A Poet Under Pressure

A Poet Under Pressure

A Poet Under Pressure is a main quest in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Walkthrough

Travel eastward out of Novigrad, passing the Seven Cats Inn via the road by the river to reach the ambush point. As you approach the objective, head up the grassy embankment to the north, then around to a small campfire and some low brick ruins where Zoltan is waiting. He and some of his fellows have set the ambush for a convoy transporting Dandelion from his prison on Temple Isle (north Novigrad) to Oxenfurt.

If you helped Dijkstra with his treasure hunt during Count Reuven's Treasure, you can meet him back in his bathhouse office, and he agrees to send a small band of his men (up to six) to help you with the ambush.

Explain to Zoltan your intentions regarding raising suspicion or that an ambush is simpler (your choice). Then Priscilla arrives bringing a note from Dudu. The convoy leaves at dawn, but she stays whether you ask her to leave or not. Priscilla challenges you to a game of Gwent while you wait. Agree or don't. Then wait until you hear the sounds of horses approaching.

FIght through the ambush or not, the difference is in how much stuff you can loot. Follow the running horse, preferably on Roach. As soon as you pass the lake, get off Roach and pick up a ring that Dandelion dropped. A few drowners will be present. Keep pursuing the horse and you'll see some poetry notes that Dandelion dropped on the way. Follow the footprints to the village and ask the smith about the horse rider.

Follow the horse steps to the house in the woods, where you'll see the collapsed horse. Talk to the distressed dwarves about the intruder into their home. Get the key to the back of their house. Go in, up the ladder and confront the Witch Hunter. Then talk with Dandelion. In the end, after Ciri's Story, you'll get 500.

Journal entry

Ah, what times those were, times of adventure, action and unexpected twists around every corner! As you surely recall, Ciri and I escaped from Whoreson Junior's headquarters only to wind up trapped in a corner by the Temple Guard. Ciri managed to get away, but I was captured and tossed in the Temple Isle dungeons. From there I was to be transported to Deireadh, the infamous Oxenfurt prison, to await my execution – and here my tale would surely end, had my friends not devised an ingenious plan to ambush the transport.

Yet even the best-laid plans can go awry if fortune deems it so. The ambush succeeded only partially, as one of the guards tossed me on his horse and fled in the heat of the action. Not losing my cool for my second, I quickly concocted a plan of my own, and it had almost come to fruition when Geralt burst in and broke me free in his typical clumsy yet, granted, effective way. But do not think me ungrateful or cold-hearted – any irritation I felt soon faded in the sincere joy that filled my heart upon seeing my old friend once more.

Objectives

• (Optional) Ask Dijkstra to help rescuing Dandelion
  • If you tell Dijkstra what you are planning to do, he will give you six of his men instead of three.
• Meet Zoltan at the site of the ambush
• Use your Witcher Senses to pick up the trail
• Ask if anyone from the camp has seen Dandelion's abductor
• Explore the area in front of the hut in the woods
• Enter the halflings' home via the secret passage
• Free Dandelion
• Defeat the witch hunter
• Untie Dandelion

Notes

• This quest must be completed in order to start the Blood and Wine expansion. When you complete it, all notice boards in Velen will receive Appeal to Sir Geralt of Rivia, the Bridge his Crest notice which begins the quest Envoys, Wineboys.
• While on Dandelion's trail, you can find his ring, and return it to him at Passiflora.
• If you want Dijkstra's help with the ambush but also have the Deadly Plot quest available then the quest tracker on the mini-map might lead you to Passiflora. Unfortunately, if you go there then[Dijkstra will only talk about A Deadly Plot. Dijkstra can, however, also be found in his bathhouse, where you have the option to ask him for a favour as well as the normal non-quest dialogue options.

Gallery

ring location