Chapter 2: The Kaedweni Camp (Roche)
Prelude to War: Kaedwen
We begin the chapter in a cutscene where we see Henselt and his two mages going to a parley with Saskia the Dragonslayer and Prince Stennis of Vengerberg. You control Henselt in this sequence. As Henselt, the conversation options you select determine how this sequence plays out.
Your dialogue sequence here determines whether you fight Saskia the Dragonslayer one on one in a duel, or whether you fight her forces in a pitched battle. The initial negotiation with the Aedirnian nobles is only for flavor and does not affect this outcome. Once Saskia appears, your conversation choices begin to influence things.
If you say “Silence, Dethmold” after Saskia’s cutting opening remark, you open up the option to simply duel her. Say “I’ll fight” to initiate the duel. This battle is exceptionally easy if Riposte is available to counter Saskia’s blows. If not, you can still do a basic block-counter pattern to defeat her easily. This is the simplest and quickest way to resolve this sequence.
If instead you say “My plans for you are altogether different,” you trigger a mass melee battle that pits all of Henselt and Saskia’s forces against each other. Síle is frankly more dangerous to you in this fight than any of Saskia’s followers, as Síle’s fire bolts incinerate you if you get hit by accident. You can attempt to pick off each of Saskia’s followers one by one, but this process is very slow and can be a bit dangerous. Henselt can’t dodge-roll and becomes vulnerable if surrounded. To end the mass melee quickly, go directly after Saskia.
If you say “Will you threaten me as well?” a short dialogue ensues, then the next branch of the dialogue simply presents the two options you didn’t pick the first time. “Silence, Deathmold” unlocks the options outlined above.
If you say “You risk much, Saskia,” you come to a new dialogue branch. Saying “I’ve heard enough” triggers the mass melee battle. If you say “I will hear you out,” Saskia offers the duel. At this point you can accept by saying “I’ll fight,” or refuse by saying “My plans for you are altogether different.”
After some cutscenes, Geralt and Roche arrive. Now you control Geralt and must help everyone battle a horde of Kaedweni knight wraiths. If you optimized your equipment last chapter, it really pays off here. You should be able to take out the wraiths rapidly with light attacks. Once you’ve defeated enough wraiths, two draugirs appear. Draugirs basically fight like knights with heavy shields, only their defense is even harder to get through.
Mage and alchemist Geralt builds need to stun or stagger a draugir to create an opening for doing damage. Mages want Aard or Yrden here, alchemists want Zerrikanian suns and Talgar winters. A swordsman build can try to sneak around to the draugir’s back with dodge rolls, or try to simply tank through the draugir’s attacks, using Quen to damage it while it’s swinging its sword. Just like you, the draugir has to drop its guard before it attacks. In any case, keep Quen up during this battle. Just as in the mass melee, Síle tends to be more dangerous to you here than the actual enemies.
After you defeat the two draugirs, you get some more cutscenes that make it clear the wraiths are never going to stop spawning. For the next sequence, you need to stay within a cover of protective magic provided by Dethmold. It’s very similar to the sequence last chapter where Triss protected you from arrows, but staying within the cover’s field of protection is much easier. Occasionally Aedirnian knight wraiths rush you, but by the time they get to you, they have so little vitality that a single light attack probably dispatches them.
There should be two or three sequences where wraiths appear and trap Dethmold with beams of energy. The field of cover stops moving and Aedirnian and Kaedweni knight wraiths flood into it. To proceed, you need to pick off the wraiths holding back Dethmold. They respawn rather quickly, so avoid getting bogged down fighting the various knight wraiths. Usually freeing Dethmold requires killing at least four of them, most often around six. Keep Quen up, as Síle’s very likely to end up firing fireballs at your back in a crowded, close-quarters fight like this one. Once you clear out all the wraiths, Dethmold can move again. Dethmold also eventually breaks free if you take too long slaying the various wraiths.
After the first of the battles against the entrapping wraiths, you pass by Prince Stennis’s body lying beneath a tree. If you move quickly enough to loot him, you can get Stennis’s sword, a unique (if mediocre) steel sword.
Eventually, Dethmold leads you to the Kaedweni Camp, pitched north of the Pontar. Once within its walls, follow Zyvik as he takes you on a tour of the major points of interest in the camp. You can try to hurry him, but if you do you’re screwing yourself out of the Tourist achievement. Once the tour is done, Zyvik takes you to the entrance to the upper camp, where Henselt’s tent is located.
Outside Henselt’s tent, you encounter Shilard Fitz-Oesterlen again. You can mostly say what you wish during this conversation, which serves primarily to let you gather extra information about the storyline. An important thing to keep in mind, though, is that Axii does not work on Shilard. If you come to the branch of the dialogue where you have the chance to use special dialogue options, try the persuasion option instead.
After the discussion with Shilard, enter Henselt’s tent and talk to him. You can say whatever you like here. No matter what you say, you end up tasked with finding a way to break the curse that has consumed the battlefield. Finishing the dialogue with Henselt resolves this quest, which is worth 1,000 XP.
At this point, there are plenty of active storyline quests that you can pursue. It’s best to do all of the available side quests first, since the storyline quests tend to have a fairly dramatic effect on what you can and can’t do. Right now you’re free to do whatever you want, so begin by getting your bearings. In addition to the Kaedweni Camp, you can travel to Roche’s Camp and the Camp Followers’ Encampment nearby. The Nilfgaardian Camp is to the north, but you can only access it briefly as part of a particular quest. You travel to Roche’s Camp for a few side quests but otherwise won’t be using it regularly. All of the chapter’s major shopkeepers are divided between the Kaedweni Camp and the Camp Followers’ Encampment, so it’s best to examine the two locations separately.
Points of Interest
The Canteen
The canteen is marked on your in-game mini-map as an inn, but many of the usual amenities of an inn are missing. In particular, you can’t access your storage from the Kaedweni Camp’s canteen and instead must head to the Camp Followers’ Encampment to access storage. You visit the canteen mainly to get side quests off of the notice board that stands outside. You can also initiate the chapter’s dice poker quest with a couple of fellows who play outside, as well as progress a few other side quests here by talking to NPCs.
Upper Kaedweni Camp
The upper Kaedweni Camp is where you can find nobles and the mercenaries that work directly for them. Major NPCs of note in this area include King Henselt, Síle de Tansarville, Dethmold, and Adam Pangratt. You need Pangratt in particular for this chapter’s arm-wrestling quest line, and you must visit Dethmold and Henselt several times as part of the game’s main story quests. Most of your interactions with Síle in this chapter are optional, but she can remove the Hung Over tattoo if you buy the right ingredients. A gate from the upper Kaedweni Camp leads to the Nilfgaardian Camp, but it usually remains shut. As you might expect, this part of the camp yields a lot of valuable random loot.
Roche's Camp
Just south of the Kaedweni Camp stands the area where the Blue Stripes have camped out. You need to go here for the chapter’s fistfighting side quest and as part of the Ave Henselt! side quest. You can listen to some amusing dialogue from the Blue Stripes and have optional conversations with Roche and Ves here, too. Be sure to loot the area, as it’s stuffed with more orens and random goods than you might expect.
Weapon Racks
The Kaedweni Camp is stuffed to the brim with useful loot, both random goods and some armor enhancements marked on your guide map. The weapons racks dotted throughout the camp are not exactly useful, but you can use them to obtain big piles of additional weapons that you can immediately turn around and sell. Each weapons rack you find in the Kaedweni Camp contains a cleaver, a bastard sword, a long sword, and a sword. That’s 26 pounds of loot you can sell for a quick 29 orens. Note that any weapons rack you find in an indoor area is going to offer a random selection of weapons instead of the pre-set selection the ones outside offer.
The Right To Bear Arms
You might expect terrible consequences for running around an armed camp with your sword drawn, but, actually, no one cares. This is one of the few settled areas in the game where you can keep your sword drawn without guards pouring down on you. You can even run around the upper camp with your sword drawn and not have to worry about reprisals. Enjoy this while it lasts, though remember that running around with your sword drawn tends to make NPCs panic.