Part 13 - The Witcher 3 - 2nd playthrough - Death March

Here I am in Novigrad trying to do business with a merchant, but he won't talk to me. I think he's bugged. I went around town visiting most vendors and bought enhanced formulas for oils and potions - not everything just what I like to use - but skipped playing gwent with them. I figured Novigrad players must be strong opponents for me as I shouldn't actually be here at this level.

Coming to Novigrad was a good idea; tons of loot just lying on the streets for me to take. Here I am in front of Tretogor Gate in new "armor" that I found. It looks even worse than the previous but is a bit stronger and gives me extra Vitality.

One time somebody scared the crap out of me while I was merrily picking up loot when he yelled, "HEY, YOU! YES, YOU!" But he just wanted to inquire if I had water on the brain...

I was slowly working my way towards level 5, getting 10 XP for shutting up a preacher and 50 more for reading a letter at a bookstore...

Before leaving the city, I converted some money at Vivaldi's Bank and cleared all notice boards.

I had a new quest that did not have a red skull above it when selected: Of Dairy and Darkness. I decided to do it, but was stopped by a dwarf outside of Novigrad. So I first completed the Dwarven Document Dilemma quest which netted me a total of 60 XP. Delusion skill is the best! I then used the same skill to help refugees get into the "free city" for another 65 XP!

It wasn't until later that I realized Of Dairy and Darkness was my least favorite quest of this whole game! It is the stinky cheese quest... It requires finding your way through an underground maze filled with moldy cheese fumes then swimming in a pitch-dark flooded cave and finally fighting a level 8 foglet. The quest itself is a level 9.

I did not enjoy it any more than the first time I played this game but it did finally get me to level 5! While fighting the foglet, I made good use of my newly-brewed Wraith decoction, and the foglet gave me a mutagen that adds +100 to my Vitality. I still don't have a new ability slot, though, to put all those points to use.

Geralt: "Fresh air! Finally!"

My thoughts exactly!

Now that I am level 5, I will take on the Shrieker contract (lvl 8) then continue with the main quests (lvl 6).