Part 37 - The Witcher 3 - 2nd playthrough - Death March

My first real adventure in Skellige was helping Hjalmar an Craite kill a giant on the small island of Undvik. The boat trip there from Ard Skellig was not without dangers as a flock of sirens attacked me and damaged my boat.

A dead siren looking beautiful and innocent. This isn't how they look alive.

I got a little lost and landed on a tiny island between Ard Skellig and Undvik where some bandits reside. Luckily, they are afraid of water, so I was safe here. :D A bit later, I burned them all to death with igni.

I found cute Skellige goats and tamed one with axii. I slaughtered another one to get its milk. Yes, I realize goat milk can be obtained while the goat is still alive, but that isn't how this game works.

Finally reached Undvik and had to fight some more flying foes, erynias or maybe harpies? Geralt would know for sure, they look too similar to me. :) I also found an item called "Valuable Fossil" on this shore and was excited until I googled it and found it was worthless.

Hiding from the giant! I LOVED this moment in my first game, was literally holding my breath so as not to alert the giant! This time, I knew it wouldn't notice Geralt and walk on. And then I started battling the sirens and over their ugly cries I heard a man singing a sad song in a soft voice... That was such a great surprise when I first played!

This man singing to himself in a half built boat is the former jarl of Undvik. As the island has been ruled by the savage, man-eating giant for a while, almost everyone has fled. The jarl and a few of his men, however, stayed behind, and with nothing to eat in here and too afraid to venture outside, the jarl eventually ate the men and went crazy, now talking to their skulls as if they were his friends. This is the unforgettable song he sings. This is the only vocal cover I found. It is very nice, but I wish there was one with a male singer.

Exploring Undvik, trying to learn the fate of Hjalmar and his men.

I explored a cave and learned many of them had died.

Finally reached the other end of the cave, found the "giant's pantry" (people hanging on hooks like pigs in a slaughterhouse), and eventually reached Hjalmar.

He wasn't about to give up finding and killing the giant, so I agreed to help him. We went on looking for the monster.

What the hell happened here?? There's a skeleton sitting at the table with what looks like a crown on its head and a child's skeleton thrown over the legs of overturned furniture... How did these people die?? The giant didn't do this. Or were they also too afraid to leave the building and died here after they ran out of food? :/

Before entering the giant's cave with Hjalmar, I went back to attend to unfinished businesses. First, I delivered nails and twine to "Octo", the madman in the half built ship who is in fact the former jarl. He had asked for these so that he and his "crew" (the skulls he is talking to) could finish building the ship. I received 160 xp for this.

Then I hopped over to Urskar and rode to Hjalmar's camp from there. The camp is between Urskar and Octo's ship, and the latter is along the route that leads up from Marlin Coast. I searched the camp, followed the tracks to the ice trolls' cave and picked up the Hornwall Horn (effective against sirens). The entrance to the trolls' cave is north from the Abandoned Village, in the northwest part of the island.

"Damn! The troll I just killed fell off the cliff."

Don't worry, Geralt, the loot didn't. :)

"I'm lost, it's getting dark, and nothing here on this mountain but goats and the creepy endgame tower."

I'm hopelessly bad at finding my way, so it took a while until I managed to locate the man who had been captured by the ice trolls.

His name is Folan, and he was being cooked in the cauldron when I arrived. I played riddles with the trolls - not a difficult task - and they agreed to let him go, because I won.

Finally, we faced off against Myrhyff, the ice giant. I was joined by Folan, Hjalmar and Vigi - whom I released from a cage where the giant had put him. This was a boss fight that felt like one. It took a while but I didn't die once, and when the giant was down, it felt like real triumph.

I am now level 20, which means I will try to complete every side quest and contract no higher than level 23 before returning to the main quest.