In the heart of the woods exile or kill

1. Talk to Sven about the contract on the Woodland Spirit.

Go to the village of Fayrlund and talk to a group of villagers who stand by the road to the southwest of the village. They have a problem with the monster. There is Sven among them, who is willing to use your services, and Harald, who does not want you to get involved.

Geralt's first clue? A brutally murdered and mangled body. The villagers all agreed the Woodland Spirit had killed the man - but their explanations of this creature's motives could not have been more different. The elders among them claimed the Spirit, who had cared for their village for generations, was now punishing them for having broken the pact they had once made. As for the youth present, they claimed the Woodland Spirit was nothing but a cruel brute that killed for its own pleasure - and that rather than worship it, they should get rid of it once and for all.

Geralt promised to help with their problem - though he did not yet know which side was right. The witcher exercised his better judgment and decided his first move must be to find out what this Woodland Spirit really was - and why it had begun to kill.

2. Examine the tracks in the woods using your Witcher Senses and find out what's killing the villagers of Fayrlund.

Follow the trail left by the monster until you reach the clearing. You'll find the corpse of the dog there, examine it.

Following the trail left by the monster further, you will find the corpse of a man nailed to a rock. Examine it too.

Eventually you will reach the clearing where you find the ring of rocks. Examine the marks left by the monster on one of them.

Once you've examined all the clues, you'll come to the conclusion that you're dealing with the old leshen.

3. Learn more about the Woodland Spirit by reading the Bestiary.

4. (Optional) Talk to Harald about the leshen.

When you talk to Harald, he'll tell you about the ritual you should perform to appease the monster.

Warning: Choosing to side with Harald will prevent you from obtaining the Woodland Spirit achievement.

4.1. Approach the altar. / Kill the wolves.

Go to the location to the south point pointed out by Harald. The altar is located on a hill near a large tree. When you get there, you will be attacked by five white wolves (15). Kill them.

4.2. Collect wolf hearts. 0/5 / Place the offerings on the altar.

Then gather the hearts of the wolves and put them on the altar. The offering will be accepted.

4.3. Collect your reward from Harald.

Return to the village and inform Harald that you have completed the task. You will receive 60 crowns and 50 XP from him. Then Sven and his men will approach you, wanting to end Harald's life.

You may not interfere, or you may not let them kill old man. In that case, you will have to kill Sven and his men (20). If you're not quick enough, Harald may still die, but that doesn't matter.

If you didn't let Sven and his men kill Harald:

Geralt made two discoveries during his investigation. First of all, the Woodland Spirit turned out to be a leshen - a rare monster, though one known to witchers. Secondly, to his great surprise Geralt found that this beast truly did help the village of Fayrlund, training their hunters and warriors in the nearby woods - though it exacted a price in human lives.

Even so, the witcher decided more good would come from renewing the old pact between the villagers and the leshen than from killing the beast. Harald, leader of the village elders, rewarded the witcher for keeping the old traditions alive. The village youth, however, with Sven in the lead, could not be reconciled to a return to the old order. Though lacking the courage to kill the hated Woodland Spirit themselves, they mustered enough bravery to rise up against the elders who worshipped it.

It fell upon Geralt yet again to choose the lesser evil. He defended some men by killing others - even more, perhaps, than the monster he was supposed to protect them against.

If you decided not to interfere:

Geralt made two discoveries during his investigation. First of all, the Woodland Spirit turned out to be a leshen - a rare monster, though one known to witchers. Secondly, to his great surprise Geralt found that this beast truly did help the village of Fayrlund, training the villagers in dark rituals how to become unequaled hunters and warriors. Those who didn't survive its trials never returned from the woods - their lives were the price the monster demanded.

The monster had become intertwined with the village - so integral to their way of life that Geralt decided it was safer to renew the old pacts made with the beast than to kill it. The village youth, however, could not be reconciled to a return to the old order. Though lacking the courage to kill the hated Woodland Spirit themselves, they mustered enough bravery to rise up against the elders who worshipped it. Geralt left the village before the bloodshed started. After all, the role of a witcher is to protect men from monsters, not from themselves.

5. (Optional) Talk to Sven about the leshen.

Tell Sven what you've learned about the monster. Your task will be to use your witcher senses and find the person from the village that the monster has marked and Sven will take care of the rest.

5.1. Find the person marked by the leshen by using your Witcher Senses.

A marked person is a girl named Hilda, who Sven talked to a little earlier.

5.2. Talk to Sven about Hilde.

Go back to Sven and tell him who was marked by the monster. He will not be happy that it is Hilde, and will initially resist, but will eventually agree, depending on what you suggest, to kill her or banish her from the village.

5.3. Destroy the leshen's totems. 0/3

In the forest, find and destroy three totems. You can use a sword or igni or aard signs. Near the totems you will come across a few (15) wolves that you should get rid of.

5.4. Find the leshen by using your Witcher Senses to follow the sounds it makes. / Kill the leshen. / Collect your trophy.

Use your witcher senses and proceed in the direction from which the sound comes. When you get there, Woodland Spirit and some wolves (20) will appear. Leshen will often vanish and reappear in another place. By the end of the fight, another group of wolves (22) will appear. Once it's dead, collect the Leshen trophy (5% Bonus experience from monsters).

5.5. Collect your reward from Sven.

Go back to the village. When you get there, you'll see that Sven and his men have murdered the elders in the meantime. No matter what you say, Sven makes it clear that your work is done and you will receive 60 crowns and 50 XP.

Fayrlund's supposed guardian turned out to be a leshen - a rare and dangerous monster that can force animals, plants and, as soon became clear, even people to do its bidding. For generations the villagers had worshipped it and offered it sacrifices, and all the while it leeched off their life force, a parasite masquerading as a guardian. A band of young warriors led by Sven questioned the old order and asked Geralt to take care of the monster in the manner of witchers.

Geralt agreed. While he was away tracking the leshen in the nearby woods, Sven decided to usher in the new era himself by murdering all the village elders. When Geralt arrived back in the settlement it was too late to save it from fratricidal bloodshed. He thus collected his reward from a man who had killed more people in one afternoon than the monster had in years and walked away from the village without a backwards glance.

Should I kill the woodland spirit or not?

What should I do in the heart of the woods Witcher 3?

What should I do with the Leshen?

Can you exile Hilde?