Crime and Punishment

**Crime and Punishment** is a side quest in *Weird West*. During their travel, the protagonists might encounter a talking statuette who claims to be someone that was cursed by an Oneirist. It asks the protagonist to find another oneirist to break the curse. The location of the statuette is random but it's usually surrounded by candles and can generally be found in:

* Graveyards
* Dead-ends of tunnels
* In underground caves accessible through wells in farms.
* Carrion Birds Random Encounter
* Inside a cave in the Sacred Protector Random Encounter

## Walkthrough

### Finding an Oneirist

After accepting the quest, the protagonist must find an oneirist who's willing to break the Statuette's curse. There are three ways to enlist the help of an oneirist:

* Oneirists can usually be found at Temple of the Ancients, which are usually located in desert area. The quickest way is to locate Oleander Temple in the northern part of Gravedust Waste or Somnolence in the El Castillo Desert since the location of other temples are usually random and most of them are abandoned. Once the oneirists are found, talk to a Disciple (not the Initiates who wear hoods) and persuade her to either free or destroy the Statuette (the choices at this point don't matter as the protagonist can make the final choice later).
* During the Profane Ritual random encounter, talk to the lead oneirist of the group. When the wraith attacks make sure she survives.
* Take on a bounty on an oneirist, find her, knock her out then capture her alive. After that she will offer to help with the quest in exchange for her freedom. This is the only available option if the Oneirists are hostile toward the Protagonist.

### Finding Dreamer's Vervains

After enlisting an oneirist, she will mark the location of a Ritual Site on the map and the protagonist will have to find 7 dreamer's vervains, which usually grow in location haunted by Wraiths. These locations can be abandoned haciendas, abandoned mines, caves, or A Glow Among the Trees random encounter, the last of which has a higher chance to trigger in forests. The flowers can be looted from wraiths as well, so make sure to check their remains.

The oneirists' headquarter, Somnolence, also has plenty of Dreamer's Vervains but in order to gain access to the temple, a sigil stone is needed. Oneirists have have a good chance to drop sigil stones, but harming them would make all oneirists hostile, including the oneirist who is helping the protagonist. An easier way is to find an abandoned temple, usually found in desert locations (they are either labeled as Oneirist Temple or Oasis). There are usually outlaws guarding these places and they should have a sigil stone with them. After gaining access to Somnolence, go to the dreaming tree at the south west corner (there are many hostile rats here), and loot the dreamer's vervains there.

Other locations that have dreamer's vervain:

* Canker: one is on a clifftop, where the grave of Ruth Bough's father is, only accessible from the Pigman Journey and onward.
* The town in The Strangeness quest, only accessible in the Oneirist Journey.
* In the Howling Hatch random encounter, only accessible from the Protector Journey and onward.
* In the Wanderer Outpost in the Ridgeback Wilds.

### The Ritual

After gathering enough dreamer's vervains, travel to the Ritual Site, give the statuette and the flowers to the oneirist. Here the protagonist can make one final decision to either free or destroy the statuette.

## Outcomes

* If the statuette is freed, it will be transformed into a wraith called Bloodstained Soul and it will also become a Friend for Life.
	+ Shortly after, a news article reports travelers being butchered by an assailant that can seemingly walk through walls.
	+ The Carrion Birds random encounter starts to have Dreamer's Vervains around the map and objects hanging in suspension, suggesting the caravan was slaughtered by the wraith.
	+ Eventually, when the protagonist travels to a side quest location (usually a farm), they can find all the inhabitants of that location slaughtered by Bloodstained Soul, which likely makes the quest fail. The wraith also left a letter to the protagonist in the mailbox of this location.
* Choosing the to destroy the statuette will also make it turn into a wraith before being vanquished, leaving behind a few Junk items. The oneirist also praises the protagonist for making the right decision.

## Trivia

* After declining to help the statuette, it will say that the protagonist is the first person it managed to "lure" here without being eaten by monsters.
* There is a unique dialogue if Constance Driftwood is the person accepting the quest from the statuette. The statuette recognizes her red robe and says that she's a "rookie", thus another, more experienced Oneirist is needed to break the curse.

## Gallery

The statuette persuading Jane to free it.Where Dreamer's Vervains can be found in Somnolence.Free at last.