Find Laudanum in Barnaby's house beyond Market Square: climb to the upper floor, drop through the opening into the bedroom, and take the bottle from the bedside table. Return it to the old lady near Island of Whispers, rest at a Lantern, then revisit her opened house for the final investigation.
Decide whether to accept the children's poison request before collecting the bottle. Accepting is a commitment: William mixes in the poison when he picks up the Laudanum, rather than presenting another choice at the old lady's door.
Speak to the old lady and the child
At Island of Whispers in The Outskirts, use the stone-bridge shortcut to return to the old lady's house. Speak through the door. She asks you to bring Laudanum for the sick children she says she is caring for.
Before leaving, check the narrow ledge along the side of the building. A child there asks you to poison the medicine so the children can escape. This creates the quest's main choice; it is not required simply to find the bottle.
| Decision before the pickup | What happens to the bottle | Story consequence after delivery |
|---|---|---|
| Accept the poison request | William mixes in the poison after collecting Laudanum | Delivering the poisoned medicine lets the children escape; return after resting to investigate |
| Do not accept it | The bottle remains ordinary Laudanum | The children die; the old lady is also found dead after you return |
Do not accept the request only to inspect the alternative later. The collected route describes the mixture happening automatically at the pickup, so returning to the old lady is not a second opportunity to keep the bottle clean.
Find the bottle beyond Market Square
Fast travel to Market Square when that Lantern is available and continue along the main route toward Barnaby's house. The approach passes the area near the toxic gas; use the accessible house route rather than treating the poison itself as the bottle's hiding place.
Enter the house and climb upstairs, watching for civilians waiting to attack inside. A small grave for the owner's dog is a nearby landmark on the approach. Continue to the upper floor and find the opening that looks down into a bedroom.
Drop through the opening onto the bed below. The Laudanum is on the bedside table. Pick it up, then use the nearby door to leave. If you accepted the child's request, William adds poison during this part of the sequence.
Outside, lower the wooden ramp to reopen the route toward Market Square. Return by Lantern to Island of Whispers and cross the stone bridge back to the old lady's door.
Deliver, rest, and investigate the house
Hand over the bottle and finish the conversation. The old lady tells you to rest before returning. Do that at a Lantern, then go back: the house door is now open.
For the ordinary-bottle route, the children die and the old lady is found dead as well. Enter and inspect her body and the diary on the dresser. The diary reveals she was exploiting visitors to obtain Laudanum rather than giving you an honest account of the children’s needs. Leaving immediately after the delivery misses this final investigation.
On the poison route, return after resting to find the old lady dead. Go upstairs and read the book in the middle of the room; closing it completes the quest. William’s final dialogue confirms that the children managed to escape. The bottle pickup is unchanged; the poison decision changes the outcome.
A clean bottle is therefore not a way to save everyone. The poison request is a story decision rather than an instruction to find a different bottle, and the pickup stays in the same bedroom for either route.
Route references: GameRant's poison decision and pickup route and GamesRadar's bedroom location and return sequence.