Hillock Tree Spirit, Moral Dilema. Bad Endings for Both Choices , What did you do?

[kenjigreat]

Hillock Tree Spirit, Moral Dilema. Bad Endings for Both Choices , What did you do?

I'm curious what you guys did for quest, there is no right decision since both choices result in death , blood and violence.

 

[Hwitewolf]

I just did it, saved the spirit and haven't seen the repercussions yet but it felt good to throw a stick in the wheel of those fugly crones' rule over the swamp. We'll see if I regret it.

That said the horse became Black Beauty, can't really hate that.

 

[kenjigreat]

The spirit kills the Village.

 

[Hwitewolf]

Ah well, shit happens.

 

[The_Blog]

Ah well, shit happens.

And the Baron and Anna die. :|

I'm curious what you guys did for quest, there is no right decision since both choices result in death , blood and violence.

Saved the spirit aswell. The alternative would be that the kids got eaten.
To be honest. I think I did the right thing. But the ending was heartbreaking.

 

[Haute-Bellegarde]

I killed the tree spirit. Here's my reasoning, even though any choice would have left me frustrated and unsatisfied. - Tree spirit is evil in itself. It wants to slaughter an entire village and whisk away the children. We don't have any guarantees the children will be safe with the spirit. - Since both the tree spirit and the crones are clearly evil, you at the very least get a chance to wipe out one of the two evils in the area. - Like previously said, the Baron and Anna both die if you choose the spirit. The Baron has valuable leads for you. - When you confront the crones after killing the spirit, they basically taunt you and reveal they are friendly with The Wild Hunt. They are clear villains and I think they even curse you at the end of the conversation. Geralt wants to kill them, and they tell him that they will meet again "very soon". In addition to them having fight counterattacks in the bestiary, it leads me to believe that you will fight them later on in the game. So in the end, that batch of children you saw in the swamps could potentially be the last children ever abducted. It's not perfect in the least, but it's better than the alternatives.

 

[The_Blog]

I killed the tree spirit. Here's my reasoning, even though any choice would have left me frustrated and unsatisfied. - Tree spirit is evil in itself. It wants to slaughter an entire village and whisk away the children. We don't have any guarantees the children will be safe with the spirit. - Since both the tree spirit and the crones are clearly evil, you at the very least get a chance to wipe out one of the two evils in the area. - Like previously said, the Baron and Anna both die if you choose the spirit. The Baron has valuable leads for you. - When you confront the crones after killing the spirit, they basically taunt you and reveal they are friendly with The Wild Hunt. They are clear villains and I think they even curse you at the end of the conversation. Geralt wants to kill them, and they tell him that they will meet again "very soon". In addition to them having fight counterattacks in the bestiary, it leads me to believe that you will fight them later on in the game. So in the end, that batch of children you saw in the swamps could potentially be the last children ever abducted. It's not perfect in the least, but it's better than the alternatives.

Interesting argument. You will be able to fight them. I asked that in the froums and a RED member said "Wait and see ". I am eager to stick my sword into them.

 

[Balthazars]

It's a very well done series of quests, it made me feel sick to my stomach. I knew that the tree spirit was also evil, and knew that it would breed destruction of some sort, but at the same time, it's obvious that the Crones are pretty terrible and nothing good would happen to the children (especially when you learn from Ciri's perspective that one the reasons the 'trail of treats' exists is to send off children that parents no longer want to/cannot look after).

Faced with the choice, I ended up saving the tree spirit and setting it free, hoping to put a dent in the Crones' power over the swamp. Not surprised that it extracted revenge against the village, but it kept its word and rescued the children - at least for now. The follow-up however, with Gran being blamed for their escape and getting cursed, and the consequence that the Baron dies, was pretty tragic. While he had made many terrible mistakes, I at least felt that he demonstrated a genuine remorse and was willing to try and make amends (in the Botchling quest). He also did right by Ciri too. As I said, a tragic end, but I'll stick with it - mostly because I can't stand to do anything to support the Crones, they are clearly twisted and were willing to give Ciri up to the Wild Hunt while also chomping on her for their own sick purposes. I do indeed hope we get the chance to do them in at a later point, and I anticipate it - doubt I've seen the last of them.

 

[ghostwalkr]

Having stumbled across the spirit before I started this part of the story mission, I knew there was something off in what it was saying.
Now having met the Crones - I'm at a moral cross-road in which side to choice.
The lesser of the two evils is the spirit, but siding with it means that the Baron and his wife are lost and I have come to appreciate the Baron. (I thought the Family Matters quest line was nicely done and by the time I completed it, my opinion of the Baron did a complete 180, especially going with the Lubberkin choice)

As for the Crones - I mostly don't trust them. They're hiding something and they most definitely have their own agenda for helping Geralt and not for good intentions.

Damn you CD Projekt for making choices actually account for something and they have ramifications.. err!

 

[busterr.273]

I saved the Tree Spirit and in the end Baron and Anna died. What happens if you choose to kill the spirit?

 

[Eruvadhor]

Killed the spirit via deception.

Would like to kill the Crones and the Spirit, but didn't see a way to kill the Crones at the time.

Hopefully there is a chance later on, though Geralt is merely a witcher, and they've been around for a *long* time.

 

[kehado]

5 kids or an entire village? There is no good here, just a lesser evil, which is to destroy the tree spirit is a right thing to do. Plus the happy outcome of Baron's story is saving another 2 lives. Sad and more evil one is help the spirit leading to Anna and Baron die.

A Tower of Mice is another cool moral side quest in Keira Metz's questline.

 

[ghostwalkr]

A Tower of Mice is another cool moral side ques

That one and the last side quest in her quest line - For the Advancement of Learning - are both really good.

 

[andykww]

If you picked up a book called "SHE WHO KNOWS" somewhere along the quest line, I think it explains who this spirit is.

 

[Ouroboros612]

Let the kids die. Its the good choice.

Without the Baron the area will probably be left with a power void and less stability.

In other words, the Baron alive will probably lead to faaar less dead people for the years to come.

 

[CTPhipps]

Let the kids die. Its the good choice.

Without the Baron the area will probably be left with a power void and less stability.

In other words, the Baron alive will probably lead to faaar less dead people for the years to come.

The Baron leaves after the quest.

Which is good if Nilfgaard doesn't win the war.

 

[Valtonis]

Having stumbled across the spirit before I started this part of the story mission, I knew there was something off in what it was saying.
Now having met the Crones - I'm at a moral cross-road in which side to choice.
The lesser of the two evils is the spirit, but siding with it means that the Baron and his wife are lost and I have come to appreciate the Baron. (I thought the Family Matters quest line was nicely done and by the time I completed it, my opinion of the Baron did a complete 180, especially going with the Lubberkin choice)

As for the Crones - I mostly don't trust them. They're hiding something and they most definitely have their own agenda for helping Geralt and not for good intentions.

Damn you CD Projekt for making choices actually account for something and they have ramifications.. err!

Read the book She Who Knows
here is a screen shot of it
https://i.imgur.com/rle94qR.jpg
the lesser evil are the crones

---------- Updated at 09:11 PM ----------

It's a very well done series of quests, it made me feel sick to my stomach. I knew that the tree spirit was also evil, and knew that it would breed destruction of some sort, but at the same time, it's obvious that the Crones are pretty terrible and nothing good would happen to the children (especially when you learn from Ciri's perspective that one the reasons the 'trail of treats' exists is to send off children that parents no longer want to/cannot look after).

Faced with the choice, I ended up saving the tree spirit and setting it free, hoping to put a dent in the Crones' power over the swamp. Not surprised that it extracted revenge against the village, but it kept its word and rescued the children - at least for now. The follow-up however, with Gran being blamed for their escape and getting cursed, and the consequence that the Baron dies, was pretty tragic. While he had made many terrible mistakes, I at least felt that he demonstrated a genuine remorse and was willing to try and make amends (in the Botchling quest). He also did right by Ciri too. As I said, a tragic end, but I'll stick with it - mostly because I can't stand to do anything to support the Crones, they are clearly twisted and were willing to give Ciri up to the Wild Hunt while also chomping on her for their own sick purposes. I do indeed hope we get the chance to do them in at a later point, and I anticipate it - doubt I've seen the last of them.

it rescued the children?
from what?
i didn't do it that way so i don't know if it was actually shown that the children were rescued from the crones but reading other posts it seems that the children are still gonna die in the swamps eaten by drowners or hags

so you released an ancient evil that was gonna destroy velen and got villagers killed and the children die in the end as well

 

[wright1978]

Got to say i loved this quest and the tough choice it offered. Finally plumped to kill the spirit as it seemed the most logical based on the facts at Geralt's disposal and most in keeping with finding out about Ciri.

 

[ghostwalkr]

@Valtonis -
The Crones have their own agenda and

Spoiler

they were planning on turning Ciri over to the Wild Hunt.

- so in that regard - I don't considered them the lesser of the two evils.
And yes - I read the book and I knew going into the quest who the tree spirit was once.
Still didn't make it easy

 

[ivashanko]

The book was probably written by the Crones- there is no real reason to believe it is true. That being said...

Spoiler

When you fight the Crones again, one escapes. Does saving the tree spirit have ramifications for her escape latter? I really hope it does, otherwise I feel that killing the tree spirit is strictly the better choice since more live, including one major character.