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The Whispering Hillock

Secondary questVelen and Novigrad

The spirit bound in the tree under the Whispering Hillock says the Crones murdered it and begs to be freed, and this is the decision that settles the Bloody Baron's ending. Free it and it rides off in the body of a black horse: the orphans in Crookback Bog get away from the Crones, but Downwarren is massacred, Anna is turned into a water hag who dies however you try to lift her curse, and the Baron hangs himself. Destroy its heart and Downwarren is safe, the Crones keep the children, and Anna is found alive but out of her mind, so the Baron takes her away to find a cure.

Choices

2

The spirit's offer

In the cave, after it asks you to free it

  • "I'll help you."

    It names the ritual's ingredients. You can still change your mind at the ritual.

  • "I don't believe you."

    Straight to the fight for its heart.

  • "Gotta think this over."

    Leave and come back later to decide.

The ritual

With the bones, feathers and horse in the cave

  • "[Start the ritual.]"

    The spirit goes free in the horse's body. The orphans escape the Crones, Downwarren is massacred, and in Return to Crookback Bog Anna is a water hag and the Baron's story ends with him hanging himself.

  • "[Trick the being in the tree and destroy it.]"

    Geralt refuses to draw the blood and goes for the heart. Downwarren is safe, the Crones keep the children, and the Baron leaves Velen with Anna.

  • "Actually, I'm gonna kill you."

    Same as tricking it: the fight for the heart.

Walkthrough

3
0 of 3 steps done

  1. The voice in the tree

    Next

    The hillock above the cave is littered with bodies: villagers torn by wolves, women, a child. A voice whispers from the great oak for you to turn back. Follow it with your Witcher Senses into the cave beneath, where wolves guard the spirit. It calls itself a druid who left her circle, was killed by the Crones and cursed to stay bound in the tree. If you've seen the bodies on the hill, you can ask about them; it answers that nature is blind and every death is equal.

  2. What the ritual needs

    If you agree to free it, it asks for three things: its bones, from a lone burial mound just to the west; raven feathers, which you'll find in the nests near Downwarren; and a wild black horse from the meadows. Calm the horse with Axii, mount it and ride it back to the cave. The spirit opens a second passage for you to bring everything in. At the tree, the spirit's blood is drawn and the horse drinks it, and the spirit rides away free.

  3. The heart in the roots

    Refuse, or turn on it at the ritual, and the spirit sets the forest against you: endriagas keep coming while you hack at the heart in the tree's roots. Destroy the heart and the spirit dies screaming.

Tips

  • The Crones bring it up when you meet them in Ladies of the Wood. Free the spirit and they call you a traitor and say it took the children; destroy it and they praise you for ridding the world of a great evil, and when you ask where the children are, say their troubles are over.

All objectives

7
  1. 1Find the bones of the spirit trapped beneath the Whispering Hillock using your Witcher Senses.Ruined Tower
  2. 2Find a raven feather.Downwarren
  3. 3Bring a black horse to the cave beneath the Whispering Hillock.Ancient Oak
  4. 4Speak to the spirit in the cave beneath the Whispering Hillock.Ancient Oak
  5. 5Calm a wild horse using the Axii Sign and mount it.Crossroads
  6. 6Find where the voice is coming from using your Witcher Senses.Ancient Oak
  7. 7Destroy the heart in the tree's roots.Ancient Oak

Journal

Something about life in dreary backwoods settlements leads their inhabitants to hide the truth with misleading names. This takes the form of both hyperbole - a clump of bare trees called "Dragon Spike Forest" or a hole in the ground two paces deep named "The Chasm of Eternity" - and understatement - a horrid massacre calmly referred to as "the incident." Velen fit the mold in this regard, as Geralt learned while he wandered through it in search of Ciri. There he encountered a trio of highly suspicious magical sisters called the Ladies of the Wood, who directed him to a clump of bogside huts known as Downwarren. Geralt was to solve their "problem": a rash of mysterious murders. He spoke to the ealdorman and learned that the evil power behind the killings dwelled in the Whispering Hillock. Wherever else?

The truth hidden under the Whispering Hillock? A woman's spirit, imprisoned in a cave within it. Geralt felt sympathy for the ill-treated ghost and helped it enter the body of a horse, thus regaining its freedom.

The truth hidden under the Whispering Hillock? A woman's spirit, imprisoned in a cave within it. Geralt concluded this foul being was responsible for murdering the inhabitants of Downwarren, and so destroyed its heart, loosening its last grasp on our world.

While roaming the thick, gloomy tangles of the Velen woodlands, Geralt came across a spirit whose heart was trapped in a cave under an eye-catching tree…