The Tower Outta Nowheres Walkthrough
Begins automatically upon fast travelling to Urialla Harbor on An Skellig, the large north-eastern island of the Skellige Isles.
To begin the quest, you’ll want to speak to the villagers who are hanging out near the travel marker for ‘Urialla Harbor’. Following a brief conversation in which you should offer to help, you are tasked with investigating the tower. To the max.
Following the conversation look at the map. At this point, we’ll want to make our way to the objective marker along the road to the west of Urialla Harbour. Follow your GPS route along the roads here and watch out for a roaming level 21-22 Cyclops or two as you go.
Upon reaching the tower, climb the short set of stairs and proceed inside. You’ll see a magical portal at the base of the stairs. Cruise on through here to progress.
As soon as you are through the portal, it will promptly disappear, leaving you stranded in a room with a Golem. After a few moments, the Golem will become hostile and begin attacking.
Boss: Golem
As with the Golem we fought early in the game with Keira, this one is likewise big, strong and can perform some extremely damaging close range melee attacks. It will punch the ground causing a shockwave if you stay too close and frequently use a charge attack in which it will run at Geralt and dish damage in spades if he hits. The Golem can also brace himself and block pretty much any damage for short periods of time whilst also mirroring some of the damage back to you.
To beat the Golem, we’ll need to wait for an opening in its attacks. The biggest opening you’ll receive is directly after his charge attack, although there is a small window after any attack he does. You should also be able to maneuver behind him when he performs his block and go to town on his back. Using AXII will stun him temporarily, AARD will knock him back slightly and YRDEN will slow him down. Make sure you take advantage when an opportunity to attack presents itself!
After the fight, there are a pair of chests to loot around the stairs we came in from and you can use Witcher Sense to examine the bodies on the floor. Our real goal however is to speak with the fellow trapped behind the purple magic barrier on the western side of the room. Turns out the fellow is trapped in the tower due to Defensive Regulatory Magicon and only finding and using Gottfried’s Omni-opening Grimoire will he be able to be free.
Note: This may also be an Easter Egg, DRM (Defensive Regulatory Magicon) is a security mechanism designed to prevent gamers from playing games offline, whilst GOG (Gottfried’s Omni-opening Grimoire) is an online gaming platform. If you play on GOG, you don’t need to worry about DRM! Alternatively, I might just be making stuff up, I haven’t slept in a really long time at the time of writing this.
After speaking with the prisoner, the energy barrier on the door opposite his location will disappear, allowing you to progress through. Here you’ll find a flooded tunnel. Swim through and when you reach the three-way intersection, take the left hand passage first. Climb out of the water into the room at the end to find yourself in a laboratory type area.
As soon as you enter the area, you’ll be thrust into combat against several waves of enemies. Defend yourself and take out all of the enemies to continue. The waves come out as such:
- The first wave consists of three level 21 Alghouls.
- The second wave features a level 26 Gargoyle.
- The third wave is a level 25 Werewolf
After surviving the combat encounter, climb the stairs at the back of the room and loot the lockbox on the desk here for the Key to the Library. There is another chest here to loot and a pair of corpses downstairs to inspect with Witcher Sense (if you want to).
Return to the flooded hallway and swim back to the three-way intersection. This time you’ll want to take the passage that we haven’t yet explored. Unlock the door here and swim on through. In the room at the end of the passage, you’ll find a library area with a search area. Activate Geralt’s Witcher Senses and explore the area. You can inspect the following points of interest:
- Six different books littering the floor and shelves of the library.
- A body slumped against a bookshelf at the far end of the library.
Examine the Books here until you find one that you can loot for Gottfried’s Omni-opening Grimoire. As soon as you pick it up, the room will start filling with gas. Quickly loot the pair of chests in here before returning to the water filled passage before you run out of air.
Return to the initial room where we fought the Golem and speak with the imprisoned fellow here once again. Inform him that you have found the Gottfried’s Omni-opening Grimoire. At this point he’ll remove the barrier to his room. Note that you’ll now be able to enter his room and loot the chest in there.
After a brief chat, the mage will remove the remaining magical barrier in the room. As soon as you enter the next area, the mage will start casting at an altar at the back of the room. In the meantime, we’ll need to defend him and you’ll be thrust into combat against a powerful Earth Elemental. We’ll need to defeat it to contniue.
Boss: Earth Elemental
Similar to the Golem we fought earlier, the Earth Elemental is big and slow with the capacity to perform some extremely damaging close range melee attacks and will regularly punch/stomp the ground causing a shockwave if you stay too close or send a wave of erupting earth in your direction.
To beat him, we’ll need to wait for an opening in its attacks. Fortunately, most of its attacks are quite obviously telegraphed and there is a small window after any attack he does. Using QUEN to tank the boss is a necessity in this fight due to the regular shockwaves and the small combat area leaving almost no room to avoid said shockwaves. Even with QUEN active, you should still try to avoid his hits as he does do a LOT of damage. If you are feeling adventurous, you can dish out a little damage with IGNI, whilst using AXII will stun him temporarily.
This boss, more than most has the ability to kill you very quickly, as such – don’t be greedy! Get your 1-2 attacks in when you see an opening and immediately back off so that you can manoeuvre around his next attempted attack.
Upon defeating the Earth Elemental, the mage will also finish up his work. The objectives will update, telling you to speak with the mage to continue. Make sure you loot the tower before speaking to the mage as once you speak with him, the tower will vanish and you won’t be able to return!
Speak with the mage when you are ready to continue.
Note: At this point you’ll earn a Lesser Svarog Runestone and a nice Silver Sword – Moonblade.
When we’re back in control of Geralt, he’ll be in the water off Urialla Harbour. Swim to shore for a scene. During the subsequent conversation, you’ll be able to refuse payment if you wish and tell the villagers about the fate of their kin who ventured into the tower.
Once the conversation ends, the quest will be completed.
Note: For completing the side-quest you’ll earn 25XP and 65 crowns.