Talk:Ladies of the Wood/@comment-26470367-20150606114757/@comment-118.208.82.42-20150609155454

I tend to agree. I waffled between freeing the spirit and killing it, but in the end chose to free it. The arguments I had in favor of it were:

1.  The godling, who has no reason to want to manipulate Geralt (apart from maybe being angry that his voice was taken), was very clear that the crones were evil.

2.  There was plenty of subtext implying that children sent to the ladies of the wood were killed, including the second, bloodier shrine on the lower level of their temple.

3.  After the tree spirit said that the children were in danger, and I went back to check on them, they were gone; exactly as it claimed they would be.

4.  The ritual for freeing the tree spirit didn't involve killing anything more sentient than a raven (and I already had some raven feathers anyways).

And then of course afterwards I learn that they planned to eat Ciri (or at least part of her), and seem to be aligned with the Wild Hunt. I think that's confirmation enough that doing what they want is not the best choice. The fact that they take the villagers' ears as payment (and all just so they can make necklaces from them) doesn't help their case.

So why help them? To spare the Baron? He's affable enough in person, but clearly a tyrant who lets his thugs murder, rape, and pillage (and gets drunk and beats his wife). And willing to deal with Nilfgard. I'm happy enough to see him go just for that last bit. And the first bit too. To spare the villagers, who are tormented and exploited by the Crones, willingly send their children off to (at best) an unknown fate on the 'Trail of Treats', and are either too apathetic or too dimwitted to get a clue? To spare Anna? Maybe; she's the most redeemable of the bunch. But I don't see how any of them are more redeemable than the 4 kids, who have never hurt anyone.

So it doesn't seem morally 'advisable' to (effectively) kill the kids so that the Baron can remain alive. Though perhaps the article means there are plot/quest consequences that make it not advisible to let him die (certainly the massive 5XP I got for freeing the spirit was a joke)? If so it should at least clearly spell out what those consequences are. Otherwise he stays dead, because that's what he deserves anyways.