The Whispering Hillock Outcome Question *Spoilers*

[Deklatis]

My outcome was a little odd so I was wondering if anyone else ran into this. First off, I ran into the creepy tree when I was adventuring. Read up that it was part of another quest and so I said I would think about freeing it or not. Later, I did the Ladies quest and freed the spirit. When I embarked on the Baron quest, the horse had gone on a rampage in the village, this I expected from what I read. However, Anna was not a monster but was insane and the Baron took her into the mountains. I'd be very happy if this was a legit outcome, but I'm not sure if it is or it's just some kind of mess up.

[ktmwoodsrider]

Originally posted by BuzzardBee:

But there is a way to do this so that the Baron and Anna both live.

Damn!, I wish I knew that earlier as I just did this quest a few hours ago, Im not going to replay several hours just for a different outcome though.

[ktmwoodsrider]

Originally posted by BuzzardBee:

No, you could save that for your next playthrough when you decide to go back and make a lot of different choices. Enjoy.

Very true! Sometimes its so difficult to make choices in this game, not knowing further implications later on. I thought the Barons story line was very well done and hated seeing the end result for both him and his wife, based on my decisions with the tree spirit/crones.

[Deklatis]

How interesting. Well, like I said, I freed the spirit and Anna and the Baron live. Overall I'm quite happy with the outcome considering the alternatives. Thanks for help guys.

[MeatEater]

Originally posted by BuzzardBee:

But there is a way to do this so that the Baron and Anna both live.

You need to start the Ladies of the Wood quest and continue it until you meet and help Johnny regain his voice. Then, instead of following him back to the orphanage, leave and head for the Whispering Hillock. Talk to and free the spirit. Now return to following Johnny.

The children will be gone from the orphanage but the Crones will not blame Anna for this. Then you have the option of telling them the truth about what you've done or not. They will be angry with you if you tell them you've freed the spirit but they will keep their word and tell you about Ciri.

Anna is alive and uncursed and you can return later on with the Baron to get her. He does indeed take her away to the Blue Mountains to find a hermit to see if he can help cure her of her insanity.

Tried this(5 years later, I know) and it didn't work for me. When I returned to the orphanage all kids where still there, just as if I didn't do the Whispering Hillock. Once thing though, about the black horse; once I set the spirit free and it posessed the horse, it ran for a couple of hundred meters and then just stopped. Couldn't get it to move. So, I got back to the orphanage to find all kids there, no change. Did the same thing again and followed the horse and then it ran further, to a bridge with some bandits. Killed the bandits and noticed I could here the horses hooves clappering, like it was running. Went under the bridge and found the horse, constant running towards a a closed gate or some kind of wall of bars. Strange. Went to the orphanage, same thing, all kids there. Everything just as if I didn't set the spirit free.

Has this "alternative ending" been bug-fixed perhaps?

[ShivaSenpai]

It depends on what ending you want for the Baron & Anna. I, personally, grew to like the Baron even though he wasn't the best person & didn't do the best things. I felt the Baron was genuine in his feelings towards his wife & daughter; he just needs to stop drinking.

If you kill the monster in the tree, Anna lives but the kids will die. Anna does have insanity, but Geralt does recommend someone who may be able to help. Velen remains at relative peace. This is the best possible outcome for the Baron.

If you free the monster in the tree, the children live but Anna dies. Because of these events, Downwarren is destroyed, the Baron commits suicide, & Velen is ravaged.

So really, the best option end-game, imo is to kill the tree monster. I weighed my options & believe this was the best outcome for the Baron & Velen. I sacrificed the children for the greater good is how I look at it. That & I felt even though I would save the children then, what was to stop the Crones from eating them later? The Crones like eating things that are "full of life" is what was stated when you do the mountain festival quest.

I found a good article on these types of outcomes here, but recommend not reading it unless you've beaten the game and/or don't mind spoilers & just want the best endings for quests & the entirety of the game. THIS LINK TO THE ARTICLE DOES CONTAIN END-GAME SPOILERS: https://www.vg247.com/2019/10/14/the-witcher-3-how-to-get-the-best-ending/

[MeatEater]

Originally posted by DeathShiva:

It depends on what ending you want for the Baron & Anna.

First of all, thanks for your reply. However, perhaps something got lost in the translation here....(english is not my native tounge so bare with me.)

I do know what the normal options are and the following results. But I want to trigger the "expolit" explained in this thread's second post, which claims:
-Crazy horse saves the kids from the Crones.
-Village people goes bananas and kill each other.
-Anna goes bat sh*t crazy but stays alive i.e. does not get turned into a water hag.
-Baron lives and aids Anna to the mountains to meet some hermit

Originally posted by BuzzardBee:

But there is a way to do this so that the Baron and Anna both live.
You need to start the Ladies of the Wood quest and continue it until you meet and help Johnny regain his voice. Then, instead of following him back to the orphanage, leave and head for the Whispering Hillock. Talk to and free the spirit. Now return to following Johnny.

The children will be gone from the orphanage but the Crones will not blame Anna for this. Then you have the option of telling them the truth about what you've done or not. They will be angry with you if you tell them you've freed the spirit but they will keep their word and tell you about Ciri.

Anna is alive and uncursed and you can return later on with the Baron to get her. He does indeed take her away to the Blue Mountains to find a hermit to see if he can help cure her of her insanity.

Has anyone been able to reproduce this lately?


When I try to do what BuzzardBee says above. Kids die.
-Crones say thanks for the tasty kids, man.
-Anna goes crazy.
-Baron lives
and
-Village people kill eachother

What am I doing wrong?

[MeatEater]

Kind of stuck here so tried something else. I killed the monster on the hill to help Johnny get his voice back but never gave the bottle to Johnny. Instead, I went to the spirit and set it free without giving Johnny his voice back. Unfortunately, same thing happened. Kids got fed to the Crones, everything else turned out as expected. I'm starting to think BuzzardBee's version is not possible anymore. Or, I'm doing something wrong.

[MeatEater]

Now, this was boring:

https://witcher.fandom.com/wiki/The_Whispering_Hillock


" 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.[1]
If the spirit dies before consulting the Ealdorman: the normal spirit dies consequence occurs."

[1] CD Projekt Red has confirmed this is not a bug and is an intended consequence.

This means BuzzardBee's suggestion in the second post in this thread, actually don't work.

So, the only wierd thing here is that this dialogue actually never happens when I try to recreate scenario: "Additionally a dialogue element will give the impression that the orphans have been saved". In my case, the dialogue with the Crones hints that they got the "tasty kids" and are very grateful for that. Perhaps this glitch was fixed? Guess I have to drop this... :)