Part 20 - The Witcher 3 - 2nd playthrough - Death March

Check out the minimap! The wild dogs that were chasing me all fell victims to drowners prowling on the shore while I hid in the water. :D

At this point, I felt ready for the Jenny o' the Woods quest, so I headed to Midcopse.

After speaking with the Ealdorman and Agneta and learning that a powerful wraith was terrorizing the villagers, I went to investigate.

The fight against "Jenny" is one of the difficult ones in the game, but for me, it was nowhere near as hard as the werewolf Niellen. Jenny, like Niellen, is able to regenerate health, however, there is a way to avoid this. Whenever I saw the blinding light that indicated her three mirror images would appear, I simply turned around and ran. Ran until Jenny's health bar disappeared, and sometimes even the battle music stopped. I then ran back to Jenny and found the three smaller wraiths were gone and Jenny's health did not regenerate at all. I also used Wraith decoction, Specter oil, Yrden sign and strong attacks. This way, the fight was long but progress was continuous as the monster could not gain back its health.

After a long night of work, Geralt collected his payment for the Jenny o' the Woods contract in Midcopse. Here he is thinking about what to do next.

I decided it was time for Defender of the Faith, another level 10 quest. Geralt is not superstitious but respects others' beliefs, so he fixed the ugly shrines important to locals and defeated the men who had been damaging them.

I knew there would be a quest at this lovely little cemetery! :) I took on the Merry Widow contract that led me here. It turned out I would be facing off against a child-eating grave hag.

I killed the grave hag easily as she is thankfully not regenerating health. I found a good silver sword on her body.

In Lindenvale, I collected my reward for killing the monster, then rested until the morning.

By now, I had grave hag and nightwraith mutagens but missing two different species of mushrooms to create the mutagen decoctions.

Not in the mood for going mushroom picking, I decided to ride to Crookback Bog to continue with the main quest Ladies of the Wood.

While riding from Lindenvale to Crookback Bog, I couldn't help stopping to admire the view of Bald Mountain.

This marsh would be such a pleasant place... if some of the most terrifying characters in the history of video games didn't live here...

Geralt and the orphans of Crookback Bog.

There's a war, so there are orphans, as one of the kids points out when Geralt expresses surprise to see a bunch of kids all alone in a swamp. This reminds me of a good article I once read on how The Witcher 3 perfectly portrays what a war is like without ever showing a big battle of armies. Here it is.

From left to right: Yagna, Aynara, Genny, Mikula and Travik

Another amazing character design. This kid is so cute!

And war is a horrible thing. :(

I realized I forgot to take a portrait of "Gran". She can be seen sweeping leaves on the right in this picture.

The moment I started following Johnny, I reached level 10! I acquired Magic Trap and activated Firestream. Since I already had Johnny's voice in a bottle, I gave it to him, and he helped me convince Gran to let me talk to the Crones.

I remember when I saw this picture of the Crones during my first playthrough. I did not for a second believe this is how they really look.

And then I heard their voices and shivered... The way they say "brother" is outright mortifying...

From Crookback Bog, I rode to Downwarren to speak with the local Ealdorman. I am now having a difficult time killing a werewolf guarding the entrance to the cave under the Whispering Hillock where I need to go to find the ancient spirit. I'm starting to hate werewolves...

I was lucky to find some sewant mushrooms near the tree and was able to create the Nightwraith decoction. Effect: "Geralt’s maximum Vitality is increased with each foe killed. This increase lasts until he meditates or fast travels." That sounds good. :)