Escoritng Nurses¶

Head down the stairs from where you find yourself after the cutscene and you’ll run into two “Nurses from Old Vizima”. They’ll tell you about Shani and Geralt will helpfully offer to escort them to her Hospital.

War wages all around us, the Order and the Scoia’tael have adopted that wonderful life-quenching rule that “if you’re not with us, you’re against us”, and it shows-everybody wants a piece of neutral Geralt. In the case of these naughty nurses here, it’s not so bad, but with emotional rebel nonhumans and zealous Order knights, it can be a bit of a bother.

Don’t bother fighting unless you need to clear off hostiles to enter a building or otherwise get around them-they’ll respawn endlessly, and you’ll need precious little of what they drop. Travel south until you reach the Hospital in the middle of the area.

When you arrive at the Hospital, the two nurses will thank you and you’ll find yourself inside the Hospital. They talk further and elude to thanking you more properly-once Shani is gone. Shani then comes up, and reacts to Geralt variably, depending on whether she’s his sweetheart or not. Finally, a guard shows up and tells Geralt that the Striga has been seen near the tallest tower in Old Vizima. This updates the quests “Her Highness the Striga” , and “Under a Fiery Sky” .

The Mutant and the Striga¶

It’s time to find our Striga. Head south until you find Kalkstein’s Laboratory, then turn north to find an alley populated by some Temerian soldiers. Trigger a cutscene near the base of the tower and fight off the Mutant that drops down using the Fast Steel Style. Kalkstein will show up after the battle and will show too much interest in the thing.. as is usual for Kalkstein. He’ll call it a mutant, and make the obvious-and unsettling-comparison to Geralt. It seems Salamandra is getting better with its mutations, and they’re getting awfully close to creating Witchers. He’ll also share a rumor that points out an old church in the Swamp Cemetery as our Striga’s likely lair, and he’ll give us the book “Striga’s Urge” , in case we dispatch the Striga. This updates the quests “Her Highness the Striga” , “Under a Fiery Sky” , and “Sweet Revenge” .

Follow Kalkstein back to his house and talk to him there-or talk to him along the way, whichever. Ask about the armor, and he’ll tell you what you need to reforge it-in this case, being neutral and all, you’ll start the quest “A Magic Formula” and update “Armor” .

Defending the Hospital¶

Return to the Hospital, where Shani will bother Geralt. They’ll be interrupted by a squad of Scoia’tael rebels who burst in, and as usual, they ignore our obvious badassness and try and kill everybody. Put them down, then talk to Shani again, who will complain about the immorality of the Scoia’tael.

Now that we’ve repulsed one band of Scoia’tael fanatics, everything is going to be awesome, forever.. at least, it would be if you weren’t neutral. Now the Order will break in, and ignoring the dead Scoia’tael around will for some reason assume they can do better. Put them down, too, and Shani will be understandably exasperated-she’s trying to save the lives of both sides, and both sides want nothing more than to kill her-paradoxically to prevent her from saving lives. Neutrality is a bitch.

Loot the dead if you wish, then follow Shani out back, it’s time to escort her to the Swamp Cemetery, where hopefully there will be less politics.. or at least, politics we won’t mind getting involved in.

Breaking Through¶

Shani will complain as soon as you head outside that the alley we need to sneak through is crawling with Necrophages-Ghouls, Alghouls, Graviers, and Cemetaurs, that sort of thing. Kill the first group, which consists of Ghouls and Alghouls, then Shani will comment on their numbers, and Geralt will offer a perfectly reasonable explanation.

Continue north-west, blast some debris blocking the way, and exterminate a second group of Necrophages-a more diverse group this time, as it includes Graviers. After they’re dead, Shani will suggest finding another way. Geralt, our neutral, consummate Witcher, declares he’d rather face undead than get involved in someone else’s fight. And his response has some merit-this is what a Witcher was meant to do, not charge barricades or get involved with somebody’s childish politics.

Blast some more debris and fight yet another group of Necrophages-this one consisting soley of Graviers and Cemetaurs. Shani will complain some more, Geralt responds. Another bunch of crap blocks your way to the south-blast it and deal with a fourth-and final-group of undead, consisting of Ghouls, Alghouls, and Garkains. When the undead are redead, you’ll escape Old Vizima, and get to see a cutscene of White Rayla getting assassinated. Oh well. Just another casualty in this sensless struggle.