Balance in nature Witcher 3 | Walkthrough | Choices and consequences
“Balance in Nature” is one of many side quests you will encounter in the game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, studying the second major addition “Blood and Wine”. The task has several endings, and the consequences depend on your choice. Can monsters be kind? Or should they always be destroyed, because this is your job? Compromise or cold mind? With all this you will encounter during the passage. Let's get started.
Balance in nature - detailed quest walkthrough
Traveling through the lands of Toussent, north of Beauclair, you should have seen many warnings, pasted in cities, villages, and just on almost every tree. The warning looks like this:
It looks like a drawing of a real professional! But these warnings kindle curiosity. What is this White Horror, manticore? Maybe basilisk? And how is this graph Borhis di Salvaress related? Why should the column compensate each time the losses inflicted by the monster, if it is possible to hire the witcher once and get rid of the problem forever. In this we have to understand.
Where to get the quest
The order is taken on the bulletin board near “The Cockatrice Inn” inn and is called “Order for the Witcher (Witches): Escort Caravans”. From the order text, Geralt learns that the Tussentan Cooper Guild is looking for a “guard” for the caravan and merchants who will pass through the northern lands. It is necessary to protect from the monster, which constantly flies over these lands. For further information please refer to Gascoigne at Merchant Post.
Attention! If you just come running to the merchant's trading station without taking the task on the board, you will see the destroyed camp and nothing more. No traces, corpses and, of course, no task. They will appear only after you take the task near “The Cockatrice Inn”.
The merchant post is a small camp in the forest, which is located in the very north of Toussent, northeast of the Coronata winery. Around the trading post, as well as inside it, you will also see a lot of announcements about the White Horror. Tents, tables, vans - everything will be destroyed, debris everywhere and scattered things. And besides them, we are interested in the bloody footprints and the corpse, which is located in the very center of the camp.
Use witch's flair and inspect the crime scene.
- Traces of the monster - the monster attacked from the air, because the paw prints can be found only in one place. The shape of the paws is unusual, four-fingered.
- The merchant's corpse - the victim died from severe blood loss. The wounds were inflicted by a large monster; on the throat and the body one can see the traces of claws and teeth.
- Blood stain - a slaughterhouse occurred recently, because the blood is still fresh.
Geralt had seen many monsters during his travels: this one, judging by the evidence, is a draconid, most likely a basilisk. But something is wrong here. Footprints are a little different from the clutches of basilisks and are very unusual.
After inspecting the tracks, a man suddenly appears in the camp. This is Count Boris, which is mentioned in the announcement about the White Horror. Hearing from Geralt about the basilisk, he will declare that, of course, he knows about this and personally looks after the monster. But if he looks, why are we now standing near a corpse in a destroyed camp?
Boris will try to justify the monster by the fact that merchants have entered his territory. Outside the borders of Boris's possessions, the basilisk does not touch anyone and, in general, never flies there. In order for no one to be hurt by the clutches of White Terror, the earl hangs up all these announcements. But the booting guild ignored his warnings, and today sent two merchants to transport the caravan. Boris rushed judging to warn the poor fellows, but did not have time. The courtiers of the count will immediately take away the body of the murdered merchant, and the family will recover all the damage.
Conversation with the graph and the consequences of choosing a dialogue
Now we can learn from the graph more about what is happening here.
- Do you pay for the monster victims? - In the distant past, a certain princess Adelia-Martha presented all these lands to the family of Di Salvares. A basilisk lives somewhere on these lands, it never flies beyond their boundaries and does not harm people. Well, beyond the borders of the territory, at least. And if someone comes to these lands and suffers from the clutches of the monster, the count immediately compensates for all the damage.
- You say this is the last basilisk? - The aforementioned White Horror - the last of the kind of silver basilisks. There used to be a lot more of them, but due to the uprooting of the forests and the migration of their food, they became extinct and also switched to humans. After this, the witches contributed to their extinction.
- Who are you? - The genus of Count Boris, according to the tradition, was once rescued by a female basilisk. Therefore, for many hundreds of years on the emblem of the genus is silver draconid.
During the conversation, the count mentions that the rare basilisk is called Jocasta. His father named the female draconid after the deceased mother. A year ago, Iocasta’s partner died, which is why she threw the last silver basilisk eggs in the world out of the nest, and at the moment is the last of its kind. Yes, of course, the earl knows where the Jocasta nest is located, but he will not tell Geralt, because he knows why he carries two swords behind his back. Therefore, we will have to continue the investigation.
- Scorched spots - it seems our monster is also poisonous. The basilisk's saliva left noticeable burns on the ground and planks, so the Oriole should be prepared before the fight.
- Silver scales - the color of the scales is very different from the scales of an ordinary basilisk. It seems that Boris did not lie, and this is in fact a rare species that the witcher has not yet encountered.
- Destroyed tannin barrels - and here is our main clue. Tannin is used in tanning leather and has a very strong odor. Apparently, it was he who attracted Jocasta to this caravan.
Now, by the sharp smell of tannin, which is also mixed with basilisk venom, we can track the monster and find its nest. Use the flair and follow the trail that leads us into the thicket of the forest.
Go to the smell of the monster, until there is a second victim of the Basilisk - a merchant from the guild, mentioned by Boris. Our customer, whose letter we took on the bulletin board, will be the merchant. In his body will also be a note from the cooper guild. The letter says that, despite the warnings of the graph, we still continue to transport cargo through its land. Legaff died, apparently, from the fact that Jocasta dropped him from her claws while flying to the nest.
How to find out about the second victim
Maybe she was frightened by the noise that comes from a nearby hill? Apparently, these are voices of people. Let's go and see.
On the hill, it turns out, Crinfrid Reavers make a noise. If you do not remember them from books or from the last game, then I will remind you. Crinfrid Reavers are mercenaries who, like the witches, are engaged in the extermination of monsters for money. Unlike witchers, they usually hunt dragons and draconids, and ordinary people respect them a lot. For the first time we meet Rubail in the novel “Sword of Destiny”. True, in a different composition: Kennet, Gar and Boholt - their leader. Which, unfortunately, during the battle with the golden dragon Villentretenmert fell and smashed his head.
In the last game of The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings, we meet a gang of new members: Kennet, Gar and the brand new Petty. Boholt had already lost its memory and had the mind of a small child. Now we see four fighters in a completely new composition. At first they will not recognize Geralt, but afterwards they will remember what Boholt told about him. They respect the Witcher for good handling of the sword, and he does the right thing.
They have an order from the guild for Iokasta, but then Boris will arrive in time and declare that he will pay the mercenaries twice as much if they spare the monster. Crinfrid Reavers, it seems, does not mind, so it's up to Geralt.
Quest "Balance in Nature": kill the monster or not
The fate of the basilisk, the end of the task and the consequences depend on your further decision. What is the best to do, kill or not? Decide for yourself.
Answer options:
- Let's go together to the monster - the monster still remains a monster, no matter how rare it may be. In addition, he has already killed many people, and, for sure, will continue to kill defenseless traders. Basilisk - this is not your pet, which can be kept on a leash. Powerful solution to the problem will lead to a bad ending task.
- We will not kill the basilisk - Crinfrid Reavers will be very surprised at such an answer, but will not contradict them. Still, this is an endangered species, and the graph promised a good reward. A peaceful solution to the problem will lead to a good ending.
If you decide to kill the basilisk, then after a small cut-scene the battle with the boss will begin. I advise you to use the Golden Oriole in advance so as not to get poisoned. Jocasta will be constantly in the air, so that she went down, use Aksy. The monster will immediately fall to the ground, where it will be vulnerable to the silver sword. After a few seconds, she will fly up into the air again, so the trick with Aksy will have to be repeated regularly. The basilisk skin is very susceptible to fire, so Igni and the Dancing star bomb will help us in battle.
After the fight, Crinfrid Reavers will thank Geralt for the glorious fight and throw him a purse with 400 crowns for help. For the guild, they will take the tail of the monster and a few scales, and Geralt, as always, will get a head-trophy and various resources. The trophy is pretty good, adding 1% to the chance to chop off a limb, gather additional herbs, gain additional experience for finishing off a person or a monster.
In addition to the trophy and purse with coins, Geralt will receive a permanent discount from all gunsmiths and bronze soldiers of Tussent for helping the drum guild. But herbalists and alchemists, on the contrary, will raise prices at the request of Count Boris.
Interesting! If you return to the basilisk nest a few days later, you will find a gravestone dedicated to Jocasta, which features an engraving in the form of the paw of the last silver basilisk.
If you decide to spare the basilisk, the count will be infinitely pleased with this decision, but the brothers in arms will be surprised. Boris will keep his word and will double the time spent by Crinfrid Reavers, and they will share 350 kroons with Geralt. Boris himself also gives Geralt a pretty penny for cooperation. What consequences are waiting for us?
- Count Boris will now watch Vasilisk floating in the sky for days and see that she does not attack anyone.
- Prices for alchemists and herbalists will decrease, but for gunsmiths and bronchnik will rise, because the guild will be unhappy.
- All entrances to the lands of the count will be blocked by posts and guards, and I will not allow anyone here anymore. Except the White Wolf, of course. On the lands of the count, he will always be a welcome guest.
Passage of the quest “Balance in nature” - possible bugs
Some players were faced with such a problem that during the passage of the task the basilisk smell does not appear, and there is no corpse on the spot where the second merchant fell. It is not known what the bug was caused by, but restarting the task and rollback the save usually helped. The developers said that the patch fixed this error.
Quest video
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