Should I trust the Whispering Hillock?

If there's one thing The Witcher games do better than most other RPGs, it's making the players regret any decision they take. In The Witcher III: Wild Hunt, specifically, there are no moral black and white choices-- everything is a shade of grey. The most Geralt can do is damage control by choosing the lesser evil.

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It's a genius move too, that design gives incentives for replay. One quest does stand out as the most emotionally taxing and that would be the "Ladies of the Wood" during the first act. It's perfect example of what trauma Geralt chooses to live with every single day of his life. While the quest doesn't really give many choices to the player, some of them are still more difficult than the others which makes the easy choices stand out as well as a breather.

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10/10 EASY: FOLLOWING THE TRAIL OF TREATS

It's supposedly mandatory but not really since Geralt can dally around or even put off this task to play Gwent somewhere in a nearby hamlet. Still, players will find themselves completing it quickly.

That's because following the trail of treats laid out by the Crones is actually a visual treat. It's creepy and knowing that the Crones use it to lure orphans into the swamp proves that The Witcher 3 can be unapologetically dark, even to children.

9/10 DIFFICULT: FREEING THE WHISPERING HILLOCK

Of course, if players feel bad for those poor orphans whom the Crones will turn into skincare lotions later on, Geralt can always do something for them. He can make a deal with the Ghost in the Tree or the so-called Whispering Hillock.

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It's a sidequest that branches off from the "Ladies of the Wood." Geralt can choose to free the Ghost in the Tree and in return, the ghost will rescue all the current orphans from the Crones, supposedly it's an easy choice, except the Ghost is insane and will kill all the villagers of Downwarren in revenge. It's a tough call.

8/10 EASY: PLAYING HIDE AND SEEK

Upon encountering the orphans of the Crones, they're a little suspicious of Geralt. In order for the witcher to be accepted, he'll have to do something for them, which is to play hide and seek with the children.

It's a painless choice because the clueless kids didn't know what a witcher is capable of. Some players don't even need to use witcher senses in order to detect all the hiding children. Besides, hide-and-seek is always fun no matter the maturity.

7/10 DIFFICULT: KILLING THE WHISPERING HILLOCK

It's easy to remain cynical about the Ghost in the Tree since it's practically an evil monster whom the Crones and the villagers imprisoned for a good reason. Besides, killing the Ghost in the Tree is pretty straightforward, right?

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Except there's the part where the orphans of Crookback Bog are scheduled to be killed by the Crones. If Geralt kills the Ghost, then no one will save the orphans but at least the villagers of Downwarren will be safe from the Ghost's wrath.

6/10 EASY: GIVING SWEETS TO THE ORPHANS

For players who have gotten lazy or tired of in-game children who only want to play hide-and-seek, there is an alternative. Geralt can simply hand out some sweets to them in order to avoid having to tax his witcher senses for something so trivial.

Turns out the orphans see it as a win-win anyway. If Geralt plays hide-and-seek with them, it's fun; if Geralt bribes them with treats to get them to help then well, they get sweets. The only downside is not having any backup sweets in his pockets but seeing as Geralt is a bit of a kleptomaniac, that ought to be a rare scenario.

5/10 DIFFICULT: SAVING THE BARON'S WIFE

What makes the "Ladies of the Wood" quest more difficult is how the players' choices reverberate to later main quests, mainly "Return to Crookback Bog" and "Family Matters." Both involve the Bloody Baron's wife, Anna.

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Saving Anna, as it turns out is more difficult since it requires killing the Ghost in the Tree for better chances. Because if the Ghost somehow manages to free the orphans, the Crones will rain their wrath upon Anna.

4/10 EASY: LOCATING JOHNNY'S VOICE

One of the most memorable characters in the first act of the game, Johnny the godling is a twisted visual and auditory treat. He's one of the Crone's neighbors in Crookback Bog and had the misfortune of losing his voice.

Luckily, Geralt is around; finding and retrieving Johnny's voice is undemanding enough to be done without any sidequest distractions. All Geralt has to do is kill a bunch of monsters and rummage through a nest.

3/10 DIFFICULT: SAVING THE BARON

The Bloody Baron serves as a strong welcome into the world of The Witcher 3 and is the reason why Geralt has to go to Crookback Bog in the first place. He's in a rather tense emotional state and anything could either set him off in a fit of rage or a bout of depression.

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It's all due to his wife Anna. As it is, the Baron's life depends on Anna's survival. That means finding and saving Anna from the Crones is paramount if the players want the Baron to live. That also means killing the Ghost in the Tree for better chances.

2/10 EASY: GETTING GRAN TO HELP GERALT

Gran or later on, Anna, is a weird sight in Crookback Bog since she's a woman who seemingly runs an orphanage in the swamps. Thankfully, reason hasn't left her and she still cooperates cognitively enough with Geralt.

Of course, that's only after both the orphans and Johnny helped Geralt convince Gran to let the witcher talk to the Crones. In any case, all of this can be done in under an hour though seeing how the Crones mistreat Gran can be hard to watch.

1/10 DIFFICULT: TRYING TO SAVE EVERYONE

Based on evaluation, the most optimal decision if players want to save the Downwarren villagers, the Baron, and Anna would be to kill the Ghost in the Tree. However, that opens up another can of worms for the orphans of Crookback Bog.

Is it really worth saving those morally disappointing adults for some innocent children? Whichever choice the players pick, they get to experience a witcher's moral dilemma and having to pick the lesser evil, which isn't unlike today's situations.

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