MARREND'S PROFILE

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.