The Witcher 3: Scenes from a Marriage Walkthrough

This guide will walk you through every step and objective for the main quest Scenes from a Marriage, part of the storyline of The Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone Expansion!

How to start Scenes from a Marriage

Scenes from a Marriage is a main quest, part of the Hearts of Stone expansion to The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt. To access the content from this expansion, you have to purchase it either as a bundle or as a separate DLC purchase.

If you get The Complete Edition in digital or physical format, released in December 2022 digitally and in January 2023 physically, you will gain access to all of the content in the game, including the two expansions.

The Scenes from a Marriage quest is near the end of the storyline of Hearts of Stone. In it Geralt is tasked to go to the von Everec manor, which is in Velen, northeast of Oxenfurt and east of Novigrad. The manor is in the right-most end on the map.

You have to go there to find and pick up a flower, which is the third and final wish you have to complete on behalf of Gaunter O’Dimm for Olgierd von Everec.

This guide will walk you through all of the objectives and will help you solve all puzzles and defeat all bosses in this quite long mission.

The recommended level to do this quest is 35. You can, of course, do it at a lower level if you wish to. There are a few tough encounters in this quest, so be mindful. I personally find it extremely hard to be below level 36-38. You should be at least level 36 unless you have skipped two-thirds of the content of the base game for some reason.

How to prepare for the quest

Scenes from a Marriage is a very long quest and it includes three boss fights and several small encounters with “regular” enemies. I recommend you meditate before you start, get your potions, best witcher gear and stack up on food and repair kits.

In the Painted World, you will not be able to meditate. Though, if you attempt it, you will still get all of your potions restored. If you play on a lower difficulty mode, this will heal you as well.

There is no one combo to win it all, so I can’t recommend a certain Potion or Decoction over another, but here is a selection of items I personally always take with me for this quest (and many others):

Ekhidna Decoction
Archgriffin Decoction
Tawny Owl Potion
Thunderbolt Potion
Swallow Potion
White Raffard’s Decoction
Specter Oil
Dancing Star bomb

You can learn how and where to get all of these from our Potions Catalog, Decoctions Catalog and Oils Catalog guides.

Entering and exploring the manor’s front yard

When you arrive at the marker, on the northern property wall, you will see a giant hole in it and a thief standing next to it, calling for his friend Kendrick.

During the cinematic scene wit the robber NPC, you will spot a shady figure in the yard, dressed all in black and with a hood. That’s one of the bosses in this quest – the Caretaker. One of the best-designed small-role side characters in the expansion, maybe in the whole game.

In the northern yard of the estate, you can explore a few key locations to hear Geralt commenting on the state of the estate. They are not mandatory to progress the quest. Going to the southern part of the yard will progress the quest for you.

So, the following few paragraphs are optional. If you prefer to go to the next major step of the quest, skip to the next segment of this guide.

When you enter, use your Witcher senses to find a few key locations in the yard. First, right in front of you, you will notice that someone is still tending to the flower beds.

Next, turn a little to your left and examine the decorative fountain and the old wooden bench.

Next to the bench, you will see an old grave and a black dog. That dog is special, but more on that later.

On the other side of the main entrance staircase, you can inspect the dormant, yet well-maintained bee hives.

Next, head north to the elevated terrace. Inspect the wooden stand and remember this location. It will play an important role later in the story. It is located in the northwest end of the estate.

After you inspect all of these, Geralt will make a comment that maybe the violet rose is perhaps somewhere out in the backyard.

Find Kendrick’s Trail

Head to the main entrance of the manor and inspect the trail of blood. It leads to the backyard. As soon as you go to the backyard, a short cinematic will play where Geralt talks to the Black Cat and hears the sound of someone digging with a shovel.

As a matter of fact, you can go to the backyard before you find the blood trail of Kendrick. It doesn’t matter.

Find and defeat the Caretaker

In the backyard, you will find the same shady figure that you spotted from the broken wall. This is the Caretaker. The first boss encounter in the von Everec manor.

As Geralt approaches the Caretaker, he will comment on the mutilated body of the other thief – Kendrick. This happens during a short cinematic, which reveals the Caretaker’s identity and starts the fight with him.

I have an in-depth guide on how to defeat The Caretaker. In short, avoid his telegraphed attacks and destroy any ghosts that he may spawn as they heal him when he consumes them.

After you defeat this creature, while Geralt is wondering how this thing was even alive with no nostrils and eyes, the cat and dog will approach and tell him what’s happening here. These two are clearly not normal animals.

The animals will point Geralt to the second floor of the manor. In the bedroom, Geralt is to find Iris. The cat will give Geralt a key to the rear door.

Before you proceed to the next objective, pick up the Shovel that the Caretaker was using in the fight against you. It’s actually a weapon!

If you go to the fountain in the back, Geralt will make a comment on the neatly structured graves where the Caretaker has been putting other visitors in the past.

You can also find a few more objects to inspect in the backyard, near and inside Gardner’s hut.

Enter the House to find Iris in her bedroom

As you enter the house from the rear door, turn left and pass through the door. A cinematic will trigger.

On the table in the middle of the room, you will find Iris’ Sketchbook. On the wall on the other side of the room, there is a glowing green cloud stemming as if from the painting. This is a hint of what’s to come – the second boss encounter with the Wraith from the Painting, but it comes later. Go pick up Iris’ Sketchbook.

The last room you can check out on the ground floor is the dining room. Geralt will comment on the tidy and clean table, as if it was just set up for dining. The Caretaker has been doing his job all this time, it seems. The dining room is in the eastern end of the house.

From the main room, take the stairs up to the second floor. A jump-scare will greet you as you set foot on the second floor. Iris will jump from the painting on the wall in front od you.

Inspect the paintings in this hallway and enter the room on the southeast end of the floor. It’s the only one you can enter.

Step out on the balcony and enter the other adjacent room through it. Walk to the next hallway. This is where you will have to fight the ghost of Iris for real.

Defeat the Wrath from the Painting

As you walk through the door from the small bedroom into the hallway, you will trigger the second boss fight in the Scenes of a Marriage quest. Here you will have to defeat the Wraith from the Painting.

Approach the fight as if you fight a normal wraith. Be mindful of her self-healing ability. When a painting on the wall lights up green, destroy that painting to prevent the boss from healing up.

I have an in-depth guide on how to beat the Wraith from the Painting. In it you will find more details on how to prepare for the fight, how to avoid and neutralize the boss’s basic and special attacks and how to beat her easily and most efficiently on any difficulty.

You may have noticed that during this fight, Geralt is transported in something like an alternative realm. The hallway is much longer and wider during the fight. All the rubble is gone and the area is clear. After you defeat the Wraith, you will get back to the manor’s normal hallway.

Examine Iris’ bedroom

After the fight with the Wraith, enter Iris’ bedroom. In the far corner, pick up the portrait of Iris and Olgierd. It’s next to the fireplace.

You will find the corpse of Iris on the bed.

Now, go to the bed and examine the body. A cinematic will start where Geralt talks to the two animals, blaming them for not telling him the truth about Iris. Exhaust the dialogue options to learn what happened to Iris.

Where to bury Iris

You have to now find a fitting spot to bury Iris. If you have done all the steps in the guide so far, you probably know the correct location.

Go to the northwest end of the front yard of the estate, to the terrace. That’s the same spot where you examined the old rotten painting stand earlier.

It doesn’t matter what you chose while burying her body. It also matters not which of the items, you have collected previously during this quest, will be placed on her grave. Any of them will trigger the next step without any consequences, apart from an original comment from Iris about the chosen item.

After this cinematic, you will enter the Painted World.

Explore the Painted World and Restore all Memories

As you enter the painted world, the world Iris created for herself, you will have to restore a few memories both inside the house and in the yard. Solving these mini-puzzles will wake Iris and allow you to talk to her, which is what you need to proceed with the quest.

Note that in some of the places you will find more items than you need to restore the memories. In the segments below I am only pointing out the locations and names of the items you need to pick up. The rest have no meaning and do not enrich the story at all. They turn into trash after you complete the quest.

How to restore the Painting Memory

As you finish the cinematic scene, turn around and get back to the terrace. You will see Iris drawing a painting and Olgied sitting behind her.

To complete this memory, find the missing pieces and put them in the correct places.

On the wooden fence of the gazebo, there is a book. Pick it up and put it in Olgierd’s hands. On the other side of the gazebo, find and pick up the Painter’s palette. Place it on the table next to Iris.

Random Encounters

From the first memory on the terrace, walk next to the wall to the well and turn right. Enter the garden. On the main path to the house, you will have to fight a few level 24 Spiders. These are actually Specters, not real spiders.

There will also be a couple of swarms in the northernmost area of the garden. You can burn them with Igni or just run away from them.

How to restore the Fountain Memory

Next to the fountain in the garden, you will see another incomplete memory. Iris and Olgierd are talking about something. Pick up the cup from the border of the fountain and place it in Iris’ hand.

As the cinematic ends, you will spot another Specter spider. This is a big one and it is accompanied by a few small specters. Defeat them.

How to restore the Dining Room Memory

Inside the house, on the ground floor, in the dining room, there will be another memory for you to restore. Here you see Iris and her family dining on the table.

To restore the memory, match the surroundings to what you see in the large painting on the wall.

Light up the candles, but not all of them. Light up the middle one and the one closest to the fireplace. After the cinematic, you will have to defeat a Specter human figure level 34. Nothing special, really. Then the door will open with another nightmarish specter showing you the way. Follow it.

How to restore the Bed Chamber Memory

On the second floor, inside the main bedroom, you have another memory to restore. In this one, you have Iris sitting on the bed and Olgierd washing something on the sink on the wall opposite the bed.

Pick up the bloody tower from the floor and place it in Olgierd’s hands to solve this puzzle and start the memory.

How to restore the Painting Room Memory

In the next room, you will see Iris painting Olgierd next to a tray of fruits and a silver goblet. Pick up the glass (goblet) next to Iris and the bowl of fruits from the table behind Iris.

Inspect the painting Iris is working on and put the items in the correct slots on the tray:

• Put the Goblet in the middle.
• Put the Grapes on the left.
• Put the Apple on the right.

As you exit the bedroom, another fight expects you. A few of the human-shaped Specters will ambush you in the hallway. Same hallway where you fought the Wraith boss earlier.

How to restore Olgierd’s Study Memory

In the Study, there is a pentagram inside a circle drawn on the floor. You have to complete this memory by picking up the chalk from the cabinet and the candles from the cabinet on the opposite side of the room, next to the window.

Inspect the pentagram and fix it by placing candles on the circle surrounding the pentagram (third choice).

In the Frozen Painted World

After you restore the memory in the Study, a cinematic plays and after it ends, you will start choking from the fire in the room. Run to the painting that is projecting snow and interact with it. This will teleport you into the Frozen Painted World.

You will find yourself on the same terrace where Iris’ painting was, where you buried her and where you witnessed the first restored memory of her and Olgierd.

Run towards the cellar. Its entrance is to the right from the main staircase of the house.

How to restore the Marriage Contract Argument Memory

As you enter the cellar, find and pick up the Marriage contract, which is a few steps from Iris in this unfinished memory puzzle. Near Olgierd, on the floor, find and pick up the cup. Put the Marriage contract in the hands of Iris’ father and the cup in Olgierd’s hand to restore this memory.

Three Specter ghouls will spawn after the memory cinematic ends. They are nothing special, just normal level 34 enemies.

How to restore the second Dining Room Memory

Go upstairs. In the dining room at the eastern end on the ground floor, you will encounter another memory. This is a different one than the previous you already solved in the same dining room.

Here are the items you need to find and where to put them to solve this puzzle and restore the memory:

• Get the Large Bowl from the floor and put it in front of the dog.
• Pick up the Small Bowl from the table in the corner and put it in front of the cat.
• Get the Food Tray from the table near the fireplace and put it in the hands of the Caretaker.

Iris’ Greatest Fear: Olgierd Specters Boss Fight

After you solve all of the mini puzzles and restore all memories, head to the room on the other side of the hall with the staircase and read the letter you will find on the table there.

This triggers the final cinematic before you are thrown into a room with six monstrous creatures that resemble Olgierd von Everec in an ethereal form. This is probably the most challenging boss fight in the entire game.

I have a great in-depth guide on how to defeat Iris’ Greatest Fear. Here are a few tips for you here as well: Fight the creatures one by one by dragging them away from the rest. use Aard right as they attack with the red animation special attack. This will stun them for a few seconds. The Blizzard potion is slows them down.

If you want to fight them all at the same time, you can unlock the “When it’s Many Against One…” hidden achievement.

I suggest you either do it on lower difficulty or attempt it on your second playthrough. It’s a tough fight for a first run. I admit I could not do it on my first playthrough back in 2016.

Talk to Iris and get the Violet Rose

After you defeat Iris’ Greatest Fear, you will finally get to meet and talk to Iris. This is the”human” Iris, not a Wraith or a corpse. In the conversation with her you have two choices: let Iris keep the Violet Rose or take the rose from her.

What happens if you let Iris keep the Violet Rose

If you allow Iris to keep the flower to herself, two two demons (yes, they are demons indeed), the cat and the dog, will continue to be bound by their duties and forced to remain at her side to guard her and watch over her.

In this outcome, Geralt will cut out a portion of the painting from the terrace showing Iris holding the Violet Rose. When you give this to Olgierd later, you will get unique dialogue as he is angry that this is not actually what he expected and asked you to bring him.

What happens if you take the Violet Rose from Iris

If you chose to take the flower from Iris, she will give it to you willingly. The two demons (the cat and the dog) will be freed and in gratitude, they will give you a hint that may be useful for the final riddle encounter with Gaunter O’Dimm: “Seek salvation in glass that cannot be broken.”

SPOILERS FOR THE FINAL QUEST BELOW:
This line is a hint to seek the water as the answer to the final quest of the expansion. You have to solve a riddle to capture and defeat Gaunter O’Dimm in his realm. This becomes available if you choose to protect Olgierd in the final meeting between you, him and O’Dimm. You see the reflection of Gaunter O’Dimm in the water at the end of the path inside some ruins.

I hope you have found this incredibly detailed guide to the main quest Scenes from a Marriage helpful and interesting to read through. Good luck on the Path, witchers!