Hah! Got the cursed toad! In the end, I switched to Igni and that was what brought him down. I'm now in Ofieri...

Is it bad that I'm playing Witcher 3 in my dreams??!!

I hear the music in my head a lot. The one that pops up the most is that pretty Oxenfurt music.

Now I understand why the wedding gave you such a chuckle! And it's so nice to see those points racking up - already hit level 32...

Hoo boy... I see what you mean by the Caretaker! I did manage to get in in small amount of damage before he killed me, but I can see I need to get more than my Level 36 under my belt.

He's a beast.

It's a completely tactical fight and a tough one. I didn't find him any easier with higher levels. Again, I fought on a lower level, worked out the tactics and tried -- more then five times -- on the higher difficulty and finally beat him.

To me he's the absolute hands-down hardest fight in the whole game.

When he crouches after an attack, he is vulnerable for a couple of seconds if you can get in a swipe or two. Quen will stop his attack from causing damage, and then he crouches. My biggest problem was that when I jumped away from his attack, I was too far to rush in and whack him.

I also read that the Doppler decoction is invaluable in this fight. But where the heck do I get a Doppler mutagen unless I kill Dudu!

I've never made the Doppler mutagen, either. The shifters are harmless and Geralt only kills monsters. There are no evil shifters in the game.

I know. I won't be making any Doppler decoction for sure. I've decided to go ahead and head for the Isle of Mists - assuming I can get through the Siren attack!

I just Yrden/Quen'ed them all. Pesty things. They remind me of the Cliff Racers in Morrowind.

I rather enjoyed using Igni on them too. Underwater, I would just finish them off with the crossbow. Got through the Isle of Mists. Darned near as engrossing as TWD!

Yes, this is truly one of the best games around.

I've taken a break for a while to get some packing and purging done around this house. Also I have to give my wrist a break -- I broke the base of my thumb while salmon fishing about ten years ago and every now and then it acts up. It's quite painful.

Sounds like your wrist needs a break for sure! Does weather affect it?

I'm having fun running around in Toussaint killing level 43 arachnomorphs and the giant Spriggen has been dispatched. The poor besotted Knight Francois however, did not survive.

I've already upgraded one of the branches in the enhanced abilities.

I love Toussaint. Sounds like you've caught up to me!

I managed to save the knight, but it tool me several tries.

The joints in my hands are definitely affected by the weather. I've been taking my CBD oil, which usually makes it improve over a few days. It that doesn't work I'll move on to Advil. I should be back in action in a few days.

I know you're taking a break, but I just outfitted Geralt in a complete set of Griffen Grandmaster Crafted armor and swords! I have all the Wolven diagrams too. Had to go back to Kaer Moren to get the ones there.

My hands are feeling a lot better; I decided not to shovel my driveway because that would have made them hurt even more. I use CBD oil and it works most of the time, though it takes a few days.

I'm wearing Griffin, too, and planning on finding every single armour diagram in the game. Some of the other sets look better than Griffin, but to my mind it's the best armour for the way I play. I started playing again today. The Gaunter O'Dimm music started playing in my head yesterday and I knew it was time to come back.

Right now I'm about to help Regis find Detlaff. Earlier today I helped the spoon-obsessed Wraith. These little stories within stories are so much fun!

I've almost cleared the map, but I have to do the tourney race, which I absolutely hate.

I've found all the armour diagrams, but am loving the wide spreading Yrden with the Griffen set. Love the "Yrden = dead Slyzard" with nary a slash from my sword! I may try a couple of the others, but this one is really working well. It was especially helpful for the tough wraith at the "Other than that, how did you enjoy the play?" quest.

I have figured out what I need to do to defeat The Caretaker, but haven't been back to try for a day or so. After his third attack, I go hammer him, but still haven't managed a defeat although I've gotten close a couple of times. Closing in on Level 47.

So glad your hands are feeling better. I'm sure the snow shoveling would have rendered them useless for awhile!

The Caretaker is the absolute worst. It's one of those fights that start out feeling like a fun challenge and end up being a dire slog that you have to get past to get to the rest of the game.

Perfect description. Just a dire slog... I remember one like that in the sewers in the first Witcher. Just a slog... I find it helps a tiny bit to play fights like this one without sound.

You can always play it on the easiest setting if you get frustrated with it. I did that the first time I played the game, just to get past it.

If I can't get past him soon, that's what I'm going to do.

I never play for the achievements anyway.

I finally just did it the easy way just because I was bored with him! I don't play for the achievements either.

The first time I beat him on the normal level I think the fight took me over 10 minutes, maybe longer. On Blood and Bones it was endless. I was just about to give up and drop the difficulty when I finally nailed him. In future I'll just go straight to the easy level.

I tried first in Story and Sword, but quickly got bored and just moved the slider to Story and just got it DONE so I could move on. Olgierd definitely has an interesting story. I was glad defeating O'Dimm was relatively easy.

Still sticking with the Griffin armor set, but I've got enough money to have another set crafted. I may try the Wolven armor set.

I just read another note or journal at a bandit camp I just wiped out. The "colorful" name-calling has made me laugh so many time... so, ummmm... creative!