Your Blood Needs Thawin

Skjall is harvesting crabs on the sea shore when he’s startled by a woman falling from the skies. He drags her to Lofoten and tends to her wounds. You waken (as Ciri) with Avallach—the elf whose images you saw during your cave exploration with Keira—speaking to you. An instant later, Skjall is hovering over you, being teased by his sister Astrid, who recommends you bathe with the rest of the women to warm yourself up. You ask for help in getting to Drowned Dead rock. Skjall leaves to prepare a horse for you.

Follow Astrid as she talks to you about “the man in the mask from afar” (Avallach). Head out into Lofoten, around the village circle and old oak tree, and up towards the sauna where Astrid’s mother is waiting. Enter a small changing room, accessing the mirror. You can:

Wrap yourself in a towel and head into the sauna.

Head into the sauna without a towel. The conversation turns to a rose tattoo, as you’ve exposed it.

Or ignore the sauna, dress, and leave. However, you must disrobe and enter the sauna to continue this quest.

Assuming you wander into the sauna with Astrid, you meet her mum, talk about your red rose tattoo (if you’re without a towel), the coals are doused, and you speak of your homeland (as much or as little as you’d like). The conversation moves on to Skjall. Astrid asks if you fancy him. Answer how you wish (obtain a blush from Astrid if you remark that you prefer women). Finally, you’re able to take a quick dip in the cold water outside, head to a jug of whiskey under a tree for a shot to warm you up, or take your leave (as Skjall has readied the horses).

End: Skjall’s Sacrifice

Return to the changing room, put your clothes on, and head out into the village. Optionally view the villagers of Lofoten in their daily lives (a young man and his father learning how to shoot a bow, a married couple on a hill above you, and folks remarking about a coming storm). How right they are.

At the stables, you may optionally tease Skjall about his feelings for you. This can lead to Skjall’s first attempt at a kiss. But your flirting is interrupted by shouts from outside. Dash outside, and defend yourself from hounds of the Wild Hunt, as well as Wild Hunt Riders who are razing the settlement! You must kill between three and four of these foes, now you have cured your weakened state in the sauna. Battle until Skjall shouts, then return to the stables. Skjall vows to show you the way to Drowned Dead Rock. You can:

Thank him.

Or ask about his family. This leads to slight conversation changes when Geralt and Ciri meet in Act III: Main Quest: Child of the Elder Blood.

Set off at a canter heading roughly south, following Skjall along the road out of Lofoten. Along the Cliffside road there are intermittent infractions with hounds. Avoid them to stop your horse from panicking, and gallop as much as possible. Expect a few hounds to attempt to thwart you.

You race to a boat along the coast, and are taken aboard by Avallach, cast adrift into the waters. Skjall races to help, but is cut down by a Wild Hunt rider. The next morning he awakens to see Avallach’s boat wrecked on the beach. A grotesque homunculus looks over the broken boat. Main Quest: The Calm Before the Storm concludes.