Redanian Intelligence
Episode 4 of The Witcher Season 2 begins with Geralt continuing to train Ciri. She’s starting to grow much more accomplished now, keeping pace with Geralt. His one rule – always listen – is starting to sink in now. Out in the woods, Ciri slips, cutting her cheek open. When she picks herself back up, she runs into Triss Merigold who helps patch up her wound. She also runs into Geralt, who brings her back to Kaer Morhen with him. It turns out this was Geralt’s plan all along, to bring Triss in to help guide Ciri. Elves are imprisoned in Redania as news of the Wild Hunt continues to spread, mostly through wandering drunks about town. Among those in the shadows though are Yennefer and Cahir, who quickly realize they’re not safe. In order to try and find refuge, they need to head for Cintra. In order to do that, they come up with a plan to stowaway on a boat. Unfortunately they’re soon spotted by guards and forced to try and flee through the sewers. There, Yennefer and Cahir run into a mute called Dermain and a reluctant elf called Da’Lian whom they team up with to find a route out of town. This comes in the form of a man known simply as the Sandpiper. As we soon learn, Piper is actually Jaskier! After another catchy song about the witcher, Yennefer finally makes her presence felt. Jaskier agrees to help out because he worries that freedom for free-folk is slowly being withered away. First the elves, potentially the dwarves next…and then artists. That’s why he’s helping. That night, Jaskier winds up in trouble when one of the guards recognizes him. After leveling criticism his way in regards to his new song, Jaskier loses his temper and lands himself in deep trouble. The man wants to see his papers, eventually leading to Ba’Lian selflessly sacrificing himself to save the others and allow them to sneak aboard the boat. With the Northern Kingdoms forming an alliance, Dijikstra suggests to King Vizimir that they should try and retake Cintra. Meanwhile, Ciri, Tress and Geralt continue to do research. Now, two different monsters wound up with stellacite on them, which appears to stem from a monolith. Ciri has experience with this of course. She was there when the monolith fell outside the city gates of Cintra. This, if you remember, was when she screamed at the Black Knight approaching, and her powers toppled it. Geralt promises to try and fix this, and that includes finding experts regarding monoliths. And that inevitably brings him to Istredd via portal.
The Episode Review
The Witcher returns with some much needed levity, courtesy of our bard Jaskier. His new song, tinged with cynicism, is the perfect way to welcome our bard back. Of course, this episode also turns its attention toward the larger issues at stake here, including the upcoming fight involving Nilfgaard, who are sure to strike back sooner rather than later. Interestingly, this season has also focused a lot on Cirri and Triss, who both add a feminine touch to Kaer Morhen. With a little less monster hunting this time around, the story is more focused on developing the fighting prowess of our characters. In other words, it’s a mission designed to level up our players before the big fight! With Geralt trying to find Ciri’s purpose, and being led straight to Istredd in the process, it’ll be interesting to see what’s in store for our characters next. For now, the ending bows out with lots of promise for the second half of this season.
