The Hero and the Maid (Quest)

"Let's clean up and rebuild the Keep!"
‎Padrig Dower reckons that this article could do with some additional content and cleaning up to bring it into its full glory. So, do you think that you could help a gnome out?

Walkthrough[]

As you enter, you are greeted again by the Maid of Windemere. After she departs, listen to the Windemere Lorestone in front of you. Your journey to save the Court of Enchantments begins now.

The first member you face is Sir Farrara who fights with a few Sprites. Again. alternatively if you have the proper dispel requirements, you could dispel the enchantment.

After the battle, check the southeastern alcove for another Lorestone before moving forward. Watch out for the Plant Snappers as you move into the next room. Fight off the Boggart Plaguebearers and stay out of the poisonous water while you battle, as that will cause Sewer Rot. From this room the path splits however and can be done in any order.

Go right (room southeast on the map) and fight off a pair of Leanashe in the library area. Here you find Queen Belmaid and Lady Oleyn. You cannot speak with Lady Oleyn. Dispelling the enchantment on Queen Belmaid also frees Lady Oleyn (tested at 6 skill, level 24) and at that point you can speak with both of them as they start walking away.

If you fight them, Leanashe join them. Fire spells will put down the creatures and stuns will keep the ladies in check. Try to bait them one at a time (if you can) out into the corridor so the others de-aggro or so that the caster's spells hit the walls instead of you. If you saved King Wencen first, he will assist you in this battle.

Search the southeastern room for a chest and the north one for the third Windemere Stone. Return to the center room and shoot across, fighting off a horde of Boggarts. The next room has a Windemere Stone visible from the entrance but everything has poisonous water. You'll likely contract a disease and you will slowly take damage.

The northern room has two chests. In the southern room you will find another chest and King Wencen. Speak with the King, then lead him back to the main area. He will unlock the magical barrier and give you the King's Token before he runs away. Approach the door and talk with the Maid of Windemere for the last time.

The Maid of Windemere[]

For the final battle, the Maid will summon waves of creatures to help her kill you, including Sprites and Sprite Champions, Leanashe , and a Thresh.
The fight begins with a Leanashe appearing in the corner of the room and the Maid immediately starts summoning a sprite. If you focus entirely on the extra mobs, she will continuously bombard you with a powerful homing spell very similar to the one used by the Widow. If you focus on the Maid, she will summon more sprites in an attempt to divert your focus. Either choice will be difficult for a medium-level player (level ~20). Like the Widow, the Maid is capable of teleporting and healing her summoned minions.
Like most boss fights, saving up Fate Energy and focusing down the Maid with Reckoning mode avoids a long, drawn-out fight. It may be possible to start the fight with a little less than half of the Fate bar filled and kill the summoned minions to fill the rest of the bar before the Thresh is summoned. Fighting both the Thresh and the Maid, along with whatever other minions in the room, is arguably the most difficult part of the fight.
If you're having trouble fighting them all in the open, there's a small room off to the east you can use so they can't gang up on you as much. As for the Maid and Thresh, you can bait both of them into casting spells by staying/fighting at the entrance to the small room until they start their cast sequence, then run back around a corner to the spell hits the wall. This way makes it so they will more than likely not come in after you because the AI thinks it can still hit you from afar.
A way to make the fight much easier for players choosing Sorcery is to invest fully in the Storm Bolt ability and stun the Maid whenever possible. If timed correctly and with luck, the Maid can be chain-stunned for extended periods of time, allowing the player to deal with the minions without interruption.
Players using the Finesse tree can also use this tactic with Smoke Bomb and/or Paralytic Poisons, if their level is high enough.
Players using the Might tree may also be able to pull this off if the right abilities are invested, though this tactic is much less reliable. Recommended abilities are Quake upgraded with Aftershock and possibly War Cry.
When the Maid is reduced to 1% health, she'll beg for her life. You may spare her and allow her to rule with you, or kill her. Grab the last Windemere Stone, then leave the castle and return to the House of Ballads. Speak with Hallam the White to complete the quest and receive your reward.
(PC ARR Very-Hard mode) The fight seems different from the fight described here as is follows:
- Phase 1:
  - She initially summons a Sprite and a Leanashe
  - At ~50% health she'll summon many Sprites and a Sprite Champion.
  - Upon reducing her to 1% health, she'll initiate a dialog with you and if you choose Ignore or Kill (Did not select Join Her), she restores her health back to 100% and enter Phase 2.
- Phase 2:
  - She initially summons the Grave Thresh and a Sprite
  - At ~50% health she'll summon many Sprites and a Sprite Champion.
  - Upon reducing her to 1% health, she'll initiate a dialog with you again and if you choose Ignore or Kill (Did not select Join Her), she restores her health back to 100% and enter Phase 3.
- Phase 3:
  - She does not initially summon anything
  - She does not seem to summon anything when reaching 50% (Note: I had her stagger-locked at this point so I do not know if I just interrupted her)
  - Upon reducing her to 1% health, she'll initiate a dialog with you again and if you choose Ignore or Kill (Did not select Join Her), selecting Kill Her finally gives you the kill animation.

Faction - Final Quest Rewards[]

Kill Her[]

Quest reward: Twist of Fate - Iconoclast (+10% damage with Faeblades, +6% Mana, +3% Chance to steal 5 health) and a small amount of XP when turned in. There is a large amount of XP gained when the maid is killed.
You become King or Queen of the House of Ballads and gain the respect of the Fae for killing the Maid of Windemere.

Rule Together[]

Quest reward: Twist of Fate - Iconoclast and a small amount of XP.
You share the throne of the House of Ballads and she refers to you as "My love".
Note: The Fae will react badly if you choose to rule together and they don't respect you as their new King/Queen.

Notes[]

The Maid of Windmere is a notoriously challenging battle regardless of set-difficulty. A popular theory among Amalur veterans is that the encounter's frequent and girthy spawns retained an orientation toward a co-operative experience. As Amalur was originally conceptualized to be an MMORPG, it's speculated that some aspects, this in particular, weren't properly adjusted to the single player experience. Putting points into sorcery to gain the Faer Gorta summon can give you an edge in this battle simply by allowing it to act as your "tank." Immediately summon it and let it land the only hits on The Maid as you tend to spawns. Her absurd magic volleys will be concentrated on it until you're ready to proceed with damaging her.
The fight with the Maid of Windemere is remarkably similar to the final battle with The Widow in the quest The Widow's Wrath.
If you talk to the Maid straight after you have started the fight, she will beg for mercy and allow you to complete the quest without killing her. (Note: it is not always possible to engage the Maid in conversation after battle is joined; in this case, the player must fight until the Maid is near death. At that point, she starts conversation automatically and you may choose to spare her life.)
If your skill in Dispel is high enough relative to your level, you will be able to dispel (green conversation option) the Maid's mind control over the members of the Court of Enchantment (i.e. Dispel skill 6 at level 20 or 8 at level 24 versus Dispel skill 9 at level 29). Dispelling potions can boost you to the requirement (e.g. Minor Dispelling Boost)
If you choose to rule with the Maid of Windemere and you dispelled her enchantments on the Ballad heroes, they will not return to the House.
It is suggested that you save your game before getting started with Sir Farrara. The order and perhaps even timing of these dialog options can cause unusual states. Some of the Court still may fight after being Dispelled. And a few such sequences lead to the King not being responsive after reaching the magical barrier.
When fighting the Maid, beware of the Flesh-eating plant growing near the walls.

Bug[]

(PC ARR Very Hard mode): If the Fateless One perishes during Phase 2 or later in the fight, after loading from the last save, the Maid of Windemere will start Phase 1 at the health she was at when the Fateless One perished. She will initially be in Phase 1, and summon her Leanshu and Sprite as normal.
- HOWEVER, if you do ANY DAMAGE to her whatsoever, she will immediately skip to the phase of the fight she was at when the Fateless One perished and will IMMEDIATELY perform ALL her summons instantly.
- Depending on where in the fight the Fateless One perished, this could mean that doing a single point of damage to her will cause a Leanshu, a Grave Thresh, 2 Sprite Champions and 8 Sprites to spawn instantly right at the start of the fight.
- I could not find a way to fix it, but I HIGHLY RECOMMEND the strategy of entering the small side room to the south of the boss fight arena. I was able to cheese it by spamming Flame Rune until all the Sprites and Sprite Champions perished, then pulled the Leanshu into the room with me and killed her seperately.
- If you go into the side room without damaging her and only hit her once inside the room, you can cause the Grave Thresh to never join the fight as it spawns on the other side of the room, far enough away to not notice the fighting.

(Switch - Normal Difficulty): Phase 1: Corner her at the door by flesh eating plant, and finish off her Phase 1 health bar. Make the IGNORE HER/YOU DESERVE TO DIE choice on the wheel. The user is forced through the door and unable to resume the fight. The door is locked for the boss fight, and the phase 2 never happens. Her health bar remains at phase 1 zero.
(Xbox One - Very Hard mode): [This happened after encountering a previous Bug: died in Phase 2, reloaded the fight in Phase 1 with her health remaining where it was in Phase 2. Unknown if this is a prerequisite or if this bug is separate.] During Phase 1 it’s possible to kill her, avoiding Phase 2 and 3. From where she is in the center of the room, if pushed directly backwards up against the lorestone she can get stuck. Once her Phase 1 health is 0 she will initiate dialogue like normal, however, after choosing ignore/kill her, she will lie there underneath the lorestone with the prompt to to kill her with reckoning animation, thus avoiding the rest of the fight. This doesn’t seem to affect the rest of the quest or following quests, or from obtaining the achievement.