The Blood of Dawnwalker has its fair share of questlines where one choice can change the outcome of the quest drastically, and The Heart Wants What It Wants is absolutely one of those.
This quest will see you deal with a notorious shady character in the heart of Swartrau, in a bid to help Ocha and Nora rid themselves of this dangerous guy from their lives.
There are many ways to go about this, and we want to try and map it out for you as clearly as possible.
How To Start This Quest
A bar brawl with Ocha
To begin 'The Heart Wants What It Wants', you need to head to the quest marker inside a tavern near the market stalls in Swartrau City. Inside, you'll find a big brute of a woman called Ocha. Talk to her, and you'll soon realise that she isn't much for talking, but does love a good old fashioned bar brawl.
Beat her in an unarmed fight outside, and Nora will eventually come to break it up. Inviting you upstairs to talk about something that you might be able to help with.
Plotting to usurp Andrei's operation
They'll tell you about an oppressive, sleazy guy named Andrei, who has control of Nora. She wants to break free from his control, but she needs you to help her do that.
Ocha will ask you to get hold of a personal item of Andrei's, allowing her to perform a hex that will make Andrei's 'head empty' in the words of Ocha.
Finding A Way Into Andrei's Hideout
Dragon the Butcher, your key to enter Andrei's hideout
To get into Andrei's Hideout, you'll need to convince the butcher outside that you have business with Andrei. But, to do that, you need to understand what sort of operation Andrei is running.
To do this, you can speak to the beggars outside, and for the small price of 50x Denarius, they will inform you that, if you mention selling silver to the butcher, that should be enough to gain an audience with Andrei.
After you gain all this info, you need to make sure you actually have silver on you, or you won't be able to trigger this dialogue option with the butcher.
How To Get Silver
One of several hidden caches around the city.
Finding Silver is relatively easy if you know where to look. Chances are that you might have found a bunch of silver if you have taken on various quests. As you might have found contraband from raiding soldier camps, or found silver in ancient ruins.
But, just in case you haven't. Or, in my case, have sold it all to a Silver trader in the city. There are options to get some quickly.
One way you can do this is wander the city in focus mode, as you will find various hidden caches of items around the city marked with glowing signs on walls. These won't always be silver, but some of them definitely are, and all you need is one silver item.
Failing that, you can also partake in the Vicho questline 'A Study in Crimson'. As this quest will take you to a house where you can use Eli's Jewelry Key to find a hidden box below the stairs containing some silver items.
Applying The Memento Hex
A discussion about Silver with the butcher
This is where this quest can go in many different directions. So, first, let's assume you want to follow the planned path and apply the hex to Andrei.
First, head inside with the butcher and show them the silver. This will grant you an audience with Andrei upstairs.
You'll walk in on a scene where a man is being threatened, and you'll be given a choice to step in and help, or remain silent and watch him have his hand chopped off as punishment. It's best to let this just play out, as anything else will simply lead to a fight with Andrei.
Let the man lose his hand; he's a stranger to you.
After this, you are then given the option to bring up Nora and Ocha, or simply sell your Silver. Bringing up Ocha and trying to strike a deal with Andrei will again simply lead to a fight, so just try to follow procedure and sell your Silver.
The butcher will take it downstairs, and you'll then need to follow a conversational pattern to the letter to gain a moment where you can nab a memento without him noticing.
The conversation should go as follows:
- "Who wouldn't be, what you're doing here is illegal"
- "Smart."
- "You know how to handle it. That's for sure."
You'll then have a moment while they are distracted by Nora's outburst outside to grab one of three items belonging to Andrei. His Cleaver, his ring, and his pendant.
The Ring is the option you'll want to go with
You'll want to take the Ring. Anything else won't have the desired effect, and the hex will fail.
After this, Ocha will contact you and tell you that you need to draw a sign on the window of his hideout to make the hex work. But a guard is standing by, which will impede you from doing this.
Note: If you want to complete the hex as intended, you'll need to convince Ocha to 'Stick to the plan' when talking to her. Otherwise it'll end up in an all-out brawl.
So, head over to the door to the pigpen nearby, and release the pigs, giving you ample time to sneak up and do what needs to be done.
As you do, you'll witness a scene inside where Nora is tied up and being threatened. However, if you picked the right item for the hex, Andrei will go mad, bashing his head against a wall until he kills himself, causing all the other henchmen to scatter.
You can then speak to Nora, free her, and you'll be told to meet them down near the river outside the city later.
Alternative Options
Picking a fight with Andrei
Doing the hex isn't the only way to progress this questline, as there are actually a lot of things you can do. They all ultimately end with you meeting Ocha outside the city when all is said and done. But the consequences differ a lot.
Here is a rundown of the various other ways you can engage with this quest, and what happens.
- Players can use their Shadowstep powers to enter the hideout at night, allowing them to collect a Memento with no need to talk with the Butcher or Andrei
- You can enter the hideout and pick a fight right away to kill everyone inside. You can do this by refusing to show your silver, offending Andrei, helping the man being threatened by Andrei, or trying to strike a deal for Nora's freedom.
- If you choose the wrong memento, the hex will fail, and you'll be faced with a choice of either stepping in to save Nora or letting things play out. If you step in to save her, she will live. If you stand idly, she will die.
All of these outcomes lead to a boss fight with Andrei and his goons. This fight is pretty uneventful; just use abilities that offer crowd control, and you should be fine. This will lead to a discussion where Andrei offers you rewards if you spare him, but no matter what you do, he will always try to kill you. So don't agonize over this.
Meeting With Ocha By The River & Quest Rewards
A debrief after all the action
While the means of getting there throughout this quest are pretty diverse, the outcome tends to boil down to two possible eventualities.
If you manage to perform the hex perfectly, keeping Nora alive and also not killing all of Andrei's men. You'll earn the achievement 'The Outcast'. This ensures that Nora and Ocha can take over Andrei's operation as their own.
However, if you fail to do this, either by killing everyone or by doing this and Nora dying, Ocha will leave the city and return to the mountains.
However you choose to finish this quest, the rewards remain the same. The player will gain 250XP, a Broad Swing Manual, and, of course, all the items that can be looted from Andrei's Hideout into the bargain. Such as the Recipe of Powder of Sharp Mind, or the Band of Preservation.