Scenes From a Marriage

Scenes From a Marriage is a main quest in the for. After completing Olgierd von Everec's first two difficult tasks, he gives Geralt his third and final one: find and bring him the violet rose he gave to his wife, Iris, the last time he saw her.

Journal entry

 * With two wishes down and one more to go, Geralt reported back to Olgierd. There he received his third and final task, which, following in the vein of the its predecessors, seemed nigh unto impossible to complete. Olgierd wanted Geralt to find and bring him the violet rose he had given his wife the last time he saw her. As this was many years ago, and flowers are not noted for their longevity, the rose had certainly disintegrated by now. Yet since Geralt had grown used to finding the unfindable and doing the undoable, he nevertheless set out to try to recover this flower of yesteryear.


 * Olgierd's abandoned residence was haunted by the ghost of his wife, Iris von Everec – or more accurately, by deadly spectral emanations coming from her dormant spirit. Geralt had to overcome many obstacles before finally awakening Iris' ghost from her tortured sleep so he could talk to her about the violet rose. After he did so, he traveled to the world of the ghost's imagination to revive memories repressed within it and defeat the embodiments of Iris' fears.


 * If Geralt takes the rose:
 * In short, it was one of Geralt's more unusual adventures. At its end, our hero emerged from the imagined world with a very tangible rose in hand, ready to deliver to Olgierd in completion of his wish. The price of obtaining this rose? The ultimate end of Iris von Everec.


 * If Geralt refuses to take the rose:
 * At its end, our hero emerged from the imagined world not with the rose itself, but with a very faithful likeness of it painted by Iris von Everec herself. In this way he fulfilled the letter of Olgierd's wish – the rose has been delivered, though in painted form, and with the eyes of Iris von Everec staring out of its canvas.

The Haunted Manor
The last known whereabouts of Iris was at the von Everec Estate, so Geralt heads there only to find a scared thief when he arrives. Turns out, the thief's partner had gone missing while they were trying to "explore" the manor. After seeing a hulking figure in the distance, the thief runs off and Geralt explores the estate in search of the rose and the thief's partner, only to learn that someone has been maintaining the garden, even though the manor has been abandoned for years. When Geralt reaches the front door, he finds the smashed lantern that belonged to the missing thief and drag marks that lead to the back of the estate. Geralt follows the sound of digging and finds a garden with several graves.

He spots the missing thief's dead body and finds out that the murderer is an eyeless monster, only known as The Caretaker, who proceeds to attack him. Once the Caretaker is dead, the mysterious black cat and dog speak to Geralt, curious as to why he's there. He asks to see Iris for the violet rose and the animals inform him that he can find the mistress inside the house, in her bedchamber.

Iris' voice echoes as Geralt enters the house and, as he makes his way upstairs, sees a wraith that appears briefly in some of the paintings. Just as he reaches the hall before the bedchamber, all the lights go out briefly before The Wraith from the Painting appears and attacks. After Geralt defeats her, he enters the bedchamber to find Iris' long dead body on the bed. After another brief conversation with the strange animals, he decides he needs to lay Iris' bones to rest so he can ask her about the rose. Geralt finds a nice spot for her grave and, once buried, summons her spirit. She magically creates a painting of the manor and enters it, and Geralt follows her.

The Painted World
Geralt finds himself in the surreal painted world reminiscent of the estate. The dog and cat appear, informing him that in order to truly awaken Iris, Geralt has to complete the memories she has been denying, and destroy the fears and nightmares that bind her. He finds specters of Olgierd and Iris frozen in place, with certain elements of the scene missing. As he replaces the missing items, he causing the specters to reenact each memory, allowing Geralt to see how the couple's marriage began to deteriorate over time, like how Iris' family didn't approve of Olgierd as her husband and how Olgierd tried to use magic to summon Gaunter O'Dimm to try and break the pact he forged, but it ultimately failed and set fire to the manor. Eventually, it leads to a scene where, having grown indifferent to Iris and only remembering that he was supposed to love her, Olgierd gave her the strange cat and dog for company and the Caretaker for protection.

Geralt finally reaches the final memory where Olgierd left a letter for her, stating he was leaving her with only a letter and a rose to remember him by as he didn't want to hurt her further. As he reads the letter, Iris's greatest fear, in the form of her husband, appears and attacks Geralt. After cutting down a succession of bodies that are possessed by the nightmare, Geralt prevails and finally meets Iris.

Iris still waits for Olgierd, and now, thanks to Geralt, she was able to awaken from her dreams. While the original violet rose had withered in the real world, the rose in the painted world still exists. Geralt asks her for the rose, but Iris is hesitant, not wanting to give up the last thing connecting her to her husband. The connection though that Iris has to the rose is so strong that it binds her to the world, so should it be taken, she and the painted world will cease to exist.

Choice
Geralt then has to decide whether he should take the rose and break Iris' connection to the world, or allow her to keep it and remain.

Leave the rose

If Geralt decides to let Iris keep the rose, the dog and cat will be resigned to their fate to watch over her, hoping another in the future will free them. Iris will go back into her slumber, and Geralt leaves through the portal back into the real world. It is there where he finds a portrait of Iris with the violet rose which he will take to Olgierd.

Take the rose

If Geralt decides to take the rose, Iris gives it up willingly. The dog and cat are now freed from their service and, in gratitude, they give Geralt some advice. They warn him to beware of O'Dimm and, should he stand in O'Dimm's way, the witcher should "seek salvation in glass that can't be broken." Iris gives Geralt the rose and the entire painted world begins to crumble, and Geralt leaves the world before it completely vanishes.

The Caretaker
His attacks are fairly slow and predictable, and the wider area of effect attacks are noticeably telegraphed beforehand and therefore easy to dodge. However, every single hit he lands on you heals him quite strongly. So you have to avoid getting hit even once as much as possible, and when he summons groups of dark spirits from the ground and his spade starts to glow you need to attack the spirits quickly to prevent The Caretaker from absorbing them as they will heal him rather extensively.

The Wraith from the Painting
Like any wraith, this one is susceptible to Yrden and specter oils. However, she has one tactic that can drag out a fight. She'll float up, making it impossible to hit her, then let out a type of scream that emits as green and a random painting in the room will then echo this color. Quickly hit the green painting to close it as it will start to heal her as she draws near it, and once she's close enough, she'll enter the painting and re-emerge from another painting at full health.

Olgierd's Shadow
Normally only a single Olgierd shadow will be active at a time unless you hit one of the dormant ones. Try to avoid hitting the inactive ones; you will quickly get swarmed and will likely die even if you have a Severance-enhanced Whirl. The initial Olgierd shadow is quite weak compared to the real life version if you fought him within Evil's Soft First Touches, however each successive shadow becomes more and more skilled as if showing Olgierd's progression in skill through his life. The final two are almost a pound for pound match for the real life version, so you will need to use the dodge-hit-dodge-hit fighting style and extensive use of Quen (likely with the Active Shield upgrade) to beat him.

Objectives

 * Go to the von Everec Manor.
 * Search for the partner of the thief you met.
 * Use your Witcher Senses to search the grounds of the von Everec estate for a violet rose.
 * Find a way to get inside the manor.
 * Follow the tracks on the ground.
 * Open the gate.
 * Examine the back garden.
 * Search the estate's back garden using your Witcher Senses.
 * Defeat the estate's caretaker.
 * Search for Iris von Everec on the upper floor of the manor.
 * Examine the remains on the bed.
 * Find a fitting spot to bury Iris.
 * Look for Iris von Everec's memories and find a way to restore them.
 * Use your Witcher Senses to find a way to restore the memory.
 * Place the items that fit the scene where they belong.
 * Search the area around the memory using your Witcher Senses.
 * Place the item that belongs there in Iris von Everec's hand.
 * Defeat the wraiths.
 * Use your Witcher Senses to find a way to restore the memory.
 * Carefully examine the painting in the dining room.
 * Go to the painting studio.
 * Use your Witcher Senses to find a way to restore the memory.
 * Arrange the elements of the tableau vivant as they are in Olgierd's portrait.
 * Go to Olgierd's study.
 * Use your Witcher Senses to find a way to restore the memory.
 * Look around for candles and chalk.
 * Complete the partially erased pentagram.
 * Find a way to escape the fire.
 * Escape from the blizzard and find a way back into the house.
 * Use your Witcher Senses to find a way to restore the memory.
 * Defeat the wraiths.
 * Use your Witcher Senses to find a way to restore the memory.
 * Go to the parlor.
 * Face Iris von Everec's greatest fear.
 * Defeat Iris von Everec's nightmares.

Trivia

 * Geralt says "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." when viewing a painting of the family in this house. This is the very first line in the novel 'Anna Karenina' by Leo Tolstoy.
 * The title is in reference to a 1973 Swedish TV mini-series of the same name.