Twisted Firestarter - White Orchard
Noticing a yellow marker on our map, we over hear an angry voice. You always want to pay attention to the sounds and events going on around you. They may often lead to interesting interactions that you might have otherwise overlooked. Taking the time to look for the source - we notice a dwarven Blacksmith, Willis.
After a brief interaction we learn that someone set fire to his forge and in the process, our poor Willis, lost everything he had to his name - save an anvil and hammer. Choosing to continue the conversation we can convince Willis to higher Geralt to find the arsonist. Ending the conversation, we can set our focus on the Twisted Firestarter quest.
Using our Witcher senses we can look around the burnt out hut for clues. We can’t actually go inside, but if we look around the back of the hut we will find our first hint. Interact and Geralt will divulge his knowledge for us.
After following the trail we are led to a second hut, and here we are going to be faced with our first major choice. Although this is just a small interaction, our choices do have consequences. Depending on what we choose one person’s life may figuratively, or sometimes literally, hang in the balance.
In the world of the Witcher Geralt is often burdened to make a choice that may have unforeseen consequences. Often it is truly impossible to know in the moment of making a choice, in the moment of picking a side, which will lead to the best outcome. So, Geralt tries to choose which action is the one of a lesser evil. Make the choice that will lead to the best outcome. But we learn that sometimes doing the right thing can cause terrible consequences, while doing the wrong thing may ultimately lead to the best outcome for every one. But, often times, it’s truly impossible to know in the moment of making a choice, in the moment of taking a side, what will lead to the best outcome.
Whichever path you choose here, your reward is 20 gold. A low reward for what might be a hefty consequence. We are taught early on that even the smallest of choices. ones that feel mondain and inconsequential can lead to a larger web of future events.
Trading with a Blacksmith or Armorer
Whatever your choice, we can now interact with Willis as a vender (296 gold) and offload our 14 Rusty Novigrad Swords for 3 gold a piece (42 gold). You can usually sell crafting materials to blacksmiths, but it’s early game and we have a lot of stuff to unlock so it’s best to hold onto whatever you’ve found and wait till you’ve collected at least 10 of a certain thing before we start selling off the extras.
Here you will also have an opportunity to purchase Saddle Bags to put on Roach to increase your maximum inventory weight from 60 to 90. It will cost you 186 gold for the upgrade, it is up to you if you want to spend the gold. Usually, at this point, we can afford to put it off a bit longer, but the upgrade will allow you to collect even more to sell off later.
Here we can learn with a quick scroll to the ‘Repair’ screen and see that blacksmiths can help us when our armor and weapons get damaged. For a price they will repair them. You can see how badly damaged an item is by selecting it. None of your items should be too damaged at this point - but it is an important thing to keep track of. They can also dismantle equipment or other resources for their basic parts, or you can craft new items.
Here, our story of the Twisted Firestarter, officially ends.