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Background

You'll receive this quest from Crach at the end of the quest The King Is Dead -- Long Live the King.


Walkthrough

For this quest you'll need to help Crach's daughter Cerys, who sailed off to Spikeroog in The Skellige Isles Northwest to seek a cure for Jarl Udalryk's "mysterious affliction" (aka hearing voices). But before you can help Cerys, you'll first have to find her. To that end, you should meet with Udalryk on Spikeroog.

When you enter Udalryk's house (#1), he'll be babbling to the seer Hjort about a dream he had, and how it means they should start making sacrifices to the gods. He won't have any answer for you about Cerys, and Hjort won't know anything about her, either.

So to find Cerys, you'll have to interview the townsfolk. A fisherman will tell you that he hasn't seen Cerys in a while. A Skelliger woman will tell you that she was interested in a married couple named Bergthora and Eiric. This will lead you to Bergthora, who will tell you that Cerys went to talk to Eiric on the other side of the island.

You'll find Eiric to the north (#2). He'll be standing on a rocky outcropping trying to avoid a trio of drowners. When you save Eiric by killing the drowners, you'll earn you 400 xp. In thanks, Eiric will tell you that Cerys went up to Udalryk's abandoned family home.

Inside the home (#3), you'll find Cerys unconscious on the floor. When you lead her back outside, she'll tell you about Udalryk's past. You'll learn that Udalryk's father gave the family blade Brokvar to Uldalryk's younger brother Aki, and that Udalryk only gained possession of it after the two of them went fishing together and Aki died in a storm. So Cerys will theorize that Aki is haunting Udalryk, and that he'll only go away if he gets the sword back.

To find the sword, you'll need to go back inside the abandoned home. In one of the rooms, you'll find the Key to Cellar, which will allow you to open the cellar door. Then inside the cellar, you'll find Brokvar on a table. Picking it up will earn you 400 xp.

When you return with the sword to Cerys, she'll get up and lead you back to Udalryk (#1). You'll then convince Udalryk that his brother Aki needs the sword back, and Udalryk will describe where Aki died. He'll also mention that Aki was wearing a clan ring.

When you go to the site of Aki's death (#4), you might have to deal with some sirens, but otherwise you'll just need to dive underwater and interact with the skeleton that you'll find there. This will cause you to give Brokvar to Aki. If you have trouble spotting the skeleton, then you should just turn on your witcher senses so it glows red.

When you return to Udalryk, you'll see that your plan didn't work. He'll still be talking to the "gods," and they'll still be demanding sacrifices from him -- in this case, his eye. When you ask Udalryk about the gods, he'll tell you that he only hears them in his dreams, and only when it's dark. After this conversation, you'll pull Cerys aside and tell her that Udalryk is dealing with a demon called a hym, and that there are two ways of dealing with it: a trick or the witcher's way (that is, violence). Cerys will want to try the trick, and you'll agree. This decision will earn you 550 xp.

To prepare for the trick, you'll need to return to the abandoned home (#3) and turn on your witcher senses. You'll spot a few things of interest: a baby cradle, a shattered mirror, some loose boards, and an oven. The hym will also show you a vision of Ciri dead. Once you've seen enough things, Cerys will call out to you and tell you that she has a plan. If you trust her, then you'll try the trick. If you don't trust her, then you'll go with the witcher's way. So you'll have two methods for completing the quest:

• Trick. For this method, Cerys will run off to make preparations while you start a fire in the oven in the abandoned house. Then after some time, Cerys will charge in closely followed by Udalryk and a few of his men. Cerys will toss you Udalryk's baby son (also named Aki), and she'll order you to toss him into the oven. If you refuse, then you'll have to defeat the hym using the witcher method (see below).
  
  Otherwise, when you toss the baby into the fire, Udalryk's men will attack you, and you'll have to defeat them, but the hym will leave Udalryk and attach itself to you. Then Cerys will enter the room and reveal her trick -- that Hjort was waiting in the room behind the oven and grabbed the baby before it could be burnt. With nothing for you to feel guilty about (except perhaps for killing Udalryk's men), the hym won't be able to control you, and it will disappear.
  
  
• Witcher's Way. For this method you'll need to meet with Udalryk and Hjort at Udalryk's house (#1) and tell them about the hym. Then you'll need to return to the abandoned home and place torches in the four wall sconces in the main chamber. You won't need actual Torches for this. You'll just magically create them when you interact with the sconces.
  
  Once the torches are in place, you'll find Udalryk waiting for you outside. When you tell him the plan, he'll join you inside. Then when you light the torches, the hym will show up. The hym is a specter, so you should use Specter Oil and the Igni sign to fight it. At least once during the battle, Udalryk will run screaming from the room, and the hym will disappear. To get it to reappear, you'll need to use Axii on Udalryk to calm him down and make him return. Otherwise, the hym will act just like a standard melee boss, so dodge around as necessary to hit it while avoiding its attacks.
  
  Once you've done enough damage to the hym, it will descend into the basement and regain some health, and you'll just need to follow it down and finish it off. When you kill the hym, you'll find some crafting supplies on its corpse.

Either way, the hym won't be a problem any longer, and Udalryk will be cured -- although he might not feel that way for a few days. Udalryk and Cerys will then head back to Svarlog (#1), and you'll earn a Crystalized Essence and 750 xp for completing the quest.


1 - Svarlog


2 - Eiric


3 - Udalryk's Family Home


4 - Aki's Skeleton