Blindingly Obvious

Blindingly Obvious is a main quest in and one of four subquests necessary to complete for Final Preparations.
== Walkthrough ==
You start this quest by finding Triss upstairs at The Chameleon. She will be angry at Geralt for putting Ciri in danger, and you will have a timed dialogue with 3 responses to choose from, but nothing hangs on that. If you chose to romance her then Geralt will automatically kiss her after the explanation.
After explaining everything you will be able to ask about the Lodge of Sorceresses. Triss will explain that Philippa was tricked by an ex-lover, Arthur de Vleester, who advised her to turn into an owl to be safe. But after she transformed, he put a dimeritium ring on her leg so she couldn't change back. Arthur was killed during the mage hunt and his property was sold. She ended up as Zoltan Chivay's pet and was downstairs the whole time, only for him to lose her in a card game. With no clue on who got Philippa, Triss will attempt to use one of her feathers to track her down using hydromancy. For that, she will use the fountain behind the Passiflora. You will have the option to go immediately or meet her there.
=== From one ex-lover to another ===
At the fountain, it is revealed that Dijkstra has Philippa at his bathhouse and the two of you head there.
 If you chose to romance Triss, there will be another image and Geralt will ask her about it. She will reveal that she was offered the position of advisor to King Tankred Thyssen of Kovir, and the image was of the house that awaits you in Pont Vanis. If Geralt reacts negatively at first, you'll have the chance to learn more about Triss' political ambitions, but none of the dialogue choices have consequences - she'll always go there while also balancing that with Geralt's wishes.
On approach to the bath house you will hear an explosion. Philippa has already been unleashed inside and is out of control. Triss will stay behind and you have to chase Philippa while forced to fight Dijkstra's men, who she controls with her magic. Geralt will incapacitate them instead of killing them whether or not you use a sword, but you can just run past the first three and drop down the ladder. You will then face Bart, who is also under her spell. You can convince him to let you pass or kill him, but he doesn't drop any loot, so that's not worth doing.
Once you reach Philippa she will summon a Fire elemental and you will have to kill it while also avoiding her attacks. Incoming hits will be very hard, but also predictable, so just dodge as necessary. Geralt may draw his steel sword here, so double check what you're using against the monster.
When the elemental is dead, go up the stairs while jumping the gap between them and "sneak up" (you can run, it's fine) behind Philippa to trigger a cutscene. Geralt will pin her down and finally calm her down, then return upstairs. There, Dijkstra will block your path and you will have to force your way through him or depending on your previous choices, try diplomacy by telling him Emhyr's plans.
 Choosing the diplomatic route will start the quest Reason of State, which will influence the game ending. To do so, first you need to choose "I need her" and later "Tell you what the emperor's after if you let us go."
You will then rejoin Triss who will teleport herself and Philippa away, ending the quest. (500)
== Journal entry ==
: Triss returned to Novigrad after leaving Kaer Morhen with one goal - to find Philippa Eilhart. Soon after she made a shocking discovery - Philippa had been right under our very noses the whole time! Turned into an owl by some malicious spell, she then wound up in the hands of Zoltan, who, ignorant of his new pet's true identity, strived to make of her a replacement for his former foul-mouthed parrot companion, Field Marshal Duda.
: Triss was not the only one to uncover Philippa's whereabouts, however. Coming to that conclusion slightly before her was Dijkstra, who shared with Philippa with the strongest bond possible - love turned to seething hate. The one-time spy and current mafia boss had captured Philippa and imprisoned her in his bathhouse. Triss and Geralt knew they must hurry - it was clear Dijkstra had not gone through all this trouble to chat with Philippa about old times. Vengeance was more likely on his agenda, vengeance for breaking his heart and daring to plot against him.
: It is frightening to think how this story might have ended had Triss and Geralt not arrived at the bathhouse in the nick of time. A dimeritium collar had kept Philippa trapped in owl form, but somehow she had managed to free herself from it, revert to her true self, overcome her guards and start tearing the bathhouse apart. Dodging her furious blasts, Geralt was finally able to corner her and convince her he and Triss did not want to harm her - in fact, they needed her help. Though Dijkstra was vehemently opposed to letting the sorceress go, he ultimately realized resistance was futile in the face of Geralt's ironclad logic. And so Philippa Eilhart regained her freedom and joined the offensive against Eredin and his Red Riders.
== Objectives ==
* Go to the fountain near the Passiflora.
* Go to the bathhouse with Triss.
* Look for Philippa in the bathhouse.
* Catch Philippa Eilhart.
* Sneak up on Philippa without making too much noise. (500)
== Bugs ==
* Even though you have to get through the Fire Elemental first, because Philippa is technically the first enemy before she summons it, Geralt may draw his steel sword at the start of the encounter.
== Notes ==
* While rushing to the bathhouse the player can stop and initate conversation with Triss. This will be a normal conversation in which options for various quests like the The Soldier Statuette will appear. However, instigating the statuette quests while in the midst of Blindingly Obvious may result in a glitch in which Triss, afterwards, returns to her earlier hideout in The Bits and stays there. Going to the bathhouse without her will cause the normal cutscene to play and Triss will be there afterward. For that reason, while other dialogue options such as returning her earring are harmless, it's advised to wait until Triss returns to Rosemary and Thyme after rescuing Philippa before activating the Statuette quests.
* There is new loot in a couple of crates at the place where you fight the fire elemental (as well as burnt corpses on the way that contain minor amounts of coin and ashes), even if you have previously cleared the place. While it's possible to collect it after killing the monster, doing so is hard since you'll be in combat mode until you catch Philippa, so you can just go back for it afterwards.
* After the fire elemental is dead, Geralt can examine some rubble and chains that were once supposed to make noise, as part of a mechanic where he really had to sneak up on Philippa. However, that's been cut from the game and despite what the objective says, the sorceress always knows where Geralt is, targeting him with precision.
* After this quest and until Philippa's next scripted appearance, she can be found in the room next to Ciri's, but will only be laying on the bed the entire time and can't be interacted with in any way.
== Videos ==
File:The Witcher 3 Fire Elemental Boss Fight (Hard Mode)
File:The Witcher 3 Philippa Eilhart Boss Fight (Hard Mode)
File:Blindingly Obvious - The Witcher 3 DEATH MARCH! Part 108 - Let's Play Hard
Category:The Witcher 3 main quests
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