage, nor that it was her father that turned the spirit of her miscarried brother into a lubberkin. Her focus is, and perhaps rightly so, on finding her mother, and I feel it should stay there until the task is done.

With that out of the way, I fast-travel back to Crow's Perch, and give my report to the Bloody Baron concerning what I know of the fate of his family. As a partial payment for services rendered (ie: finding his daughter), there is a small section here were I play as Ciri. He teases that there is more to this story, but, if I want to loosen the baron's tongue in it's entirely, he would have me find his wife as well.

Can I say I'm not appreciative of the game giving me these mixed messages about the baron's wife? Like, the baron's daughter clearly wants to save her mom. At no point during my conversation with her was I given a chance to join her in that effort. I was being given the distinct impression that she, and the hunters she was with, would handle things, and that I should not delve any further into the matter. Then, when I go back to the baron, he's like, welp, I can tell you this much, but, ya better get some decent info on the misses for more. Like, what the hell.

That point of annoyance aside, I'm honestly not sure what lead I could follow in regards to finding the baron's wife. The quest log indicates there might be something in Crookback Bog. The loading screen since leaving the elven mage's lab has been about finding the witches there since leaving the elven mage's lab. So, the game has certainly been nudging me in that direction for some time.

The Trail of Treats lead me to a house/hut in the middle of the swamp, where an old woman has taken residence, and looks after a lot of orphans. No one here has seen the likes of Ciri, but one of the kids mentions a Johnny that might know something. Attempting to talk to that kid again doesn't yield any results, probably because "Gran" is there imposing her influence. I speak to the other kids about Johnny, but, apparently, only the one kid has actually seen him. Gran's put it into their heads that Johnny isn't real. I dunno if he is or not, but, that one kid won't talk as long as Gran is around. The other orphans will help me with that, in exchange of playing a little hide-and-seek. I'm hoping my witcher senses will help in this matter.

They most certainly do. The kids outside get Gran out of the hut, and I get some one-on-one time with the one inside. Eventually gives me directions, certainly enough to place a search area on the map.

The tracks lead to a burrow. Johnny is humanoid, but, I wouldn't call him human. Gerlat takes a few shots, and eventually lands on godling. He's clearly lost his voice, and it kinda looks like I have to help him with maybe getting it back before he would relay any kind of information. I follow him to a cliff face, and Johnny points upwards. Harpies and a wyvern await me there, and it takes me some doing to take care of them.

Johnny's voice returns, and relays a small story about Ciri which leads back to Gran and the orphanage. He helps me convince her to help me out, which turns out as her becoming a medium to the Crones. If I want to be frank, what they are asking of me kinda sounds like a witcher contract that I could have picked up earlier? I didn't tag each quest I had to compare locations, but, this seems a good opportunity as any to go off-rails again. However, we'll save all of that for next time, on the Witcher 3 LP!



...Is what I would like to say, but, with RMN's server issues in question, I don't know if I should continue this thread as it is, or stop writing, and just play the game.



Optional content corner
So, y'all remember that bear in White Orchid? It's dead now. The Place of Power it was guarding was also claimed. There was one other point of interest here to check out, which was a drowner guarding a treasure. I ran into a merchant on the way back, who's lost his cart and horse to some kind of attack. Turned out the man was a soldier for Temeria, and was attacking the cart, as it was transporting medical supplies to the Nifgarrdians. He tried to run after being discovered, but, even after chasing him down, I let him go, but kept the cargo for myself. The console commands that I am aware of, unfortunately, do not include alchemy reagents, crafting materials, or blade oils.

Back to Velen, I set Lidenvale as my central point from which I explore. I tag the quest "The Fall of the House of Reardon" as my active quest, which can be found in town. An old woman speaks of monsters in an old manor, which I can take care of. The manor is quite a ways off, so, I busy myself with other matters

Northeast of Lidenvae lies a bandit camp. Three or four guys were stationed here, level 9.

Nortwest from the bandit camp was a person in distress, but, the five or so guys that were there were level 16. No thanks. So, instead, I go southwest to a treasure guarded by a level 14 critter. Uh, let's try a different direction, then. Like, say east, then a bit to the south? That one was an abandoned site, occupied by bandits. Clearing them out gives me access to a shopkeeper and herbalist.

From that point I try further northeast. Along the way, I meet with a guy whose job it is to cart corpses, that's under attack by ghouls. I help him out, burn the cart, and highly suggest he scrub himself thoroughly, if possible. This was considered a quest, with small reward of 10 XP, which, sure, doesn't sound like much, but also wasn't terribly involved either. The point I was originally aiming for turned out to be a bandit camp. Three or four guys, maye level 9.

Not far to the southwest of this position is a hidden treasure. Which also triggers a quest, concerning a note left behind by a now dead man. His treasure is now mine.

My next stop is where the quest "The Fall of the House of Reardon" is pointing me towards, which is south of this position. There were maybe 3-4 level 7 wraiths to deal with here. I managed to get them one at a time, which certainly helped, but, still took more damage than I would've liked. The manor has a fast-travel point, which makes turning in the quest not as much of a chore.

I must admit, I did not expect this game to receive such a score? Thanks for playing, and the review!

I will readily admit the 7 AP deathblows are elemental-based deathblows, as per Xenogears, and noted as such in their descriptions. Skills like Tornado Kick, Sky Attack, Fire Bomb, and Windmill Spin, could suggest an elemental affinity, but, yeah, don't have one.

The underlying system doesn't, or at least should not, necessarily stop a person from having skills that attach states, or life/mana drain, among other effects. I just stuck with increasing damage values, though, in doing so, that made any semblance of game-balance that much trickier to figure out.

Fixed up the brackets a bit for ya.

Things have been crazy lately, so I can only apologize for not having this up earlier. Be that as it may, last time, Geralt looked for a witch, but found an acquaintance, Keira Mitz, instead. Then, with her help, he looked for an elf, but found the Wild Hunt instead. With this kind of luck, tracking down the Crones of Crookback Bog will end up finding somebody completely different as well.

The other lead I have is the so-called Bloody Baron. You'll have to forgive me for thinking this will turn out to be yet another wild goose chase, or an empty lead. The man is willing to tell Geralt what he knows of Ciri, and we get into a flashback...



...where we play as Ciri, herself? That was unexpected! At any rate, we soon meet a little girl called Gretka, who was apparently trying to follow the Trail of Treats. Which is a reference Keira made in regards to the Crones of Crookback Bog. The young girl is afraid of the wolves in the area, most especially the King of Wolves.

We follow Gretka, fighting packs of wolves along the way. We come across a manged corpse, of which Ciri investigates. After the examination, she formulates a hypothesis that the King of Wolves might likely be a werewolf. As such, it might behoove her to formulate an oil to douse her blade to deal with it. This is not something I have done as Geralt, as I generally assume I don't have the ingredients to make an oil. This quest adds a task to gather parsley leaves, and there are enough in this area to complete said task before delving into the cave where we find the werewolf. Looks like it was about to maul a poor peasant, but, Ciri got it's attention, and did what she could to slay it. Not without taking damage, but, I do my best.

As a brief aside, fighting as Ciri is a little different. For starters, I only have access to one weapon. No inventory screen, and the quick menu only seems to have three slots available, none of which have any additional options for me at this juncture. However, her dodge looks more like a short-range teleport, and I think she regenerates faster than Geralt does, even after consuming food. Though, that might be a balancing factor due to the lack of access to an inventory screen than anything else.

The werewolf slain, and civilian rescued, we then get a short cut-scene back at the baron's manner, then a cut back to the present. It sounds like the baron has taken in Gretka into his manner in some way. I've already forgotten the details. As for the possible current whereabouts of Ciri, well, yeah, he's got a job for me before spilling any beans. Which I expected from the start, but, now that we are down to brass tacks, he's looking for both his wife and daughter. The daughter, I sorta knew about, as I've seen posters asking about her whereabouts in various locations in Velen. The wife, not so much. He probably thinks that if one is found, the other is likely to not be far. We'll see how true that is.

What they look like is useful to know, no doubt. However, I also need some kind of lead as to where they could have gone. Even if the supernatural is involved, there should still likely to be some kind of trace Geralt could sense, either where they sleep, or at least, wherever they were last seen. The baron isn't exactly happy with having a stranger look through the rooms and/or effects of his wife and daughter, but, Geralt takes a hard stance, and he relents.

We first investigate the personal quarters of the baron and his wife. A candlestick broken at the stem. A painting hanging to hide a hole reaching back to a cabinet. The cabinet on the other side having a broken off piece of wood that looks like it came from the candlestick. Deep nicks on a post, suggesting being hit by a heavy object. Back to the candlestick, there's glass stains. The smell suggests wine, and we follow that until the trail ends, but, there's a suspiciously highlighted floorboard nearby to investigate. A talisman was hidden there, suggesting it might have been set up as some kind of ward, but against what, not even Geralt knows at this juncture.

We relay what findings we can to the baron. The amulet was worn by his daughter for some time, and probably got it form a peller. The signs of a fight were something of a shock to him. He had asked his men countless times if they had heard anything, and the response had always been no. This means the only lead we really have is this pellar.

On the way out, I peek my head into the room that contains the stash. This was apparently the room where Ciri stayed, and a spinning top can be found on the ground, which probably belonged to Gretka. A set of scatted clothes on the ground are also here. They probably belonged to Ciri, but, regardless whoever they belonged to sure left this estate in a hurry. I can also access the notice board, for even more optional content. A small bit was done before riding to the pellar.

When I get there, a contingent of the baron's men are already there, and from eavesdropping a bit on their talk, it sounds something went afoul. I confront the guards, and their story is that he told one of their buddies to eat something, and he's been practically living in the outhouse since. The group is ready to lynch the man for this offense, but, I try to compromise. They let him live if I tell them how their friend might be cured. The exchange worked well enough for my purposes: the soldiers moved off, I don't have to fight, and the pellar might owe me a favor when I see hi.

Whither the pellar owes me a favor or not, he refuses to augur the location of either of the lost women that the baron seeks. At least, not without his goat. Both Geralt and I take a heavy sigh, and go off on this fetch/escort quest. Fighting of wolves before getting to the goat wasn't too bad, but, running into a bear while escorting the animal was a little harrowing. It wasn't as bad as my encounter in White Orchard, as I lived through this ordeal, and even manage to only have taken maybe a sixth of my health in damage after the quest was all said and done.

The pellar could not augur the location of the wife and daughter, but, he could sense a botchling, created due to the wife's miscarriage, and improper burial of the fetus. That she was even pregnant to begin with was not a detail the baron shared with us, for whatever reasons he might have.

So, the bad news is there's now a botchling to deal with. The good news is that it's possible to transform a botchling into a lubberkin, a spirit that watches over the family it should have had. The precise process of this transformation is not explained in the codex, only that the transformation exists. However, I think we owe the baron another visit to relay our findings, and see what he has to say about all this.

Except such a talk might have to wait. When I arrive, I see smoke rising from the fortress, with the cry of "There's a fire in the castle!" Well, then. I venture into the manor grounds, and notice that nobody's making any moves to put out the fire. An older soldier says that some men might be too afraid of a possible backlash. Which would only make sense to me if the baron, himself caused it. Regardless of sense, or not, I'm asked to save a stable hand, and the horses that are trapped in the fire. I'll do my best, but I also really really think somebody should really be on quenching this fire, possible consequences be damned.

I manage to climb a ladder to open the stable doors from the other side, allowing the horses to run off. The stable hand likely managed to escaped as well, but, that wasn't specifically shown. I then found myself face-to-face with the baron again, and Geralt isn't too happy. He openly accuses the baron of abusing his wife and daughter, and such being the very reason they left in the first place. The baron won't stand for such accusations, so, we go into fisticuffs. Fighting groups can be pretty dangerous, but, one-on-one duels are certainly more doable for me. I still take a few punches, but ultimately win.

We eventually move to another corner of the manor that isn't on fire to talk. The baron still says he laid no any hands on his daughter. His wife, however, well, that's another story. The fight in the bedroom was between them. The baron doesn't know how long he was out, but, he found the miscarried fetus in the bedroom, and could only think of disposing it. Hence, this botchling.

After explaining a bit about the nature of how botchlings are formed, we present the baron with two options. One is to attempt to transform it into a lubberkin, and maybe that spirit can help us find it's mother, and if we're lucky, it's older sister. The other option is to slay the botchling, and bring it's blood to the pellar to have him augur the location of the missing women with it. The baron chooses the path of the lubberkin, and Gerald has some insights in this matter that were absolutely not in the codex. While the game presents us with the option to do this later, I decide to do it now. I still hard save as soon as possible, don't get me wrong, but, solving this issue sooner rather than later sounds like a thing Geralt would recommend.

My previous experience with the noonwraith earlier makes me suspect some amount of fighting against the botchling might be necessary. I surprisingly happen to have the reagents needed to brew an oil for my sword that would make slaying it an easier task. However, that's not what the client wants.

First, we visit the grave site, and find it dug up and empty. This is a sign to Geralt that the botchling is active, and on the prowl. Indeed, it has not gone far, as it approaches us, and the baron takes a step back as it does. It seems calm enough, so, the opportunity to transform it into a lubberkin more readily presents itself. The only question is how willing the good baron is to follow through, as he must be the one to carry it back to the manor. He's squeamish at first, but, manages to carry the thing.

It wouldn't be an escort quest if there wasn't something to fight. The bothcling was disturbed, and cried out, making a pack of wraiths appear. They certainly did a number of me, but, I survived. Calming down the botchling afterwards took a use of Axii. There's at least two such encounters, though, and I have a bit of trouble getting past the second one. Of course, I don't have the reagents for the oil that could be effective against wraiths, so, I dunno what else I can do, except be more aware of enemy movements, dodge better, take what attacks of opportunity I can, etc.

Thankfully, it was only the two waves before reaching the threshold of the manner, where the botchling was laid to rest again, but not before Gerlat had the baron say something of an incantation. If all goes well, tomorrow, she'll be a lubberkin. Geralt will look after the grave, and will do the rite at midnight. The baron wanted to stay as well, but, this is wichter's work. Besides, I get the feeling that even if he followed the lubberkin with me, leads us to the ladies, and find them alive, they likely won't react kindly to his presence.

The lubberkin is a swift-moving spirit, which I certainly appreciate. It can almost keep pace with a cantering Roach. The spirit stops by a smoker's hut by it's lonesome that... honestly isn't that far from Crow's Pearch?



They were definitely here, at one point. Horseshoe prints on the ground, as well as scattered clothing. Both seem a bit pricey for a mere smoker. The lubberkin starts moving again, stopping at the corpse of a horse. Signs of the corpse being handled by necrophages are here, but, with the head torn clear off, that suggests something big and powerful.

The spirit starts moving again, stopping again at a fisherman's hut. There is a family here, and I learn both the women were there for a time. The lady of the house would rather keep things under wraps, but, the child let slip they were, in fact, there.

We knew the women were attacked by something big, and the fisherman's account covers this. He couldn't quite describe the thing either, but, the baron's wife bore marks on her hands, and looked as hot as a fresh iron brand. His account was that the baron's wife was taken into the forest by the beast, so her trail seems to ends here unless we learn more about this creature. The design the fisherman drew in regards to the marks might be something the baron might know about, and maybe we can get a lead about what kind of creature attacked the two, and why.

It sounds like the daughter, at least, is very much alive, and in a town called Oxenfurt. The location is maybe west by northwest from Hanged Man's Tree. I think I will want to meet her and see what she's willing to offer, at least in regards to finding her mother. It doesn't sound like the baron's daughter has made any attempts to return to her father. With reward notices all over the place, I feel the most likely scenario is that she's hiding out, possibly until an opportunity presents itself for her to go and help her mother. Perhaps I can be that opportunity for her? Stay tuned for the next session of the Witcher 3 LP!


Optional content corner
From the exit of the elven mage's lab, there's three points north to explore, but, that area is flooded with level 13 wraiths. Far south was a treasure guarded by a pair of level 8 wraiths. I managed, but, it wasn't pretty. There's a town/fast travel points both in the northwest and southwest of this point, but, one of them had level 9 bandits and their other had level 23 ghouls. Another point of interest I attempted turned out to be a camp of level 9 bandits. So, back up north to at least Duen Hen.

Southwest of that point is a bandit camp, level 3. I felt confident until some other critters got into the scene, and things went from bad to worse to dead. However, I saved before that engagement, and there was a point south in the middle of the water that I had hoped would be better. This was a spoils of war, and there's definitely some enemies swimming around in that water, and likely, the treasure is down there too. I'm barely capable fighting on land, so, fighting underwater is not going to happen.

Back north, then west, then south lies a hidden treasure, but, the sea hags there were level 99. So, instead of south, we head north for two points of interest. Both were level 3 bandit camps with, thankfully, no further surprises. One of the camps unlocks a fast travel point, Condyle, which I will use to get back to Crow's Perch to get rid of some of this access junk.

From Condlye, I go north, to find another bandit camp. Further north is an abandoned site that level 7 pirates have taken for an outpost. I somehow manage to take them down, and the site becomes active again, giving me access to at least one more shop. There's a bandit camp between this site and Midcopse that I manage to clear.

I use the fast-travel point in Midcopse to return to Hanged Man Tree, and head north, where the contract "Woodland Beast" is pointing me towards, though, I managed to free a person in distress between those two points. At any rate, the details here is that some kind of beast has been attacking transport supply wagons, and the captain of the guards stationed at the Pontar River wants to see an end to this. Apparently, I can get a pass across the Pontar this way, which might be preferable to the shady-looking merchant I met before.

At any rate, the initial site to search is across the river from the Inn at Crossroads. So, back to Hanged Man's tree, and from there, the Inn at Crossroads. Aghouls were in the area for me to slay, but after dealing with them, I could investigate the scene more thoroughly. There were signs of necrophage claw marks on the bodies, but, were made postmortem. There were footprints in the area, so whatever made them was either human, or humanoid. The chest being laid bare and open suggests the "human" option, but, we follow the footprints regardless.

The footprints lead to a river and a contingent of drowners, but certainly continue further on the other side of the river. Following the tracks, a voice from above calls out to me. An elf with a bow trained on my head. I convince him to take me to their leader and maybe attempt some sort of diplomacy between these two races, but, when given the option to either leave things alone or die, I choose to leave this alone. Perhaps I could be called a coward, but, I don't know how many elves there are in this camp, and I'm only one guy. Maybe I have the skills now to maybe, maybe take on five people at once, and come out with a silver or health afterwards. However, if it's more than that, and it probably is, it won't end well for me.

I can only report to the captain of the guard that it's not a beast, but a company of elves that are attacking his supply train, but I was hired to kill a beast, not elves. He won't give me any gold, but gives me a pass for informing him of the truth behind situation. He called it "notifying the proper authorities", but, the way he was talking, there won't be any peace between elves and humans any time soon. As if this war between Niflgaard and Temeria isn't producing enough death in this land. No, we must commit genocide on the entire elven race as well on top of the death that's already being produced by that war.

After visiting Ciri's Room, the quest "Ciri's Room" pooped up. We can interrogate the girl she helped a bit, but, of course, that interrogation grants no further leads to Ciri's whereabouts. At least we return the toy top to it's owner.