Part 14 - The Witcher 3 - 2nd playthrough - Death March

These peasants were singing a song that went like "If you was workin', sunshine, you'd be tired, too, you'd be settin' without me askin', go down, now, go down." I tried to find the full song or lyrics online but was unsuccessful.

My plan was to do the Shrieker contract, but I like to explore instead of fast traveling, so along the way, I got sidetracked several times.

I killed a wyvern which soldiers mistaked for a basilisk and received a mutagen. I cleared a rotfiend nest and was able to create enhanced necrophage oil. I enjoy getting sidetracked. :)

I found treasure and killed nekkers to get it. Later I found more treasure guarded by a level 15 (!) Bilge Hag. I'll have to come back for that later. What are Bilge Hags anyway? I don't remember seeing any during my first playthrough. They look like a more vicious version of a Water Hag.

Nearing Crow's Perch where I got sucked into the Botchling quest.

It is at this point that if you enter Crow's Perch, you must deal with the fire first then beat up the baron.

So I went along with it. The Shrieker must wait a little bit longer.

Geralt does not look like he is feeling sorry for the baron.

I managed to take this nice portrait of the baron along with a very telling quote from him.

The fight with the wraiths while attempting to turn the Botchling into a Lubberkin was difficult for me. As I see on forums, it is difficult for everyone but hardcore gamers. I didn't want to kill Dea so every time I messed up and she turned into a beast, I reloaded the last checkpoint. What finally helped was remembering I had all those unused ability points - duh! I used one to get +500 Vitality and activated it in place of Sun and Stars.

Following Dea's spirit to the fisherman's hut.

A nice portrait of concerned Geralt.

After I spoke with the fisherman and his family, I had the objectives to go back to the baron or visit Tamara in Oxenfurt. I decided this was a good place to abandon the main quest and kill the Shrieker. On my way back to Crow's Perch, I ran into the idiot who wants to fight 100 knights to honor some woman, and I got 25 xp out of him.

I visited the armorer at Crow's Perch and took this portrait of Yoana. Such masterfully created characters in this game! Everyone looks so unique and real!

The fight with the Shrieker was one of the easier ones. Sure I didn't kill it on the first try because I'm a total noob, but it wasn't too hard. I refused the coin reward from the contract issuer (he has to raise an orphan) but was generously awarded with xp and reached level 6 right there. Now I am the recommended level for Wandering in the Dark. Can't put it off much longer.

Since I was in Crow's Perch again, I spoke with the baron, triggering the cutscene where Ciri and the baron's men chat around the campfire. After Ciri and the baron race their horses and Ciri wins, the basilisk attacks, and Ciri says something that struck me as very powerful.

"Another chance to win," Ciri says as she draws her sword and faces the monster without fear.

"Another chance to win" is what we should remember when being confronted with great challenge in our lives. Challenges give us a chance to be victorious and get stronger, and we should gratefully take these chances whenever we can. I just thought this was a good life lesson. :)

At this point, I had the "investigate all remaining leads in Velen" and the "visit Tamara in Oxenfurt" objectives, but both pointed me to the latter.

I think Tamara joining the Eternal Fire cult / sect is another thought-provoking event in the game. The Eternal Fire believers are a racist group trying to eradicate everyone who is different from them, everyone who they fear, all the "non-humans" and those with magical powers such as mages and witches. Today's neo-Nazis and radical Muslim terrorists are doing the same, murdering "infidels", gays etc. out of fear and blind hatred. These groups are joined by young people who grew up without love, witnessed or were the victims of abuse, and they need a sense of belonging and the feeling of safety more than anything. Tamara grew up with an abusive, drunk father who beat her mother regularly. Now at 19 years of age, she is a member of a cult that burns people on stakes just for their ability to understand and control magic. She calls her new friends, leaders of this cult, "righteous, brave men" and has all her faith in the idea of the "Eternal Fire" to set her life on the right track. Sadly, there are many Tamaras in today's world, and without anyone helping them understand the real cause of their feelings, they end up like this 13th-century fictional character...

Back to lighter themes. I love this interior and wish I had a room like this. With an Xbox One and a PS4 sitting in one corner, of course. :)

This is what I do if I get caught stealing and soldiers start to chase me. I somersault my way along the streets to the habor, dive, swim underwater until they lose sight of me and stop firing arrows, then resurface. Works every time. :)

Seeing pictures like this, it's easy to romanticize medieval times.

Before leaving Oxenfurt, I got better armor - not better looking - and was back in this striped hideousness. I also got a better steel sword and sold The Emmentaler.

Now my only instruction was to find the baron's wife, but there was no yellow mark on the map. I knew from my previous playthrough that she was in Crookback Bog, so I traveled there and followed the Trail of Treats. However, the orphans wouldn't talk to me, and Anna was nowhere to be seen. A quick online search revealed I needed to get the Ladies of the Wood quest to advance, and for that, I had to complete Wandering in the Dark. *gulp* Okay, time to join Keira in the underground elven ruins.