Possession (quest)

Possession is a secondary quest in related to the main storyline.
 this quest will fail if not completed before starting Battle Preparations.
== Walkthrough ==
This quest is given after speaking with Crach an Craite during the main quest The King is Dead – Long Live the King, who mentions his daughter, Cerys an Craite, went off to complete a feat worthy of becoming Skellige's new ruler and was under the impression Jarl Udalryk was under a curse, despite Crach believing this wasn't the case. Regardless, he hopes you'll convince her to come back home.
Head to Svorlag on Spikeroog to speak with Udalryk, who was in the middle of talking with his advisor Hjort about some strange dreams of his. Udalryk will eventually head off, leaving you to question Hjort alone. If you ask him about Cerys, he'll point to several possible villagers and the jarl's old family home, an abandoned, haunted structure overlooking the village. However, if you ask about the jarl's health, you'll be interrupted by Udalryk suddenly screaming and Hjort will leave to go see what's going on, leaving you to ask around the village about Cerys.
If you're left to ask around, you can find a man and woman just by the signpost of Svorlag who inform you Cerys was inquiring into the jarl's childhood so they directed her to Bergthora and Eiric, who were once close with Udalryk years ago. These are the same people Hjort would have pointed you towards if you inquired about Cerys. Head to their home to find Bergthora, who tells you Cerys went looking for Eiric on the beach, so follow the marker to find the man surrounded by several drowners. After killing them off for 400 , you have the option to ridicule him or use Axii (requires Delusion level 2 for a minimum of 35). Whichever you choose, he'll reveal that Cerys went to the jarl's old family home.
=== Finding Cerys ===
Enter the home and follow the footsteps to find a passed out Cerys and, after a short cutscene, the two will converse, with Cerys refusing to return home until she helps the ailing Udalryk. She then reveals the reason she went into the house was to find Udalryk's family sword Brokvar, which she believes will lift the curse on the jarl as, many years ago, the sword was given to Udalryk's younger brother, Aki, instead of following custom of going to the firstborn. Enraged, Udalryk then broke a sacred Skellige law by openly questioning his father's decision and was thus punished for several days. Afterwards, Udalryk took Aki out fishing to mend things between them but a storm hit and Aki fell overboard while Udalryk had his hands full with the sails and thus didn't notice until it was too late. However, others in the area believe Udalryk killed his brother on purpose.
Regardless, Cerys believes it's Aki's ghost that's troubling the jarl and if she could return the family sword to Aki then Udalryk would no longer be troubled. Despite some holes in this theory (like why it was the house being haunted and not the sea, or why Udalryk thinks it's the gods commanding self-harm and not Aki) go along with the plan and go back into the haunted house. In the back of the oven you'll find the cellar key and, on entering the cellar, find the sword on the only table here (400 ). Note to pay close attention to the walls/shadows when you get the sword.
 While exploring the house, breaking the wooden planks in the room behind the first door of the hallway opens a pathway to the Place of Power west of the house. This room is locked after the quest completes, so you may want to go take it now, although it's not that hard to climb your way there afterwards where the house's wall and rocks meet.
Head back to Cerys and the two will go talk to Udalryk to explain their theory, who will then point to the location where Aki drowned, just past Ulula's Needle.
=== Aki's grave ===
Head out to the location and, after dealing with some sirens, dive down to find Aki's remains and place Brokvar with the skeleton and return back to Udalryk to let him know. However, as you return (550 ) the jarl screams once more and it's revealed he poked one of his own eyes out as commanded by the gods' voices in his head, this time under the guilt of not sailing out himself to beg for Aki's forgiveness. As he talks about the voices some more, Geralt figures it out and eventually pulls Cerys aside to reveal it: the jarl is indeed haunted but by a very rare and dangerous creature known as a Hym, a shadowy being which latches onto a person's guilt and feeds off of it by making their host harm themselves.
Geralt will then reveal two ways to deal with it: the witcher's way or the less common method of tricking the hym. The former consists of fighting the hym in its lair, but would require the host to also be there, who may not last long enough for the hym to be killed. The latter consists of tricking the hym to latch onto a new host who believes they've committed a horrible deed, but then revealing no such deed was actually committed, thus forcing the hym to leave. However, successfully tricking the hym would require the intended recipient to not know they were being tricked. Your dialog choices here do not matter. After explaining the two choices to Cerys, she will immediately decide on the latter, though agrees to use the witcher's way as a backup. She heads back to the haunted house to look around some more before exclaiming she's figured out an idea, then asks that you trust her. It is at this point where you actually choose which method to use. Trusting Cerys will allow you to trick the hym. If not, you will use the witcher's method and fight the hym with Udalryk present.
=== Trick the Hym ===
If you decide to trust her, she'll then run off and you'll have some time to prepare if you wish before starting the fire for the oven. A small cutscene starts where, several hours later, Cerys rushes in with the jarl's baby and immediately hands him to you as guards and an enraged Udalryk rush in after her and she orders you to throw the baby in the now hot oven. You'll have a timed reaction here to do what she says or hand the baby to the jarl.
If you do as Cerys asks, Geralt will seal the baby in the oven. You must then kill off the guards (750 ) as Udalryk tries in vain to save his baby. Once all the guards are dead, the hym latches onto Geralt's guilty conscience before Cerys has Hjort appear with the baby, safe and sound. Cerys then reveals the trick: she had Hjort wait on the other side of the oven to safely recover the baby but Geralt, not knowing this, was filled with despair at what he did. Now that he realizes he didn't do anything wrong, the hym has no guilty conscience to cling to and is summarily banished, finally freeing the jarl from his torment.
If, however, you handed the baby over to the jarl, Geralt will remark he wishes to do it the witcher's way but Udalryk will nevertheless punch you while Cerys reveals the, now foiled, plan she had intended. The quest will then follow the path like if you'd chosen to fight the hym.
=== The Witcher's Way ===
If you chose the witcher's way (either by not trusting Cerys or handing the baby over to the jarl), go talk to Udalryk to tell him about what's been going on with the hym and that you need him to visit his old family home to get rid of it. Hjort will back you up and give you the torches needed for the fight or, if you handed the baby over, send you to the shed to get them. When ready, head out and place the 4 torches and head just outside to talk to Udalryk to let him know it's ready. You can then advise him or not on what's going to happen before heading back in to light the torches.
During the ensuing fight, you'll need to also use Axii from time to time on Udalryk to calm him down, and eventually the hym will retreat to the cellar. Head down to finish the job and once dead (750 ) go talk with Udalryk to let him know it's finally over.
=== Freed ===
Whichever method you chose, Udalryk is finally free from the hym's torment. Cerys then states she'll remain for a little while to make sure of the jarl's recovery before finishing the quest.
== Journal entry ==
: Concern filled Crach's voice. And something else... pride? The jarl had pulled Geralt aside during King Bran Tuirseach's wake to confess his worries about his daughter, Cerys. She had sailed to Spikeroog, seeking to cure Jarl Udalryk's mysterious affliction. A dangerous mission, though one that would certainly be less so with a witcher's help. Geralt eyed his old friend over carefully, then made his decision. 
: After analyzing all the evidence, Geralt came to the conclusion that Udalryk was not haunted by a ghost, as Cerys had thought, nor was he insane or touched by the gods, as many Skelligers believed. The situation was far more grave: a particularly malicious wraith, known as a hym, had latched onto the jarl. Geralt and Cerys thus faced the challenge of finding a way to free Udalryk from this evil being's power.
: Geralt tricks the hym (follow Cerys' plan):
:: Cerys hit upon an idea. They would trick the hym. Geralt decided to trust her. Cerys ran off, snatched Udalryk's infant child from its cradle and ran back towards the abandoned home, with the jarl and his honor guard hot on her heels. Meanwhile Hjort, whom Cerys had informed of her plan and asked for help, slipped into the house unnoticed.
:: Once inside, Cerys commanded Geralt to toss the babe into a burning stove. Caught off-guard by this seemingly-mad request, Geralt nevertheless acquiesced, hoping it was all part of the plan. To his great relief, it was. The hym, thinking Geralt an infanticide, left Udalryk to latch onto this new, even more guilt-ridden victim. Yet when it was revealed the child had survived unharmed, the evil being had to depart into the ether. Cerys' trickery and the witcher's cold blood had saved Udalryk, freeing him from his torment at long last.
:Geralt fights the hym (the witcher's way):
:: Geralt decided to take care of the hym using tried and true witcher methods. This meant, as it often does, waiting until after dusk and gathering a generous supply of torches. Only then did he and Udalryk journey to the abandoned home to set about forcing the wraith to reveal its true visage. The fight lasted the entire night. Though at times Geralt feared Udalryk would not withstand the torture the hym dealt in its last throes of self-defense, by the time dawn came our heroes had triumphed and the hym had dissolved back into the ether.
== Objectives ==
* Ask Udalryk where Cerys is.
* If Geralt asked Hjort what happened to Udalryk:
** Ask about Cerys in the village.
** Unless talked directly to Bergthora:
*** Talk to Bergthora.
** Find Eiric.
** Kill the drowners. (400)
* Look for Cerys in the abandoned home using your Witcher Senses.
* Find the sword named Brokvar. (400)
* Tell Cerys you found the sword.
* Go to Udalryk with Cerys.
* Place Brokvar near Aki's bones.
* Return to Udalryk. (550)
* Meet Cerys in Udalryk's old home.
* Search the house and find a way to drive off the hym.
* See what Cerys has found.
* If Geralt decides to trick the hym:
** When you're ready, talk to Cerys.
** Defeat Udalryk's warriors. (750)
* If Geralt decides to fight the hym:
** Tell Udalryk about the hym.
** If Geralt handed the baby over:
*** Bring torches from the storage shed.
** Place torches around the abandoned home. 4/4
** When you're ready, talk to Udalryk.
** Light the torches.
** Kill the hym. (750)
** Calm Udalryk.
** Go to the basement.
** Tell Udalryk it's all over.
== Notes ==
* If you don't talk to Cerys about Yennefer during the quest, Geralt will have an additional dialogue line about her when the quest completes.
== Bugs ==
* It's possible to get stuck in combat after finishing this quest, preventing the player from saving, meditating, or drawing their sword. This is caused by not killing all three guards during the 'Trick the Hym' path before the cutscene begins; it can be either prevented by killing the guards using area effect attacks such as bombs or signs, or, after the quest has concluded, resolved by fast traveling to a different map, such as White Orchard or Velen.
* It is also possible that a warrior gets stuck in the basement after Geralt trusted Cerys but handed the babe to Udalryk.
== Trivia ==
* In the Polish (Original) version this quest is called "Wybraniec Bogów" which translates to "Chosen of the Gods" which is a reference to the book of the same name. The book shares many plot points with the quest.
== Videos ==
File:The Witcher 3 Hym Demon Boss Fight (Hard Mode)
File:Helping Cerys - The Witcher 3 DEATH MARCH! Part 78 - Let's Play Hard
ar:الملكية
pl:Wybraniec bogów
Category:The Witcher 3 secondary quests