Chapter Two: I Don't Think We're in Vizima Anymore, Roach
After breezing through the tutorial, I was actually feeling optimistic about my ability to finish this Death March. I was wrong! Holy difficulty spike, Batman!
PLEASE BE ADVISED: This blog series (obviously) contains major spoilers for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
Current Level: 3
Current Location: Royal Palace in Vizima
After breezing through the tutorial, I was actually feeling optimistic about my ability to finish this Death March. I was wrong! Holy difficulty spike, Batman! I'm still not as bad at this as I expected I would be, but I do really have to be in the zone to play at this difficulty level without getting my ass kicked. That clearly shows in my death count, which I feel like could have been lower if I'd been able to focus the first time around. It definitely makes me realize I've become somewhat dependent on abilities for a more brute-force combat style, so a lot of this early game has been fine-tuning combat styles.
What did we do?
After arriving in Velen, we stopped on our way to our destination to chat with a Priest of the Eternal Fire who wanted me to set fire to a bunch of mass graves. Easy enough, I thought, so I did and was killed by a rotfiend that was way stronger than me. I decided to return to this man's task later and was immediately killed by two drowners not much further down the road. Damn, is this all on my shitty sword or is the difficulty spike between White Orchard and Velen that steep? Anyway, after that respawn, I went straight to the Inn at the Crossroads, where the innkeep told me about my Nilfgaardian spy contact, Hendrik of Heatherton—though he did warn that there was a strange glow from that direction this morning. On my arrival to Heatherton, I was killed by rabid dogs and decided perhaps I am too high to do this at this moment.
Upon returning to the game, I decided to go back to White Orchard and do a bit more grinding. I killed the cemetery wraith who guards the Viper silver sword and the Igni place of power—now just to find a journeyman blacksmith who can craft the sword for me. I hit everything but the spoils of war that are northeast of the garrison cause again, I don't enjoy dying when i know i can avoid it. I was hoping to get to level 4 by the time I finished everything else, but I did not.
I went back to Velen and took my chances with Heatherton. After managing to kill the dogs by the skin of my teeth, the sole survivor tells Geralt about the invasion of the Wild Hunt, which sounds pretty gruesome from his story. Once we’ve examined the very dead Hendrik’s hut and finding his foot key, we're inside his underground lair and reading the secret diary he keeps in the ledger behind the bookshelf. He's been writing about Ciri! Allegedly, she stayed at Crow's Perch, the baron's "illegally appropriated fort," and quarreled with a witch in the village of Midcopse. Next thing we know, Hendrik is being watched. Creepy shit, or "ill omen" as the peasants say. Now, it's off to follow the leads!
It's closer to go to Crow's Perch, and I could use the Letter of Safe Conduct the baron gives Geralt so I can visit the journeyman blacksmith and craft these viper swords, so that's where we're headed. Veteran players may also know Crow’s Perch as the land of the worst signpost placement. Anyway, once we’re inside his house, the baron waxes poetic for a bit about losing wives and daughters before telling Geralt that Ciri had come to Crow's Perch after landing in the swamp.
And now, it's time to be Ciri post swamp-landing! Which, admittedly, I've been nervous about, since I have far fewer tricks up your sleeve during fights with her, especially early in the game. I got destroyed by the wolves the first time I ever played this part, but I did pretty well this time around. We then encounter Gretka, a child from Lindenvale who's been deposited in the swamp by her father to follow the Trail of Treats. Which, uh...that'll take too long to explain now, so we'll get there later. Anyway, she wants to go home but can't get there because of the Wolf King and his pack. Ciri examines a corpse (or what's left of it) to determine that the Wolf King seems to actually be a fiend. After making a blade oil, we push onward to his den. Turns out he's a werewolf and I'm bad at watching my vitality meter, because he took me down like a sweet muffin. After polishing him off the second time, we chat with the guy in the cave, who's the baron's man and offers to take Ciri and Gretka to his lord's place at Crow's Perch.
Back in real time, the baron stops his story and Geralt, perceptive as ever, asks what he's after in exchange for the rest. Turns out, he's also missing a daughter, along with a wife. Geralt will start his search by looking at their rooms, though the baron is insistent he won't find anything. That's where you'd be wrong, my guy, because Geralt has superhuman senses and found not only evidence of a physical altercation between the baron and his wife, but also a loose floorboard on the stairs under which she had stashed a talisman. When asked, the baron suggests it was given to her by the pellar who resides north of Blackbough, based on his deduction that it was either him or the new "cunning woman" near Midcopse, but that Anna was wary of strangers. It's time to see the pellar, it seems.
At last, level 4! Before we keep on questing, let's investigate Ciri's room and drop our fancy clothes off at the stash in case there's a fancy clothes emergency. Ciri has a spinning top and a book called The Natural Obscurity of Curses, inscribed to the baron and his wife. The top belongs to our sweet Gretka, who's still here in the kitchen. Ciri had told Gretka about Geralt and mentioned she was looking for him and "a sorceress," as well as trying to help a friend of hers, though Gretka didn't know who. Geralt then turned over the spinning top, made for Gretka by Ciri, who had shortly thereafter disappeared overnight, leaving only a valuable green stone behind as a gift for Gretka.
While I'm here, why not chat with Fergus Graem, dwarven master armorer-in-residence at Crow's Perch, and his lovely assistant Yoana, who seems to very much doubt his mastery? Geralt needs a master armorer to craft his witcher armor, and Fergus suggests that Geralt asks too much of his armor…until Yoana mentions that such light, durable armor could be crafted with specific tools from her clan in Skellige. This is a bit of a "for later" task, naturally.
On the way to Blackbough, Geralt encounters a woman on the roadside bemoaning the vandalization of a roadside shrine to a goddess. He promises to help her by restoring the roadside statues if he comes across them, but he "won't go out of his way."
And now we've met the pellar. Admittedly, this is another early game moment I was a bit concerned about, as the bandits outside his hut are pretty fierce and that's just the first part of it. Luckily, I made fairly quick work of them without any excessively close calls. The pellar is grateful that Geralt drove off the bandits and recognizes the talisman as Anna's, but can't help us until we find his beloved goat, Princess, and return her to his hut. On my way to find her, I fully lean on my advance knowledge of the giant bear and aim to take him out early. I managed it by staying behind it and delivering some rear strong attacks, which, thank god, cause my front-facing quick attacks did almost nothing! Anyway, with the bear out of the way, Princess can be safely guided to the pellar, who's now happy to help.
Back at the pellar's hut, Geralt is eager to get started and returns to fetch the blood of a living being for the pellar. Once Geralt returns with a rat, the pellar does some ritual that brings up a vision of Anna's improperly buried stillborn child, leading him to then explain to Geralt that the baron has a fondness for drinking a lot of alcohol and beating his wife. Their unborn child, buried improperly by the baron, is now a botchling, or a really ugly baby-monster. The pellar explains that Geralt can either lift the curse, turning the botchling into a lubberkin, or a less creepy ghost version of the baby-monster, by having the baron give his unborn child a proper burial, or he can kill the monster and bring the pellar its blood. Either way, this just got much darker and way more complicated.
What did we learn?
Combat with Ciri: Ciri can strong attack in faster succession than Geralt can, which makes it a bit easier to hold your own in a fight without alchemy or signs (or even her special abilities, at this early stage). Her "dodge" (really more of a dash) made it easier to get behind enemies and strike from the rear than Geralt's roll.
Death Count (This Chapter): 4
Death Count (Total): 7
While burning mass graves for the Eternal Fire priest, I was surrounded by wild dogs and one very strong rotfiend; slashed to death by the rotfiend
I wandered off the road to investigate a nearby quest marker and found two drowners that weren’t much stronger than I was who still killed me
Mauled by level 2 rabid dogs in Heatherton
(As Ciri) Killed in 3 swipes by the King of the Wolves
NOTE: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is the intellectual property of the appropriate copyright holders, including the screencaps from the game I have included in this essay. I have no official affiliation with CDPR or anyone else associated with the game/books/universe; I’m just a fan who plays Witcher to cope.