The Sunstone is a main quest in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and a subquest necessary to complete for Battle Preparations.
It is started immediately after your party's ship arrives in Skellige.
Walkthrough[]
You'll first need to find Ermion and ask him for a lead on where to look for the Sunstone. However, this plays out differently depending on who became the ruler of Skellige.
An Craite ruler[]
If either Cerys or Hjalmar became the ruler, then you'll first need to ask Crach where to find Ermion. The jarl will be nearby, so it's convenient do that immediately even if you plan to do another quest first. When talked to, he will tell you that the druid went to speak with Madman Lugos.
Note: As of Patch 4.0, the talk with Crach is the cutoff point for playing gwent with Madman Lugos for Gwent: Skellige Style.
Head to Kaer Muire where you'll find Ermion and Lugos arguing. Geralt will interject and, regardless of your dialogue choice, the Madman lives up to his moniker and orders an attack. You'll will have to kill him and around 10 of his warriors; Ermion will help, but is mostly a distraction. When the fighting is over, follow Ermion a long way down the road, through Holmstein and then some distance north before you can actually speak to him.
Svanrige king[]
If Svanrige Tuirseach became king, Ermion will be at the Kaer Trolde citadel. As you approach the hall there, you'll encounter a furious Donar who will tell Geralt about Birna Bran's scheme to make a deal with Nilfgaard, after which you find her, Svanrige and all the jarls around a table with a Nilfgaardian emissary.
Svanrige defies his mother and kills the emissary, starting a battle with the Nilfgaardian soldiers around, who you now must help defeat. When the fight is over, Ermion will speak to you.
Eyvind and the pearl divers[]
Ermion doesn't know where the sunstone is, but directs you to two parties interested in elven legends - a skald named Eyvind and some shady pearl divers known to loot elven treasures. He also suggests that you bring a sorceress with you.
Eyvind will be on a cliff west of Arinbjorn, on a lookout for Gevorg, a legendary white whale. There will be two timed dialogue choices while you speak to him. The first is whether to alert him when Gevorg appears, but that one is irrelevant and he'll never see it even if you do. Eyvind will then ask why you want to visit the elven ruins, and you have to avoid mentioning Ermion during any part of the conversation, as he doesn't want you to defile still preserved elven sites and will refuse to help. If this happens, you will have no choice but to find the pearl divers.
Note: If you wish to complete all objectives, you can just mention Ermion to Eyvind, causing him to refuse help (still marks as green) and then move on to the pearl divers.
The pearl divers are in an underwater cavern on the eastern shore near the road to Eldberg Lighthouse. If you're having trouble finding them, you have to find an entrance under the water where their boat is. They will just give you the information you need. Once the conversation is over, you will be attacked by a few drowners, though you can just run away from them.
Regardless of how, you'll be directed to the Ancient Crypt and it's time to go see Yennefer. She'll be talking to Philippa and Ciri, who wants to visit Avallac'h's lab instead. Philippa will take the initiative to help Geralt with the Sunstone, so Yen can go with Ciri. After the conversation, the Child of the Elder Blood quest starts and you can do that first if you wish.
The Ancient Crypt[]
If you already have the Ancient Crypt your map you can just fast travel there; it has both harbor and signpost markers. Philippa will be waiting by the entrance and will open it once you approach. Proceed with the search and follow the sorceress. Along the way you can take a small detour where a wraith will spawn, but either way soon you will encounter a Siren and some drowners protecting her. After taking care of them you can use the Igni Place of power nearby.
Just a bit ahead you will find a ruined staircase, which Philippa will promptly fix. The path will split here and if you go left you will encounter a Venomous arachas guarding a few worthwhile chests, as well as a hidden treasure with spikes coming out of the floor. You can use Witcher Senses to see where the spikes are to pass safely, and/or you can use Quen for extra protection and try to jump over. Casting Aard or Igni will cause to the spikes to briefly extend, allowing you to see a safe path. Once you are on the other side pull the lever to turn them off, then go back to Philippa when you are done.
The right path will take you to a Golem and when it's dead, you can get a Naevde Seidhe in the side room here. A bit further ahead Philippa will talk to Geralt about Yennefer and Ciri. There's another detour nearby with some Wild Hunt warrior ghosts guarding small treasures behind a door, but eventually you will reach the room where the Sunstone is and you have to solve a puzzle before it is revealed.
The mirrors puzzle[]
The goal is to achieve a single beam of light through mirror reflections. The light starts from the central crystal, is reflected to each mirror, and ends near a secret door on the platform where Philippa will now be standing. The easiest way to do this is to trace the beam of light from the central crystal to the first mirror it reflects off of. It is the only mirror to have multiple beams being reflected, on the right side. Once at this mirror, pull the lever to rotate it so the beam now reflects only to the mirror on it's right. Proceed from there and you should only have to rotate the other two mirrors once, though they are guarded by a ghost each.
When you're done, the the beam goes in the direction of where Philippa is standing, causing the The Sunstone to appear. After making your way over to Philippa, a cutscene will trigger in which she continues her political schemes, though the dialog differs slightly depending on your choices for romance. Philippa then gives Geralt the Sunstone and flies away as an owl, ending the quest. (500
)
However, you still need to exit the ruins. You can go back the way you came, but there are more treasures ahead using the secret door that is now open. There are also some chests among the ruins where the puzzle was. If you continue ahead, you'll have to fight a few more ghosts and will exit through an illusion north of Rogne.
Journal entry[]
- Geralt knew he could only defeat Eredin with the help of mages and on his own terms. Since the King of the Wild Hunt was traveling on the Naglfar, the spectral vessel known from Skellige legend, somewhere between worlds, our heroes had to summon him back and somehow cut off his escape route. Such a feat could only be performed by a group of mages acting in concert and aided by a legendary elven artifact - the Sunstone.
- The emperor's flagship was anchored in Skellige's waters when Geralt arrived. His Imperial Majesty would preside over the battle in person - but more important to Geralt was the prisoner he held on his ship, the Nilfgaardian sorceress Fringilla Vigo, whose aid could turn the tide of Ciri's defense. Geralt thus asked the Emhyr to lend him his captive sorceress. Though Fringilla was a suspected traitor, Emhyr agreed.
- Geralt overcame countless obstacles and found the Sunstone - a feat which, to give credit where it's due, would have been impossible without the help of Philippa Eilhart. Everyone knew what this meant: the preparations for the great battle against the Wild Hunt had come to an end, and what would follow their activation of the Sunstone would determine the fate of the world.
Objectives[]
- Unless Svanrige is king of Skellige:
- Ask Crach where Ermion is.
- Talk to Ermion.
- Defeat Lugos' men.
- Talk to Ermion outside of Madman Lugos' territory.
- If Svanrige is king of Skellige:
- Talk to Ermion.
- Talk to the bard known as Eyvind.
- Find and talk to the pearl diver.
- Talk to Yennefer.
- Meet Philippa in the elven ruins.
- Explore the elven ruins with Philippa Eilhart.
- Exterminate the monsters.
- Explore the elven ruins with Philippa Eilhart.
- Set up the mirror system properly.
- Examine the Sunstone. (500
)
Notes[]
- While Madman Lugos usually dies during this quest, you can still get his unique Gwent card. See Gwent: Skellige Style for more info.
- While the quest will progress once you successfully learn the location of the cave from either the bard or the pearl divers, you can still visit the remaining location and complete the interactions there prior to going to Yennefer. Putting a marker on the map prior to visiting either location is a good way to remember where to go.
- It is advised to explore the caves, as there are a number of good loot chests in nooks and crannies, including on the way to the exit on the other side, so it is better not to go back the way you came. Make sure to clean up your inventory before entering the crypt, as the loot easily amounts to upwards of 70 weight when swords dropped from the ghosts are counted.
- The Siren encountered at the crypt is a special one (somewhat similar to Melusine) and even has unique dialogue if you are able to reach her without Philippa at your side to translate. However, doing that is impossible without console commands or mods.
Bugs[]
- In the case where Svanrige is king, Geralt can ask Ermion about Cerys and Hjalmar and the druid will reply that they went together on a raid against Nilfgaard and neither has returned, implying that they've died and their character entries are updated to "confirm" this. However, if King's Gambit was completed by leaving the siblings to investigate on their own, both can be found and talked to in their rooms at Kaer Trolde just a short walk away after the conversation with Ermion.
Videos[]
