Get the Prison Keychain, open Mert’s cell and escort him through the two locked doors on the north side of the overseer’s tower. This documented side exit satisfies the main-gate objective and avoids a full courtyard clearance. Mert must have survived The Firebrand.
Prepare before opening the cell
- Finish the living-Mert conversation in The Firebrand, then track Under Watchful Eyes. The corpse-questioning route cannot become this rescue.
- Return upstairs and inspect the key behind Friedo while he faces away. Accounts differ on whether they describe it as carried or placed on the rear table, so identify the actual Prison Keychain interaction. Do not assume taking other nearby property is equally unnoticed.
- If your weapon was confiscated, prepare before unlocking the cell. A Weathered Longsword is described in the back-right corner downstairs; stealing it can alert the guard, so equip it immediately. If you retained your own weapon, skip that detour.
An alternative described by ATH is to take the key, leave normally to recover your confiscated gear, then circle left along the outer wall and re-enter through the rear door. Expect combat on re-entry. This is an equipment-recovery variation, not a promise of an entirely peaceful rescue.
Release Mert and use the tower exit
- Deal with the cell guard and unlock Mert’s door. If that guard is still present, opening the cell provokes him. A guard already defeated on your entry route does not need to be fought again.
- With Mert following, go to the north face of the overseer’s tower and find the illuminated alcove. Unlock its door using the Prison Keychain. Open the second locked door with the same key and pass outside together.
The front courtyard remains an alternative if you deliberately want those fights. It is not necessary for the side-exit rescue. If Mert has stopped behind you, return and check his position or conversation prompt before assuming that walking outside alone completed the escort.
Confirm rescue and keep related objectives separate
- Finish the conversation outside and check the Under Watchful Eyes journal entry. The sources list three time segments and 250 XP; the completion screenshot independently shows the quest name and 250 XP. A level-up is not required.
One account says Taking Back What’s Mine always closes at the same moment. That is not a universal completion check: a confiscated-weapons objective may not even exist in your route. Likewise, verify Ambrus’s Court activity separately rather than treating a successful shortcut as proof that you killed the whole garrison.
Where Mert goes and what remains uncertain
Post-escape choice and later appearances — spoilers
The outside dialogue can send Mert to the almshouse near Svartrau’s cathedral. ATH also describes a hunger-related response that threatens him. Check your current hunger and dialogue choices before proceeding; the exact automatic-feeding threshold is not established here. A reunion with Renna depends on her survival, not merely on escorting Mert out.
Growing Momentum is not a guaranteed quest reward
Search defeated guards and containers if you want equipment, but do not expect every save to yield the same manual. The pictured Growing Momentum notification proves availability at that moment; it does not show the item being looted or identify a fixed drop source. Merchant stock and guaranteed drop claims remain unconfirmed. Check the ability’s actual unlock requirements using the Swordmastery guide.
Continue the manumit story through the rendezvous objective; see Crake’s guide for the wider chain. Finishing this optional rescue is distinct from reaching the rendezvous.
The rendezvous and Sara’s rescue
Shadows in the Woods covers the bridge, southeast search, rescue deadline and final camp conversation.
Retrieve confiscated weapons after combat starts
If you surrendered weapons at the gate and later entered combat while they were still held, Taking Back What’s Mine directs you to recover them. Find the ladder on the north side of the main gate, climb to the room above it and loot the chest. Check your equipment afterward. This objective does not occur when the enlistment dialogue let you retain your weapons, and a successful Mert escort alone does not prove the chest was emptied.