You have effectively either killed or won over the trolls, traversed the dangerous tunnels, and beaten back Dethmold and Adam Pangett. As you head through the end of the tunnels, prepare for even more challenges ahead. When you exit the tunnels, you will immediately come upon Zoltan trapped in the midst of an intense battle. He and a few allies will be so consumed by bloodlust that he won’t even recognize you when you come out of the tunnels. He will charge you at first, but at the last second he will realize that it is you and not an enemy. (Spoiler) Now that it is common knowledge that you are hunting for Sile, Zoltan will tell you that he has a lead on SIle’s location. He will also warn you that Sile is in league with the powerful sorceress Philippa Eilhart. (End Spoiler.) You will have a few options here of where to go and what to do, although only one will actually advance the story. The other is just a side option.
The side option is to seek out Iorveth and help him out. He will be caught in the midst of the battle as well. Iorveth will be fighting in the town square. You will have to loop around and head back to the south to find him. This part of the quest doesn’t really influence anything at all, so just do it if you feel like it, or if you want to accumulate a little more in the way of experience points by killing a few extra soldiers. Head over to the town square if you want to help him out, and join him in his battle against the Kaedweni soldiers. After fighting off the Kaedweni soldiers, Roche will appear. The enemies will be bitter and angry at each other for the way that things turned out in the end of Act 1, but now will not be the time nor the place to settle this old score. Iorveth will tell you that the battle is all but lost, and Roche will beckon you towards the rope bridge and speak with you briefly. After this, your only other course of action is to head over to Philippa’s house. If you decided not to help Iorveth out, skip directly to this step.
You can find Philippa’s house at the top left-hand corner of the area, in a small courtyard with a few other buildings. From where you helped Iorveth, you will have to head up towards the tunnel in the top left of the area. Run through the tunnel, then head to the north and run up the stairs to the left to reach Phliippa’s house. If you are heading here straight from the tunnel’s exit, head up around the little ridge and loop back to the right. Follow the curving path to the right as it loops around and heads left and then up. Run through the tunnel here to reach Philippa’s courtyard, and then climb the stairs to the left to reach her home.
No matter which route you take to reach Philippa’s house, you will encounter a Golem along the way. You will have to kill it before heading to Philippa’s to find Sile. Use traps to slow the Golem’s already sluggish attacks, and trap him in place. As the Golem is trapped, run up and hit him with heavy attacks or magic. Be careful of the Golem’s charge. If you are hit by it, not only will you take tons of damage, but you will also be sprawled out across the ground and left vulnerable for a few seconds. Kill the Golem and run the rest of the way to Philippa’s house.
(Spoiler) As you reach Philippa’s house, you will spot Sile inside of it. Unfortunately, you will be too late to stop her. Run into the house. Sile will teleport away to Loc Muinne as you do. Further complicating matters will be the appearance of Henselt and four of his personal guards. He will threaten you for your traitorous turn, and sick his powerful guards on you. (End Spoiler.) Henselt’s guards will actually be pretty tough, so don’t take them for granted. They will have two handed swords, making their swings heavy and powerful, but also a bit slower than yours. Henselt and the two shield-bearing soldiers will hang back and watch the battle play out. The house isn’t exactly the biggest arena ever, so be sure to capitalize on this by casting magic and setting traps. When you see the heavy attacks coming, you will be better off dodging them than parrying them. Roll to the side and hit the soldiers with quick strikes while they recover from swinging the great weight of the heavy swords.
(Spoiler) After killing the two sword-bearing enemies, Henselt will attack you himself, with the help of his two shield-bearing soldiers. (End Spoiler.) Again, there isn’t much room to maneuver about this arena, so you will have to be careful about where you move so as not to get cornered. If necessary, shield yourself with Quen to avoid taking too much damage. Use Aard to give yourself some room to breathe if the battle starts to become a bit cluttered. If the enemies get packed close together, you can use Igni to torch multiple enemies at once.
(Spoiler) After the battle, Henselt will be wounded, but not fatally. Roche will run in and the King will begin to give a speech about how he will lead a new world order by becoming the ruler of all of Temeria. He will explain how he will change the borders and gain control of the continent. These changes will stem from Loc Muinne, where Sile and Philippa were headed. Roche, provoked by the speech, will voice his intent to kill the King here and now. You will have a choice to make here. You can allow Roche to carry out with the murder and Henselt will indeed die, or you can stop him before he can kill the King. Although this sounds like a huge, game-changing choice, it only has minor effects on the future of the game. Act 3 is relatively short and straightforward, so not a lot of it will actually change once you get into it. If you allow Roche to kill Henselt, the biggest change in the future will be that Dethmold will be appointed the leader of Henselt’s army now that their King is gone. As such, he will assume all regal responsibilities. Afterwards, a cutscene will play. In it, Roche and Geralt will head off to Loc Muinne to follow Sile and Philippa. They must be up to something, but you will have to find out what in time to stop their plan. You will receive 2,500 experience points and move on to Act 3 at this point. (End Spoiler.)
