The Whispering Hillock choice

[Robber N0T from here]

Everybody remembers the choice and the consequences of the choices in "The Whispering Hillock" quest:

1. You free the spirit, the orphans are saved, Anna dies, Bloody Baron commits suicide
2. You kill the spirit, the orphans are all doomed, Anna goes mad, Bloody Baron hopes to cure her and lives.

However, the Witcher wiki is mentioning a third outcome that I've never tried before. The following is copy-pasted from the wiki;

"Spirit is freed BEFORE consulting the Ealdorman: If the player releases the spirit before consulting the Ealdorman in the Ladies of the Wood quest the game will have an odd consequence in the Return to Crookback Bog quest. The village of Downwarren will be attacked but Anna will not be turned into a water hag. Additionally a dialogue element will give the impression that the orphans have been saved, this turns out not to be true as there is no reference to the orphans' survival later in Novigrad as there normally is when they are saved."

Is that REALLY an option? Has anyone ever actually tried? And shouldn't it say "Spirit is freed BEFORE talking with the CRONE for the first time ever?" Is this a bugged ending to the quest, or was it actually added there by developers?

Someone please confirm

[JaaxXii]

If you stick to the story line then you'll naturally only have those two outcomes ; but you can free the spirit before you go to the village and right up to before finding Johnny.

Have a look at this post that explains it (credit BuzzardBee)

Killing the Tree Spirit means the children will be eaten by the Crones. You need to do the ritual to FREE the Tree Spirit, not kill it. Do it exactly as you did before, only free it instead. When you go back to the swamp and meet the Crones, the children will be gone and once you tell them that you free the spirit instead of killing it as they wished, they'll realize that Anna had nothing to do with the missing children and won't put a curse on her.

You can actually start the Ladies of the Wood quest and do it right up until the point where you help Johnny get back his voice. When he tells you to follow him back to the orphanage, leave instead and go do the Whispering Hillock quest with the Tree Spirit. Once you've freed it, go back to the bog and resume following Johnny and continue the quest as normal.

Children saved, Anna and the Baron alive.

[CloudSeeker]

Its not really an option. Its more an oversight in the quest design. When you save the spirit it doesn't actually promise to save the children. If you do this quest without being sent by the Crones the spirit will not really care about the children at all. What happens is that you save the spirit and you proceed down path 2. The children will be killed and eaten, Anna will go mad and the Spirit will be alive.

Many people act like saving the Spirit will save the children but that just isn't the case. If you get to the cutscene where you hand over the ear and the Crones forgive Anna by saying "Your children are plump as piglets, sweet as caramel." the kids are gone. You only got two paths. You either allow the kids to die and Anna remain alive or allow the kids to live and allow Anna and the Baron to die. Being able to save the spirit as well as Anna is just an oversight and nothing more.

I believe this situation is what you are talking about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy3dnSxwRUM

[Sugram22]

Originally posted by CloudSeeker:

Its not really an option. Its more an oversight in the quest design. When you save the spirit it doesn't actually promise to save the children. If you do this quest without being sent by the Crones the spirit will not really care about the children at all. What happens is that you save the spirit and you proceed down path 2. The children will be killed and eaten, Anna will go mad and the Spirit will be alive.

Many people act like saving the Spirit will save the children but that just isn't the case. If you get to the cutscene where you hand over the ear and the Crones forgive Anna by saying "Your children are plump as piglets, sweet as caramel." the kids are gone. You only got two paths. You either allow the kids to die and Anna remain alive or allow the kids to live and allow Anna and the Baron to die. Being able to save the spirit as well as Anna is just an oversight and nothing more.

I believe this situation is what you are talking about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy3dnSxwRUM

some1 i think the parons wife even said a black steed charged in and to the children and i remember even crones later mentioning that they cursed parons wife to become hag for loosing the childeren so the spriti keeps her word other even talk of seeing thee reg of the children in the orphanage but i didn't visit it later so i havn't seen it but ppl clearly mentiones a black steed with red glowing ayes takeing the kids away i think some ppl have not payed attention enough

but still i consider this worse outcomes (have done both ways) sins half the willage gets killed for revange by the spirit they deseve it sure but as i say death is easy way out even if it scare some ppl more in life there are worse things then death and the potential harm/damage the spirit could do in future and parons wife dies paron kills himself thats waht ppl really should think of