Equine Phantoms

Equine Phantoms

Equine Phantoms is a secondary quest in the Blood and Wine expansion given by the hermit Pinastri at her hermitage.

Walkthrough

Talk to the Hermit, she will explain she is hunted by some demon, when Geralt tells her he can't see anything she will explain that no one can see it unless they drink a brew made from an extinct mushroom called graytop, which she managed to grow. Now you will have the option to haggle with her however she will explain that she has no money and can only offer potatoes. You can agree to the payment or tell her you will help her for free.

Important: If you try to haggle and then agree to work for free this will count as "Proof of Generosity" for There Can Be Only One.

Now search the area, inside the cottage you will find proof that someone is sucking her blood at night, so go talk to her again. It will be decided that Geralt has to drink the brew himself in order to see the culprit thus the Hermit will give a portion of Common graytop brew, after drinking it Geralt will notice he can now talk to his trysted horse Roach, who will now be helping Geralt solve the issue. Investigate the area and eventually Roach will point out the culprit, after which a chase will ensue. No matter what you do you can't catch the horse and the chase will eventually take you to Mont Crane Cemetery, after which you will be attacked by some phantom Panthers kill all 4 and now examine the grave. A knight's spirit will emerge who will explain how it's Prinasti who needs to forgive him so he can finally be at peace. You will have 2 options, either fight him or forgive him. If you fight him he will use a halberd, but apart from that nothing special, after you defeat him you will return to the Hermit who will refuse to forgive the knight thus he will eventually return but you get the Umbra trophy. If you or rather Roach forgives him then he will leave for good. Regardless The Hermit will be grateful and give you your potatoes if you accepted them as payment, otherwise you get nothing.

Journal entry

I have oft heard Geralt boast that in terms of monsters, he firmly believes he has seen it all. Yet what he encountered on this occasion demanded that he revised that view. While travelling through Toussaint, he happened on a female hermit who claimed an invisible specter was tormenting her and would be her end. The Witcher was skeptical, not least because he could not imagine how he might defeat something invisible.

The woman's suffering seemed so intense, however, that he resolved to try to help her.

To be able to track the hermit-haunting wraith, Geralt imbibed a dose of a brew the woman prepared. The concoction had a highly surprising side effect - for Geralt began to understand the speech of his trusty steed, Roach.

Geralt does not drink the brew:

Yet Geralt decided he shouldn't devote his attention to a specter that he could not see. After a time he returned to visit the hermit, only to learn that Roach herself had proved quite the witcher, having resolved the crisis on her own.

Geralt fails to catch up to the elusive specter:

Yet instead of pursuing the elusive specter, Geralt turned his attention to other matters.

Geralt follows the elusive specter:

Together, the witcher and his mount tracked down the nightmarish ghost. It proved to be the spirit of a knight, Pinastri's former lover, who had committed a terrible crime when in anger he had attacked his own horse and beat it to death. He remained restless in the afterlife for the hermit had refused to forgive him for the deed.

Geralt asks Roach to forgive the knight:

Yet the story ended happily thanks to Roach – namely, the mare decided to forgive the ghost on behalf of the horse he had murdered.

Geralt cannot forgive the knight:

The story did not end well, for Roach, too, refused to forgive the ghost on behalf of the dead horse. Geralt defeated the knight spirit, but he believed this was only temporary, that the specter would ultimately return to demand forgiveness from the hermit.

Objectives

• Use your Witcher Senses to investigate the area and find out what's tormenting the hermit.
  • Formula: Lesser mutagen transmutator - red to blue in hut on bedside cupboard.
  • The Flagellant's Manifesto in hut on table.
• Use your Witcher Senses to examine the area.
• Use your Witcher Senses to examine the moths by the window.
• Talk to the hermit.
  • Common graytop brew (only transient in inventory).
• Help Roach investigate the area.
• Chase the spirit to find out where it comes from. (this can fail!)
• Defeat the restless spirits. (178, apparition ×4)
• Examine the gravestone.

Geralt asks Roach to forgive:

• The spirit is gone for good.
• Return to the hermit. (150, 60× potatoes)

Geralt does not forgive the knight:

• Defeat the spirit. (2, the spirit may return)
• Return to the hermit. (150, 60× potatoes)

Trivia

• Pinastri will sell some herbs, but has no gold.
• Roach has a manly voice, and not that of a female.
• The dialogues with Roach are slightly different in the Polish (Original) version. For example Roach will mention giving Geralt white honey using her mouth instead of hooves or when asked about her voice she will tell Geralt that he is not an expert of voices instead of it being his first time talking to an animal
• Even if you have the Stallion version of Roach as your horse the dialogues do not change
• In the Polish version Roach is voiced by Wojciech Mann a Polish comedian well known for using a calm and carefree voice in his sketches, most notably when discussing "serious" political and social issues

Developers "breaking the fourth wall"

When Geralt starts talking to Roach after drinking the Common graytop brew, few strange things ensue:

• Ironically, a game bug may get Roach stuck on a few logs, breaking any progress in the quest. Hopefully you have a save to fall back to, to fix this, i.e. one before Geralt drinks the brew. Alternatively, you can use the Aard sign on Roach to get her unstuck and proceed with the quest.
• When asked about how Roach appears immediately, even if they are continents apart, Roach gives an obscure answer, saying that "(Geralt) is (Roach's) human" and that she's "Gotta be there" when Geralt needs her.
• Geralt can question her further, asking how she can cross the ocean, but "get hung up on the tiniest fence". Again, Roach's response is ambiguous, that "everyone's got limits".
• These questions can be considered as 'breaking the fourth wall', since Geralt and Roach are openly discussing the game's mechanics.
• When asked about the whistling, Roach will tell Geralt that she'll "be there for you-ou-ou as the world falls down", a direct reference to David Bowie's song, "As The World Falls Down".

Gallery

The specter watching Geralt and the hermit.

One of last couple of common graytop