An Impromptu Witcher Lets Play - now with the Witcher 2!

[Bara_no_Hime]

Greetings from one who joined just to be able to post on here.

Hello! **hugs** Thanks for posting!

I read few pages about Witcher 2 and 1 play-through and since I didn't read the books, I read 4 out 5 reviews. I didn't have strength for the fifth because it was 2AM.

Wow! Impressive. Hopefully you can finish up my last couple of write ups here soon.

So to mention Witcher 1, I was amused to see how you played, almost like in the dark room without candle. It was usually enough to read the journal or the manual to know what to do, with the stuck bits I went to witcher wikia to see what was the problem. Reading you delivered the letter to Vivaldi from the elf leader and not knowing how or why, it just shows you perhaps more FPS person than RPG (I play RPG because it means I'll have to absorb loads of info and new worlds, if I don't this, then I shouldn't complain I know not what to do).

I take mild offense to the comment about me being more of an FPS player than an RPG player! I'll have you know, I was playing Planescape: Torment when you were making macaroni sculptures in the 3rd grade, Missy! Or whatever you did in 3rd grade. /joking lecture

Actually, if ANYTHING is to blame for me not reading the quest journal, it is games like Skyrim and Nier. Both games are full of random NPCs with no personalities asking you, a random passerby, to complete various fetch quests. In those games, (and in Kingdoms of Amalur and Dragon's Dogma), you get in the habit of picking up all quests, picking one to pursue, and following the red map icon until you get there and do it. There are so many, you begin to tune them out - they're just loot and XP to collect before you move on to a quest that actually matters.

Elven guerrilla fighters seemed like an old Fantasy trope. Of course, I now know that Sapkowski is the one who INVENTED that trope, and that Dragons Age and others are just ripping his novels off, but at the time it felt like an old trope. So I mostly ignored the Squirrels during the first couple of chapters of the Witcher 1. It wasn't until the end of Chapter 2 (the very long, very tedious chapter 2) that I realized that they mattered to the plot and started paying attention. It was the way Vivaldi's letter (what seemed like a lazy fetch-quest) exploded into plot-altering consequences that made that clear.

By the way, I never, NEVER used group style in this playthrough, with point and click I could see the situation and I could always jump over the foes when they started to form a group around me. I only invested bronze into Group style when I had nothing to invest at elsewhere. Even when fighting on the Ice plain at the end, I strong/fast styled enemies one by one. Yes, normal setting was pleasurable, chaining the combos and incinerating swarms of monsters with single Igni flashes.

I'm kinda shocked you didn't use Group style. After a few upgrades, it was my favorite setting. It was a lovely midpoint between Strong and Fast style.

Immediately, when I finished W1, I started W2. I was actually so horrified I almost quit there and then. Yes, graphically it's a feast when comapred to W1, but being stuck again in WASD without mouse and rewritten fight style with blocking now needed, it felt like totally different game.

I believe you've read my reaction already. Much the same.

To sum up, I'm loving this a lot. I can't see why you or others had problems with sex or being an object or whatever. Women were - and still are - and object of lust and collectors item, it was a fact throughout the history, so pretending Temeria or Aedirn is kind of New York of 2013 is silly.

I think you may have missed the point of my complaint. It was never about the sex - I like sex in games. It was about the sex cards. Those weren't for Geralt - unless women were literally taking naked photos of themselves with magical cameras - they were for the player. And the player IS living in 2013.

The second game actually showing the sex rather than using the cards was much MUCH better. The women were participating in their own pleasure rather than being an object to collect. But I digress.

Besides, since I didn't read the last page properly, but had an overall feeling from reading your comments - you should definitely sit down and WRITE.

Thank you! And actually that writing is my career. I'm a novelist - I've published a few short stories, and am currently trying to get a novel published. If you know anyone in publishing, feel free to send me a PM with their info - I'm always looking to do some Networking.

Although I'm starting to consider the idea of doing some non-fiction writing (like this) in addition. So thanks for the encouragement!

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

wouldn't mind hearing about that actually! feel free to write up as little or as much as you need to to describe it!
seeing as how you are more of a witcher fan/knowledge lord than the rest of us now after your plunge into it, i don't have much more thoughts..

As you wish! Also, it's nice to see that some people are still reading. I was getting a little lonely before you and Funnybunny posted.

Anyway....

Having dived into the world with both feet, I talked to my spouse about running a Witcher game. A brief aside here to note that my spouse and I often run solo games for one another. It's one way we can "play together" when, as RPG fans, we tend towards solitary forms of entertainment.

I had my spouse read several of the short stories and come up a character concept. My spouse came up with this:

A young female Witcher just starting out. Aprox age 20. A Surprise Child of noble birth. Worships Melitele.

Keep in mind, my spouse only had read The Witcher, The Voice of Reason, A Question of Price, and Edge of the World because I didn't want my spouse to have any other info.

So I said "fuck it" and informed my spouse that this young witcher had a birth name of Cirilla, was the Princess of Cintra, and was - in fact - that same surprise child from A Question of Price.

My spouse said "okay, sounds good". And thus did my spouse end up playing Ciri without actually knowing about Ciri.

This Ciri, however, did some things differently. My spouse didn't want to be a Mage, so this Ciri's source powers were more controlled. This Ciri never became Yennefer's student - Triss handled everything. After school at the temple of Melitele, Ciri returned to the Witchers to continue training. And, when Ciri reached age 16, she CHOSE to undergo the Trial of Grasses with Triss supervising.

Ciri survived the trial and became a full Witcher. She also started dying her hair red - so she'd look like Triss's little sister.

A brief break in the story here to explain some mechanics (for those interested). Most of the Witcher classes I saw online mixed the class abilities with the mutations. I decided against that - I broke Witcher into a class (a variation of Ranger) and an acquired template (the Trial of grasses).

The template grants a Witcher the following: Low Light Vision, Fast Healing 1, and a Toxicity pool (allowing them to take Witcher potions).

The Witcher class is Ranger, but in place of Track and Ranger Spells, the Witcher gets signs (which are weaker than spells, but usable once per battle rather than a limited number of times per day). Also, the Witcher gets style feats based on their School. The Wolf School gets Weapon Focus and Specialization with the Bastard sword as well as Power Attack (Strong style), Deflect Arrows, and Whirlwind Attack (Group style). I also traded a few other ranger abilities for Uncanny Dodge and Improved Uncanny dodge.

Anyway....

The first part of the game was Ciri heading out on her own for the first time. She went from village to village, checking for Witcher jobs and then completing them.

Then, I sent her into the middle of The Lesser Evil. Ciri met Renfri and the Wizard whose name I forgot. And Ciri... sided with Renfri and killed the Wizard. However, she did so on a special condition - having gotten her revenge, Renfri had to being Witcher training and undergo the Trial of Grasses.

Thus, Renfri joined Ciri's party (to begin Witcher training under Ciri's guidance).

Moving on, Ciri (and Ren) headed south towards the capital of Redania. Near the city, Ciri was attacked by a group of spectres - the Wild Hunt. She managed to hold them off until an Owl flew over from the city and hit the Hunt with lightning bolts. Confused, Ciri headed to the city - and met Philippa Eilhart.

Oh. Time line note - although Ciri is 18 in this, not 14, I decided to set this game during the novels. So basically everything just happened four years differently.

Ahem. Anyway, Ciri found herself embroiled in politics. Philipa and Dijskara both trying to figure out if she was the Cintran princess (as rumor suggested) or not. Ciri trying to not let this happen. Ciri would probably have left if Philippa hadn't informed her that Geralt would be at Thanned Island (with Yennefer) soon.

Philippa introduced Ciri to Prince Radovid. And then Philippa seduced Ciri. During the following pillow talk, Philippa took a shot and started talking about Ciri as if she was the Princess. And when Ciri asked her how she knew, Philippa knew she was right. Philippa had several plans for Ciri... but first and foremost, she had her Thanned Coup to deal with. Philippa asked Ciri for her assistance, but couldn't tell her the details until Ciri agreed to help.

Ciri thought it over for a while. She considered some of the info that Philippa gave her. And, reluctantly, she set aside her neutrality and agreed to help.

Thus, when the Thanned coup began, Ciri was helping Triss arrest Vilgefortz's supporters.

... and that's where I have to leave you all for today.

Are you liking my method of telling this? Too much detail? Not enough detail? Do you want to hear about Ciri fighting various monsters, or only the main plot?

Let me know...

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Are you liking my method of telling this? Too much detail? Not enough detail? Do you want to hear about Ciri fighting various monsters, or only the main plot?

Let me know...

that actually hit the sweet spot! just enough info to know exactly what was going on (regardless of reading the books/lore of it) and see it in my head happening.

definitely wouldn't mind hearing about some of the fights ciri goes against, perhaps special or perhaps plot related ones would be cool.

*jealous of finding a spouse that actually does stuff like this with you (well more envy rather than jealousy)*

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

that actually hit the sweet spot! just enough info to know exactly what was going on (regardless of reading the books/lore of it) and see it in my head happening.

definitely wouldn't mind hearing about some of the fights ciri goes against, perhaps special or perhaps plot related ones would be cool.
*jealous of finding a spouse that actually does stuff like this with you (well more envy rather than jealousy)*

Okay then! Onward!

So, as I was saying, Ciri got invited to Thanned Island by Philippa to help arrest mages. However, first there is a dinner party - because dinner party.

Ciri is Philippa's date. Geralt is Yennefer's date.

Fun Fact: after reading a selected chapter of Blood of Elves where Geralt shows Ciri an elven statue and explains about Witcher neutrality, my spouse decided that A) Ciri still had a petal from that rose, pressed and dried, and B) that Ciri was carrying a torch for Geralt.

Thus, when Ciri and Geralt finally got to meet (and I had to RP Geralt, which was a fun challenge I must say), it was AWKWARD! Wonderfully Awkward.

Yennefer pretended to not know who Ciri was. After seeing the way Yen treated Geralt, she decided that she didn't much like Yennefer, and after overhearing Sabrina and Marti talking shit about her, Ciri decided to join in the shit-talking and general gossip. Fun times. Fun, petty times.

Anyway... that evening, Philippa, Keira, Sabrina, Triss, Dethmold, and Ciri met up and divided into teams of two. They targeted the Chapter first, since they were either known to be corrupt or possibly corrupt. Ciri and Triss headed out and successfully captured two high-level mages who could not cast spells. However, the other teams had difficulties - pretty much taken directly from the book.

Things stuck to the novel pretty closely until the meeting. Accusations flew, but Ciri was already there (doing her best to keep an eye on everyone. While de'Vries and Philippa argued, Yen appeared and whispered to Ciri "Dream, now, Zirellia - speak what you see." This sent Ciri into a trance where she saw visions of military movements and of the assassination of Vizimir (Redania's King). During the confusion, de'Vries breaks the seal on magic and starts unlocking magic shackles.

Ciri, however, came to her senses and charged at de'Vries, steel sword drawn. She got there just as Franchesca opened the trap door to let the Squirrels in. Ciri shouted for the mages to evacuate and HELD THE LINE against the Squirrels while they did so. Since they had to climb up a ladder from below, Ciri could face them in small groups of three or four at a time. She also knocked out several of Vilgefortz's mages - only Vilgefortz, Rience, and Franchesca escaped the room.

Ciri also ended up dueling Cahir right then and there. She knocked him out but left him alive (albeit with his hands tied).

The Squirrel attack broken before it could really get going, most of the mages (under Philippa's guidance) retreated to the school and held off further attack, taking minimal casualties. The "Thanned massacre" became the "Thanned mild wounding and serious property damaging".

At this point, I gave Ciri a choice - aid Philippa, chase Franchesca and Yennefer, or chase Vilgefortz. Ciri chose Vilgefortz. She found him outside the Tower of Lara, standing over the wounded Geralt. Like in the novels, Vilgefortz broke Geralt's leg. Unlike the book, he holds Geralt's life hostage against Ciri's cooperation. He wants her to deactivate the portal of Lara so that he can teleport them off the island. Ciri agrees...

... until she and Vilgefortz are in Lara's tower. Then, she draws her sword and attacks. He proves to be quite able and powerful - this is a battle she can't win. However, she doesn't need to win. On instinct, Ciri opens the portal... and with a well-timed Aard Sign, she knocks Vilgefortz into Lara's portal.

Vilgefortz pops out in the middle of the desert.

And the portal begins to go haywire, so Ciri leaps out the window before it explodes. After a rather painful impact with the ground, she rushes to check on Geralt (and protect him from falling debris). Triss shows up and says that she can teleport them somewhere where Geralt can get medical attention.

Thus does Ciri, Geralt, and Triss teleport to Brockilon and meet the Dryads. After some tense moments, they recognize Geralt and let everyone in. Geralt gets his treatment - and Ciri asks Triss to take her back to Thanned island so she can talk to Philippa. Triss says that teleporting that far has drained her - she needs to rest and recover before she can cast a spell like that again.

They spend the night, then head back. Ciri learns about the Nilfgaardian blitzkrieg on Lyria. She also learns that Yennefer, Vilgefortz, and Franchescia Findebar are all missing and presumed traitors.

Ciri decides she wants to help. So she requests that Philippa loan her Triss. Ciri, Triss, and Renfri teleport to Kaer Morhen... and Renfri undergoes the Trial of Grasses.

I rolled percentiles to see if she lived (since the books say there's a 60% survival rate). I rolled a 20-something, so she lived.

Ciri also took the opportunity to speak with Lambert and Eskel about joining the war effort. The old man didn't like it, but the others agreed that Nilfgaard represented a greater threat than any single monster.

So the Witchers went to war.

Another day, another teleport. Triss takes the whole group to Lyria. There, they worked to break the siege of Lyria (that is, the capital city of Lyria, also called Lyria) and keep Nilfgaard from taking over. Sadly, while the Witchers turned the tide of battle at Lyria, Rivia fell on its own. Nilfgaard bypassed Lyria and moved into southern Aedern.

King Henselt invaded Upper Aedern. King Foltest signed a non-aggression treaty with Nilfgaard. And Geralt regained the use of his leg.

Once again borrowing Triss, Ciri picked up Geralt and - tearfully - confessed how she'd gotten the other Witchers involved in the war. She apologized for not being neutral like he taught her, and said she'd understand if he never forgave her.

Geralt hugged her and told her he was proud of her.

It was a very touching moment.

Anyway, Geralt agrees to help as well. Since Nilfgaard has moved on into Aedern, that's where they need to fight next. Specifically, there's a wide river between Aldersberg and Vergenberg (Yen's hometown), with a main road connecting them via a massive bridge.

The Witchers relocate to Vergenberg.

Since Aedern's army was destroyed, a civilian army is being raised - by a woman named Siaska. Because I fucking loved her in the games and I wanted to drop her in. Ahem. Anyway...

Ciri and the others discuss strategy. The plan is this - while Nilfgaard sieges Alderberg, they will take guerrilla teams led by Witchers and strike at Nilfgaard's siege weaponry. Furthermore, they will also target their mages - if they can assassinate the battle mages, they can give the north a massive battlefield advantage - particularly since the Brotherhood of Mages didn't crumble (since there were few casualties).

Ciri goes out on a number of missions and weakens Nilfgaard's army. Eventually, however, it all comes down to one thing. The bridge.

Nilfgaard has to move their army across the bridge.

Five Witchers (Ciri, Geralt, Lambert, Eskel, and Renfri) are standing in the middle of the bridge. Also, two Trolls (the ones from the game - Ciri saved the female, as in the game, so the Troll couple is helping out), although the trolls are technically under the bridge.

The witchers established three "lanes". One Witcher would handle a lane - the extra two would be a "tag team" for situations where one of the witchers needed a few minutes to rest, fast heal, and re-take potions.

One Thousand Nilfgaardian troops walked out onto that bridge.

None survived.

Five Witchers (and two Trolls) killed them all.

Of course, Nilfgaard had 10,000 men in their army. But, after 1000 men, the bridge was kinda covered in corpses. Also, Triss and several other mages were raining fire down on the other side of the river (while Nilfgaard had no mages present to return fire or cast protection spells).

Also, Aldersberg sent THEIR army out to attack Nilfgaard's flank.

Nilfgaard suffered a massive defeat.

Half of the Nilfgaardian army retreated to Rivia, where the survivors hunkered down.

The other half retreated to Dol Bathan (the newly created Elven nation) to hold that territory.

The North had won a massive victory.

... and 45,000 fresh Nilfgaardian troops crossed the Yaruga river in Sodden, breaking their treaty with Temeria and crushing Sodden's military.

What Ciri did next... we'll talk about next time.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

However, first there is a dinner party - because dinner party.


Fun times. Fun, petty times.

Since Aedern's army was destroyed, a civilian army is being raised - by a woman named Siaska. Because I fucking loved her in the games and I wanted to drop her in. Ahem. Anyway...

lol'd at these moments, good use of a bit of humor added into the mix.

Geralt hugged her and told her he was proud of her.

It was a very touching moment.


The witchers established three "lanes". One Witcher would handle a lane - the extra two would be a "tag team" for situations where one of the witchers needed a few minutes to rest, fast heal, and re-take potions.

One Thousand Nilfgaardian troops walked out onto that bridge.

None survived.

Five Witchers (and two Trolls) killed them all.

and then I

at these parts.

highly enjoyable read overall though, I might just have to pick up the books if they are as enjoyable as your posts are.

captcha: go go gadget

captcha, you are in the wrong universe, GET OUT OF MY WITCHER.

 

[FunnyBunny]

Sorry, I didn't have time to read anything more here, but I probably will, one of those rainy days. Lol.

It's nice you took so much time defending yourself on your W1 style of play. As for me, I have so little time I usually pay damn attention to everything in a game. And that's why I get to play them years after they are released (because I'm to obusy, not because I am so slow to play, lol). Believe it or not, I still haven't touched Skyrim or DA, I couldn't even finish Mass Effect 1 due to time issues. So now, when Witcher 2 is done, I still have Mass Effect, Dragon Age or even the other Stalkers in reserve. Probably it's going to take years before I go through them all.

Macaroni sculptures? What is that? I had other interests while in the 3rd grade.

I'm proud to announce I almost never used blocking in Witcher 2 as well, in addition to ignoring group style in W1. The only time I needed to block was when I was one of the wraiths when breaking the spell/Mist, and then only because I couldn't roll and jump around like a frog on fire. Simply, blocking was so boring.

Yes, I think I was replying to your feelings about switching from Witcher 1 to Witcher 2. And yes, I didn't miss your point. Sex cards were optional. If it was bugging you (though I see no reason why for such strong reaction, guys just didn't have sources to animate sex properly so instead they just gave you card to remember who you ... and who not, lol), you didn't need to go for sex. Lol. But we agree to disagree on this, I hope.

Nice to find out you are in the trade, too. I used to write when younger. Not much time left for it now... Sorry, don't know anyone for publishing networking for English language. But it never hurts if you write to people, for example Stephen King. Or Sapkowski. ) (They may write you back. Or not. Lol)

P.S.: How one does quoting here?

 

[FunnyBunny]

Philippa, Keira, Sabrina, Triss, and Ciri in one company? That can be overkill for poor teenage boys.

 

[FunnyBunny]

By the way, maybe you'd like to share in my forum here, http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.820417-Your-favourite-game-moment

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Philippa, Keira, Sabrina, Triss, and Ciri in one company? That can be overkill for poor teenage boys.

I'm not sure what this is in reference to, but whatever it is, it sounds like fun to me!

As to quoting (you asked about it), just click the "Quote" button rather than the "Reply" button, and you'll get a reply with the previous post quoted in it. You can edit the quoted text to remove sections you don't want.

And to the rest of the thread - more game summary coming soon! I've just been a little busy lately. And by a little, I mean a lot! ^^;;

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

So, when we left off with the game summary, I talked about the Battle of the Bridge south of Vengerberg. Well, some other stuff of interest happened in Vengerberg.

First off, Ciri confessed her romantic feelings to Geralt. Geralt was rather surprised, but... well, Geralt has never said no to an attractive young woman throwing herself at him, particularly not one he loved (even if it wasn't in quite that way).

Thus did Ciri and Geralt become lovers. Which may sound a tad icky, but here are a couple of things to keep in mind.
1) This Ciri is 20 years old. She's a full grown adult who can make her own choices.
2) Triss was born when Geralt was about 40. Thus the age card doesn't really fly.
3) Because neither my spouse nor I had (or have) read the story in Sword of Destiny where Geralt meets Ciri when she was 8, that event never happened. In this universe, Geralt first met Ciri when she was 12 - young, but already entering puberty. This Ciri has always felt romantically about Geralt. And my spouse, having now read Blood of Elves, remains convinced that canon Ciri feels the same (even if it never comes up in the later books).

Moreover, because Geralt already loved her, the relationship gets deep pretty quickly. This became particularly true when Ciri told Geralt that her greatest wish in the world is to wander around being a Witcher with him forever. Not settling down - she wants to kill monsters together with him. He told to Ciri about how Yennefer never liked him being a Witcher and wanted him to live on her terms.

Speaking of Yennefer, she vanished during the events of Thanned Island. She's been convicted of treason in-absentia. Geralt doesn't believe it and wants to find her and clear her name. Triss says she can do a tracking spell, but she needs something that Yennefer owned. Fortunately, Yennefer has a house in Vengerberg. Ciri heads there and breaks in (bypassing a complex magical lock by climbing onto the roof and breaking in through a window).

Inside, Ciri finds plenty of things - she grabs a brush with some hair left in it. However, she decides to look around while she's here. After all, Yennefer knew her name on Thanned Island and put her into a trance somehow. Ciri looks around... and finds a family tree. HER family tree. With notes on it concerning behind-the-scenes arrangements that led to various marriages - like her grandmother's. Yennefer appears to have been part of a project specifically designed to BREED Ciri from a planned pairings.

Of course, the project goes back farther than Yennefer has been alive, and there's no mention of who else was involved in the project. Ciri decided that she really REALLY needs to help Geralt find Yennefer now - so she can ask her about this. Ciri is afraid to tell Geralt, so she confides in Triss about this. Triss is shocked, but proposes a slightly more benign explanation. Yennefer has always wanted a daughter... perhaps Ciri is the result of that? If Yennefer couldn't have a daughter herself, maybe she wanted to breed one?

Due to some botched knowledge rolls, neither Ciri nor Triss remembered anything about the phrase "Elder Blood" mentioned in the notes. Nor do they think to associate it with any old prophesies. Thus, both Ciri and Triss and mostly confused by all this.

Triss performs the tracking spell and locates Yennefer - she's in Dol Blathanna, the section of northern Lyria and southern Aedern granted by Nilfgaard to Francesca Findabar to be the elven homeland. Ciri tells Geralt that much and they plan to head there once they have time.

THEN came the Battle of the Bridge. And driving Nilfgaard's army out of Aedern and out of northern Lyria (except for Dol Blathanna, which was protected by elven forces). Nilfgaard's army retreated to Rivia, where they held up. With Lyria's capital free, Queen Maeve was able to return to her throne and organize her forces rather better than she could in the books. Aedern's forces, led by Saskia, guarded their southern borders. And, as mentioned last time, Nilfgaard invaded Sodden with a brand new army.

However, news of Sodden had not yet reached Ciri. Having liberated Aedern, she and Geralt decided to head to Dol Blathanna to look for Yennefer. So they set off in that direction.

They faced a few monsters on the way there, but nothing too memorable. And, once they crossed in to Dol Blathanna itself, they faced surprisingly little resistance. Their forces were prepared to repel attacks from armies, not individuals. And, once they reached the first town, Geralt met a familiar face - Torque, the saytr. Torque got them safe passage to the capital - a ruined elven city in the mountains that Francesca was having rebuilt. Once there, they obtained an audience with Queen Francesca herself.

Over dinner, Geralt and Ciri discussed Yennefer. And, after toying with them for a bit, Francesca gave them Yennefer - in the form of a jade figuring that had been sitting in the middle of the table all evening. Francesca decompressed Yennefer, and admitted that Yennefer had nothing to do with Vilgefortz's conspiracy. Geralt, of course, was pleased to hear it. Ciri, however, had to talk to Yennefer about the Eugenics notes. She'd told Geralt about them during the journey (after much waffling about it) so he wasn't surprised to hear it.

Yennefer admitted that it was true - she, Francesca, and Tissana de'Vries were all part of the project to create Ciri, heir to the Elder Blood. Yennefer told Ciri about the coming Ice Age and the prophesy that the heir to the Elder Blood would save them (according to the prophesy, she would save the Elves, but Yennefer hoped to save everyone). Yennefer suggested that she could help Ciri learn to use her powers - and that she could be a mother to her. Ciri was less than thrilled about this idea (the mother thing - Ciri found Yennefer both snobby and creepy). Yennefer was willing to wait on the daughter relationship, but she expected Geralt to attend her immediately. And by attend, I mean in her bedroom.

Geralt found himself rather... torn. The two women he loves most in the world, in one room. He can only go with one of them. One is the woman he once wished to have a child with. The other is the surprise child, child of destiny, who he'd do anything to protect, who he raised to be a warrior like him.

In the end it came down to one thing. Yennefer wanted him to change, to not be a Witcher, to clean up and settle down and be civilized. Ciri wanted him to stay the same, to be himself. Ciri loved him just as he was - Yennefer wanted him to be someone he wasn't. So he chose Ciri.

Yennever was NOT happy, as you might imagine. In her anger, she said some rather unfortunate things, to both Ciri and Geralt. She took them back a few minutes later, trying to back-peddle, to apologize, but the damage had been done. For authentic Yennefer bitchiness, I quoted several of the nasty things she said to Triss at the end of Book 5, just rewording them to work for Ciri. It worked - Ciri quite hated Yennefer by the end of all this.

That evening, Ciri asked Geralt how he could stand her. Geralt tried to explain his feelings. He also said that he didn't think he could trust himself alone with her (this came after Ciri suggested that maybe Geralt should give Yennefer a closure fuck). Geralt's weird attitude about Yennefer convinced Ciri that Geralt only loved Yennefer due to that Genie he made the wish about her on back when they first met. Ciri believes that the Genie "cursed" the wish to make them think they were in love with one another, even though Yennefer is an "awful person" (and that's a quote).

The next day, Yennefer decided to try again. She wanted to teach Ciri to control some of her powers. She also explained that there is a tower - the Tower of the Swallow - where Ciri should be able to perfect them. What Yennefer is teaching is only general spellcasting to get Ciri used to it. Ciri asked her if any similar training would work, and Yennefer admitted that it would, although - of course - Yennefer's training is the best.

So Ciri asked to go to Ellander and see Nenneke. Since Nenneke is a friend of Yen's, she agreed, and teleported herself, Ciri, and Geralt there. Ciri went to see Nenneke - and asked to be trained as a Priestess of Melitele.

Nenneke agreed, provided that Ciri would first do a service for the church. These services involved getting the blessing of all three of Melitele's faces. Three short quests later, Ciri was praying at a statue of Melitele. While she was doing so, an old woman offered her some tea. Ciri realized that the old woman was the Crone face of Melitele. She and the Crone talked a bit, and Ciri drank some ethereal tea. When Ciri awoke from her vision, she'd been accepted as a Priestess of Melitele.

Mechanically, Ciri took her 13th character level as Cleric (Melitele) after her previous 12 levels of Witcher.

Ciri then trained for a month, practicing healing magic and controlling her prophetic dreams. During the course of this practice, she had several dreams about a tower on an L-shaped lake. She also had several dreams about being chased by a hawk and a fox, and warnings that, if they pursued her, that she should "follow the unicorn".

As Ciri got better at controlling her dreams, she was able to learn that the L-shaped lake was in Nilfgaard, just south-east of southern Cintra. Furthermore, she learned where Vilgefortz was hiding (castle Stygga). She decided that she should go to the Tower first, since the ability to travel through time and control portals might be useful while fighting Vilgefortz.

However, the best route to get there was through Sodden - and Sodden was controlled by Nilfgaard.

Yennefer planned to teleport them directly to Cintra, bypassing Sodden, but Ciri didn't trust Yennefer, so she wanted to go without her. After discussing this with Geralt, Geralt elected to leave Ellander in the middle of the night and meet Triss in Vizima (where she's been since Geralt and Ciri left Vengerberg). They did so, ditching Yennefer.

In Vizima, they met up with Triss, who set up a meeting with Philippa so that Ciri could get the latest info on the war. Philippa was quite happy to see Ciri and wanted to spend the night with her. Ciri checked with Geralt to make sure it was okay (he didn't mind - so long as she didn't mind him spending his night with Triss - one of the things that they'd agreed on is not stepping on one another's freedom).

During her night with Philippa, Ciri tried to determine if Philippa knew about her bloodline. Philippa did - but only recently, after going over Vilgefortz's possessions after the Thanned coup. Ciri learned of another prophesy - that Ciri's son would rule half the world, and her grandson would rule the entire world. She also learned that Philippa was making overtures to Queen Francesca (who was rather pissed with Nilfgaard for not letting her recall the Scoia'tael into the new Elf homeland) to try to create an apolitical spellcaster's group outside the Brotherhood (which still exists since Ciri prevented most of the Thanned coup casualties). Philippa suggested that Ciri marry the price of Kovir to both bring them into the war AND create a benevolent overlord since Kovir is mostly apolitical and mage-friendly, and Philippa believes that Ciri's son will conquer half the world.

Ciri thought this was absurd since becoming a Witcher made her sterile. However, Philippa pointed out that Witchers were sterile because men produce new sperm daily. Ciri's eggs were formed when she was in the womb, and wouldn't have been affected by the Trial of Grasses or any mutagens she's taken since. Spellcasting or Witcher potions would likely be very bad for a pregnancy, but if she didn't use either, she should be able to have children. This, obviously, came as a bit of a shock to Ciri.

Ciri also got to speak with Tissana de'Vries (who didn't commit suicide, having not gotten a dozen of her friends killed) and learned that she'd never heard of any prophesy about Ciri's children aside from general Elder Blood information. de'Vries suggests that perhaps Vilgefortz misinterpreted a section of the original prophesy.

Armed with this info, Ciri came to a choice. She asked Philippa to set up a conference call with Queen Francesca and made her an offer. Ciri offered Francesca the Elder Blood in exchange for Dol Blathanna and the Scoia'tael joining the North. Ciri would give them a half-elven child - and Francesca would order the Scoia'tael to turn on Nilfgaard and assist the North. Once she did so, she could recall any Scoia'tael forces she chose into Dol Blathanna, so long as she continued fielding troops in the war effort.

Queen Francesca Findabar agreed. The Scoia'tael turned on Nilfgaard, then retreated North. Some groups joined the northern armies, while others withdrew to Dol Blathanna.

Ciri, meanwhile, was given three genetically compatible Scoia'tael commanders to choose from. She ended up choosing Iorveth to be the father of her child.

Ciri prayed to Melitele the Mother for a blessing, and apparently it worked because she got pregnant almost immediately. She retired to Dol Blathanna for the fall, winter, and spring, leaving the war in the hands of Renfri, Lambert, Eskel, and Coen, who'd turned up on the Sodden front. Geralt accompanied her to Dol Blathanna while Iorveth remained on the Sodden front to keep fighting.

With four Witchers and the Scoia'tael on their side, the North pushed Nilfgaard out of southern Temeria and back into Sodden. Winter came and went. The Nilfgaard troops in Rivia tried to attack Lyria again, and were pushed back again. The ones in Sodden did a little better, but this still resulted in little more than another year of wrecking the crap out of Sodden.

That spring, Ciri gave birth to a half-elven daughter. She turned the girl over to Francesca (and a wet-nurse) and let her Witcher healing take care of her recovery. A month later, she was ready to head back to the war.

Nilfgaard was readying another push, so she parked herself and Geralt in their way (in a border fortress). She, Geralt, and Iorveth went out and murdered the General in charge of the Nilfgaard invasion. Then they held the fort against a siege, taking out a Nilfgaardian covert-ops force sent by Skellen. And, finally, Ciri faced off against a Nilfgaardian Witcher of the Viper School (Serrit). Before he died, she learned that there Nilfgaard had other members of the Viper school - Nilfgaard was fighting Witchers with Witchers.

Ciri also faced a bounty hunter - Leo Bonhart. They fought - and he survived, escaping a lost battle with his life.

Having bloodied Nilfgaard's nose again, this time in Sodden, Ciri and Geralt headed south (with some help from Iorveth), slipping past the Nilfgaardian army and heading south, over the Yaruga river and into Cintra.

On her way through Cintra, Ciri stopped to help out a Naiad with a brewing war between humans and Vodyanoi. In return for her help, Ciri was rewarded with an ancient Witcher's silver sword - Aerondight.

Ciri also followed a dream sent to her by Melitele to a ruined castle previously used by Vilgefortz as a base for his experiments. She destroyed his lab and put the restless spirits of his victims to rest. While doing so, she learned about a portal that grabs ships from near the Skelleg Islands and transports them to Stygga castle. To her horror, Ciri realized that Vilgefortz had kidnapped her parents. She imagined her mother suffering these same experiments, and vowed vengeance against Vilgefortz.

Further south, Ciri and Geralt stayed at an Inn. There, a group of ruffians arrived with a prisoner - a young woman they called a "Rat". When the ruffians joked about raping the young woman, Ciri had had enough - she killed the men and freed the woman: Mistle, of the Rats. Mistle asked to travel with Ciri and Geralt until she could find the rest of her gang. Ciri was reluctant to do so, but since Mistle was already condemned to death by torture, it could hardly get worse for her.

Near the lake in her visions, they found the rest of the Rats. It turns out they were there because of Skellen - he's camped there, and they were assuming that Skellen had Mistle. Since they hate Skellen, and Ciri needs to get past him, they decided to do a joint attack on his camp.

While the Rats fought Skellen's men, Ciri and Geralt took on Skellen, Leo Bonhart, and Rience (Vilgefortz's apprentice from way back on Thanned Island). Ciri used an Axii sign to charm Leo Bonhart into fighting on her side. Leo Bonhart killed Rience while Ciri killed Skellen (and Geralt held off another dozen of Skellen's men). Then, as the Axii sign faded, Ciri fought Leo Bonhart and killed him as well.

After the battle, Ciri spent the night saying goodbye to Geralt and Mistle. Geralt would return North, to the war, while Mistle and her gang would head south.

Then, in the morning, she headed, alone, to the ruins of the tower. She could see them both as ruins and as a great white tower. She approached the tower and entered.

Within the Tower of the Swallow, Ciri saw many visions of events - past, present, and future.

Ciri saw Geralt as a baby being abandoned by his mother.
Ciri saw a man with a hedgehog face leaving a grand city she'd never seen before, looking back with mixed shame, regret, and anger.
Ciri saw her parents on a ship having an argument. Her father slapped her mother, and her mother fell and hit her head.
Ciri saw Philippa in the midst of a celebration, with Radovid staring hatefully at her.
Ciri saw herself appear on a beach where a young woman was making love with a man. She saw herself turn and leave - and the woman shout "wait" too late to be heard.

Then, Ciri found herself at a door. She opened the door -

And found herself in a forest clearing. One tree grew at the center of the clearing, and an elf sat beneath it. He turned, looked at her, and said "Welcome, Zirella."

And that's where I'm gonna leave things for today. That was a particularly big post - a lot happened, including many things I didn't expect. Turning the Squirrels against Nilfgaard was a total shock for me - and a brilliant move on my spouse's part. ^^

Until next time.

 

[FunnyBunny]

Anyway... that evening, Philippa, Keira, Sabrina, Triss, Dethmold, and Ciri met up and divided into teams of two.

Philippa, Keira, Sabrina, Triss, and Ciri in one company? That can be overkill for poor teenage boys.

I'm not sure what this is in reference to, but whatever it is, it sounds like fun to me!

As to quoting (you asked about it), just click the "Quote" button rather than the "Reply" button, and you'll get a reply with the previous post quoted in it. You can edit the quoted text to remove sections you don't want.

And to the rest of the thread - more game summary coming soon! I've just been a little busy lately. And by a little, I mean a lot! ^^;;

I was quoting you, lol.

Thank you. I've found out how to quote on my own and now I'm a good at it, quoting a little now and then, and by little, I mean a lot (yes, stealing your own words here again, lol).

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

I was quoting you, lol.
Thank you. I've found out how to quote on my own and now I'm a good at it, quoting a little now and then, and by little, I mean a lot (yes, stealing your own words here again, lol).

Ah! Okay, you meant in my game synopsis, during the Thanned Coup.

To be fair, that's the same group as in the novel (minus Ciri). And they're all dressed in practical combat gear rather than sexy attire. And no love for Dethmold?

Anyway, glad to help with the Quote button. Hope you're enjoying the tales of my ongoing Pathfinder game.

 

[FunnyBunny]

And they're all dressed in practical combat gear rather than sexy attire. And no love for Dethmold?

Anyway, glad to help with the Quote button. Hope you're enjoying the tales of my ongoing Pathfinder game.

Practical combat gear can do wonders to your sexappeal, wink wink.

Dethmold, I haven't noticed him on the Iorveth's path. Is he... any good?

Enjoying, but... Does really no one like poor Nilfgaardians? )

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Okay, let's wrap this up. Ciri didn't stay in elf land long - at least not once she realized that A) the guy who said hi was the "Fox" she was warned about and B) she saw some unicorns battle the Red Riders (aka the Wild Hunt). When the Fox offered to let her ride off and learn about his non-euclidian trap, she instead rode towards where she saw the unicorns. Once there, Ciri sat down and waited for the Unicorns to come to her.

Finally, one did. A unicorn she's met in the forests earlier in the game being attacked by an ant monster. She's treated its wounded leg and called it Silver before it returned to its herd. This time, Silver came alone - and this time he could talk. They discussed escape, and Ciri ended up riding down river (the secret to escaping the Fox's trap is to escape via water) on Silver's back. Silver also gave her his real name, but it proved unpronounceable, so she stuck with Silver.

After passing the human land-fill (the Elves who rule this world use the Wild Hunt to capture slaves - which is why people vanish when the Wild Hunt passes - which they then work to death. When they die, their bodies are dumped in mass grave so large it is basically a land-fill), Silver shows Ciri how to time jump.

What follows are several misfires where Silver and Ciri end up in the wrong times and (often) on the wrong worlds. Most of them, while amusing, aren't all that relevant. The ones that are follow:

Ciri ends up in the Elemental Plane of Water on a frozen ice field. She sees a shimmering in the distance and rides towards it. It turns out to be a massive portal - leading back to her world, albeit several centuries in the future. She goes through it anyway and finds that the portal isn't visible from this side, but cold air blows out of it. From this, Ciri realized that the cooling is not actually a natural occurrence, but rather is being caused artificially. Someone wants the world to get colder.

Later, Ciri ends up on a ship - a starship. The HMS Saint Philippa, as it turns out. Ciri learns a bit about the future - including space travel and other planets - and also that, in the future, the HMS Saint Philippa is in a battle against a group of inter-dimensional invaders called the "Corrupters" who are vaguely reptilian or possibly amphibian. She helps the ships crew repel a boarding party of Corrupters and learns a little bit about upcoming (to her time period) events, including the torture, execution, and martyrdom of Philippa and most of her other mage friends.

Ciri attempts to send a message to Philippa to warn her (via a dream) but ends up getting her on the night of her execution - after a year of torture that has left her maimed but not broken. Philippa is pleased with a chance to say goodbye and tells Ciri that her one regret is that she never got to tell her she loved her. Philippa thanks Ciri for this chance and says that tomorrow she can go to her execution with her head held high knowing that she will be remembered as a hero.

Ciri is rather upset by this and is more determined than ever to get back to her own time and stop this from happening. Unfortunately, she's still pretty new to this and hitting the mark is fairly difficult. Instead, she ends up on Earth... in England... where she almost immediately bumps into a young King Arthur and his knights. They're out hunting a monster - a Bandersnatch. And, since killing monsters is kinda Ciri's specialty, she offers to join them. They accept. Ciri impresses Arthur with her combat skills and her witcher sword (a twin to his own Excalibur). Ciri explains her plight, and Arthur suggests that, once the hunt is over, that they should head to Camelot and ask Merlin for his advice. Ciri agrees to do this.

Ciri and Arthur also end up sleeping together. Several times. By the time they've killed the Bandersnatch and returned to Camelot, Ciri is pregnant. This is slightly awkward since Arthur is already married - to a 9 year old girl (who he hasn't touched) due to a political marriage (the girl will grow up into Guinevere, obviously). Anyway, Arthur can't be producing heirs with some strange warrior from another world, so Ciri is free to leave with her child. Ciri decides to stay through the pregnancy (to avoid further combat) and leave once the kid is born. Arthur is pleased and they remain lovers during her pregnancy.

Ciri gives birth (and names the kid Arthur) and then says her goodbyes. Merlin, who she's had 9 months to work with, has figured out a way to lock in on her proper time and world. Ciri time travels once again - and ends up in Geralt's bedroom.

Geralt is in the middle of having sex with Fringilla, although he immediately stops to greet Ciri (leaving Fringilla rather ticked off at Ciri). It turns out that only a few months have passed. The war is still going on, Geralt is still stuck in Nilfgaard (in Tourisant), and Philippa is still very much alive and well. When Ciri learns that Fringilla is a mage, she asks her to contact Philippa.

Philippa arranges for a meeting of her Lodge (in this world, a secret society she's formed alongside the Brotherhood rather than a replacement for the Brotherhood) and makes Ciri a member (Ciri might not be a mage, but she can teleport and time travel, so she's close enough). Ciri reveals Vilgefortz's location and says she wants to take him out. The others agree and a plan of attack is formed.

Meanwhile, Ciri warns Philippa about Prince Radovid killing her. Philippa promises to be careful. Ciri, happy to have gotten back in time to save Philippa spends the night with her. During pillow talk, Ciri talks about some of the things she saw in the future and in the tower. She mentions that her father is Nilfgaardian... and Philippa does some math. Philippa asks a few more questions to make sure, and then puts forward a theory - that Ciri's father is actually Emperor Emyres of Nilfgaard. He was cursed as a young man and fled the capital when his father was killed. He was gone for years, and then returned and reclaimed his throne the same year that Ciri's father "died" at sea. If so... then Ciri is the heir to the Nilfgaardian empire. If she could be recognized as such and then kill the Emperor, Ciri would rule Nilfgaard legally. She could end the war... and if she goes through with her marriage to the Prince of Kovir, Ciri could effectively rule the north through economics rather than force.

Ciri shares a dream of hers with Philippa - to rule the world peacefully. To use economics and marriage to control both Nilfgaard and the north, to end the pointless wars and keep the world stable. Philippa is so overwhelmed with thoughts of ruling the world that she lets down her guard for a moment and tells Ciri that she loves her. You may "dwaaa" now.

The next day, Ciri, Triss, Keira, and Sabrina raid Vilgefortz's castle. In addition to Vilgefortz himself, they also face Letho of the Viper Witchers. Ciri tries to talk him down, but he refuses, and she's forced to kill him. Vilgefortz she has no problem killing. On her way out, Ciri torches his castle, destroying his life's work.

Upon leaving, a group of soldiers arrive - Nilfgaardian soldiers, led by the Emperor. Ciri readies herself to kill him, but he instead asks her a question - is it true that she returned with a son. She says, yes, he has a grandson. The Emperor sighs and says that her son is the child of destiny - marrying her now means nothing. He offers to end the war if she will bring her son to be acknowledge as the heir to Nilfgaard. Ciri has a counter proposal - she wants the emperor to name HER the heir. He says he doesn't know what she expects to accomplish - the prophesy says her grandson is the one who will rule the world. Ciri does NOT tell him that Vilgefortz misinterpreted that bit (according to Yennefer anyway) but does say that she doesn't mind so long as she gets to rule Nilfgaard after her father dies. He accepts that and sends Triss (who is standing next to Ciri) to inform Philippa and the rest of the north that he's ready for peace talks. He will meet them in Cintra in one month.

From here, things got pretty political. Ciri married Tankred of Kovir to cement that alliance and her control over the North. Since Philippa was had Sile reprogram his brain to make him not addicted to Fisteck anymore, she also had a few other adjustments made so he wouldn't mind Ciri sleeping with other people (like Philippa and Geralt).

After peeking into the future one last time and learning that Radovid still kills Philippa, Ciri kidnapped Radovid and took him to another world - and left him there. In the following civil war, Ciri and Philippa backed Tankred of Kovir as the new king of Redania and (with their political might) put him on Redania's throne. So Ciri's husband is not the King of Redania and heir to Kovir. She's Queen of Cintra and heir to Nilfgaard. With this much political power, Ciri was able to prevent King Henselt from invading Upper Aedern (again) after the treaty, and thus prevented the death of Sabrina (which Ciri learned of in the future while researching how Philippa died).

With all this on her plate, Ciri found herself lacking the time necessary to go deal with the weather problems. Then again, she has 2000 years to sort that out. And, since she has a pretty good idea of what the problem is, she can also let her children (who may or may not have Lara's gift) know about it so they can handle the problem.

The End... for now.

So there you have it. That is the story of my Witcher game and how my spouse played a very politically savvy Ciri. I hope you guys enjoyed that.

And, that said, I think this thread has come to an end. I was going to play more, but I've moved on to other games now. I'm sure I'll be back to the Witcher at some point (when the Witcher 3 comes out, if not before), but for now I'm done with it. This has been a great run, and I've had a lot of fun.

Oh, and when I play the Witcher 3, I'll be sure to post a new Lets Play then.

Thank you all for reading.

 

[Ciabass]

I'm happy to tell you that the new witcher book called "Sezon Burz" from polish "Storm Season" i going to be released in November this year in Poland. I'm super excited.