Act III, Loc Muinne Part I -- Arriving in the City

Act III, Loc Muinne Part I -- Arriving in the City

The new Act begins with a CS of Dethmold and their plotting for who will rule Temaria and ultimately the world.  Dethmold encases the Princess in a force field to "protect" her, and then we cut away to Geralt and Roche, who are chatting about the Pontar Valley -- Roche is working hard to convince you to heed his view on the issues ahead, and he makes it clear that Dethmold is ultimately his goal.

As you follow the mountain path you encounter some Harpies to kill, and then trigger a CS with Roche who assesses the situation and the plan.  Roche tells you to meet in the main square if you get separated and then the CS ends.  Roche passes by the knights ahead, and you get confronted by the knights, who let you pass because Roche asked them to.  Welcome to a new town!  You know that this means, right?  Side-quests!

Head across the bridge and through the main gates and you will find yourself in a rather dismal place...  The path on the left in the main courtyard leads you to the military commander who you can chat about the situation here -- that is worth the effort -- and once you have done that backtrack and head across the opposite side.

In the area beyond the door you will find a group of bounty hunters here to collect on you -- kill them and then head inside the fortress, where you will find Baron Kimbolt inside to the right.  He fills you in on the New World Order -- which you appear to be not a desired part of -- but you do learn that your name has been partly cleared thanks to the Princess talking.  Up the stairs is the Tamerian Count, who is something of a nutter -- if you draw him into conversation he delves deeply into the sort of coffeehouse talk that you probably were not expecting, but there you have it.

When you get tired of listening to his questionable logic, head to the inner court outside for a CS in which you encounter the soldier that you dueled in the Blue Stripe camp -- a Coiner who holds a grudge -- and you have a QTE fist fight with him.  Beating him completes the outstanding quest A Score to Settle.

Nearby is a female merchant who, in addition to trading will also change your hairstyle...  If you are like me you are overloaded with loot so selling some off is a great idea!  You can ask her about the Wild Hunt, and you should make sure that you purchase the Surgical Tools she has for sale (they are a quest item).

Do not talk to Roche or further the main quest-line just yet, instead talk to the other characters in the area, starting with the ex-herbalist from Flotsam who is in the courtyard here.  Talk to him about The Wild Hunt, and he tells you about a special sword...  The sword is thought to give insight into The Wild Hunt...  Ask him to play Dice Poker in order to trigger the side-quest Poker Face: Loc Muinne!

Exposing the Fraud that is Numa!

Approach the notice board and grab the Gargoyle Extermination contract, The Numa Challenge (Bring it On: Loc Muinne).  So with those now flagged it is time to get the side-quests done -- starting with Numa!  Head to where he is doing push-ups and talk to his barker, who tells you about some special shrooms -- those are a Quest Item so trade with him and buy them now, and then talk to Numa and ask him to Wrestle.

As you would expect this is not an easy bout -- the marker is MUCH smaller than in the past, and harder to reverse if you lose it.  So don't lose it!  You lost it!  When you do you have a CS in which you accuse him of being a cheater -- a potion drinker -- intimidate him into a fist fight and beat him down to get him to stop cheating -- then wrestle him again.  The marker is now regular sized, and you can now handily beat him -- after you do he offers you a bribe to keep your mouth shut about winning.  This ends the quest and scores you 100XP!

Now it is time to play some Dice Poker!  Head to the Inn and play the elves, and then the mages, and finally head back to the Market and challenge Lockhart.  Beating him ends the quest and earns you a tasty reward of your choice -- the design he offers is for a Magic Wrap, which increases Sign Damage...

As you explore the city you will encounter Aryan, who we last saw in the burning castle.  You can get his story...  And his take on what is happening here in the city.

-- Exterminating Gargoyles --

Once you select this second-from-last side-quest (the last one we will flag in the process of doing this one) you discover that you need to learn more about the foe.  You can do that either by killing them, or by finding a book on the subject.  You decide which, and then look for Gargoyles tucked in out of the way places -- one is at the end of the path where the circus types are standing.  Try not to get killed, right? 

Nearby each of the Gargoyle spots is a chamber inside of which are glowing signs and a chest.  You must deactivate the signs to gain access to the chest, and there is a clue at each to help you.  If you have trouble with it, here are the details:

The Runes you will find translate as:

(1) The Rune of Death -- a sort of backwards-F with an additional line.
(2) The Runs of the Animal -- Half-a-Swastika with two extra lines.
(3) The Rune of Time -- Half-an-Hourglass shape.
(4) The Rune of Sky -- A Diamond-Shape.

-- Amphitheater Rune Chamber --
Clue: On the dark sky, The beauty of a falcon’s flight, Faster and Faster.
Solution: (4) Sky, (1) Death, (2) Animal, (3)Time.

When you open the chest you obtain the items and part of the story of the Sword of the Wild Hunt.

To reach the Gargoyles to the south side of the fortress you will need to exit back into the main courtyard through the Temarian Camp and then use the left-hand door (while facing the entrance to the Camp).  In this courtyard you will get a brief CS of the Gargoyles and then they attack you.  The chamber is down the stairs here.

Solving the first pair of Rune Puzzles

-- Southern Rune Chamber --

Clue: Three field mice, Dance in a circle at dusk, Stars are like grain.
Solution: (2) Animal, (1) Death, (3) Time, (4) Sky.

When you open the chest you obtain the items but no additional narration, and the quest advances.

The next chamber is to the northeast side of the map but before we head for that, you should be pretty well weighted down, so it is time to head for the main square and the Eternal Flame Inn to drop off stuff and sell the stuff we do not want or need to store...  There are also some minor side-quest things for us to do in that general area so we will do those as well before we wrap up the Gargoyles!

Head back to the main square in the center of the map and hit the Inn, store what you want to and sell what you do not.  Part of the reward that we collected from the chests for the first two rune chambers are diagrams for Elder Blood Trousers and Elder Blood Boots -- both of which are way better than what we presently have equipped, so while we are here, grab the crafting resources that are required for these and hit Bras of Ban Ard to craft those two for you, and then equip them!

You will find an entrance to the sewers near where you wrestled with Numa.  Head down into those (this is the only path you can actually get through into the sewers at the moment) and you will advance the quest From a Bygone Era by encountering a wisp. 

At the end of the branching area is a chest inside of which is the diagram for the Armor of Ys, which is a quest item you need for Mystic River, but unless you have been killing Trolls you do not have the one key ingredient -- Troll Skin -- that is required to make this, so do not worry about it for this play-through, we will get it on the next.

Head back to the main square and speak with Bras of Ban Ard, and ask about weapons to uncover a mass of chat options -- then ask about Gargoyles if you like, and then the first Manuscript -- he needs some fairly rare items: Endrega Phermones, Nekker Warrior Blood, Bullvore Brain, and a Harpy Egg.  You can access your storage inside the Eternal Flame (the Inn where the bulletin board is) nearby, and you should have everything but the brain, which you can obtain in the sewers, but not just now...

-- Completing From a Bygone Era --

Ask him about the second Manuscript and he will tell you he knows but there is a price -- use the Sign on him to get him to spill the information and he teaches you what you need to know to get past the Wisp!  Now that we have the password, head back to the Sewers and speak the Wisp, and you will need to read the password: Zi Uddu-ya Ia Ia Gat Exa Nibbit Kanpa Gat Uddu-zi.

This opens a portal to the treasure room, where you next have to complete a puzzle -- you did not think it would be easy did you?!  In this case the puzzle is the order that you light the braziers...

Picture the room like a clock face -- the correct order to light the braziers when first entering the room is six-o'clock, two-o'clock, seven-o'clock, six-o'clock.

Solving the Puzzles for From a Bygone Era

The quest will advance, all the Braziers will be lit, and you will hear the door unlocking.  Head through the door and you will encounter the Guardian of the Chamber.  If you ask him what the Artifact does he will tell you (sort of)...  If you tell him that you think you can do fine with the Artifact on your own, he will attack you.  If you told him you are not the Chosen One, he will attack you.  If you say that you need to get out of here you will, but that will pretty much end the quest in failure.

Understand something, this guy is a pain to kill!  But then you are not actually meant to battle him as that only happens if you screw up the dialogue options.   Just say to get started and you can reset your Talent Points if you want him to, which will allow you to re-cast your character...  Once you are finished redoing your points, exit the screen and the portal opens and you can leave!  If you screw up your answers though, you have to fight him, and you do NOT get a respec.  So be careful with your answers, right? 

Oh and you do not have to complete the respec -- once you have reset your Talents you can do it after you leave if you want to, that way you can make a new save first and then if you mess up simply reload it.

-- Fighting the Guardian --

If you screwed up your answers you will have to battle him.

Basically here is how this works -- when you battle him you can only damage him with your Steel Sword -- but he will summon a pair of Gargoyles who you can only damage with your Silver Sword AND when they are summoned you cannot damage HIM.  So basically you have to quickly kill his summoned beasts, then rapidly switch swords and attack him, then rinse and repeat until done!

Once you have killed him loot his body to get the Operator's Staff (a weapon and Quest Item), and then head through the portal but you do NOT get to respec -- so you may want to seriously consider reloading your last save unless you do not want to respec, in which case hey, go ahead and battle him! 

You have now completed the quest From a Bygone Era so good on ya!