Iorveth's Path -- Flotsam IV: The Floating Prison

Iorveth's Path -- Flotsam IV: The Floating Prison

When Geralt arrives at the meeting place there are quite a number of elves present, and Iorveth tells him what his plan is.  You can choose to go with Iorveth's plan, but it is a complicated one that involves a lot of luck and combat -- instead you can suggest an alternative in which you trick the guards in much the same way that you did Letho.  After briefly considering this, Iorveth decides your plan is better, so you head off towards the gate to Flotsam with him and, just before you arrive you get a brief CS in which you bind his hands.

Moving through the town has pretty much the expected effect, as the locals yell at him and, when you reach the far side where the gate to the dock area is located, one of the guards stops you and asks if he can tune-up on the elf to get some pay-back for his brother who they previously killed.  It is not clear whether saying no will have an effect on the mission -- I chose not to say no, but let him get in a few pokes -- and then Geralt leads Iorveth through the second gate and onto the path leading to the dock where the Prison Ship (barge really) is moored.

As you move along the path it is clear that the area is much more heavily guarded than anticipated, but the guards do not give Geralt any trouble as he leads his "prisoner" towards the barge.  When you arrive you trigger a CS in which Geralt is relieved of his prisoner and then the battle ensues!

Saving the Elven Women from the Burning Tower

You quickly take out the guards on board the ship, and then Loredo appears and warns you that he will torch the tower full of elven women if you sail away.  True to his word Loredo torches the tower, but Geralt is not prepared to allow that situation to stand and jumps from the boat to the docks, intent upon rescuing the innocents...  OK technically that is not true -- you decide whether he does that or lets them burn -- but if you are playing The Witcher in character, you know he will try to save them rather than chase down and kill Loredo, who let's be frank here, with his karma?  Someone will eventually kill him without our help!

Every second counts here, so run along the docks towards the building, taking out any bad guys that get in your way and then, once you are inside, start freeing and releasing the prisoners so that they do not end up being crispy critters!

Cutting them loose is a one-button QTE and there are only three hostages, so quickly release them, and then follow them out the window so you do not burn up in the tower.  Iorveth thanks you for saving the women, and then announces that it is time to go -- and the boat sets sail.  Iorveth tells you about his encounter with Roche -- which plays out as a CS/flashback battle in sepia tone.  How this battle plays out really does not matter in the grand scheme of things, it certainly does not change the story in any meaningful way...  We actually have seen this before, as Roche gave us his version of the encounter when we started along his path.

After you get enough licks in Roche yields, wounded, and what we see is pretty much the diametric opposite of the story that Roche told us before.  Iorveth brags to Roche, and then refuses to kill him, and departs.  How much of that memory is bravado and how much actually happened?  Who can say?   Back on the ship in the here-and-now the final CS of the quest plays out, the sail is unfurled and the ship puts to sea.  The quest is advanced, Act I ends, and we get a narrative from Dandelion as expected.