Omens Never Lie

By now, you should have a wide variety of evidence to present to the Baron. Find and speak with him about:

• The doll—You ask about whether it was used in black magic rituals. It transpires that the doll is supposed to look like Triss Merigold, who Tamara saw when she was younger.
• The fight (with the candlestick and moved painting)—The Baron admits to being drunk and not remembering a thing. He agrees to ask his men if they heard anything.
• The talisman—Anna (his wife) wore it. It may be related to a pellar in Blackbough, or a cunning woman in Midcopse (though she only recently arrived). It seems a chat with the pellar is your next line of inquiry. Be warned, he’s apparently addled with vexes. Exit the Baron’s building.

Leave Crow’s Perch on a westerly path toward Blackbough. Once you uncover this village, travel into the woods along a path to the northwest. The pellar’s cottage is besieged by the Baron’s men, who’ve been sent to apprehend the fellow. It’s important you prevent this from happening, in one of three vastly different ways. You can:

• Pay off the men. They aren’t interested in gold; only justice for Eldric, one of their comrades who came to the pellar with “evil bowels.”
• (Axii Delusion level 2) Tell the men to leave, addling one of their brains with Axii as you speak. They agree to depart peacefully.
• Offer a choice—they leave or die. Unfortunately for them, they choose the latter. Make short work of all five of them with your long steel sword.
• Ask what they want with the pellar; it seems he recommended a diet of rowanberries for a friend of the men, Eldric. Ever since, Eldric has had the screaming runs. Offer to heal Eldric, then you explain a way to lessen Eldric’s condition. This satisfies the men, and they depart.

With the men gone, knock on the door and introduce yourself to the pellar, who likes to speak with a flair for the dramatic. The pellar made the amulet for Anna, to protect her from evil surrounding her. After asking where Anna and Tamara are, the pellar knows, but requires his goat (Princess) to be returned. She was scared off by the Baron’s men, and only listens to the tinkling of her bell. She also enjoys wild strawberries.