Devil By the Well Walkthrough
Devil By the Well (Part #1)
Return to the village of White Orchard, sell, repair, dismantle equipment as necessary. Our next goal is to explore the areas south and south-east of the village. Since the quest “Devil by the Well” also occurs down there… well, we might as well tackle that, too. To start this quest head to the large house west of the Notice Board, where you’ll find Odolan. His daughter has fallen ill from drinking river water, which was polluted by all the corpses desposited during the last battle. According to a local herbalist, whatever she’s contracted requires her to stay hydrated, and the only source of pure water around is the well, which has been haunted for some time. Back when the river water was pure, this wasn’t an issue, but now… now the ghost must be dealt with, or the girl will die.
Pretty clear-cut case. This is Witcher’s work. Ask the farmer to describe the ghost and he will. After that, you merely have to accept the job, haggle for more coin, or decline. Haggling is simple enough-the farmer will start at a base rate (in this case, 20 Crowns), and you’ll have to raise. Go too high, and the farmer will decline and get annoyed. Your goal is to start high, and drop the rate until you both agree. Every time you ask for more than the farmer is willing to pay, he’ll get more annoyed (by an amount proportional to the money you’re asking for). 23 Crowns is about as high as you can expect to go here, which makes one wonder whether it’s even worth haggling over. Do what you will, but ultimately accept the quest.
Leave Odolan and travel south along the road. You’ll pass a house, and shortly south of that the path forks. The south-eastern path leads to our objective, so naturally we want to head south-west, first. As you head south-west the path will split temporarily, and at this point you’ll find broken trees and large patches of blood on the ground. Wonderful. Continue south-west to find the Broken Bridge signpost, and further beyond that… a broken bridge. How fitting. Leap over the broken bridge and continue following the road and it’ll veer south-east temporarily, then turn back south-west.
Bandit Camp
At this point you’ll want to head west off the road until you find some bandits guarding their camp. Dispose of them, then loot their camp. All of their goodies are located under a tent, near a pair of cots. Must have been hot-bunking. This loot includes a chest, which has a chance to contain exceptional gear.
Place of Power
Return back east until you reach the road, then continue east past the road until you find a Place of Power. Draw from it and enjoy your bonus Ability Point. From here if you head north and slightly east you’ll find the Griffin’s nest… or at least, what remains of it, and nearby is the body of a rather dead Griffin. This might have something to do with our rampaging Griffin. Despite pointing this out, you should avoid the Griffin’s nest for now, as discovering it early will mess with the progression of a quest later and cost us some experience.
Devil By the Well (Part #2)
Head back to the road and follow it back to the fork, at this point following the south-eastern fork we neglected earlier. Continue on this road until you find the Abandoned Village signpost, beyond which is our… well, abandoned village. Head inside and have a look around, making use of your Witcher Senses to look for clues. Examine the scorched grass around the well, then investigate a crispy body west of the well. From this evidence, Geralt deduces the ghost we’re after is a Noonwraith.
Now turn your attention to the surviving houses, of which there are three. The western’most one contains a variety of loot, most of which is junk. Use the Aard Sign to clear some collapsed wooden beams so you can loot the south-eastern end of the house. In the central house lurks a pair of chests with better loot in it, notably Alchemical and Crafting Components. Finally head over to the eastern-most house. Under a wagon outside is a chest, and various sacks and chest with minor loot inside await near the door. Venture inside the house to find a small wooden chest in the main room, then turn north-west to find a larger chest against the wall. Near this chest you’ll find a Yellowed Diary which, as Geralt suggests, might be useful.
Time for some reading. Enter your inventory and read the Yellowed Diary. Seems an over-bearing and cruel lord caused the former inhabitants of this area to settle here in the first place, and that a latter meeting with the lord-before which the journal ends-might have caused the Noonwraith to spawn. If our hunches are correct, this ghost might be attached to a certain bracelet… Next look at the bestiary entry for Noonwraiths, which if anything lends more weight to our suspicions.
It’s time to search for more clues. Fortunately, we need not look far. Turn around and search the corner of the room opposite where we found the Yellowed Diary and use your Witcher Senses to highlight some remains, which Geralt identifies as the body of someone who was stabbed, and died on the spot. A blood trail leads away from the scene however. Follow it using your Witcher Senses, searching once near the corpse, and again near the door to get Geralt to deduce that our search will lead us to… you guessed it, the well. Search a rope tied to the well to make a ghastly discovery. It’s no wonder this woman can’t rest easily, and while what happened to her was regretable, she can’t be allowed to haunt the living any longer. Her bracelet ties her to this world, and it looks like we’ll have to hop down into the well to find it.
Hop down into the well-there’s enough water to break your fall, don’t worry-and dive [Square] to explore under the water. Use your Witcher senses to locate the bracelet, then surface by hold [Circle] once the Ornate Bracelet is in hand. Climb up onto a ledge to the north, then go down a tunnel to the east to find another pool of water. Dive on in and swim to the north-east until you reach another large chamber. Search to the west to find a submerged chest with a variety of goodies inside, including the formula for the Water Hag Decoction. Follow the bubbles and surface to get a breath of air, then swim down a tunnel to the east until you surace a small pond. Get more air, then search near the center of this pond, as there’s another submerged chest worth looting. Geralt will suggest preparing for the Noonwraith, and it might not be bad advice. All you really need, however is the Yrden Sign and a Silver Sword.
Head south-west to return to the village. When you’re ready to fight the Noonwraith, burn the body near the well and the Noonwraith will show up. Her attacks are pretty basic-dodge around and wait for her to leave herself open. Once in a while she’ll vanish, blind you, and summon some decoys. She’ll take much more damage when she’s in the area of a Yrden spell, so cast it whenever you can and wait for her to engage you in the Yrden spell’s area of effect. Using the Stong Style aggressively, then quickly dodging back works quite well. When she dies, loot her remains to gain some goodies. The drops are, of course, random (always including a Noonwraith Trophy, however). The Noonwraith Trophy will, when equipped, give you a 5% experience bonus from humans and nonhumans (quick, what’s 5% of next-to-nothing?). You can also score a Noonwraith Mutagen if you’re lucky, which will increase your Vitality by 50. Another useful item includes Emerald Dust, which can be used to craft a Viper Steel Sword.
Objective
For slaying the Noonwraith
Reward
XP 50
Return to Odolan and tell him the good news. Geralt’s curiosity gets the best of him and he asks about the dead peasants around which the quests resolved. The local herbalist mentioned a Claer, and it’s definitely something to keep in mind for later. Odolan will then offer to pay you-money that was meant for his daughter’s dowry. His reasoning is simple-better she live to get married off with a lesser dowry than not live to get married at all. Either take the dowry (a whopping 20 Crowns) or be a nice guy and pass. Since you can pick a handful of flowers to get the same money, the latter seems nicer. Despite being a nice guy, Odolan won’t leave a debt unpaid, and will give you an Amethyst for your trouble, which is worth over twice as much as the coin would have been. Sometimes, good deeds are rewarded.
Objective
For returning to Odolan after defeating the Noonwraith.
Reward
50 XP
20+ Crowns or
Amethyst
The quest is done, but there’s still more to do down south. Return to the Abandoned Village and take the road that exits the town to the east. Ignore the first smaller trail that branches off from this road and instead take the second one, which leads to an abandoned lakeside cottage, wherein you can score some loot. In particular, in a room to the south, between two beds, you’ll find a chest that contains a Velen Longsword.