Head back to the north side of the river to decide how you’re going to finish the quest. Basically, if you head to the quest marker far to the north of your map, you’re going to sneak through the Kaedweni Camp to reach the Nilfgaardian Camp. This is not a mutually exclusive decision. If you sneak through the Kaedweni Camp, you get to enter the same cave, fight all of the same monsters, and grab all the same loot. Sneaking through the camp gives you the Child of the Night character attribute while using the camp followers’ entrance is really expensive, so there’s absolutely no reason not to sneak through the camp. Still, here are both ways to get into the cave.
if you bribe the camp followers
Go find the camp followers Roche mentioned. They’re also labeled on the guide map, and you should be able to easily follow an in-game quest marker there. Speak to a character named Madame Carole, who should be very easy to find in the small camp area. You can play dice with her if you like, offer to spend some money on a whore, or just talk to her about the cave entrance. The whores here are pretty much like the whores you encountered in Chapter 1, so the usual caveat about spending orens on whores applies.
Madame Carole only talks to you if you’re willing to pay up. If you agree to that, then you can ask her some questions. If you ask her “Know how I could get inside the camp?” she immediately says that will cost you. If you say “I’ll pay you,” then the usual bribery interface comes up. Her maximum rate is randomly determined, but she always lets you in with any bid of 500 orens or more.
When you successfully bribe Madame Carole, she gives you the old tower key. You can scan the brothel for random loot before you enter, but you probably won’t find a whole lot. Instead, head into the open prison cell at the rear of the old tower. Poke around the small area you enter to find another trap door that drops you down into the secret cave. Immediately prepare to fight a second bullvore, which means basically every build should drink a Mongoose potion. Otherwise, the bullvore should be fairly easy to kill at your current level of power, especially if you have an optimal silver sword. Loot the bullvore’s body and hope you get a bullvore trophy if you didn’t the first time.
Head deeper into the cave. You won’t find a whole lot except low-level random loot until you come to what’s marked on the map as “Rotfiends.” In the cave, it’s a ledge you must climb up. Beyond it is all of the cave’s best loot, guarded by rotfiends and a golem. Turn to for a description of how to complete the battles in this part of the cave.
if you sneak through the kaedweni camp
This stealth sequence is probably very different from what you’re expecting. It’s not like the initial scene in La Valette Castle, which is all about perfect positioning and knocking guards out. For this sequence, all you need to do is stick to the shadows and not get noticed by any of the guards wandering around the camp. This is surprisingly simple, and all the landmarks you need to pull it off are labeled on the guide’s map of this area.
Begin by crouching with the canteen within sight. Wait for a drunk to stumble out. This guy is so drunk he won’t notice you, so you can safely creep over to the fire burning next to the canteen door and extinguish it. Do the same to the fire burning in front of the tent opposite the canteen. From there, creep forward just a bit. If you draw near enough to the drunk while staying unobserved, he goes to join his two fellows by a nearby campfire. This causes the men to stand up and turn their backs to you. Now, spring across the camp’s main road to crouch by the large palisade. A man stands in front of it sharpening a sword, so you want to go around it from the back by going up a wooden ramp. A guard patrols here, but he’s easy to stun.
Pause on the palisade’s far side. This is a good point to save your game. Wait at least a few moments to see if a group of soldiers walks out of the building next to you. There should be five in all, if the group appears. When the five are well past you, you can sprint across to the two long lines of tents on the western side of the map. You want to be in between the two rows of tents as shown on the map, as this area is in shadow and will keep you mostly out of sight. Loot the dwarven enhancement out of the chest next to you. Creep slowly forward until you come up behind a soldier who is taking a piss. Wait for him to finish and walk away.
Now, dash down to the cook who’s stirring the pot near the camp’s west wall. When you draw near to him, you have a chance to interact to use Axii on him successfully. You need to hammer your interaction button repeatedly until a meter is full for the sign to be successful. This makes the cook decide to lie down and go to sleep. Loot the steel plate enhancement from the chest near him, then sprint toward the camp’s gates. You should get a prompt to interact in order to open the door and step out.
Outside, there’s a scout gazing through a spyglass with his back toward you. Sneak up on him and stun him with your strong attack button. From here, just move toward your in-game quest marker to find the cave’s entrance. You should get the Child of the Night attribute when you drop down into the cave and also unlock the Black Ops achievement. If you want to fight the bullvore, go right once you’re inside the cave. As you move toward the bullvore, you should find a Kaedweni soldier’s corpse you can loot for a steel plate enhancement. Before you fight it, pause to drink a Mongoose potion at the very least. Otherwise, the bullvore should be fairly easy to kill at your current level of power, especially if you have an optimal silver sword. Loot the bullvore’s body and hope you get a bullvore trophy if you didn’t the first time. After that, head toward the rotfiend pack marked on the cave map. Read on to finish the sequence.
looting the cave
This should be trivial, since if you buffed yourself with potions to fight the bullvore, your potion buffs should still apply. Quickly head toward the passage where the golem lurks. Activate the circle of strength near its entrance, then plunge through.
Fighting the golem is much like fighting the bullvore. This battle may be difficult for alchemist builds due to the close quarters, but swordsmen can easily bull through with strong attacks. Mages can get a lot of hits in by using signs to stun the monster, then counterattacking. Alchemists may want to focus on stunning bombs. Loot the golem’s body once it’s dead, then loot the room. You should find plenty of orens, lots of low-level loot, the Kaedweni jackboots, the armor of Ban Ard, and a massive stack of poisoned harpy claws.
After the golem is dead, finish looting the point of no return, decide what you want to keep and what you need to drop, and then exit the cave. Round the bend after you exit to find a Nilfgaardian soldier. Approach him to initiate a dialogue scene. One way or another, you’re forced to give up your swords before you can see Shilard Fitz-Oesterlen.
During the dialogue with Shilard, you can say basically whatever you like. There are no deaths by cutscene lurking here, despite the danger, just chances to gather a little more information through the remarks you make. You should find out some information that advances both The Assassins of Kings (that Letho is the last surviving kingslayer) and Returning Memories (Geralt has a flashback to tracking the Wild Hunt). Eventually, it’s revealed in the cutscene that the figurine you found earlier actually contained Triss, who was transformed into a different, smaller figurine hidden inside it. You find out Cynthia is a traitor actually in the employ of a sorcerer named Vanhemar, who is going to kill you.
Or is he? It seems Roche was persuaded by your words earlier, because he and Ves arrive to start slaying the Nilfgaardian guards and help set you free. Once you’re freed, grab a sword and equip the poisoned harpy claws you picked up in the cave to your pockets. Now you get to battle Vanhemar. His tactics are very similar to Letho’s, only instead of attacking with a sword he occasionally teleports around the battlefield. Vanhemar protects himself with Quen and throws fireballs, similar to the Succubus (if you fought her earlier).
Since he doesn’t move around a lot, traps and Yrden aren’t very reliable here. Thrown daggers are excellent for trying to interrupt his spell animations, while an alchemist Geralt with hefty bomb damage bonuses can use strong bombs to try and knock Vanhemar’s Quen down rapidly. Mage and swordsman Geralts should keep their own Quen up. Mages can use Axii to control the Nilfgaardian guards, or try to use leveled-up Aard to knock Vanhemar’s Quen down. Swordsman builds may just want to beat down Vanhemar’s Quen with their own sword swings, though this does leave you vulnerable to being ganged up on by the guards. That said, if you focus on Vanhemar and have a bit of luck, you can defeat him well before you need to deal with the Nilfgaardian camp guards.
After Vanhemar and his guards are killed, a dialogue scene with Roche begins. This is another one where you can say whatever you like and get some interesting exposition in return. At the end of the dialogue, say “I want to look around the Nilfgaardian camp fire.” This lets you loot the bodies of the foes you just defeated, which you really want to do. Wherever Vanhemar’s body fell, you should be able to loot the armor of Loc Muinne, the chapter’s best armor for mages and swordsmen. Equip and fully slot it with the best enhancements you’ve got for your current build. If you’re playing an alchemist, you’re probably already using Thyssen’s armor. You can also snag the Nilfgaardian jackboots from a chest toward the rear of the camp and loot Shilard’s tent for the book The Song of the Hunt, Shilard Fitz-Oesterlen’s first letter to the emperor, and some random loot that tends to be mostly equipment. When you’re ready to escape the Kaedweni Camp, speak to Roche.
if prince stennis is dead
Roche has a plan that involves passing you off as his prisoner. You can get two different sequences here, depending on whether Stennis is alive or dead. If Stennis is dead, then the sequence is fairly simple. Let Roche march you through the camp and fast-talk the guard into letting the two of you out. Be careful not to draw near any of the officers. You can identify them by their helmets, which they wear with the faceplates flipped up. If you approach any of the three officers in the camp, you die instantly. One of the officers stands ahead of you near a fire, a second is to your right near a makeshift arena, and the third is walking toward you from the left. You can simply wait by the group of men on your left near the tent for the officer to pass by, then head toward the exit.
Once outside, you’re freed. Now you need to return to where Philippa is waiting for you and cross back over the cursed battlefield. When you emerge on the Vergen side of the mist, a group of wraiths and Aedirnian knight wraiths follow you out. You can run on to Vergen and ignore them, or fight them alongside the Scoia’tael that patrol the area. Go speak to Philippa in her home to resolve this quest. You receive 2,250 XP, the Aedirnian Special Forces cockade, and the silver sword Negotiator as your reward. Negotiator is noteworthy for its high chance of inflicting the rare freeze critical effect. Although it is inferior to other swords found in this chapter in terms of raw damage, it can be very potent (and entertaining) in the hands of a Geralt built for swordsmanship.
if prince stennis is alive
If Stennis is alive, then you can’t leave before getting some of Henselt’s blood. Roche reluctantly agrees to help you get some. To begin with, follow Roche into the camp. When Roche says “Geralt, hide!” go crouch behind the stack of boxes. Wait as Roche leads the Kaedwenis away. Creep toward the fire pit off to your right and interact to put it out, just for a little extra insurance. Make your way around the rear of the tents. Do not step into the center of the camp for any reason.
When you get to Henselt’s tent, creep around the rear of it. Be careful to say well away from the firelight. Use Aard on the conveniently located stack of barrels you find behind Henselt’s tent. This distracts the guards watching the entrance to his tent. Once you’re sure they’re gone, make a quick dash into Henselt’s tent. Once the cutscenes start up, you’re safe.
During the dialogue sequence, you can say pretty much whatever you like. Eventually Henselt agrees to give you his blood, and then his soldiers escort you to the camp followers’ encampment. You get 1,000 XP for resolving Royal Blood . Now you need to meet up with Philippa and pass back through to Vergen through the mist.
When you emerge on the Vergen side of the mist, wraiths and Aedirnian knight wraiths follow you out. You can run on to Vergen and ignore them, or fight them alongside the Scoia’tael that patrol the area. Go speak to Philippa in her home to resolve this quest. You receive 2,250 XP, the Aedirnian Special Forces cockade, and the silver sword Negotiator as your reward. Negotiator is not especially useful, but an Aedirnian Special Forces cockade and a couple of extra levels always come in handy.
a matter of life and death
hatred symbolized
It’s time to heal Saskia. Accomplishing that causes Hatred Symbolized to automatically resolve, since Saskia has Vandergrift’s sword, so you can kill two birds with one stone. Go talk to Philippa Eilhart in her house. Say “I have all the ingredients needed to heal Saskia.” This automatically starts a cutscene featuring one of the most hilarious lines of dialogue in the game. During the cutscene when you get to make a dialogue choice, you can just say whatever you want here. You gain no XP for resolving either quest.
the eternal battle
Make sure you’re prepared for a major battle with a unique enemy as part of this quest. Your equipment and how you’ve invested in Geralt’s skills make a major difference in this battle. This enemy is mostly immune to critical effects but very vulnerable to being stunned or staggered. Alchemists should make preparations accordingly. Note that you can’t use potions while battling this enemy, but you can make good use of traps.
Mages who haven’t leveled up Aard or Yrden are a bit boned here and should maybe get a stack of Zerrikanian suns or Talgar winters beforehand. Quen can be an effective defense in this battle, but you shouldn’t rely on it completely. A mage who has Aard III or Yrden III should have no trouble.
Swordsmen are going to end up relying on maneuverability and how specialized they are for hitting hard with every blow. Quen can help with defense, but not as much as levels of Feet Work. A swordsman build should be, by this point in the game, well-equipped for handling this quest’s challenges. If you’re a struggling swordsman, there’s no shame in prepping a pile of Zerrikanian suns or Talgar winters just in case.
Note that after you do this quest, you set up a sequence where all of the merchants in Vergen shut down. If you want any items to carry with you into Chapter 3, particularly the diagram of draug armor, then you may want to buy them now. After you’ve made whatever preparations you think are necessary, go talk to Philippa Eilhart. Say “I’m ready to lift the curse.” Philippa gives you the medallion you need for this quest and Seltkirk’s armor. Take them into the cursed battlefield.
Once you trigger this quest, you go into a sequence where Geralt is possessed by the spirit of a soldier who must cut down the standard bearer of the Dun Banner. The standard bearer has taken the form of a draugir and you must defeat it without access to Quen or dodge rolls or any of your usual witcher tricks. You also have no NPCs to aid you, while the draugir is aided by three knights. You need to work on trying to eliminate the three knights without losing too much vitality. Focus on trying to flank or get behind your enemies. If your Geralt build has Riposte, that skill carries over and is useful here. Be careful while keeping your distance, as the edges of the battlefield around the draugir are wreathed in flames that absolutely will incinerate and kill you. On the other hand, you can drive enemies into the flames to do pretty serious damage.
The second part of the sequence requires you to play as a Kaedweni soldier who is tasked with telling his commander that his unit needs reinforcements. Sadly, he must do this while running a gauntlet of flaming arrows fired by archers from his own side. There are wooden structures on the field you can use for cover, but huddle behind them too long and the flaming arrows destroy them. You need to move quickly from cover point to cover point between volleys of the flaming arrows. Each of the volleys is heralded by the sound of a horn. Basically, if the volley heralded by a horn won’t hit you, then choose that moment to move to fresh cover. After you make it to the last cover point indicated on the map, you can simply walk forward to trigger cutscenes.
For the third part of the sequence, you are possessed by Seltkirk of Gulet. For this, you simply need to move near Vandergrift’s position. You must fight two groups of Kaedweni knights on the way in. Seltkirk has massive amounts of vitality, as part of modeling how he was the best Aedirnian knight ever, so you should have little trouble defeating the groups of Kaedweni. When approaching the second group, it is sometimes possible to lure one or two knights away from the main body by inching slowly down the path. As you draw near the draug’s position (for Vandergrift has become a draug after death), a draugir materializes that is his standard bearer. A cutscene ensues as you approach it, and before this battle, you get to control Geralt once more. Get the draugir down to about half vitality to trigger another cutscene.
Now, for the climax of this quest: You must battle Vandergrift’s spirit, magnified by the curse into the form of a draug. A draug is basically a pile of fire and hatred, its body made of animated metal. As you might expect, it has both a massive pile of vitality and a separate meter of additional armor strength. There is nothing sneaky or tricky you have to do here to whittle that down, as in the kayran fight. You just have to survive long enough to beat the living hell out of it. Talgar winters do significant damage to it, while also cutting its charging attacks short. The draug is also subject to Negotiator’s freeze critical effect. Aard and Yrden at higher levels stagger it, as can an alchemist build’s Zerrikanian sun. The draug can shrug off weak stun effects. It is very vulnerable to being hit from behind due to its massive size, a weakness any build with levels of Feet Work can exploit.
Be sure to beat on the draug mercilessly whenever it’s staggered. Roll away when the draug turns into a whirlwind of armor fragments. Never let yourself get too far away from the draug, though. The draug punishes you for trying to play keep away by having its archers rain down hails of arrows, and its artillery uses trebuchets to rain fireballs on the field. You can evade the fireballs by dodge-rolling away from areas on the ground that turn red, and evade the arrows by simply dodge-rolling in any single direction to get clear. The danger of evading like this, of course, is that you’re so far away from the draug when its rain of arrows or fire stops that it decides to just do it again.
If you can manage to play the zone game correctly and evade the draug’s attacks without getting too far away from it, you should dish out enough damage to take it down. Once you get through its armor meter, it begins taking damage rapidly. You get a ton of loot for defeating it, including some materials necessary for creating the draug armor. You should also unlock the Fat Man achievement.
There’s one more phase to the quest. Now that the draug is defeated, Sabrina Glevissig’s terrible rain of fireballs has begun. You are possessed for a final time by a priest who must guide his unit to Henselt’s position, to inform him of the terror that has overtaken the battlefield. Don’t worry about this turning into an escort mission; all you really need to do is get yourself to Henselt to trigger the concluding barrage of cutscenes. You can’t dodge-roll as the priest, so just try to move away if the ground before you becomes red.
The concluding cutscenes lead to Geralt recovering a significant portion of his memory, as he expected, so resolving this quest also advances Returning Memories. During the ensuing dialogue with Philippa Eilhart, feel free to say whatever you want.
One more major battle sequence remains in this Chapter. Now that Henselt’s army is coming, all of Vergen’s merchants shut down. You can’t get anything crafted, but you can brew formulas if necessary. You shouldn’t need to make any particular preparations for the coming battle, so go directly to speak to Zoltan after you’re done talking to Philippa. You may want to replace the bullvore trophy with the draug trophy, now that you have it, but otherwise your equipment should already be optimal for this version of Chapter 2.
Watch Zoltan command troops for a bit, and then talk to him. After this, you get your first task in the battle—using the hot oil valve to burn up some of the Kaedweni invaders. The hot oil valve you’re responsible for is on the right side of the Mahakam Gate, on the upper level. To use it, press the interaction button repeatedly to fill up a meter. This sequence ends once you successfully do that. Meet up with Zoltan at the base of the Mahakam Gate. You receive 300 XP at this point and now need to retreat to the second gate.
At this point Dethmold summons a storm over the battlefield, which causes it to rain. This strengthens Quen while reducing the frequency of the incineration critical effect. Head up to the walls with Zoltan to begin defending them from Kaedweni who try to climb in with siege ladders. Use whatever your build’s most effective remaining crowd control strategies are here. If you survive the first wave, you get 400 XP and get to brace to do the whole thing over again. Instant kills and group finishers can be hugely helpful for speeding this part of the quest along. You get another 400 XP for surviving the second wave.
After you survive the second wave, Saskia says that there are tunnels beneath the town that may have been infiltrated by Henselt’s troops. She wants you to go with her to clear them out. You can’t really back out of this, so prepare to do some more precision-oriented fighting. When you enter the previously locked portion of the Tunnel of the Founders, you find four mercenaries there. Wipe them out. Follow Saskia to find another group. Beyond the door they guarded is a group of rotfiends, still lurking in the mines. Once you dispatch the rotfiends, continue following Saskia until Dethmold and another troop of Kaedwenis appear. You get 300 XP for making it this far and now have another battle to get through.
Let Saskia handle Dethmold’s escort and focus on the sorcerer himself. You should know the drill for fighting sorcerers by now: use thrown daggers to interrupt spells when possible and to do damage from afar. Dethmold casts Quen on himself and shoots energy projectiles, but is otherwise not too different from fighting Vanhemar earlier in the chapter. Hit him with daggers after he teleports. Fortunately Dethmold is fragile, and one solid string of strong attack combos should take him below 50 percent HP. This triggers a cutscene where you learn Saskia’s secret. You get 300 XP once this battle is over.
Follow Saskia back to the walls. During the cutscenes, if the trolls are still alive, they arrive to help with the final push to defeat Henselt’s men. You get another 400 XP before you repulse the third wave. After you repulse the third wave, Iorveth arrives with the archers he promised. This turns the tables on Henselt, so now you have a chance to capture him. Get 200 XP for repulsing the third wave and then go to help Zoltan close the main gate. When you reach Iorveth’s archer placement, you get 300 XP. Escort Zoltan to the gate lever and make sure no one attacks him. Once the gate is closed, Henselt surrenders, but this isn’t the happy ending you might expect.
After the cutscenes, follow Philippa and Saskia with Iorveth at your side. Philippa teleports Saskia away, so you’re reduced to searching Philippa’s house instead. Go into the chamber where Cynthia used to sit and you should see a glittering book at the far end of the room. It’s a book called…Venoms and Poisons? Oh, shit.
Follow Iorveth out of the house and speak with Dandelion and Zoltan outside. From there, you depart Vergen and set out for Loc Muinne and the events of Chapter 3. You should unlock the Alea Iacta Est achievement, too.