Scenes From a Marriage is another quest given by Olgierd von Everec in the Hearts of Stone expansion pack of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
This is the third difficult task that Olgierd gives you to complete. You must find a violet rose that he gave his wife, Iris, before she died.
Scenes From a Marriage follows the previous two nearly-impossible tasks: Dead Man’s Party where you must bring Olgierd’s dead brother back to life and Open Sesame! where you must bring Olgierd Maximilian Borsodi’s house.
The following guide will tell you where and how to get the violet rose in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
How to start the quest
The quest will start automatically as soon as you complete the first two tasks. Head to The Alchemy Inn in the southeastern corner of the Oxenfurt harbor and meet with Olgierd when you are ready.
Scenes From a Marriage walkthrough
The search for the violet rose will naturally begin at the von Everec Estate on the northeast side of their family crypt.
Upon reaching the estate, you will find a thief looking for his missing partner. The thief will run away after seeing you move into the property.
You can start your examination from the front area of the estate but you will find no clue about the violet rose. Move toward the front door of the estate, initiating a cut scene. The scene will show a trail of a dragged body and some footsteps going toward the back area of the estate.
Open the back area door, and wait for the cutscene to finish. You can examine the lock of the missing thief or just follow the trail to reach the dead body of the thief. There you will find the Caretaker, an eyeless monster, who killed the thief.
Kill the Caretaker
The Caretaker should not be taken lightly. Most of his abilities let him heal for large amounts of health, so you cannot drag this fight for long.
Firstly know that the Caretaker heals himself after landing every hit on you. However, if he hits your Quen shield, he will not heal, so make sure to keep your shield up at all times.
Secondly, the Caretaker summons dark spirits that help him heal extensively. These spirits need to be put down as quickly as possible.
All of the Caretaker’s attacks are pretty slow and easily predictable. You need to dodge his attacks to prevent him from healing. The best time to attack him is when his shovel gets stuck in the ground. It takes a few seconds before he is able to pull the shovel out. Use this time to land as many hits on him as possible.
Once you have successfully defeated the Caretake, the possibly demonic cat and dog will have a brief conversation with you before giving you a key to get inside the estate.
However, do not go in just yet. You can choose to loot the Caretaker’s Spade if you want, though it is not really that good of a weapon to have in The Witcher 3.
More important than the spade is the ornamented brush of Iris. Head to the southeast corner of the garden and check under the gazebo for the quest item. This is one of three items that you can later put on Iris’ grave.
Kill the Wraith from the Painting
Iris’ ghostly voice will be echoing throughout the estate when you make your way inside the house.
In the first room that you are able to enter, you will see a Wraith in a painting. Make sure to pick up Iris’ sketchbook from the table in this room. This is the second of three items that you can later choose to put on Iris’ grave.
Head to the second floor and as you enter the hallway, the Wraith from the Painting will attack you. This Wraith is a bit different from the usual ones.
When she lets out a scream, a random painting in the room will start to glow green. You need to attack this glowing painting or else the Wraith will start to heal. If you do not, the Wraith from the Painting will go through the painting to get all of her health back.
Once the Wraith is dead, make your way into the bedroom of Iris. Before examining her, pick up the Portrait of Iris and Olgierd from the table as the second of three items to place on her grave. Now, you can examine her remains which will move you downstairs after a cutscene.
It is time to properly bury Iris. Get out and final the grave spot near the tree in the corner. Place one of the three items you picked earlier. Your choice will not impact the storyline in any way.
You can now summon the spirit of Iris who will create a magical painting of the estate. Follow her inside the new, painted world.
Unlock Iris’ memories
Your next step will be to fully awaken Iris. To do that, you must unlock a total of seven memories. Each memory needs to be reenacted to unlock.
You will need to find missing objects and elements and place them in their right places to complete each scene.
Take note that there is an eighth memory here to unlock as well for which you will get the Curator of Nightmares achievement/trophy in The Witcher 3.
Once you are done, there will be one final memory to unlock but for which you must solve multiple puzzles.
| Scene | How To Solve |
|---|---|
| Courtyard gazebo | The painter’s palette needs to be on the table, and the book in Olgier’s hand. |
| The fountain | The wooden cup needs to be in Iris’ hand. |
| The dinner table | Light the fireplace and all of the candlesticks, except the one furthest away from the fireplace just as in the painting. |
| The bedroom | Place the bloody towel next to Olgierd. |
| The painting studio | Place the grapes on the left, the goblet in the middle, and the apples on the right. |
| Olgierd’s study | Read either the Blood Pacts or On Foreign Presences book. Find and use the chalk to draw a circle. Put candles on its borders, not inside. When the fire starts, use the winter painting to escape and then head for the cellar doors close to the main stairs. |
| The cellar | Place the marriage contract in Iris’ father’s hands and the mug in Olgierd’s. |
| The dining room | Place the large bowl in front of the dog, the small bowl in front of the car, and the food tray in the Caretaker’s hands. |
Defeat the ethereals
The final memory reveals that Olgierd left a rose and a letter for Iris to say that he was leaving her because he no longer wanted to hurt her any further.
As you read through the letter, Iris’ greatest fear will appear in the ethereal form of her beloved husband, rushing and attacking you.
There are a total of six ethereals in the room but only one will be active from the start. If you attack any of the other ethereals, they will come to life as well.
You have to isolate the single ethereal in the corner of the room to ensure not to awaken the others. When you kill the first ethereal, a second will become active and come after you. In this way, you have to kill all six ethereals.
If you activate and defeat all six ethereals at once, you will unlock the When It’s Many Against One achievement/trophy in the game.
Decide to leave or take the rose
You finally get to meet Iris who will be holding a violet rose in her hand. You now have two options. You can either take the rose with you but risk Iris’ existence in the world, or leave the rose with Iris.
If you decide to leave the rose with Iris, certain events will take place. The cat and the dog will bind themselves with Iris, watching over her as they used to. You will leave the painted world through a portal and Iris will go back to sleep.
Upon arriving in the real world, you will find a painting in which Iris will be holding a violet-colored rose. You need to take the painting back to Everec.
If you choose to take the rose from Iris, the cat and dog will be free from their duties. They will give you some advice, alerting you against O’Dimm.
Iris will hand over the rose to you willingly and the painted world will start to fall apart, you will leave it before it completely disappears.
No matter what you choose, you will earn 500 XP, and the quest will complete. To leave the estate just go toward the broken wall located on the north side of the main gate where you first met the running thief.
