Act II, Kaedwen Part VII -- Eradicating the Curse

Act II, Kaedwen Part VII -- Eradicating the Curse

BEFORE you embark upon this step you need to be aware of something -- triggering this part of the quest will cause any of the side-quests that are integrated into this chapter to fail if you have not already completed them.  I mention this because if you plan on getting your character to Level 35 by the end of the game in order to unlock the related Achievement you cannot afford to miss more than a handful of the quests (depending on which side-quests you miss that is).  That being the case, it would be a really good idea to verify that you have completed the following side-quests for Act 2 (Roche Path):

-- Against the Blue Stripes
-- Ave Henselt!
-- Bring it On: Kaedweni Camp
-- Little Sisters
-- Lost Lambs
-- Poker Face: Kaedweni Camp
-- The Rotfiend Contract

A green tick-mark all by itself means that the side-quest is completed fully.  A green tick-mark inside a grey-shield means that the quest is conditionally completed, but that there may or may not be elements left undone and, in theory, proceeding beyond this point may or may not cause the side-quest to fail.  You should check the details of the quest to see if there is anything in them suggesting something that you have not completed and complete it if there is...

Bear in mind that there is a known bug in the game that can cause fully-completed quests to suddenly be declared failed.  If that happens do not worry, you did not lose anything, you did not lose points, the quest is still completed even though it says failed, it is a display bug and not an actual issue with the quest itself.

-- The Battle in the Mist: General Notes --

Part of the process of completing all of the half-finished main-quests involves you being possessed by the ghosts/specters of the soldiers you are trying to help put to rest.  When that happens, you are no longer fully a Witcher, which means that you will not have access to some of your Witcher powers, such as Signs, and in some cases any move that is an "enhanced" move (meaning that it is boosted by your Witcher abilities).  Examples of that include dodging and in enhancements to regular combat moves (for instance you can Riposte and block but not with the boosted effects).

The underlying effects of what you are doing are to reverse the intensity of the bitterness that was experienced on the battlefield -- basically you are sort of moderating the defeats all the way around, so that the souls who are in agony and trapped here can find a sort of peace and come to rest.  Yes, it sounds rather odd, but it works!  Just go with the flow, right?

As we pas into the Mist we get a CS of the specters talking among each other at one of the fortifications and it turns out they bitch and argue about the same as a human soldier LOL.  Once you commit and get into the thick of things the battles are not really difficult at first, but you do notice the inability to dodge and the lack of the boosts that you are used to having, that is for sure.

The Draug Boss Battle in the Mists 

-- Battle in the Mist Part I: the Standard --

After an initial small skirmish which is really just to get you used to the idea of fighting as a possessed warrior, the first order of the day is to capture the enemy standard (their staff and regimental colors) and then you are ordered to carry a message to the commander that you are about to be overrun!

As you run along the cut you are being fired on my flaming arrows that arrive in waves -- forcing you to move from barricade to barricade until you get close enough for them to realize that they are shooting at one of their own men (you).  When you report you are told that no reinforcements will be sent -- that you must hold the line on your own.

After the CS plays out you are released by the spirit. 

-- Battle in the Mist Part II: Sabrina and a Draug --

As the previous CS ends you witness the Sorceress Sabrina depart from the battlefield and contact her sisters -- she plans to call down a massive magical attack on the battlefield, and meanwhile you get possessed again, and your new goal is to take out the enemy General!

You follow the path and have a battle before you finally arrive at the location with the General and you switch back to battle as yourself.  You do not actually kill the General, you fight him until he yields, and then a huge Draug Warrior appears, tells you he is your worse nightmare, and attacks.

The battle is basically split between fighting the Draug and being pelted by waves of flaming arrows and flaming rocks.  He is not actually that tough as long as you can get him to walk into one of your traps -- but once trapped you only want to smack on him until just before the trap Sign wears off, and which point you want to back away and trap him again.  Rinse and repeat until you defeat him, and unlock the Achievement "Fat Man" (15 G) Kill the draug.


-- Battle in the Mist Part III: Battle Mage --

With the Draug defeated you take the role of Battle Mage with the orders to lead your men to the King's position -- so head for the marker on the map and you will be pelted by flaming rocks.  The King is close though and you get there quickly.  When you arrive you watch as the King basically ignores the tactical situation while he argues with Sabrina...

The King is very angry -- and we witness the point in which he actually sentences her to death!  It turns out that the real secret here was that the King sentenced her to death for sullying HIS honor, which is so much BS, but there you have it.

You get a graphic novel flashback-slash-summary and then you awaken.

The Sorceress Sabrina's Crime

-- Summary of Your Successes --

At this point you have somehow succeeded in the challenges of fighting as each of the primary specters in order to bring peace to their afterlives -- but the cost of that seems to be oblivion as you pass on into darkness!

A quick check shows that all of the principal quests are still marked with green ticks and grey shields, which means that they are not completely closed out just yet...  The real question though is, what have we learned?

To start with we have discovered that the "crime" that the Sorceress Sabrina actually committed was to sully the honor of the King by using large-scale magic attacks on the battlefield, and in the process robbing him of his glorious and honorable victory there.  Forget that she saved lives, forget that she helped sway the battle, and forget that she may very well have saved the King himself, that is not the point as far as Henselt is concerned.  It was about an honorable victory, not a victory, and he is convinced that she costs him that.

So the Royal Sorceress died because of a point of honor that is summed up as an imaginary slight...  No wonder she was pissed!  No wonder she cursed him!