Quick Links
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s next-gen update comes with an impressive graphics overhaul and additional content for players to enjoy - the first since the second expansion in 2016. From new armor sets to Netflix-inspired Easter eggs, there is no shortage of content to appreciate. One of the new story quests for players to enjoy is’In the Eternal Fire’s Shadow'.
This impressive quest is accessible fairly early in the game and boasts about an hour of content, as well as a shiny new set of armor inspired by Netflix’s adaptation of The Witcher. Unfortunately, the armor set comes as a craftable set rather than pre-made, but the questline itself is fun, engaging, and jam-packed with interesting lore.
How To Start ‘In the Eternal Fire’s Shadow’
To start In the Eternal Fire’s Shadow, you’ll need to first have access tothe Velen map. It is also likely that you’ll want to have explored a good bit of Velen first, completing contracts and quests so you can increase your level, as the game’srecommended level is 15.
It is possible to take on and complete this quest with a healthy challengeas early as level eightfornormal (Sword and Story) difficulty.
If you’re coming to the Devil’s Pit at a lower than recommended level, it is recommended toinvest in points for Axiiand damage to counteract the large health pools of the enemies you’ll encounter.
From theHangman’s Tree,where you begin your adventure in Velen, you’ll want tohead southeast toward a large, wooden lookout towerhalf-hidden amongst a grove of tall coniferous trees.
Circle around along the wallon the southern side (to the right) of this area until you reach a road guided by hanging corpses and, a little further east at the entrance of the wooden wall, anNPC in redbeside a cart marked as the “Eternal Fire Priest.” Talk to him and agree to help to accept the quest.
While speaking with him, you canask for more goldto sweeten the deal. Theoriginalset amount is200 pieces,with themax at 297.
The deacon is aneasily irritated individualwho can be a bittricky to haggle with. It’s recommended to set your sightsbetween 200 and 230for the best success.
Asking for 250 is possible, but a failure always sets his annoyance level at an immediate 50 percent.
The Devil’s Pit Walkthrough
Next, venture inside the Devil’s Pit, where there areseven banditsto defeat. They are alllevel nine desertersand brandish axes and blackjacks. On most occasions, six will venture up to the top of the pit once you draw the attention of one.Defeat them allbefore progressing.
As they arehuman enemies,using Axii is recommended to stunand attempt a one-hit autokill or, at the very least, always remove one enemy from a group attack.
At the bottom will typically be the final and seventh deserter. Once defeated, you’ll be able tolocate the lootable chest indicated on your mini-map. Inside, you’ll find a large assortment of treasure. After looting the chest,head toward the large wooden doors to enter the mine.
The Mine Walkthrough
Once you enter the mine,walk forwardanduse your witcher sensesto find the lootable resources along the way to find a variety of alcoholic spirits and crafting supplies.
The path here is fairly straightforward, but once you’re given the opportunity, you canturn right to climb a set of stairsinto a small office where, inside, you may use your witcher senses tolocate Reinald’s Noteon the desk for some lore.
Approach the set oflarge doorswith aletter nailed to the outside. Once you’ve read the letter, you’ll be able to open the doors andenter the mine.
If you wish to explore the mine in its entirety and aspireto create a unique potion, you’llneed Celandine; if you don’t have it already, leave and return with a few bundles.
After taking a few steps into the mine, you’ll heara voiceasking for your help. Along your path,torcheswill be lit withred flame, but there will also bewolf school insignias etched into wallsand furniture. You canchoose to follow either.
Either way,both will lead you to the same location;however, choosing thevoice will be the faster and more difficultroute, while choosing thewolf school marks will be a long but lore-filled pathending with an item to make your final encounter a tiny bit easier.
The first part of the cave is shared by both paths, allowing you some time to yourself to make your decision.
Enter and use your witcher senses to locate two hints:
Go past these clues and go into theleft doorto find two small rooms. Thefar back roomhas two lootable boxes and a set of bones you’re able to investigate.
If you’ve completedKeira Metz’s questlineand obtainedher lantern, use it on theblack massin the doorway on the way back out into the mine to see the interactions of the plague-ridden victims.
Go back out and down the stairs,where the voice will grow impatient and state you’re wasting time. At thebottom of the stairs, there isa cheston the wooden mine supportsabove your head.Use Aardto knock it off and loot the items.
Once at the bottom, follow the path until you reach a split in the road. Here you can make your decision:
Follow The Voice - Skip The Mine
This path is thesimplerof the two. As the voice will direct you, you need onlyfollow the directionsit gives you and theflaming red torchesthat light your way.
Choosing this path means that thePlague Victim enemiesthat wait in the three corners of the wooden room along the waywill not attack you.
Instead, they will remain passive, and you canignore themas you pass.
Jump over a ledge to reach a set ofdouble doors with a letterin between the crack. Read it or choose not to, the letter makes no difference if you’re seeking to follow this path and ignore the rest of the mine.
Continuethrough the double doors, and your quest will be updated as you enter the large salt cavern.
Skip down to the Salt Cavern portion of this walkthrough to continue.
Ignore The Voice - Explore The Mine
Turn left at the forkto ignore the voice and face aPlague Victimcrawling on the ground beside a lootable item (aGreater Glyph of Yrden) and an interactable wolf mark on the ground. The victim willdisintegrateas you approach, so don’t worry about fighting it. Pick up the glyph and continue.
It is recommended toequip this glyph, if you’re able, as it will be a big benefit to you later against the final boss encounter.
Pass the Plague Victimon your right behind the bars (you may’t go that way), down the corridor, and tothe bridgewhere you can see apurple candle. Before crossing it,look to your leftand slightly up to seea ledge you can jump to.
Jump over to find a small alcove with achest at the endyou can loot. Afterward,jump back down on the bridgeand continue over to the purple candle. Sitting on the table-like ledge there is anotherletter from Reinaldand asecond Greater Glyph of Yrden.
Turn rightand use your witcher senses to spya wall that can be brokenand amass of black mistthat you may use your lantern on.Destroy the wallwith either your sword or Aard to find a pile of decomposed corpses and bones you can investigate and see the ghosts of the Plague Victims banging on the wall to be let out.
Go down the stepsnearby toward the red torch in the vine-framed entrance. Ignore the breakable wall on your left, as it leads nowhere. Jump onto the ledge to proceed.
Continuealong the path beyond it through a winding corridor until meetinganother Plague Victimhunched on the ground holding their head.Touch them to activate a cutscene. Don’t worry; you don’t have to fight them.
Go across the bridgehere to see another split in the path and another, unimportant blood stain on the ground you can investigate.The right path is an offshoot that leads nowhereexcept a small room full of loot and another ghost event by some red bones.
Grab the loot andcontinue down the main (left) pathto a very large, cavernous room where you’ll hear a voice begging you for help and see a bridge across the room partially collapse. There are multiple rooms in this cave and only one way to progress.
If you fall down here, there is ahidden roomyou can explore before jumping back up via the ramp.
Turn around to see a breakable door you may destroy by attacking or using Aard. Inside are lootable barrels and boxes.
The room closest to the left only has lootable bones and a ghost event. The same can be said about the room directly to the right.Go directly to the farthest room across the cavern from where you enteredandturn left to see a marked ledge.
Jump upto it to find another purple candle, a Greater Glyph of Yrden, and a witcher insignia on the wall.Jump again across the large gapto the left of the wolf school marking and enter the office room there.
The office appears to be some sort of office where the priests used to operate. There are some lootable items here and theForgotten Priest’s Testament on the table. In front of the table is a ghost event where you can watch the forgotten priest praying for the sick boy in front of him.Leave the room and turn right for more loot or left to continue.
Cross across the wooden bridgethat partially collapsed by running and then jumping. On your path forward, you’ll find another witcher mark on the ground to confirm you’re going the right way.Continuealong until you’re met withanother choice:
Theleft path leads to a dead endof rubble, but there’s anotherletter from Reinaldto read and athird Greater Glyph of Yrdenthere.
Follow the red-lit pathto yet another large cavern for another cutscene.Four Plague Victims will appear- all level 14 - and will attack you this time.Defeat themin order to continue exploring.
The Plague Victims follow similar rules to human enemies.Axii is very effectiveagainst them, but you’llneed to use a silver swordin order to deal damage.
Stagger them with Axii and close the distance quickly to attempt an auto-kill.
There are two and a half rooms to explore here. The first, and most obvious is the room blocked off by a large boulder. Ignore that for now andexplore the room directly across from the boulder/to the right of the entrance. Inside isanother Plague Victimto quickly defeat.
There is a ghost event to witness as well as a blood stain on the ground to investigate and numerous lootable containers. In the next room over, you’ll finda torture chaircovered in blood you caninspectanda letter on the tablebeside it.
Jump down from this room into the main room. Directly in front of you,use the ramp to jump to the white-marked wallto the right of the boulder-blocked doorway.Turn left and break the doorin your way. This appears to beReinald’s study. Inside this room,interact with the chest and the letter on the desk. This will prompt another cutscene.
Now that you have therecipe for Reinald’s philter, so long as you haveCelandineandDwarven spirit, you’ll be able tocraft it.Do so now.
Dwarven spiritis a commondrop for the lootable items in the cavern, so if you don’t have it, you can find it in the boxes.
If you don’t haveCelandine, you’ll need toeither give up on the potionfor this questorleave and return laterby following the path until you find a split in the path that leads away from the red torches.
Exit Reinald’s studytofollow the straightforward pathto a set of stairs leading down to a drop-off point.Be careful descending,as there isa Plague Victim standing in waitto ambush you. Turn around quickly and dispatch it before continuing to a point where there isa split in the road.
Ahead is abox-like roomwherethree Plague Victimsare standing in the far corners, just out of view. Beware of their ambush as, now that you’ve ignored the voice, they will be hostile and attack.
Kill all three of themand thencontinue along the red torchesuntil you eventually reacha very large set of doorswithReinald’s fifth letter. Enter the boss’s room, butdo not drink the potion yet.
The Salt Cavern Walkthrough
Inside the Salt Cavern, you will find Reinald on the far side, suspended by several stalagmites. He’ll ask you tobreak them. Do soby casting Aardin his direction.
Talking To Reinald - Follow The Voice Path
The dialogue here is the shortest and fairly straight to the point. There areno dialogue optionsfor you to choose from, so enjoy the cutscene andprepare for the combat soon to come.
Skip down to the Fighting The Red Miasmal sectionto continue.
Talking To Reinald - Ignore The Voice Path
If you ignored the voice and crafted the potion, you’ll be able toask Reinald questionsand hold a conversation with him.
When Reinald is freed and stands,he’ll ask you to give him the potionyou crafted. You canchoose to either give or refuseto give him the potion, as well as ask him two non-necessary questions.
- Know how long you’ve been here?
No
Reinald states he’s been in the mine for years. Geralt responds that Reinald should be dead and the miasmal is the only reason he’s still “alive.”
4. [Test Reinald] Found your letters to…Lambert.
“Reinald” buys into the Lambert trick and grows angry when Geralt states that Reinald’s friend was Osmund, not Lambert, and reveals his suspicions that Reinald is not the one talking.
If you choose togive the potion to “Reinald,“the real Reinald will grow angry and shout that it was never him that was speaking. The miasmal possessing him willthrow your potion aside and attack you. you’re able to win the fight, but you’ll have to do so without the upper hand that the potion might have given you.
If youchoose to keep the potion, Reinald will tell you to destroy the Miasmal quickly, and you’llbegin combat with the effects of the potion,which allows you tocast signs more quickly and at a higher intensity.
Taking the potion does give you an edge combat-wise, but it does have adrawback at setting your toxicity gauge at nearly half.
Without point allocations in Alchemy or if you’re at a lower-than-recommended level, this can be a detriment to you.
How To Defeat The Red Miasmal
The fight against theRed Miasmalis broken intotwo stages. There isno opportunity to restin between them, and if you took Reinald’s Philter, you’ll need toplan your potions accordingly.
Try saving potions for the second stage.Recommended strategiesand preparations for this fight include:
Stage One - Reinald
As far as skill goes,stage one may be the more difficultof the two stages. Thankfully, completely defeating Reinald is not necessary, and his health is quite low for the difficulty. Reinald’s moveset does require some caution, andhis quick moves mean that casting Yrden to slow him down is a constant must. His moveset includes:
Reinald’s biggest threat is his use of Quen. It is rather strong and isalmost always followed by a strong sword attack, being the bulk of his damage. Otherwise, helikes to move constantlyand almost always has hissword ready for a parry.
The recommended strategy here is toeither wait for his dodge jump or bait and dodge a strong attackto take advantage of an opening.
To defeat him, youdon’t need to drain all his health.Cast Yrden and then Aardonce he’s within the Yrden circle.
The combination of Yrden and Aard is a littledifficult without help from Reinald’s Filter, but still doable.
Place Yrden down away from Reinaldand lead him to it,as opposed to casting it around him and hoping to keep him inside as he often likes to jump out of it.
The level of his health is not a requirement for success, but you willeither need to cast both signs three times while he’s at full healthorbring him down to at least one bar to trigger the correct dialogueand cast it once.
Beware thatonce one bar of health is gone,Reinald will begin regenerating health.
During that time, however, he will stand still and render it possible for you to strike him repeatedly.
Once both Yrden and Aard have been successfully cast, you’ll be graced with another cutscene and brought into stage two.
For those who are usingReinald’s Philter, it’s important for you to try andfinish this section of the fight quicklyso that you continue to enjoy its benefits in the second stage.
Stage Two - Red Miasmal
This is arguably theeasier of the two fights,as the Red Miasmal only hastwo attacking movesand isquite slow- especially with Yrden. However, that being said, it does hit for a significant amount of bothphysical and fire damage, so do be careful.
The Red Miasmal’s moveset includes:
As you can see, there’s alot of teleportation movementfrom the Red Miasmal but not physical. UsingYrdenis necessaryhere to slow down these teleportations and give you time to attack.
Beware that the slashing attack is sometimes used as a defense when you get a full combo of attacks in, soget in three or four strikes and then dodge back to avoid being retaliated against.
Thedownward fire strike has a long and obvious wind-up, but it does have a healthy bit ofrangedirectly in front of it.
Once you see it, eithersteer clearat a healthy distance and wait for the Miasmal to eventually teleport and slash (which it will always do after using its fire attack)or, if you’re closer,dodge to the left or rightandtake the window of opportunity to get some hits in/trap it with Yrden.
If you haven’t followed the earlier tip,applying the Greater Glyph of Yrdenis specifically important for this part of the fight because you will want it always placed.
With higher intensity, yourYrden sign will last even longer, giving you important stamina in the meantime to use for other signs.
For the minions, the Red Miasmal will only perform thistwice - once at 50 and then at 25 percent health,respectively. Each time,two Plague Victims at level 14will appear.
It is heavily recommended to use Axii on them and then attack, as the auto-kill function gives ample immunity frames during the animation and renders it impossible for the Red Miasmal and the other Plague Victim to attack you.Dispatch them quickly and then re-focus your efforts on the Red Miasmal.
To make the most of Yrden, it isrecommended to place it just after you have gotten a few hits in and right before - or during - the Miasmal’s teleportationso that it appears in Yrden rather than you trying to catch up with it.
If you die at any point during these two stages, the Red Miasmal will infect your body, and Geralt will become a minion of it.
Every Possible Outcome
There arethree possible endingsfor this questline, all affected by your dialogue decisions after the fight. Whether you chose to follow or ignore the fight has no impact on these endings.
After the Red Miasmal is defeated, Reinald’s ghost will appear. You’ll be able to speak with him and learn the truth of his identity and background. Also, you’ll be given thecrafting diagramfor theForgotten Wolf School’s first level (Journeyman)and thequest to seek out the other, advanced pieces at Kaer Morhen.
Can you prove you’re Reinald?
Yes
Reinald gives a diagram for the Forgotten Wolf School gear as a sign of good will.
Your medallion’s different.
Reinald states that he crafted his own gear and then, with Geralt’s help, realizes that he’s been trapped in the mind for over 300 years.
A witcher’s body is ideal for possession.
Geralt comments on how lucky it was to have a witcher to possess with their constitution. Reinald agrees, stating that it had trouble possessing the sick as they would quickly become deformed and mindless.
Why’d they trap you in the mine?
Reinald explains they sealed him away at the first sign of being possessed and expresses his anger that they would abandon him.
What now?
Geralt expresses his concern that Reinald’s agitation and pain doesn’t become an evil, corrupted specter. Reinald asks Geralt to bring the priest from outside for closure.
Refuse To Bring The Priest - Neutral Ending
If you choose torefuse Reinald, he becomes angry and states that he wouldn’t abandon his convictions for a priest. Geralt isn’t swayed, and youburn Reinald’s bodyto prevent his restless spirit from becoming anything dangerous.
Upon your return to the outside, thePriest awaits your report. Hedoesn’t believe anything you sayand dismisses Geralt, giving you your hard-won gold, and tells you that, someday, the Church will investigate on their own…
This endingprevents anyone else from dyingand Reinald from becoming an evil spiritat the cost ofnever exposing the truthof the terrible acts by the Church of the Eternal Fire within the mine - thereby never giving the restless spirits in the mine their justice.
When youbring the Priest, he’s appalled by the things he’s seen in the mine on his way to the Salt Cavern. Disgusted by the atrocities of his church, heasks Reinald how to make amends.
Reinald will then state that all followers of the Eternal Fire are either criminals or hypocrites.Your decision here doesn’t make a difference on the ending.
No matter your chosen dialogue, the Priest falls into a crisis of Faith. Reinald will ask if the Priest is being honest and what he’ll do with this new knowledge.Geralt’s dialogue after will determine which of the endings you get. In orderto get the “Bad Ending,“you’ll need to select “Crimes like these can’t be forgiven.”
Reinald will get angry. Geralt will attempt to calm him down, butReinald will attack and kill the Priestbefore Geralt can intervene. Geralt burns both bodies. The restless spirits never get their justice, the Priest is dead, and Reinald abandoned the teachings of the witchers.
Agree To Bring The Priest - Good Ending
Just like above, instead of selecting “Crimes like these can’t be forgiven”, you’ll need tochoose “Don’t need a church to do good, priest.“Doing so will spur thePriest to abandon the Church of the Eternal Fireand dedicate himself to making amends at the Devil’s Pit.
Reinald’s body is burned, preventing him from ever becoming an evil spirit, the Priest casts aside the Church of the Eternal Fire and focuses on making amends and seeking justice for the lives lost in the mines, and Geralt walks out with the Priest’s gold and the Forgotten Wolven armor diagrams.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
WHERE TO PLAY
One of the most critically acclaimed RPGs in recent history, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt sees Geralt searching for Ciri of Cintra. However, he’s not the only one looking — the pair must also contend with the Wild Hunt, supernatural beings of great power. CD Projekt added two expansion packs, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, and brought an enhanced version of the game to modern consoles in late 2022.
