Walkthrough for Blindingly Obvious, The Great Escape, Payback, and Through Space and Time

Final Preparations is a main quest located in Novigrad that is made up of four smaller quests. The order you complete them does not matter. This walkthrough will go in the order that makes the most narrative sense, which is “Blindingly Obvious,” “The Great Escape,” “Payback,” and “Through Space and Time.” You can click on any of those links to jump to that quest. You will also be making a critical decision during this quest. This decision will affect the game's ending.

Blindingly Obvious

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Starting in Dandelion’s new Rosemary & Thyme, head upstairs and go see Triss. If you need to switch the selected objective, click the right stick in. Triss is on a mission to find one of the sorceresses from the Lodge, Philippa. Surprisingly, Zoltan had possession of Philippa, who is stuck in her owl form. However, Zoltan lost her in a game of Gwent. Triss can use a fountain to conjure up a vision of Philippa’s captor. After a transition to the fountain, the vision reveals that Djikstra has Philippa. Race off to the bathhouse to try and save her.

You arrive at the bathhouses just in time to see Philippa blow up the wall. After arguing with Djikstra about Triss going with you, head into the main area of the bathhouse. Philippa will take control of three of Djikstra’s guards. Quickly kill them and go down into the sewers from the back of the bathhouse. Down below, Bart the toll is taken over by mind control. If you tell hm that you want to help her, Bart will let you pass. If you claim you need her, then you will have to fight and kill Bart. Pass Bart and run down the sewer path, listening to Philippa’s arguing. Stop and heal yourself, if you need to because you are about to fight a tough elemental.

Philippa is in a large room in the sewer. She is not going with you, without a fight. She summons a powerful Fire Elemental and blasts her own magic at you as well. Right off the bat, equip Aard. Aard will blow out the flames on the Fire Elemental, which prevents him from blasting you with it. Dodge Philippa’s purple magic, while attacking the elemental. Watch out for the elemental’s jumps that slam down, causing a fire shockwave. Dodge back when he leaps, then go in for an attack. Interrupt its swings and punches as much as possible.

When the Fire Elemental goes down, you need to sneak up to Philippa’s location. Watch out for chains and broken wood, otherwise she’ll hear you and teleport you back down below. When you grab Philippa, you explain your side and she (begrudgingly) goes with you.

Djakarta is not pleased with your need to take her away. Argue with him how you will. No matter what, she will go with you. Triss takes her away to take care of her and then the quest ends. Onto the next part of “Final Preparations.”

The Great Escape

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Head to Crippled Kate’s to meet Yennefer. She’s gotten a tip about the whereabouts of the sorceress Margarita. The two of you are waiting for a man to enter the establishment who is the only person to escape the prison that Margarita is being held in. He enters Crippled Kate’s and then runs off when you try to talk to him. Run after him with Aard and blast him to end the chase quickly. Back inside, he tells you how he escaped. Yennefer and you create a plan to find elven ruins to enter the sewers where the convict escaped. You can go enlist Zoltan for this quest, but it is purely optional and depends on if Witch Hunters are killing different races. This depends if you helped the mages escape Novigrad earlier or not. You can go see Zoltan at the Rosemary & Thyme. After you enlist his help or decide not to, leave Novigrad proper, and ride Roach out to the town Yennefer is in, which is marked on your map.

Follow Yennefer to a well in town. Not a fan of getting muddy, she leaves the dirty work to you. Jump down into the well and swim to an open door in the back of the cave. Inside is a Grave Hag. Similar to her water-based kin, blast her with Igni and wail on her to finish her off. With the hag dead, turn to the south wall and investigate a lever. If you don’t investigate the lever, you cannot pick up the missing piece you’ll find through the door up the stairs along the north wall. Head through the door and go for a short swim.

Climb back onto land and kill the 3-4 Drowners waiting for you. With your watery foes dispatched, turn back to the door you entered. On the right-hand side you will spot the lever you need to press in order to make the other one work. Grab it and follow your mini map back to the room with the Grave Hag. You basically move in a giant circle. Attach the new lever to the switch and open the door.

Down the short hall is a crumbling wall. Help it out with a blast of Aard. On the other side is a Necrophage and a couple of Ghouls. Take care of them, remembering that Necrophages explode when they reach low enough health, and continue on. Follow the sewer and the bloody path to find the entrance where the guards would toss bodies. Climb up and into the prison. The next part of this quest depends on if Zoltan was able to help you or not. The plan was for him to bring in alcohol for the guards to drink. This makes stealth an option and the overall quest easier.

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Payback

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Payback is fairly straight forward and simple. Ciri has a list of people that she wanted to see in Novigrad to thank for helping her or that caused her trouble. Tag along to meet them all. The first stop is to see Whoreson Junior, who betrayed Ciri before she had to flee Novigrad. The outcome of this portion all depends if you killed Junior yourself or not, during your quest in Novigrad. If you did kill the slimy scoundrel, Dudu has taken over his identity with his doppelgänger abilities. If you left him alive, then he is living in the streets and begging for coin. After seeing Junior, head off to thank Ciri’s friend Bea.

Bea works at the Golden Sturgeon. When you arrive, a few guys are giving the lady trouble. Cut in and either ask them to leave or threaten to kick them out. Threatening them leads to a short fight, while asking them to leave reveals you are the White Wolf. They happily part ways. Ciri thanks Bea for her help and the two of you are off to meet one last group of people that helped Ciri—the circus!

Follow Ciri to the the circus on the outskirts of town. There you meet Aegar (face paint man) and Valdo (red beret man) two circus folk that helped shelter Ciri. Aegar is worried about finding the two horses they need to help move the circus out of town. When he leaves Valdo invites you to join a short horse race. You may either accept or not. You do not gain anything for winning or losing. After the race, the evening comes and Ciri and Geralt drink and chat the night away with the circus. Soon Aegar shows up and offers you two to join him in stealing horses for the circus. The remainder of the quest changes if you decide to help or not.

Head back to the Rosemary & Thyme and climb the stairs to find Ciri waiting on the landing. She has been asked to speak to the sorceresses and she doesn’t know what to do. This is one of the critical decisions that will have a major impact on the game’s ending. You may either…

Through Time and Space

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Back at the Rosemary & Thyme go up to the top floor to see Avallac’h. He has a plan for how to get one of the Hunt, Ge’els, to betray their commander, Eredin. The problem is that you have to go see him in another world and Geralt can’t travel across worlds like Ciri. Thankfully (or conveniently) a magical portal that beams people to other worlds is about to open nearby. Go with Avallac’h to the portal’s location. You may remember this house with Sarah the Godling from your time in Novigrad. Head into the basement and blast the wall down with Aard to access the portal. When you are ready, tell Avallac’h and walk into the portal.

On the other side is a stunning, desert world. Walk along with Avallac’h to try and find another portal that could lead you to Ge’els. Avallac’h says another portal should appear shortly near some pillars. Unfortunately, the giant, mutant sandcrabs heard you two and start attacking you. Use Quen and fight off the crabs as they come. It is an endless wave, so don’t get too eager. Fight them off until the portal appears and Avallac’h tells you to dive in.

You two have become separated. Walk down the stairs and to the left, along the cliff overlooking the grassy field painted red by poisonous plants. Geralt spots the portal across the plains. Time to take the long way around to get there. Continue to the left and climb up a rock face. Looking over the ledge, you will spot red reeds in a toxic cloud. You can only stay in the reeds for a short time. Jump down and bolt to the right. Another ledge will be right around the corner. Climb up and let your breathing meter refill. The next ledge is dead ahead, so when your meter is full make a dash for it.

From the second ledge, a clear path is just to the right. Follow the trail to the right to find a Place of Power for Aard. Grab the power up and continue going around the bend. Walk down the cliff and dash to the next visible ledge. Turn to the left to see a straight shot to a safe spot. Run to it, catch your breath, and run straight again to the next ledge. Climb up the rock face to find the portal to your left. Hop down into the reeds and run for the portal.

Geralt has been teleported to a water world. Swim for the next portal that is straight ahead. Once teleported, you will end up on a world completely taken over by the White Frost. Walk down the stairs and follow the cave to an ice wall. Use Igni to melt it. Outside, snow is blowing rapidly.

To avoid being frostbitten, use Quen before running from cover to cover. Quen will work as a sheld during a short while, and will save you some health. Down the hill is a wall. Run for it and then run to the wall adjacent to it. From here you should see stairs that will offer cover from the wind.

Go to the stairs and then to a wall just around the corner from them. The next step is to leave the wall and slide down the hill into a buried town. When you slide into the place, a cutscene will trigger. After spotting the lighthouse, run to the right and all the way to the bottom of the hill. Enter the house on the left and drop down to fight off two Hounds of the Hunt. Igni is your best friend for this and future encounters.

With the Hounds dead, run outside, keeping an eye open for an open door on the left. Run inside and down the stairs. On the first floor is an extinguished fire place. Ignite it and stand nearby to regenerate your health! With full health run outside and all the way to the end of the path. At the end, take a right and follow the building outside again. Climb through the breach in the left wall and slide down the hill. At the bottom are three lit braziers. Stay near them to keep your health up and not be frozen by the wind. Now two more Hounds will attack.

Quickly kill them and head inside the lighthouse, which is just to the right. Avallac’h is inside the lighthouse waiting for you. You can chat with him about anything you would like. When you are ready, tell him, and the two of you will go through the next portal. The rest of the quest is a cutscene. You two will take Ge’els back to Novigrad with you to show him the truth of his king’s assassination in his dreams. Ciri and Geralt will have their doubts, but Avallac’h has a fully fleshed out plan. It’s time to draw out Eredin and end the Wild Hunt.