Part 15 - The Witcher 3 - 2nd playthrough - Death March

Geralt hates portals, and I hate caves. So the Wandering in the Dark quest is not among my favorites, but I couldn't put it off any longer if I wanted to advance the story. I created a save before entering the ruins with Keira, just in case I needed to retreat later. It turned out I did need to reload that save, but not for the reason I expected...

I followed Keira, we were attacked by drowners, I killed them. I noticed it took only one hit for them to die, which was surprisingly easy, but I figured it was because I was level 6, and they were only level 4, and I used the enhanced oil. However, I realized something was not right when I meditated and got all my health back.

I checked the difficulty level and it was on the easiest! It changed automatically. This is a bug reported years ago and was apparently still not fixed which is disappointing. I reloaded the save before entering the cave, and it was on "just the story" as well. The change must have happened when I started the game that night. I'm sure I was not playing the previous session on easy; I would've noticed it just like I noticed now...

This is the first time I encountered this bug as I played the game on easy during my first playthrough. Now every time I start up the game, I check the difficulty. So far it stayed on "death march". I can only hope it will never change while I'm playing...

This cave system has awesome loot I must admit. One of the best recipes I found is for White Raffard's Decoction. Not that I have enough nekker hearts to cook it, but at least I have the formula now.

I killed the golem on the second try. It wasn't too hard. Keira helps, it is her who finishes it if you get its health low enough.

Keira... Her conniving ways annoy me but at the same time I can't help but admire her independent nature.

The fight with the gargoyle wasn't too hard either, though he is admittedly a very annoying enemy, causing you damage by stomping the ground, throwing rocks, vomiting... I learned it's best not to even try attacking it from the front. Keira will help by distracting its attention with her lightning spell, that is when you need to get behind it and hack it two or three times then get away. I used quen to protect myself, but found it is nearly useless if I attack from the front and the gargoyle counterattacks. Being patient and attacking it from behind did the trick.

Nithral was the fight I feared the most in this quest and I killed him on the first try! Keira helped of course, but so did axii, the Thunderbolt potion, some patience and rolling far away from him after two or three heavy hits on his bony back. :) I never thought I would say this, but it was easy. The hardest fight for me this playthrough still has been the werewolf Niellen, and in this quest, I had more trouble with the fricking level 4 foglets that popped out from the dark whenever I tried to loot a chest, as I had to fight them in tiny chambers with nowhere to run from their blows.

I reached level 7 right after I agreed to help Keira retrieve the magic lamp.

I acquired and maxed out the Puppet skill, and now I have these four skills activated: Puppet, Exploding Shield (works better for me than Active Shield), Survival Instinct, Sun and Stars.

We emerged from the cave on a rainy afternoon. Keira teleported home, and I meditated until the next morning when it still hadn't stopped raining... I wanted to create / enhance some oils and potions using my newly discovered recipes, so I decided to visit Keira to buy ingredients from her.

Geralt standing next to the carcass of the highest level enemy he killed so far, a level 11 endrega warrior which had to die because it had made it impossible to use a signpost. Maybe I would manage the level 10 Jenny o' the Woods contract now. :)

However, I have another goal on my mind before doing any more contracts: improving my gwent decks.

I stopped in Midcopse to buy new armor before heading to Keira's hut, and now my Geralt looks like he just emerged from a second hand clothing store...

Next session, I plan to travel around Velen playing gwent, hoping to collect a strong enough deck to eventually defeat the baron.