I did some selling, which got me back up to 1738 oren. At this point, though, I don’t think I’ll be buying that armor I want any time soon. It’s currently priced at 5000 oren, so maybe I’ll be able to buy it at some later point in the game. On the other hand, there are fewer and fewer books left for me to buy and read, so at one point, I might be able to stop wasting my money on that and actually get rich.
It turns out Raymond is the big baddie in disguise.
Kalkstein was now actually speaking to me, so his quests opened up again. It turns out; the quest with the swamp tower might not be a side quest after all, since he gave me advice to take Raymond, who’s probably Azar Javed in disguise there, because the surrounding water might weaken his powers.Now that I knew Raymond was the guilty one, I had to tell all the remaining active suspects they aren’t suspects anymore. Vincent gave me his guard captain’s ring as a token of gratitude, which would’ve allowed me to leave for the dike and get to the swamp before, instead of me having to bribe the guard. A bit late for that, but if the ring turns out to be useless; I can always sell it for 50 oren.
The only two quests I had left were the one with haunted widow and the one for Kalkstein, which requires me to get three “servings” of alghoul marrow. I meditated until midnight and went to the graveyard. The wraith of the widow’s dead husband was at the entrance to the graveyard, fighting a couple of ghouls. I killed of the ghouls and then attacked it by accident, which forced me to kill it. It was blue before the fight, so I could’ve probably talked to it and solved the quest differently. There’s nothing I can do about it now, though.
Games like these need an “I’m sorry” button.
Finally, it was time to face Raymond/Javed. I went and spoke to him, and decided to act as if I don’t know anything. He said Ramsmeat was guilty and sent me to kill him. I waited a few seconds and spoke to him again, claiming Ramsmeat was gone. For an amazingly powerful sorcerer, he sure wasn’t too bright to fall for that.Getting the alghoul marrow was annoying. I had to wander around the graveyard and the crypt at night until enough alghouls appeared. I actually had to get out of the area, rest for 24 hours and get back in, before I got all of it. Turning in these two quests made me realize the trouble wasn’t worth it. I got 150 oren from Kalkstein and another 200 from the widow. Too small a reward for so much trouble, if you ask me.
In any case, I managed to convince him to meet me at the swamp. I immediately followed and took the ferry there. Now, all that’s left for me to do is to put the sephiroths in the proper obelisks in the swamp and kill Javed. I’m not sure which one of those I’ll need to do first, but I’ll find out tomorrow.
This is where the chapter finale takes place.
By the way, in case you’re interested, I’m level 17 now. I’ve mostly been increasing my combat skills with a couple of points in Quen for protection. I’ve also made all the special potions made from major enemy “pieces” apart from the one made from the golem’s obsidian heart. I ran out of people to buy top quality alcohol from, so that one will have to wait. Other than that, I’m sitting at around 2000 oren and that’s about it. The Witcher is a game with complex gameplay, but the character builds are relatively simple.
