Well Hello There Fellow Gamers And Hivers
In the last episode of The Witcher 3 Saga I had some dealing to do with dark forces. I was set out on a quest to find the ealdorman of Downwarren and aid him in dealing with some dark force that was trapped beneath a great oak tree near the town of Downwarren. Calling it a town is a huge overstatement since it was barely a settlement at all, just a few houses and a trader. None the less I found him and he led me to the dark force.
When finding the dark force I had a long discussion with him and I came down to the conclusion that it might be better to free the dark spirit since he opposed The Crones, now whether it was a smart decision or not I am yet to find out. It wouldn't really matter since the Dark Force and The Crones are both evil breeders and at the current standing I'd rather spite The Crones with this one.
I once again went back to The Baron to inform him that I finally found his wife Anna. At first he was beyond furious that I didn't bring her back to where she "belonged." I went on and told him that it didn't look like she wanted to return, she had a place to live and food in her belly every night. Forcing her to come back was beyond me, he then went ahead and stated that I thought he alone was at fault for everything that happened and I agreed with him, his personal matters are no longer my problem, I did as he asked and after all I work for coin. Naught else.
Ciri's Story
The last part of Ciri's story was where she raced against The Baron. As luck would have it she won fair and square leaving her the opportunity to pick any horse from the stable of her choosing.
That was if she made it out of what was to come.
After the race they were attacked by a brutally big Basilisk. They had no choice other than to stand and fight it!
Ciri and The Baron made quite a formidable team to say the least, that was until The Baron got into one of the Basilisk's claws and it pulled him up a long abandoned tower. If not for Ciri and he powers he might not have made it back to the fortress, alive at-least.
With one sure strike through the neck Ciri killed the wild beast.
When The Baron saw what a woman could do he was jaw dropping stunned at what he just witness from the elder blood child that he could barely sheath his dagger.
The Bloody Baron saved by a young girl twice as young as he? Surely he must be dreaming!_
After that they made their way back to the fortress where Ciri ultimately packed her things as fast as she possibly could, since she used her powers The Wild Hunt would know exactly where she were, so in order to save the whole damn town she had to get away as fast as possible.
From what The Baron told she was heading to Novigrad to find a certain sorceress. No doubt she was looking for Yennefer.
The Creature Named Uma
Finally giving Geralt the answer to where Ciri headed off to when she left him, he asked for one last favour. It was a favour that he would pay for with coin no doubt, but he wanted Geralt to help him free Anna from The Crones. He believed she was held there against her will.
He wasn't wrong on that one.
Before he could finish this humanoid creature burst into the room. It was an ugly creature, not one that I would likely keep locked away in my cellars but this must mean that The Baron had some heart left.
The creature's name was Uma or so The Baron called him, Geralt had quite the interest in this creature as it was no monster but his medallion started trembling when the creature came running in wildly.
Odd that I've not seen him around the fortress thus far, I am sure he has a bigger role to play still.
The Baron had one final request of me and that was to help him to rescue Anna. I didn't plan on this but the coin sounded tempting enough, so there I was meeting him in Downwarren as he asked me to.
As for Downwarren it was completely destroyed and mostly everyone living here was murdered by a brothers or fathers hand. Everyone except the Ealdorman. Strange. I spoke to the Ealdorman asking him what happened here and he was rambling on about a great black stallion running into the village rearing his hooves in the air and all of a sudden everyone went mad and started killing the person next to him.
I knew this was my doing, but these people followed The Crones, hard to say but I felt no remorse. Not yet at-least as I am bound do come down on more of this black stallion's work, I have no doubt.
The Beastly Fiend Of The Woods
By the time Geralt and The Baron reached the swamp village where Anna was they were far too late. Anna had turned into a Water Hag like creature, but one that was somewhat driven mad in the head. I have no doubt punishment for her letting the children escape or get lost.
Tamara was heart broken by this and by what I saw The Baron as well. It would seem he really had some love left in his rotten heart after all.
Tamare kept asking me what she was and if we could do anything to bring her back. I had no idea what to do.
This was the least of our problems, as we spoke outside in the square we heard a huge rumble some ways off and it grew closer and closer and with the sound growing louder one could see trees being toppled over.
Something was coming, something very dangerous.
Before we knew it Drowners were pouring out from under the water led by their Waterhags. It was the first time I ever fought side by side with The Witch Hunters. As I said many times before they are not a breed I am particularly fond of since they hate my kind as much as the witches.
This was all irrelevant now, the drowners were the least of our problems for a great beastly fiend was approaching.
The Fiend from the woods was no easy thing to kill, it was an antlered beast and one hit from him sent you flying into the air a couple of feet further and drained your health immensely. I had to use the Quen spell everytime I wanted to engage just to keep my health from draining too low and even that wasn't enough, every now and then the beast gave a double blow blasting through the shield and then through my health and when he knew he drained the health he didn't care for any but me.
It was a hard fight and an even harder beast to kill, if I was alone without the help of The Baron's men and The Witch Hunters I probably would not have made it out of this swamp alive.
I have no doubt that The Crones Of Crookback Bog sent the beast to kill Anna, The Baron's wife who was no longer a human. After killing the beastly fiend I went in search of Johhny The Godling to find out if he saw what might have happened with her.
He did.
He told me that The Crones plucked a few of her hair and he had to run before The Crones were going to let his legs rot off. He did mention something about a cellar beneath the house of The Crones Altar.
The Witch Hunter offered to go down the depths with me, although I have no idea what we will find below.
Dated 07/05/2023
Connecting the people of #HIVE across South Africa. #hive
