A Poet Under Pressure Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Quest
Suggested level: 13
Group: Main Quests
Location: Novigrad
This quest will become available after you complete "The Play's the Thing" quest. Dudu will take on the role of Menge to arrange for Dandelion to be transported to Oxenfurt and Zoltan will be waiting for you at the ambush site.
Ah, what times those were, times of adventure, action and unexpected twists around every corner! As you surely recall, Ciri and I escaped from Whoreson Junior's headquarters only to wind up trapped in a corner by the Temple Guard. Ciri managed to get away, but I was captured and tossed in the Temple Isle dungeons. From there I was to be transported to Deireadh, the infamous Oxenfurt prison, to await my execution - and here my tale would surely end, had my friends not devised an ingenious plan to ambush the transport.
Related points of interest
Isolated Hut
Velen / Novigrad
Prior quests
To begin A Poet Under Pressure you must first complete The Play's the Thing.
Quest stages of A Poet Under Pressure
1. (Optional) Ask Dijkstra for help rescuing Dandelion.
If you helped Dijkstra to locate his treasure during the "Count Reuven's Treasure" quest, then you can go to the bathhouse and ask him for a favor. He'll offer to send you three men at first. If you ask for more and tell him what you're planning, he'll send six. Otherwise, he'll send four.
2. Meet Zoltan at the site of the ambush. / Talk to Zoltan when you're ready to start the ambush.
Go to the ambush site. Zoltan will be waiting for you on a nearby hill overlooking the road. After a while, Priscilla will join you and no matter what you say, she will stay with you. You can play cards while waiting for the convoy to arrive.
When the convoy arrives and you head towards it, one of the witch hunters will load Dandelion on his horse and start riding away with him.
3. Use your Witcher Senses to pick up the trail. / Ask if anyone from the camp has seen Dandelion's abductor.
Note: You don't have to hurry so if you want to, then you can first help to deal with the rest of the soldiers from the convoy and collect the loot they have.
If you don't care about the loot, it's best to leave Zoltan to kill the other witch hunters in the convoy, and you follow the one who abducted Dandelion. You can do it on foot or on horseback, follow the shoe marks left by the horse.
Passing the lake you can find the ring dropped by Dandelion.
Then you'll pass by the Honeyfill Meadworks signpost and go north. When you reach a small camp, ask the blacksmith if he saw someone running on a horse. He'll show you the way.
Continue following the trail until you reach the Isolated Hut signpost where you find a dead horse and two halfings and dwarf standing next to the hut.
4. Explore the area in front of the hut in the woods.
Talk to the halfings and they'll tell you that the witch hunter barricaded up in their house. Offer your help in getting rid of him and they will tell you about a secret tunnel to get inside and give you the key.
5. Enter the halflings' home via the secret passage.
The entrance to the tunnel is at the back of the house.
6. Free Dandelion. / Defeat the witch hunter. / Untie Dandelion.
Descend the ladder down and walk through the tunnel to the house. Kill the witch hunter and untie Dandelion. You will walk outside, where Zoltan and Priscilla will join you.
Dandelion don't know where Ciri currently is and will tell you what happened after he and Ciri released Dudu from the hands of Whoreson Junior - Ciri's Story: Breakneck Speed.
Then you'll talk about the reasons for Ciri's arrival in Novigrad. Dandelion will tell you that Ciri wanted to fix the phylacery you took away from Junior, and that she was looking for someone to help her to decipher the curse. Bard will tell you the words of this curse.
Before you part, Dandelion will invite you to visit him at his tavern and this quest will be over. You will receive a new secondary quest - Cabaret.
Yet even the best-laid plans can go awry if fortune deems it so. The ambush succeeded only partially, as one of the guards tossed me on his horse and fled in the heat of the action. Not losing my cool for my second, I quickly concocted a plan of my own, and it had almost come to fruition when Geralt burst in and broke me free in his typical clumsy yet, granted, effective way. But do not think me ungrateful or cold-hearted - any irritation I felt soon faded in the sincere joy that filled my heart upon seeing my old friend once more.
Before you go any further, walk to the halfings. As a thank you for helping to get rid of the uninvited guest, you will receive the painting of Hierarch Hemmelfart (worth 80 crowns) from them.
After completing A Poet Under Pressure you will get or will be able to get Cabaret and A Dangerous Game.