Mercy is Power is a Quest in Divinity: Original Sin II. Finding Windego, the old woman who blew up the ship back in the prologue, you are offered the choice to help her in Arx. Will you do so?
Important NPCs
Mercy is Power Objectives
- Encounter Windego in the Sallow Man's Camp and kill her.
- Encounter her again in Arx, in the lower level of the Magister's Prison.
- Speak to her.
- Give her the Swornbreaker weapon to sever her ties with the God-King (optional).
Mercy is Power Walkthrough
Deep inside the Sallow Man's camp, you will find a letter in the war room about Windego, the witch who blew up the ship bringing you to Fort Joy and attacked you outside the Fort. You will meet her in person again on the Nameless Isle, this time as a skeleton, and she will attack you, again. Kill her and cast spirit vision. Talking to her yields no real answers except that she is sworn to the God-King. After the conversation, her spirit will disappear.
In The Arx you will meet Windego once more, this time in the deep below the Magister's prison. To get there, you will first need to persuade two Paladins to allow you to pass the locked door and head downstairs. Attempting to teleport past the locked gate will render the guards hostile, if spotted.
Head downstairs and speak to the Loremaster, where you will once again need to pass a speech check or tell them that you were the one who sent a war owl to the Paladins informing them of the Black Ring collusion with the Magisters back in the Blackpits in Act II in order to speak to Windego.
From here, interact with the device nearby and if you removed your source collar with the help of the blacksmith back in Fort Joy, you will be afforded the option to turn off the switch without spending source points. Speak to Windego and she'll tell you that she is no longer the God-King's favorite chosen - Lord Linder Kemm is. She will then leave, intent on aheading to Lord Kemm's estate to obtain his Swornbreaker, but not before giving you a "Charm Voidwoken" skillbook as a reward first,, along with a choice of Epic-quality loot (level 18).
At this point, if you let her leave without giving her the Swornbreaker and have not freed Arhu yet, you will find her corpse on the upper platform in Arhu's prison area, to the side. Casting Spirit Vision and speaking to her will reveal that her spirit is on the verge of being torn apart by the God-King, and you will have to either consume her source to spare her from that fate (but still damning her all the same), or let the God-King consume her. You can loot her corpse for 2 virtue tokens after; these tokens grant 2 source points each when consumed.
If you stop her before she leaves though, giving her a Swornbreaker to sever her ties with the God-King, she will finally be able to leave for the Hall of Echoes. If you do so, you will be rewarded with a "Charm Voidwoken" skillbook and a choice of Epic-quality loot (level 18). You will still be able to loot her body for 2 virtue tokens if you choose this path.
Either way, the quest is complete, regardless of whether you gave her a Swornbreaker or not. You will receive no XP for finishing the quest.
If you attack her, you can loot her body for the 2 virtue tokens. Killing her grants no XP and also forfeits the skillbook. The quest is complete after she dies.
Notes:
- There are 2 Swornbreaker weapons in-game, one forged with the parts found on the Nameless Isle, along with the tablet back in Driftwood, and one inside Lord Kemm's vault. The one forged with parts scales to your level, so if you are intent on using it, it may be wise to wait until a high level before crafting it.
- If you already looted Kemm's vault including his Swornbreaker before speaking to her, she will still say that she will leave for Kemm's vault to find his Swornbreaker. If you subsequently head back there to meet her, you won't find her there at all. This is considered a good thing, since if you have not looted Kemm's vault before speaking to her and didn't give her the Swornbreaker, she will meet her demise in Arhu's prison.
- You can give her a depleted Swornbreaker with zero durability after using it.
- Conversely you can loot a depleted Swornbreaker with zero durability from her body and use that to free Almira.
- Talking to Wendigo's spirit after freeing her, you will find she does not go to the Hall of Echoes, but rather is being teared apart by the God King. If you have the [SCHOLAR] or [MYSTIC] tag you can wrest her soul away and send her to Void instead.
- You can pickpocket the Swornbreaker from her directly after handing it over before the dialog ends.
- If you drop the Swornbreaker on the ground right before giving it to her, you keep it and can still loot a depleted Swornbreaker from her body
Rewards:
- A "Charm Voidwoken" skillbook upon freeing and talking to her in Arx, completing the quest.
- Additionally, a choice of epic-quality loot (level 18) if you give her a Swornbreaker weapon.
Anonymous"If you drop the Swornbreaker on the ground right before giving it to her, you keep it and can still loot a depleted Swornbreaker from her body"
Not any more possible in Definitive Edition.
- Anonymous
I freed her from the cage in Arx and she instantly became hostile to me wtf?
- Anonymous
Don't know if I'm missing something here, but I don't see how this hasn't been brought up at all yet that there's a fretful rat in the magister barracks that if talked to before freeing Windego grants you 38,800 exp.
- Anonymous
"...after freeing her, you will find she does not go to the Hall of Echoes, but rather is being teared apart by the God King. If you have the [SCHOLAR] or [MYSTIC] tag you can wrest her soul away and send her to Void instead."
PFFFFFFFF AS IF THAT'S ANY BETTER!?
- Anonymous
For DE: You don´t need the swornbreaker to get "cahrm voidwoken"/loot anymore. Just free her and spare her.
- Anonymous
If you want to keep the swornbreaker, just give it to her but don't end the dialogue - right after giving it your other party members will be unlocked from the dialogue and you can pickpocket both the swornbreaker (still ready to use) and the virtue tokens from her. She will still "use" it and the game will still proceed as if she has it.
- Anonymous
In DE, gave Windego the Swornbreaker to breaker her ties, and after she severs her ties, you loot the Swoornbreaker from her body again, although it's 0/20 durability
- Anonymous
Poorly written instructions with messed up order does nothing but confuse. Anyway to clarify (DE version), if you possess either of the Swornbreaker weapons and you engage in dialogue for the first time with Windego you may choose to free her from her cell AND relinquish Swornbreaker in that same interaction. After, her remains will then be nearby beside her cell. As opposed to being anywhere else like the instructions mentions - you don't let her go and attempt to interrupt her, she disappears in an instant when you collect your reward, so this ponit is invalid. Just talk to her once and complete everything: 1) Free her from her cell and receive intel. 2) Give her Swornbreaker. 3) Loot her corpse for the tokens and a broken Swornbreaker that can be also given to Almira if you haven't already. 4) Finally, cast Spirit Vision and talk to her to decide if her soul will be saved or damned from/by the God King. It's as straightforward as that.
- Anonymous
If you don't have the prior swornbreaker in you when you meet Wendigo in the vault, you can easily still save her without Kem executing her.
Do not interact with Arhu. Go immediately to the statue near Arhu. Pick up swornbreaker from statue. Immediately return to Wendigo in the prior vault room. Give her swornbreaker.
Kem won't burst in until after you free Arhu. He's not going anywhere anytime soon.
- Anonymous
Using Fane's Scholar tag in dialogue options did not let me free Wendigo's spirit to the Hall of Echos. It resulted in the same head-splitting void-slinging ending as the rest of the dialogue options, weird!
- Anonymous
So it seems like you don't get the full options to resolve this quest if you're playing as sworn Fane. I got past the Paladins, but WIndego would auto-aggro after I free her. You can talk to her spirit and absorb it, but the quest doesn't finish. I had to remove Fane from the room and free her with another character to get the full dialogue options and give her the Swornbreaker and close the quest.
- Anonymous
I have got the quest stuck to Windego's Fate. After freeing her, I have found Windego in the room just before Lord Arhu's prison (the one with the blue mosaic floor, to be clear), alive. I spoke with her, but did nothing and went on to free Lord Arhu. After freeing him, I then went back and she disappeared. I cannot find her anywhere, dead or alive, and the Mercy is Power quest is still active. What's going on? How can I close the quest?
- Anonymous
There is a way her soul won't be called by the God King. So I gave her the Swornbreaker and she killed herself with it, then used spirit vision. Ok now, in order to not give her soul into the God King call a character with the SCHOLAR tag has to talk to her, then a unique dialogue option will appear and her soul will go to the Hall of Echoes instead. I just did this today and that worked for me
- Anonymous
I had to use the scholar tag to keep her spirit from being taken by the God King anyway
- Anonymous
charm voidwoken does not work on the final boss so i guess its literally useless
- Anonymous
So i give her the scythe, she severs her bond with the god king, thanks me in return. And then i cast source vision and see her spirit standing over her corpse, saying god king is going to claim her and asking from me to get in a tug of war with the god king over her soul. things just dont add up at all with her storyline no matter how i look at it.
- Anonymous
You can loot the used swornbreaker from her body and then give it to Almira.
- Anonymous
This is bugged, got no exp for giving the Swornbreaker to her but the quest closed. Just got some useless lvl18 epic loot. Her spirit was also still there and eating her source didn't change anything. Just keep the swornbreaker and kill her for the 2 virtue tokens.
- Anonymous
1) She's haf epic loot, not divine 2) After I've casted spirit vision (after she killed herself with swornbreaker) her spirit was still consumed by the God-king.
- Anonymous
I gave her swornbreaker and she used it to free and kill herself and the quest closed but i got no reward screen?
- Anonymous
If I purge her remains with sallowa man stuff will she appear in the arx?
- Anonymous
got only epic choice and not divine after giving her swornbreaker
- Anonymous
In DE you can head down from the magister's barracks to Reimond's Hideout. From there one of the small upper platforms in the corner has a lever that drops a ladder down. That ladder leads up to a secret room, which connects to the room Windego is being held in. You'll need to move some crates and destroy a torture device (or jump/teleport past it) to reach the Paladins questioning her.
- Anonymous
I'm playing DE and gave the Swornbreaker from Kemm's vault to her. She then used it on herself and died, but not before thanking me as her last words. After that, the reward menu appeared. I was able to loot her body of the two Virtue Tokens. However, when I cast Spirit Vision, her soul was still beside her body and talking to her revealed that the God King was trying to take her soul. This is extremely odd, considering that she already used the Swornbreaker to sever her ties to the God King. I eventually wrestled with the God King for control and managed to cast her soul to the Void (Windego's preferred choice).
- Anonymous
Note that if you want to save her don't try to consume her spirit when you meet her in sallow man's cave because her attitude will be -50 when you see her in arx prison and she will be immediately hostile if you don't have points in persuasion (that's how it was it was for me, and there is no option to give her gifts to improve attitude). If you persuasion is high she will talk normally but this will create a weird but, where even if you give her the swornbreaker and the quest closes saying she left for the hall of echoes, if you cast spirit vision she will still be there saying how the god king is trying to get her, as confirmed by other players bellow.
- Anonymous
Game freezes if you try to give her storm breaker in the room before freeing Arhu.
- Anonymous
I guess this quest can bug out in the DE version. Let her go without giving her Swornbreaker. Went to the vault like the quest suggested. But no where to be found her body/ghost.
- Anonymous
I literally do not see why you would use "Charm Voidwoken" over "Charm". It literally is just less useful.
- Anonymous
WHAT. SHE HAS A BROKEN SWORNBREAKER on her body around Ahru and 2 tokens but I GAVE her a swornbreaker now shes telling me not to let her be taken wtf is this!
- Anonymous
Gave her swornbreaker upon freeing her and found her later next to a shrine around where Ahru is imprisoned and she had a broken swwornbreaker and 2 virtue tokens on her.
- Anonymous
Mercy is power, mercy is power... man, with all the times you try to leave people alive only for them to act like child-eating puppy-killers... this game really sends conflicting messages.
- Anonymous
can it be stolen back right after giving it or stealing it from someone else
You can release her then while a character is talking to her you can steal her 2 virtue tokens (requires 5 thievery)
- Anonymous
I'm unable to approach windego in arx. When i try to, she instantly attacks me, but because she is still in the cage, I cannot retaliate as I cannot select her as a target
- Anonymous
You can get the "Charm Voidwoken" skillbook AND KILL the undead ***** for the Source Tokens(Looted of her corpse) if you attack her before the final ending of the conversation. There will also be a battle of wills with the God King when speaking to the Spirit of Windego. Why is this not mentioned?
- Anonymous
About the Trivia Hint.Mind Maggot grenade costs less ap and has longer duration.Unless i am missing something..And The spell costs 1 memory.Not to mention the charm scrolls you can have until the end.
- Anonymous
Actually it seems you will only get the Charm Voidwoken skill book if you select your answers in a specific order. In the first case I got an option like "I admit I have swornbreaker" - this resulted in no skill book, in second try I got an option to stop her and give her swornbreaker, that give me the skill book too. I only got legendary loot by the way
- Anonymous
I didn't knew about the weapon before reading this. I hadn't built it yet so I couldn't give it to her and there was nothing on the subject in the dialogues. Nonetheless, before freeing her I bought the Source tokens and after freeing her she gave the charm voidwoken just like that.
- Anonymous
They removed Charm Voidwoken in a later patch of the game, and instead you receive a Door to Eternity skillbook instead.
- Anonymous
If you talk to her before freeing her from the cage, you're able to trade with her, she only has the 2 virtue tokens, wich you can buy for about 353 each (more or less)
- Anonymous
You get a unique skillbook if you free her: Charm Voidwoken. Its also free to learn, you don't have to have any points in summoning.
- Anonymous
A bit of spoilers, but.
I showed her mercy and you encounter her later dead probably happy, maybe not, I think it's more of who you want to have swornbreaker it seems, there's many options that pops up depending on your story on who to give the limited amount of it to.
I was able to give the Swornbreaker to Windego but still able to stop my party from getting to her, but I had to get creative. I separated Sebille from the group and led her away so she wouldn't get stuck in the dialogue and wouldn't be considered "busy". From there, I had Fane talk to her and go through the dialogue till the option appeared to give her the Swornbreaker. The game wouldn't let me drag it onto the ground or drop it through the right-click menu, but I was able to send it to storage on the Lady Vengeance. That was enough to remove it from my inventory with durability fully intact. From there, I finished the dialogue then retrieved it from the storage chest.
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