Hunting Magic – Witcher 2 Quest

This guide helps players with a specific quest of chapter 2 in The Witcher 2 for Iorveth’s side. It has a map, legend, and walkthrough to show you exactly how to complete the quest.

Map Legend

1 – Philippa Eilhart
2 – Philippa (in her house)
3 – Skalen Burdon
4 – Innkeeper
5 – Cecil Burdon
6 – Slope leading up the hill
7 – Magic crystal
8 – Harpy’s lair
9 – Blue Crystal (Iorveth’s dream)
10 – Projection ring
11 – Silver crystal (Baltimore’s dream)
12 – Green crystal (Peasant’s dream)
13 – Red crystal (Dragon’s dream)

Background

Besides the rare ingredients which Philippa needs to cure Saskia, she also requires an ‘ungodly’, as she says, amount of the Power. There are certain magical items possessing such vast amounts and you’re the one to find them.

Walkthrough

The quest is initally received in front of Saskia’s house (#1) after The War Council is completed. To learn more on the topic visit Philippa in her house at #2. Talking to Philippa reveals that such a lot of Power can be contained in a magic crystal, but finding them is not an easy task and she points you towards the townsfolk to find out about the outer area and its possibly magically active departments.

There are three persons in Vergen worth talking to: Skalen Burdon, Cecil Burdon and the innkeeper. Visit Skalen first at either #3 (in his house) or #4 (in the tavern) and ask him about strong magical places. He’ll say that a sorcerer lived in the woods long time ago and that you should look near the quarry and other abandoned ruins and places. The innkeeper (#4) won’t say much more either and will point you to Cecil instead.

Cecil Burdon (#5) will have more interesting things to say and he’ll point you to a ruined tower located at #7. To reach it, you’ll need to find a road leading to it, starting from #6. Simply follow that way and you’ll have to jump over at two points. Beware that a lot of harpies will attack you near the tower including a Celaeno harpy (it’s a more powerful version of a regular harpy and requires much more damage). Once they’re dead, loot the magical crystal from the nest and go back to Philippa.

Philippa will tell you that the item won’t suffice, but there are bound to be more similar crystals to this due to activity of Celaeno harpies (they are also called dream snatchers, for their ability to bind dreams to a crystal). Also, the one you’ve found is Cecil’s dream. Visit the alderman (#5) to get the key to the harpy’s lair (#8) in the quarry. He’ll be reluctant at first, but knowing that you know his secret, he’ll hand you the key. You’ll also receive the quest The Queen Harpy Contract.

At this point, you should stock up on at least seven harpy traps for another quest (The Harpy Contract) that will be done during our visit to the quarry and the harpy’s lair. Further notes are described on that quest’s page.

Inside the lair (#8), your goal is to find a proper magical crystal which contains high amounts of Power. There are several crystals inside. The first one you can find is located at #9.

As you approach the projection ring at #10, you’ll notice a harpy putting a crystal and flying away. A cutscene will start and you’ll witness Letho’s dream. The kingslayers are working with Sile. This also triggers an update to the quest The Assassins of Kings. When you pick up Letho’s dream, you’ll be attacked by a lot of Celaeno harpies and the harpy queen for The Queen Harpy Contract. This fight can be somewhat difficult as there’s not a lot of space to maneuver around. You can however, run around the central rock formation and strike whenever it looks like you won’t take a hit.

There are other crystal scattered around. The one that you found at #9 is Iorveth’s dream. When you check it out using the projection ring, you’ll see him in his office, talking something in elven. Not a lot can be made out from it, apart from that he seems content.

The magical crystal found at #11 contains Baltimore’s dream (or to put it better, nightmare). He’s running away from something and it will trigger the quest Baltimore’s Nightmare. The green crystal at #12 has a peasant’s dream bound to it, expressing his lustful wishes towards Saskia.

The key crystal is the red one at #13. It contains the dragon’s dream and since that creature is rather powerful, so must be the Power stored within the crystal. You’ll also receive 1000 experience points after you project it through the ring. The quest is completed.