This quest begins immediately after A Scourging of Snakes. Now that Abbot Eogan is defeated, High King Flann and the other kings are in a position to decide what to do with the remaining druids.

An Inquisition Would Work, or I Don’t Agree With Any of This?¶

When you enter the hall at Durrow, a cutscene will initiate during which Flann and the other kings discuss the potential fate of Ireland and its druids. King Flann will ask everyone present to contribute if they wish, which eventually leads to a dialogue option for Eivor. You’ll need to decide between the following:

“An inquisition would work.”¶

Eivor states that an inquisition would require many resources, and that it will be a burden on each and every kingdom to gather them. He concludes by saying that it is reasonable to think that an inquisition will lead to the outcome that King Flann seeks, but that he should know exactly what he’s doing to secure it.

“I don’t agree with any of this.”¶

Eivor states that what is being proposed is a bold strategy, and that the consequences of it cannot yet be properly weighed. Eivor urges King Flann to delay his decision while he has time to reflect.

“(Say nothing)“¶

As you might expect, Eivor says nothing and King Flann announces his decision.

The decision you make should be based entirely on your own view on the matter. Your choice doesn’t have any impact on how the story will proceed, since King Flann will state that an inquisition should take place regardless, the purpose of which is to force all druids to relinquish their beliefs, or die. Ciara is furious about this and storms off. After the scene you’ll need to look for her in the house nearby.

Talk to Ciara and Follow Flann to Lia Fail¶

After the scene in the hall, Eivor will need to confront Ciara at her house in Durrow. A brief scene will play out during which Eivor attempts to convince Ciara to calm down and speak with King Flann about the dispute, but Ciara is set on her purpose and will not be stopped. She incapacitates Eivor with a potion, and you awake some time later with her gone. After the scene you’ll need to follow King Flann to the ancient stone of Lia Fail, which is now showing signs of activity. When you reach the stone, a cutscene will play which leads to a boss fight.

Boss Fight: Ciara¶

Defeat King Flann’s Soldiers¶

The first phase of this fight involves defending yourself against King Flann’s soldiers who have been possessed by Ciara’s magic. Most of these are regular soldiers which are easily dispatched, but you’ll also have to contend with a Standard Bearer and a captain named Amus. Both are relatively easy to defeat, but you’ll need to be careful of their extra reach capabilities. Once you’ve dealt with the wave of enemies, another phase of the fight will begin after a brief cutscene. This time you’ll be fighting a possessed King Flann.

Defeat King Flann¶

The fight with King Flann is a fairly simple one, since he doesn’t have many special attacks. Instead, he’s relentless in his strikes and he won’t give you much time to breathe in the fight. If you create some distance between Flann and yourself, Flann will quickly close in with a charge and will strike multiple times with his sword. This will make it difficult to hit his weak points which are located on his right shoulder, left hand, and left knee. A better way of getting a good shot on these is to wait for King Flann to attack, then dodge with Brush with Death (Way of the Raven) skill active to slow time for a few seconds. Time should be slowed just long enough for you to aim at one of the weak points and hit it. Try to do this for each weak point so that you can execute a stun attack and take out a large chunk of King Flann’s health.

After hitting the weak points and executing a stun attack, King Flann will likely have around half of his health left, or less. You can now focus on using high damage abilities to finish him off, or continue to kite him while hitting ranged attacks whenever possible. If you’re confident with the parry and dodge mechanics, you can also take him out easily in melee combat, since there are no special attacks to be concerned about. The main thing to be aware of is that King Flann’s will always follow one strike with numerous others, and quickly. This means that one dodge will often not be sufficient to stop the attack, unless you retaliate immediately after a dodge to interrupt his flow.

Defeat Ciara¶

Once you’ve dealt with the possessed King Flann, Ciara will finally reveal herself, dual-wielding swords. When the fight begins you’ll find that Ciara is even more relentless than King Flann in her attacks. What makes her more potentially deadly is that she has a number of special attacks which can catch you by surprise if you’re not ready for them. You’ll soon notice that Ciara likes to spam a red rune aura spinning attack which can’t be blocked or parried, so you’ll need to dodge, roll, or run away from it instead. She has other spinning attacks which can begin as regular attacks, but end in her teleporting next to you and taking you by surprise. You’ll need to pay close attention to her animations to avoid this.

Ciara has only one weak point, which is located at the top of her back. You’ll find it difficult to hit unless you perform a dodge with the Brush with Death skill active. You should then have enough time to flank Ciara after dodging and hit the weak point on her back, leaving her exposed to a stun attack. This will take a large chunk of her health which you can follow up with a few high damage abilities. After a series of melee attacks, Ciara will begin to use her druid magic to form circles on the ground. You’ll need to avoid these since being caught in them will slow you down and inflict damage over time. If you keep moving and navigate between the circles you should be fine, but you’ll need to be careful as new circles form.

Once you’ve taken half the health from Ciara, a brief cutscene will mark a new phase of the fight. From now on Ciara will use a new attack based on her druid magic which involves summoning spirit druids. The spirits will surround the stone and chant at an increasingly fast pace. You’ll need to kill each druid before they complete their chanting, which results in a powerful explosion that can inflict a lot of damage to Eivor. Each druid takes only one hit to kill, so it’s not a difficult task but you do have to be quick. Don’t worry too much if they manage to pull off an explosive attack, you’ll take a large amount of damage but you can replenish your health with a ration if necessary, and there are plenty of mushrooms nearby to replenish your rations.

A third and final druid magic attack which Ciara will begin to use toward the end of the fight involves summoning three spirit druids by her side. Each spirit will then run through and at Eivor at great speed, inflicting a small amount of damage on their own, but a great amount together. You may find it difficult to avoid these attacks, but a quick series of dodges and rolls should do the trick.

So long as you’re prepared for all three main druid magic attacks and Ciara’s special melee attacks, you should be able to defeat her with relative ease. Chip away at her health with melee attacks and ranged attacks, and make use of your high damage abilities where possible. She doesn’t have much armor so each attack should inflict a fair amount of damage. At the end of the fight, you’ll have a decision to make.

Kill or Spare Ciara?¶

Once you’ve defeated Ciara in battle a cutscene will begin, during which she begs Eivor to kill her in order to ensure that the druid tradition cannot be used for evil ever again. You’ll have two dialogue options here:

“An honorable death.”¶

This option results in Eivor killing Ciara swiftly and honorably, but King Flann will be distraught. In his anger, King Flann will destroy the stone and regret the death of Ciara.

“I can’t kill you.”¶

Eivor tells Ciara that although she is the key to the terrible druid power, the stone is the source. He asks Ciara to destroy the stone and spares her instead. King Flann has the chance to apologize to Ciara, and they part on slightly better terms.