The Wild Hunt: A Tale by Master Dandelion

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The Wild Hunt: A Tale by Master Dandelion

Okay, so I've been doing a playthrough of the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt for a couple months now where I record the journal entries of main quests, secondary quests, contracts, characters, bestiary entries and etc with the help of witcher wiki (http://witcher.wikia.com/wiki/Witcher_Wiki) and gamepedia (https://witcher.gamepedia.com/The_Witcher_3:_Wild_Hunt) websites. I've then been editing, slightly rearranging, and adding to them with my own words to try and make the journal entries form one long cohesive story of my playthrough with Geralt of Rivia. A few notes on it first:

1. I am following the story as I like to play it, so it will not be the ideal path or decisions for everyone.
2. In each entry, the non-bolded words are from a Witcher 3 journal entry somewhere. The bolded words are my own (although one or two are from a Witcher 2 journal entry). And ultimately the story is CDPR's, I'm just organizing it into one long narrative.
3. I've started adding videos of the more dramatic parts for flavor. However, they do not always represent the dialogue choices I've made 100%.
4. When you read the story, it is told from the perspective of Dandelion (as all the journal entries are). So read it with his voice if you can.

Without further ado ...

 
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Many cannot fathom the friendship Geralt of Rivia and I, Dandelion, have shared all these years. When we first began breaking bread together, spiteful tongues said he'd be better off cutting my throat and dumping my body in a hollow tree – before I provoked someone else into doing that same to us both. Those individuals spoke out of pure jealousy, for Geralt was my dearest friend, a fact which he gave ample evidence of on numerous occasions.

I could say a great deal about that world-famous monster hunter, the man known in Elder Speech as Gwynbleidd, or, in our younger (yet no less noble) tongue, as the White Wolf. For Geralt of Rivia is a truly exceptional individual. A brief encounter might tempt one to label him a mere swinger of swords, a simple monster-catcher, a rough-and-tumble practitioner of a dirty trade – but peer closer and you will soon discover he is a man of unplumbed depths, unique views and vast, world-spanning experience.

On the surface, he is introverted, tight-lipped, and one might even say gruff, but underneath lies an overflowing sea of goodwill, good humour, and an honest readiness to help his friends, be it with a bit of sound advice or the masterful application of his blade. Setting aside cumbersome false modesty, I can say that I know his story better than any man alive. I was with him through hard times and good, helping with wise advice, warm words and razor wit. As a result, I am a vital part of his story, both in its earlier and present portions. It is thus my duty to continue my chronicle and, for the benefit of future generations, put in writing the next chapter of his deeds and exploits.

Every story has to start somewhere. This one starts in the guest room at Kaer Morhen, the stronghold of the witchers in the Blue Mountains. It starts with Geralt taking a bath, disproving the theory that witchers neglect personal hygiene. But as he was bathing, he was brusquely interrupted by Yennefer - does she ever interrupt in any other way? She reminded him that he was supposed to train with Ciri. What could our hero do but bid the sorceress farewell and descend in to the courtyard of the fortress. Little did he know this would mark the start of a great adventure.

When he descended he found Ciri had left his old mentor Vesemir sleeping while she practiced on the pendulums on the court yard below. Vesemir was the oldest living member of the Wolf School and most likely the oldest witcher of any school on the Continent. About as long in years as the ruins of Kaer Morhen themselves and though eternally complaining about his creaky bones, this master of the witcher trade gave no thought to a well-deserved retirement. Gray but still spry, he continued to play the monster hunting trade into his golden years – effectively, too, as he'd seen more beasts than all his students put together.A harsh and demanding instructor in Geralt's youth, over the years he had become something of an adoptive father and mentor to the other witchers, always ready to help with sage advice and steady hands. Geralt woke the old witcher, who decided that if Ciri thought she needed more training, they could provide. Vesemir instructed Geralt to get his ward and meet with the other witchers to practice swordplay. The witchers trained, but as they finished, a cold settled over Kaer Morhen. Suddenly the Wild Hunt appeared and attacked Ciri. Geralt could do nothing but watch.

As it turned out, all that happened at Kaer Morhen was but a dream... The kind that wakes even witchers, screaming, a cold sweat on their brow. Geralt crouched by the fire and surveyed the land, a land ravaged by war signs of a battle stretching to the horizon. But he had not chosen this campsite for its view - Yennefer's trail had brought him there. In the spring of 1272, when our story begins, Vesemir had joined Geralt on his search for Yennefer, trekking with him through war-ravaged Temeria.


The witcher first met the raven-haired sorceress a good twenty years back. Their friendship and the feelings between them were born of a common adventure involving a djinn and a wish granted to Geralt that intertwined their fates inextricably. In the time since then their relationship had, however, been quite stormy – rich in ups and downs, crises and break-ups. Geralt and Yennefer's love provides irrefutable proof of the thesis that "opposites attract." A few years ago Geralt and Yennefer had, after a long separation full of adventures from them both, gotten back together again. Their moment of repose was interrupted by the Wild Hunt, which took Yennefer captive. The witcher set out at once to save her, but lost his memory while doing so. When he finally recovered it, he immediately set off once more on his quest to find his beloved sorceress.

Then, shortly before the start of out story, Yennefer had contacted Geralt - finally. They had not seen each other in years. And then she'd sent him a letter, smelling of lilac and gooseberries, of course, asking him to meet her in the village of Willoughby. 'About a matter of great importance,' she had written. So as was his wont when it came to all things Yennefer, the witcher raced off at breakneck speed. Alas, he arrived too late. Pasing armies had razed Willoughby to the ground. Yennefer was nowhere in sight. With the help of Vesemir, whom Geralt had encountered along the way, Geralt picked up her trail, which the two witchers then followed. Yen had ridden north, traversing wild lands and battlefields at great speed. She was in a hurry. Perhaps she was in trouble...

So Geralt and Vesemir set out to follow Yennefer’s trail which led them toward the village of White Orchard. As they approached the outskirts of the town, they heard the unmistakable sound of a Griffin ambushing it’s prey. Griffins were once only found high in the mountains, where they would hunt marmots and wild goats. When humans encroached on their lands, however, griffins soon discovered a new source of much more plentiful and easier-caught prey: cows, sheep and shepherds. Though still wary of main roads and towns (where folk with the means to hire a witcher are like to dwell), these half-eagle, half-wildcat creatures have gone from rarities to oft-encountered pests known throughout the Northern Realms. Especially hated are the subspecies known as royal griffins and archgriffins. Knowing such creatures rarely come this close to civilized areas, the witchers sprang into action to see what was happening.

When they found the griffin it was feasting on a freshly killed horse. It appeared the horse had been pulling a merchant’s cart. It also appeared that the merchant was screaming for his life under the cart. The witcher’s startled the beast so that it took flight from the road, but not before striking Vesemir with one of its talons. The old witcher assured Geralt he was fine, and then the two turned their attention to the merchant. The man thank the witchers who then asked him if he had seen anyone matching Yennefer’s description. The man responded no, but directed them to the Inn of White Orchard. If anyone had seen her, they would likely be there.


Geralt and Vesemir stopped by the tavern in the village of White Orchard. They spoke with the Innkeeper as she took down the Temerian colors from the wall. Geralt understood her actions, this was Nilfgaard now. She offered the witchers a drink and they happily obliged. Vesemir resolved to bandage his wound and Geralt asked around the tavern if anyone had seen Yennefer. It just so happened one man had. Gaunter O’Dim, who claimed to also be known as “Master Mirror” professed to have seen her ride through recently. He seemed to know a great deal about the sorceress, and about Geralt himself. His knowledge made the witcher feel uneasy, but the self-described merchant informed Geralt he knew of him from several of my exquisite ballads. Still feeling something wasn’t right, the witcher grew impatient, but O’Dim gave him just the lead he had been wishing for. Master Mirror had seen her ride off in the direction of the Nilfgaardian Garrison to the West of town. The witcher set off straight away to follow the trail.

When he arrived at the garrison, he was allowed entrance as soon as his profession was discovered. The witcher knew this could only mean the Nilfgaardians needed something of him. Without much difficulty, Geralt learned that the commander of the Nilfgaardian garrison in White Orchard knew where Yennefer had gone. The captain was requisitioning goods from a peasant when he and the witcher first met. After Geralt introduced himself as a witcher, and hearing that he was looking for Yennefer, the captain knew he had an opportunity before him. Shrewdly, he was unwilling to share this information for free. A man with substantial experience, he knew full well Geralt would do anything to find the sorceress. As luck would have it, the commander's soldiers had been unsuccessfully trying to hunt down the same griffin Geralt had encountered earlier in the day. The commander could demand but one thing: the monster's head in exchange for help. The witcher asked the captain for any leads regarding the beast and where he could find an herb called buckthorn, which Geralt would need to lure the beast. The Nilfgaardian advised Geralt to see a hunter named Mislav about the beast, and a herbalist named Tomira about the buckthorn.

As Geralt left the Nilfgaardian garrison, he noticed something that made him pause. A merchant Geralt found standing by the side of the road in White Orchard was extremely distraught. He had been hauling some precious goods to the Nilfgaardian camp when his horse spooked and veered off the road, pulling the merchant's cart with it and dumping the whole works in the foggy swamp outside the camp. The poor horse became trapped in the muck and soon was devoured by the monsters who inevitably lurk in such places. The merchant was understandably afraid to go retrieve his goods, and thus asked the witcher to do it for him - in return for a sizable reward.

Seemingly straightforward stories often turn out to be anything but. The witcher found the merchant's cart - and beside it signs of a malicious attack organized by human hands. It seemed the merchant had not told Geralt the whole truth. The confrontation that followed confirmed the witcher's suspicions - rather than stay to plead his innocence, the merchant immediately ran as fast as his legs could take him. After a short chase, the witcher apprehended the man and demanded an explanation. It turned out the "merchant" was no merchant at all, but a Temerian guerrilla. After Geralt heard the man explain his story and motives, he decided to let him go to continue his futile battle against the Nilfgaardian occupiers. Do not act so surprised, dear reader - witchers might be neutral by principle, but it was no secret where Geralt's sympathies lay in the struggle between the Northern Realms and the Nilfgaardian Empire.

The witcher returned to White Orchard looking for leads. As he did so, he noticed a dwarf hammering on an anvil and approached him. There were only a handful of nonhumans in White Orchard. One of them was the dwarf Willis, an excellent blacksmith whose wares attracted peasants from far and wide. Sadly, his forge had burned to the ground shortly before Geralt arrived. Willis suspected the fire had been started deliberately and asked the witcher to investigate this alleged arson. Without much difficulty, the witcher discovered the perpetrator was one of the dwarfs neighbors. Geralt brought the arsonist to Willis. The dwarf immediately summoned Nilfgaardian soldiers - with whom it turned out he was on quite good terms. The imperials quickly declared the man guilty, handed down a sentence of death by hanging and carried it out on the spot. Harsh justice - or maybe just harsh? Though Geralt disapproved of these actions, his task came with a reward, for Willis knew where Geralt could find Mislav. He lived just south of the villiage.

Geralt rode south of town to find Mislav, who was not in the small unassuming hut Geralt found, but was a short distance away in the woods. Geralt learned the man had once been the hunter for the local Lord, but was ostracized because he had fallen in love with the Lord’s son Florian. When the Lord found out he banished the hunter, and Florian hung himself. The witcher asked the hunter if he could lead him to where the Beast had recently been seen. The witcher investigated and learned that the griffin he had encountered along the high road outside of White Orchard had good reason to prey on the local populace. The soldiers the Nilfgaardian commander had sent out to scout had, in fact, killed the griffin's brooding mate. Griffins are known to mate for life, and Geralt thus felt a pang of pity for the beast. But, ever the professional, he could not let his feelings interfere with his work.

As Geralt returned to White Orchard, he happened across a notice posted by a certain Odolan residing in the village.

Good folk,
I know there's a war on and every man's got trouble enough of his own, but perhaps there's one of you who could help a father in need. You all surely know the well in the ruined village, and the devil that guards it with a jealous fury - and if you don't know, well, come ask and I'll tell you all about it. Whoever drives that monster away from the well will get a fat purse full of gold. Just don't tarry, for it's an urgent matter.

The man wanted to take out the monster who was haunting the area around an old well – and doing so required a professional. This was as typical of witcher work as they come, so Geralt decided to talk to the man. Malicious beings usually haunt the ruins of castles, fortresses or, as a last resort, towers. The wraith of White Orchard, however, chose a much more quotidian site for its haunting: a well. Odolan wanted someone to chase off the phantom and Geralt accepted the job.

It turned out the devil haunting the well was a noonwraith: the ghost of a young woman who had died a sudden and cruel death. The residents of White Orchard has suffered more than their fair share of misfortune. Passing armies had trampled their spring planting, a griffin had begun abducting their livestock, and, the rotten icing on this painful cake, this noonwraith haunted a nearby well. No wonder the locals called this final evil a 'devil'. The witcher could sense something bound her to this place, and that in order to send her off into ethereal realms he would first need to learn her secret.

The witcher found her body hanging from the well's bucket rope and, nearby, a bracelet that must have belonged to her while she lived. Destroying this object broke the tie binding the poor woman's ghost to this world and would allow Geralt to chase it off once and for all. Witchers don't normally feel a limited range of emotions regarding the monsters they slay. They despise the particularly cruel ones and are repulsed by the disgusting ones, but rare indeed is the monster for which they feel sympathy. Yet that is exactly what Geralt felt for the noonwraith of White Orchard. For a long time he was haunted by thoughts of the young woman whose horrible death and powerful emotions had transformed her into that terrible monster.

Once the bracelet was destroyed, he would have to prepare for battle – and a noonwraith is a demanding opponent. She can disorient her victim by blinding him and creating mirror images of herself. These copies suck their victim's life energy – while their mistress remains untouchable. In order to defeat her, the witcher could not rely on his silver sword alone – the Yrden sign would also be needed to trap her and force her to take on material form. Although it brought him no joy, the witcher freed the wraith by killing her, and in turn had earned himself a reward. Though Geralt had rid the village of the noonwraith, he could not stop thinking about the unfortunate woman the phantom had once been. Who was responsible for her untimely death? What had she done to bring this upon herself? Just who was she? Odolan told Geralt to seek out the herbalist Tomira, as she might know more about the incident.

This was the second time the name of Tomira had been brought to the witcher’s attention. Having discovered why the Griffin terrorized the people of White Orchard, Geralt next resolved to meet with her. Tomira’s house was surrounded by a garden of herbs. When Geralt arrived, the first thing he noticed was that she was caring for one of the beast's victims - a simple peasant woman named Lena. She had been on her way to meet her lover when the griffin attacked. The beast had mortally wounded her. A witcher's potion could save her life... or cause her to perish in agony. The witcher decided to help Lena and told Tomira he would look for some herbs to brew a drought of swallow. The witcher also knew Tomira might be the only person in White Orchard that could tell him where Buckthorn could be found. When he asked, she told him to look in the river to the North of White Orchard. Buckthorn stunk once it was removed from the water, but the witcher knew he would be using it soon.

Just as Geralt approached the river, he came upon a woman standing outside a house.
Many think that the life of a witcher consists of nothing but adventure after grand adventure, an endless stream of contracts on manticores, bruxae and other exotic beasts. In truth, Geralt would often take on more banal tasks, ones lesser bards fear mentioning, for they lack the skill required to make a masterwork of the mundane. This is one of those examples, as it seems this woman had lost her frying pan the night before.

A mysterious gentleman had borrowed the frying pan from the little old lady and not returned it. While investigating this damned unneighborly act, Geralt discovered the delinquent borrower had other, more serious sins on his conscience... murder, for example. The half-burned notes Geralt found in his abandoned hut made it clear he was interested in the movements of Nilfgaardian forces and confidential military secrets - in other words, the man was a spy. Geralt found the frying pan and returned it to the old woman. She was overcome with joy and gratitude - not only did she have her precious cooking utensil back, but someone had scrubbed it clean for her as well! The woman thanked Geralt, and gave him some bread for the road, but the river was the witcher’s next destination. He dove in and found buckthorn, just where Tomira told him it would be.

Now that he had what he needed, Geralt remembered he had promised to do something for Lena. He had the Armenia petals he needed, but require something more dangerous to acquire before he could concoct the potion Swallow … a drowner’s brain. A drowner resembles a corpse dredged from the bottom of a pond. It is sickly blue or green in color, with slime and sludge oozing out of every pore and the acrid stench of rot wafting off of it. That is why it is often thought drowners – along with their more dangerous cousins: vodniks, mucknixers and drowned dead – arise from the bodies of those who drown in shallow water: lost travelers falling into bogs, children who swim too far from the shore or, in the case of vodniks, inebriated peasants who stumble off narrow swamp trails. Finding one at a nearby bridge, he quickly slew the beast so he could make his potion. However, Geralt saw he had been too late to save the monster’s apparent last victim, who lay on the shore of the river.

Whenever I would ask the witcher for his opinion concerning my latest sonnet, elegy or even couplet, he'd always claim he hadn't the time. Yet time he had aplenty when it came to reading letters found on corpses or lying about monster nests. Perhaps that was because they, unlike my writings, often proved the path to significant riches. This man by the river had a letter on his person. It read -

To Whom It May Concern, By Order of the Legion Commander:

The men bearing this missive are to be escorted north, to the border post near Oxenfurt, where they will find a Redanian division waiting for them. As noble-born Temerians, they are under special protection and not a hair on their heads is to be harmed. Everything they carry is their own private property and is to remain in their possession.
Any failure to heed this order will be punished in an accelerated military tribunal.

Randal Vittgenberg

Geralt then saw that some possessions of these loyal Temerian’s had apparently been hidden at a nearby mill. He kept this information in his mind, but had to tend to Lena and the Beast of White Orchard. So Geralt returned to Tomira, and made a draft of swallow potion for Lena. When Tomira ask why the witcher would help in this way, the witcher said it was the lesser evil, better than doing nothing. The witcher then ask Tomira about how she came to White Orchard. It turned out she had once been a student of Nenneke at the Temple of Melitele in Ellander. There, she fell in love with a boy named Goslav and spent a summer with him until he left her. The high priestess Nenneke refused to take her back in her apprenticeship when Tomira returned. Her parents estranged her from shame, giving her a travel cloak and a small coin pouch. After struggling to find a place to settle where she would feel safe and needed, she eventually found White Orchard.

As the spoke, Geralt decided to ask Tomira about the noonwraith he has encountered. Thanks to the dedication inscribed on the bracelet “to Claer” he found near the Noonwraith, Geralt was able to get answers to his questions from White Orchard's herbalist. She recounted to him the story of the area's troubled past. It turned out Clear had been a dear friend to Tomira from a former village south of White Orchard. She then told Geralt what had happened to Claer before she became the Noonwraith of the Well. Claer’s husband quarreled with the local Lord. The Lord rode out with his men to their settlement called Hovel. They were trying to get Volker, her husband, to return to White Orchard. Things turned when Claer insulted the Lord’s son Florian. Enraged, the Lord killed them both. After a few more words, Geralt bif Tomira farwell and thanked her. He did not know it as he left, but the witcher would be leaving White Orchard before he could learn the results of the risky treatment he applied to Lena.

All that remained for the witcher to do before he could learn of where Yennefer had gone was to kill the Griffin. Once it came to ambushing the feathery widower, Geralt turned to Vesemir for help. The old witcher devised a plan to set a trap for the beast in the fields north of White Orchard. The two witchers set up their bait using buckthorn and a dummy sheep. Soon the griffin came, following the scent of the buckthorn. With two witchers lunging at its throat, the griffin of White Orchard proved a lamb for the slaughter.

After a duel between the beast and the two witchers, it tried to flee to a nearby mill, but the witchers tracked it down and slew the beast. Geralt
collected the beast’s head as proof of it's demise and then looked around at the mill, for he remembered the letter he found on the corpse by the shore. Geralt didn't really expect to find anything in the old mill, but decided to search it nonetheless. His decision paid off - clearly Temerians had been forced to abandon this site in a hurry and had left their treasure behind. Now it all belonged to the witcher.

As is the way of his order, Geralt took the beast's head as his trophy and delivered it to the Nilfgaardian garrison for his reward, which, as you might remember, was to be information about Yennefer. When Geralt came back with the griffin's head, he saw the same peasant the Nilfgaardian commander had been negotiating with earlier. It seemed the deal had gone south, over what the peasant claimed was "unintentionally" rotten rye. The captain proved to be a harsh man when disappointed, for he gave the peasant fifteen lashes in accordance to Nilfgaardian military codex 'for the delivery of defective goods'. The witcher wondered aloud if the villagers' indifference was because they killed their loved ones. The captain mused that Geralt was a moralist and asked what he would do in his place. Geralt retorted he would never be in the captain’s place. Seeing the head of the Griffen, the Captain offered the witcher his information. Yennefer was in Vizima, but a days ride away. In addition, the garrison’s leader offered the witcher a tidy sum as an additional reward. While the witcher may not have approved of the captain’s methods, a witcher never turns down payment for a contract.

Geralt returned to the tavern at White Orchard where Vesemir was waiting. They had their destination, but before they could leave … a row erupted in the establishment. Vesemir decided to defend the tavern's besieged innkeep. Unfortunately, instead of calming the situation, he inflamed it. The witchers were forced to draw their steel swords. Those they use to kill humans. Witchers should be neutral, avoid meddling in the affairs of others. But at times, it's hard to be indifferent. They say idioms are the wisdom of nations. But the saying "With many against one, even a witcher's done" rarely proves true. Though their foes held the advantage in numbers, Geralt and Vesemir tended to them handily. Unfortunately, the innkeeper they had sought to protect hardly appreciated the gesture. Terrified at the bloody massacre, she tossed her saviors out the door.

When they exited the tavern, Geralt and Vesemir saw squad of Nilfgaardian soldiers awaiting them. Their dread turned to shock as they saw whom accompanied the southern men at arms. Geralt had spent years looking for Yennefer, only to have her find him. There she stood outside the tavern in White Orchard, escorted by Nilfgaardian soldiers. The circumstances of Geralt's initial reunion with Yennefer after two years were quite different than he had imagined. The sorceress was not only safe and sound, but had even secured the aid of an unexpected and mighty ally - the Nilfgaardian Empire.


The one-time lovers could not enjoy their reunion, for the sorceress had insisted they make haste to Vizima as quickly as possible. The emperor of Nilfgaard awaited them there. Though Temeria's former capital was but a few miles from White Orchard, the journey was to be rife with drama. Geralt and Yennefer left White Orchard accompanied by the Nilfgaardians, but only the witcher and the sorceress reached Vizima. Along the way their column was attacked by a cavalcade of wraiths: the omen of war - the Wild Hunt. Geralt's head was abuzz with questions. What had Yen gotten into? How had the Hunt found them? Why was it looking for them? Why had he been summoned to Vizima? He was to get his answers from none other than the Emperor of Nilfgaard himself, Emhyr var Emreis, the White Flame Dancing on the Graves of his Foes. The most powerful man in the known world."

His questions would have to wait however, as Geralt has to be made presentable for an audience with the Emperor. As the Emperor’s Chamberlain sat the witcher down to be shaved, Geralt had a visitor arrive to ask him questions about recent events. Morvran Voorhis - commander of the Alba Division, an officer of the highest rank and pure-blooded aristocrat, one who with pride could call himself a Nilfgaardian, a designation truly deserved only by the native-born inhabitants of the empire's capital and its immediate surroundings. At the time of their first meeting Geralt had no idea what an important person had been assigned the task of "asking him a few routine questions. Knowing the witcher, however, knowledge of Morvran's rank and status would not have made much difference. Geralt told Voorhis all he knew, Aryan Lavallette’s surviving the siege of Lavallette Castle, Geralt’s adventures in Flotsam and departure with the Scoia’tael guerrilla Iorveth, the rescues of Triss Merigold and Shaela de Tanscerville, as well as the death of Letho of Gullet. After the interrogation, the Chamberlain escorted the witcher to his Audience with Emperor.


"Short though it was, Geralt's audience with Emhyr proved substantial. The emperor's daughter and Geralt's erstwhile ward and friend, Cirilla, had returned from... a faraway land. Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon — what can I possibly say about her? That we call her Ciri for short, that she was born in 1251, that she has ashen hair and a scar on her cheek? All true, and that's the Cirilla I know best, the one I first laid eyes upon those many years ago, the one who seemed thoroughly, well, not ordinary, but certainly not as extraordinary as she in fact is. For Cirilla is also a highly-skilled witcher, heiress to several thrones, the last bearer of the Elder Blood, a powerful Source endowed with exceptional magic talent and the Lady of Time and Space. Her hair color and date of birth seem... rather incidental now, don't they?

I could also tell you she is Geralt's adopted daughter - but that would be a gross simplification. Ciri is much more. She is his Destiny, his Unexpected Child, someone bound to the witcher by Fate's most inextricably tangled fetters. Following age-old witcher tradition, Geralt took Ciri to Kaer Morhen when she came into his care. There he and Vesemir taught her in the ways of the professional monster slayer. It was then that her magic talents were first revealed, and they discovered she was a Source. Ciri's gift proved a curse as well. Because of it, she would one day have to hide from the entire world — even Geralt. Ciri's biography contained one more great secret. Her natural father was none other than the emperor of Nilfgaard, Emhyr var Emreis.

She was in danger, her life was threatened - the Wild Hunt was pursuing her. Emhyr knew he had to find his long-unseen progeny before the wraiths did. First he had sought Yennefer's help. Yet they soon discovered that the sorceress' locating spells attracted the Hunt's attention. It was clear - they had to find Ciri without resorting to magic, employing only conventional means. Few men are better trackers than my old friend Geralt of Rivia, so Emhyr promised him a mountain of gold in exchange for his help. Yet Geralt accepted the task willingly - for personal, not material, reasons. This I know for certain, because of all the people in the world, Ciri was dearest to Geralt. He would do anything to save her." His words confirmed the fears swirling in Geralt's mind. Ciri had returned and was in mortal danger, for the unrelenting Wild Hunt was on her trail.


Now Geralt understood why Yennefer was working with the Nilfgaardians. If he was Ciri’s adopted father, Yen was Ciri’s mother. The two would have to work together to find her. But the best way to do that was to separate. Yennefer would go to Skellige to follow a lead there. Geralt would track down two leads in Velen and Novigrad. The freshest trail appeared to be in Velen, so that is where the witcher would start.

"Geralt traveled to Velen in search of Ciri, an act that attested to the depth of his devotion. The land of Velen, located in western Temeria with its capital in Gors Velen, is one of the poorest provinces in the kingdom. Its territory encompasses the isle of Thanedd, home to the famous magic academy, which, along with Gors Velen, constitutes the commercial and developmental mainspring of the entire province. Velen is a stop on the Novigrad trade route running through Cidaris, Vergen, Brugge, Cintra and other such southerly realms. Veleners subside primarily on agriculture, crafting and animal husbandry. The province is practically deprived of all natural resources. It contains a great deal of forests, wetlands and cultivated woods, though the greatest part of it is covered in swamps and bogs.

Only a man who has been to this land can know just how vile it is. At this time it was commonly known as No Man's Land. Why? Well, the emperor of Nilfgaard had not yet claimed it, Temeria was in disarray, and the Redanians had already retreated north. No Man had been left in charge, and he had proved a terrible ruler.

Geralt needed to find Hendrik, an imperial agent who had been working on Ciri's case, and to collect from him what information he had managed to gather. Considering the way spy corps of all stripes tend to function, "Hendrik" was undoubtedly not this man's real name. Nevertheless, that was the only appellation the witcher knew for His Imperial Majesty's nose to the ground in Velen.

Geralt had been told to look for Henrick at the Inn at the Crossroads in Velen. Along the riverbank on the road between Mulbrydale and the Inn at the Crossroads Geralt heard the shouts of a man in distress. John Verdun was tied up on shoreline surrounded by drowners. The witcher quickly dispatched the monsters and then turned to speak with the bound man. It appeared that the man was a former soldier but his army was destroyed by the Nilfgaardians after which he escaped. When the refugees he was fleeing with found out that he was a deserter they tied him up and left him. The witcher decided the lesser evil was to untie the man, so he did. Though Verdun had no coin to give Geralt, he did give his thanks. The witcher travelled on to the Inn at the Crossroads.

The Inn was a sizeable establishment able to accommodate a crowd of travelers and revelers. However, the air was filled with a sense of foreboding as he walked into the settlement. Geralt entered the establishment to speak with the inkeep. It is an innkeeper's job to tend to his guests' needs. Usually this takes the form of serving strong drinks and listening to tales of loves lost and wounds received. Geralt ask the man if he had seen Henrick, but the innkeeper did not seem interested in sharing information. As Geralt began to drink the spirit he ordered, the witcher heard horses approaching outside. The innkeeper appeared to be alarmed, and soon the witcher knew why.

A group of men working for the “Bloody Baron” appeared. It was clear these were not the sort of men whose company was enjoyed at the Inn at the Crossraods. Upon seeing the witcher, they demanded to know why he carried two swords. The witcher explained he was a witcher, and that one of his swords was for killing monsters, and the other for killing men. A few of the Barons men were familiar with what witchers could do, so they left Geralt well alone. The innkeep, grateful the witcher had not become involved in a row with the Baron’s men, told him Henrick lived in Heatherton, a small village to the southwest of the inn.

Geralt left the inn and made for Heatherton straight away. However on his way he came across bodies in the road and men looting them. It turned out the men had murdered these people and were “harvesting” their possessions. Witcher’s are taught to remain neutral, but Geralts words so offended the men that they drew their swords. It was five against one, but only one left … and he carried two swords.

Shortly thereafter, Geralt arrived in Heatherton. The inhabitants of this village had been relieved when they learned the path of the marching armies had shifted slightly and passed their village bye. Then, one night... they changed their mind. As Geralt entered the town, it was empty. Also a chill filled the air like walking into a cellar on a hot summer’s day. Only one survivor remained, and he told the witcher what had occurred the night before. Sadly, Geralt arrived too late. The village had been ravaged, its inhabitants slaughtered and Hendrik's service to Nilfgaard terminated in a most violent and disturbing manner. Hendrick was no longer among the living - the Wild Hunt had murdered him. The spectral riders were also searching for Ciri and had beaten Geralt to the punch.


Yet the agent showed such determination before he died that Vattier de Rideaux, chief of the imperial spy corps, surely beamed with pride if he ever heard of it. Despite undergoing horrific tortures, Hendrik preferred to die in agony rather than reveal where he hid his reports. They remained in his hut for Geralt to find, providing him with several pieces of important information. It seemed Ciri had been a guest of the Bloddy Baron, the self-proclaimed ruler of Velen, and that she had quarreled with some witch, presumably the one living near the village of Midcopse.

Nilfgaard's agent had determined Ciri had stayed with the baron - the self-proclaimed ruler of Velen. This man was known for his violent temper and three-mile-long cruel streak, hence his moniker: the Bloody Baron. Geralt, however, was not one to be frightened by nicknames, least of all those taken from bodily fluids, and so made his way to Crow's Perch, the baron's seat, to ask about Cirilla. Geralt found his meeting with the Bloody Baron quite peculiar, and the baron himself not so bloody at all. During his first encounter with "Baron" Phillip Strenger, Geralt found the man's many contradictions puzzling. This former Temerian soldier was clearly an opportunist who, after his army's resounding defeat, served, dealt and negotiated with the occupying Empire of Nilfgaard. The local peasantry anointed him the "Bloody Baron," a clear indication that he did not handle his vassals with kid gloves. On the other hand, he proved a surprisingly gracious host to an unexpected guest who was also a stranger and a hired monster slayer.

Or did it just seem so? In any case, it turned out Ciri had indeed visited Crow's Perch. It seemed that fleeing some monsters of Crookback Bog, Ciri arrived at a dried-up branch of the Pontar. While trekking up the former riverbed, Ciri came across a girl named Gretka. The child spoke in a quivering voice of the fearsome Wolf King, who, in a twist straight out of a spine-tingling ballad, prowled the very path they needed to travel. The Wolf King was in truth a common werewolf. Ciri slew it, but sustained a wound in the battle. A villager whom the werewolf had been threatening just before Ciri intervened thanked her for saving his life and offered to take her and Gretka to Crow's Perch, where the Baron would feed them and tend to their wounds. His treatment of children and young women, towards whom he demonstrated wholly sincere, near fatherly-concern, likewise contradicted his bandit-like appearance and terrifying monicker. Ciri had learned this for herself, finding care and shelter under his roof. Further information about her was only available for a price.
 
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The baron turned out to be a tough negotiator who knew of the full value of the information he possessed. He agreed to tell Geralt about Ciri on one condition: Geralt had to find his wife and daughter first. The women had mysteriously disappeared a short time before. Though the baron had moved heaven and earth to find them, all his efforts had proved fruitless. Phillip was slowing losing hope of ever seeing them again. Under these circumstances, a witcher was a gift from the gods.


The witcher began by searching the rooms of Anna and Tamara. It seemed there had been a struggle in Anna’s bed chamber, and Anna had lost a talisman that smelled strongly of juniper berries. The witcher also discovered that Tamara had become a devotee of the eternal fire, and that she was not pleased with her father at all. Speaking with the Baron, the witcher learned that the talisman was likely made by a local soothsayer known as the pellar.

Having learned which room Ciri had stayed in during her time at Crow's Perch, Geralt, for whom any excuse to paw through other's possessions is a good one, decided to search it and see if she had left anything behind that might help him find her. Though Geralt failed to find any breakthrough clues in Ciri's room, he was moved near to tears by the signs of her presence that he found there. They say witchers do not experience emotions as strongly as ordinary humans, but there was a powerful bond between Geralt and Ciri, and in that moment the witcher could not keep his heart from swelling. As he searched, he realized Ciri must have left Crow's Perch in a great hurry. But where was she hurrying to? That our hero did not know.

Having learned all he could at Crows Perch, the witcher made his way to the pellar, who resided in a nearby village called Blackbough. Geralt headed in that direction. On his way there Geralt saw a woman standing next to a fallen shrine in the road. Geralt has a "live and let live" policy regarding the gods and their worshipers: if they don't bother him, he returns the favor. Sadly, not everyone follows this sage precept. The distraught woman in Velen informed him someone had been destroying the shrines that dot that region's roadsides. She begged him to repair the damage and, if possible, punish those responsible. Though he did not share the woman's devotion or outrage at this sacrilege, he decided to help all the same. He uprighted the statue and began to continue on his way to Blackbough. The woman asked Geralt to look for other statutes that may have been damaged, but with witcher told her he had no time and already helped her with this one.

Arriving in Blackbough, the witcher sought out the pellar. As is often the case with charmers, diviners, healers and other such cunning folk of the countryside, the pellar of Blackbough was a man of mystery, around whom circled a great many rumors and legends. Some claimed he could commune with the dead, other, that he had a different sort of familiarity with the grave, having put an axe in his father's head in a fit of rage when he was a young man. Still others said he showed an indecent fondness for barnyard animals. All of these rumors aroused the fear and respect of the backwater peasants of Velen, and the pellar most likely did little to discourage them.

Yet even the most cunning of men make the occasional professional error. When Geralt arrived at the Peller’s hut, there was a group of the Baron’s men outside who seemed displeased with the Pellar’s services regarding a stomach illness. Had Geralt not intervened, who know what might have become of the old seer at the hands of the Baron's enraged men. After the men left, Geralt was greeted by the Pellar.

One glance and he knew the man was highly eccentric - an impression only strengthened when the pellar announced he would not divine what had happened to Anna and Tamara until Geralt found Princess, his runaway goat. Having no other choice, Geralt set off on a wild goat chase. As a knight errant will comb the rugged heart of the wilderness to find the object of his quest, so Geralt searched for Princess the goat in the woods around Blackbough. In the end, he found the caprine fugitive and, protecting it from manifold dangers along the way, led it back to its delighted owner. As promised, the pellar would now help Geralt in his search for the baron's missing family.

The pellar turned out to be more skilled at soothsaying than curing indigestion. Though what he divined for Geralt was murky at best, the witcher manager to put the pieces together into a somewhat logical whole. The pellar shared some juicy gossip with Geralt: supposedly the baron was a drunk and a terror to his family, and his wife's recent pregnancy had ended in a mysterious miscarriage. The baron had hid certain facts from Geralt, such as his own predilection towards strong drink and violent quarrels. The pellar's augurs showed that the miscarried fetus, undoubtedly discarded without a proper burial, had transformed into a dangerous monster: a botchling. The beast was murderous and foul, but could yet do some good. if its curse could be lifted and the monster could be turned into a lubberkin, this latter being, a friendly household guardian, could lead Geralt to the baron's wife and daughter.


Geralt returned to Crows Perch to discuss these revelations with Strenger. However, as he approached the Castle he noticed the stables had been set ablaze. One of the Baron’s men had gone in to free the horses but had not returned. Springing to action, the witcher braved the flames finding the man trapped inside. The witcher freed the man and the horses too, showing those present that many popular assumptions about his guild could be false. The Baron greeted Geralt as a hero, but the witcher was in no mood to accept the praise.

Geralt's bosom boiled with wrath as he went to confront the baron. He was ready to drag the truth out of the man with a sword, force him to confess to what had truly happened that fateful night. A witcher in this state is even more effective than usual, so Geralt accomplished this in short order. It turned out the baron would drink regularly and to excess, and Geralt got a first-hand view of how dangerous he can be to those around him during such moments when he returned to talk to the baron about what he had learned from the Pellar. The baron admitted that his wife had miscarried after one of their frequent rows, and that she and his daughter had fled Crow's Perch. The baron was convinced Anna had miscarried because of his actions, but Geralt was not so certain about this – he couldn't stop thinking about the strange talisman meant to ward off evil power Anna had received from the pellar. Torn between shame and concern over their fate, he had tried to save face while still doing all he could to find them.

The Baron agreed to show Geralt where he had buried the miscarried child's remains. When the clock struck midnight, both men set off to find the botchling's grave. Once Geralt and the baron had reached the babe's place of burial, they did not have to wait long for the botchling to show up. The beast hissed and howled and threatened to assume its more monstrous and vicious form, but the two men completed the naming ritual before it could. The Baron named his daughter Dea, and then following ancient custom, they buried the creature under the threshold so that in time it might be reborn as a lubberkin, a household guardian spirit. Geralt hoped this would help him find the baron's family.


However, the transformation would take time. Geralt knew it would be the next midnight before the lubberkin would appear, so he decided to look for work around Crows Perch. Witchers live to kill monsters, and so they place great importance on the weapons and armor they use. Bodily harm is all too common in this profession, so whenever the chance arises to acquire better work clothing, the thinking witcher pounces on it like a cat on a plump mouse. Such a mouse skittered in front of Geralt's eyes at one point in the form of the dwarf Fergus, an armorer of great renown. The craftsman promised to forge top-notch equipment for our hero, but first he needed the appropriate tools. Geralt heard from the master armorer’s apprentice, Yoana that such tools could be found on an abandoned isle in Skellige. The witcher being nowhere near Skellige, knew the information was of little help currently … but tucked away the information in case it could prove useful later.

As Geralt wandered Crow’s Perch, he saw a noticed that appeared to be a job for him. The notice said –

To Whom It May Concern:

Let it hereby be known that whoever kills the shrieker, the monster that's wove its nest near Crow's Perch and has taken to killing both men and beasts, will be given a sizable reward. Take heed that she's a dreadful dangerous creature and killing it'll take a trained fighter, not just a pack of peasants with pitchforks.

–Chet at Crow's Perch
Not only did the people of Crow's Perch live in constant fear of the baron's mad impulses and the greed of his band of tugs, but they also had to deal with a vicious monster. They had given this beast a lovely, full-of-wholesome-folk-character name: "shrieker." It had tormented them so terribly that they had decided to pay for a witcher to take eradicate it. Geralt, who was far from deal to the concerns of simple folk (and also was forever in need of more coin), decided to take the contract on this mysterious beast. It turned out a cockatrice had left the tracks. As this beast's name implies, it looks something like a rooster crossed with a basilisk and, according to Geralt, tastes a bit like chicken. Geralt found the beast, and after a short contest, killed it in the fields of Velen. The cockatrice slain, Geralt took a trophy from its corpse and went to collect his well-deserved reward.

As Geralt returned to get his reward, an idiot with a death wish stood at an intersection of dirt paths close to the bridge into Crow’s Perch. This idiot's name was Ronvid of the Small Marsh, and he sought to challenge one hundred men to a duel, to prove his devotion to his love Maid Bilberry. It seemed the witcher was his first choice. Geralt tried to convince the man they had no quarrel, but Ronvid attacked anyway. The witcher quickly bested him and told the man to return to Maid Billberry before he got himself killed.

Geralt returned to the place where Dea had been buried and awaited midnight to see if the curse had been lifted. The witcher was relieved when he discovered the naming ritual had worked and the curse had been lifted. Dea led Geralt into the night, to discover what had become of her mother and sister. The baron's wife and daughter had not fled Crow's Perch unaided - a fisherman living nearby had provided key assistance. Dea led Geralt to the man's hut, where he learned a fiend had attacked the two women during their flight. The beast had torn Anna's horse to shreds, then carried her off into the woods. As if that weren't horror enough, eyewitness testimony claimed her hands had burned with strange, glowing symbols shortly before this. Perhaps this was precisely what the talisman Anna had received from the pellar had been meant to guard against?

One detail the fisherman mentioned rankled in the witcher's mind: it seemed Anna's hands bore strange marks that had burned with fire just moments before the fiend appeared. what could have caused them? What did they mean? Geralt would have to endure this rankling until he found Anna, who, if still alive, had to be somewhere in Crookback Bog. Tamara, on the other hand, had made it to Oxenfurt, where the fisherman had helped her find shelter with his brother. It seemed Tamara had finally had enough of the way the baron treated her mother and decided to flee along with her.

Geralt decided he would first seek out Tamara as he knew where she was located – in Oxenfurt. During the war that pitted the Northern Realms against Nilfgaard, the border along the Pontar river was closed. Whoever wanted to cross at the border posts had to show a pass issued by the Redanian high command. Or, barring that, one of the convincing counterfeits sold by the shady Redanian who hung about near the river crossings. Since Oxenfurt was on the other side of the pontar river, the witcher would need to obtain a pass at one of the crossings. He traveled to one such crossing North of Crows Perch, only to find the crossing was closed.

Geralt decided to approach the Redanians first to see if some agreement could be reached to allow him to cross. He had seen a notice near the crossing that read –

Let the following be known far and wide!

There's some monster in the woods outside Novigrad doing great damage to our war effort. Anyone who tracks it down and kills it will not only fulfill a patriotic duty and bring the inevitable victory of the united northern forces under the leadership of our brave King Radovid one step closer, but will also get a sizable coin reward as recompense for his trouble. Together, onward, to victory!

-Captain Felix Grubb.

Geralt thought this could be the perfect chance to ingratiate himself with the Redanian command at the crossing. Monsters, like men, each have their own individual tastes and preferences. According to legend, dragons like to savor the delicate notes of virgins, while ghouls delight in the powerful flavors of rotting flesh. In the woods outside Novigrad, meanwhile, a beast had cropped up with a predeliction for Redanian transport wagons. Not surprisingly, the captain of the nearby guardpost did not appreciate this culinary choice and put out a bounty on the monster's head.

Geralt agreed to try and find the woodland beast and set off to find its tracks. He travelled until arriving at a house where Geralt saw with a wild dog trying to get in. After killing the wild dog, the witcher heard whispers coming from inside the house. The witcher discovered that a group of children were living there alone and hungry. Geralt asked them where their parents were and they explained that Nilfgaardians killed some of their parents while some kicked them out themselves on account of too many mouths to feed. Hearing this, the witcher gave the children some food and went on his way seeking out the woodland beast.

Geralt came to the spot where a convoy had been attacked. Something seemed amiss, but the witcher found a trail to follow. It turned out the woods did not hide a "shaggy fuck-knows-what," as the captain of the guard put it, but a band of Scoia'tael. They were the ones attacking the transports. The witcher codex would recommend charting a neutral course in such a situation - and Geralt, feeling the pain of the elves' lot in his very marrow, duly followed that recommendation. The neutral path is often the hardest, for when he returned empty handed to the Redanians, it became clear that he would not be able to obtain crossing papers from them.

However the witcher was not yet out of options, as a shady merchant stood nearby who thought he might have a solution. The man told Geralt if he helped out his brother with some local monsters, the Witcher was sure to get a good price on some crossing papers. The Nilfgaardian and Redanian forces had fought many bloody yet indecisive battles in Velen from which both sides had to retreat without collecting their dead.

To get his pass, the witcher had to help a group of looters robbing the corpses of the fallen. In another time and place he might have merely grit his teeth and continued on his way. Yet the witcher’s circumstances and the conditions in Velen were harsh and other sources of sustenance few that he decided to swallow his revulsion and defend these desperate men from the monsters stalking the battlefield. Hiring a witcher was one of the best ideas the looters' leader had ever hit upon. Geralt dutifully kept the monsters at bay while they completed their grim harvest. The witcher was rewarded with not only payment, but papers to help him cross the pontar.

However, the quickest way to Oxenfurt meant travelling south of the Pontar through the area of Grey Rocks, and approaching the city from the South. So the witcher made his way East along the Pontar until he reach a burning house next to the road. Men can be terribly cruel, especially to those of different races. The witcher had seen humans persecute nonhumans far too often. This time he witnessed a particularly appalling scene - a group of thugs wanting to burn a she-elf alive. Fortunately, the witcher managed to defeat the bandits and save the elf. Unfortunately, the witcher cannot be everywhere at once and not every victim of racial persecution can count on his help.

Shortly thereafter, Geralt arrive at the gates of the learned city of Oxenfurt. The cities western gate stood at the center of the last bridge spanning the pontar river in this region. Before war broke out, several hundred people a day would pass through here. Now the Redanian blockade has slowed traffic to a mere trickle. Behind this gate stood the city Tamara had supposedly travelled to. The wooden, colourful town of Oxenfurt with its narrow streets and pointed roofs. The town of Oxenfurt which lived off the Academy, off its students, lecturers, scholars, researchers and their guests, who lived off science and knowledge, off what accompanies the process of learning. In the town of Oxenfurt, from the by-products and chippings of theory, practice, business and profit were born. Geralt approached the bridge, and hoped the papers he received would serve their purpose. The false papers proved as good as real ones. Once Geralt had acquired them, he could cross the border at will.

Geralt entered the city, and knowing the fisherman’s brother lived near the harbor, decided to explore the Oxenfurt Harbor for leads. Oxenfurt's picturesque port has featured as the subject of numerous odes and ballads, the setting for at least three lurid crime novels, and a favorite spot for romantic outings for generations of students. It was here that Geralt would find the Fisherman’s brother’s residence, and Tamara inside.

Tamara had indeed made it to Oxenfurt safe and sound and would not even consider returning to her father. Determined to save her mother from the clutches of the creatures that had imprisoned her in the bog, Tamara joined the ranks of the witch hunters, hoping their support would allow her to survive a trek into Crookback Bog.Tamara only deepened Geralt's sad understanding of her mother's situation. The women had decided to flee together because they had had enough of the baron's drunken rages and beatings. Anna hated her husband so much that she was ready to do anything in order to be free of the man – and the child he had put inside her. Having learned of the Baron’s daughters location and choice, he left her there and made for Crow’s Perch to report his discovery to the Baron.

As he left the city, Geralt saw a notice regarding a troll.

CAUTION!

A troll's been seen (and heard) to the east of Oxenfurt, on the left bank of the Pontar. Said troll has been known to sing Redanian marching tunes. It is suspected this is part of some Nilfgaardian diversion tactic. It is recommended that this area be avoided until the appropriate branch of His Majesty's services can take care of the problem. In the event of an encounter with the troll, it is recommended one remain immobile, preferably low to the ground and while covering one's head with one's arms. There exists a chance that the beast will not then attack, for it will mistake the potential victim thus situated for a rock.

Berto Bertolomiu, Captain of the Garrison
Since the witcher was heading that direction, he decided he would see if he could find whatever lurked in the area. While searching through the sunny but war-damaged lands near Oxenfurt, Geralt's sensitive ears picked up a very strange sound – something between off-key singing and the bellowing of a stuck pig. It turned out the dubious musical talents belonged to a troll who believed himself part of the Redanian army. His fondest dream was for the fort he had been assigned guard to look like a proper Redanian fort. Bear in mind that a troll's mental capacity is rought that of a none-too-bright toddler, and you'll understand why this particular one felt a Redanian fort should be painted in bright Redanian colors. Geralt brought him red and white paint, which made him as happy as a child finding a present under his pillow. The troll seemed to lack any ill will, so he left it be.

Leaving Oxenfurt, the witcher headed back to Crows Perch. Along the way, he came across a caravan heading along the dirt pathways near the ponds, west of Marauder’s Bridge. Sounds of commotion from up ahead forced the witcher to interject in a fight between two caravaneers and a group of five bandits. Geralt helped slay the fellows fighting the caravaneers, then spoke to the traders, learning their hiring methods are somewhat suspect. Despite their impoverished state, they shared a reward with Geralt and told him they too were travelling to Crows Perch. Indeed, later Geralt would see the two men there selling goods.

On one of Velen's muddy roads Geralt came across an unfortunate soul trapped under his cart. The man had had an accident while hauling corpses of plague victims. The witcher decided to help him. Geralt helped the man right his cart. He also advised him to burn everything he was wearing and give his body a good scrubbing, yet the man brushed off this bit of sage counsel, claiming no contagion could touch him.

Geralt returned to the Bloody Baron and told him all he had learned. Geralt told the Baron where his daughter was, but that he could not make her return, their agreement was only that he find Tamara and Anna. Upon hearing this, the baron revealed another scrap of information about Ciri. He told Geralt of a certain afternoon when he and his retinue had decided to celebrate a successful hunt with a bit of horse racing. The race had come to an abrupt halt, however, when a basilisk attacked. Here the baron employed an old storyteller's trick, breaking his tale off at a crucial moment and announcing he would not utter another word until Geralt found his wife. With no leads left to follow regarding Anna Strenger’s location, Geralt decided he needed to exhaust the other trail laid out by Henrick. He had to find this witch Ciri had quarreled with, and learn all he could.

The notes left by Hendrik, the Nilfgaardian agent, mentioned that Ciri had quarreled with some witch, and that the newt-stewer in question could be found near the village of Midcopse. Exactly where, Geralt did not know - and so he was forced to swallow his manly pride and ask the locals for directions." So the witcher made for the village of Midcopse.

Midcopse was a typical farming settlement which the worst of the fighting has left untouched - but which famine now grips all the same. One of the larger villages in this region. While there trying to find this witch, Geralt decided to look around and see if there wasn't anyone in need of a witcher. It just so happened there was - on the local notice board hung an offer of a bounty for ridding the area of a monster called Jenny o' the Woods. Geralt decided this was something he should look into. Geralt discovered that the monster the locals called Jenny o' the Woods was in fact a common nightwraith. This unfortunate being had been born of a woman murdered by her rejected lover. The story of their star-crossed fate moved me to pen a tear-jerking ballad... but the witcher was mainly moved to find a way to bait and destroy the wraith.Geralt drove off the nightwraith that the unfortunate Zula had become. I derive some small pleasure in knowing that a person to whom life had been so cruel found at least this measure of relief after death...

The peasants of Midcopese were not overly talkative, but in the end Geralt managed to get enough hints out of them to find the witch's hut. Inside the hut he found no witch, but a portal to a hidden cave. Inside Geralt found an old acquaintance, the renowned sorceress Kiera Metz. As Geralt approached the beautiful sorceress was bathing, but seemed not the least concerned about the witcher’s presence in her state of undress.


Geralt first met Keira Metz when she literally dropped on top of him out of nowhere. During the infamous coup on Thanedd Island, Keira was defenestrated and nearly landed right on the witcher's head. The next time Geralt saw her, in the swamps of Velen, was shocking in a different way - the luxury-loving sorceress was the last person he expected to see in such a grim and barren place. Geralt learned the reason for this, and Keira's fate gave him ample fodder for contemplating the cruel whimsies of the wheel of furtune. Once the esteemed advisor to the now late King Foltest, she had been chased out of Temeria when she lost that ruler's trust. Later she joined the Lodge of Sorceresses, which earned her the hatred of Redania's king and Nilfgaard's emperor alike. Because of this, she had gone deep undercover, posing as a cunning woman, a village witch of sorts, deep in the Velen boondocks. It was not at all difficult to tell that she despised every minute of this.

Unfortunately, Keira had not actually encounted Ciri, and the witch metioned in Hendrik's notes was nowhere to be found. Geralts' efforts were not entirely in vain, however, The sorceress had recently entertained an unexpected guest - a masked elven mage. It turned out not only Geralt was looking for Cirilla. Also on her trail — a mysterious elven mage. Like the witcher, he had gone to Keira Metz to inquire after Ciri's whereabouts. During this conversation he also revealed that he kept a hideout in the ruins near the village of Midcopse. Keira figured the mage would be where she hand left him and set off with Geralt towards his hideout.

Finding Ciri in Velen had proven harder than tracking a swallow on a rainy day. According to Keira, this elven mage had been tracking this particular swallow as well. Had he found her? Did he know more about her fate? Geralt knew he had to find out, and Keira, well, she had unfinished buisness of her own with the mage. And so the witcher and sorceress set out together on a journey into darkness to find the mysterious elf's underground hideout.

Barely had our heroes entered the underground chambers when they encountered the enemy. The Wild Hunt had reached the spot before them - and they, too, were searching for Ciri. The Hunt had in its ranks a navigator, a powerful mage able to teleport its warriors from place to place in the blink of an eye. Geralt and Keira, on the other hand, made their way slowly on foot, encountering obstacle after obstacle. All might have been lost had our heroes not happened across a morphotic projection the elven mage had left for Ciri. The mage's illusion guided her towards his lair and called her "Zireael" - meaning "swallow" in Elder Speech. Hearing this, Geralt gained two vital clues: the mage clearly knew Ciri well, and he must have painted the swallows on the walls to direct her.

The road through the underground was not an easy one to travel. The mage had set a great many traps that Ciri could easily evade but which would trip up any who chased after her. In the end Geralt and Keira eliminated the Wild Hunt's lead and began nipping at its heels. Once the witcher and sorceress caught the Wild Hunt, the navigator in their ranks unleased a storm of frost so severe it threatened to freeze our heroes in their tracks. However, Kiera Metz proved to be every bit the match of her counterpart. She dispelled the magic, saving both herself and Geralt. Though her strength was now greatly diminished, she pressed on with the witcher at great personal risk.

Geralt and Kiera shortly thereafter arrived in what appeared to be the Mysterious Elf’s sanctuary. However, Ciri's pursuers did not find what they were looking for apparently. They departed empty handed, leaving one warrior behind to tend to Geralt and Keira. He proved a weak match for the witcher and the sorceress, but their victory was bittersweet, as in the underground passageways Geralt found neither Ciri nor the elven mage. All he could now do was follow the hints provided by yet another morphotic projection the mage had left behind.


Geralt finally learned the truth about Ciri and the witch from the mouth of an illusion. The mage's projection corrected and supplemented the information left behind by Hendrik - Ciri's opponent had not been one ordinary witch but the three Crones, mysterious and powerful beings dwelling in Crookback Bog. Who they truly were and what had happened to Ciri at their swampy home - that, dear reader, you will learn in the pages that follow. Having heard the words of the elven mage, Kiera provided some additional information for Geralt by way of a book on the so called “Ladies of the Woods.” The book told Geralt that to find these Crones, Geralt would have to follow the “trail of treats.” The book gave instructions as to how to find this trail.

Find a child, young and innocent, and take it to Crookback Bog. Search out the Ladies' shrine - that is where the Trail of Treats begins. Set the child off on the trail and it shall follow its sweet track and find the Good Ladies. The child will never want for anything ever again, for the Ladies are kind and generous. Standing before their shrine, pronounce your request and the Good Ladies will hear, for they see and hear all that takes place in their demesne. If you made the offering as it must be done, your supplication will be heard.

Having read this Geralt knew where he had to go. However, before he made off, Kiera asked Geralt for some assistance in the cave. Keira Metz had helped Geralt in his search for Ciri, so the witcher decided to return the favor. The sorceress sought a magic lamp which the mysterious elven mage had promised to give her. Since the object was nowhere in sight, our heroes drew the only possible conclusion: that it lay concealed somewhere in the underground passageways. Their intuition proved sound. In the end Keira found the lamp she had sought, and our heroes could return to the surface. Their trek undergound had made friends of them, so Keira asked Geralt to come by her hut, as she could use some companionship in her lonely backwoods exile. Geralt kept this enticing invitation in mind, but knew he had to follow Ciri’s trail.

The road to Crookback bog took the witcher North toward the town of Condyle. Needing some rest he approached the village hoping to find an inn. However, when he arrived he found that the village has been completely and utterly destroyed. Rumors claim its inhabitants perished in a gruesome massacre. All that remained were a group of bandits so demented they had turned to cannibalism. Horrified at the sight, the witcher struck down every man he saw and continued down the road.

Geralt continued along the coast North towards the Village of Balckbough and saw the ravages this war between kings was imposing on the people of Velen. Bandits staked out along the roads, helpless people grouping together in fear, and injustices apparent along every mile of highway. Should a soldier be held responsible for the decisions of his commanding officers? Is collective responsibility justice? To us, dear reader, these are rhetorical questions. Geralt, however, often found himself forced to answer them - and quickly. For example, along the road in Velen he happened across a group of villagers preparing to lynch a captured Nilfgaardian deserter. Not for the first time, the witcher had to decide which was the lesser evil... The witcher made his decision. He defended the deserter and earned the peasants‘ ire. They attacked at once, and thus in order to save one man he had to kill many others.

Wearied from days without rest and lack of any solid answers, the witcher returned to the Village of Backbough on his way to Crookback Bog. Inn that Village he stayed the night, but like a corpse attracts flies, a witcher attracts those in need. While at the well-shaded village of Blackbough, Geralt happened across a notice. It stated a hunter named Niellen was looking for any help he could get in finding his wife, who had disappeared in the nearby woods a few days earlier. Geralt, already deep in a search-and-rescue vein, decided to help find the woman. The story of Hanna's disappearance had a tradic end. It turned out she had been killed by her own husband. He did not do this on purpose, however. Afflicted with the curse of lycanthropy, he would hide in the forest during his transformations in order to protect his friends and loved ones.

Hanna's sister Margaret knew this secret, and had one of her own - she was in love with Nielen and fiercely jealous of Hanna's life with him. She decided to take Hanna into the woods to watch her husband's transformation, hoping she'd then abandon him in disgust. Sadly, Hanna was careless enough to draw the werewolf's attention. Margaret was able to escape, but her sister was not so lucky. Niellen, transformed into a bloodthirsty beast, slaughtered the love of his life with his own hands. Margaret admitted her unintentional involvement in Hanna’s death to Niellen and in Geralt in hopes of preventing further bloodshed. Niellen became so enraged he swore he would for the first time in his life willfully kill. The witcher knew he had to choose between the life of Margaret and that of Niellen. Seeing the threat Niellen posed and his apparent wiliness to kill made the decision easy. The witcher struck down the werewolf, though it brought him no joy. So Geralt left Blackbough, rested but still weary.

The witcher bypassed Crows Perch since he had no news to deliver the Baron and headed East to the town of Lindenvale, one of Velen's many impoverished villages, its poverty deepened by war levies and the epidemic that spread after the Nilfgaardians' arrival. When he arrived in the town, he came across a grief-stricken old woman. The cause of her woe? She was homeless, a monster having made its nest in her family manor and forced her into a rental situation elsewhere that had recently proven unaffordable. When Geralt approached her, she asked him to rid her manor of this beast. In return she gave him a precious token - the key to the chest in which she claimed to keep her life savings. Geralt couldn't refuse to help an elderly person in need, especially not one so eager to reward him handsomely for it, and so decided to do as she asked.

Geralt also saw a notice posted in the village.

People of Lindenvale and thereabouts!

If you've got any notion of wandering over to the graveyard, rid yourself of it at once, for some evil's taken it over, digging up graves and doing other such damage. Lately it's begin preying on any who enter, and has even kidnapped the miller's lad. So if you've an ounce of sense, stay far from it, and if you've the courage and skill, slay the monster for us, and your efforts will surely be rewarded.
Geralt took the contract the gravedigger of Lindenvale had hung on the village's notice board. It seemed the village cemetery was full of monsters who siezed children as their victims. Geralt investigated the matter and discovered a grave hag hunted nearby. With the investigation part of his task complete, it was on to the luring-out-and-slicing-to-ribbons phase. After ridding the village of the monster, Geralt collected a trophy from its body and went to the gravedigger for the promised bounty. After collecting the bounty, Geralt continued on his path East to Crookback Bog.
The next village on the witcher’s path was Lurtch. Once the Evves family estate was located here and the area bore the name of Lord Evves' wife, Mortilanca. When the couple died, their will stipulated their land be turned over to their serfs. The grateful peasants then founded a village of freeholders and named it after their first ealdorman, Lurtch, who had previously served as the Evves family's butler.

During his travels through Velen, Geralt survived many a bizarre adventure, but few more memorable than that which I will now recount. For who would have thought a routine stop in a village strangely empty save a few bandits arguing with a local dunce would end in such a curious fashion? The witcher surely didn't, though he did have his suspicions. After he dealt with the bandits and talked to the fool, Yontek, he set about visiting the village's huts and the pigs who dwelt in them. Yes, that's right - pigs.

Geralt quickly realized the pigs were not merely farm animals running amok while their masters were away. After all, in this time Velen was gripped by famine and people had long ago eaten all domestic animals. The pigs were, in fact, the cursed inhabitants of the village themselves. With Yontek's help Geralt started to investigate this curious matter.

Before long, Geralt had unraveled the riddle of the Village of the Swine. He discovered its inhabitants had broken into the treasury of some forgotten god, made off with the gold that was his by divine right and were cursed into hogs as a result. The witcher lifted the villagers' curse, but something of the swine must have remained with them, for as soon as they could utter something more than a grunt, they began tossing around baseless accusations. Yontek became their scapegoat, and the herd of pigs turned into a lynch mob. Alas, such is human nature - we are ungrateful and hypocritical to the point where one almost prefers the company of pigs. The witcher left Lurtch turning south towards Crookback Bog, but before he arrived there he passed through the Reardon family manor.

When Geralt arrived at the Reardon family manor, he rid the place of the beasts that once prowled it. All that was left for him to do was to tell the woman that her former home was now safe. When Dolores heard the news she was beside herself with joy, as the place was closely tied to her fondest childhood memories - to the days when she was young and beautiful and lived there with her brother and parents. Dolores moved back in to her family manor and lived there in peace and comfort to the end of her days. However first the witcher would face the evil that awaited him to in Crookback Bog.
 
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So the witcher ventured into the swamps, determined to find this bog-dwelling witch and ask her about Ciri. Though he had no children to offer nor supplications to make, the witcher was skilled at following trails, and the trail of treats was not difficult to find for a witcher. He followed the trail and found it led to an orphanage in the middle of Crookback Bog. Orphaned and unwanted children from nearby villages find a roof over their head and a bowl of warm food here.

Geralt found no witch there, only the orphans and an uneasy feeling. The children said they had not seen anyone matching Ciri’s description, nor any witches … but they advised Geralt that Johnny might be able to help him. When the children in the swamp clearing first told Geralt about Johnny, the witcher had every reason to suppose no such person actually existed. It was difficult to imagine anyone living in such inhospitable surroundings without quickly becoming food for drowners and water hags.Geralt thus suspected Johnny was the figment of childish imaginations, an imaginary friend for lonely orphans.

As he spoke Geralt was interrupted by an old woman the children only referred to as “Gran.” In times of war one often encounters those who have suffered cruelly at the hands of fate. Geralt was thus not shocked to meet the woman who the children called Gran, though she seemed to have suffered manifold unspecified ills. Whatever her woes, it was clear she cared for the war orphans in her charge with love and devotion. Geralt's first attempts to talk to her came to nothing. She told him to leave.

Long years of experience told Geralt not to ignore any possible lead, so he decided to search the nearby swampland for any additional signs of Johnny. It turned out the orphans were not lying – Johnny really did exist. He was not a human child but a godling, one of a rare breed of creatures that can be found scattered about the Continent's wildernesses. Unfortunately Johnny had lost his voice in circumstances he obviously could not explain, and so neither could he provide much in the way of answers to Geralt's questions.

Once Geralt had helped him regain his voice, however, he talked up a veritable storm, giving the lie to all the tales of these legendary beings' supposed shyness. Johnny also agreed to convince Gran to put Geralt in touch with the Ladies of the Wood. Geralt was only able to break through her mistrust with the help of Johnny. A few words from the latter convinced Gran to help Geralt talk to the mysterious Ladies of the Wood.

At Gran’s beckoning, the Crones voices were summoned to speak with the witcher through a magical tapestry. By their magic, it appeared the Crones of Velen were not just old — they were literally ancient, having been around since the reign of the first human kings and possibly even since the coming of the elves. Sister crones, hand in hand, terrors of the sea and land, thus do go about, about: thrice to thine and thrice to mine, and thrice again, to make up nine. The isolated corners of our world harbor creatures older than humans, older than academies and mages, older even than elves and dwarves. The Crones of Crookback Bog are such creatures. No one knows their true names, nor what breed of monstrosity they in fact are.


Common folk have given these three sisters the names Weavess, Brewess and Whispess, and call the threesome "The Ladies of the Wood" or simply "The Good Ladies." The Crones act as the true sovereigns of Velen, whose inhabitants they help survive through harsh times in return for unquestioning obedience. They wield powerful magic, but one different from that of mages. They draw power from water and earth and are bound to the land in which they live. The Crones can hear everything that happens in their woods, predict the future, twist the threads of human lives and bring blessings as well as curses. The Crones seem for all intents and purposes to be immortal. Magic elixirs keep them from aging and allow them to take the appearance of young women. These elixirs and their mystical ties to the swamps in which they live also give them supernatural strength and vitality.

The witcher ask the three sisters for help finding Ciri. The Crones agreed to tell him all they knew, but first the witcher had to rid the mire of an unspeakable evil. Something about life in dreary backwoods settlements leads their inhabitants to hide the truth with misleading names. This takes the form of both hyperbole - a clump of bare trees called "Dragon Spike Forest" or a hole in the ground two paces deep named "The Chasm of Eternity" - and understatement - a horrid massacre calmly referred to as "the incident." Velen fit the mold in this regard, as Geralt learned while he wanted through it in search of Ciri. Geralt found this trio of highly suspicious magical sisters called the Ladies of the Wood to be one of those times. They directed him to a clump of bogside huts known as Downwarren. Geralt was to solve their "problem": a rash of mysterious murders. The sisters also insisted that the witcher demand payment from the Elderman of Downwarren in return for his services. He spoke to the ealdorman and learned that the evil power behind the killings dwelled in the Whispering Hillock. Wherever else?

The Whispering Hillock – if the world were not as it is but as it should be, this name would denote a place of hidden nooks and lovers sharing heartfelt lies in hushed voices. Instead, it stood for danger and terror, for a place where wild animals, driven by some mysterious power, had killed many an inhabitant of Downwarren. Geralt agreed to investigate the problem, and soon discovered the animals were controlled by a spirit entrapped in a tree growing atop the hill. The spirit spoke to him in a woman's voice, and claimed to have once been a druidess who had kept watch over the Velen grove until the Crones murdered her and imprisoned her ghost in the tree. The forces of nature she had once served now protected her from the fiendish sisters' further designs. The unfortunate locals had died as collateral damage, for, the spirit attested, nature's wrath is unrestrainable and distinguishes not between unwary innocents and unwelcome ill-wishers. The spirit begged Geralt to lift her curse and free her from her torment. In exchange, she promised to rescue the orphans from the swamp clearing, who would otherwise face a cruel death at the hands of the Crones. Yet too much innocent blood had been spilt on the Whispering Hillock. Geralt did not believe the spirit's explanation and destroyed its cursed heart. In doing so he expulsed it from this world for good.

As he left the tree, Geralt saw the Eldarman of Downwarren was awaiting him. When the witcher told the man his work was done and reminded him about the payment for the Crones, the Eldarman took out a blade and cut off his own ear. Shocked by what he had seen, the witcher travelled back to the sisters to deliver the payment so he could learn what had become of Ciri.

When Geralt delivered the ear as payment, the three sisters appeared in their true forms. Of the three ghastly sisters, the Whispess was the most ancient, or at least so claimed the swamp dwellers' whispered legends. Whispered, for if they spoke too loudly the Crone would hear it — for she demanded tribute in the form of human ears, which she hung from trees and through which, using primeval magic, she heard all that happened in the swamp. The Crone known as Brewess was the middle of the three demonic sisters in terms of age – but the first in terms of size. Brewess was said to be a master concocter of magical mixtures, and, in the more ghastly legends, was said to know over a dozen different recipes for human soup. Though the youngest of the three Crones, the Weavess was not one jot less ugly or evil than her older sisters. It was she who wove their magic tapestries of human hair gathered as tribute from the young children of nearby villages during their "cutting" ceremonies. These tapestries were how the worshipers of the Ladies of the Wood made contact with and paid homage to their deities.

The three sisters were delighted Geralt has completed his task, and keeping their word they told him all they knew. Before the sisters recounted their story, Geralt realized the true nature of the entities before him. It was clear they had indeed slaughtered the orphans as the spirit in the tree had warned him. Gran seemed devastated by the loss of her charges, and Geralt noticed she bore strange marks on her hands that burned with living fire. They proved to be signs of indentured servitude to the Crones. When Geralt saw the marks on the woman's hands, he quickly realized she must be the Bloody Baron's wife, though changed beyond all recognition by the hardship she had suffered. Geralt believed that the signs on her hands were symbols of the pact she had made with the Crones. Anna must have turned to the ghastly sisters because she did not wish to give birth to the baron's child. The Crones granted her wish in their own, twisted way: with a curse which made the fetus inside her wither on the vine, taking Anna's life energy with it. In despair she turned to the pellar, who made her a talisman to hamper the evil magic's influence. Anna had lost this during her fight with the baron and was thus rendered defenseless against the Crones' magic. After that, the worst was free to happen - the markings on her palms began to burn and a fiend dragged her to the heart of Crookback Bog, where she paid back her debt as the Crones' slave.


Soon Geralt knew the truth of Ciri’s interaction with the Crones. When Ciri arrived in Velen, she found herself in the very heart of the notorious Crookback Bog. Exhausted, she sought shelter, but instead found herself in the clutches of the three demonic sisters. Ciri quickly realized how poorly that name fit these blood-thirsty hags and fled. They had wanted to hand her over to one of the generals of the Wild Hunt name Imlerith. He had arrived on the Crones' summons to take Ciri back to his king. But Ciri escaped their clutches and fled the swamps before their vile plan could come to fruition. Geralt told the Crones he could not forgive their treatment of his ward, the Crones laughed at the witchers threat and told him their fates were indeed tied together, but that Geralt would first search the ends of the earth for Ciri, chasing one mirage after another. They also warned Geralt that if he ever found her, she would inevitably die.

Geralt flew back without delay to Crows Perch and told the baron of his wife’s fate with the Crones. The witcher not only understood now how it was Ciri had come to the Baron’s castle injured and hungry, but he had the information he needed to learn the rest of the Baron’s story. At long last, after Geralt had fulfilled his part of the bargain and found the baron's wife and daughter, the lord of Crow's Perch relieved the suspense and finished his tale. He recounted how Ciri had been forced to use her powers to save the baron's life. Ciri and the baron were testing their mettle in a horse race when a basilisk swooped down and put an end to the competition. The beast snatched the baron up and carried him off to its nest. Ciri, sparing no time for second thoughts, ran to his rescue. Ciri knew that to save the baron she had to act quickly and use her special abilities. She made a desperate decision and, in the blink of an eye, teleported herself next to the monster and swiftly cut off its head.

This decision had consequences, however: Ciri knew Eredin could sense whenever Ciri used her powers, meaning that even that short moment – in which she revealed the strength lying dormant inside her – was enough to alert the Wild Hunt. Wanting to save the area and her new found friends from the destruction that would inevitably follow in the Red Riders' wake, Ciri quickly abandoned Crow's Perch and made her way to Novigrad, where she hoped to find Yennefer.


Geralt got up at once to head to Novigrad, but the baron stopped him with a request. He asked the witcher to help him rescue his wife from her fate in Crookback Bog. During their heart-to-heart the baron gave Geralt a somewhat clearer image of the Strengers' married life. While her husband was off leading military campaigns, Anna would seek comfort in the arms of a childhood friend. Once the baron discovered the truth, he fell into an indescribably fury and killed Anna's lover, something which, predictably enough, further deepened the chasm separating the couple. Having seen Gran, and still feeling the guilt and horror of the orphans’ death, Geralt decided to help the baron and went with him into the bog.

The two men gathered up some of the baron’s men, and headed back to the bog. There they ran into unexpected company: Tamara, accompanied by a band of witch hunters, had also ventured out in search of Anna. They joined forces and, in the end both the baron and Tamara and her escort of witch hunters made it to the swamp clearing, but what they found there was not cause for joy, to say the least. The Crones no longer controlled her mother, true, but the experience had left her with an addled mind.

[video=youtube;OGbY--Jgn_g]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGbY--Jgn_g[/video]

They say that a man's true nature is revealed in times of crisis. The baron's reunion with his wife was certainly such a time – her deplorable state shook Phillip to the core. Yet when he learned there was a sliver of hope that Anna could be cured of her madness, the baron seized that though with all his strength and decided to ride with his wife to the very end of the earth, to the Blue Mountains, and seek help for her tortured mind there. As for Tamara, she and the witch hunters returned to Novigrad. Though Tamara did not want to admit it, she appreciated her father's gesture. And then... well, dear reader, the ultimate fate of the baron and his family is a tale for another time.

With the baron and his wife reunited, and Geralt’s quest against the Crones fulfilled as best as possible for now, Geralt’s attention turned to Novigrad … the location Ciri had travelled to Novigrad from Velen. Once part of Redania, Novigrad now has the status of a free city. It is the world's largest city and, without a doubt, the richest as well. Cradle of the cult of the Eternal Fire, it is now home to the church of the same name. It is ruled officially by the head of the church, referred to as the hierarch, though its underworld crime bosses also have a great deal of say in matters.

So Geralt headed north to once again visit the Pearl of the North. He crossed the Pontar at a border crossing using the papers he had once again. Shortly thereafter, he re-encountered Jon Verdun, the man he had save from downer’s a week before. It seemed the deserter had found the refugees who had left him for dead and returned the favor. The man now led a group of bandits. Verdun greeted Geralt and thanked his savior, offering him some spoils from the deserter’s misdeeds. Though the witcher disapproved of the man’s choices, a witcher never rejects payment. He left wondering if he’d made the right choice, but soon forgot the incident as more pressing matters awaited north.

Ciri's trail took Geralt to Novigrad, the largest city in the North. It would take seas of ink to describe the city accurately, so suffice it to say it is the seat of the Church of the Eternal Fire, a bustling port city and a haven for artists... and all sorts of other shady characters. Yet Novigrad at this time was not the city Geralt knew from his earlier travels. War raged throughout the know world, and rich cities often prove tempting morsels to armies on the march. It was clear at this time that this particular morsel had both Radovid and Emhyr greedily licking their chops. Within the city, the Temple Guard acted with impunity under the command of a cankerous snot named Caleb Menge and with the support of that terror-spreading band of zealots, the witch hunters. Meanwhile, the kingpings of the city's underworld still held much of it in their sleazy grasp.

Finding Ciri here would be like searching for a needle in a burning haystack - Geralt would clearly need some assistance. Luckily, an old acquaintance of his now lived in Novigrad. Her name was Triss Merigold. Yennefer told Geralt that Triss had recently taken up residence in the Free City of Novigrad. I always considered it a point of particular pride to count Triss Merigold of Maribor among my closest and dearest friends. This exceptionally talented sorceress was a shining star of her profession, the former mage advisor to King Foltest, and a famous hero of the Battle of Sodden, known as the Fourteenth of the Hill. Yet in no way did she resemble her often unbearably haughty sisters in magic. Her deft mind, warm smile and considerable personal charm had always won over even the hardest of hearts. Though my personal relations with Triss never ventured beyond the fraternal, Geralt of Rivia at on point found her allure irresistible. From then on the two shared feelings that ran far deeper than a superficial and fleeting fancy.

As the witcher entered the city, it was clear that all was not well. Whilst Geralt was walking through the busy streets of Novigrad north of the Portside Gate, he encountered a couple of townsmen harassing a female elf over suspicions of doing something sly after the elf claimed to be fetching water without a jug or bucket. The witcher interceded on behalf of the elf. He told the men to leave, which after a few comments they did. However the bitter elf refused to thank Geralt. She insisted that this treatment wasn't over because she and the townsmen would still remain in Novigrad. The witcher can then choose how to approach the female elf's bitterness which she will then reply with sarcasm. She reminded the witcher that elves do not need nor want his pity. She then left without another word.

Geralt continued into the city and his unease continued to grow. Ever since Radovid had given the witch hunters a free hand, the persecution of mages had ascended to new heights everywhere in the North – and Novigrad was no exception. His horror grew still when the smell of burning flesh filled the air as the witch hunters set fire to freaks and mages of all kinds during gruesome public spectacles. In those days rampant persecution and the smoke of a hundred pyres choked Novigrad's air. This grim climate provided cover in which a great many bloody butchers built comfortable nests for themselves. Drummed-up conspiracies, mass arrests and show trials resulting in group executions were the favorite building blocks. Caleb Menge, the fanatically ambitious commander of the Church of the Eternal Fire's Temple Guard, was one such opportunist, his moment of triumph coming when he unmasked his superior, the former Temple Guard commander Chappelle, as a doppler in disguise.


Last Geralt had seen him, Chappelle was Chancellor of Security for the Church of the Eternal Fire in Novigrad. Geralt and I had long known that Chappelle had died years ago and been replaced by a doppler masquerading under his name. We didn't breathe a word of this to anyone, of course, for the change was decidedly in everyone's best interest. The doppler had proved a resonable creature deprived of the true Chappelle's cruelty, and under his watch life in the city had much improved. Sadly, the chancellor's conciliatory style must have raised suspicions as a wave of terror and persecution began to swell over Novigrad. The doppler was found out, arrested and burned at the stake for the greater glory of the Eternal Fire.

Geralt had been in situations where he could not prevent someone's death on more than one occasion. In fact, you might say he had grown accustomed to that particular form of agony. It is another thing altogether, however, to stand powerless and watch the unjust, cruel execution of an acquaintance for whom one has developed a fondness. Such was his lot as regards to Chappelle. Next to him in the flames was Felicia Cori, a young sorceress whom Geralt had met while chasing the kingslayer, Letho. Though Geralt had not gotten to know her deeply, he had nonetheless taken a liking to this former pupil of Philippa Eilhart, who had seemed to him a pleasant and enterprising young woman. Yet she was a wielder of magic and, as such, met her end on a pyre.

There was nothing the witcher could do but watch as the crowd cheered the painful deaths of his friends. He watched for a moment, and then saw another old friend Vimme Vivaldi. Needing to speak with someone familiar after what he had just seen, Geralt thought he would visit the Dwarf’s lending establishment. The dwarves have been in the banking business since the legendary King Desmond of Temeria was just a snot-nosed brat in short trousers asking for me "yam" with his "bwed." Since then, the prominent dwarven banking families – the Giancardis, the Vivaldis and the Cianfanellis – have only expanded their services, establishing branches in all the larger cities of the North. Vimme Vivaldi carried the torch of this venerable tradition into modern times, growing the Novigrad branch of his family's bank until it was the largest in the city. Geralt and I met him over a dozen years before our story begins and had always appreciated his honesty and acumen.

The latter he gave further proof of during the time in which our story takes place, for his bank remained profitable even in the face of growing nonhuman oppression.Novigrad is a cosmopolitan city, a true melting pot of diverse diversities. It thus comes as no surprise that the Free City contains a multitude of top-class gwent players from all strata and races, each linked by the fact that they possess highly powerful cards. This included Vivaldi. Geralt and the dwarf played a few rounds of Gwent. However, the witcher knew he had to find his contact in the city, Triss Merigold and given what he had just seen he thought it best to act quickly.

Geralt went to the flat where Triss Merigold was supposed to reside. He hope he would find her there alive and well. Until quite recently a great many mages lived near Novigrad's main square. They fled when the witch hunters began their reign of terror, leaving many of the city's most beautiful townhouses abandoned and uncared for. This included Triss who had apparently been forced into hiding from the so-called witch hunters persecuting magic wielders in the city, turning to one of the leaders of the local underworld for protection.

It was clear as the witcher approached that she was not home. In her place were two looters. The men appeared aggravated by the witcher’s presence until they learned he was only interested in information, not in sharing their ill begotten gains. The two men told the witcher that the red haired sorceress may be in the Putrid Grove – a home for freaks and oddities within the city walls. However this place was only rumored to exist, and the men did not know how to get there. They told the witcher there was rumored to be a secret passage through the sewers, or suggested that he follow a beggar or thief there. Supposedly the cities thieve all payed tribute to the King of Beggars.

The Free City of Novigrad had known no king's rule for nearly two hundred years. Francis Bedlam surely has this fact in mind when he anointed himself the King of Beggars, a title that mocked the pomposity of crowned heads while simultaneously stealing a bit of said pomp for itself. Bedlam was a pragmatic man, a trait of great use in his profession, which involved managing a network of thieves, beggars, tramps and street urchins that trickled through every part of the city. His contacts provided him with the freshest gossip and tastiest morsels of information, and the cut he took of his "subjects" earnings guaranteed a sizeable income for the maintenance of his "court" in the Putrid Grove. Francis despised fanaticism and prejudice in equal measure, which meant that mages fleeing the witch hunters' pincers often turned to him for protection. The looters told Geralt that the King was a man to be respected, and that even the new Menge didn’t dare go there.

Just at that moment, Menge appeared with his witch hunters. The new captain of the Temple Guard ordered the looters arrested for stealing property that now belonged to the Church of the Eternal Fire. He claimed the Church now had claim to all of Triss Merigold’s possessions. As the looters were escorted away, the vile fanatic warned the witcher that he was not welcome there. Only righteous folk obeying the laws of the eternal fire were welcomed. However, the captain left the witcher with but a warning and a deep sense of disquiet.

Once the temple guard had left, Geralt entered Triss’s home looking for any clue of her whereabouts. Her home was empty, and Geralt knew that she had been forced to leave in a hurry. He found a rose of remembrance he gave her months before. That she had kept it this long showed the feelings that had existed between the former lovers. Geralt had gifted it to her just before their last moments of delight together in an elven bathhouse … their last moments of peace and romance.

Having learned all he could, Geralt left Triss’s flat and began watching Hierarch Square to see if he could find a thief or beggar. He soon spotted a thief and followed him through the alleys of Novigrad from a distance. Geralt realized how organized the King of Beggar’s system was when the thief handed the stolen purse to another man. The second man went to a locked door and appeared to drop off payment. The Geralt could only assume the Putrid Grove was on the other side. Geralt approached and conviced the doors guardsman he was an oddity who needed in, though not without having to pay. Once inside, he saw many of the mages in hiding, reduced from once proud citizens of this city to street peddlers.

He entered a building in the grove and was relieved at what he saw. Triss Merigold stood before him as beautiful as ever. It seemed the sorceress had indeed entered into an arrangement with the so-called King of Beggars. She paid for his protection by providing magic services to his organization. Triss appeared glad to see a friendly face, even on that brought back some still-painful memories. She asked Geralt to accompany her as she ran a few errands around the city. The witcher agreed to tag along. While they walked, Geralt told the Sorceress of Ciri’s return. Triss had once been like an older sister to Geralt’s ward. Though Triss did not know anything about Ciri and her stay in Novigrad, she promised to do all within her power to aid Geralt's search.

First the witcher and sorceress recovered some supplies that she needed to continue her enterprises in the city, then they went to a granary to deal with a rat infestation. When they arrived at the granary, Geralt was surprised to learn the owner new that Triss was a sorceress. The witcher didn’t fully trust the man, and demanded payment up front. They entered the building and set their traps and then waited to ensure the traps worked.

As the two waited together they talked about the past. Though theoretically Triss and Geralt had ended their romance half a year earlier, it was clear the feelings they felt for each other had not vanished so easily. To deal with this, the sorceress pretended that nothing had happened and the witcher, as is his wont, sheepishly masked his feelings with a mix of hesitant interest and fake indifference. It must be said that both of them handled the situation quite awkwardly.

[video=youtube;Cbm_DPQ5O-w]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbm_DPQ5O-w&t=216s[/video]

However, their conversation ended abruptly when the granary’s owner returned with three witch hunters. The sorceress had been betrayed. Fortunately three witch hunters are no match for a sorceress and witcher. The men lay dead, and the owner was spared so long as he paid double. Triss knew it muight have turned out differently had the witcher not been there. Triss thanked Geralt, and told him she did know an individual who could be of help – a dreamer named Corinne Tilly.
 
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Oneiromancers – or dreamers, as they are more commonly called – possess the ability their name implies to divine the future or relive the past through dreams. Oneiromancy is difficult for even a highly trained sorceress to master. Those born with the talent, however, excel at it without any formal education. Corinne was one of the best of her kind and had no trouble finding clients, even with the hostility to the occult that reigned in Novigrad at the time. This gifted woman could not only dream of past events herself, but also induce revelatory dreams in persons searching for direction or answers to specific questions. These abilities proved to be of great use to Geralt in his search. Geralt hoped she would spare him a few moments, and set off to find her in a house where she had gone to ply her trade.

Triss told Geralt that Corinne had just taken a job at a house down the canal from where they stood. Geralt thanked her and told the sorceress it was good to see her again. Triss agreed and invited the witcher to visit her apartment in the bits. However, for now Geralt headed off to find Corinne. When he arrived at the house Triss described Geralt found a man sitting outside. Rudolf had apparently purchased the house but believed it to be haunted. He employed Corinne to séance in the house and determine what could be done about it. However, the dreamer had yet to return to him.

Geralt went into the house to investigate. The dreamer had been captured in her dream by a Godling named Sara. Sarah says she wanted to play which is why she put bad dreams in Corinne Tilly's mind and wouldn’t allow her to wake up. Sarah explains that she "haunted" the house to scare the banker because she didn’t like bankers. Geralt made a deal with the Godling. He agreed to tell Rudolf that the house was haunted forever and there was no way to lift the curse. In exchange Sara would stop bothering Corinne Tilly's dreams. Geralt fulfilled his end of the bargain and the dreamer was soon released. The dreamer was grateful to the witcher for his help. Corinne agreed to help Geralt and put together a dreaming séance for him so that he might be able to locate Ciri. However, the dreamer said that the godling had given her terrible dreams. She needed time to recuperate before she could help the witcher. She ask him to meet her later at the Golden Sturgeon, the inn where she was staying.

So Geralt decided to explore Novigrad and would return to her that evening. He got some much needed rest, and then went out in the city visiting merchants and watching the passers by. As he wandered, the witcher saw a preacher of the Eternal Fire speaking ill of mages, alchemists, and especially witchers to a crowd of people near Hierarch Square. As Geralt walked up to the priest, the foul man insulted the witcher. Geralt asked the man how many lives he had saved from monsters, and the man had no answer. The crowd turned on the priest, denouncing him as a coward and dispersed. The Priest sulked away and the witcher continued on his path, feeling that he had made his point well.

However soon Geralt spied something on the city notice board that intrigued him. It seemed keeping the peace in Novigrad was not the city guard's only problem.
By order of the City Council number 1408/DZ/185, a reward has been set aside for the killing of the monster which torments and murders residents of the Bits after dark. The only acceptable proof of having performed this deed shall be a trophy taken from the monster's body. Yes, this means your mother's or cousin's or aunt's eyewitness testimony will not suffice, nor will the sworn word of any other person, regardless of his or her claimed relationship to you, the Hierarch or anyone else, and also without caring one whit for his or her alleged trustworthiness, which supposedly can be attested to by anyone at your favorite drinking hall. For more information and/or to collect the reward, see the District Superintendent for the Bits.
–Lund
By writ of the City Council -
Superintendent of the Bits

Geralt, always in need of coin, decided to investigate. During a conversation with a certain guardsman, Geralt learned that members of the city watch had been disappearing under murky circumstances. He accepted the task of looking into the matter. Geralt's investigation revealed a succubus had been responsible for the city guardsmen's murder. Unlike other monsters, succubi and menads feel no desire to kill, do not crave human blood and usually do not, in fact, mean any harm at all. They are motivated by one thing and one thing only: an insatiable lust. They try in vain to slake this by engaging in sexual acts with any other humanoid species they encounter. While it must be admitted that their "victims" rarely put up much resistance, this does not mean succubi and menads do not present any danger: their never-ending advances, though pleasurable at first, have pushed more than one man to madness or even death.

Succubi and menads usually can be found near human settlement, including small villages and populous cities. They prowl at night, though when stricken by serious need they will leave their lairs during the day as well. They shower their affections on men as well as women, the young as well as the old, the ugly as well as the beautiful. Some of them are particularly fond of pastors and other holy men, whose seduction they treat as a sort of game. Though succubi are peaceful by nature, when forced to fight they will defend themselves fiercely. One should thus not be fooled by their fair appearance – under the velvety skin of their arms lie muscles of iron, and a blow delivered with their rear, goat-like legs or the thick horns on their head can easily crush bone.

I've dealt with more than one such creature in my life and I must say, if anyone is under the misconception that encounters with these creatures are pleasant - well, I would disabuse him of it myself, but I know that is a task only unfortunate experience can accomplish. Suffice it to say death from a surfeit of pleasure leaves one no less dead. The clues Geralt found led him to a house of ill-repute. As is often the case in such establishments, more than lovemaking was taking place within its walls... After talking to the succubus, Geralt decided to spare its life. When he told me this, I was at first outraged, but then he explained the arguments the succubus had given him and convinced me the guards she had killed had earned their fate.

Night was falling over the city harbor, so the witcher made for the Golden Sturgeon. He found the dreamer awaiting him in her room. She explained that she would need to learn something about the girl the witcher was seeking. Geralt has always been an introvert, and talking about his feelings and loved ones does not come easy for him. Yet that was exactly what the dreamer needed him to do if she was to dream about Ciri.


In the end Geralt forced open his shell, and told the dreamer all - his invoking the law of surprise before Ciri’s birth, his destined meeting with the girl in Brokilon forest, his taking her as his ward to Kaer Morhen after her grandmother’s death, the storming of Castle Stygga, and Ciri’s rescuing him and Yennefer from death in Rivia. Geralt also told the dreamer about Ciri’s unstable gift, the ability given to her as a Child of the Elder Blood to travel between worlds. Then he fell asleep – and dreamed. In his dream, he saw Ciri in Novigrad... with me.


I would wager anyone that you, dear reader, are a person of culture and taste - and therefore already familiar with me, Dandelion, and the role I am to play in the following tale. Nevertheless, allow me to sketch a few lines by way of self-portrait, for the sake of thoroughness, and in the event you have spent much of the last half-century in some dark corner where the light of my star has yet to reach.

Born in 1229, a talented poet and troubadour, a graduate of Oxenfurt Academy, a frequent performer at royal courts, an unequaled lover appreciated, and in some cases adored, by ladies worldwide, a skilled negotiator and a stirring orator" - such is the image of the bard Dandelion as painted by his friends and promoters. This image is, of course, somewhat overbright in its coloring - I personally prefer to think of myself as a dedicated artist in thrall to his Muse, one whose work has benefited immeasurably from the fact that I was, am and forever will remain a close friend and steadfast companion to the witcher Geralt. It is his fate I chronicle in this present work and his story which I shall sing till the end of my days.

Geralt learned from Corinne that I was still in Novigrad as best she knew, and where I was likely to be. He thus made his way to the Rosemary and Thyme, a charming establishment which I had inherited from an admirer of my poetry, for he, quite rationally, expected to find me there. His search for Ciri seemed closer to a happy conclusion than ever before. Alas, fate had raised his hopes only to dash them cruelly back to the ground. Geralt did not find me at my proprietorship.

His despair was partially lifted when he came across our old friend, Zoltan Chivay. T
he dwarf Zoltan Chivay was a close friend of Geralt's and mine, met while we were sneaking through the forests and wilderness of Brugge and Sodden, when war raged all around and the hooves of Nilfgaardian cavalry thundered on the high roads. Like many of his kin, he later fought at Brenna in the Mahakam Volunteer Detachment, a unit that contributed greatly to the victory, although this fact is sadly ignored by most chronicles. After the war he wanted to start a business, and even thought about taking a wife, yet fate had things arranged a bit differently. Zoltan had proved his friendship to the witcher many times, eagerly standing at his side in any moment of need, disproving those who claim that each and every dwarf is a spiteful, aggressive son of a bitch, that they do nor care for human plight and that coexistence is impossible. I know many nonhumans and if anything stands in the way of coexistence, it is human ignorance, spite and ungratefulness. Zoltan was glad to see Geralt, but the dwarf had just returned from a long journey and knew nothing of my fate or that of Ciri. Having learned of my disappearance, Geralt dropped everything to find out what had become of me.

Concern wrinkling his brown, Zoltan helpled Geralt search every corner of the establishment for clues about where I might be. Other than a few triflings, all they found was a planner containing notes about the women I had met with in the days prior to my disappearance. They divided the names between then and ventured into the city to find the women and ask what they knew.

Geralt conversed with the ladies whose company I had recently graced. Though each had fond memories of these encounters, none knew where I might be now. The first name Geralt went to visit was Vespula, whom he had met once before as she cast me from her house due to a misunderstanding. Geralt found the washer woman being harassed by some of Whoreson Junior's thugs. Geralt interceded on her behalf and then spoke with her about my whereabouts. It turns out Vespula was once again angry with me because she saw me at the harbor with another woman. With nothing more to go on, the witcher decided moved on to the other women on the list.

Next, Geralt erroneously interpreted one of my notes to mean that Elihal and I had been a couple. Alas, while anyone would be thrilled to count this outstanding elf, wonderful conversation partner and superb tailor among their conquests, in fact no more than friendship and fine wine had ever passed between us. Geralt found this out when he visited Elihal's tailor shop, where he also got a first-hand glimpse at the elf's unusual hobby – adopting the dress and mannerisms of those different from himself in race, sex and social status.

Geralt travelled back through the streets of Novigrad heading for a woman named Marabella’s residence. Marabella ran a school for children in the city’s poorest district, “the bits.” When Geralt arrived she was teaching her students a lesson. Geralt waited for the class to finish and then spoke to her. She mentioned how I spent my last visit there pouring over a book about mold. This seemed odd to Geralt, but with nothing else to go on he continued his search.

Next Geralt approached the Var Attre residence in search of a pupil of mine, Rosa var Attre. While the witcher knew her father, it appeared witchers were not welcome at the house by the guards. Undeterred, the witcher snuck around the house and was aided by Edna var Attre who claimed he was Rosa’s swordplay instructor. Geralt learned that Rosa var Attre was a passionate devotee of the art of swordplay and soon the two were dancing through the cellar in the immortal steps of combat. The fencing lesson Geralt gave her while searching for yours truly had thrilled her to the core. After the brief sword lesson with Rosa, Edna started a conversation and Geralt learned that I had taken them on a weird Rhetoric lesson in a graveyard where I questioned them about a Margrave Henckel. They also revealed that I spoke highly of a Koviri trobairitz whom known as "Callonetta." Having learned all he could, the witcher began to leave. However, Geralt’s sword lesson left Rosa asking the witcher if they could meet again for a repeat. Geralt had plenty of experience teaching young women with fiery personalities how to swing swords and so agreed.

After leaving the var Atrre residence, the witcher began examining a Novigrad shopkeepers wares in the Gildorf district. Geralt spied a remarkable jade statuette. It was in the form of a nobleman and emanated a strange energy. The witcher decided to purchase it and show it to Triss. The Novigrad merchant told Geralt about a mage named Aeramas. The poor man had, like so many of his colleagues, met a gruesome death on a pyre. With no surviving heirs, his expansive rural residence was now abandoned - and, if the rumors about this eccentric sorcerer were true, inside it awaited a great many curiosities and valuable secrets...

The last name on the list led Geralt to the residence of Maria Lousia la Vallette. Baroness Maria Louisa la Valette was the talk of Temeria in her time. This noblewoman had been King Foltest's mistress and even bore him two illegitimate children. This caused quite the scandal and prompted several notable families to take up arms in revolt, only to be bloodily crushed by the king's forces, who took La Valette Castle during a hard-fought siege. To the baroness' good fortune Geralt of Rivia was with King Foltest at the time and saved her son Aryan from the fate that otherwise would have been his for having participated in the revolt. Louisa la Valette thus had every reason to think quite highly of the witcher and her esteem became quite apparent the next time they crossed paths. What the witcher needed was to speak with one of her servants, Molly who was an acquaintance of mine. She invited the witcher to join her and their mutual acquaintance Morvran Voorhis to a horse race outside the city, where Molly would be.

The race was at the Vegelbud Residence. The Vegelbud family's out-of-town estate was famed not only for its lovely guardians and sumptuous banquets, but also for the series of horse races organized there in honor of one of the line's illustrious ancestors, Erasmus. Before they found her however, Morvran asked the witcher to participate in a race. The witcher obliged and bested the entire field. After the race, Maria pointed Geralt to Molly who told Geralt that she hadn’t seen me in a while and that I had borrowed money from her to purchase a barge. She also noted that she had seen me with my “sister,” a blonde-haired woman.

That evening the witcher returned to Novigrad with more questions than answers to Zoltan, but the Dwarf was able to help Geralt piece together the information. Zoltan was able to conclude that the woman my broken flowers were talking about was a famous and talented trobairitz named Priscilla.

As a poet and a romantic, I have immortalized in flowery verse the charms both corporeal and spiritual of many women. Yet when I open my mouth to sing the praises of Priscilla, I find - hard as this might be to conceive - that my throat constricts, words turn to meal in my mouth, and all elaborate turns of speech seem artificial and empty when compared to the natural beauty, talent, sensitivity and intellect nature has bestowed her. Priscilla (or Callonetta, the stage name under which she gained artistic renown) was, around the time of our story's beginning, enjoying the last stop on a triumphal tour of concerts that had taken her from the sumptuous courts of Lan Exeter and Pont Vanis, through Tretogor and Caelf, finally bringing her to the glorious city of Novigrad. It so happened this ravishing starlet was still in town and performing every night at the Kingfisher Inn.

So Geralt and Zoltan headed to the Kingfisher. However, before the show started the witcher first entered a bookshop across the street. The owner recognized the white wolf at once. He said someone had left a book with him a long time ago with instructions to give it to Geralt if he ever got the chance. This naturally piqued the witcher's curiosity. Sadly, the book dealer did not know the book's exact present location, only that it had a red cover and that Geralt should look for it in his stacks of dusty tomes and manuscripts.

Geralt found the book and, inside it, a letter from someone he had once known. Though he gave no outward sign of it, this filled him with touching recollections of old times. To this day I don't know who the old friend was nor what he had written in the letter - and that's a shame, for judging by Geralt's behavior, therein lies a very interesting tale...

Soon thereafter the witcher left and entered the Kingfisher, taking up a seat next to Zoltan. Like it or not, the witcher was in for an evening of fine culture. At the end of which he hoped to take the artist aside for a serious chat. He saw my Pricilla perform her ballad “the Wolven Storm” which seemed to be about the witcher and Yennefer. A beautiful piece my Priscilla had delicately crafted after learning of the two from a most reliable source.

[video=youtube;gcFYm0S-zo0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcFYm0S-zo0[/video]

Witcher’s are said to be emotionless, but I have been told that the words washed over our hero bringing him to his feet at the end of the ballad in praise of my starlet. After her performance, Pricilla asked to meet with Geralt. Though at first he had suspected the cause of my trouble lay in my many and turbulent affairs of the heart, he now discovered that I had strayed into a life of crime, seeking to steal treasure belonging to one of the leaders of Novigrad's underworld. Ciri and I had struck a deal with Whoreson Junior, one of the Big Four bosses of the Novigrad underworld. Priscilla told Geralt about the ruckus I had supposedly raised at Whoreson Junior's headquarters, and that I had been planning to rob treasure from Sigi Reuven. After that night neither Ciri nor I had returned. It seemed a simple matter of finding Whoreson, having a chat and getting out of him where to look for me. But in the Novigrad of the time nothing was simple, and nothing was as it seemed... for Whoreson Junior had also gone missing, and Sigi Reuven's bathhouse was the only lead left to follow.

Fear gripped the witcher's heart as he knocked on the bathhouse doors. He knew that, shortly before I disappeared without a trace, I had been planning to rob Sigi Reuven, one of the most powerful and dangerous men in the North. He would have to inquire about my fate without arousing any suspicions, which as a tall order indeed – for while Geralt may be an excellent witcher, he is one lousy actor.

When Geralt entered the Novigrad bathhouse, he happened to walk in on a meeting of the head of the city's criminal underworld. Becoming an unwitting participant in their conversation, he learned of the conflict between the triumvirate made up of the King of Beggars, Sigi Reuven and Carlo "Cleaver" Varese on the one hand, and Whoreson Junior and the unknown powers backing him on the other.

It turned out Sigi Reuven was none other than Sigismund Dijkstra, former head of Redanian intelligence and a man well-known to Geralt from past adventures. He had fallen out of King Radovid's favor and nothing had been heard of him for many years. Though he did not show it, in his own way Dijkstra respected Geralt – even though the very thought of their last meeting brougt a pained grimace to his face. The two had found themselves standing in each other's way during the coup on Thanedd Island. The stalemate was quickly broken when Geralt summarily broke Dijkstra's leg.

The spy's life story would make for a postively enthralling adventure tale. A victim of Philippa Eilhart's intrigues, he had been forced to flee Redania at breakneck speed – or have his own neck broken by assassins. For a certain time he sought refuge in far-off lands, but in the end he decided to return to the Free City of Novigrad. Now it seemed he had finally decided to emerge from the shadows, but instead of returning to high political wrangling he dove deep into the criminal underground – and quickly surfaced as one of its leading figures.

A joke circulating through the back alleys and seedy taverns of Novigrad claimed the dwarf Carlo Varese, one of the four leading lights of the local criminal strata, was, in his own way, a fierce proponent of racial coexistence. He applied this principle in a rather selective fashion, however. Cleaver firmly felt that he personally had every right, as an assimilated inhabitant of the city of Novigrad, to run his own business. Anyone who had a problem with the way he ran it or the nature of its dealings, be he dwarf, human or halfling, revealed himself as a vile racist. The only fitting thing to do with such scum? Feed them to a herd of ferociously hungry hogs – right after slicing off the interloper's fingers with his namesake cleaver. Such tales, of course, could very well have been mere rumor and slander – but very few had the courage test their veracity.

As the meeting of Cleaver, Dijkstra and Bedlam came to an end, Dijkstra ask the witcher to remain behind. Over a hand of Gwent, Dijkstra told Geralt to look for leads on Junior at his residence, at a Casino and at some fighting pits run but the ganglord. Geralt also asked the spy about Dandelion. Geralt In an atypical bout of ignorance, Dijkstra had no inkling I was involved in the theft of his gold. Well aware of Geralt's extraordinary talents, Dijkstra asked him to help find his stolen treasure. He treated Geralt's appearance as a fortunate coincidence and offered him a handsome sum in return for help finding his stolen wealth – and the thief who had stolen it. Geralt and Dijkstra thus both wanted to find the exact some person – yours truly – albeit for entirely different reasons. Seizing this bit of good fortune, Geralt accepted the offer and hoped against hope Dijkstra wouldn't catch on to his double dealing.


Like an excavator uncovering an ancient elven masterpiece, Geralt slowly revealed the hidden brilliance of my plan. He discovered we had not barged in directly from the sewers like brain-dead lug, but had instead struck from the inside, by placing a bomb in one of the tubs' drainpipes. The explosion blew down the wall to Sigi Reuven’s treasure and incapacitated the treasures guard, a troll by the name of Bart. Bart could have been the poster boy for the latest craze among Novigrad's wealthy strata, a trend that had swept over everyone from bankers and merchants to underworld crime bosses. The fashion in question prized guards marked not just by fierce loyalty, but also by massive size, endless stamina and crushing physical strength. A well-developed intellect, on the other hand, was considered unnecessary and quite possibly detrimental to the guard's performance. To be blunt, a good watchman should be brainless enough to render any thought of betraying his master impossible. That is why trolls, ogres and, as a last result, magic crossbreeds were highly prized for such roles.

Hearing this, Dijkstra summoned his faithful eunuch, Happen, and had him examine the bathhouse guest registry. From it they learned the tub in question had been used that day by a certain Margrave Henckel. Nothing unusual about a margrave giving his corns a bit of a soak – but this particular margrave had shuffled off his mortal coil, corns and all, a few months prior to the break-in. Dijkstra thus tasked Geralt with examining the margrave's residence, in the hope that the witcher would find some trace of the stolen treasure there.

The old spy's intuition did not lead him astray – Margrave Henckel's home truly did prove a source of many interesting and vital clues. Firstly, they discovered that Geralt's doppler acquaintance of yore, Dudu, had been one of the heist's participants. Geralt and I had known the doppler Dudu for years - from before the moment we had actually met him, in fact. You see, we first unwittingly talked to him when he was in Novigrad impersonating another friend of mine, a halfling merchant named Dainty Biberveldt. Dudu had assumed Dainty's form to use the merchant's network of contacts for some business endeavors of his own. Dainty was infuriated at first at his inability to locate the impostor who had inserted himself into his dealings, but when Dudu's investments began generating sizable returns, the halfling changed his tune. He took the doppler on as a partner, introducing him to everyone as his cousin, Dudu Biberveldt.

It was Dudu who had disguised himself as Margrave Henckel and placed the bomb in the drainpipe. A letter left by the doppler contained further revelations – Ciri had taken part in the heist as well, the stolen gold had ended up in the hands of the commander of the Temple Guard, Caleb Menge, and I, Dandelion, was now this heinous man's prisoner. Geralt learned that Dudu had crossed Whoreson Junior, one of Novigrad's most ruthless crime bosses. That Dudu extracted himself from this predicament while only losing one eye should be considered a fortunate turn. Ciri, Dudu and I had all embroiled ourselves in quite the fiasco, but unlike me, the doppler was not caught by the temple guard. As Geralt investigated, Dijkstra appeared along with Triss Merigold, who was also helping him investigate the missing treasure. They all agreed they need to confront Menge. Dijkstra exclaimed that he thought it was good fortune to have lovers dealing with this situation together, as he know they would fight to the death for one another. Neither the witcher nor the sorceress corrected, even though they had parted ways months before. After the spy turned crime boss left, Triss told Geralt she had a plan, but that they would have to meet up that night near Menge’s headquarters. The witcher agreed.

In the mean time, Geralt had a promise to keep to Rosa var Attre. Once they were done with their lesson Geralt was supposed to escort the young lady home. So the witcher returned to her residence only to find she had left word that he meet her near the Tretogor Bridge. On his way to the bridge, Geralt saw and familiar unfriendly face. It seemed Ronvid of the Small Marsh had found the witcher again, and again challenged him to a duel. Geralt again tried to dissuade the suicidal man from combat to no avail. Soon the witcher had again bested Ronvid, and let him leave again.

Shortly thereafter the witcher found his intended sparring partner, Rosa. Geralt obliged the ambassador’s daughter and the two dueled over the river south of Novigrad. Rosa, however, was clearly still in the mood for some recreation and gave him the slip during a moment of inattention. The witcher knew he needed to find her - or land himself in a heap of trouble. Rosa found out for herself that not all residents of Novigrad respect diplomatic immunity. The witcher saved her from a tight spot - but also discovered a dark side to her character. It was clear to them both that there would be no third fencing lesson.

On Geralt’s way back to the city Geralt met a dwarf by the name of Rostan Muggs. This cocksure runt talked Geralt into retrieving some stolen documents for him. Imagine Geralt's surprise when he found out Muggs had not actually been robbed. Far from it, in fact – the scoundrel had lost his documents fair and square in a game of cards.Geralt successfully retrieved Muggs' documents. I must say, though Geralt is always repeating that he doesn't get involved in the affairs of others... the facts don't really bear him out.

The wticher headed for his meeting place with Triss since it was nearing midnight. Geralt clearly needed to confront Menge. The question was how. The cautious guardsman would never agree to a meeting – unless, that is, Geralt had something to offer him, a prize so tempting he'd throw caution to the wind... The paranoid executioner never set a foot outside his fortified headquarters without the company of a crowd of armed guards. Knowing my life was on the line, my friends decided to put into action a risky plan to infiltrate Menge's offices - their only hope for a face-to-face meeting. Triss Merigold, vile sorceress and member of the even viler Lodge of Sorceresses, was willing to offer herself up as irresistible bait for this fanatic hunter of witches, putting her life in danger in order to save Ciri and, I dare say, with a though in her heart for thet art-loving denizens of the North, who otherwise risked being deprived of their most prominent bard. The plan to get close to Caleb Menge that Triss presented to the witcher was very risky and placed her in great danger. The sorceress knew, however, that Ciri's life might be on the line, and so did not hesitate for even a moment.

Caleb Menge took the bait hook, line and sinker, oblivious to Geralt's trickery to the very end. Menge only confirmed Geralt's initial impression of his bestiality upon closer acquaintance. Luckily our duo ended this madman's life and rid the world of one the more hideous monsters to ever walk its surface. Said end was brought to him by Triss, who stuck a knife in his throat in an emotional outburst understandable from someone who had just been subjected to cruel and unusual torture. Geralt had by this time already squeezed the information he needed out of Menge. He had learned that I, Dandelion, was rotting in the Temple Isle dungeons, waiting to be transported to Oxenfurt, where I would play my last leading role in a spectacle sure to leave the audience in tears – my own execution. Geralt and the sorceress also found a key on the recently deceased captain’s body. Without anything else to go on, Triss suggested the witcher try and find Dudu. Dudu might be able to impersonate Menge and release me from my prison cell. Having learned all they could, they quickly fled, but not before burning the temple guard’s headquarters to the ground.


Dijkstra was less than satisfied with Geralt's performance as a treasure hunter. Firstly, the witcher had not actually recovered any treasure – just a key found on Menge's body that might open a vault that might contain the treasure, assuming said vault could even be located. Secondly, Dijkstra realized Geralt had been hiding something from him the entire time – the identity of the criminal mastermind responsible for planning the heist (but was this truly so difficult to guess, dear reader? After all, who else but a bard could have planned with such cunning and panache?). The old acquaintances ultimately parted on good terms – but it was clear to both their next meeting might not be so amiable. Geralt wasn’t so sure about the plan to find Dudu, so he decided to track down his other remaining lead. It was time to find Whoreson Junior. And the witcher had an idea of just where to start … with Carlo Cleaver.
 
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Geralt went to the Dwarf’s shop to see about Cleaver’s offer to help him find Whoreson Junior. Cleaver was famed for his hot-temper. What boiled his blood hottest of all, however, was when somebody thought they could pull one over on him. No wonder, then, that the attack by Whoreson's thugs got him somewhat riled up. The violent tirade he directed at Wiley clearly contained not idle threats but promises he meant to keep, even if doing so meant demolishing half the neighborhood. Cleaver offered Geralt help in finding and getting to the bastard, which suited Geralt's interests.

The gangster had confirmed what Geralt heard from Dijkstra, that Whroreson had a residence, Casino and fighting pits within the walls of Novigrad. Cleaver told Geralt he would send some men to the locations and wait for Geralt. Geralt decided the best place to start was Whoreson’s residence. However, when he got there Cleaver’s henchmen had already entered. As the witcher sorted through the varied belongings there, he soon become confident he would find nothing of use there. So our hero continued to Whoreson’s Casino. Cleaver’s men awaited nearby, but the witcher thought it would be best to try and investigate quietly first to avoid raising suspicions. The witcher entered under the pretext of wanting to play some high stakes Gwent. Luckly the White Wolf was quite the skilled player and soon made an impression on the staff, and also one friend upon recounting the story of his knighting by Queen Meve.

A man approached Geralt and asked him if he wanted to play for even higher stake in a room upstairs. Thinking perhaps Junior might be there, the witcher agreed. However, when they got upstairs all the witcher saw was two guards, a terribly beat Halfling and what appeared to be an interrogation room. His thoughts already on his steel sword and the positioning of the men in the room, Geralt remarked that a less trusting person might not think he wasn’t really invited up to play cards. The men soon confirmed his suspicions and tried to attack the witcher. This proved to be their final mistake.

The witcher’s attention soon turned to the only other living person still in the room. The Halfling told Geralt that Whoreson's audacity had a very specific cause: King Radovid, who had commissioned the gangster's actions. As it turned out, Radovid's plan was for Whoreson to start a gang war in Novigrad. In the resulting chaos, Radovid would take control of the city with ease. Geralt freed the halfling named Rico from certain and painful death at the hands of thugs in Whoreson Junior's casino. The halfling promised Geralt his employer – the King of Beggars – would repay the witcher for his help. It turned out even thieves have honor. Rico had not lied – the King of Beggars truly did reward Geralt handsomely for the services rendered to his subordinate.

Leaving the Casino the witcher headed directly to the fighting pits, hoping to get there before news of what happened at the Casino spread. The witcher learned he needed to gain the trust of a man named Igor. He had an idea to do so by agreeing to join in some of the fights. A witcher might be of some draw. Soon he found himself in the cage in series of fights with men and monsters. None were a match for the White Wolf. Soon a new figure appeared … Whoreson Junior himself. It became apparent that Whoreson did not trust Geralt, but before much could be said, Cleaver’s henchmen attacked the fighting pits. Whoreson ordered the witcher killed and fled. Geralt joined in the fray, cutting down men as he saw them.

In the aftermath of the skirmish, the witcher found further notes that confirmed Junior was indeed working with Radovid. Knowing many of Juniors strongholds in the city were now comprised, the witcher thought finding him through the Redanians might be the best option. He returned to Dijkstra, knowing the former spy master might be the best way to get in touch with someone in Radovid’s circle. He hoped he might able to learn where Junior would be hiding. Dijkstra told Geralt that an old acquaintance of Geralt’s, Vernon Roche, might be able to help Geralt reach Whoreson Junior.

As commander of Temerian special forces - an elite squadron known as the "Blue Stripes" - Vernon Roche had been one of King Foltest's most trusted subordinates. He had also met Geralt previously as the witcher’s captor, but freed the witcher and helped him in identifying Letho of Gullet as the man responsible for Foltest’s murder.Time and time again Roche proved himself loyal, effective and a thoroughgoing professional. Few could match his skill at putting down rebellions, fighting off Nilfgaardians or snuffing out bands of Scoia'tael. At our story's start, however, he had been deprived of his king, his men and his homeland, and so had resorted to conducting guerilla warfare against the overwhelmingly more powerful occupying forces. Dijkstra told Geralt the man was now camped in the hills north of Oxenfurt, so the witcher headed in that direction.

On his way from Novigrad to Oxenfurt, the witcher came across some soldiers in the road who were preventing some peasants fleeing the war from heading towards Novigrad. The witcher intervened and convinced the soldiers to let the peasants pass. The peasants were grateful for Geralt’s aid, and wished him well on the path. That path soon led the witcher to three men seated around a campfire sharing stories in the night. The witcher sat down and spoke with the men. Soon an argument erupted as one of the men, a Redanian soldier, suspected another of the men as being a Nilfgaardian spy. The witcher chose not to get involved and the soldier killed the other man. As Geralt walked away he heard the soldier exclaim that the man had Nilfgaardian florens in his pockets.

Nearing Oxenfurt, Geralt came across a village known as Carsten whose inhabitants had themselves a bit of a ghoul problem. These nasty necrophages had taken up residence in their barn and posed a threat to the living. Geralt agreed to help the peasants – for commensurate pay, of course. Getting rid of the ghouls did not prove much of a problem for the witcher. A few chops and slices and he was ready to collect his reward.

After a long day’s journey, the witcher final arrived at the Temerian partisan camp where Dijkstra said Vernon Roche could be found. However, the guards at the entrance denied the Blue Stripes Commando was even there. Geralt confused the guards by influencing them with the Axii sign and headed into the camp unimpeded. There he saw his old friend, as well as another Blue Stripe Commando, Ves.

The fair-haired Ves stood apart from the rest of Vernon Roche's unit, and not only in that she was the only woman in an elite formation of hardened cutthroats and swashbucklers. Her girlish face and shapely body would stand out even if a uniform did emphasize them. For there is something in soldier women that attract a man's gaze, and Ves was no exception. The reader should not, however, be misled by this description - one does not earn a Blue Stripes membership with good looks, but with skill, determination and, at times, ruthlessness. Anyone disregarding Ves would pay dearly for misjudging this young woman. Because of her gender, Ves would sometimes receive assignments where her beauty was more important than her combat abilities and efficiency. Roche had used Ves as his trump card more than once.Ves had a steady hand and sure eye, making her the best sharpshooter in the unit. Not many could match her at throwing knives either.

Roche informed Geralt that he did indeed have a contact with the Redanians, and as luck would have it he was to meet with the contact this very day outside Oxenfurt. The witcher agreed to join Roche and the two set out for Oxenfurt. Just outside of Oxenfurt, to northeast of the Novigrad Gate, the two men road past a merchant advertising a "basilisk" to a group of Redanian soldiers. The merchant bragged that his basilisk was from Zerrikania and is hatched from the eggs of cockerels. The witcher remarked that this basilisk appeared to actually be a young ill-fed wyvern. The Redanian soldiers demanded a refund of the coin they had spent to see the “basilisk.” As the men argued, the wyvern suddenly broke free and had to be slain by the witcher and the soldiers. The distraction over, Geralt continued to the meeting place of Roche and his contact at the Oxenfurt Chess Club. Imagine how surprised our hero was to see that this “contact” was the King of Redania himself … Radovid.


It did not take long for King Radovid of Redania to prove himself a hard and ruthless ruler, one fully deserving to be styled "the Stern." His father, King Vizimir, was murdered when Radovid was quite young, and his mother, Hedwig of Malleore, and a Regency Council ruled in his stead. Young Radovid soon seized power in his own right, however, and wrought vengeance on those who had treated him with disrespect. He took to forcing all his potential political opponents to swear allegiance – or face death. He waged war not only against Nilfgaard, but also against mages, whom he saw as the root of all evil. Radovid also made every effort to gain control over the Free City of Novigrad, whose fleet and treasury could tip the scales of the ongoing conflict towards Radovid's victory.

Geralt's meeting with Radovid confirmed the rumors circling around the king's mental state. The Redanian king was a dangerous madman trapped in his own world of disturbing visions. This did not make him one jot less intelligent or cunning, however. Despite his mental afflictions, the young king was manipulating his opponents like an adroit puppet master. Radovid burned with particularly intense hostility (first kindled in his earliest childhood days) for the sorceress Philippa Eilhart, one-time advisor to King Vizimir II, called the Just, member of the Council of Mages and later founder of the Lodge of Sorceresses, had played a momentous part in the history of the world as well as in Geralt's life.

There could be no denying her talent, yet neither could one claim she did not also at times demonstrate sickly ambition. Very trustworthy reports indicated she had had a hand in King Vizimir II's death, and, as a member of the Lodge, was implicated in the murder of two other monarchs as well – Demavend of Aedirn and Foltest of Temeria.For this reason the one-time "Jewel in the Court at Tretogor" was now a wanted woman, the quarry of special forces from the North and Nilfgaard alike. Vizimir's son and successor, Radovid V, was particularly eager to capture her.

Rumors spoke of how he had prepared a special torture regimen just for her - and while the two dozen points they mentioned were surely an exaggeration, they accurately conveyed the general scale of his hatred. During their last encounter in Loc Muinne he had had Philippa's eyes gouged out, yet she had fled and he wanted nothing more thant to stick the head of "Tretogor's Jewel" on a spike above the city gates.

They say chess is the game of kings, and Radovid proved this point twice over during his meeting with Geralt. First, by playing the royal game at the Oxenfurt Chess Club while they met, and then by treating Geralt like a pawn he could send out to do his bidding. But first the Mad King gave the witcher a gesture of good will. He told Geralt exactly where he could find Whoreson Junior, explaining the gangster had failed and outlived his usefulness in Novigrad. He also gave the witcher a tip, that Whoreson had a predilection for prostitutes. The King had resolved the City would need to be taken by other means. Leaving the meeting, Geralt knew this information would likely come at a price … but for now he had a mission.

In his war of assassinations, ambushes and night raids, Roche depended on Redanian help, though it was clear he took no pleasure from working with Radovid. Vernon Roche fell into dour spirits after Geralt's conversation with Radovid at the chess club. He didn't want to say right then what had blackened his mood. Instead, he asked the witcher to come talk to him at his hideout near Oxenfurt.

The witcher went to the estate where Junior was supposedly hiding and sure enough he saw two of the gangsters men, easily identified by their outfits outside the gate. Using the information Radovid had supplied, Geralt told the men he was supposed to bring some prostitutes to Junior. When they asked what happened to the usual contact, Geralt told them Cleaver had gotten to him. The men commiserated, and told the witcher to use the back entrance. This entrance led straight into the house where Junior was.

Fate is like a Novigrad prostitute - sometimes you get more than you bargained for. Geralt had found Whoreson after a great deal of meandering, during which he realized the man he sought was scum of the worst variety. Because of Whoreson, Ciri had been wounded, I had landed in prison, and Dudu had been subjected to torture. While searching Cyprian's home den of iniquity, Geralt discovered the nickname "Whoreson" was in fact an understatement - something much stronger was needed to describe a man who delighted in murdering captive women.

After a long search, Geralt had at last found Whoreson Junior and forced him to recount the truth of his dealings with Ciri - events in which I, dear reader, played a not insubstantial part. Ciri and I had promised Whoreson a heap of treasure in return for his help. When we failed to deliver, he kidnapped our friend Dudu and started torturing him - his way of prodding us to improve our performance. But fear not, Dudu was not abandoned in his hour of need - Ciri broke into Junior's home, struck the rotten thug down and freed the doppler.

Alas, Junior then struck back with overwhelming force. Dudu could simply change form and melt into the crowd, but Ciri and I had to flee the city at breakneck speed, with Junior's strongmen on our heels the entire time. In the end we were driven to Temple Isle - and into a corner. Having heard from Junior what had happened between him and Ciri, Geralt had to decide what to do with the murderer and whoreson. It should come as no surprise that, once he had the information he wanted, Geralt killed the heinous man without batting an eye.


Having achieved what he set out to do and lanced a particularly loathsome boil on the skin of humanity while he was at it, he went forth to pursue his new leads. He left the estate, only to find Radovids men waiting outside. It seemed the time for payment was due … and Radovid expected a favor.

Geralt's meeting with Radovid had confirmed the rumors circling around the king's mental state. The Redanian king was a dangerous madman trapped in his own world of disturbing visions. This did not make him one jot less intelligent or cunning, however. Despite his mental afflictions, the young king was manipulating his opponents like an adroit puppet master. Radovid burned with particularly intense hostility (first kindled in his earliest childhood days) for the sorceress Philippa Eilhart one-time advisor to King Vizimir II, called the Just, member of the Council of Mages and later founder of the Lodge of Sorceresses, had played a momentous part in the history of the world as well as in Geralt's life.

There could be no denying her talent, yet neither could one claim she did not also at times demonstrate sickly ambition. Very trustworthy reports indicated she had had a hand in King Vizimir II's death, and, as a member of the Lodge, was implicated in the murder of two other monarchs as well – Demavend of Aedirn and Foltest of Temeria.For this reason the one-time "Jewel in the Court at Tretogor" was now a wanted woman, the quarry of special forces from the North and Nilfgaard alike. Vizimir's son and successor, Radovid V, was particularly eager to capture her.

Rumors spoke of how he had prepared a special torture regimen just for her - and while the two dozen points they mentioned were surely an exaggeration, they accurately conveyed the general scale of his hatred. During their last encounter in Loc Muinne he had had Philippa's eyes gouged out, yet she had fled and he wanted nothing more thant to stick the head of "Tretogor's Jewel" on a spike above the city gates. So the king made his request of the witcher. He wanted Geralt to find the sorceress: his spies had reported finding signs of Philippa Eilhart's presence in the elven ruins outside of Novigrad. Geralt was to go there and retrieve her. Normally Geralt resisted attempts to command him around the board, but he owed Radovid a favor - and had his own reasons for wanting to find Philippa...

On his way to Phillipa’s hideout, Geralt came across the burnt down home of the Sorcerer Aeramas. As you may recall he had heard the estate may contain many treasures from a merchant in Novigrad. So Geralt investigated Aeramas' estate and discovered the mage had been a raring tyromancy enthusiast - tyromancy being, as you surely know, the art of divining the future from cheese. This is a very rare specialization among mages, one only practiced by those for whom a social life is not a high priority - there reason being that the cheese they use to divine with is, and pardon my blunt language, fouler smelling than a drowner's scrotum. No wonder Aeramas' home hadn't been looted. Geralt searched the abandoned residence from top to bottom. Among the assorted worthless trinkets, he found some true treasures which Aeramas had cleverly hid from the world by setting murderous cheeses as guards. Tyromancers are not normally the cheery sort, but Aeramas certainly would have been delighted to know that his treasure had ended up in good hands.

From there Geralt continued north and soon found and searched Philippa's hideout. Waiting for him there was a squad of witch hunters who had already tried to enter the former elven cavern. It seemed the men had already lost several of their comrades in traps set up by our dear Philippa. Geralt entered and discovered that the cavern was easy to navigate for an owl - Philippa was known to be skilled at pyromancy and frequently take the form of an owl – but difficult for any creature unable to fly. Geralt discovered a path to the sorceress’s lair through a series of portals however. When he reach his destination, Philippa had left a fire Golem to greet any unwanted quests. Geralt dispatched the elemental, and began to search. Though there were signs of her presence everywhere, the sorceress herself was long gone. She had, however, left one thing behind that could prove of great value - a damaged crystal from her megascope. The witcher knew such a gem could, if properly probed, reveal priceless information about her doings. He thus was faced with a choice - should he give the crystal to Radovid, or take it to one of his sorceress allies?

As the witcher left Philippa’s hideout, the witch hunters waited for him. When they asked him if the Geralt had found anything, the witcher said no as he still hadn’t made up his mind about who to take the crystal to. The witcher hunters did not believe him and attacked him. The witcher slew his attackers and after the battle was done, notice a wall had collapsed during the melee when he had cast Aard. He went into the hidden room and found some notes from a legendary witcher named Kiyan, including a diagram of one of his swords. In the notes it mentioned locations other diagrams might have been found in Novigrad. The witcher kept his information in mind for the next time he was in the area.

Having just cut down the King’s witch hunters, Geralt decided it would be best not to return to the king. However, he remembered Vernon Roche had requested his assistance … so the witcher headed back to the nearby Temerian camp. When he arrived he learned of the former head of the Blue Stripes’ problem. Those under Roche's command rarely defied orders. When they did, the task of disciplining them fell to Roche's second-in-command, Ves. Ves was a veteran officer of the Blue Stripes and the only solider from Roche's former unit to have survived the war. After the Blue Stripes were decimated and officially disbanded, Ves remained at her commander's side to continue with him the seemingly hopeless struggle for Temerian freedom.

No one who endured a reprimand from this tight-lipped yet strong-armed soldier would ever think of insubordination again. Yet this time Ves strayed from her usual loyalty and ignored Roche's orders by leaving her post without permission. Though usually well-disciplined, Ves refused to heed Vernon's command and set off alone to face enemy forces. Faced with an unusual dilemma, Vernon decided to turn to the witcher for help.

The peasants of Mulbrydale had helped Roche's guerillas in the past, so Ves decided to stand in their defense now, in their hour of need, though she knew this was a hopeless and nearly suicidal mission. Had not Geralt and Roche come to the rescue in the last minute, Ves would surely have died a premature death after being cut down by Nilfgaardians, Yet as it were, the imperial troops were defeated – but their leader escaped with his life thanks to Roche's intervention and Geralt's support. Having helped his friends, Geralt made his way back to Novigrad.

Upon Geralt’s return, he headed for Triss Merigolds. However, near Crippled Kate's, Geralt encountered a sobbing woman. He never had been able to walk unmoved past a troubled maiden and so inquired if he could be of any help. She asked if he could go inside Crippled Kate's and toss out the band of drunken Skelligers which had taken over the establishment. Like always, Geralt successfully saved the damsel in distress. He got rid of the band of drunks and received a small purse and a grateful smile as his reward. The latter was what he prized the most.

Geralt took the crystal to Triss. A bit of magic and she got it to play back a fragment from the last conversation Philippa had with Margarita Laux-Antille. From it they learned the sorceress, whom Radovid had blinded, was trying to restore her vision, and that both were planning to bring the Lodge of Sorceresses back to life. The witcher decided it would be best if such information never made it to Radovid's ears. He thus decided to leave the crystal with Triss. The sorceress also used her magic and lifted the spell on a Nobleman Statuette in the withcer’s possession, transforming it back into a Temerian nobleman. From his tale they gathered he had been compressed into an object by the sorceress Coral some years ago. Grateful for being rescued, the nobleman gave Geralt a reward and went off to piece his life back together.

Now that Philippa’s crystal had found a safe home, the witcher returned to his original mission. As you surely recall, Geralt knew Ciri had been in Novigrad, that she had contacted Dudu and me and that afterwards all three of us had plummeted straight into a writhing snake pit of trouble. The last person to have seen Ciri was yours truly, but I, too, had disappeared without a trace. Geralt accurately surmised that Dudu would be the easiest of our ill-fated trio to find. He went to the one person who could help him do this – Priscilla. It should be noted that Priscilla counted an imcomparable ingenuity amongst her many virtues. Barely had Geralt explained the problem when she hit upon a solution. Dudu had taken on some unknown form and gone into hiding. Their only hope of luring him out – a clear sign from his old friends in Madame Irina's mummers' troupe.

Priscilla thus decided to put on a play – one Dudu would be sure to attend and that would clearly convey it was safe for him to reveal himself. Geralt agreed to the plan and the two got down to work. They decided to retell the story of Geralt’s time in Cintra when Queen Calanthe hired him to prevent her daughter Pavetta’s marriage to the cursed Prince Duny. However, they would change the cursed Prince into a Doppler, so that Dudu would get the message they wished to send him. They titled their creation, The Doppler’s Salvation. After a long night, Pricilla drafted the script and Geralt ran it to Madame Irina's mummers' troupe.

Irina Renarde's vast experience in the performing arts had made her not just the informal leader of the mummers' troupe known as the Foxen, but its brightest star as well. This talented artist was famous for her brilliant performances as the leading lady in both comedies and tragedies. Her performance in such acclaimed plays as "Love in a Time of Contempt," "The Barber of Kovir" and "Seven Brides for Seven Emperors" had made her name well-known to any with even a modicum of interest in culture and the arts.''

More importantly, she was friends with Dudu and considered herself indebted to him. Dudu was a theater aficionado and frequent attendee of Irena's [sic] mummers' performances. Apparently he had even stepped in to replace indisposed mummers on several occasions - and, given his special abilities, proved himself a uniquely convincing understudy. She heard what Geralt wanted to do, and immediately agreed. Soon they had everything they needed. They recruited to Puffins to promote the play, the Strongmen of Metinna to act as ushers and Priscilla and Abelard to perform as the Princess and Prince in the staring roles. And making his debut as the witcher … was Geralt of Rivia himself.


The play was a success. Although not the finest spectacle to ever grace the Butchers' Yard, it more than sufficed for Priscilla's purposes – Dudu attended the play and revealed himself at its end. Geralt quickly pulled him behind the curtain and began questioning him about me and Ciri. Geralt even asked the doppler to assume Ciri’s form for a moment. As her vestige stood there before the witcher, he regretted his decision to see her, but now he knew whom he was looking for in greater detail. Finally, after a great deal of trouble and thanks to a clever ruse, Geralt was reunited with his old friend - and a certain imprisoned poet's only hope.

Ah, what times those were, times of adventure, action and unexpected twists around every corner! As you surely recall, Ciri and I escaped from Whoreson Junior's headquarters only to wind up trapped in a corner by the Temple Guard. Ciri managed to get away, but I was captured and tossed in the Temple Isle dungeons. From there I was to be transported to Deireadh, the infamous Oxenfurt prison, to await my execution – and here my tale would surely end, had my friends not devised an ingenious plan to ambush the transport. They devised to have Dudu impersonate the now deceased Menge, and have him order Dandelion transported to Oxenfurt. On the road to Oxenfurt, Zoltan, Geralt and some friends would wait to ambush the cart.

Yet even the best-laid plans can go awry if fortune deems it so. The ambush succeeded only partially, as one of the guards tossed me on his horse and fled in the heat of the action. Not losing my cool for one second, I quickly concocted a plan of my own, and it had almost come to fruition when Geralt burst in and broke me free in his typical clumsy yet, granted, effective way. But do not think me ungrateful or cold-hearted – any irritation I felt soon faded in the sincere joy that filled my heart upon seeing my old friend once more. The saying does not lie - "true friends show when fortune hiders her face." My dear comrades gave ample evidence of this by breaking me free from my prison transport, saving me from certain and painful death. However Geralt was most interested in what had become of Ciri. So I told him of the last time I had seen her.

Ciri had defeated Whoreson and freed Dudu – but then the real trouble started. Junior sounded the alarm and we had to flee as fast as our mounts would take us. Our only possible escape route lead to Temple Isle. Once on Temple Isle, our goose was truly cooked. Whoreson's men stopped being our main problem when we suddenly found ourselves surrounded by the Temple Guard. All possible escape routes were cut off and Ciri had no other option but to teleport herself away. As for me, while I put up a brave defense against overwhelming odds, in the end I was captured and tossed into a dungeon.
 
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Geralt had learned all he could in Novigrad, he would need to make way for Skellige. However, he would need to return to Novigrad to book a voyage to the island nation to the South. As he made his way back to Novigrad, Geralt came across a beekeeping plantation called Honeyfill tucked amidst some flowering meadows and fields. The owner of these lands, a halfling named Holofernes Meiersdorf, told Geralt that his apiary had been haunted for some time by the Apiarian Phantom, a wraith which kills the bees and destroys the hives of wayward beekeepers. Geralt decided to look into the matter.

Geralt's investigation revealed the monster was hiding in the basement of an unfinished home near the Meiersdorf estate. What Geralt had to do was clear: enter the basement and kill the beast. Once Geralt had forced his way in, he was greeted to an unexpected sight: the house's interior was completely frozen, and standing amidst the frost - a giant and terrifying creature Geralt knew to be one of the Wild Hunt's hounds. The beast put up quite the fight, but in the end Geralt proved stronger and bested his opponent. When he showed the beekeeper the trophy he had taken from the hound, he received a handsome reward.

While wallowing in the Bits, Novigrad's worst and most notorious slum, the witcher took a contract on a monster committing horrendous murders under the cover of darkness. At the time, he never suspected that a story starting in the gutter would end in a luxurious manor. It turned out the monster was an ekimmara, but that was of minor importance. What was truly interesting was that Lambert was hunting the creature as well. Geralt's surprise grew when he realized the ekimmara they both were hunting was not the chief reason for Lambert's presence in the city. But before they could sit down for a heartfelt chat, the two witchers had to deal with their dishonest contractor. How many times will men try to cheat witchers out of honest pay for honest work before they learn...?

That taken care of, Geralt could now talk to Lambert. If destiny truly chooses which boys become witchers, then in Lambert's case it had made a twisted, cruel choice. After hearing his story, Geralt had to admit that Lambert had every reason to be unenthused about the lot fate had granted him. A chance encounter of two witchers hunting the same ekimmara turned into a tale of old friendship, murder, and vengeance. The moral of the story? Don't mess with Lambert. It turned out that he was hunting the people responsible for the death of his friend, Aiden, a witcher from the Cat School. Lambert had learned Aiden had been murdered by a gang of hired thugs led by a man named Jad Karadin. Geralt decided to help Lambert and the two set off on a path to revenge.

Their next stop was a tavern known as the Seven Cats to the southeast of Novigrad. It seemed one of the assassins had taken up residence there drinking herself into oblivion. Sure enough the witchers found the elf Vivenne there downing drinks. They spoke with her and learned that Karadin had gone into hiding, but that two of the assasins whereabouts was known. A man named Hammond had returned to his home in Skellige on the isle of Faroe where he made a living as a pirate captain. Also a woman named Selyse was running a brothel in Rediania’s capital Tretgor. After learning this information, Geralt encouraged Lambert to leave Vivenne be, and Lambert agreed concluding it was worse for her to live like this than die.

Geralt was already headed for Skellige so he agreed to pay Hammond a visit. It was clear Lambert wanted the man dead, but the witcher figured he at least might be able to learn of Jad Karadin’s location. Lambert said he was going to make for Tretegor. The agreed to meet at the Nowhere Inn in Novigrad once they had completed their tasks.

Night was falling and so the witcher returned to the Rosemary and Thyme for some rest. The next morning he prepared to leave for the docks when he was approached by Zoltan. Zoltan Chivay has never had much luck in business. No exception to this rule was the time he tried to acquire and sell three valuable gwent cards. Suffering some financial difficulties, he had taken out a loan from one of the Novigrad mob bosses, and as a result had made many unfortunate enemies. He planned to repay his debt by gathering a prize collection of gwent cards – a risky endeavor, given the cutthroat nature of Novigrad gwent circles at the time, and one that would have never worked without Geralt's help. At this time gwent was reaching the peak of its popularity and collectors were paying a fool's fortune for rare cards.

Zoltan was not alone in sticking his pan into this raging torrent and hoping to strike gold. Yet there was another player in Novigrad, one wanting to grow his already-sizeable fortune, interested in flipping rare cards. Duke was his name, but many felt he would soon be known as Whoreson the Third - for he was even more ruthless than Whoreson Junior. This Duke stood in Zoltan's path to riches. Luckily, Zoltan had a friend named Geralt of Rivia who decided to step in and get him the cards he so desperately desired.

The cards were in the possession of Zed - a Novigrad fence. Geralt went to the dealer's house to buy them, but it turned out Duke had made it there before him. A brief exchange quickly turned to blows, and ended with the thugs pushing daisies. Among the splayed-out corpses was that of Zed, whom the murderers had killed earlier.Geralt searched the body and discovered his victory was not complete - he only found the Isengrim card. Zed had sold the two remaining ones to Caesar Bilzen and a man named Ravvy. There was nothing left but to visit both purchasers and get Zoltan his cards. Geralt got the cards, but it seemed the Duke had gotten to Zoltan’s buyer. The witcher confronted Duke and brought the disagreement to a final end.

The witcher needed to book passage to Skellige, and visited Triss knowing that she had also been looking for ways to get mages out of the City of Novigrad. Of all the so-called "witches" they hunted, there was none the witch hunters wanted more than Triss Merigold, a sorceress of unequaled power. Even in hiding she had proven a thorn in their side, masterminding an underground net of hideouts and covers, keeping other mages out of the hunters' blood-stained hands. When Geralt entered the city, he met up with his dear friend and sometimes love. And when the time came that she needed his help with her endeavor, she did not hesitate to ask. She asked him to accompany her to meet with a contact of Ingrid Vegelbud, who promised her a handsome payment if Triss completed a task for her.

Their contact revealed that the son of Ingrid Vegelbud, scion of a wealthy Novigrad family, dabbled in alchemy. For that reason he had become a person of much interest to the witch hunters. When Ingrid learned of Triss' operations, she sent her servant to ask the sorceress to spirit her son somewhere far away from his persecutors. The hunters kept a close eye on her residence, so they would need a distraction - and her upcoming masquerade ball promised to provide just that.

Geralt and Triss purchased masks for the ball – his a wolf and hers a fox – and put on the appropriate dress for the occasion. When they arrived, the celebration was already well underway, with barrels of wine, dozens of desert, and several familiar voices. Geralt recognized that voices of General Morvran Voorhis as well as Dijkstra among the Vegelbug’s guests. Out pair had a marvelous time but eventually met the woman they were seeking, Ingrid Vegelbug. All the plans had been set to get her son out from the party. Geralt and Triss went to her son and arranged to meet in the estate’s hedge garden soon after the fireworks started. My two dear friends went to the private – and very romantic – gardens to wait for young Albert and while there enjoyed the wine and company. The sorceress' laugh, the look in her cornflower blue eyes, the memory of enchanting moments spent together - all that surely weighed on Geralt's decision to kiss Triss in the Vegelbuds' garden. And though their moment of sweet oblivion lasted briefly, it breathed a gale's worth of new life into the feelings between them.

[video=youtube;dMKSHW-nWFA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMKSHW-nWFA[/video]

Young Albert's rescue did not prove to be Triss' slickest extraction ever. First she had trouble even finding the young alchemist amidst the throng of revelers, and then Geralt ran into trouble with a group of witch hunter infiltrators. Still, with a bit of luck and a bit of cunning our heroes managed to escape the residence and smuggle Vegelbud out without a scratch on him. Mission accomplished. Geralt and Triss had proven once again how well they work together as a team - but as a couple, well, events at the Vegelbuds' only complicated that matter...

That matter being settled, Geralt headed back to Novigrad to find funds to purchase a ship. However as he entered the city he was stopped by the guards. They told him only persons with papers could enter the city. The Geralt began to protest but as he did so another guard approached and showed that Geralt already had proper papers. He then turned to Geralt and told him best regards from Sigi Reuven.

Geralt continued into the city and soon found a contract that he thought might aid in his endeavor. A Novigrad merchant by the name of Sylvester Amello had hung a notice on the Novigrad board asking for help in tracking down a thieving imp. It seemed the merchants' guild was being pestered by a mysterious creature who kept stealing wares from its members stalls. Geralt accepted the job.

The thief's trail took Geralt to Novigrad's extramural paupers' district. The thought of venturing into that tough quarter makes me wince. Not so much because of the danger - I have braved much meaner places - but because of the smell, which can be so rank as to bring vomit to one's lips upon strolling within ten paces of it. Geralt, however, braved the worst and soon determined the imp was in fact a doppler, one who changed his form more often than other men change their knickers - although, given the hygienic habits of men in this particular district, that was not saying much. The doppler had no choice but to seek salvation in flight. It seemed Geralt was in for a footrace. Geralt has a soft heart. Though this does not always move him to mercy, this time it led him to spare the thieving doppler - under the condition that the shapeshifter leave the city at once. After that was settled, Geralt talked to the merchant who had issued the contract and brought the matter of the doppler thief to a close.

Geralt had also seen a notice regarding something called “the White Lady” –

Good People,

Take pity on the poor lot of us peasants. The fields outside the town are haunted by a wraith somewhat like a maid in appearance, though her visage is ghastly and sullied. You cannot walk within ten spans of the evil and hope to escape alive. It's thus keeping us from harvesting our crops, meaning famine and misery await us if nothing changes. So we plan to hand all our remaining gold to whoever drives this White Lady off or kills her.

–Helma, Ignatius' widow.

P.S. Since I've not many an inquiry into the matter already, I'll let it be known right here: I'm not interested in remarrying.
The White Lady turned out to be a noonwraith. In order to defeat this phantom, Geralt first had to find out what bound it to the abandoned tower and its surrounding fields.Geralt uncovered the tragic fate of the woman who had turned into a noonwraith - then sent her on to the next world. The bounty issuer was clearly relieved to hear this and handed Geralt his due. With this task done, Geralt had the funds to book passage to Skellige.

As he left farcorners, the witcher noticed two witch hunters beating on a door. They were calling out for Remi Villeroy to come out. Geralt recognized the name, as Remi Villeroy was a mage from the Northern Kingdoms. The men kicked in the door and Geralt saw the mage, his wife, Louisa, and his adoptive son inside. The witcher decided to enter the residence. The witcher hunters told the witcher to leave because the mage was wanted for trying to contact the Lodge of Sorceresses and for idling the minds of Redanian soldiers. The men made it clear the Remi and his whole family would likely be executed. The witcher could not allow that to happen. After a brief fight, Geralt told Remi and his family to find Triss Merigold.

With the funds in hand, Geralt again went to Triss’s residence to wish her farewell, for he did not know when he might see her again. However, just before he arrived he saw several guards searching for her near her house. This did not bode well at all. He overheard them saying a butcher had revealed he saw her near there after they took a couple of fingers. Geralt waited until the guards had moved on and snuck into the place Triss was renting. Inside things were only marginally better. The couple Triss was renting from was demanding Triss’s necklace in payment. Geralt decided he had heard enough and told them to leave her alone.

Novigrad was once famed as a place of tolerance and the rule of law. That is why it attracted mages from all over the world, those persecuted by Radovid and Emhyr alike. The Free City did not live up to their hopes, however, and rather than being a safe haven it became their slaughterhouse. Triss Merigold, with whom you, dear reader, are already well acquainted, decided to evacuate all mages still alive to a place far removed from the front lines - Kovir. This was no simple task, and so the sorceress asked the witcher for help. Geralt agreed out of concern for the persecuted mages' fate - and Triss' fate most of all...

Geralt promised to help Triss in her endeavor to help the mages escape. First they went to find two missing magicians in the bits a couple by the names of Anisse and Berthold. They found the two be accosted by witch hunters. Our heroic duo saved the magical couple and made for the Kingfisher Inn where all the mages were gathering to escape. As Triss checked on the other mages, Geralt saw Dijkstra there. He was surprised to see the former head of Redanian intelligence there. Triss rallied the other mages and told them they all had to flee through the sewers.

He helped lead them through the sewers of Novigrad towards the harbor’s docks and the ship that awaited to their sanctuary. The path was full of downers, locked passages and one very surprised vampire, but Geralt secured passage for the mages. When they arrived on the other side they boat was waiting for them. When it seemed the mages were finally safe and would set sail for Kovir's snow-covered shores, witch hunters swarmed over the docks and attacked their ship. Like setters who track down hares in even the deepest burrows, they had picked up Triss' trail despite her painstaking efforts to cover it. Luckily, Geralt stood in defense of the mages - as did, surprisingly, Dijkstra, for whom "love thy neighbor" had never been a guiding principle, nor the fate of the mages a matter of particular importance.

With the witch hunters taken care of, the time had come to say goodbye. Though much had bound Geralt and Triss in the past, on this black day, on the blood-slicked planks of the Novigrad harbor, their paths parted. Witcher and sorceress would, true enough, meet again on several occasions, but only ever as friends. Their flight from the Eternal Fire had been the last flicker of the fires of their mutual affection. Triss told Geralt to take care, and to give Ciri a kiss her her when the wither found her. Geralt had more than half a mind to ask the sorceress to tell his former lover of his feeling that continued for her, but he knew that she would be safer away from Novigrad and away from the dangers of the Wild Hunt. The witcher merely bid her farewell, and watched as she sailed from the docks.


Upon finding Dijkstra mingling among the fugitive mages, then watching him assist them in their flight, Geralt got the sinking feeling the erstwhile spy would want a favor in return. He could not have been more correct, for as soon as the mages had set sail for Kovir's hospitable shores, Dijkstra confessed that he had set in motion a plot to assassinate Radovid and asked the witcher to meet him promptly at the Passiflora. Geralt told the spy he didn’t kill kings, and that witchers are neutral on principle. Dijkstra told Geralt to spare the moralism, and said witchers always claim neutrality whenever things start to heat up. The giant of a man reasoned to the witcher, Radovid will hunt down every witch in the north … including Triss and Yennefer if he ever gets the chance. Dijkstra told the witcher to think on it and meet him at the Passiflora if he changed his mind.

The witcher was glad to know Triss and the other mages were safe, but he also felt the dire need of a drink and some company. Fortunately, Dijkstra’s words had reminded the witcher that he heard of a large Gwent tournament that was taking place in Novigrad that very night, and so the witcher made for the Passiflora.

On his way there, Geralt was once again accosted by Ronvid of the Small Marshes, this time with two men. The fool once again challenged Geralt to a duel. The witcher, having had a long and miserable day had no patience for this man. The witcher used an old trick, Axii, to befuddle the man and convinced him he should go home. That was the last Geralt saw of Ronvid of the Small Marshes.

Geralt is hardly an ace gambler. He has had a few good runs in dice poker tournaments, true, but these were local affairs against opponents whose skill level left much to be desired. A tournament in the world's greatest metropolis – now that was a horse of an entirely different color. The high entry fee and stringent deck requirements scared off amateurs, so only wealthy professionals had signed up. Everything was in place for play at a high level in exciting company – in other words, my friends, for pure pleasure.

However, the evening soon turned more interesting than anyone would have imagined. It started with an indecent proposal. Sasha, one of the participants in the tournament, made Geralt a proposition so brazen even his jaded jaw dropped: together they were to steal the coin set aside as the tournament's prize. Perhaps Geralt would even have been tempted by Sasha's proposition. Before he could accept it or reject it, however, another double dealer made his presence known.

The witcher had some luck that night, winning the first round over Bernard Tulle, but then lost his match against Sasha in the second round. The witcher watched a Sasha beat each of her opponents from there on and won the pot. However, it soon became apparent that while that matches had been played, one of the participants stole the coin set aside for the reward, beating Sasha to the punch.

The halfling by the name of Bernard turned out to be the thief. This supposed farmer took the coin and hid with it in one of the city's warehouses. The witcher raced after him and defeated him in a final showdown. As for Sasha, she turned out to be a Nilfgaardian agent known as Cantarella. Her cover blown, she had needed the coin so that she could skip town. To celebrate her last night in town, Cantarella invited the witcher to dinner at the Kingfisher. The witcher enjoyed the spies company, so he took up on that offer … and every other offer that followed through the evening. As part of my duties as a chronicler I must note that before she left, she spent a night with the witcher, conducting various covert operations until the break of dawn.

When Geralt awoke, the spy was gone, having left without a word in the night. All that remained was a letter, and some clarity. Geralt decided to revisit Dijkstra. Though Geralt avoided politics like the plague, there were times when he simply couldn't avoid getting entangled. This was very much the case when Roche and Dijkstra convinced him to find their co-conspirator. The man had gone off undercover to resolve a certain matter among the Nilfgaardians and simply disappeared. Geralt went off to seek the man who supposedly acting as a cobbler. He tracked the man down and found out it was an old friend of his by the name of Thaler.

Geralt was not expecting to meet Bernard Ducat, former head of Temerian intelligence, in such circumstances. Their relationship went back a long ways, to the time when Ducat was leading an espionage operation in the Vizima Temple District disguised as a fence named Thaler. Thaler the fence was known for his gruff manners and extremely filthy tongue. Much had changed since those days, but Clogs the cobbler (as Ducat now called himself) was as rude and vulgar as Thaler had ever been. His exact role in the attack on Radovid was not clear, but considering his experience and professionalism, one could hardly expect him to share that information, not even with an old friend.

Geralt made his way back to Novigrad, for it was his best chance to sail to Skellige. The search for Ciri had taken Yennefer to the wind-swept Skellige Isles - that is to say, lest your mind fill with visions of our elegant sorceress shivering on some barren rock - it had taken her to a suite of comfortable rooms near Kaer Trolde Castle on the isle of Ard Skellig. Geralt was to join her there and thus set off to the port in Novigrad, where he hoped to find a captain bold enough to brave the pirate-infested waters en route. He figured the best place to start was the harbor side tavern called The Golden Sturgeon.

On his way to the Golden Sturgeon, the witcher found a man who asked for his aid. When men sense death's approach, they try to finish all manner of unresolved business. Some write wills, others pay off debts and still others make up with estranged relatives. Nidas, a battle-hardened veteran from Novigrad, wanted to tie off a rather atypical loose end: acquiring the black pearl he had once promised his beloved wife. As he had reached an advanced age, he would not be able to journey to the black pearl beds of Skellige by himself – so he hired the witcher to assist him.

Once he arrived at the Golden Sturgeon, Geralt found a man who would take him to Skellige. A certain Captain Wolverstone had agreed to sail to Skellige. Whether he was abnormally brave or abnormally stupid is unknown – the vodka he gulped in buckets could have enhanced either quality. We can also hope it helped sooth his nerves when, to no one's surprise, pirates attacked the ship off the archipelago's shores.


The witcher settled in his room for the long journey south. The voyage was calm until they neared Skellige. The pirates attacked in the night. When the witcher awoke to the sound of sword fighting he ran to the deck in defense of the ship. Soon the pirates were defeated, but the ship had drifted and was soon broken on the jagged rocks of Skellige. Geralt was thrown overboard during the tussle, and awoke face-down in the Skellige sand.

Geralt awoke from his tumultuous landing when a Skelliger tried to liberate his boots from him while he lay unconscious. Geralt could tell from the man’s clothes he was of Clan an Craite, which meant that he had arrived at his destination on Aard Skellige. Geralt heard from the man the his ship’s Captain only had protection from Clan Drummond. Though Madman Lugos, jarl of Clan Drummond, was nothing special in terms of size or strength, most men in the isles still stepped aside when they saw him coming. Eternally feuding with his neighbors, Lugos had a reputation for a furious and violent temper and managed to get into shouting matches with even the usually-placid Donar an Hindar. Yet Lugos' biggest rival was Crach an Craite, whom he accused of stealing part of his domain (which in his reckoning encompassed all of Ard Skellig). The clans' quarrel went back hundreds of years and there was nothing to indicate it would end while these two fierce enemies lived. Lugos hated Crach with a passion dampened only by the laws of Skellige and the disproportionate balance of power between the two clans. Thus the Captain's assurances from clan Drummond afforded him little protection, as his wrecked ship could attest to.

In speaking more with the would-be-corpse-robber, Geralt learned a woman matching Yennefer’s description just so happened to be with Crach an Craite in Kaer Trolde. Skellige sagas brim with praise for war chiefs and warrior-braves of ages past, yet the saga of Crach, jarl of the Clan an Craite and lord of Kaer Trolde, will outshine them all. It will sing of his strength, his courage, his wisdom, his generosity, his loyalty to friends and his relentless pursuit of his foes.

There will be few exaggerations in such a tale, for Crach, the mightiest of Skellige's jarls, truly did possess all the traits of a hero. He aroused terror in his enemies – in fact, Nilfgaardian mother would use his name to frighten their children into obedience, and all in that empire spoke in hushed tones of the infamous Tirth ys Muire, the Wild Boar of the Sea, who devastated coastal provinces during frequent and terrible raids. Geralt had known Crach for long, since a time when as a young man the jarl had sought the hand of young Pavetta, Ciri's mother. Soon the witcher was on his way there.

However, on the path to Kaer Trolde, Geralt was surprised to find a group of women hanging around outside the entrance to a crypt on the isle of Ard Skellig - but not as surprised as they were to see a witcher. The women explained they had come to clip the nails of the dead, thus depriving wraiths of shipbuilding material. Though wary Geralt might take advantage of the opportunity to loot some grave goods, they asked him to drive off the ghosts keeping them from entering the crypt. Geralt knew the women's actions would do little to keep the Naglfar at bay, but still did as they asked and cleared the crypt of ghosts before continuing on his way north.

When Geralt reached Kaer Trolde castle, he discovered all the notables of Skellige had gathered to bury King Bran, who had breathed his last a few days prior. King Bran, former King of the Skellige Isles, lived a long and storied life. When he finally felt decrepitude taking a hold of him, he went into the woods to hunt a bear armed with only a knife – and thus ended his reign. It was remembered as an honorable and respected one, though some complained he preferred raiding to confronting the Isles' long-term problems, and that he let his wife's tongue wag too freely. Some connected the two, claiming Bran sailed out to fight overseas battles to put off dealing with the ones awaiting him at home.


This was because of the reputation of Birna, the widow of King Bran. It can be difficult for a woman to gain the esteem of knights and warriors not accustomed to seeing female hands on the reins of power. It helps little when, like Birna, the woman seeing power is filled with acrid disdain for her countrymen and their customs. One might argue that disdain is a valid reaction when, in the case of the passing of a man of power who embodies tradition, those customs call on her to follow along since outdated ritual and cast herself upon her husband's funeral pyre. Justified or not, Birna's desire to rewrite age-old Skellige traditions put her at odds with the jarls and made it unlikely she would be remembered alongside Calanthe of Cintra or Meve of Lyria as a successful and revered ruler.

In attendance, as well: Yennefer. A thick air of repressed hostility reigned during Geralt's time with Yennefer in Skellige. More than once the sorceress sharply expressed her displeasure, sparing no cutting remark - just like during the best years of their relationship. After the funeral, Crach an Craite, an old friend, invited Geralt and Yennefer to a farewell feast for the recently-departed King Bran. One does not refuse such invitations in Skellige, and so, willing or not, Geralt had no choice but to meet Yennefer at the castle gates and attend the wake at her side. The Sorceress told Geralt that he would need to get appropriate attire for such an occasion. Unfortunately being shipwrecked left the witcher with no coin to purchase clothes, and he dared not ask Yennefer, thus the Witcher went to port to see if any Witcher’s work was available. And it just so happened there was … a posting there read -

Craving glory and gold? Got a sharp blade and not afeared of death? Them come see Bjorg the master boatbuilder, for he's got work for you. It's the muire d'yeablen in the Kaer Trolde bay – they need to be killed, for they've multiplied and grown so fierce you run into them every time you leave the harbor. Kill the beasts, and you'll become famed throughout all the isles, and your purse'll be heavy with gold! The sea is a source of endless riches for the inhabitants of Skellige. It offers up a near-endless bounty of fish, pearls and amber. At times, however, the archipelago's icy waters also spew out monsters whom even the fierce warriors of the islands cannot slay. The village at the foot of Kaer Trolde, for example, found itself plagued by some particularly aggressive drowners. The local shipbuilder promised Geralt a reward if he could solve this problem for them. Geralt, for whom killing drowners was as simple and effortless as relieving his bladder, was certain he was in for some easy coin.

The caves under the cliffs of Ard Skellig were indeed chock full of drowners, but they were not the true danger. Far more troublesome was the hater hag with which these lesser evils dwelled in close proximity. Making the most of this fact, Geralt brewed a scent from the glands, counting on it masking his own (which meant it was quite powerful indeed, I must add, having had personal experience with the strongly pungent aroma Geralt develops after several days in the saddle). After doing this, the witcher hid in the darkest corner of the lair and waited for the monster to return to its home...

Geralt slew the water hag and returned for the promised coin. Not for the first time, he was in for an unpleasant surprise: when the bill came due, the boatbuilder regretted the generosity he had felt while drafting his notice. However, Geralt left with coin in hand, purchased his clothes and met Yennefer at the entrance to the castle just in time. There she spoke wth Birna Bran. Birna refused to hide her disgust with the custom of choosing a ruler by vote of the jarls. She dreamed of establishing a hereditary kingship in Skellige and thought the ideal dynasty to hold it was her own, starting with her and Bran's son, the young Svanrige. A Hard life awaits the child who cannot escape his parents' shadow. Following the death of his father, the beloved King Bran, Svanrige became the formal ruler of Clan Tuirseach, which controlled vast territory on the isle of An Skellig. Yet this quiet and mild-mannered young man seemed firmly tied to the apron strings of his mother, Birna, who sought to control his every waking deed. With such an overbearing caretaker it was hard to imagine how Svanrige could ever grow into a man able to rule a mighty Skellige clan in his own right.

Yennefer greeted Geralt and soon the two entered Kaer Trolde. Bran's wake was in full swing, with mead flowing plentifully and Geralt making quite a splash with the jarls. Here Geralt finally had the chance to meet Cerys an Craite, the younger of Crach's two children. Known as Sparrowhawk to her friends, she was as fierce and swift as this name would indicate. The witcher sat with her and some of other Jarls’ children. They traded story’s, jokes, barbs and even brought up a discussion of a race. You see, Cerys claimed she could beat any man to the top of a nearby mountain. The other jarls' children challenged her to race the witcher, for if she could beat him her words would ring true. Geralt obliged and participated in the race. The sparrowhawk was indeed fast and first to the top of the mountain. The witcher arrived right on her heals, knowing he could have won had he really wanted too ...

Upon their return Yennefer seemed to be distracted.
The festivities continued for a time until s
uddenly Yennefer announced she needed to meet with the witcher in a more private setting. Yet she did not have in mind what you do, dear reader. Instead, she wanted Geralt to accompany her as she broke into the druid Ermion's laboratory. Her goal? To steal an artifact known as the Mask of Uroboros. As you can see, life with Yennefer was full of surprises, a fact Geralt had grown used to and even, one dares say, quite fond of.

After much wandering, Yennefer finally found the mask she had been seeking. When Ermion's laboratory grew dangerous, she teleported herself and Geralt back to her quarters. Once there, they... well. what they did is not really any of your concern, dear reader. Let us just say that, in the end … the witcher's patience was rewarded, and their expedition to retrieve the mask of Uroboros brought the former lovers back together. The gulf that had arisen between them during their time of seperation seemed that much narrower. Afterwards, they returned to the wake.


Crach an Craite only arrived as the wake was drawing to a close – he and the other jarls had locked themselves away in a proverbial smoke-filled room to scheme plans for Skellige's future. After Bran's demise, Crach could easily have claimed the throne for himself. Yet he preferred to support the claim of his son, Hjalmar. When his daughter Cerys announced her intention to seek the throne as well, the jarl also gave her his support, showing no favoritism when it came to his children. Cerys was an islander through and through and the spitting image of her father, having inherited all his courage, resolve and stubbornness. Dauntlessly she sought to prove at every turn that there was no task she could not fulfill as well as – or better than – any man in the islands, including her older brother Hjalmar.

That business finished, Crach pulled Geralt and Yen aside for a talk. When he heard they were searching for Ciri, he agreed at once to provide them with everything they needed. To the islanders, honor is the most prized of virtues. Crach thus agreed without hesitation to live up to the pledge he made many years ago on behalf of himself and his entire clan and supported the search for Cirilla with any means Skellige could offer. Luckily for Crach's treasury, Yennefer did not need everything, just Ermion's permission to examine a mysteriously deformed forest - the result of a magic explosion that might have involved Ciri. Crach promised to convince Ermion, and as his word was as reliable as his beard was red, Geralt and Yennefer set off at once towards the magic-damaged woods. A magic cataclysm had devastated a large part of the isle of Ard Skellig, and Yennefer suspected Ciri had had something to do with it.

In return, Crach made two requests of the witcher, one for each of his children. It is a truth universally acknowledged that children only prove more troublesome as they mature. In Crach's case, any troubles his offspring had caused him only doubled after King Bran's death, when both his son and daughter joined the ranks of the claimants of Skellige's throne. Tradition demanded the next king be a great hero, and Hjalmar, Crach's son, felt he fit the bill perfectly. As anyone versed in fable knows, there is no more fitting way to prove oneself a hero than to kill a giant - and it so happened there was one such beast in desperate need of slaughtering on the nearby isle of Undvik. Thus Hjalmar had organized an expedition and set off to earn his glory.Unfortunately, there'd been no word of him since and the jarl had begun to worry. Like many before and after him, he took this worry to the witcher.

Then concern filled Crach's voice. And something else... pride? The jarl began to confess his worries about his daughter, Cerys. She has sailed to Spikeroog, seeking to cure Jarl Udalryk's mysterious affliction. A dangerous mission, though one that would certainly be less so with a witcher's help. Geralt eyed his old friend over carefully, then made his decision. The witcher said he would seek to help each of them, as soon as the matter with Ciri was resolved.
 
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The next morning. the raven-haired sorceress thus set out with Geralt to the isle's mysteriously deformed woods to look for signs of their one-time ward's presence. On their way to the woods, Geralt met a desperate and broken man named Lothar. Someone had cast a powerful curse on his son, causing him to slip closer and closer towards the grave with each passing day. The witcher knew he had to lift the curse before it's too late.The witcher discovered the curse had been cast by the local herbalist, Jonna, with whom Lothar had once shared the bed. Once again it was proven - something which I, dear reader, know all too well - that man knows no greater enemy than a woman scorned. Geralt was able to save the man's son, but the spell demanded a victim. The disease would move to Jonna, dragging her into a painful and premature death.

Our pair continued across the isle of Ard Skellige until they came across another dire situation. Life on the Path is full of surprises. a milkmaid's offering you a warm mug straight from the cow. The next, you're helping drag a merchant's wagon out of the muck. Other times, you witness thugs raiding a house. The last happened to Geralt and Yennefer while they were wondering across Ard Skellig. The bandits Geralt defeated had been sent by Madman Lugos, the eternal enemy of jarl Crach an Craite. The people living in the home they were attacking were loyal to the an Craite clan and announced they would go to their jarl for help, warning Geralt to beware Lugos' wrath before they went. Geralt knew all too well of this hostility first hand of course … and would learn again soon.

Soon the lovers reached the enchanted woods they had sought. But Ermion had already arrived. Most druids on Skellige differ from the deeply rooted Continental stereotype of a graybearded old man in white robes bowing before sacred oaks, taming wyverns and pestering local lords with petitions to add yet another species to the list of protected beasts. Ermion, Geralt's old acquaintance, was no exception in this regard. This stiff-bearded, spindly man was the leader of the Druids' Circle in Skellige. He was also Jarl Crach an Craite's advisor on matters of magic and they mystical, as well as on any and all issues requiring more refinement than a will-timed uppercut or a hard-swung axe. Ermion was knows to be obstinate and to have a tendency, quite rare in Skellige, to consider all possible consequences of a particular course of action before it was undertaken. All this meant conversing with him demanded a considerable amount of time and patience.

Given all this, one can hardly be surprised that Yennefer and Geralt's "rash" and "highly irresponsible" actions regarding the magic anomaly – stealing a priceless artifact from a private chamber being first among them – put Ermion quite out of sorts. Ermion and Yennefer bickered until the witcher stepped in, trying to explain their actions. As he tried to appease the old Druid, Yennefer did something he did not anticipate, she used and thus desecrated the mask. A great storm rose up in an instant and Ermion and his Druidic companions were forced to try and appease the weather.

However, the mask did serve it’s purpose the witcher soon learned. The witcher ran to join Yennefer and the two followed a trail of visions through the devastated forest. The visions revealed by the Mask of Uroboros made it clear beyond all doubt: Ciri had played a role in the magic catastrophe on Ard Skellig. More importantly, they confirmed she had been in Skellige - and then fled in the face of grave danger. The mask also unearthed evidence that the mysterious elven mage had protected Ciri from certain death at the hands of the Wild Hunt's warrior before Ciri escaped through a portal. Geralt believed that this cataclysm must have immediately preceded Ciri’s arrival in Crookback Bog, where you will remember she was found wounded by the Crones.

As the witcher and sorceress discussed their findings, Ermion apeared. Though Ermion was incensed (no druidic pun intended) at Yennefer and Geralt's theft and desecration of an ancient artifact, he was willing to put his anger aside to help them find Ciri. He told them of rumors of the Hunt's recent destruction of the village of Lofoten on Hindarsfjall. The smallest of the Skellige Isles was also the birthplace of the islander's culture. Skelligers believe themselves direct descendants of Otkell, a legendary hero who was the first practitioner of the cult of Freya in the isles. He erected a beautiful temple in honor of the goddess on Hindarsfjall (sadly the temple has been closed to visitors in recent years due to concerns about the possible theft of the famous diamond, Brisingamen, ornamenting the goddess' statue). Otkell also constructed a fantastic garden near the temple - the garden of Freya. It was revered by all on the skellige isles.

Geralt and Yennefer knew at once it could not have been a chance attack. Ciri. They went there looking for her. This required our heros finding a boat, which they soon did on the coast of Aard Skellige. Yennefer & Geralt ran into a young warrior - well, he stopped running before he hit the young man, but I believe you get my drift, dear reader - at any rate, the point of my story was not that he ran up to (not into!) this said warrior, but that the warrior was besieged by pirates at the time.

Geralt helped him fight off his attackers and listened (with only a slight amount of witcher impatience) to his story, which was as follows: the man's sister had been kidnapped by pirates (not unlike the ones he had just faced), and he was determined to track her down, even if it meant searching all the isles in the Skellige archipelago. He thanked Geralt for his help in dealing with one of what would surely be many patches of pirate trouble and continued on his path. Most fortunately, the band of pirates had left a small boat, which the pair used to sail east overnight to Lofoten on Hindarsfjall.

When our pair arrived at Lofoten, Geralt and Yennefer's suspicions were soon confirmed. While talking to the inhabitants of Larvik, Geralt and Yennefer found out Ciri had been in the village right before the Wild Hunt had descended upon it. Yet none who had survived the village's devastation knew what she had been doing there or where she had gone. They all agreed that the only one who might know more about her fate was a man now known only as Craven, for she had ridden off with him, heading towards Drowned Dead Rock.. This individual had behaved disgracefully during the Hunt's attack, for which crime he had been stripped of his name and expelled from the community. He had then set out to redeem himself by defeating the monster dwelling in Freya's garden... and never returned. Geralt and Yennefer decided they had to find this Craven - though both knew there was little chance he would still be alive when they did. The monster dwelling in Freya's garden did not take kindly to visitors.

The Skellige Isles have a long and rich history. Scattered throughout their rocky lands are many mysterious ruins, elven relics, ancient woods, and natural marvels. One of the places that most stuck in Geralt's memory was the abandoned garden near Freya's temple. Freya's garden - once the pride of Hindarsfjall, nay, of all the Isles - had fallen into ruin. This had happened on account of a certain Morkvarg, a cruel pirate for whom nothing was sacred. The punishment for his deeds was a curse that transformed him into a monster and imprisoned him inside the garden walls. There he roamed for years until Freya's priestesses decided it was time to get rid of him for good. They promised a generous reward to any brave man who could drive him off - or, better yet, kill him.

The witcher and sorceress entered the garden and soon discovered Craven’s blood as well as evidence of Morkvarg’s proximity. Geralt, an expert tracker if there ever was one, had little trouble retracing Craven's footsteps. However, the witcher found Morkvaard first and slew him. It seemed the beast was a werewolf, and the witcher soon found the beast could come back from the dead, and was cursed to keep living in hunger as food turned to ash in his mouth. Geralt decided to try an innovative curse-lifting method - feeding the werewolf his own flesh. Geralt's efforts were a partial success. The curse was lifted, but Morkvarg died without ever reassuming his human form. Considering the hideous deeds this cruel pirate had wrought, one's heart does not exactly burst with pity for him.

The witcher continued to follow Craven’s tracks and soon discovered the tragic, and inevitable truth. Putting the lie to his insulting nickname, Craven had bravely faced the monster in the garden... and, sad to say, was mortally wounded as a result. Feeling the life seep out of him, Craven found shelter in an underground chamber. That is where he died, and that is where Geralt found his body. This could have marked the end of the trail, and most certainly would have, dear reader, if not for Yennefer's determination... for in order to obtain the information they needed, Yennefer did not hesitate to resort to necromancy, and destroyed the goddess Freya's garden while doing so.

Craven's reanimated corpse told Geralt and Yennefer about Ciri's stay on Hindarsfjall. She had made a dramatic entrance, popping out of thin air in a narrow escape from some unknown danger. Exhausted and wounded, she was carried by a mysterious companion who then entrusted her into Craven's care. He took her home, where his family tended to her with warmth and kindness. For the first time in a very long while, Ciri had a moment to catch her breath and enjoy life's simple comforts. Sadly, she was not given long to savor these blissful moments. The Wild Hunt had caught Ciri's scent. Dark clouds gathered in the sky, puddles began to ice over and the ruthless wraiths rode towards the village. Ciri knew she was in no shape to defeat her assailants. Craven, or rather Skjall, for that was the unfortunate lad's true name, decided to help her, putting his own life and honor at risk.

Ciri raced off to Drowned Dead Rock, where she rejoined her masked companion. From what Skjall could see the two got into some sort of quarrel, which the mysterious man ended by putting Ciri to sleep with a spell. He then set her down in a boat and sailed off with her into the thick fog blanketing the surrounding sea. Skjall's words drew a new detail onto the emerging picture of the mage. After the Wild Hunt's attack, Skjall had seen Ciri and a mysterious elf sail away from Skellige, their course set for the high seas. Ciri had thus escaped the Wild Hunt once again. Skjall was less fortunate - the wraiths had wounded him and left him for dead. Yet he had life in him still and fought his way back to consciousness. When his eyes opened, he saw he was lying on the beach near a boat - the very same vessel in which Ciri and her companion had sailed away the night before. Now it bore but a single, highly unusual passenger -- the ugliest man in the world.


Geralt knew he had seen this creature before, and that it currently resided at Crow's Perch. The baron's bandits, hungry for a bit of unrefined entertainment, had made Uma their jester. When Geralt encountered the misshapen midget at the Bloody Baron's court, he didn't think much of it. Yet when he now knew the being had washed up on Skellige's shores in the same boat in which Ciri and her mysterious companion had sailed off shortly prior, he connected the two at once. It was clear this rough-hewn hunk of flesh was the key to finding Cirilla. Sadly, Geralt knew there was no communicating with Uma. The gnarled twiglet lived in his own miniature world. Yet Geralt knew Uma was the key to finding Ciri. Even if no pertinent information would be forthcoming from the creature's stunted lips, surely further investigation would squeeze some solution out of this riddle. Geralt knew he would have to put an end to this farce, take the unfortunate being from Velen and, with Yennefer's help, try to lift the curse that held him.

Their task completed, the witcher and sorceress prepared to depart. But not before they were confronted by the priestesses of Freya. The women condemned Yennefer for her desecration of the Garden for necromancy. If the proud sorceress felt any guilt as a result, as usual she showed no sign of it. Before Geralt and Yennefer parted after their adventure in Freya's garden, the sorceress asked him to meet her in Larvik. She made it clear this was a personal matter, but gave no further details.

While the Sorceress rushed off, Geralt felt a need to visit Freya's temple for some reason he never explained to me, though I truly believe he felt some remorse for the fate of the Goddess’s Garden. There he rested after what had been a grueling stretch of trials. While there, Geralt met a woman named Kurisu who told him how she managed to escape the clutches of a band of ruthless pirates who had kidnapped her. Who would have imagined a frame so slender could hold such bravery? Perhaps one day I shall write a ballad about her – "Kurisu, Kurisu, full of courage and daring-do… soon the witcer realized this was the sister of the man he had saved from pirates. When Geralt told her of her brother, the woman agreed she would return and let him know she was alive.

The next morning Geralt duly traveled towards the village known as Larvik, until he spied some monster tracks. Where there's a monster, there's work for a witcher. And where there's work for a witcher, there's coin to be made. Geralt decided to look into the matter. Geralt discovered that the nekkers dwelling in the nearby wood were led by a particularly strong nekker warrior. Its presence had made the others more aggressive and daring. The only way to solve this problem was to enter the nekkers' lair and kill their leader. In the end the alpha nekker fell to the witcher's blade. Geralt took its head as a trophy and continued to Larvik to collect his reward.

On his way there, he again came across a scene that forced him to stop. Though Skelligers are famed warriors able to hold their own in almost any battle, those whom Geralt encountered near the old mine on Hindarsfjall seemed to be in need of help. They had sworn to clear the mine of ghouls and were plucking up the courage to do so, but Geralt did not deem it likely they would manage the task on their own. When he proposed his expert assistance, they hesitated at first, but ultimately decided to take him up on the offer. What tremendous good fortune it was that Geralt showed up at just the time and place where he was needed! With a touch of help from the warriors, he made swift work of that pack of nefarious necrophages and cleansed the surrounding area of danger, earning him the gratitude of all who dwelled nearby.

The witcher arrived at Larvik with his Necker Warrior trophy and soon found that it had indeed been bothering the village. He collected a reward, as well as some information about Uma. Geralt learned that, prior to arriving at Crow's Perch, Uma had briefly been the possession of Donar, jarl of Hindarsfjall. As befits a neighbor to the gods, Donar was famed for his wise, considered opinions and his piety. This last did not, however, extend to the gods of the Continent, whose rich sanctuaries he had often raided in his youth.Few jarls of Skellige were as honored and obeyed as Donar an Hindar, the eldest of their number. Despite his advanced age he remained the active leader of his clan and its representative at all official gatherings. The only person able to break his composure was Madman Lugos, whose clan had long feuded with the an Hindars. In speaking with the jarl, it seemed that at some point, Donar sold Uma to a merchant from Novigrad, who thought the strange little creature would make a wonderful jester. This must have been the same merchant who then lost Uma to the Bloody Baron in a hand of cards.

Having settled accounts and confirmed that this Uma creature in Crow’s Perch was likely the beast found just after Ciri had last been seen, Geralt looked for Yen at the tavern. Yennefer revealed to him her plan: she intended to capture a djinn and draw on its power. Brrr, the very thought of it makes my skin crawl and my throat constrict! For, dear reader, I have had the misfortune of dealing with a djinn once in my life, and I assure you - once was one time too many. Most djinns, you see, combine incredible power with a mean streak a mile long. In short, they are nasty beings that prudent people should steer well clear of.

Yet when Yennefer sets her sights on something, there's no turning back. Geralt glumly realized this and decided to help her handle the dangers that would surely arise during this mad endeavor. The idea of hunting another genie together did not at first arouse Geralt's enthusiasm, but Yennefer had a truly valid reason for wanting it. If she succeeded in forcing the genie to take back the wish binding her to the witcher, she would finally know if the feelings between them were truly love or merely magic.Yennefer had managed to learn about a certain scholar who had devoted his entire life to delving into the secrets of djinns. He had died in mysterious circumstances during a shipwreck off the coast of Hindarsfjall. That is where Geralt and Yennefer decided to begin their search.

The trail they followed took Geralt and Yennefer from the bottom of the sea off the coast of Hindarsfjall to the snowy peaks towering above Ard Skellig. There, barging recklessly in where even dragons should fear to tread, they summoned the djinn and tried to capture it. The djinn, however, had no intention of giving up without a fight and resisted with all its strength. Together witcher and sorceress managed to pin this feisty spirit. Once it understood its situation was hopeless, Yennefer could convince it to do what she wanted - release Geralt and her from the spell another djinn had cast on them long ago. This spell had made it so that Geralt and Yennefer, despite their many differences, could not live without each other. The genie granted Yennefer's request and broke the thread of destiny binding her to Geralt. Now they had a chance to see if, once the spell was no longer in effect, the magic between them would still persist. Luckily it turned out their love could continue - without the need for supernatural assistance.

The truth did not disappoint. The captured djinn dispelled its predecessor's work… and the feelings between Geralt and the sorceress burned on as fiery as ever. Many an admirer breathed a heavy sigh on that day, when the bond between these two renowned beauties closed tight, crushing all outsiders' hopes…

[video=youtube;zu_KyPWf-tg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu_KyPWf-tg[/video]

They stayed there together a time, and then returned to Kaer Trolde by Yennefer's favorite method ... a portal. That night they stayed together. She decided to depart Skellige for Vizima the next day to tell Ehmyr what they had so far uncovered. Geralt told her he had to remain to repay his debt to Crach and help his children Hajalmar and Cerys … but promised he would retrieve Uma. They agreed to meet at Kaer Morhen once their tasks were completed.

The next day Geralt pried himself away from Yennefer’s bed early in the morning and set out to find Hjalmar an Craite. Geralt knew he had left Kaer Trolde Harbor with a band of friends, and decided to check the local tavern to see if he could uncover more information. Jonas the inkeep ran the establishment and confirmed Hjalmar had been there. It seemed he stood on the table and recruited a crew to slay a Giant on the island of Undvik. It seemed his friend Vigi, craving glory and wanting to save his home isle from the Ice Giant, had convinced Hjalmar to brave the journey to Undvik. Even for Skelligers, who value courage above all else, Vigi's fearlessness went far beyond the pale of bravery, deep into the realm of suicidal madness. This Clan Tordarroch warrior had strived to earn the right to be called Vigi the Unfearing. Instead, his actions earned him the nickname Vigi the Loon – and it seemed this outcome suited him just fine.

The saying "like father, like son" fits Crach and his first born son to a tittle. Young Hjalmar took after his father in both posture and character, and many predicted that in time he would ovetake his elder in the honor and fame he would gain. An extremely able, broad-shouldered swordsman, he had the makings of a superb warrior, and his charisma and tendency towards almost mad bravura meant he could stir the hearts of loot- and glory-craving yourht from all Skellige's clans. All these traits made Hjalmar an obvious choice fot he next king of Skellige. He thus did not hesitate to stake his claim when the time for this arrived and immediately set up for Undvik to prove his heroism by battling the legendary Ice Giant.

A man named Axel told Geralt the Ice Giant came down from the mountains and scattered the whole clan. They jarl supposedly fought with great courage, but he and his men were never seen again. Sirens seemed to fight with the Giant, and wounded Axel before overtaking the jarl himself. After speaking with the men, the Witcher decided a long trip by boat was too perilous. He decided to head south by Horse to the village of Arinbjorn. From there it would be a shorter trip across the sea to Undvik. Plus, the witcher had been asked to go there and meet Nidas to help him find a black pearl. So the witcher made his way south until he reached Farylund.

When the witcher entered the village a small crowd had gathered. It seemed that one of the villagers had been killed. When he found the body, Geralt overheard some men arguing. It seemed this was the fifth recent death. Geralt's first clue? A brutally murdered and mangled body. The villagers all agreed the Woodland Spirit had killed the man - but their explanations of this creature's motives could not have been more different. The elders among them claimed the Spirit, who had cared for their village for generations, was now punishing them for having broken the pact they had once made. As for the youth present, they claimed the Woodland Spirit was nothing but a cruel brute that killed for its own pleasure - and that rather than worship it, they should get rid of it once and for all.

Geralt promised to help with their problem - though he did not yet know which side was right. The witcher exercised his better judgment and decided his first move must be to find out what this Woodland Spirit really was - and why it had begun to kill. Fayrlund's supposed guardian turned out to be a leshen - a rare and dangerous monster that can force animals, plants and, as soon became clear, even people to do its bidding. For generations the villagers had worshipped it and offered it sacrifices, and all the while it leeched off their life force, a parasite masquerading as a guardian. Some monsters are so powerful local populaces begin worshipping them as gods. Such was the case with the leshen dwelling in the woods near the Skellige village of Fayrlund. The elders were absolutely convinced the monster watched over them by defending them from their enemies and training their hunters. The witcher had his doubts, however. Leshens are mean, self-serving creatures – and the ancient one living in the woods near Fayrlund was surely no exception. Geralt knew freeing the villagers from their supposed protector's grasp would be no easy task – if he decided to even try. The leshen known as the Woodland Spirit was so powerful as to have mastered the art of marking. This meant the monster had inserted his essence into one of the residents of Fayrlund. As long as this unfortunate soul remained alive and near the settlement, the leshen would always be reborn near its lair. Yet even with the marked one eliminated, killing the leshen would be no easy task. The monster commanded the obedience of the denizens of the woods – it could thus call on wolves, ravens or even the trees themselves for help. Luckily, it had a weakness as well: it was vulnerable to fire, that born of the Igni Sign in particular.

When Geralt returned to the village, he first spoke to Harold, a village elder who seemed to know a great deal about the old leshen. He told Geralt not to kill the beast, but renew a pact between it and the village. Geralt, knowing these creatures, thought this would be an extremely bad idea. A band of young warriors led by Sven questioned the old order and asked Geralt to take care of the monster in the manner of witchers. Geralt agreed. First, he had to find out who the Leshen had marked, for as long as they stayed in the village, the beast could not be slain. Geralt soon discovered it was Hilde from an aura that surrounded her. This news devastated Sven, who cared for the girl, but believing it was his duty, he banished her from the village. All that remained to be done was to kill the old relic … no easy task. But the witcher entered the woods, found the old Leshen, and used all of his skills to burn it into ashes.

However, the witcher returned to a scene that made his heart sink. While he was away tracking the leshen in the nearby woods, Sven decided to usher in the new era himself by murdering all the village elders. When Geralt arrived back in the settlement it was too late to save it from fratricidal bloodshed. He thus collected his reward from a man who had killed more people in one afternoon than the monster had in years and walked away from the village without a backwards glance. Arinbjorn awaited.

As Geralt neared his destination, he came across a boy on the road. The lad claimed a bear had just attacked his father. The witcher decided to try and aid as best he could but soon found that the boys claim was a ploy. Rather than a bear the witcher found a group of bandits hoping to have found easy pray. But a witcher is far from easy pray as the crows near Arinbjorn can attest. They fed well that night on the flesh of bandits.

When the witcher entered Arienbjorn, he discovered a notice. It seemed the village was suffering from a wraith problem. Geralt decided to check out the local inn and learn more. When he entered two men accosted him, letting him know strangers were not welcomed. The witcher feared he might have to resort to violence, but a man named Jorund chased the men off and invited the witcher to share a drink with him. The man explained the two boys were constant trouble, and said they rarely saw men from the continent. Geralt knew this man was the one who had posted the notice, so he decided to ask him about it.

The ghost haunted the nearby islet of Eldberg, a barren rock of no interest to anyone save for the lighthouse erected upon it. This lighthouse's light had gone out simultaneously with the phantom's appearance. This meant it had become nigh unto impossible to safely navigate a ship into Arinbjorn harbor after dark. The witcher's task was to chase off the phantom and find out what had happened to the lighthouse keeper.

Geralt learned that the village called Arinbjorn was suffering from a wraith problem. The ghost haunted the nearby islet of Eldberg, a barren rock of no interest to anyone save for the lighthouse erected upon it. This lighthouse's light had gone out simultaneously with the phantom's appearance. This meant it had become nigh unto impossible to safely navigate a ship into Arinbjorn harbor after dark.

Apparently Jorund had led a party to try and defeat the phantom … and sailed a ship out towards the lighthouse. But the other men were slain and Jorund was forced to flee in shame and return to Arinbjorn. The witcher's task was to chase off the phantom and find out what had happened to the lighthouse keeper. Geralt took the job as he thought this man might be able to sail him to Undvik once the witcher completed his task. Jorund seemed an honorable man. Thus he set out for the lighthouse.

As the witcher left Arinbjorn, he membered that the famous beach with black pearls Nidas mentioned was nearby. Pearls were supposed to be prevalent in the cove there. Remembering his agreement with Nidas, the witcher decided to see if he could find a black pearl for the man’s wife. As he approached the cove, the witcher was somewhat surprised to see that Nidas was actually there … but had been unable to dive deep enough to find the illustrious pearls. The witcher took off his boots, headed for the water, and without too much trouble Geralt extracted a black pearl from a Skellige oyster with the skill of an experienced pearl diver, thus helping Nidas fulfill his promise. Now all he had to do was deliver the pearl. Nidas thanked the witcher and said he would return to Novigrad to deliver the pearl to his wife. He also promised the witcher his payment upon return to that greatest city of the Northern Realms.

While scouring Eldberg for reasons more important, Geralt happened to find a horn. Any other man might have shrugged and scoffed - not so the witcher, and not because he occasionally enjoyed a toot. Inside the chest containing the horn, Geralt also found a journal. The witcher read it, hoping to learn something about the individual to whom the horn had belonged.

As geralt approached the lighthouse, he was encomapsed by a wholly unnatural mist. Without hesitation he drew his silver sword and continued into the fog. Soon wraiths began appearing all around and the witcher cast the spirits back from whence they came. Soon the witcher came upon the bodies of Jorund’s comrades and then what appeared to be the lighthouse keeper’s abode. Geralt knocked on the door and found Mikkel the lighthouse keeper still hiding inside. He claimed the wraiths had come and attacked from knowwhere, and that they were led by a huge specter. When Geralt asked, Mikkel claimed to have no idea why the ghosts had appeared, but he gave Geralt a key to the lighthouse so the witcher could investigate.

When he appraoched the lighthouse Geralt found markings that indicated a curse was cast on the place which kept the spectres there. It turned out the monster haunting the isle of Eldberg and its lighthouse was a rare type of specter known as a penitent - a dangerous wraith which haunts particularly foul sinners. Wherever this wraith haunts immediately becomes enveloped in thick fog and darkness – and those that wander into it usually never return. In order to defeat a penitent, one must remain in constant motion in order to avoid being struck by this agile creature, which can disappear and reappear in the blink of an eye to attack from behind. Most importantly of all, however, one must discover what keeps they monster bound to its haunting grounds – and break that bond as soon as possible. Knowing if he met the beast without lifting the fog it would be immortal, Geralt entered the lighhouse and saw letter to Mikkel which showed he was conspiring with pirates trying to raid merchant vessels. So the lighthouse keeper, Mikkjal was at fault after all. Working in cahoots with pirates, he would lure ships into the rocks and loot them after they wrecked. These misdeeds were what had drawn the phantom.

Geralt returned to Mikkel and confronted him, knowing that without him, the fog could not be lifted. With the lighthouse keeper's help, Geralt drove the mist from the isle – then dispatched the penitent from our world for good. After it was finished Geralt told Mikkel to leave the area and never come back. Now ships were once again able to sail to Arinbjorn's port, and the witcher's coin pouch grew a little fuller. Geralt went to collect his reward.

[video=youtube;_N-WN_cNaX8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N-WN_cNaX8[/video]

The common folk rarely show witchers the gratitude they deserve for practicing their dangerous trade. Arinbjorn, however, proved an even more ungrateful place than usual in this regard. After taking care of a wraith plaguing this village, the witcher returned to the Inn at Arinbjorn and shared a well-earned drink. Before he could even take a sip, however, two trouble-seeking youths started harassing him. Geralt was again insulted by Kori and Kraki. The witcher tried to keep the peace, but the boys seemed deadly serious. Jorund decided they needed to be taught a lesson and joined the scuffle. The cowards soon drew swords mortally wounded Jorund. Geralt usually strives to avoid bloodshed in such situations... but this time he had no choice. Geralt managed to kill Kori and Kraki soon thereafter. As he laid there bleeding out, Jorund asked Geralt to drink to his memory and died in that spot in the witcher’s arms.

When the witcher tried to leave the inn, but Kori and Kraki's father Leif cried out for justice against Geralt for killing his only two sons. Though Geralt had killed his attackers in self-defense, no witnesses confirmed this and he was charged with starting the brawl. The inhabitants of Arinbjorn urged Geralt to put down his weapons and hand himself over to the jarl, Madman Lugos. Wanting no more blood on his hands that day, Geralt reluctantly delivered himself to the justice of a lunatic.

The guards of Arinbjorn took Geralt south to Madman Lugos’s keep, Kaer Muire. Within a day Geralt found himself in a jarl’s dungeon, with no weapons, no equipment, and his fate entrusted to a “Madman.” The witcher resolved that his story could not end like this and knew he would have to find a way out. One of his fellow prisoners, a scoundrel by the name of Simon Brambling claimed to be able to help. He told the witcher that he would never escape without his help. This man had obviously never met a witcher before. Soon Geralt had gotten the attention of the guards. The guards claimed Geralt would have to wait … maybe years … for a trial. Geralt informed them Lugos had claimed the trial would be today … and those weak of mind easily agree when Axii is cast. The guards brought him at once to Lugos.

Geralt stood before Madman Lugos to be tried. Lugos might indeed have been as mad as they said, but when the need arose he could calculate as coolly as the sanest of men. When Geralt was brought before him to be tried, he resisted any howls for blood braying in his unhinged mind. The jarl found him guilty, but then immediately paid his blood price for him, thus giving him his freedom and banking himself a debt of gratitude with a man well able to repay it. Like most favors, this one was given with the expectation of gaining something in return. For saving his life and granting him his freedom, Lugos wanted Geralt to help his son and heir, Blueboy Lugos, in his trek through the mysterious Cave of Dreams.

Madman Lugos' sole child and heir was a dour, strapping lad who was nothing like his father. His nickname dated from his childhood, when bruises often covered his body, supposedly from the rough and rowdy play Skellige boys engage in. Yet others suspected they came from his father's belt, rod and fists, for rumor had it Lugos Senior did not wish to spoil his only child and thus punished him harshly for any minor cockup or grander failure. Thirsty for adventure and glory, the lad had set off to trek through the mysterious Cave of Dreams.

He left Kaer Muire a free man, though indebted. The witcher descended the mountain paths into the port of Holmstein. Geralt remembered from the notes he found with the hallowed horn, that a man named Mathios in Homlstein was a servant of the prior owner. Holger Blackhand had stolen a great many priceless goods during his many plunderous raids. Yet none of these foreign trinkets could rival the carved horn passed down to him from his ancestors for his affections. The warriors he had recently banished must have known this - for they took his horn as an act of vengeance against Holger. Holger had let it be known that whoever found his prized possession would receive a hefty reward. And so he found this Mathios, and received his reward. Mathios was sad to here his former comrades had perished, and told the witcher to focus on killing monsters … not men.

Geralt then took the road south over several cliffs facing the western sea, and made his way towards the infamous cave. He travelled along the shoreline looking for Blueboy Lugos’s ship and trying to avoid any more trouble. Soon he found his man at the entrance to a cave that could only have one possible name. Blueboy’s men stopped Geralt, but after a few words Lugos ordered Jorulf “the Wolverine” to let him pass.

The witcher knew the young warrior was no stranger to courage, but to knowledge, experience, and navigational ability he was a distant relation at best. Because of the debt he owed, Geralt offered his assistance. Blueboy accepted and they headed for the cave with his to best soldiers … the Wolverine as well as Uve Jabberjaw. Uve had apparently torn out his own tongue to keep his honor after insulting king Bran while drunk.

According to legend, those foolhardy enough to enter the Cave of Dreams must confront what they fear most. Sometimes the past returns to haunt them - others, the future, prematurely exposed, strikes terror in their hearts. Geralt, Lugos and their companions knew they must fortify their courage to face such a challenge, and so prior to penetrating the cave's bowels put themselves into a trance using a mixture of hallucinogenic herbs. This concoction proved all too potent - even Geralt, who had imbibed more psychoactive substances than most men have milk, soon lost all contact of reality...


Soon the small cave expanded into an immense cavern … and our band of visionaries explored it’s depths. As they explored they came across visions of each man’s greatest fear. First they walked into a scene from ages past … a feast hosted by the ghost of King Bran. King Bran's ghost invited them to drink but Uve suddenly spokes out with a voice as clear as day. He hurled insults at the king. This was Uve’s nightmare, he feared ever insulting the king yet again. The dead king's ghost condemned Uve to die as the spectral warriors of Clan Tuirseach attempted to attack them. They fought back the specters and Uve uttered not another word.

Blueboy’s expedition continued through a school of fish until they found a broken longship guarded by a couple of spectral sirens. This dream belonged to Jorulf the Wolverine, and the ghostly sirens told Jorulf that the longship was his father's boat that he wrecked onto the rocks when he was distracted by the sirens' song long ago. They taunted him, saying that he could never restore his father's life and that he killed him as a result of wrecking the ship. After killing the sirens Blueboy Lugos reminded Jorulf that it was an accident, to which Jorulf replied that it never cleared his conscience.

They continued on, until finding a quiet house and some trees. Blueboy Lugos' nightmare was revealed to be a giant burning ghost of Madman Lugos who appeared to lecture his son about the shame of pissing his trousers in front of the whole village when lightning struck a tree by their home when he was three years old. The events Geralt witnessed in the Cave of Dreams confirmed rumors of Lugos' troubled relationship with his father. Blueboy's greatest fear turned out to be the Madman in his family tree.

They continue through the cave until they finally face Geralt's gretest fear … the King of the Wild Hunt, Eredin. After a life or death battle, everyone disappeared but Geralt and Eredin. Eredin told Geralt that Ciri will be his soon enough and Geralt then woke from his nightmare. After the bumper crop of wild adventures (many of which, to be frank, I have a hard time believing actually took place), Geralt awoke in the same place where he had earlier partook of the brain-addling herbs. Young Lugos thanked Geralt for his help and cleared him of all debts to Clan Drummond. Geralt returned to his path, swearing that, in the future he would think twice before stepping into Skellige taverns...
 
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Geralt's brief detention and debt to clan Drummond having been resolved, the witcher refocused on finding Hjalmar an Craite. Geralt rode back to Holmstein and was able to get a boat to travel west to Undvik. When he arrived on the island, it seemed completely deserted by all but monsters. However soon he found sea graves and clan an Craite shields. He follow their tracks until he came upon a giant landslide that appeared to have crushed many men. Geralt wondered aloud what could have caused such a disaster … but he saw that tracks pushed on and figured that Hjalmar and some of his men must have survived. Soon also found markings that showed a litter had recently been drawn down a mountainous path.

The witcher followed this path until he found a sight that gave him pause. There was no further sign of Hjalmar and his men, but he had found the immense ice giant. It was hard to miss. As the stories foretold, it seemed the sirens answered to his call, for the Giant was feeding them near what appeared to be a half built long ship. Soon the giant moved on, and Geralt approached to dispatch the Sirens and investigate. After ending the sirens’ song, Geralt heard a different singing. A lone man’s voice from inside the long ship. Geralt approached in hopes that it was one of the an Craite men who could give him information of Hajlmar’s plan.

Instead he found an elderly man who appeared only to rave to himself. Geralt's encounter with the crazed man building an enormous ship while conversing with the cut-off heads of his former crew was, to say the least, an unusual experience. Though this strange shipbuilder was forced into his labors by the ice giant and his bloodthirsty sirens, it seemed his work had become a kind of escape for his beleaguered mind. Surely that was why this unfortunate man showed such dedication to his dubiously worthy cause. Geralt soon learned the true identity of the mad shipbuilder of Undvik. He was in fact Harald Houndsnout, a jarl who was thought to have been killed by the giant along with his crew. Though rumors about his death were clearly exaggerated, it was hard to say whether surviving had not proved the worse fate. The man claimed the Giant spared him to build the ship, for the Giant wanted to sail it out to defeat the Gods when Rhag nar Rog (the end times) came. He claimed Hjalmar had been there along with some of his men, Leif, Folan and Vigi though he could not remember how long ago it had been. Apparently, they had headed for an old guard tower to make camp. A crazed man’s lead is better than none … so the witcher decided to head that way.

Geralt found the tower, but only corpses with it. It seemed Helping Hjalmar an Craite did not prove easy. Undvik had gone feral after the ice giant drove its inhabitants away, with monsters running amok on the island as though it were some mad mage's experiment or a misguided entrepreneur's attempt at an innovative hunting preserve. From the camp led two trails. One was a footpath and the other the litter. Geralt decided to follow the footprints first. He followed the path until he came upon a troll cave. It seemed than man had gone inside, willingly or not. Inside he found Folan, a member of Clan Tuirseach. Many brave warriors answered Hjalmar's call to join him in reconquering Undvik from the Ice Giant. Among them - Folan, son of Ulf, Hjalmar's frequent comrade in battle and dear childhood friend. He was a fearless sailor and an unequaled archer, and so did not hesitate to join his dangerous expedition that stood to shower him in glory. It would have ended horribly for him, however, had the witcher not kept his wits about him and saved him from the clutches of hungry trolls by winning a riddle contest. Geralt told Folan he was there to find Hjalmar, and Folan agree to accompany him.

Folan told Geralt that the ship had been caught in a storm and that it was the helmsman Vigi’s who steered the ship into the rocks. A few men were killed and others injured. They tried to make it inland to escape sirens who constantly attacked. Hjalmar blew a horn to rally his men, but brought down the mountain on top of them. They went on, found Harald and made camp in the tower. There Folan had watch and saw a man steal Hjalmar’s horn. He chased the man who led him straight into the trolls’ lair.

Folan also said that Hjalmar had learned the location of the Giant’s lair. They headed back to the tower to trace the litter path, which must have been the way Hjalmar and his remaining men went. They followed the path into the ruins of Uskar, a former village on the island. There they found the litter, as well as a dead man, but no signs of anyone else until they went further into the village. Signs of a battle were everywhere. It appeared that the Giant had found them and many men perished. The Giant chased Hjalmar's men up a mountain path. The men ran into a cave where the Giant could not follow, but were forced to continue on into the cave without knowing where it led. For many it became a tomb. Geralt followed the tracks back into daylight on the other side of the mountain at the clan Tordarroch Forge. He remembered this forge was supposed to have some tools that might proven invaluable in Crow’s Perch … so Geralt searched and found them after dispatching a cave troll that had made the forge it’s fome.

Soon they found a room almost too ghastly to speak of. Inside were twenty of Hjalmars crew, butchered for meat it appeared, but no Hjalmar. Folan told the witcher that Hjalmar's crew must have scattered when the giant attacked. As for the fate of Hjalmar himself - that Folan could not tell him. They continued to follow the tracks which led across the desolate waste that had been Undvik. Eventually the path led them to Hjalmar an Craite near the giant's lair. Hjalmar had journeyed there to free Vigi, one of the members of his crew. Many of their crew were killed during this expedition, and Vigi himself wound up a prisoner in the Ice Giant's cave. As he deemed the cause a worthy one, Geralt decided to lend Hjalmar his sword.

Inside the Giant’s lair they found Vigi and decided they need to free him for the extra blade. However, the second Geralt freed Vigi from his cage, the Skelliger lived up to his moniker and awoke the sleeping giant with a hearty kick. To be fair, afterwards he fought bravely and effectively against the monster, proving he had the making of a mighty warrior behind his madness. Folan proved his skill with a bow by riddling the Ice Giant with arrows during the final fight against the colossus, a deed recounted to this day during Kaer Trolde feasts. In the end the witcher triumphed, not only finding Crach's son, but also helping him kill the giant and avenge the men the beast had murdered. Hjalmar accomplished what he set out to do. Fighting side by side with the witcher he defeated the fierce colossus of Undvik. His heroic deed accomplished, Hjalmar could now leap out of the starting blocks in the race for the Skellige crown.


Before he left Undvik, Geralt found Harald and told him of the Giant’s demise. Geralt implored the jarl join him on the journey back to Aard Skellige. News of the Giant's death clearly delighted the madman - but he rejected the witcher's offer to take him back to Ard Skellig. He could not live with the knowledge that he had failed as leader of his clan, and thus was determined to build a ship to serve as his funeral pyre. So the witcher left him there, said farewell to Hjalmar on the shore of Undivk, and sailed for Spikeroog.

It is a two day journey North from Undvik two Spikeroog, so Geralt stopped at nightfall at the isle of Kaer Almhult. Built centuries ago to serve as the home keep for the kings of Skellige. In practice, however, each ruler preferred to keep his clan's seat, and Kaer Almhult was left unused. Eventually the decision was made to turn it into a prison, and today the fortress is a crumbling ruin. No sooner had Geralt arrived at the docks before pirates attacked him. Geralt learned they had taken over the keep and had been raiding local passers-by for some time. So the witcher decided to do something about it. HE ventured up to the castle and put an end to the vile men’s pillaging. He also came across a few treasures, and something rarely seen, sky cells.

The next morning, Geralt continued on to Spikeroog. Though Spikeroog is not the most frequently-visited of the Skellige Isles, one cannot deny it has a certain inescapable charm. Particularly bewitching are the snow-capped peaks towering over its southern and western shores. So Geralt found it to be upon his arrival. Now all he had to do was find Cerys. Though Cerys' decision to stake a claim to Skellige's throne came as a shock to everyone else, she had thought it over quite thoroughly beforehand. Striving as always to outdo her brother, she intended to perform a great deed that would earn her widespread recognition and respect. That is why she had sailed to Spikeroog to free Jarl Udalryk from the strange affliction that seemed to curse him.

Geralt first visited the Jarls quarters figuring Cerys would be there … but she was nowhere to be found. The jarl proved of little help, as no one there knew where Cerys had gone. Jarl Udalryk was an enigmatic figure to say the least. Some mysterious ill surrounded him, causing others to shirk his company. Geralt could not help but notice that Udalryk did seem to be acting strangely, muttering to himself often and showing signs of suppressed panic, as if he lived in constant fear of something - or someone. Geralt's private talk with the jarl confirmed the rumors. Udalryk was convinced the gods spoke to him, sending him prophetic dreams and demanding he make sacrifices.

Geralt did the only thing he could, asked around the village after where Cerys had gone. A woman named Bergthora said she had gone to the other side of the island with Eiric. When Geralt found the man, he was surrounded by downers by no Cerys. It seemed she had climbed the nearby mountain to the old ancestral home of the jarl.

When he entered the home, Geralt immediately sensed a dark presence … like a shadow lingered behind every corner. There in the building she found Crach’s daughter unconscious. She told Geralt she had been looking for Brokvar, the ancestral sword of the clan. It seemed the sword had been given to the jarls younger brother which led to hard feelings. The two brothers went on a trip to sea but a storm broke out and the jarls brother died. Cerys believed the jarl was haunted by his brother’s ghost. To break the spell she wanted to obtain the sword from the house, and bury it at sea with Aki, the jarls dead brother. The tale of the strife between Udalryk and his brother Aki over the family sword threw new light on the jarl's mysterious problems. That the voices he heard demanded he injure himself suggested a vengeful spirit was involved. Feeling the house was haunted, Geralt offered to go inside and recover the sword. Geralt soon found the sword, though dread filled the very air in the haunted house.

The sword in hand, the two returned to see the jarl. The jarl sat outside his quarters, where the witcher and Cerys began to speak with him. The witcher asked the jarl to make amends with Aki, and also asked where the place had been. Hjort encouraged the jarl to heed the witcher’s advice. It is my humble opinion that the most one can learn from staring at the innards of a gutted animal is whether the poor beast was infested with parasites. Nevertheless, Hjort, like many other druids of Skellige, placed a great deal of trust in both haruspicy and chiromancy (and oneiromancy as well, though that's more understandable, dreams being the royal route to one's soul). Word was that he commanded a great deal of respect and esteem amongst his fellow practitioners, having more than once accurately prophesied the future and interpreted the meaning of obtuse dreams. This druid was devoted to Clan Brokvar with all his heart, and his knowledge and ability made him an excellent advisor, one in whom the jarl of Spikeroog, Udalryk of Clan Brokvar, placed a great deal of trust. Hjort had tried to alleviate the suffering brought on by his jarl's strange condition, but despite his efforts no progress was made in stopping the decline in Udalryk's mental health.So the jarl agreed, and Geralt went to send Brokvar to Aki.

The witcher found the spot with little difficulty, and left the sword with Aki’s remains at the bottom of the sea. However, when he returned to shore the first thing he heard was the Udalryk’s screams. Something had gone wrong. Udalryk's madness deepened ever more, finally prompting him to pluck out his own eye as payment for unspecified sins. This action was demanded by the Gods according to Udalryk. The witcher asked him a few questions about the Gods and learned they always spoke from shadows and only seemed pleased with the jarl’s suffering. After analyzing all the evidence, Geralt came to the conclusion that Udalryk was not haunted by a ghost, as Cerys had thought, nor was he insane or touched by the gods, as many Skelligers believed. The situation was far more grave: a particularly malicious wraith, known as a hym, had latched onto the jarl.

Monsters most commonly claim innocents as their victims: tardy merchants, reckless children and traveleres who wander into dark woodlands out of misplaced curiosity. None of the above need fear hyms, however. These wraiths only latch onto particularly despicable individuals who have committed some unspeakable crime. To all others, they remain completely invisible. When they do show themselves to the one they torment, they appear as a tall, shadow-clad, humanoid silhouette with long, sharp claws. Yet hyms do not sink these claws into their victims. Instead, they sap their strength directly, through inflicting suffering. Speaking in a voice only the victim hears, they drive him to commit acts of violence, aggression and self-harm. A hym will seize on a guilty person's worst fears and weave out of them hideous visions, slowly driving the poor soul into madness. Those tormented by a hym are incapable of restful sleep, for they are tormented by ever-more-frequent, incredibly-realistic nightmares. At times the victim will become extremely on edge, yelling pleas or threats at invisible phantoms or confessing his guilt out loud in the hope this will end his torment. This act does not, however, bring any relief, for the hym will not leave until it has addled its victim's wits completely or driven him to suicide.

Geralt and Cerys thus faced the challenge of finding a way to free Udalryk from this evil being's power. Cerys hit upon an idea. They would trick the hym. Geralt decided to trust her. Cerys ran off, snatched Udalryk's infant child from its cradle and ran back towards the abandoned home, with the jarl and his honor guard hot on her heels. Meanwhile Hjort, whom Cerys had informed of her plan and asked for help, slipped into the house unnoticed.

Once inside, Cerys commanded Geralt to toss the babe into a burning stove. Caught off-guard by this seemingly-mad request, Geralt nevertheless acquiesced, hoping it was all part of the plan. To his great relief, it was. The hym, thinking Geralt an infanticide, left Udalryk to latch onto this new, even more guilt-ridden victim. Yet when it was revealed the child had survived unharmed, the evil being had to depart into the ether. Cerys' trickery and the witcher's cold blood had saved Udalryk, freeing him from his torment at long last. Cerys did what set set out to do - with the witcher's help she freed clan Brokvar's leader from the wraith that had tormented him for years. With this, the jarl could finally know peace.


The witcher prepared to head back to Kaer Trolde to tell Crach of his children’s’ deeds. But on his way through Clan Brokvar's village on Spikeroog Geralt took on a search-and-rescue contract. Kevan, the man offering the bounty, claimed the missing man had developed cold feet and fled from his betrothed, yet the woman herself - Britt - insisted her lover had been snatched away by a monster. Geralt searched the cave and discovered that he was dealing with an ekhidna. He defeated the beast and went to the village to collect his reward. The hardest part, however, was informing Britt, the dead man's betrothed. Though her voice shook, she kept herself together and gave Geralt a gift by way of thanks for his trouble.

With his work on Spikeroog done, Geralt headed back to speak with Crach an Craite. With Geralt's help, both Hjalmar and Cerys had defied death and won glory, greatly improving their chances in the race for Skellige's throne. Crach decided the news was an excellent excuse to host a great feast, during which skalds would sing the praises of the young an Craites and tables laden with mead and meat would sway those islanders who were still undecided, convincing them to support this generous and powerful family. Geralt was also invited to the celebration, where he was to receive a token of Crach's gratitude. An ancient family sword named “Fate.”

A Skellige saying holds that at a good feast, blood and mead flow in equal measure. Sadly, it seems someone took the saying literally and orchestrated a terrible massacre during the banquet at Kaer Trolde. Between the third and fourth courses of roast ram, massive, enraged bears suddenly appeared amidst the merrymakers. Before the hooch-dazed warriors could draw their weapons, the animals tore dozens of guests to shreds, including most of the claimants to the throne. Blueboy Lugos was one of the victims of the massacre that took place during the feast at Kaer Trolde. Later people claimed he had knocked one of the beast's heads off by clobbering it with a barrel of beer. True or not, that is how the skalds commemorate him in song to this day.

Geralt managed to save most of the other attendees, but could do nothing to stop the torrent of accusations and calumnies directed at Crach once the dust had settled. The other jarls accused him of conspiring to put one of his own on the throne. If an Craite could not prove his innocence, his family would forever lay buried beneath a mountain of shame. Hjalmar and Cerys immediately took action, each in their own way. If he wanted to investigate how the massacre had come to pass, Geralt would need to choose which an Craite to support. Geralt decided to help Cerys. This was not surprising - her calm and systematic approach to the matter bore a strong resemblance to how the witcher himself conducted investigations.

Their thorough investigation led Cerys and Geralt to an unexpected discovery. It turned out Arnvald, the an Craite family's hitherto faithful servant, had had a hand in the massacre. After Guthlaf, trusted seneschal to the An Craite jarls, passed away a portion of his duties were taken over by the jarl's cupbearer, Arnvald. This elderly Skelliger did not possess the far-reaching authority of his predecessor, but still had managed to make himself irriplaceable in his few years in the position. His purview included not only stocking the larders and cellars of Kaer Trolde but also seeing to the needs of the keep's inhabitants, as well as the guests that visited it during feasts and other important ceremonies. That is why is betrayal could not have come as a greater surprise. It was he who spiked the mead with the blood and herbs that caused certain guests to transform into bears. It was he who then tried to kill Geralt and Cerys in a most underhanded manner when they were close to finding him out.

Arnvald tried to save his life by fleeing, but he did not get far - for Geralt, accustomed to chasing down griffins and wyverns, outrunning a clumsy and panicked rider proved no challenge. When caught, Arnvald confessed to his role in the murderous conspiracy, revealing his long-seething hatred for Clan an Craite. Cerys interrogated him adroitly and got from him the identity of his patron. It turned out the culprit was none other than Birna, King Bran's widow and mother to one of the claimants to the throne, Svanrige.

Birna was tried by a council of jarls. Though Geralt and Cerys presented damning testimony against her, for a moment it seemed the sly widow would escape justice. In the end, the final nail in her coffin was pounded in by her own son, Svanrige, who sensed her lie at once when she denied the accusations. Birna was given the sentence she deserved and disgrace covered the name of the once-proud Tuirseach family.

Crach invited the witcher to join him at he Jarls’ choosing of the new king. It was to be at Gedyneith. An oak which is sacred to all Skelligers, as it is worshiped both by druids and Freya's disciples. The Isle's most important ceremonies are held here, including weddings and royal coronations. At last, the day had come. The long interregnum was at an end. The jarls of Skellige had gathered to choose which of the claimants would be crowned King Bran's successor. Notable representatives from the clans and common Skelligers alike rubbed shoulders around the sacred oak on Hindarsfjall, eager to witness the coronation of their new ruler. Among them - Geralt of Rivia.


It was done. The Skelligers had spoken, choosing Cerys an Craite to be their new queen. Once again Sparrowhawk had given proof of her cunning, this time by unmasking Birna's plot and cleansing the shame from her clan's name after the infamous "bloody banquet" at Kaer Trolde. All these feats convinced the Skelligers that Cerys was fit to be queen. Though it was clear it would take some time before the young ruler could step entirely out of her father and brother's shadow, the greater part of the islanders were pleased and proud with their choice of ruler. Though in the past other women had sat on Skellige's throne, many islanders worried the turbulent times would simply overwhelm young Cerys. Others rejoiced at the outcome, believing Cerys' accession guaranteed that peace would one day reign in Skellige. Who was in the right? Time would soon tell...

Before he could leave Skellige, there was one more task Geralt had to complete. He had promised Lambert he would look for a man named Hammond on Faroe. The most southerly-thrusting outcrop of the Skellige Archipelago is the wild and untamed isle of Faroe. Visiting here is a must for experienced travelers undeterred by unexplored wilderness and nature at its reddest in tooth and claw. Which is not to say that Faroe is uninhabited - just that its vibrant, primeval landscapes, not its human settlements, constitute its primary attraction. Not knowing when he would next return to the isles, this was the only opportunity he was likely to soon get. He found a ship and sailed south to Harviken, the port of Harviken, the home village to Clan Dimun. Geralt travelled west then to find Hammond near the village of Trottheim. The village had been taken over by Hammond’s pirates whom did not take kindly to Geralt asking questions. Geralt dispatched them soon enough and continued on his way to the stone where he learned Hammond prayed. The witcher found him there and asked where Karadin was … but Hammond decided he’d rather just kill the intruder. Geralt defended himself against five, and walked back to Harviken.

On his way back, Geralt came across one of Skellige's famed arenas, where he met an undefeated warrior named Jutta and decided to try his strength against her. Before he could do so, however, he had to complete a task to prove he was a worthy opponent. She asked him to bring her a famed sword lost in a shipwreck to prove his mettle. Geralt found this girl intriguing, so he fetched the steel blade and was granted the right to face her in combat. Jutta proved a fierce and demanding opponent, but Geralt still was able to best her. Enchanted by his strength and manliness, Jutta asked the witcher to join her for a rendez-vous at her home so she could learn some of his trade.

His work done, this was to be the witcher’s last night in Skellige. Both Jutta and her proposition were to Geralt's liking, so he agreed to meet. The warrior woman turned out to be just as deft with words as with a sword. Though she clearly was hoping for more than just conversation, Geralt had other plans, thanked her for the good time and continued on his way. Jutta said she would venture beyond the isle of skellige to find a man worthy of her affections. The witcher wished her fortune, and began searching Harviken for a boat returning to Novigrad. Soon he found it, promising himself he would find Ciri, no matter what stood in his way.
 
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And so Geralt payed for passage back to Novigrad, where he was to meet with Lambert at the Nowhere Inn. It seems they had between them figured out who Jad Karadin was. Lambert and Geralt found this Jad Karadin. The man was living in the lap of luxury and would have blended in perfectly amongst the cream of Novigrad's crop – had he not been a witcher from the Cat School. Quite unexpectedly, Karadin welcomed them into his home and introduced them to his wife, Leticia, and his two adopted children. The man was in fact a retired witcher, now living in the lap of luxury, surrounded by his beautiful... family? But how? While there was nothing surprising about his wife, Leticia, the last thing Geralt expected to find the home of a sterile witcher were two bright-eyed children. It turned out the kids were adopted, and Karadin swore he loved them as if they were his own.

Over the course of their conversation, Karadin tried to do the impossible: convince two trained killers bent on his death to let him live. He said he was a changed man and had sworn off his assassin ways. Karadin convinced the witchers he had changed for the better and set aside his killing ways. Hearing this, Geralt told Lambert to abandon his plans for vengeance. Did he do right? That, dear reader, is not something a chronicler scribbling the tale down in a comfortable alcove with the benefit of hindsight is in a position to judge. Lambert said he was returning to Kaer Morhen, and Geralt said he would likely meet Lambert there soon enough. Tired and weary, the witcher decided to visit an old friend in the city before he headed off on the path to find Uma.

Now you will remember my fine reader I had taken up residence in Novigrad. Ever since that fateful eve near twenty years ago when my dear friend Geralt and I visited a no-longer-extant cabaret in the once-beautiful city of Oxenfurt, I have longed with every fiber of my being to become the owner of just such an establishment. When Alonso Wily, more commonly known as Whoreson Senior, left me the Rosemary and Thyme in his will, my dreams finally began to assume a more concrete form. When Priscilla lent her support to the endeavor, the scales tipped decidedly towards action and the ball threatened to start rolling.

At last I was free - and never had the nectar of liberty tasted so sweet. No matter how I slurped, I could not imbibe it fast enough. I filled every waking hour, and quite a few sleeping ones, with fevered activity - there was so much to do, and so little time in which to do it! Since the witcher had proven a true and reliable friend time and time again. I needed just a few things more to begin my planned remodeling of the Rosemary and Thyme into a cabaret - and so I turned to Geralt, the fiercest fetcher in the world. I asked him for help, and he readily agreed to provide it.

I told Geralt I needed him to grab prop sword from Madam Irina’s playhouse, and then meet him at his former lover Sophronia’s house. On the way there, while strolling the bustling streets of Novigrad, Geralt came across a most intriguing notice. It suggested the man named de Jonkheer had sold some poor fool the house which Sara, the lovable yet mischievous godling used as her dwelling and playground. The notice made it clear the new owner was not amused by his unwanted tenant's pranks. Geralt decided to check up on how Sara and see how she was doing...Geralt wasn't sure what he expected to find in the "haunted house" – but it sure wasn't that. The dreamer, having learned about Sara from Geralt, had decided to get to know her. They soon became fast friends and had begun living together in the de Jonkheer's former property. Corinne cared for the godling, and Sarah made sure the home did not lose its haunted reputation.

Soon after Geralt met with Irnia who had no problem lending him a blunted sword, so Geralt made way for our agreed upon meeting place at dusk. My plan was so ingenious that it was destined to work. Geralt would impersonate a bandit, and then allow me to defeat him. The witcher read from the lines I brilliantly wrote for him, and soon Sophronia was in my pocket. I told the witcher I would meet him in the morning.

That night the witcher stumbled across the shop of an expert swordsman. A witcher without a blade is like a potter without hands, and thus they are always on the lookout for skilled smiths to reforge or repair their deadly limbs. This evening Geralt encountered a certain Hattori, a former master swordsmith who had transitioned into the premeade edibles trade. To a witcher, a sword is like a lover. He must caress it, care for it, devote some time to it each night. But as with lovers, there are times one comes across a specimen so superior and not one's own that one cannot help but consider replacing the old with the new. He decided to convince the man to give up this dough business and return to his former practice. Little did he know this would be the start of a strange and toilsome adventure involving Skelligers, dumplings, shady ore dealers and, I kid you not, crafting supplies.

Hattori asked the witcher to act as his body guard at a meeting with the King of Beggars men. Hattori was looking for a new partner after his business crossed the wrong people. In exchange he would craft the witcher an excellent sword. Geralt agreed, and the two set off for their meeting. A deal was struck, but cleavers men ambushed the party. Geralt fought side by side with the men of the King of Beggars until they made their escape, but it was clear Hattori might need to buy protection. Hattori told Geralt to seek out a Skald name Sukrus who took up residence at the Golden Sturgeon. Soon the witcher convinced the man and Hattori had his protection.

While in the Golden Sturgeon, Geralt saw his old aquaintence Nidas. Nidas paid the witcher his due for finding the black pearl. Sadly, it turned out his wife was unable to appreciate this lovely gesture - old age had deprived her of a sound mind and muddled her memories. Even the fulfillment of a promise that had forged the foundation of their relationship failed to put a smile on her lips.

The next morning Geralt first visited Hattori to see if Sukrus has made it there. As agreed the pirate from Skellige was providing protection, but Hattori still had one issue. A man named van Hoorn had hoarded all the sword crafting supplies in the city. So long as he had a monopoly, Geralt could have no sword. Geralt had to “liberate” some supplies from van Hoorn. With a little help from one of Yarpen Zeigren’s old friends, Geralt found the supplies. However, shortly after van Hoorn found the witcher and Sukrus. A brawl ensued and van Hoorn was knocked out. Sukrus agreed to take him back to Skellige which meant Hattori would be free to craft swords, including one for Geralt. Hattori promised the witcher a new sword next time he was in Novigrad.

The witcher continued back to my Rosemary and Thyme. With the witcher's help I was able to make my castle in the clouds a heaven on earth - I opened my cabaret and called it The Chameleon. Ah, if you'd only seen the pride in Priscilla's eyes when our hard-working dwarven remodelers hung that reptile-adorned signboard above our doors! What a tragic shame later events did not go at all as we had dreamed...

Telling this story, my dear reader, will tax me greatly. It is a dark and somber one, encompassing the greatest sorrow my heart has ever known. It all started the day of the grand opening of my cabaret. Everything had been spit-polished to perfection - all that was left was to wait for Priscilla, whose performance was to be the crowning moment of this glorious evening. Yet when the doors of the Chameleon burst open it was not she who stepped inside. Instead, it was a messenger from Vilmerius Hospital. His face pale and his countenance dour, he informed us Priscilla had been badly wounded in an assault - and was currently tottering on the brink of death. Geralt and I rushed off to the hospital as soon as we heard.

When we arrived, we met Joachim von Gratz, chief surgeon at Vilmerius Hospital, in very unfortunate circumstances. My Priscilla had been attacked and he was tending to her wounds. It seemed the surgeon was no stranger to violence, for he bore a formidable scar worthy of a veteran of the Battle of Brenna. I must admit I was so shaken I hardly remember our first meeting, save that he was a cool-headed doctor who seemed to know a great deal about the previous murders and offered his help investigating the matter. The witcher promised to find whoever harmed my Priscilla, and headed out at once.

They headed for the morgue because the doctor knew of a prior victim who had suffered similar wounds to Pricilla’s, but were forced to enter through the sewers since they did not work for the morgue. Geralt noted that Von Gratz seemed quite experienced at navigating the sewers and fighting the monsters dwelling within it. While away from me, the witcher asked the doctor to give him a prognosis for Pricilla. The doctor was confident she would survive, but was worried her voice may never be the same.

They entered the morgue and quickly found the body of the dwarf they were looking for … the victim just before Pricilla. The man’s eyes had been gouged out and burned. Like Pricilla his mouth was burned with some caustic fluid and his neck cut. This poor man had also had his heart removed and a salamander egg in its place. The body smelled of formaldehyde. As they finished their autopsy, the corner approached them from behind.

[video=youtube;dr6T-fCNFII]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr6T-fCNFII[/video]

The wave of religious and racially-motivated killings that swept through Novigrad in the spring of 1272 coincided with Hubert Rejk's term as coroner at the city morgue.Because of this he was overworked and additionally had to bear the harassment of his dislikeable superior, Reverend Nathaniel. It is thus no surprise that he came across as unpleasant and sarcastic when Geralt and he first met. It was hard not to notice that Joachim von Gratz did not care much for the city coroner, Hubert Rejk, who dropped in unexpectedly on Geralt and the doctor at the morgue. Nevertheless, having learned the reason for Geralt's unexpected visit, Hubert made it clear Geralt and Joachim could count on his help. Hubert proposed to help the witcher perform an autopsy on the serial killer's latest victim, which revealed valuable new clues. The witcher needed to find Eustace, a corpse collector, as well as examine the scenes where both Priscilla and the dwarf were attacked.

Only a short distance from the morgue is where the witcher soon found the corpse collector named Eustace. He was doing is ghastly work where some bandits had recently attacked some city residents. Eustace told the witcher that there had been several other bodies with similar symptoms. No eyes and no heart. Apparently Reverend Nathaniel had ordered all the bodies burned. The witcher soon learned the man was a corpse robber, and had stolen a letter off the Fabian the Dwarf with Priscilla’s name on it. The witcher fumed at the man for not letting the authorities know, as it may have spared Priscilla from being attacked. The man had a few words for the witcher, and the witcher a fist for the man.

Next Geralt went the workshop of Fabian Meyer the dwarf’s workshop. It seemed his brother was still there continuing the family business. The brother seemed eager to help catch Fabian’s killer. Geralt learned the brother had been out of town when the attack happened, and arrived only after Eustace had already loaded Fabian on his cart. The witcher also learned Fabian had a taste for prostitutes. Geralt needed more information, and with permission searched the workshop. He found idles had been burned and a letter that appeared to be written by the killer. The self-proclaimed “concerned citizen” seemed to be a fanatical follower of the eternal fire. Other than that the witcher found few leads, so he made for the ally where Priscilla was attacked.

When the witcher arrived, he learned there had been another victim and that the body was at the coroners. Reik had sent a guard to call the witcher back from the morgue. The witcher thought it was a good idea, but first wanted to examine the scene. It seemed Priscilla had fought back and brought attention to the ally. Her would-be-killer fled, and the jumped clear over a story high wall. This was no ordinary man …

Geralt returned to the coroner’s. The victim was a lecturer from Oxenfurt. It seemed he was killed because of his criticism of the eternal fire. Geralt noticed Reik’s distaste for the faithful Reverand Nathaniel, and learned the man had some rather dark habits. They began the autopsy and found a rolled parchment with the name of Patricia Vegelbud on it. Geralt had liked her daughter Ingrid when they met at the Vegelbud estate with Triss. He had to go warn her.

Roach sped across Gustfields at full gallop. Geralt soon arrived at the estate and told the guards he had to find Patricia immediately. Geralt was taken to Ingrid who agreed to take the witcher to her mother Patricia. Ingrid told the witcher her formerly devout mother was having a crisis of faith after seeing bodies burn on the pyres in Novigrad. They hurried to Patricia’s room, Ingrid entered first and saw her mother displayed like a trophy over the bed, and her killer fleeing the room. Geralt sprinted after the depraved man. The witcher was close on the murderer’s heels until guard dogs got in his way, soon followed by guards who seized him thinking he was the killer. Ingrid set her men straight, but the killer was gone. Geralt asked permission to examine Patricia’s body. He looked a moment, and the left without a word …

The witcher left Vegelbud estate immediately for Crippled Kate's, a pleasure house of dubious repute. It is there, according to the note left by the murderer on Patricia Vegelbud's body, that the fiend would take his next victim - a prostitute named Sweet Nettie. When Geralt arrived at the establishment, he learned Sweet Nettie was upstairs with a very important client. Geralt entered the room and found the Reverend Nathaniel, whom he had met earlier at the morgue, inside. Though the situation seemed unambiguous - Nathaniel was standing over Nettie with a white-hot poker in his hand - Geralt did not let his emotions get the better of him. He spoke calmly with the cruel pervert until he could identify the true murderer - then killed Nathaniel without batting an eye.

The witcher had learned only one person knew Nathaniel would be there. Reik. Suddenly it all made sense. The man’s eternal youth … the formaldehyde … the jumping a story high wall. Rejk might have succeeded in shifting the blame to another suspect if not for the witcher's perspicacity. Hubert Rejk seemed like a kind, gentle and accommodating man - but in truth he was a bloodthirsty, brutal and murderous vampire, hiding a twisted and fanatical mind behind his never-changing mask of eternal youth. Luckily Geralt had considerable experience and a honed skill set to draw on for fighting such a creature.

The witcher had learned from Nathaniel that Reik would be at a warehouse near the docks before killing him. Through the pouring rain, the witcher strode with complete focus. It seemed the higher vampire believed the city was corrupt to it’s core, and had to be punished. The time for words had ended, witcher and vampire danced across the warehouse in a waltz of death. Geralt cut him down after an extraordinarily difficult duel, avenging Priscilla's suffering and saving the lives of countless others who surely would have died by this base monster's twisted moral crusade.

Geralt returned to Priscilla, Joachim and I. He told us the task was done. It seemed Priscilla could speak, but singing was out of the question for now. I pledged to take care of Priscilla, and told him we were going to team up and perform. Dandelion and Callonetta. She would play the lute and I would sing. The witcher seemed content … or as content as he can look. I overheard Geralt talking to Joachim about Hubert Reik, as well as an old mutual acquaintance Shani, but frankly dear reader, I had too much on my mind to pay close attention. Soon he wished Priscilla well and left to continue on his mission. It would be some time before I saw him again …

Geralt rode south, through Redania’s border post and headed straight for Crow’s Perch. By the time he arrived it was almost dusk. He learned the Sargent was not taking visitors. It seemed the Baron had yet to return and the Sargent was in charge now. Geralt disliked the man, and knew he might be forced to kill many if he earned his ire. So the witcher decided to wait out the night. However, the witcher saw someone else he wanted to see.

The armorer Fergus, and his apprentice Yoanna were still there working the forges at Crows Perch. Geralt had acquired some tools for them while on Undvik. Fergus and Yoanna were elated, but soon a Nilfgaardian general arrived. In their conversation, it became apparent that Fergus' apprentice was the true master of the forge, and Fergus himself a mere figurehead. Apparently, this arrangement came about because they thought no one would believe a woman could possess such talent. It seemed now the fickle apprentice had changed her mind and wished to assume her rightful place in the sun.

A true master armorer is a rare bird indeed, so we can honestly speak of delight sparking in Geralt's heart when he first met Yoanna. Yet before she could forge him new armor, she was in need of some assistance. The witcher would have to hunt down an archgriffin and extract from it some ingredients required for the forging of the finest armors. An archgriffin is not a foe to be taken lightly, a fact Geralt knew full well. Yet by dawn he had found the Griffin’s nest and in the end he was able to defeat the beast and took from it not just the ingredients for the armorer, but also a trophy he could turn in to the quartermaster of Crow's Perch for a reward.

Geralt returned to Yoanna who had been working on her armor through the night … and just needed the acid to finish it. In order to prove her talent, she made Geralt do a bit of running around and act as an archer's target in a bizarre ordeal. Luckily, everything worked out and in the end our hero earned the gratitude of a true master armoress, who promised to forge him the best plate in the world.

However, before it would be ready, the witcher had a long journey ahead of him. It started by walking into Sargent’s quarters that morning. The witcher informed him he was taking Uma, and made it certain he wasn’t asking. Sargent Ardal capitulated without much of an argument. Geralt cajoled the small deformed creature onto Roach, and carried him off towards Kaer Morhen However, as he rode down the path in Velen, a group of Nilfgaardian’s approached. Before he could head for his home, Geralt would once again had the honor to face the emperor of Nilfgaard. Emhyr had run out of patience and demanded that Geralt report back on any progress he had made in his search for Ciri.

[video=youtube;QxNg62Zr-Wo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxNg62Zr-Wo[/video]

Geralt presented Uma to the emperor and explained the unsightly fellow's role in the investigation. Sadly, there was no communicating with Uma. The gnarled twiglet lived in his own miniature world. Yet Geralt knew Uma was the key to finding Ciri. Even if no pertinent information was forthcoming from the creature's stunted lips, surely further investigation would squeeze some solution out of this riddle.

The emperor had hoped Geralt would return with someone other than a demented monstrosity, but ultimately recognized the creature as a solid lead in the search for his daughter Cirilla and handed over a portion of the reward he had promised the witcher. Geralt never revealed exactly how much that amounted to – he never did place much value on coin – but I wager, dear reader, it considerably exceeded the standard fees witchers received.

During the audience Yennefer hit upon an idea for lifting Uma's curse – though, not for the first time, she refused to share any details with Geralt. She merely told him to ride as fast as possible for Kaer Morhen, the famous keep of the witchers of the Wolf – the home Geralt had not seen for some time, save in his dreams. He arrived there a week later. Kaer Morhen was an inaccessible mountain stronghold which has been the headquarters of the witchers' guild for centuries. The castle's times of glory had passed, its battlements and moat had deteriorated, and a cold wind blew through its spacious halls. Only a handful of witchers lived here now, but in past times droves of young boys underwent gruesome training along the infamous "Gauntlet" near Kaer Morhen.

Vesemir approached Geralt as he arrived. He told Geralt of all that happened recently. Traveling via Geralt's most beloved means of transport, teleportation, Yennefer reached Kaer Morhen first - and immediately started bossing everyone around. Not only did she divvy out chores to the witchers like a schoolmarm whipping lazy pupils into order, she also refused to reveal any details of her plans. Though Geralt was not exactly charmed by this behavior, he knew he had to help her - for Ciri's sake. It turned out Eskel had headed out to kill a forktail, and Lambert was still busy in the keep. Yen was working on her megascope.

Vesemir told Geralt that Yennefer had set up her trusty megascope as soon as she arrived at Kaer Morhen, but could not get it to function for the life of her. This news greatly troubled the witcher. If Yennefer was planning to use her megascope, that meant a conversation with other sorceresses was in the works – and that in turn meant scheming, politics and other things Geralt tryly could not stand.

In one of the now-unused bedrooms of Kaer Morhen Geralt found a note left by Berengar, a witcher who had once been his companion and colleague. The note indicated Berengar had been working on forging an exceptional sword called Tor'haerne. The note was sparing in its details, so Geralt decided to ask Vesemir if he knew something more on the subject.

As expected, Yennefer did not extend Geralt the warmest of greetings. When Geralt found Yen, she was working on her megascope without success and she was upset because she needed to contact the elven sage Ida Emean. Geralt, ever the noble and patient soul, helped the sorceress eliminate the source of the magical disturbance. It turned out the culprit was a case of dimeritium bombs Lambert had carelessly placed near the sorceress' room. Tsk, tsk, Lambert. Vesemir agreed to move the crates while Geralt watched Uma. While Geralt was with Vesemir, he asked him about Berenger’s blade. The elder witcher told Geralt the story of how Berengar had tried to forge a silver sword with extraordinary characteristics. All his attempts, however, went awry and he lost the diagram while trekking downriver to kill a chort.

While poking around in the forgotten recesses of Kaer Morhen, Geralt happened across an illusory wall. He removed the illusion and behind it found a copy of the tome "Monstrum, or a Portrayal of Witchers. Volume 2" This tract had caused him no end of trouble and he would have tossed it onto the fire at once - if not for the intriguing handwritten note on the first page... it mentioned a witcher’s forge nearby.

Geralt returned to Yennefer and was able to stay with her while she communicated with Ida Emean. Ida was familiar with the curse that had been unleased on Uma. She told Yennefer how to try and lift part of the curse and then wished to speak to Geralt. Ida warned him that he was the key to whether the Elder Blood would bring or hold off the end times in Ithiline’s prophesy. The White Frost. The time of the axe and wolf. Geralt knew theses stories all to well. But hearing the warning from a sage was not the same as hearing it from some peasant on the path. Foreboding filled the air. Geralt asked what was next, and Yennefer told him to help Eskel and Lambert with there tasks.

Yennefer asked - or rather, if I am to be completely honest with you, dear reader, ordered - Geralt to help Eskel hunt a forktail. The sorceress needed ingredients from this dangerous beast's body and clearly thought two witchers would get the job done sooner than one. Geralt thus set out to track the monster - but first, he had to find Eskel. As he followed Eskel’s tracks, he came upon the mine mentioned in Monstrum, Vol. 2. Geralt followed the directions found in the tome's notes. After dispatching an earth elemental guardian, he found the tome could be used as a sort of key opening a passageway leading to an old forge. To his great surprise, this forge began speaking to him. Though some might suspect the witcher had merely breathed a bit too much of the musty mine air, he claimed an ifrit, a fire elemental of some kind, had been used ages ago by a mage who created special equipment for the Wolf School witchers. This elemental remained vigilant all these years after the mage's death and thus Geralt had to defeat it in order to get at the secret stash of high-quality gear hidden behind the forge.

Geralt went back to the road and followed Eskel’s tracks. All witchers have a great deal in common, but with Eskel and Geralt, the similarities are particularly striking. They first met as two boys of the same age swinging wooden swords at Kaer Morhen. They then went though an ordeal together: the first round of selections, the murderous Changes, the Trial of the Grasses, and training on the Gauntlet - the witchers' daunting obstacle course. They also received hidings together for more than one act of childish delinquency. When they became adults, they walked the Path separately, but still reconvened at Kaer Morhen nearly every winter to wait out the cold, drink to their successes and remember fallen comrades.

Though Eskel never gained Geralt's renown, he equaled the White Wolf in experience and carried out his contracts with care and efficiency. Death had almost taken him many times during his hunts, yet in an ironic twist the hideous scar on his face came not from a monster claw but from the blade of Deidre Ademeyn, his highly unpredictable Unexpected Child.

Perhaps this traumatic experience lay at the root of Eskel's dislike for Yennefer, though he tried not to let this get in the way of friendship with Geralt. Shortly Geralt found Eskel’s camp and tracks. The witcher followed them and found his old friend. In the end, the hunters bagged their prey. Using their traditional and, while we're being honest, rather unrefined methods, the two witchers first lured the forktail close, then wounded the beast and gave chase as it fled, finally finishing it off in its lair. And so they acquired the ingredients Yennefer needed and, no less important, had a bit of time to catch up - Eskel and Geralt had not seen each other in years.

On his way back to the castle, Geralt came upon a strange area. It turned out even the area around Kaer Morhen, a place which - one would think - Geralt knows by heart, can hide a great meany interesting and undiscovered phenomena. Not far from the keep, Geralt came across an area where the weather differed remarkably from that of its surroundings. He decided to investigate what sort of forces were at work. After a brief investigation, the witcher was able to conclude that the weather anomaly was the doing of one of the resident mages of Kaer Morhen, who had created a sort of outdoor greenhouse in which to cultivate the herbs used for the Trial of the Grasses. Though you might not know this, Geralt is quite the handyman, something which came in handy (pun intended) at this time. He banged and nudged the broken magical apparatus and returned it to working order in no time. Before long, rare herbs were growing outside Kaer Morhen once again.


From there, Geralt came upon the path in Berenger’s notes indicated led to the diagram for his blade. Geralt finished what Berengar had started: he followed the same route, killed the monster and retrieved the Tor'haerne diagram. Then the witcher friends returned to meet the others.

When he returned to Kaer Morhen, Geralt went to speak with Lambert. The task of preparing the phylactery fell to Lambert, to his great dissatisfaction. His discontent came as no surprise to me when I learned of it - Lambert was not the most obliging of fellows, and Yennefer, well, let us just say she was not his favorite individual. Nevertheless, Lambert agreed to do the job, and Geralt felt he had no choice but to accompany him.

Geralt and Lambert braved the dangerous path to the Circle of Elements, which took them across a drowner- and foglet-infested lake, through the cave in which Old Speartip slept, and over mountain passes home to mistrustful and treacherous rock trolls.
Old speartip was an ancient cyclops that had slaughtered dozens of young witchers, including all but two of the children it Lambert’s group. They found the monster sleeping and decided to avenge their fallen friends once and for all. Speartip was a vicious creature, but no match for two of the most dangerous witchers the world had ever known.

Along the way all the differences between Geralt and his younger comrade were exposed in sharp contrast. Sparks flew between them more than once, and biting commentary and barbed remarks were the order of the day. Geralt tolerated Lambert's prickliness with admirable stoicism, for he knew that the younger witcher's famous sarcasm served only to cover his many deeply-felt, never-healed wounds. Soon they approached the shrine and Geralt lit the shrine’s torches while Lambert prepared the ritual. The men talked, and Geralt for the first time heard to story of how Lambert became a witcher. Lambert’s father beat him and his mother, and when his father was saved by a witcher one night, Lambert ended up the witcher’s reward. If destiny truly chooses which boys become witchers, then in Lambert's case it had made a twisted, cruel choice. After hearing his story, Geralt had to admit that Lambert had every reason to be unenthused about the lot fate had granted him.


While walking back to Kaer Morhen along the shore of the lake, Geralt came across the body of a drowner. The witcher thought at first that Lambert or Eskel had killed the creature - but upon closer inspection he soon discovered there were no marks dealt by sword or Sign. It was thus clear someone - or something - else had done the drowner in. They say the enemy of one's enemy is a friend, but Geralt wanted to see who exactly this downer-killing "friend" was. It turned out the drowners had perished at the hands of an old rock troll who clearly did not want them as neighbors. He didn't seem fond of Geralt's presence, either - or at least, it seems safe to conclude as much, given that he tried to tear the witcher to shreds as soon as he saw him. Witchers make tougher opponents than drowners, however, and the troll was soon cut down. Geralt then uncovered a very interesting document in the troll's cave that shed new light on the Salamandra's attack on the fortress year prior.

Now that Geralt had helped both Lambert and Eskel, Yennefer was ready to lift Uma's curse. Yet in a surprise twist, Vesemir demanded they wait. The old witcher wanted to try his own, less risky method before the sorceress went about her invasive business. Though Yennefer and Vesemir agreed Uma was suffering from a powerful curse, they could not reach a concensus about how to go about lifting it. Sharp words were exchanged before Vesemir stepped in and announced that before Yennefer did anything he would try one of the traditional witcher methods. The others all bowed to his seniority and wisdom and let him take Uma to treat as he wished - leaving them with an unexpectedly free evening to fill. Eskel timidly suggested they spend this time productively, but this suggestion lost out to a more attractive alternative - a night of drink and camaraderie.

The offer seemed very enticing to Geralt, but Yennefer said they had business to attend to first. When she pulled Geralt aside, she assured him the business she had in mind was much more enjoyable than a drink ever could be. The lovers could finally enjoy their reunion of choice for an hour … or two.

After their rendezvous, the witcher and sorceress rejoined Eskel and Lambert for a drink. They shared stories. Lambert spoke of a forest troll and bandits he had killed, Eskel told the harrowing story of his sparring with a Katakan, and Geralt his chasing after Letho after King Foltest’s Assassination. Soon conversation turned to Uma and how GEralt and Yen came across him while tracking Ciri. During their well-lubricated gathering Yennefer finally revealed her plan to the witchers: if Vesemir proved unable to lift Uma's curse, she would subject the being to the Trials of Grasses. These were the exceptionally dangerous and painful alchemical procedures young boys used to be forced to undergo in order to become witchers. It is no wonder, then, that Yennefer's intentions proved highly controversial. For a moment Geralt thought Lambert might punch her. The sorceress defended her idea, holding that only by preparing Uma's body in this drastic way would it be able to survive the shock of lifting the curse. This unsettling news needed time to be properly digested, and so the witchers broke out a few more bottles and exchanged some stories with Yennefer before she headed to bed. They had a very big day ahead of them - a day in which they just might find Ciri. Yennefer told them to get some sleep.

The witcher’s were never great listeners when left with their bottles. The three men shared stories, opinions and drinks. They even discussed Geralt’s relationship with Yen, and ended with a toast to their future. They played Gwent and drinking games through the night until Eskel went to go get more drinks and didn’t come back. Geralt and Lambert found him passed out in Kaer Morhen’s courtyard. Suddenly Lamber decided they needed some women to talk too … so they decided to try Yen’s megascope and contact Ida Emean again. They decided they needed to dress up as soreceresses to prevent Ida from becoming suspicious and agreed to never tell anyone of what happened. As they were trying to make contact, Yen stormed in and scolded them all to the point that they wanted to go to bed. They soon fell into a sleeping stupor, ignorant for the moment of the trials that would come tomorrow.


Geralt awoke with a splitting headache. Vesemir had returned and though Vesemir's method had worked to disenchant the famous Swan of Poviss, it brought no breakthrough here. Vesemir did, however, succeed in confirming that Uma's body was a sort of magic prison in which some other being was trapped. Yennefer's method did not prognosticate a high chance for Uma's survival – yet was now the only remaining option for lifting the curse. So the witchers combined their ingrediants, and brewed the decoction of the grasses for the first time in generations. Though the sorceresses' difficult character had made life miserable for everyone at Kaer Morhen, in the end it was her stubborn determination that led to Uma's disenchantment. Yennefer told them to begin. Geralt, Eskel and Vesemir began their work. Lambert refused to do any more harm than simply watch. The gave uma something to numb the pain, and then administer the Speargrass Sap, Wildrye Juice and Mother’s Tears. Uma’s screams filled the air. The witchers looked on in anguish as the witnessed something they had hoped they would never see again.

Once the decoctions were administered Yennefer used magic to try and prevent Uma from dying. But the process took hours. After some time Yennefer was become exhausted. Geralt kept her awake and focused by telling her a story about when he went ice skating with Ciri. She skated circles around Geralt. Shortly after it Uma awoke and it was time to lift the curse. Geralt got the phylactery and Yen performed the ritual.

Yennefer and the witchers' hard work paid off. After long hours of painstaking labor, after Geralt had held back his disgust and disturbing childhood memories to administer painful treatments to Uma, finally, at long last, the curse was lifted. It turned out to be Avallac'h - a powerful elven Sage whom Geralt had encountered during his previous adventures. Breaking his curse proved extraordinarily difficult and, though the treatments succeeded, they had deposited the elf on the brink of death. Luckily, he still had a sound mind in his tattered body and was able to pass on the message they had waited so long to hear - Ciri was alive. Avallac'h had hidden her from the Wild Hunt on the Isle of Mists, a place tucked outside of time and space. Yet even there she was not truly safe and, sooner or later, the wraiths would find her.


Barely able to speak, Avallac’h said the Hunt wanted Ciri’s blood to open the gate between worlds. Avallcac’h told Geralt to travel to Skellige and follow a magical life the sage provided once he found the mists. This gave them answers to the questions that had troubled them for so long - and posed a host of new ones as well... However, it was clear to everyone that fleeing and hiding once more would only delay the inevitable. The danger was that as soon as Ciri entered this world from the Isle of Mists, the Hunt would have her trail. So Geralt decided he would bring her immediately to Kaer Morhen and ambush the hunters when they arrived. The others agreed, eager to end those pursuing Ciri. Geralt thus decided to fetch Ciri from the Isle of Mists and, with her and his friends at his side, give fight to her pursuers. However, first he would need to gather allies …
 
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Geralt realized the fight against Eredin and his soldiers would most likely be the most difficult challenge he had ever faced. In addition, the stakes were higher than ever before – this time he was not fighting for his own life, but for that of Ciri and, by extension, the entire world. Since extraordinary circumstances call for extraordinary measures, the witcher decided to swallow his pride and go to the emperor of Nilfgaard for help. He thought the white flame would have to want to protect his daughter at any cost. So Geralt retraced his steps back from Kaer Morhen to the Palace o Vizima. When the witcher arrived, his talk with Emhyr did not go as he had wanted. The clash of two strong wills resulted in neither being able to accept the other's conditions. The witcher thus walked away empty handed. Exasperated, Geralt said good riddance to Vizima and rode northwest, swearing to himself that he would remember that Emhyr refused to aid Ciri when his power was most needed.

Geralt knew there would be need of mages if the witchers were to defend Kaer Morhen from the Wild Hunt. However, most if the mages he knew in the former Northern Realms had already either been captured or escaped to Kovir with Triss Merigold. However, there was one exception. Kiera Metz was still in Velen to the witcher’s best knowledge. So Geralt entered Velen through the Nilfgaardian Center Army’s encampment. Near the Nilfgaardian camp Geralt ran into a noblewoman from far-off Nazair. She had journeyed to the front in search of her son, a soldier. The woman was worried because her son would write her often, but at some point had suddenly stopped. No one in the camp knew what had happened to him, but the woman did not believe they were truly ignorant. She offered Geralt a reward for discovering the truth.

The witcher decided to ask the local quartermaster about the son. The Nilfgaardian Tavar Eggebracht came from a family with a long military tradition. His ancestors had proudly served under the Golden Sun banner during the conquests of Maecht, Geso and Metinna, fighting and dying for their emperor. That last fate was met by Tavar's cousin, Colonel Tibor Eggebracht, who fell in the Battle of Brenna during the previous Northern War. Despite this fact Tavar felt no hatred for Nordlings, considering his cousin's death a grievous yet inevitable consequence of war. He performed his duties as quartermaster diligently, with the good of his soldiers his top priority. The quartermaster told Geralt that the noblewoman's son had decided to desert along with some other disgruntled soldiers. A search party had immediately been sent after them. Some were caught and killed, while others managed to escape. The quartermaster could not say whether the son had survived.

As they spoke, Geralt saw a notice near Tavar. Those who stray off the beaten tracks in the bogs of Velen rarely live to amend their error. Even the Nilfgaardian soldiers stationed in the Army Group 'Center' camp would at times disappear in the marshes without a trace. After yet another patrol failed to return, the quartermaster of the camp posted a call for some brave soul to search them out and bring them back, or, barring that, at least determine their fate. Geralt decided to take this contract as well, as he would eventually need funds to get to Skellige.

First Geralt tracked down the location of the woman’s son beginning where Tavar told him the deserters were captured. Sadly, the woman's son was among those hanged. When she learned this, she was overcome with grief. The letter Geralt had found on her son's body informed her how monstrous war can be and how hard it is to judge the actions of the soldiers taking part in it. Geralt decided not to give the mother this letter, and instead told her that her son had been killed fighting bravely for the Nilfgaardian Sun. Sometimes a lie is the lesser evil.

Next the witcher went off to settle the contract for the quartermaster. From footprint to muddled footprint, from one broken branch to another, Geralt retraced what had happened in the woods outside the Nilfgaardian camp. Oblivious to the danger, the Nilfgaardian soldiers had strayed into a wyvern's hunting grounds. Their thick plate did not stop the ferocious beast from tearing them to shreds. More disturbingly, the witcher’s investigation revealed this already rather gloomy story had an even gloomier twist. The fallen Nilfgaardians had not been wandering the Velen woods on a run-of-the-mill patrol - they had gone there to kill Redanian prisoners of war and hide their bodies. What they did not realize was that the monsters of the swamp could sense the stench of rotting corpses even through thick layers of soil - and never pass up the chance to feed on the dead.

Geralt returned to Tavar and expressed his feelings regarding the Nilfgaardian tactics. The Nilfgaardian quartermaster brushed off Geralt's accusations of war crimes with a shrug of his shoulders. The witcher was disgusted by this response, but felt outbursts of indignation would not do much to change the course of the conflict, whereas a purse of gold would do a great deal to change his material circumstances. He thus took his pay and marched straight out of camp. He left without looking back, wondering if the Nilfgaardians or Radovid would be worse for the Northern Realms.

Geralt followed the rode North the small village of Benek. There near the swampy woods of Velen there was where Geralt encountered a shriveled, half-senile old man who claimed he could foretell the future and would read Geralt's fortune - for a small fee. The soothsayer asked Geralt to bring him some of the dragonsroot that grew in a nearby cave. His horse needed a rest and the cave was not far so Geralt agreed. The witcher delivered the dragonsroot to the soothsayer, and in turn the old man delivered a prophecy about a swallow and a tower. The witcher was startled by the relevancy of these words to his current tasked and knew this man indeed had some gift. The prophesy spoke of the swallow not following him and seemed to allude to her life or death being in the witcher’s hands. Geralt was not altogether certain what this could mean, but he decided to guard it in his memory for the future.

As Geralt prepared to leave Benek, Geralt heard of a contract from a group of refugees. I don't know if he felt sorry for the poor souls or if his witcher blood was simply itching for some action - one way or the other, he promised to find their missing companions, who had set off with a caravan headed north. All signs seemed to indicate a beast had attacked them en route. It didn't take much for an old hand like Geralt to find out that the monster which had attacked the refugees was a wyvern. And not just any wyvern - a royal wyvern, though I doubt knowing they had come in close contact with royalty was much comfort to them.

A hunter who knows his prey's habits and behavior will rarely return from his hunt empty-handed. To know what forest paths deer are like to trod, to know in what much boars will wallow, to guess when a hare will emerge from its burrow – that is half the battle. What most men do not know is that some monsters also possess such knowledge. For example, this royal wyvern from Velen had learned the danger of exposing itself to human eyes and arrows by flying high to pick out its prey from afar. Instead, it would lurk by the roadside and wait for military transports. In this way it grew fat on salted pork and beer, expanding until it resembled a dragon more than other, lesser members of its own kind.

The witcher thus knew this beast would be much stronger and more resilient than a normal wyvern. Even one blow from it could kill – which is why he would need to avoid its charge at all costs. He would also be wise to force it to the ground with his crossbow or a bomb whenever it tried to fly into the air and hurtle down in a deadly dive. In the end the witcher slew the hideous creature, though not without some difficulty. Thanks to this feat, the soldiers could once again send shipments of food and equipment needed to conduct the war. Whether that was a good or a bad thing – that is an entirely different matter. The witcher returned to the refugees, collected his payment and turned East to make way for Midcopse where he knew Kiera Metz had been staying.

On his way there the witcher rode through the village of Toderas. Only the village was now a collection of corpses and a few bandits rummaging through the spoils of their misdeeds. Witchers always claimed to strive to remain neutral … or so they claim. In this case neutrality meant that the bandits met a quick end to the sharp blade of a witcher’s sword.

The witcher continued East until he reached Lindenvale. There Geralt learned of a witcher who had earned the ire of several villages in Velen. One of the inhabitants of Lindenvale had even accused him of fathering his daughters' child. The whole affair seemed highly suspicious, so Geralt decided to investigate and find out the truth of the matter. Geralt found the man who was pretending to be a witcher in the nearby cemetery. He decided not to hand the swindler over to the villagers but meted out his own punishment instead. He took his counterfeit medallion from him and forced him to work off his crimes by laboring in the fields.

While In the village of Lindenvale Geralt also came across a highly unusual contract. A certain hunter was worried by some strange tracks he had found in the woods and sought someone who could help him determine to whom - or to what - they belonged. The tracks took the witcher straight to a fiend's lair. Geralt quickly determined, however, that this monster was not the true threat to the local populace - not compared to what had killed it. That's right, something had beaten him to his initial task and slain the fiend, and he suspected this something was a chort attacking in an act of territorial warfare.

One is hard-pressed to name another area of our world more thoroughly riddled with monsters than Velen. There is on silver lining to this sad fact, however: the beasts living there must compete fiercely for hunting territory, meaning monsters often end up killing other monsters. This aggressive chort tore a pack of wolves to shreds before attacking and killing a fiend significantly larger than itself.

Geralt had no other choice but to lure this powerful monster to him and attempt to slay it. The Chort was a truly fearsome foe. Each one of its blows was enough to kill. Particularly to be avoided was its charge – and whenever possible, the monster was best attacked from the side. Geralt slayed the Howler without much trouble, yet killing such a fierce fighter might very well have proved impossible, had not its previous conflicts with its monstrous kin weakened it considerably. The lesson, I suppose, is that when two monsters fight, a witcher wins.

The continued on his journey East until he arrived at Crows Perch where he decided to rest Roach for the evening. There he saw Yoanna again, who gave him a suit of armor worthy of the best sword fighters at no cost. The witcher thanked the master armorer for her generosity, but she insisted that it was she who needed to thank the witcher.

The next morning Geralt prepared to depart when he saw a notice for a witcher contract. The inhabitants of Honorton had a problem – one only a witcher could resolve. A monster they unhelpfully called a "spook" was haunting the woods near their village. Geralt decided to see what kind of beast it really was. And then kill it. Geralt would often state that every witcher contract is the same. Read a notice, find who posted it, argue over the reward, seek out witnesses, etc., ad nauseam. I, however, always held that beneath these superficial similarities lay an ocean of difference. For example, Geralt would sometimes discover his employers had brought the beast upon themselves, while other times he'd learn killing the monster in question was but part of someone's larger (usually nefarious) scheme. This contract in Honorton... Ah, now that was another contract altogether.

When the witcher arrived, he saw a scene which showed him yet again that life in Velen is not easy. Bandits and monsters prowl the woods. Armies trample the fields and raid the granaries. Disease is on everyone's lips - literally. Yet, as the popular saying in those parts went, nothing's so bad that it can't get worse - the truth of which the inhabitants of Honorton learned in the most brutal way possible. Their entire village was murdered, leaving only necrophages to walk the paths between its huts. Geralt searched for signs of what happened and it appeared a very talented swordsmen had been ambushed and then slaughtered the whole village. Geralt only found one little girl that had survived. She told him what had transpired …

It turned out the brutal perpetrator of the massacre of Honorton was not a monster nor even a bandit, but one of Geralt's fellow practitioners - a witcher from the ill-famed School of the Cat. Gaetan, for that was the witcher’s name, murdered people he had sworn to protect. They themselves were, to say the least, not without sin - instead of showing due gratitude for his completion of a dangerous contract, they had tried to take his life in an underhanded manner.

Be that as it may, if the matter had been put before a judge, Gaetan would have surely ended on the gallows. But Geralt was no judge. He was a witcher. Gaetan probably hadn't expected that Geralt would spare his life. Out of gratitude, he told Geralt where he'd hidden a stash of goods and said he could take from there whatever he wanted. As for the little girl who was the sole survivor of the massacre, the witcher did the only thing he could - he took her to her kin. He then bid farewell, hoping she would be given a warm nook to sleep in and a bowl of nourishing vittles every evening.

The witcher then made for the village of Midcopse. On his way there, in the backwoods of Velen Geralt came across an altar, and next to it - two troubled villagers. When asked the source of their worries, the peasants told Geralt the deity they worshipped - the awe-inspiring Allgod - had rejected the offerings they had brought him. The witcher was not a particularly gods-fearing individual, yet nevertheless promised that he'd intercede for the peasants with their deity.

It turned out the revered Allgod was a run-of-the-mill sylvan, or, as the common folk call these beings, a deovel. The conniving beast had convinced the local peasantry of its divine powers and had grown fat on their offerings for decades. Geralt convinced the sylvan demanding outrageously sumptuous offerings in a time of poverty and famine was immoral and unbecoming, even for a false god. The sylvan seemed skeptical at first, but after eyeing the silver sword on Geralt's back he decided he'd best not argue. The wticher departed and soon arrived and the residence of Kiera Metz.

Geralt and Keira's journey to the elven mage's lair had forged a tight bond between them, the kind harrowing life-or-death experiences forge between soldiers at war or students during exam week. And so when it was all over Keira had invited Geralt to stop by her hut sometime, in a way that suggested she did not mean for an afternoon of tea and crumpets. And indeed she did not - but nor did she mean what you or Geralt surely had in mind. In truth, she had a favor to ask. She wanted Geralt to help her tackle the curse afflicting Fyke Isle.

When the devil cannot go himself, he sends a woman - and when a sorceress is indisposed, she sends a witcher to do her errands. That, at least, was Keira Metz's approach. A horrible curse had befallen Fyke Isle and the tower that stood upon it. Half a year prior, Lord Vserad had moved his court there, seeking shelter from approaching Nilfgaardian armies. News of the Nilfgaardian army's approach led nobles of all ranks and orders to pack up their silver and flee posthaste to safer harbors, abandoning all thoughts of defending their patrimony and leaving their lands at the invaders' mercy. Lord Vserad was no exception to this rule. The magnate had ruled much of Velen from his base at Crow's Perch before fleeing with his family to take shelter in a tower on Fyke Isle.

While famine raged all around, the lord of Velen wallowed in excess and cared not a whit for his suffering vassals. The safety he sought there was not, however, to be found, and the massacre in which he was slaughtered became the source of a great many ghastly rumors and legends. According to one of them, Vserad, unmoved by human suffering, had his mage poison starving peasants who had come to him to beg for food. A hideous tale, yet one that sadly seemed plausible given the desperate conditions in the land. The gods saw fit to punish him and, towards this end, cursed him. One day, a host of mice scurried into the tower and proceeded to devour everything, including Vserad, his court and his resident mage, Alexander.

The isle had been haunted since that day, and fishermen feared to sail the lake, putting yet another dent in the already battered local economy. The local peasants thus asked Keira to lift the curse, and she turned to the witcher for help. Enticed by Keira's charms and her promise of additional rewards, Geralt took on the task. The sorceress equipped him with a magic lamp he could use to commune with dead souls, gave him a firm pat on the rear for good luck and sent him off to lift the curse.

So the witcher headed south for Fyke Isle using a boat loaned to him by Keira. During his investigation of the isle, Geralt used Kiera’s lamp to see what the ghosts of Fyke Isle recalled of their last moment, for that was what the magic lamp could show. It seemed Vserad was murdered by his traitorous former subjects, who were driven by greed, jealousy and the base jackassery that is all too widespread among the human race.

Geralt encountered the lord's daughter Annabelle’s ghost in the uppermost room in the haunted tower on Fyke Isle. She told him that in life she had been the local lord's daughter. When enraged peasants stormed the tower, she feared they would ravage her honor if they found her alive and so took a magic potion that put her in a corpse-like state of paralysis. When she woke, she found herself lying amidst the bodies of her family and servants, unable to move. She watched in helpless horror as rats feasted on the pile of corpses and began to nibble on her as well. Geralt believed Anabelle was the key to lifting the curse. She had died along with the others and her spirit now roamed the tower's empty halls, trapped in this vale of tears by her love for a fisherman named Graham.

Geralt engaged his vast experience with such curses to search for a possible solution. Having learned that Anabelle had loved a simple fisherman named Graham, Geralt decided this man and the bond of true love the two youths shared could be their salvation. Graham was a simple fisherman from an even simpler village, Oreton, yet the role he played in local events was anything but. Fyke Isle, the tower, the curse – he had been a key part of it all. Geralt had learned from Anabelle about the deep feelings the two had shared, but the rest of their tragic story only emerged later... Exactly how the young man had participated in the incident in the tower remained rather unclear. What was certain was that he tried to defend his beloved and fled Fyke Isle right after what he thought was her death...

After hearing the ghost’s tale, Geralt still had the feeling that she was hiding something from him. Perhaps there was something in the girl's words that had put Geralt on his guard, or perhaps his witcher instincts simply warned him in time. This grisly death must have somehow put a curse on her and the tower, for her ghost had wandered it in restless torment ever since. When Geralt told the spirit he would not honor her wishes and remove her bones from the tower, the spirit became enraged revealed itwas in fact a pesta - a plague maiden, a terrible wraith which spreads death and pestilence.

When plague ravages a region, a spirit will sometimes walk its lands, a ghost resembling an ill woman whose flesh rots off her bones and in whose wake crawls a cavalcade of rats. No one knows whether this spirit brings the pox with her or is merely drawn to it like a moth to a light. Yet it is certain that she delights in dealing pain and suffering, in hearing the howling and moaning of men. Many have called into question the very existence of plague maidens, or pestae, as they are sometimes called. As the name "plague maiden" suggests, these wraiths take the appearance of females, though exactly why that is remains a mystery. Some speculate they, like other such specters, arise from the powerful emotional charge associated with certain circumstances of death, such as death preceded by a long and particularly painful illness. They undoubtedly pose a great danger, though a witcher's immunities should at least prevent him from catching the contagious illnesses they carry.

Geralt fought Annabelle’s spirit and defeated it … but it was clear that the spectre would return unless the curse was lifted. So the witcher left the tower and headed for the Village of Oreton to look for this young man known as Graham. As he entered the village, Geralt noticed a contract that attracted his attention. A Nilfgaardian patrol had gone missing near the village of Byways. Geralt took an interest in the matter, for the local Nilfgaardian commander suspected a monster was involved and Geralt knew imperial soldiers were always upfront and honest when it came to pay. So he took the contract, but first had to find Graham.

After searching some more, Geralt found the dockside cottage that belonged to Annabelle’s beloved. Graham filled Geralt in on the rest of the story, one in which youthful longing for happiness lost out to fate's cruelties and human greed. Geralt could tell that the man was sincere in his love for Annabelle and thought he was the best chance they had at lifting the curse. Having learned there was a slim chance he could save his beloved's ghost, the fisherman set out at once to help the witcher lift the curse weighing down on the isle.

Geralt lifted the curse by bringing Graham back to see his love, but the story did not end happily. When they arrived at the tower of the tower on Fyke Isle, thereAnnabelle’s ghastly spectral form stood. Graham pleaded with her that he still loved her and begged his forgiveness for ever leaving her side when he thought she was dead. The fearsome looking ghosted asked Graham to prove his love with a kiss. Geralt turned away as Graham caressed what remained of Annabelle’s face, showing great love and courage. The young man's kiss dispatched the wraith into eternal slumber, but killed Graham. Despite his courage and dedication, Graham died while saving the one he had never ceased to love. The curse lifted, Geralt left the isle to return to Keira.


Geralt told King Foltest’s former advisor that the curse on Fyke Isle was lifted. However the sorceress seemed to still be in need of the witcher’s aid. Finding herself in a bit of a pinch, she asked Geralt for yet another favor. This time she needed him to track down a merchant's wagon which had been carrying some rare magic ingredients her way. It had never arrived, and she had begun to fear the worst.

Geralt headed to the village of Blackbaugh and soon was able to find the trail of this merchant. The wagaon had crashed and it’s driver had become another victim to this wild no man’s land of Velen. It turned out these ingredients the merchant was delivering, while rare, had nothing to do with magic. They were simply delicacies, treats which Keira, accustomed to the finer things in life, pined for in her Velen exile. Grateful for Geralt's help, she invited him to an elegant supper, during which he dined with her on these refined delights under the light of the moon.

Nothing about sorceresses should be taken at face value. Their faces least of all - those perfect, ever youthful visages have as little to do with nature as Hierarch Hemmelfart has with charity. If anyone should have learned to think twice when dealing with them, it was Geralt, and yet still he accepted Keira's dinner invitation. During what Geralt naively thought to be innocent conversation between friends, Keira tricked him into revealing information about the mage Alexander's laboratory.

Keira had hoped this pleasant evening would be capped off with a romantic finale, but Geralt remembering Yennefer, did not share this desire. And so, rather than indulge in the pleasures of the flesh, they lay back and admired the stars... until, that is, Keira quite unexpectedly put Geralt to sleep with a spell. When he awoke, he was unsure exactly what the sorceress was playing at, but he suspected it had something to do with the tower on Fyke Isle - she had asked him many probing questions about it while they dined...

Geralt caught Keira red-handed as she was leaving the tower with the results of Alexander's research on the Catriona plague. She was convinced these notes could be used to find a cure for this decimating disease. What's more, she hoped that the prospect of obtaining such a cure would convince King Radovid to let bygones be bygones and host Keira at his court. I doubt Radovid would have proven so broad-minded - luckily, Geralt convinced Keira to abandon these foolish hopes and give Oxenfurt a miss, seeking shelter at Kaer Morhen instead. The sorceress reasoned she was more likely to find the opportunity to show her skills against the Wild Hunt than she was to get any kindness from King Radovid.

As he prepared to leave Fyke Isle, Geralt ran into the pellar once more. The strange fellow had a favor to ask of the witcher. He wanted Geralt to help him perform a cherished local peasant rite known as Forefathers' Eve. During this ritual, he explained, lost spirits are summoned and their deeds judged - fantastic material, by the way, for a poet looking to make his name with an atmospheric ballad. This Forefathers' Eve was set to be held that night at midnight on Fyke Isle, and Geralt, his curiosity piqued, promised to attend.

Many people have proverbial skeletons in their closet that they would be aghast to have exposed to the public eye. One can thus imagine the pellar's horror when his darkest secret literally emerged from the grave during Forefathers' Eve in the form of his murdered father's ghost. To the unfortunate shaman's further horror, old man Ambros was clearly out for revenge. The pellar tried to appease the spirit, but witch hunters sought to break up the ritual. Abandoning his rule of not taking sides in others' affairs, the witcher chose to defend the ritual's participants. Predictably, this did not please the witch hunters one bit. A bloody fight broke out on Fyke Isle, and though it ended in victory for Geralt, it had a disastrous effect on the rest of the ritual.


Geralt had defended the peasants from the witch hunters' persecution, but spilled much blood in order to do so, sullying the sacred ground. Forefathers' Eve could not continue, but the pellar had one more request for Geralt. He wanted him to find and burn the body of Old Ambros. This man was the pellar's father, a cruel brute who returned from the dead to continue tormenting his son. Burning the body was a way to resolve the pellar's issues with his father and send the ghost of Old Ambros into the nether realms for good.

Leaving Fyke Island, Geralt travelled south by boat to the area of byways. Geralt discovered that local villagers had decided to make a few extra crowns by digging in an ancient elven mine. Raiders of elven tombs either get rich quickly, or die trying. The Aen Seidhe's disintegrating temples and palaces hold priceless treasures, true, but within them many a foul monster waits in deep slumber. Since the old underground complex hid its fair share of unpleasant surprises, it wasn't long before they ran into trouble. Unfortunately, the self-taught treasure hunters had awakened a particularly nasty kind of vampire known as an ekimmara, and this enraged beast had attacked the Nilfgaardian patrol as it passed through Byways.

The vampire had already managed to kill several peasants and a patrol of heavily-armed Nilfgaardians. The list of victims would surely have grown even longer, had not Geralt of Rivia, the White Wolf, happened to waltz into town. Geralt decided to eradicate the beast and tracked it to the ruins outside the village. The witcher knew this monster would be no easy kill. That the vampire would quickly regenerate, that its blows would cause heavy bleeding, that it was able to disappear into thin air. Yet he also knew he could overcome these advantages.

While the fight was difficult, the witcher’s experience paid off and the vampire was soon motionless on the ground. The villagers were grateful to the witcher for his help in slaying the ekimmara, so much so they even agreed to pay Geralt a reward. The Nilfgaardian soldiers also proved themselves honorable men and paid the witcher without a murmur, handing him not only what he was owed for killing the ekimmara, but also a reward for having discovered the truth of what had happened to their missing patrol.

From there, Geralt sailed east to the location where Ambros’s bones were said to be laid. Based on the information given to him by the pellar, the witcher soon found the unmarked grave and burned the remains of Ambros. As he finished the task, Geralt noticed a man in the middle of Crookback Bog nearby. One glance was enough to know something was ailing the poor fellow. He warned the witcher about a strangling fog which had sprung up in the nearby swamp. The man's story convinced Geralt a monster was at work and so he decided to look into the matter.

Geralt's investigation took him to the very heart of the swamp. As he was walking an exceptionally hideous foglet suddenly jumped out at him from an unusually thick patch of fog. The monster haunting the peat bogs of Velen turned out to be an ancient foglet. These are exceptionally long-lived creatures – some have even dwelt on this earth for over two hundred years, growing stronger and stronger all the while. Blows dealt by foglets of such an age carry so much power blocking them is out of the question. These foglets possess the ability to move extremely quickly. Furthermore, they can meld completely into the mist, then suddenly rematerialize to strike from behind. This ancient foglet proved particularly adept in the art of forming illusions. Only a professional monster slayer skilled with Signs and swords could best such a foe. Luckily, Geralt fit that description. The monster was old and strong, making defeating of it no easy labor. Geralt managed the task, however, and a few moments after the foglet breathed its last, the poisonous fog dispersed and the witcher could at last fill his lungs safely.

His task done, the Geralt returned to collect his reward, only to discover that the man did not have the funds he had promised. Hoping to find someone who would offer him a reward, Geralt went to Downwarren. A peat digger residing in that village was grateful Geralt had enabled a return to his labors and so handed the witcher some coin. Although it was less than he had agreed to originally, Geralt figured some coin was better than none, and continued on his was back to the pellar near Blackbough.

Geralt sailed across the waters to the village of Drudge and then continued on foot. When Geralt saw a dog which was clearly someone's beloved pet surrounded by a pack of starving wolves, he could not help but interfere and save the poor animal's life. The wolves slain, he petted the dog to calm it and discovered there was a key sewn into its collar. Geralt followed the dog to its owner's home. Sadly, there was no living soul within it.

On his way back to Blackbaugh, Geralt rode near the location Gaetan the Cat School Witcher’s hidden stash in Velen and decided to take a peak. It turned out local bandits had found Gaetan's stash first. Yet before they could seize it and liquidate its assets, Geralt liquidated them. He then found the stash and took the items that Gaetan had left behind for him.

The Geralt returned to the pellar and told that Ambros’s body had been burned. Geralt had thus earned the soothsayer’s trust and respect. The circumstances of the murder were explained, and the pellar, though still guilty of murder, was revealed to be a victim in his own right. By helping the pellar do battle with the demons of his past, Geralt earned himself the old man's undying gratitude.

The Baron had yet to return to Velen, so all of the witcher’s possible allies there had been spoken to. Thus the witcher headed west toward the Pontar crossing at Oxenfurt on his way to visit Vernon Roche at his camp near the ancient city. The former commander of Temeria’s Blue Stripes was just the sort of man Geralt could use at Kaer Morhen, and he certainly had motivation to leave given his dissatisfaction with King Radovid. By the next day Geralt was riding over the river pontar into the Academic jewel of the Northern Realms.

Oxenfurt the academy may be my alma mater, but Oxenfurt the town - that is where I received my true education. The experiences I had in its inns and alleyways often left me a trembling wreck, overwhelmed by the majesty of the world opening up before me. Sadly, during the Third Nilfgaardian War the town became a shadow of its former self, and the few who remained in its inns and alleyways risked not enlightenment but death at the hands of a mysterious murderer. Geralt, bless his heart, decided to investigate the matter, suspecting that the responsible party might be a monster...

Geralt had dealt with a great variety of beasts over the course of his career as a witcher, but an alcoholic vampire...? That was a first (well, except for maybe that one - but that was long ago). Contrary to popular belief, monsters are not all alike. Like people, individual members of the same species can each have their own unique traits, preferences and weaknesses. Perhaps influenced by its close proximity to the hard-drinking student youth of the city, this vampire had developed a keen appetite for blood spiked with a hefty dose of hard alcohol – and also baubles and gaudy jewelry of all kinds.

The vampire had clearly thrived on its high-octane diet. It had grown exceptionally strong and gained the ability to regenerate lost life quickly, cause heavy bleeding with its claws and, if all that were not enough, meld into the air and appear again behind its opponent's back. Luckily the Quen Sign meant the witcher was well-equipped to defend against this surprise attack, and the Yrden Sign would let him catch the monster in a trap.

Once Geralt figured this out, he knew exactly how to lure it out of hiding. To bait the vampire, Geralt took note of its dietary preferences and seasoned his blood to match by loading up on cheap wine. This made it somewhat harder to aim his blows, true, but he still managed to defeat the beast – then had another battle awaiting him the next morning, this one against a powerful hangover.

War had transformed the once-charming student town of Oxenfurt beyond all recognition. King Radovid had expelled the students and professors, and in their place had come shady characters of all stripes. For example, while there Geralt witnessed some such thugs pestering an Oxenfurt townswoman in a most unbecoming manner. Geralt stood up for the woman, showing the louts who the real cock of the walk was. My friend might have been created to fight monsters, but I am glad he at times chooses to fight monstrous men as well.

Geralt rode to the outskirts of Oxenfurt to the Temerian Partisan’s camp. Geralt found Roche there still. The Blue Stripes Commando heard the witcher’s situation and agreed to help, lending his considerable martial prowess to the fight against the Wild Hunt. His troops were quartered until Nilfgaard began to move, and he felt he needed to repay the witcher for his prior assistance. He decided to ask Ves if she would join as well, to get her away from the front. Even had Ves not owed Geralt her life, she would have come to the defense of Kaer Morhen all the same, for she would follow Vernon Roche into the very bowels of the abyss.

From the Temerian Partisan camp, Geralt headed east towards Novigrad until he arrived at an inn called the Cunny of the Goose. The inn owed its name to its former owner, a swaggering, blustering fellow who wanted to attract those of a similar temperament. Luckily he died of liver poisoning after a few years and ownership passed to a distant relative, who turned the Cunny of the Goose into the best spot for stuffed goose liver in all the region. While there, the witcher came across a certain halfling named Brean Hotsch who had hung a notice stating he was in need of a professional monster slayer. Geralt decided to see what was the matter. After a detailed investigation of the shrubbery and thicketry lining the forest floor (what exactly he looks for during such investigations is a complete mystery to me – I see nothing but endless chances to tear one's hose), Geralt concluded he was tracking a leshen.

In order to defeat this elusive monster, he would first need to provoke it into attacking him. That's right, dear reader: he planned to deliberately provoke a leshen – the very thought sends shivers down my spine. If not for its vulnerability to fire, the Igni Sign included, and the protection of the Quen Sign, one could wager not even the toughest witcher would be able to slay the beast. However, soon the deadly duel began and Geralt was only able to finally put an end to this leshen after a long and exhausting battle. Once Geralt had defeated the leshen, the halfling paid up without making any fuss. There's no denying it: Brean Hotsch proved himself an honorable individual. Once the beast died, the way was clear for loggers to move into its former domain. The woods would now gradually fall to the ax. Perhaps one day they'll disappear altogether - and their monstrous denizens along with them.

After receiving his pay, Geralt rode north to Novigrad and stopped at the Chameleon where Zoltan was reveling. Geralt told his old friend about his plan to take Ciri to Kaer Morhen. Yarpen pledged his axe to Kaer Morhen’s defense, and headed off without another word. The witcher had one last idea of who in the city might help him.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Geralt decided to check and see if Novigrad’s underworld might come to his aid. He went to Sigmund Djikstra’s bathhouse and asked his old aquaintence for a favor. Unfortunately Djikstra was more interested in finding the money Geralt had unsuccessfully helped him search for, and told the witcher he had no intention of offering assistance.

Geralt felt he had exhausted his options in Novigrad for help against the Wild Hunt, however, the witcher now for the second time in as many months needed coin for passage to Skellige. Fortunately he was close on the coin, and their were sure to be contracts in a city as large as Novigrad. Soon enough he found one dealing with a haunting in a nearby mansion. Sprawling out-of-town manors always hide their fair share of mysteries, and the residence on Novigrad's outskirts were no exception. When Geralt found out about the haunted manor owned by a certain Kurt Dysart, he agreed at once to look into the matter. The Count sought a witcher of unsullied reputation who would undertake the task of combing the residence on the outskirts of the city recently acquired by the Count, in order to find and drive off or kill the creature which was haunting it. A sizable reward was guaranteed.

After some negotiations, Geralt headed west of the great city to investigate. Geralt discovered the haunted house hid secrets not within its walls, but underneath its foundations. There's not such thing as a risk-free real estate investment. It might turn out your new home has a leaky roof, structural rot in the attic, a scratched floor in the living room... or elven ruins beneath its foundations, and within them an enormous earth elemental just waiting for a chance to break free of its chains. A powerful earth elemental, also known as a d'ao, had been imprisoned in its basement. Fighting such a monster is no easy task. Its tough outer husk deflects all but the strongest blows and it can liquefy a man's bones with one crushing blow from its fists.

Geralt knew the creature would destroy the entire neighborhood in the blink of an eye were it ever to break free. He had to act quickly, soGeralt deactivated the magic barrier which had kept the elemental imprisoned. The ensuing fight against the behemoth in closed quarters was as dangerous as they come. In the end the witcher triumphed over the powerful earth elemental. Once this was done, he had but to visit the manor's owner to collect his reward from Count Dysart. Geralt almost had the coin for his voyage south, and set off to the outskirts of Novigrad to look for more work.
 
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Geralt almost had the coin for his voyage south, and set off to the outskirts of Novigrad to look for more work. When Geralt later told me the story which began at the Seven Cats Inn notice board, he mentioned he had felt drawn to that place, as if some strange, undefined force wanted him to appear there on that day and at that time. I didn’t give this remark a second thought until I heard the tale to its conclusion, and realized its beginning had been no accident...

And it began like this: One day Geralt arrived at the Seven Cats Inn in search of his next contract. He perused the notices hanging there, yet found none to be of much interest, and was about to go on his way when a man came to nail a new parchment to the board. The notice announced a certain Olgierd von Everec, residing in the nearby Garin Estate, was looking for someone to kill a dangerous monster lurking in the Oxenfurt sewers. To this day, I do not know what caused Geralt to inquire after the contract posted by Olgierd von Everec. That famed witcher curiosity? An ominously light coin pouch? Or perhaps it was some other, more nefarious force… Whatever the impulse, Geralt decided to visit the locally-infamous nobleman and pursue the bounty on the sewer monster. Little did he know this was to be the beginning of a great adventure, one filled with both delightful diversions and deadly dangers.

From their very first encounter, Geralt knew Olgierd was a unique character. He led an informal band who worshipped the ground he walked on, though he clearly was of a different sort than they: educated, a lover of art and an adherent to a certain noble code. Yet Geralt also perceived something indefinable within the man, something years later he would call "a void crying out to be filled.” The enigmatic nobleman and leader of the Wild Ones free company offered the witcher four hundred and fifty Novigrad Crowns and any item he wanted from the Garin Estate in return for the head of the monster, which had apparently killed his cook. Geralt took the deal and left Olgierd and his cohorts.

[video=youtube;zCd7-vk8laA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCd7-vk8laA[/video]

As he walked out of the estate, a woman of the Wild One’s called to the witcher with an unusual name. "The White Wolf", "the Butcher of Blaviken" – Geralt gathered many sobriquets on his Path, this one of which was the colorful and, I dare say, apt, appellation of "Puss Peepers." The cheeky young woman in Olgierd's company pinned him as the man best able to track down the scoundrel who killed her friend, Kluivert. Geralt told the woman he wasn’t an assassin and began to leave, but she told the witcher she could tell by looking at him that the witcher would do as she asked. The witcher continued to Oxenfurt without giving her much more thought.

As you might have guessed, what looked like a run-of-the-mill monster hunt, the kind Geralt had already completed countless times, turned out to be but the very tip of a very large iceberg. Geralt entered the Oxenfurt sewers expecting to hunt down a hideous monster – so you can imagine his surprise when down one of those dank, slimy corridors he ran into Shani, an old and dear friend. Geralt and I had first met this extraordinary young woman years earlier, when she was just a coltish coed, but by this time she had grown into a dignified doctor and a fearless field medic for the Redanian Army. This latter role had led her, and a unit of soldier escorts, to descend into the sewers. Their goal was to gather a sample of the venom spewed by the monstrosity squatting there. Geralt, a gentleman through and through, agreed to help her in her task.

Timeless tales always carry within them a grain of truth. The legend of the frog prince is no exception, or at least that’s what the folk of Oxenfurt wished to believe when they found out a monstrous toad lurked in their city sewers. The women who hunted it in search of romance and a better life, however, found their tales had a most unhappy ending. The creature they encountered was no small, sweet frog but a bloodthirsty beast, who not only did not let them in for a kiss, but instead greedily devoured them and anything else that strayed into its slime-covered lair. Shani and Geralt crept through the sewers until they found the beasts home amidst the muck. Shani collected her sample and Geralt promised to visit her as soon as he took care of his task, and kept his promise – but not before going on quite the detour.

When Olgierd mentioned rumors floating around that the sewer monster was an enchanted prince, the thought never even occurred to Geralt to grant them any credence. When he finally found and slew the beast, he learned the error of this disbelief. Once slaughtered, the toad revealed itself to be, as rumored, a prince. Geralt was dumbstruck – partly by this surprise twist, I’m sure, but mostly by the poisonous gasses that had escaped from the toad’s body and still filled the air. He was thus in no state to resist the unit of heavily armed men led by a mage which suddenly appeared and captured him.

When he next awoke, he was on a ship, imprisoned with a strange man who informed him they were bound for Ofier. There Geralt was to be executed for the crime of killing the Ofieri crown prince. The witcher was on an Ofieri ship, held captive and bound for a date with the gallows. Geralt was wracking his brain for a way to jump out of this pot of trouble, when, suddenly, out of the shadows came Gaunter O’Dimm, a merchant Geralt had met earlier on his path, with an offer of help. Geralt has escaped a great many predicaments, sometimes of his own doing, sometimes aided by others. One of the strangest helping hands was that extended to him by Master Mirror.

He reminded the witcher of their first encounter, when he helped Geralt find Yennefer in White Orchard. Now he was offering help as well -- this time, for a price. In exchange for freeing Geralt from the ship, he demanded Geralt meet him at a certain crossroads. The merchant charged a high price for his assistance: he left his mark on Geralt’s face and forced him to make an open-ended promise of repayment. It was as though Master Mirror had put a stamp on him to show they had entered into as pact – a suspicion later confirmed beyond all doubt. And then… then a terrible storm broke out, flinging the ship against the rocks.

Geralt regained consciousness after the shipwreck being dragged on the sand and bond by the surviving Olfieri soldiers. As he was being dragged he barbed a rock and flung it at the man who carried him. Before any of the other men could reacted Geralt drew the man’s swod and a stood surrounded by enemies. They didn’t stand a chance.


Geralt made it out of the resulting chaos unscathed and went to meet O’Dimm at their agreed meeting place, the small and would be idyllic village of Yantra. However it seemed the inhabitants were clearly anxious about something. It turned out they were expecting a gang of bandits led by a woman known as Little Red to attack any minute. She was out for the blood of a certain Bertram who she claimed had wronged her. Geralt promised to defend the villagers.


Near dusk Litte Red's band attacked, and it became clear the matter was not at all as clear as it had at first seemed. The bandits' leader assured Geralt she did not want to hurt anyone except for this Bertram. The man had worked with her at one point as an informer pointing out who was worth robbing, but then turned and reported them to the authorities. Faced with the choice of killing several people or letting one guilty man be punished, Geralt decided to let Litte Red have her revenge. For that, he received a reward.

Gaunter O’Dimm suddenly appeared to Geralt at midnight and explained he and Olgierd von Everec had entered into a strange pact. Their deal stipulated O’Dimm must grant von Everec three wishes – yet could not do so on his own, but instead had to call upon the services of a proxy. And who better to provide such assistance than a witcher? Since O’Dimm made agreeing to be this proxy a condition for receiving help off the Ofieri ship, Geralt had little choice. Willing or not, Geralt agreed, and set off to the Garin estate.

Geralt decided to spend the night in Yantra and soon Geralt came across a merry band of troubadours who invited him to join them around the campfire and partake of tasty beverages. The witcher naturally never turns down such propositions and so gladly took them up on it. When he awoke the next morning, he discovered he had been robbed of all his possessions and the troubadours had vanished without a trace. Furious, he set off on the thieves' trail. Tracking down the bards posed no difficulty. Geralt quickly caught up with them and recovered his things. Had I been in his shoes, I'd undoubtedly have broken their lutes as well, for there is no place for such as they in the noble world of itinerant musicians.

The witcher headed back to Garin Estate in the east, and on his way there passed through the village of Bowdon. It was clear that the entire town had been massacred, and Geralt saw one body that looked like the description he had received of Kluivert, the friend of the woman who had called Geralt “Puss Peepers.” He had indeed been killed. As the cheeky Wild One had foretold, Geralt started investigating. Though much time had passed since the murder, the witcher hoped he could still find enough evidence to establish who was responsible. It turned out Kluivert's death was not the work of common bandits or deserters, but knights of the recently dissolved Order of the Flaming Rose. Geralt realized the brethren who had killed Kluivert were but part of a much larger contingent. To prevent any further such murders and fully avenge Kluivert, he would have to find the knights' leader.

The orders Geralt found on the knights he defeated not only shed light on their activities – they'd given up defending the defenseless and switched to brewing narcotics – but revealed the location of their hideout. Geralt decided to take a short break from monster hunting to pay their Grand Master a courtesy call. The witcher and the Grand Master did not take a liking to each other. After a short talk about the Order's past and mission, they moved on to armed combat. This fight could clearly have only one outcome – Ulrich met the same fate as his infamous predecessor, Jacques de Aldersberg. With this Geralt of Rivia, alias "Puss Peepers," avenged Kluivert and completed the task allotted him.

Geralt returned to the estate where he had first met Olgierd and his band – and found the place in flames. The witcher decided to see what was afoot. He soon learned the property did not in fact belong to Olgierd, but had merely been commandeered by the ataman and his men, who then went a touch overboard in their carousing. Olgierd did not begrudge them their pyrotechnic overexuberance, but the murder of the manor’s lord he considered one cruelty too far and ordered the wrongdoer beheaded. Geralt entered the stage in the middle of this execution. Near the burning manor two of Olgierd’s men were setting up the execution of a third. When Geralt asked what the poor fellow was accused of, Olgierd emerged from the manor. They had barely begun to discuss the matter when a bereaved young woman thrust a sword into his back, blaming him for the death of her father. This grave – deadly, it would seem – wound did not bother Olgierd one bit. With the blade still stuck in his guts, he began to calmly explain to the young woman that he was not responsible for her daddy's death.

Soon thereafter Master Mirror appeared and introduced Geralt to Olgierd, explaining the witcher would, as his assistant, carry out Olgierd’s three wishes. And thus Geralt was drawn into a personal settlement between a powerful, immortal nobleman and the mysterious Gaunter O’Dimm. This turn of events did not please Olgierd one bit, but he clearly had no choice but to agree and tell Geralt his wishes. Olgierd wasted no time and issued him his first challenges: to bring him the house of Maximilian Borsodi, and to show his brother Vlodimir the time of his life… Geralt then turned his attentions to these labors.

Geralt was tasked with finding Vlodimir von Everec and showing him the time of his life. As I know from many pleasant personal experiences, the witcher, grim as he may sometimes seem, is more than capable of arranging a fantastic night out. Yet in this case, there was one particularly tricky catch: Vlodimir was dead. The mysterious Master Mirror did not think this much of an obstacle, however. He handed Geralt a vial of von Everec blood and told him of an incantation which would summon Vlodimir from the grave. He also advised Geralt to visit Shani, who, as a Redanian subject, an Oxenfurt resident, and a woman of great learning, might just have had some information about where Vlodimir is buried.

Geralt rode south to Oxenfurt to check on Shani to make sure she was okay as well as see if she knew anything about the von Everacs. However when he arrived in town he first met with Kulivert’s associate Adela at the Alchemy Inn to collect his promised reward and set off on his Path to Shani.

Shani had been a diligent student -- she not only had heard of the von Everec family, but also happened to be in the possession of a tome indicating the location of their family crypt. She and Geralt decided to journey there together. Shani was to bring a censer with her, which Geralt intended to use to perform the ancient ritual of Blood Summoning to bring forth the ghost of Olgierd's dead brother. They agreed to meet at the crypt and parted to gather the necessary supplies.

Geralt thus journeyed to the von Everec family crypt and sought out the younger von Everec's place of burial. When he arrived he found Shani already there, with a crown of flowers she said she was making for a wedding. Geralt soon discovered she was supposed to go to a wedding that night and Geralt offered to go with her. However, first they had business. She gave the censor she brought to Geralt and they entered the von Everac crypt.

Geralt performed the ritual, and after being accosted by some of Vlodimir’s ancestors he finally met the ghost he looked for. Geralt's meeting with Vlodimir began with a fight against other deceased members of the von Everec clan. Only after they were defeated did Vlod reveal himself, explaining he'd refused to fight alongside his dead kin as he'd never been particularly fond of them. Overall Olgierd's brother cut a strange figure, even for a ghost. He showed hints of noble refinement, but often his mannerisms better resembled those of a lifelong brawler or hooligan – no doubt because he had spent much of his living years raiding and marauding with a band of rough characters.

One thing is certain: Vlodimir liked to have a good time and had found death sorely lacking in quality entertainment. His demands for his night of fun were simple. He mainly wanted to get well and thoroughly plastered and... well, let us say the dead man's inability to enter into relations with the fairer sex had tormented him terribly. All in all, after hearing Geralt relate Vlodimir's complaints about the afterlife, I feared death all the more. Vlodimir, delighted at the prospect of enjoying a "cracking good time," stated that to do so, he would need a body...and then promptly possessed the witcher's, despite the latter's heated resistance.

Shani ran to Geralt’s side and tried to wake him, but found herself speaking to Olgierd’s brother instead. Soon the ghost departed the witchers body and Geralt explained what was happening. Shani told von Everac she and Geralt were supposed to go to a wedding that night, and Vlodimir thought that was just the sort of revelry he needed. From that moment till Vlodimir had had his fun, Vlod's ghost accompanied Geralt everywhere the witcher went. And it so happened on that day, he was going to a wedding, where he was to meet Shani.

Geralt's encounter with Vlodimir von Everec reminded him that he and Shani had once shared passionate (though passing) feelings for each other. He also became aware some remnant of these feelings was still lodged in his heart. Vlodimir was thrilled at this, for he had taken quite the liking to the young medic, but, learning that she meant something special to Geralt, he promised to keep his hands off her. Yet something about his manner left room to doubt he'd keep this promise...

Vlodimir jumped into Geralt’s body and together they accompanied Shani to her friend's wedding. There Vlod found more than enough entertainment to scratch his itch. He dove for slippers in a pond, played gwent, drank enough for three horses, chased pigs and even managed to steal a kiss from Shani. At times fate composes tales so shocking no poet would dare put his name to them, for fear his public would mock them as overly outlandish. Such was the case when Geralt and the ghost of Vlodimir von Everec shared a body for an evening and accompanied Shani to the wedding of Aldona, her friend from the Academy. Some might have let this unusual escort interfere with their enjoyment of the evening – but not Shani. Looking around at the tasteful wedding decorations, smelling the rich odor of berry-laden rowan – a plant near and dear to her heart, one which summoned up fond childhood memories – Shani felt the heedless abandon of her younger years return and, overjoyed, threw herself into the thick of the festivities.

Once Geralt and Vlodimir arrived at the wedding, the ghost jumped into Geralt's body and threw himself headlong into a whirlwind of merriment, mirth, and amusement. One thing is certain – Shani was not bored by the company of Vlodimir von Everec, who showered her with professions of burning desire and swept her off her feet with his maniacal energy. Vlodimir won a round of Gwent against a halfling gentleman, drank with the local maidens and even found the missing fire eater before the music even started. When it did the nobleman’s ghost ran to the hall and danced the night away with Shani.

[video=youtube;hbq-WOh-akM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbq-WOh-akM[/video]

After dancing Olgierd’s brother noticed some men chasing pigs and found out they were competing to become king of the swineherds. Vlodimir decided the honor must be his and set off to round up the local swine. His victory won an trophy for himself and his maid. He then sat down for a conversation with Shani who challenged him to woo another maiden. The younger von Everac had the damsel around his finger, but her brothers took notice and soon a brawl broke out. Vlodimir showed why his family were none around Redania as first class brawlers, but the process lost any hope of wooing the maiden.

The festivities continued with Vlodimir taking a dip the nearby pond to look for Shani and some other lass’s slippers. He discarded all of his robes and jumped in without a second thought. As the night began drawing near midnight, the couple returned to the barn and saw Gaunter O’Dimm there who was discussing the importance of time in baking bread. Then the mysterious man introduced himself to Shani. Vlodimir interrupted and argued with O’Dimm, who claimed Olgierd never cared for Vlodimir like Vlodimir did for Olgierd … and said Vlodimir was always the lesser brother. A row almost began but Shani pulled Vlodimir back to the party.

Hearing Geralt recount that night's festivities, I realized it was a great shame I had not been able to attend. Not only would I have graced the guests with a performance worthy of the occasion, but also I would have witnessed its wonders first-hand, the better to now convey them to you dear reader... Yet I consider my chance to craft an epic nuptial ballad merely delayed, not missed, for Shani caught the garland during the capping, meaning I will surely be a guest of honor at her wedding in the near future.

Vlodimir, I hear, enjoyed himself tremendously, though when midnight struck, the capping ceremony began and Vlodimir von Everec’s time among the living came to an end. He wrote a letter to his brother in his own (that is to say, Geralt's) blood, thus providing proof that the witcher had fulfilled Olgierd's wish. Yet the witcher’s skin had felt so good on him, he had no intention of shedding it. Only the appearance of Master Mirror finally forced Vlodimir back whence he came. In Geralt’s account, Master Mirror caused Vlod’s ghost a great deal of pain while banishing him. I do not know exactly how one can cause a disembodied spirit pain, but clearly Master Mirror knew a way. He was strange, that one. Even thinking about him now gives me goosebumps. When the hour came for Vlodimir to return to the netherworld, she breathed a sigh of relief, for now she could spend some time alone with Geralt, who was much more sensitive and predictable (though Vlod would probably just call him boring).

Though Vlodimir had returned to the nether realms, the night was still young and the wedding not yet over. Shani, dejected at the thought that Geralt would soon return to his many pressing concerns, was sitting alone at one of the tables, staring glumly at the crowd of merrymakers. Master Mirror advised Geralt that a bouquet of flowers or some tasty liqueur might cheer her up. Geralt, remembering Shani's love for rowan blossoms, brought her a branch of them, which she delightedly plaited into her hair. Oh, if you'd only seen her then… She looked lovely, radiant, even. The two old friends then talked for a long time and toasted to the night.

The witcher took Shani on a long walk by the river and then… then they got in a boat and, as Geralt told it to me, rowed to the moon. Could my friend be turning into something of a romantic? Or perhaps he always was one? A pleasantly-begun evening blossomed into a night of rapture, then settled into a golden dawn on the shores of a lake, serenaded by nature's first awakening murmurs. Though Shani seemed delighted by this course of events, the morning air had put her in a reflexive mood. She parted ways with Geralt, explaining she had to think through what had just happened. With an evening to remember behind him, Geralt rode off to the Borsodi’s Auction House …


Geralt had completed the first wish, but had two remaining. Olgierd's wishes were unusual, to say the least. The next demand was for Geralt to bring him the house of Maximillian Borsodi. He didn't supplement this request with such key details as where this house was located or just how the witcher was to transport said real estate. Geralt only knew his first stop should be Oxenfurt, the city to which the Borsodi's had moved their world-famous auction house. When he arrived, the guards insisted that only those with invitations could enter the auction house. Fortunately for the witcher, at just that moment, Vimme Vivaldi arrived and vouched for Geralt as his guest at the auction house that day.

And with a word from his dwarf friend the merchant, Geralt was in Borsodi’s Auction House. Once inside, Vimme told Geralt to mingle for a while as it would be some time before Horst Borsodi made an appearance. Vimme introduced the witcher to elderly Countess Mignole, who turned out to be very interested in the witcher’s School of the Wolf. After they exchanged pleasantries she asked Geralt to help her look for an item she had dropped on the balcony. Thinking there was something more to this, Geralt agreed. When he arrived outside, Geralt found no earring but a very curious Countess. It seemed the countess in her youth – 40 years earlier to be precise – had been involved in a love affair with Geralt’s very own mentor, Vesemir. Geralt told her Vesemir was alive and well, but she insisted Geralt not mention their encounter to his mentor.

Geralt is often taken for a boor. Nothing could be further from the truth: though rough-and-rowdy in outer appearance, inside Geralt harbors a sensitive appreciation of beauty and the arts. It should then come as no surprise he was able to impress the art merchant he met at the auction. The connoisseur tipped Geralt off about a van Rogh painting soon to go on the block. Apparently Marcus Hodgson, a famed Novigrad book dealer, was ready to pay a small fortune for it... The merchant's assurances proved reliable: Geralt later sold the painting at a considerable profit. The ecstatic book dealer also threw in a rare witcher trophy.

Soon the bidding began and Geralt made a bid on the van Rogh and won. After a few more items went up for auction, an intermission began. That was when Horst Borsodi made his appearance. The man did not demonstrate a flare for hospitality. The owner of the most famous auction house in all the North, was a snob and a buffoon. He looked down his nose at Geralt from the very moment they met, and when he heard what had brought the witcher to him, he had his men toss him out and beat him. To say their relationship got started off on the wrong foot would thus be putting it very lightly indeed. He greeted Geralt with unmasked disdain, then, upon hearing the witcher had come for Maximilian Borsodi's House, had him summarily tossed into the gutter.

Geralt was still picking himself up when he was approached by a mysterious stranger. This man did not say who he was, where he was from, how he knew of the witcher or how he had found him. All he would reveal was that he could help Geralt gain access to the auction house vault – without asking the owner's permission. The stranger proposed they meet somewhere more secluded so he might explain his plan in greater detail. He told the witcher to go to a local herbalist’s and ask for yarrow extract if he really wanted to get his hands on the house. Reluctantly, the witcher made his way to the herbalist’s hut.

Geralt met the herbalist, who was a halfling that had learned his trade from a Master Gremist on Skellige. He asked the man about yarrow extraxt and was led to the cellar where the stranger was awaiting him. The mysterious stranger revealed that he was planning to rob the Borsodis' Auction House. He swore Geralt would find Maximilian's House within it, as impossible as that sounded. First, however, the witcher would have to help him put together a full break-in crew of daring professionals and find a way to weaken the Redanian garrison. Though Geralt usually tried to live within the bounds of the law, this time he had no choice but to agree to help in this criminal enterprise.

Geralt has taken on a mad assortment of tasks in his life, many of which strayed far beyond his core trade of monster hunting. Recruiting a team to break into the vault in the Borsodis' Auction House, however, stood out as atypical even against this motley backdrop. Robbing a building requires, at a bare minimum, finding a way inside it. The mysterious man who convinced Geralt to take part in the heist determined the only way to break into the carefully guarded auction house was via an adjacent tower. Geralt thus needed to hire someone capable of climbing up its glass-smooth outer wall and dropping a line down to the others. Only two maestros of the burglar's trade could perform such a feat: Hugo Hoff, affectionately known as "Beef Patty," and Eveline Gallo, alias "the Ermine."

Figuring Hugo Huff might be the easiest to persuade to join the crew – no travelling circus, no family, not imprisoned - Geralt was told to look for halflinh in Oxenfurt, whose seedy taverns served as watering grounds for students and criminals alike. Geralt knocked on Beef Patty’s door, but found signs of blood nearby and no peep from in the house. Geralt followed the blood trail. Sadly, it turned out Hugo Hoff was in no condition to join Geralt's crew. The halfing must have stepped on some powerful toes, for someone had slapped stone slippers on him and taken him for a long walk off a short pier - and into the Pontar.

Lacking another option, Geralt rode west towards Carsten to recruit Eveline Gallo to join the heist. The elf was a charming circus performer famed through all the North, and who, it seemed, used her considerable talents for less law-abiding purposes as well. When he arrived, Geralt found Eveline arguing with another member of her troop regarding a lack of coin. Geralt sensed an opportunity as he had the impression the performer was just waiting for an excuse to escape from the circus tent for a moment and once again savor the taste of a true adventure. Once they were in private, Geralt offered her just such an opportunity … a performance of a lifetime to no audience that paid as much as she could carry. The elfess was immediately intrigued, but she had a problem. As is often the case in life, Eveline was willing to help, but only in exchange for a favor: the witcher had to save her circus troupe from humiliation. She asked him to shoot at targets in place of their normal performer Vann with his crossbow. The witcher agreed and soon was standing on stage in front of the local peasants. Only once he was on stage did he realize he had to shoot apples off a man’s head, foot and arms. Although he had no practice, Geralt duly performed the required feat, and the limber elfess then joined the break-in crew.

Geralt was only a short ride by horse to the village of Alness, where he knew one of the safecrackers supposedly lived. One of the candidates was a certain Casimir Bassi, a demolitions specialist who had cut his teeth in the mines of Mahakam... The dwarf's role would be to bypass the vault doors using explosives. Vaults are, as a rule, difficult to enter. Their metal-plated doors must either be teased open in silence by a skilled safecracker – or blown to smithereens by a demolitions expert.

Geralt chose to recruit Casimir to join his crew. Geralt had heard the man might be hard to persuade because of his new family life, but figured that would be easier than getting Quinto out of a jail cell. Expecting to have to persuade the dwarf to abandon his idyllic family life, Geralt found himself instead convincing the dwarf to cling to any life at all. Abandoned by his wife, Casimir was set on exploding himself and his wrecked home in a spectacularly effective suicide — until he heard the witcher's offer. True, Casimir seemed an unreliable partner in crime, given his oscillations between rage and despair after learning of his wife's cuckoldry, but Geralt decided to risk it and enlist the dwarf in his crew. Also Geralt figured the man out quickly, and knew just what to do. The witcher insulted the dwarf into such a rage that he abandoned the explosives he was near to fight Geralt. After he had some sense knocked into him, the safecracker was all ears about the plan, and had nothing to lose …

The only thing that was left for the witcher to do before the plan could go into action was to lessen the number of Redanian guards near the Oxenfurt auction house. Oxenfurt, once a city of students, had been transformed by war into a city of soldiers. Redanian troops were everywhere -- in every inn, shop, and brothel, but, most visibly and annoyingly of all, on every street. Grealt had to find a way to reduce the number of patrols if the robbery was to stand a chance of success. He dug into his bag of witcher tricks and found just the thing -- an alchemical mixture which, added to the soldiers' rations, would soon have half the Oxenfurt garrison out on sick leave. The garrison cook turned out to be amenable to cooperation. He agreed to add the witcher's special sauce to his pot, making Geralt's task much easier.

The conspirators met to discuss the plan. Eveline would scale the tower and throw down a rope to the others. Once inside the auction house was supposed to be empty. Casimir would the blow the safe, and by the time the Redanians responded, the crew would sneak out a secret passage the stranger had learned about with the treasure and Max Borsodi’s house. The plan agreed on, they were to meet beneath the tower that night.


Not everything went according to plan... to say the least. Eveline Gallo performed as tasked and guided Geralt and his accomplices into the auction house. Yet there were guards in the auction house and a fight broke out. Geralt’s accomplishes defeated their foes, but not before the alarm was sounded. Soon Redania’s finest were outside and the conspirator’s forced to take hostages. From cover Geralt negotiated terms for the hostages release as a ploy to buy Casimir time. It didn’t take long before the entire city of Oxenfurt shook with the sound of an enormous explosion. Bassi's method were far from subtle, but no one can deny their effectiveness. His skillfully placed explosives blew the vault door to pieces, opening the way for the crew to grab the valuables within.

The good news was the safe was open. The bad news was that the Redanians charged in. This was too much for Eveline, as soon as the heist stopped going according to plan and Redanian soldiers surrounded the auction house, she shimmied up and out the chimney and was never seen by Geralt again. The remainder of the team rushed off into the vault where Geralt was about to learn a great deal about the stranger who hired him.

Once in the bowels of the auction house, he found out that his partner-in-crime was none other than Horst Borsodi's long-missing brother, Ewald. This family reunion was no joyous event, however. Rather than grasp hands and pat shoulders, the brothers immediately reached for each other's throats. Cheated by his brother out of his inheritance, Ewald had planned his revenge during his long years of exile. When he found himself witnessing a battle of brothers, Geralt chose to stand by his partner, Ewald, and with their combined strength they defeated Horst and his bodyguards. Ewald killed his older brother, avenging years of poverty and humiliation in one furious moment. It was later said none walked behind the once rich and mighty Horst Borsodi's casket and none shed a tear over his grave.

Ewald then repaid Geralt in the worst possible way: he tried to cheat him by keeping Maximilian's House for himself. Luckily the witcher kept a clear head and, instead of slaughtering Ewald at once, proposed a compromise both sides would find acceptable. The blood still on his hands, he gave Geralt the golden casket known as Maximillian Borsodi's House in compensation for his help, though not before taking for himself the will hidden inside it. With this is his possession, Geralt was set to fulfill Olgierd's request. Their paths parted soon afterwards, as Ewald left to manage his family fortune and Geralt returned to the Path of a witcher. The dwarf walked away laden with riches and clearly no longer bothered by his wife's infidelity.

After the heist, Geralt laid low in Shani’s clinic for a day. He wanted to discuss what had happened the week before at the wedding. The friends shared an honest conversation about their star-crossed connection. The two obviously had feeling for one another, but understood that they needed to keep things as they had been before. Resigned to their fate, they promised to share a bottle of wine with each other from time to time. Once the day had warn on and Geralt was rested, he ventured out to the Alchemy Inn in hopes of finding Olgierd.
 
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With two wishes down and one more to go, Geralt reported back to Olgierd. There he received his third and final task, which, following in the vein of the its predecessors, seemed nigh unto impossible to complete. When Geralt visited Olgierd to hear his third and final wish, he learned the rough and rowdy ataman had once been married. Once upon a time, Olgierd fell hopelessly in love with Iris, a beautiful young lady from a well-off family. At some point he had left his wife, however, and gave her a violet rose as a parting gift. Geralt's task was to find this rose somewhere in the von Everecs' abandoned manor and bring Olgierd the gift he had given his wife the last time he saw her. As this was many years ago, and flowers are not noted for their longevity, the rose had certainly disintegrated by now. Yet since Geralt had grown used to finding the unfindable and doing the undoable, he nevertheless set out to try to recover this flower of yesteryear.

Tasked with finding the violet rose Olgierd had given his wife, Geralt travelled to the von Everec family's abandoned estate, which had become home to a host of strange and horrifying creatures. Geralt entered to investigate and soon discovered the strange beings. Among these were a black cat and dog that watched him silently, and a Caretaker whom served with the indifference of a golem … until it saw Geralt approaching. When the Caretaker noticed the witcher, he wordlessly attacked Geralt and proved as fierce in battle as it was diligent in its labors. It felt no pain – in fact, each blow it received seemed to give it strength, as did each blow it landed on Geralt with the spade it wielded as a weapon. What is more, the Caretaker was able to summon powerful spirits from the graves it had dug and could heal itself by absorbing them. The witcher had a hard time evading the devastating strikes of its weapon, and his only chance at wounding the creature came when it would stick its spade in the ground to draw on otherworldly energy in an attempt to petrify its foes with fright.

After the Caretaker was slain, Geralt learned that the black cat and dog were able to speak, though they chose to say very little about themselves. Geralt surmised they were demons from another sphere who had been summoned by black magic, trapped in animal bodies and bound to serve Iris von Everec. The enigmatic duo trusted Geralt would help them regain their lost freedom, even though he himself had no idea how he might go about doing such a thing.

Geralt entered the house and heard Iris’s disembodied voice speak to him, telling him he would perish in the manor. Undaunted the witcher continued and saw the ruin that had become of the lives of the von Everacs. While wandering the von Everecs’ abandoned estate, Geralt came into contact with a woman’s wraith haunting the house. The restless spirit had mastery over the house’s furnishings and in particular over the paintings hanging from its walls. It moved freely between their canvasses, entering one and exiting through another. At first it tried to scare Geralt into giving up his search, then, when it was clear this strategy would not work, it attacked him directly.

Geralt’s battle against the wraith proved very difficult, for it was fueled by rage and launched its attacks with heated aggression. Geralt was forced to move with lightning speed in order to parry its blows, without time to take a breath or launch an attack of his own. What’s more, the wraith had created a bond with the paintings around it and, until the witcher severed this tie, it would continually regain any lost strength. The key to victory over the Wraith from the Painting was to focus on parrying its blows and only attack sporadically, at exactly the right moments. Any attempt to attack in a flurry was always punished with a deadly counterattack.

When the beast was slain, he entered the next room and found the body of Iris von Everac. Considering all he had seen, the witcher determined that the estate was haunted by a malicious wraith tied to Olgierd's wife, Iris, who had died of loneliness years prior. Her rage and remorse now filled her former house with evil energy. Olgierd's abandoned residence was haunted by the ghost of his wife, Iris von Everec – or more accurately, by deadly spectral emanations coming from her dormant spirit. Geralt gathered up Iris' remains and buried them in the manor's garden. He did this both out of simple human decency and cold calculation, for he knew this act would calm her unsettled spirit and lead him to the violet rose. During the funeral a now quieted Iris appeared to Geralt and took him on a journey to a world which existed only in her mind. This "painted world" consisted of her fears and memories, which Geralt now had to confront.

Geralt traveled to the world of the ghost's imagination to revive memories repressed within it and defeat the embodiments of Iris' fears. Iris von Everec's memories first recalled happy days spent in Olgierd's company, then became darker and darker. In fact, even the sunnier ones had an ominous cloud hanging over them – an uneasy feeling something horrible would soon happen. Her parents accepted his proposal of marriage and all seemed set for a happy ending when a storm of misfortune suddenly broke over the von Everec family. A chain of bad decisions and a few years of bad harvests had left the once-wealthy family deeply in debt. Then the Borsodis purchased this debt and, with their brutal enforcement of its terms, drove the von Everecs into utter bankruptcy. After this, Iris’ parents changed their mind about their daughter’s future husband, revoking their approval of Olgierd and betrothing Iris to an Ofieri prince who had come to study in Oxenfurt.

Out of desperation, Olgierd turned to Master Mirror – and soon won back his coin, influence and, most importantly, his betrothed. All seemed well until he discovered his wishes’ unwanted side effect: his heart was slowly hardening into stone. Iris von Everec had been a sensitive woman and noted subtle changes in her husband's behavior. She had lacked the courage, however, to delve into their cause. Iris hated what her husband had become, but could not stop loving him. The couple endured together in a painful cohabitation until Olgierd ended it by abandoning his wife.

He learned Olgierd had summoned the otherworldly dog and cat to keep his wife company in his absence – an idea only a man with a heart of stone could have imagined working. The two creatures remained loyal to Iris even after she died and transformed into an enraged ghost, but they never loved her and felt no sympathy for her fate, for such feeling did not form a part of their nature and did not reside in even the darkest corners of their souls.

The painted world created in the mind of Iris von Everec was mainly populated by figures from her memories, but was also home to dangerous, predatory creatures: the embodiments of her fears. The most dangerous of these, the Ethereal, invoked her greatest fear – and wore the face of her husband. The Ethereal resembled Olgierd in appearance and also fought using a technique similar to his. A group of six such creatures lay in wait for Geralt, yet at first only one engaged him in battle. This one’s death awoke the next, which was more powerful than the first, and so it went to the end, with a stronger ethereal replacing a fallen weaker brother until all were defeated. Yet Geralt had to be careful, for the slightest amount of damage dealt to a being awaiting his turn would cause him to come alive and join his still-living comrade in the fight. In the end, the best tactic against these nightmarish beings proved to be a well-timed counterattack.

Geralt slew Iris’s nightmare, finally awakening Iris' ghost from her tortured sleep so he could talk to her about the violet rose. Iris never came to terms with their separation, could not, in fact, even bring herself to read her husband’s farewell letter. Yet the violet rose he gave her upon leaving she kept, making it a focal point for all the longing and love raging in her soul. When she died, these unresolved feelings kept her spirit in this world and continued to cause her suffering.

The witcher’s intervention helped Iris accept what had happened to her and her husband. When he asked for the rose, she agreed to give it him, knowing this would put a final end to her pain and suffering – and also her very existence. As she handed the rose to the witcher, Iris began to fade away and the painted world they occupied began to dissolve around them. The strange dog and cat regained their longed-for freedom when Iris von Everec gave Geralt the violet rose, thereby ending her existence. With their lady gone, the dog and cat's service ended, and they were free again at long last. They told the witcher to beware Master Mirror, and should Geralt end up in the mysterious metchant’s way, he should look for salvation in glass that cannot be broken. Geralt did not know what to make of these words, but would learn their import soon enough.


In short, the scenes from Iris vin Everac’s marriage were one of Geralt's more unusual adventures. At its end, our hero emerged from the imagined world with a very tangible rose in hand, ready to deliver to Olgierd in completion of his wish. The price of obtaining this rose? The ultimate end of Iris von Everec. Geralt thought he better understood the tragedy that had become Olgierd’s life, and saw that he had truly become a man with a heart of stone. Olgierd’s wishes had saved his marriage in the short term, but in truth had cursed both his own life and his wife’s.

Having completed all of Olgierd von Everec's wishes, Geralt went to the Alchemy Inn, where he was to meet with the ataman's representative. Now the witcher was on the verge of bringing the pact between Olgierd and Master Mirror to completion. Did this mean everything would soon be as it once was? Geralt was not so sure. One question kept nagging him: what was that “something very personal” Gaunter O’Dimm intended to collect from Olgierd?


When he arrived at the end Geralt saw Olgierd’s man sitting at a table … with Gaunter O’Dimm who called the witcher over. A drunk accosted the witcher as he approached Master Mirror, and when O’Dimm grew impatience, he froze time itself. Every person in the room was completely frozen except for the witcher and his employer. Geralt asked O’Dimm about his true nature, but the merchant declined to grant the witcher’s wish and informed Geralt that all who knew his name perished. Geralt demanded that the mark on his face be lifted since Olgierd’s three wishes had been granted, however O’Dimm told the witcher that one more task had to be completed before he was released. Geralt had to meet with Olgierd at the temple of Lilvani as there pact had said the three men had to meet at then end. O’Dimm then rose to leave, but before he did he took a spoon can stabbed the drunk who had accosted Geralt in the eye … killing him and saying that was the last time the man would interrupt Master Mirror.

O’Dimm vanished and time instantly restarted with the man dropping dead. As the rest of the tavern erupted at the sudden and unexplainable death of this man who had just been standing there, Geralt sat with Olgierd’s representative and told him to convey a message to the Ataman. Geralt wanted to meet at the Temple of Lilvani. Before Geralt left, the representative told him Shani had asked him to drop by her office, and said it was important.


Shani had discovered some information about Master Mirror … or at least someone whom she believed might have information. She knew of a professor from the Oxenfurt Academy who had spent years scrutinizing every manifestation of black magic and surely would be able to help. Unfortunately, the witch hunters had decided the professor's knowledge was best used for their goals and their goals only and had placed guards outside his home. Officially he was a free man, but in reality, no one entered or left the house without their permission.

With Shani's help, Geralt managed to enter the Academy grounds and speak to a Professor Shakeslock, who had earlier helped Olgierd in his attempts to break the pact with Master Mirror. The professor told Geralt of the long hours he had spent scouring old tomes for accounts of Gaunter O'Dimm, alias Master Mirror. He had been set on this trail by Olgierd von Everec, who paid him handsomely for his labors. In order to do this work, Olgierd told the professor everything about his pact with Master Mirror. This included one fact Gerlat did not yet know, that in order to make the pact Olgierd had been forced to pay a blood price, the life of his brother Vlodimir. It seemed the day after Oldgierd signed the pact, Vlodimir had been slain.

This research had borne fruit in the form of a great many secrets about the mysterious O'Dimm, including a possible way to outsmart him. The professor revealed that O'Dimm could be cheated one needed only propose a wager, and, as an inveterate gambler, he was likely to agree to take one up on it. Sadly, however, the professor did not live to see if this trick would work for Geralt in practice, for during their conversation Shakeslock made one step outside the runic circle drawn on the floor of his residence and died immediately. We will never know if this step was accidental or deliberate - by the time Geralt met him, he had become a tired and tormented wreck who just might have considered death a relief.


With this knew information, Geralt made for Lilvani’s temple to wait for the meeting with O’Dimm and von Everac. Geralt waited a time before Olgierd arrived, and shortly thereafter Master Mirror appeared as well. Geralt did not have to wait long to find out what lay at the heart of the contract between Olgierd von Everec and Gaunter O'Dimm. In exchange for regaining his family fortune, clearing his name and marrying Iris, Olgierd had agreed to give Master Mirror his soul. Once Geralt realized Master Mirror was playing for the highest of stakes – Olgierd von Everec's soul – he decided he could not sit idly by.

The witcher tried to cheat the demonic being and win Olgierd back his soul. Geralt took Professor Shakeslock's advice and proposed a wager to Master Mirror. Mirror agreed, but only if it was played out on his terms, with the stakes being Geralt’s soul as well. Thus Geralt was wagering everything on one battle of wits. O’Dimm transported Geralt to a strange, dark world and challenged him solve a riddle.

To all things and men I appertain, and yet by some am shunned and distained. Fondle me and ogle me til you’re insane, but no blow can harm me, cause me pain. Children delight in me, elders take fright. Fair maids rejoice and spin. Cry and I weep, yawn and I sleep. Smile, and I too shall grin. What am I?

Geralt, who has always had a keen mind for such puzzles, soon found the solution to defeat Gaunter O'Dimm. A reflection. O’Dimm told the witcher he had to find the object of the riddle within an allotted time. Geralt set off into the dark world and soon found it was inhabited with all manner of dark creatures and illusions to distract him … including one of Shani falling off a cliff. At every opportunity Master Mirror mocked the witcher … but soon the witcher noticed a Manor. He figured it was the most likely place to harbor a mirror. His deduction proved true, but every mirror Geralt found shattered as he approached. Then Geralt remembered the words of the dog and cat. He must seek salvation in glass that cannot break. What else casts a reflection? Suddenly the answer struck the witcher … water. As time was running out he noticed a empty fountain and a cracked wall near by. One use of the sign Aard and the wall came down with water rushing out. The witcher looked into the water, and beneath it was not just his reflection but O’Dimm himself. Geralt discovered Professor Shakeslock's words were true. Master Mirror could indeed be defeated at his own game. By solving Master Mirror's riddle, he drove the demon from our dimension - though I fear he may yet return. His kind always returns.

What mattered most at the moment, however, was that Olgierd von Everec was safe, and the pact which had bound him had been dissolved. Not only was he free from the pact, but from his wish as well. Olgierd no longer had a heart of stone. Free from his pact and his heart restored, Olgierd shared a drink of wine with the witcher and thanked Geralt, giving the witcher his sword – a souvenir which had been in his family for generations – then walked off into the sunset. While Olgierd may have deserved punishment for the path of ruin he had created, as well as the lifes of his brother, he betrothed, and untold others … Geralt could sense that he could now feel for the first time the weight of all his actions. Perhaps that was the most fitting punishment of all, for Olgierd seemed a repentant man.


While the situation with Olgierd and Master Mirror had delayed the witcher, he now at least had the coin to pay for passage to Skellige for both himself and Roach. Soon enough he found a captain bound for Kaer Trolde and was sailing south for the second time that summer. However, as before, the journey was not smooth sailing. This time it was not pirates, but the sea itself that attacked the witcher’s ship in the Skellige archipelago. While sailing past the An Skellig coast, Geralt suddenly found his ship beset by a fierce storm. Wind-whipped and rain-battered, Geralt’s ship limped into Urialla Harbor on the coast of An Skellig. The foul weather, he learned, had cursed this spot ever since a mysterious tower appeared one morning out of thin air, as if placed by an invisible giant's hand. Intrigued and knowing he could not sail off the isle until the storm abated, Geralt decided to investigate. The tower stuck awkwardly out of a nearby hill, and, since his medallion tingled as he neared it, Geralt knew the tower must have been the source of the driving rain.

The tower, as one might have predicted, was endowed with magic. To be precise, it was equipped with a Defensive Regulatory Magicon, a mystical apparatus that treated every entrant save the tower's original owner as a dangerous intruder. That is why it had locked Sigo Buntz, the Koviri mage who had purchased the tower at auction, in a cell inside his new property. It tried to do the same with Geralt, but to a determined witcher, a tower full of magic trickery is no obstacle. Sigo told Geralt that he needed a tome within the Tower to disable the Magicon.

Following Sigo's instructions, Geralt found a tome in the depths of the library entitled "Gottfried's Omni-opening Grimoire." The witcher and Sigo used the secrets contained within to disable the tower's defenses. Once free, the mage, bursting with gratitude, rewarded Geralt (generously, I hope, for the witcher never said exactly how), transported him in a flash to the village where it had all started (well, to be precise, to the bay off the coast from the village), then whisked the tower away for good. Once it was gone, all that remained of the storm were a few puddles and scattered clouds in the otherwise bright and sunny sky. The gathered villagers went wild with joy and showered Geralt with well-deserved thanks. Shortly thereafter, the witcher continued on his way sailing to Kaer Trolde.

When he arrived there, Geralt asked the an Craite’s for assistance. The grateful ruling family of Skellige agreed that the queens brother, Hjalmar, and his men Forlan and Vigi the Loon would set sail immediately for the continent and help in the defense of Kaer Morhen. In addition Crach an Craite gave Geralt the family’s ancestral sword, Winter’s Blade. Knowing as much magical assistance as necessary would be needed, Great asked if he could speak with Ermion, but learned the old druid was across the isle near the ancient oak Gedyneith. So the witcher set off to seek his assistance …

As Geralt passed through the village of Rannvaig, a man by the name of Odhen stopped him and asked for help in finding his son. The witcher, hearing honest fatherly despair in the man's voice and, no less importantly, feeling the lightness of his own purse, decided to look into the matter. They say every journey made in the Skellige Isles ends in adventure. And sometimes, that adventure ends in death. Such was the case for a group of adventure-seeking Skelligers who set out in search of treasure in forgotten ruins – which turned out to lie in the hunting grounds of a powerful fiend known as Morvudd. Odhen's son and his friends had been murdered, torn to pieces by the fiend. Geralt arrived too late to save the boys - but just in time to face the beast who had killed them.

The witcher knew there was little room for error in a fight with such a creature. A moment of carelessness and the beast could hypnotize him with its third eye, then tear him to shreds while he remained in a trance. Morvudd was a particularly large individual, so one could presume fast attacks would not prove effective against it – and that its blows would kill anyone not protected with the Quen Sign. Though Morvudd killed the Skellige warriors without much trouble, it proved no match for the witcher. Sensing that it stood no chance in this fight, the beast fled - but there's no hiding from a witcher. Geralt tracked down and killed the fiend - avenging the death of Odhen's son and making sure no more Skelligers would share the boy's fate.

Geralt continued east until he found Ermion in a cave under Gedyneith. The witcher and the druid discussed Geralt’s findings in Lofeten about Ciri’s arrival there and the massacre committed by the Wild Hunt. Then the witcher asked Ermion for his assistance at Kaer Morhen. Despite his difficult character and his somewhat testy relationship with Geralt, Ermion agreed at once to travel to Kaer Morhen and help defend Ciri from the Wild Hunt's forces.

As the witcher prepared to leave Gedyneith, he was approached by a druid who requested aid for his friend. Though druids have gained fame worldwide as outstanding healers, even with all their spells and elixirs they at times prove powerless against diseases. Such was the case with Egill – a druid who had lost his voice. His friend decided that, since traditional methods had failed, it was time to try newer, more innovative approaches. It fell to Geralt to test them. Thanks to Geralt's efforts, Egill did indeed speak once more - in order to give Geralt a thorough tongue lashing. it turned out the druid had not lost his voice due to illness, but had sworn a vow of silence for religious reasons. Instead of helping a man to recover, it seemed Geralt had taken part in a rather awful practical joke. Incensed, the witcher scolded the “friend” and rode off without another word.

Geralt began to journey away from the ancient oak until he came across a master alchemist named Gremist. Rumor had it this druid knew more about alchemy than most men know about the contours of their own members. Geralt, ever eager to polish his skills and aware that Hjalmar and Ermion would need time to get to Kaer Morhen, decided to find this learned druid and absorb whatever knowledge from him he could.

This Gremist proved to be a strange individual, but then so do most mages and druids - routinely staring into the abyss of otherworldly power has that effect. Rather than let Geralt learn from him right away, he first forced him to help recover items and assistance for an important task. Geralt was told that he first needed to get an bloom called pimpernel, then some spirit from an abandoned distillery on the south of the isle, and finally convince Fritjof to come and help Gremist perform a rite.

Geralt followed the Gremist’s instructions and went to the Morskogen Forest first to find some pimpernel, but when he got there he found that all the blooms have all been picked. An old druid approached and explained that Gremist had sent countless young druids to bring back pimpernel and they all returned with a blank look on their faces with no flower in hand. Furthermore, none of them ever spoke of what happened to them. However, the latest one, Ramund, hadn’t returned at all, so the druid, fearing the worst, came to find him and kill the monster he believes is responsible.

Geralt soon found tracks the beared the telltale signs of a Succubus being nearby. Geralt thought he understood what was going on, and his suspicions were soon confirmed we he found the beast on very friendly terms with the missing Ramund. Convinced that the succubus was dangerous and used bewitching charms, the old druid accompanying Geralt told her he would kill her as she stoof. Geralt intervened and told the druid he wound not allow a sentient creature whom could not be shown to have any malice to be harmed. The old druid stormed off, promising to bring someone willing to kill her.

The succubus was grateful, but told Geralt she had no interest in witchers. Geralt assured her he was there for a different purpose and asked after the pimpernel. The succubus smiled and led Geralt back to her lair. When they arrived Geralt saw that she had been using all sorts of flowers as decorations for her home. The witcher later told me that the intricacy and beauty of the arrangement was such that even Oxenfurt’s greatest artists would have admired the monster’s eye for color and symetry. She allowed Geralt to take one, and only one, flower as thanks for his kindness and wisdom.

The witcher continued south until he found this abandoned distillery near the peak of a mountain. It turned out the reason it had been abandoned was that it was inhabited by a cyclops. Geralt slew the great beast and began trying to distill some spirit. He used some mash that was still left behind, and an instruction manual to craft the drink which he said was as smooth as the finest liquors in Novigrad.

These two tasks completed Geralt head north to the village of Blandare to find Fritjof. On his way there, Geralt caught word that the villagers of Fyresdal had caught seen a dragon. Though the witcher codex barred him from killing these noble and intelligent creatures, he decided to investigate the matter all the same. His investigation uncovered that what the Fyresdal residents had seen was not a dragon but a forktail - a beast that, while undoubtedly dangerous, has about as much in common with a dragon as do dragonflies. Geralt tracked down the monster's nest (which it had made in an abandoned siege tower), but the forktail itself was nowhere to be found. Geralt decided that, rather than wait for the beast to return, he would lure it back home using bait.

The village elder honored Geralt that day with the gift of a lamb - though the animal he gave was certainly not the choicest member of the flock. From what Geralt later told me, the poor creature looked like a furry water hag and had an even worse temperament. This turned out to be smaller than first offered. Few truly know what a dragon looks like, for those who have seen one up-close rarely have a chance to share their impressions. That is why people are forever mistaking other monsters for dragons. This was the case in Fyresdal, where the so-called dragon wreaking havoc turned out to be a forktail.

Yet this mistaken attribution did not mean there was no reason to worry. The forktail harassing Fyresdal was a particularly vile representative of its kind, one equipped with an endless store of deadly venom. Fighting it without first drinking a regenerative potion or a poison antidote would be tantamount to suicide. In his fight with the forktail, Geralt gave proof not only of his masterful swordsmanship, but also of a previously-undemonstrated flair for shepherdry. Geralt defeated the monster and returned to the village to collect his reward.

Geralt returned to the elder and told him the forktail had been slain. Not wanting untruths about dragons to perpetuate in the area, Geralt told the elder the truth. Having learned that the beast was no dragon but a much less dangerous forktail, the village elder decided the witcher's honorarium should likewise be proportionately smaller. This was not the first time honesty had lightened the witcher's purse.

During his time in the village of Fyresdal, Geralt learned of a contract on a monster said to have attacked a merchant and his cart. The merchant in question was very insistent that a witcher investigate this matter and kill the beast. The trail ended as had so many before it - in a cave. This cave was different from its predecessors, however - inside were crude drawings showing a carefully planned attempt to take Geralt's life. From the last of these the witcher gleaned the location of a meeting of his would-be assassins. He decided to attend.

Geralt found the monsters (a doppler, troll, godling and werewolf) who had plotted a deadly trap for him, but soon realized most of these misguided beasts did not deserve death. They had tried to attack him believing the witcher wanted all mosters dead. Geralt reasoned with them that he did not kill good willed sentient creatures. He conceded he had killed many beasts that posed a threat to humans, but also mentioned many of the monsters he had previously spared or helped, including dopplers and godlings. Yet the pack's aggressive leader, a werewolf, burned with such hatred for Geralt that he attacked, even though his companions refused to join. The witcher quickly slew the werewolf, but left the other monsters unharmed.


The witcher continued north to Blandare. When Geralt finally arrived in Blandare he overheard Fritjof warning a villager about the dangers of a ritual he was about to perform. As the people went into there houses, Geralt approached the druid. It seemed the village was suffering from a drought and, as a vaedermakar, Fritjof could call forth rain, but at the cost of also summoning monsters. Geralt agreed to help the druid and he was led to an alter in a field where Fritjof sacrifices several sheep and started the ritual. This caused a great many foglets to appear and try to attack the druid. The witcher protected him until he finished the ritual, and rain began falling where clear skies had been moments before. Thankful for the witcher’s assistance, Fritjof agreed to ride with him to help Gremist.

Geralt completed all three tasks with flying colors and the Gremist had no choice but to take him on as an apprentice. Thus Geralt, showing an admirable commitment to lifelong learning, gathered his chalk and prepared his slate for some advanced alchemy lessons. However, the witcher soon learned that the ingredients he had gathered were not for a potion or ritual, but so Gremist and Fritjof could get drunk together and share stories. While understandably upset about the deceit, and the danger it had put him in, the witcher decided he would swallow his pride and share a drink with the two learned druids. That night they played cards and shared many stories. The witcher even learned a few things about alchemy that he had not previously known.

Having learned what he could in a short time, and believing his allies would all be well on their way to Kaer Morhen, Geralt made for Undvik where Avallac’h told him he could find the way to Ciri. After a long search Geralt was at last a step from his goal. Geralt knew Avallac'h had hid Ciri from the Hunt on the magical Isle of Mists, which could only be reached if fate deemed one worthy - or by following a magic firefly, which was decidedly the easier option. Geralt thus readied himself to sail to the isle and bring back Ciri. Geralt first rode to the western shore of Ard Skellig and found a ship to sail to Undvik. When he arrived he released the firefly Avallac’h had given him, which led him over the water into a dense mist…

Soon the world became darker and the mist thicker, and the witcher was sure that he had entered some strange enchanted world. After a time sailing around the sharp rocks and fighting off various creatures of the enchanted waters, the firefly led Geralt onto the dry land of the isle. Geralt chased the firefly up a path and to a small cottage on a mountainside near the center of the isle. The door to the cottage was locked and no one answered when the witcher called, but the light hung over the threshold.

Frustrated the witcher stepped back to think about how to get inside when he heard a sneeze come from the building. Then came arguing from several voices that seemed upset they had been discovered. Geralt soon learned these voices belong to the known surviving dwarves of Rabenick and Company. The dwarves claimed to have followed a firefly to the island when they were beset by monsters and lost many of their crew. They had been stranded there for some time, and three members of their group had already left and not returned. They claimed they could not trust the voice on the other side of the door to do them no harm. Geralt asked if they would let him in if he found their companions. Rabenick remaining Company agreed and Geralt set off to find the three missing dwarves.

Unfortunately two them had been killed the witcher soon learned. One by a fiend and the other after falling from a precipice. However Geralt found the third dwarf, Gaspard, asleep in a lighthouse on one the shores of the isle. Geralt escorted Gaspard back to the cottage, and upon hearing their comrade’s voice, the Rabenick’s company gladly opened the door and came out. The witcher offered to take them from the island on his small ship, but first had to find Ciri. That’s when the dwarves told him. She was inside, cold and without breath. They said she had been their like that when the dwarves arrived. The witcher was crushed … but he had to know. With all the weight of the door and Geralt’s fear, the door seemed the heaviest he had ever tried to open.

The moonlight cast into the room from the doorway onto a young ashen hair women laying motionless on a bed. She laid facing away from the door as Geralt approached. When he crossed the threshold into the room in which she slumbered, the protective spell Avallac'h had cast upon her snapped under the sheer weight of their combined destinies. Each step was filled with more and more dread. Geralt sat on the bed and pulled on her shoulder. He had to step back when he saw her. There she was. Unmistakably. Finally. After years of separation, weeks of searching, dozens of false trails and endless worry, Geralt had found Ciri. But it was as the Crones of Crookback Bog had fortold, she was dead. She was older now, and beautiful … and cold. It is said that witchers are emotionless, but Geralt collapsed back onto the bed in what can only be described as grief. For a moment he sat there with his head in his hands, and then embraced his daughter’s lifeless body. As he held her, the firefly entered the room. It slowly floated across the floor and entered Ciri’s body. Suddenly Geralt felt Ciri’s arms move to warmly embrace him.

Geralt was reunited with his adopted daughter after years of separation and searching. No words can describe the joy he felt in that moment. The relief and joy the witcher felt in that moment cannot be put into words dear reader. These two joined by destiny were reunited at last. Geralt’s memories of the saga of their shared history flashed before his eyes. Yet to him, this young women was still the young ward he had brought to Kaer Morhen all those years ago. His only child.


They sat their in the relief of that moment for some time before speaking. Soon they had moved to the fireplace as Ciri oiled her sword Zireal. They spoke of what each of them had done, and Geralt listened as Ciri recounted each step of her journey. After leaving Geralt and Yennefer on the Isle of Avalon, she had fled the Wild Hunt from world to world. When it seemed the Hunt had finally caught her, Avallac’h appeared and saved her. Ciri said that the Sage had been her tutor and mentor for some time. They were bound by a common enemy. Avallac'h had been the chief advisor to the previous ruler of the Aen Elle, whose demise had precipitated a conflict between Avallac'h and the successor, Eredin. The Sage had thus made it his mission to protect Ciri from his new king's malicious designs, whatever the cost. Ciri made it clear to Geralt that she trusted the Sage. He had saved her life on numerous occasions – including when, feeling the onset of the curse that would transform him into Uma, he resolved to hide her from the Wild Hunt on the Isle of Mists.


Ciri was able to shed a bit of light on the commander of the Wild Hunt's motivations. The threat of annihilation hung over the Aen Elle homeland. Eredin, a warrior and a conqueror by nature, decided to solve this problem in the simplest possible way - by seizing our world. The key to doing so? Ciri's power, which would allow him to open the gates to a full-scale invasion. It mattered not that this would kill Ciri in the process, because to Eredin it was the only way to escape the inevitable White Frost foretold in Ithilinne’s Prophesy.

One can hear Ithlinne's Prophecy whispered at every market, garbled and reused by every village witch, delved into in any treatise touching on sooths and diviners and in general saturating our common culture. We all know that "the time of the Wolf's Blizzard approaches, the Time of the White Frost" and that "the world will perish amidst ice." But few truly understand the meaning of these words. Yennefer had once explained to Geralt that their world was not the center of the universe, but one of a thousand such globes spinning in the endless darkness of space. Through this space swims, invisible to the naked eye, the White Frost. Scholars do not know exactly what the White Frost is, but they know for a certainty however, that, thanks to the telescopic observations of elven astronomers, the White Frost, whatever it is, has already destroyed a great many worlds. The worlds where it appears perish into lifeless hunks of ice over the course of a few decades. Ciri confirmed that the White Frost will one day come to both the Ann Elle’s and our world. Do not be alarmed dear reader, because our hero’s did not yet fully comprehend their roles in this destiny for our world …

What they did know was that they were glad to finally be reunited. Each told the other that had been in each other’s dreams constantly … and it had always been unsettling. Ciri mentioned that no matter how her dream started, it always ended with her entering a foreign and yet somehow familiar tower. One thing was always clear she claimed, that she always felt terrified to enter it in her dreams, but always felt as though she had to. She said the dream always ended with her searching for the entrance.

They were not given long to celebrate their reunion, however. When Ciri finished preparing her blade, she and Geralt prepared to leave. Geralt told her they would go with the dwarves by ship to Skellige and then travel back to the continent. Once their they would ride for Kaer Morhen so the Wild Hunt would not detect them. As they left the cottage, they soon realized that the plan was not going to work. The dwarves had left and taken their boat. Not only that, but the air grew chilled, and that could only mean one thing on this enchanted isle. It seemed that as soon as Ciri awoke from her magic slumber the Wild Hunt picked up her trail. Geralt and his adopted daughter thus had no choice but to use Ciri's special abilities to teleport to Kaer Morhen, meaning the Wild Hunt would know exactly where to find them.
 
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In the blink of an eye Geralt and Ciri were standing in the lower courtyard at Kaer Morhen. Ciri almost danced across the courtyard in amazement that she was finally home. Before them stood an astonished Vesemir trying to calm a very startled horse. The old witcher greeted the pair with embraces. As they spoke, Yennefer screamed out Ciri’s name and ran towards them without any of her usual aloofness. Triss also appeared to Geralt’s surprise, as she had been contacted in Kovir by Yennefer. Triss arrived there to help defend Ciri, whom she had always treated as a younger sister. Geralt’s true family spared a few seconds for a tearful reunion - then began preparations to repel the Hunt's attack. Overjoyed, Yennefer kissed Geralt for bringing back their adopted daughter.


However, the elated reunion soon ended. Since Eredin could trace where Ciri traveled to with her abilities, the duo did not so much flee the Hunt as buy a few precious minutes of time. Thus Geralt asked the others to round up everyone who had come, and meet him in the great hall. Fortunately, the friends the witcher had gathered waited to defend Ciri to their last breath. Hjalmar, Vigi the Loon and Folan were honing weapons with Zoltan. Ermion and Vesemir were making booby traps fueled by a flammable gas Ermion concocted. Lambert was making last minute fixes to siege equipment. Eskel was kneeling by a fire, preparing his mind for the fight to come. Ves and Roche were crafting arrows that could be set on fire and discussing the lay of the field of battle. Kiera was mostly making sure she looked smashing in the event this day was to be her last.

Soon the friends conferred and established a defense strategy. There was no time to lose. Geralt thanked everyone for coming, and told them why they were here, to defend Ciri. Geralt said they needed to take the initiative to ambush Eridin when he arrived in force. Yen would make a shield to magically protect the castle, forcing the Wild Hunt to approach on foot. Geralt and Lambert would set out as a scouting party to welcome the invaders and Triss would provide assistance in the form of a deadly fire storm from above. Roche and Ves would prepare traps around the outskirts of the castle.

The rest of the defenders were to stay in the fortress and repel any invaders who made it to the gates or walls. They had to support each other, so they were to pull back to the inner courtyard to mount a defense if they became overwhelmed. Zoltan would prepare some barrels that explode when lit, and Ermion had his gas clouds as well. Ciri was to stay inside the castle, much to her dismay. Finally they decided to devote the witchers’ time to before battle to brewing potions and patching a large hole in one of Kaer Morhen’s exterior walls.

After a few hours, their preparations were almost complete. Lambert went to the castle’s entrance to prepare the horses while Geralt stopped to speak with Ciri a moment. Geralt tried to assure her he would keep her safe. Ciri was still upset that she didn’t have a more active role in the battle, but she hugged Geralt and told him that everything would be alright. Geralt wasn’t so sure. At the exit from the main hall, he looked back once more a Ciri, and then stepped out into the mountain air.

As soon as he did, the weather changed and snow began to fall. Avallac'h's prediction that the Wild Hunt would descend on Kaer Morhen as soon as Ciri arrived was proven true. Everyone was ready and in position. Geralt and Lambert rode out into the woods, and Yennefer drew upon all her strength to create a magical barrier the protected the entirety of Kaer Morhen. Then the Wild Hunt appeared above Kaer Morhen and its spectral warriors galloped out of the sky towards the fortress.Trusting in the strength of his magic and the skill of his Riders, Eredin boldly launched a frontal assault.

Geralt and Lambert waited for the Hunt’s raiders in the forest. Soon a platoon arrived and was immediately bombarded by fire from Triss. The battle was on. Portals began appearing and the witchers used signs and bombs to seal them as quickly as possible, and met each enemy who made it through with steel and silver. Soon however, the general of the hunt, Imelrith, appeared with a large force the witchers could not hope to defeat alone. They signaled for Triss, but nothing happened. Geralt and Lambert could do nothing but fight, and hope aid would arrive soon. Each drew a sword and sprinted into the fray.

Back in Kaer Morhen, Ciri noticed that the signal had not been met with an answer from Triss. When she went outside she discovered the soldiers of the hunt were already on the fortress walls. Despite Vesemir’s protestations, she went to find Triss. Geralt’s life depended on her success. Ciri found her and told her about the signal. They were beset by enemies, but after dispatching them, Triss unleashed a fire on the woods of magnificent terror. Fortunately the witchers were protected by their quen shields. They fled from the fires and back to Kaer Morhen.

When Geralt and Lambert arrived back at the castle, Lambert protected the entrance while Geralt ran to close the gate. The defenders of Kaer Morhen did what they could to hold back their attackers, but the enemy's strength was overwhelming. All present spared no effort in defending Ciri. The Wild Hunt had made it to the very walls of Kaer Morhen. Though Lambert made no secret of his hatred for Kaer Morhen, when the time came to stand in its defense, he did so without a second thought. As he stood there in the courtyard fending off the warriors of the Hunt before the gate dropped, he came within a hair's breadth of losing his life. Luckily, Keira arrived in the nick of time and together they held back his attackers. Keira fought bravely against Eredin's minions and saved Lambert from certain death. Just as she did so, Geralt dropped the gate and held the attackers at bay for a moment.

Warrior after warrior fell to our heroes' blows, but others immediately took their place. The Hunts magic was slowly sapping Yennefer of strength and her magical barrier was beginning to shrink. The defenders fell back to the inner gates of the fortress - and so began the last phase of the battle. When they arrived, the inner gates were closed. Eskel was supposed to open them but he was locked in a duel to the death with Caranthir, another General of the wild hunt. Eskel took active part in the defense of Kaer Morhen, standing bravely in the face of overwhelming odds against the general. The witcher would have been killed by the the Wild Hunt's navigator, had Ciri not showed up. She could travel in and out of the world at a speed the Ann Elle couldn’t hope to match. He retreated from the courtyard and Ciri was able to open the gate for Geralt and the others.

The onslaught continued in the inner courtyard. Portal after portal was opened and then closed by Geralt’s allies. The defenders were no match for the Hunt’s pure numbers. Though once again Vigi the Loon fought with skill and courage, this time he fell in battle. News of his heroic death would one day reach Skellige, where in ballads he would earned the title that eluded him in life: Vigi the Unfearing.

Geralt joined the others to make a last stand, when Yen’s barrier failed and a blast of cold rushed through so strong, that Geralt and most of the others were knocked unconscious. The only remaining defenders were Vesemir and Ciri. It was a dark hour for the defenders of Kaer Morhen. There the keep's defenders witnessed heart-wrenching proof of this Imelrith’s dangerous might. Vesemir, who had spent most of his long life with a sword in his hand, heroically stood to fight this foe but after a bloody and hard-fought confrontation was soon disarmed and held by the throat a hostage.

Then Eredin appeared and told Ciri the only way the others would live was if she surrendered herself. Ciri began to submit, but Vesemir forbade it and performed one final act of sacrifice. He took a dagger and stabbed Imelrith, who responded by breaking the old witcher’s neck. Vesemir always said no witcher had ever died in his own bed, so death in combat surely awaited him as well. Vesemir gave his all to protect his former ward, whom he had always treated like an adopted granddaughter, and died a hero's death. It seemed all of the witcher's friends would soon share his fate.

But Imelrith's act of cruelty unleashed a power no one there could have foreseen. The defenders' lives were hanging by a thread, when suddenly Ciri's magic talent revealed its full force. In an uncontrolled outburst of rage she pummeled both allies and enemies alike with a blast of pure Power from the raw strength of her Elder Blood. She saved the protectors of Kaer Morhen from certain death. The Hunt's forces were nearly wiped out, leaving Eredin and his generals no choice but to retreat. Ciri's outburst did not end then however, and would have continued until all there were dead had Avallac'h not known a spell to knock Ciri unconcious. The valiant defenders, exhausted, wounded, but still alive, were all that remained on the field of battle. The Battle of Kaer Morhen was over. Ciri terrified herself with her lack of control of her powers, and was despondent that she nearly killed them all. Geralt reminded her that she was the only reason they survived at all. She saved them. Geralt decided they need to bury their fallen comrades.


They built a funeral pyre for Vesemir. Ciri laid a wreath of flowers on his body, and Geralt put the pyre aflame. Before the fire spread, Ciri grabbed Vesemir’s medallion and stormed off. The rest stood over the pyre, and mourned. Geralt approached and told Vesemir’s remains that he would always remember the old witcher’s teachings, as well as the sacrifice he made. Geralt and Eskel remeniced about Vesemir, and Eskel resolved to abandon Kaer Morhen and find a new place to winter as it wouldn’t be the same without their mentor.

When the witcher approached Lambert and Kiera, he noticed they were standing close together. It turned out that fighting side by side had forged a bond between them and they had decided to continue developing it after the battle was over. This confirmed my theory that witchers and sorceresses clearly share some mystical mutual attraction. It just might be that Lambert and Keira's later (and somewhat unexpected) relationship came about as a result of that moment, when they fought for survival at each other's side. It is also possible it was a simple matter of two attractive people taking a liking to each other. At any rate, only time could tell what would become of the couple. Geralt spoke with and thanked the others present as well for coming to his when needed. He swore never to forget it. However, a question hung over the conversations with a chill as strong as the Wild Hunt’s. What now?


The danger had only been thwarted temporarily, and they needed to prepare a new plan for saving Ciri. Avallac’h advised the witcher that ultimate victory over Eredin and his ghastly cavalcade would only be possible with magic assistance. Yennefer had always felt some ends justified otherwise unsavoury means. When it became clear rescuing Ciri would require the help of Philippa Eilhart and the other sorceresses of the reviled Lodge, she forgot about any bad blood and resolved to lure them to aiding their cause with the promise of Emhyr granting them amnesty.

Ciri's explosion of power had frightened everyone, her most of all. Clearly these uncontrolled outbursts could not be allowed to happen again, and so when the sorceresses departed for Novigrad to gather the Lodge, Ciri, Geralt and Avallac'h remained at Kaer Morhen for a few more days. The Sage hoped to teach Ciri a few tricks for controlling her power. Sad to say, in the beginning her training was not progressing as hoped.

Seizing the calm before the storm, Avallac'h tried once more to teach Ciri to control her incredible talent. He soon found that Ciri was as stubborn a pupil as she was gifted - something that Geralt had discovered for himself much earlier. Ciri had trouble focusing - rage and resignation would overwhelm her in turns. Geralt, the wily old wolf, knew how to deal with this. Instead of hitting her over the head with some dry motivational lecture, he decided to resort to less conventional measures and... started a snowball fight. pure genius! And what fun! Ah, how I would have loved to have been there... But no matter, the important thing is this moment of carefree respite worked wonders on Ciri - her discouragement slackened and she returned to her training with newfound verve.

The next morning Ciri woke Geralt before dawn. She was wide-awake, a look of intense excitement on her face and urgency in her voice. What had brought her to this state? She knew Imlerith would soon be attending a witches' sabbath on Bald Mountain. Regardless of race or birth, most warriors share common desires and delights. Imlerith was no exception. Avallac'h informed Ciri that he was wont to wallow in corporeal pleasures and would take advantage of his stay in our world. That would be their chance. Vesemir's death tore a gaping hole in Ciri's heart and left only a burning drive for revenge to fill it. Ciri smelled blood and decided at once to travel to No Man's Land and kill Imlerith. Geralt, that calculating, practical-minded witcher, as usual caved immediately to his adopted daughter's wishes and agreed to accompany her on this expedition. The pair thus slipped out of Kaer Morhen in the cool light of morning, leaving the safety of protective walls behind them. Geralt and Ciri galloped of to find vengeance at Bald Mountain.

For five days Geralt and Ciri road south until they reach Velen. They were heading for Bald Mountain. The peasants of Velen believe the summit of Bald Mountain is home to witches, werebbubbs and wights. While they could not know about the last two, Geralt and Ciri did know that this was where the Crones of Crookback Bog celebrated the Sabbath. Since Imelrith was to be in attendance on that night, the father and daughter waited until dusk and then rook a poleboat across the marshes of Velen and to the foot of the mountain.

They followed a trail of what looked like hundred of footprints until they found the location. A few guards were at first alarmed by their presence, but one of them recognized Geralt as the witcher who had helped the Crones slay the monster in the Whispering Hillock and so he assumed they were invited guests. The witcher and his ward sat with the peasants and spoke, both to lower suspicions and to learn about the Sabbath. It seemed three local peasants were chosen every year to summit the mountain. They would then return to the village renewed, but would soon leave Velen, rarely to return. Geralt had his suspicions about what happened to the “chosen” that would be confirmed all too soon. Once an opportunity arose, Geralt told the men that they must be on their way, and he continued up the road where he could see smoke from what must have been other bonfires.

However on his way up the trial, Geralt saw an old acquaintance. Geralt had thought his and Johnny's paths would never cross again, but fate had other plans. It seemed the godling had received an offer he couldn't refuse from the Crones and, willing or not, would have to attend the sabbath. He had no intention of tarrying there long, however, and when the first opportunity arrived he seized it and left that filth-ridden place. Before he did, Johnny told Geralt and Ciri what to do to gain access to the peak of the mountain, where Imlerith himself was celebrating the dark feast. They would have to approach Thalca, a servant of the Crones, the woman who chose which persons could mount the summit.

Geralt and Ciri went from tent to tent until they found the old woman. She bid them to approach one at a time … and demanded Ciri approach first. The old woman was blind, but Geralt quickly got the sense that she had other ways of seeing. After only a few questions, she declared that Ciri would be one of the chosen. However she declared that Geralt was a old, sterile and wicked freak who could not pass. Geralt argued that she misjudged him and the gatekeeper told him of a way to appeal her decision. Geralt would have to dive into a lake far below and fetch her a coin bearing the face of Falka the defiler.

Geralt dove from a height of a hundred feet into the water below, and through the murky waters soon found the defilers coin. He began to return up the mountain when he came upon something wholly unexpected … a Fiend. The beast stood as though a sentry at the mouth of a roper bridge that appeared to be the only way back up. Geralt suspected that this beast was purposefully there to make sure no one ever successfully appealed Thalca’s decisions. However, the witcher was no mere peasant, a fact the beast soon learned from a blood soaked silver sword.

Geralt continued on the path back to Thalca’s tent and found Ciri waiting for him outside. They entered together and Geralt showed the blind woman the coin. Though she could not see it, she knew the task had been completed. Proving she was a woman of her word, she bid her servant escort Ciri and Geralt to the gate of the summit and unlock it for them. She then announced that they would be the final chosen, as apparently two others had already climbed up the mountain.

The servant opened the gate, and Ciri and Geralt entered into the heart of a the mountain. Shortly after they entered they crossed the path of an awaiting Sylvan named Fugas, who was apparently a final guard. The devil Fugas held a very prestigious and responsible position during the Crones' sabbath: that of goon restricting access to the peak. He in no way resembled Torque, the irritating but harmless "deovel" Geralt and I had encountered many, many years prior. Fugas' size resembled that of a somewhat overgrown troll, and he likewise displayed a troll's lack of subtlety. There was not a jot of mischievous puck or cunning verbal trickster about this "devil." Instead, he carried out his task with the commitment and professionalism of a Novigrad bouncer.

He told Geralt he would not be allowed to pass, but Geralt showed the coin that was to grant him access to the summit. The beast jumped from his seat and announced that the defilers coin was a death sentence. Though he could spit fire and had more strength than any man, the beast was slow and no match for a witcher. Trying to stop Geralt turned out to be Fugas' dumbest and final idea, ending both his life and his flourishing career in the Crones' employ.

The danger passed, Geralt a Ciri decided they would have to split up to look for the Crones and Imelrith. They believed the Crones would be down in the roots of the mountain, and Ilmerith at the summit. Geralt and Ciri briefly debated who would get the chance to take Imelrith, but eventually agreed that though it was Cirilla who convinced Geralt to go with her to exact vengeance on Imerith, it would be the witcher who stood against Vesemir's killer in a final duel. Ciri would have her chance to slay some evil that day, however, fighting the three monsterous sisters who had usurped for themselves rule over Velen.

And so Ciri descended into the bowels of the mountain. Soon she could hear the cackles of the evil sisters she sought echoing off the walls of the caves as she travelled deeper and deeper. She followed the voices until she found the three standing in a shallow pool of water, root and blood. The three sister danced around a cauldron bathed in the blood of the other “worthy” peasants who had ascended bald mountain that night. The sisters truly did feed on human flesh, cooking them up in infernal pots spiced with root from the cursed tree growing on Bald Mountain.

This depraved ritual was soon interrupted when Ciri splashed down in their midst to perform a different kind of dance. Magic filled the air as the crones spells cracked through the cave, but Ciri blinked through time in space as she hunted the sisters. She focused on them one at a time while avoiding the others. First her blade found the head of Whispess, the oldest of the sisters. She had been the ears of Velen for centuries. Yet no magic, new or old, could save her from Cirilla's wrath. Next she sliced upon the stomach of the largest of the sisters. In the end Brewess shared Whispess' fate: she was slain by Ciri's blade. The fight on Bald Mountain was meant to put an end to all three Crones, but Weavess evaded her elder sisters' fate. She was able to escape by transforming into a flock of ravens just a Ciri was about to land a death blow. In the chaos that the struggle had been she took Vesemir's medallion, the only memento Ciri had kept of her dead friend and mentor. Cursing her misfortune, Ciri watched the ravens fly away into the dawning sun.
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Geralt noticed the flock of ravens as he approached the summit, but gave them no though as he was focused on the task at hand. Geralt found the elf resting after his hedonistic evening with a throng of succubi. The other creatures fled as the witcher approached knowing violence was coming with him. The elf told the witcher that the Crones had foreseen his arrival, and asked if he had brought Ciri with him. Geralt lied. Imelrith did not believe him and said he would kill the witcher and then take his ward. The elf then donned his battle helm and without another word the battle began.

Geralt's speed made for a formidable method of combatting the spectre's slower, massive mace swings. Halfway through the battle, Imerlith disgarded his giant shield to begin a constant multitude of whirling strikes. The duel continued until Geralt ran the giant through. Unflinching, with brute strength, Imlerith's mighty hands pounded downward forcing the sword from his body and Geralt's hands. The general then griped the momentarily staggered Geralt by the neck with both hands and lifted him in the air. He asked the witcher who taught him to fight like that. “The witcher you slew,” Geralt responded, before force-feeding a devastating Igni blast through the grill of Imlerith's helmet. The elf sustained severe burns to his head and neck. As he took off his glowing red-hot helmet and faced death with a devilish smile, Geralt grabbed hold of the Aen Elle’s monstrous mace and caved in his head from above, finally ending the cruel and sadistic general for good. Thus he had avenged the death of his master, Vesemir. For vengeance is what Geralt and Ciri had found, and, though served warm, it was nonetheless sweet.


As the sun rose above the horizon, Ciri found Geralt resting on the mountain top. Having avenged Vesemir, the duo rested for awhile and spoke of their memories of their friend and mentor. After some time passed, they began to head back down the mountain where they were stopped by some of the peasants. It became clear that with two of the Crones dead, their magic had lost hold over Velen. Indeed the mighty tree on Bald Mountain was itself dying. The peasants lamented their loss, but Geralt told them they would have to manage on their own. The witcher and his ward returned to their horses, a rode for Novigrad.

Ciri's spirits were high after killing Imlerith, but Geralt knew this fight had been but an appetizer before the full course of battle still to come. As part of their preparations, Geralt and Ciri rode to Novigrad, where Triss and Yennefer were trying to reconvene the Lodge of Sorceresses. They did not know it yet, but Avallac'h was waiting there as well, and had his own ideas how to tip the scales of victory in our allies' favor during their final confrontation with Eredin.

When they arrived at the majestic city, they found that the witch hunters had moved on to new quarry. It seemed they had moved on to hunting non-humans. Ciri and Geralt went to the Chameleon and were relieved to see Zoltan was not harmed. He and Dandelion greeted them with drinks and questions about where they had been. After they spoke, Ciri was exhausted and decided to take some rest. She told Geralt she was meet him later in Gilfdorf, as she had some business to attend to.

Geralt spoke to Dandelion some more, who informed him that Triss and Avallac’h were waiting for him in his establishment, while Yen had gone off to Crippled Kates. Curious about what would cause the sorceress to visit such a seedy establishment, he went off to look for her. It turned out she was there to get information. In the mission to gather the members of the former Lodge of Sorceress, it fell to Yennefer to bring Margarita Laux-Antille to Novigrad. Yennefer's old friend had been captured by the witch hunters and was being kept in Deireadh, the best-guarded prison this side of the Yaruga.

The full list of Margarita Laux-Antille's outstanding mental, spiritual and physical attributes would consume a mountain of parchment. Rita, as her friends called her, once held the position of rector at the Aretuza Academy for Sorceresses on the Isle of Thanedd - the same school attended by her famous ancestor, Ilona Laux-Antille. Quite unusually for one of her profession, Margarita showed no interest in politics - it was only care for the good of her school that led her to join the Lodge of Sorceresses. Finally, her beauty deserves mention as well. It was said that not even the marble likenesses of goddesses and nymphs chiseled out by the greatest sculptors could rival this sorceress's figure. Yet with all her astuteness, Laux-Antille still could not escape the same fate that so many of her fellows met. She had been arrested some time before our tale begins and was staying in the Oxenfurt prison, awaiting a summary and pre-determined trial. Only Geralt and Yennefer could save Margarita from certain execution.

Geralt and Yennefer thus had a hard endeavor in front of them - they would have to break into the sealed compound and sneak Margarita out. Good thing Yen had something even better than a file in a carrot cake: contact information for the one man who had managed to escape Deireadh. Escaping seemed to be in his blood, for he attempted to make another getaway at the sight of Yennefer and Geralt, but eventually they caught him and sat down for a chat. He told them how to outfox the guards and enter the prison unnoticed. With no time to waste, Geralt and Yennefer raced off to Margarita's rescue.

Geralt entered the prison from the sewers. Soon enough he found the sorceress, but he needed the key. It was a short and bloody trip to the warden’s room, but soon he returned to Margarita. He unlocked the door and entered the cell. It wasn’t until he was inside that he noticed Sile de Tansarville.

Geralt and I both knew Síle de Tansarville, the Recluse of Kovir, the once proud member of the Lodge of Sorceresses who in her day plotted, persuaded spellcast the world into a shape of her liking. Síle always claimed she acted only out of concern for the good of magic and mankind, yet the blood of a great many people stained her hands, including that of kings who stood in the way of her aims. She took part in countless conspiracies and herself devised many intrigues in which the witcher often figured as an unwitting accomplice, obstacle or incidental victim.

Thus Geralt's prior meetings with the sorceress were stormy at best. On at least one occasion it could be said that Geralt saved Síle's life, but this did not mean he felt very warmly about her. Be that as it may, the sight of the tortured and maimed sorceress in King Radovid's dungeon made the witcher's cold heart swell with sorrow and sympathy. Perhaps it was these feeling, or perhaps it was simply respect for a defeated former enemy now suffering at the hands of cruel fanatics, that made Geralt take pity on her. Aware of what fate awaited her if she lived, Síle de Tansarville was grateful to be given a dignified death, one free from torment and humiliation.

With their powers combined, Yennefer and Geralt freed Margarita from the most formidable prison in the North. Rita was in a very sorry state, but the knowledge that she was free and would not perish on a pyre fortified her strength. Yennefer showered her long-time friend with tender care, and everyone hoped for a swift recovery.

Knowing the jailbreak would likely drawn attention, Geralt raced out of the city in the dead of night and back to Novigrad. When he arrived there, the sun was rising behind him. Ciri would be waiting for him in Gildorf, so the witcher headed in that direction. Cities like Novigrad have their own, special magic. They attract folk from all corners of the world, becoming delicious stews of diverse flavors, giant circuses filled with colorful characters just waiting to extend a helping hand - or swing a sharp elbow. Ciri had experienced the fullness of this during her stay in Novigrad, so when she found herself back in the city she decided to repay a few debts - and settle a few scores.

First name on her list - Whoreson Junior. Though Geralt swore he had killed Whoreson with his own hands, rumor had it the mafioso was alive and well. Geralt and Ciri thus decided to pay him a surprise visit. They discovered Dudu had turned Whoreson's death into a prime business opportunity. Let me just say that, as usual, he found a way to land on his feet. Dudu disguised himself as his one-time adversary and took over his business, announcing he had seen the light of the eternal fire, was going clean and investing all of his ill-gotten wealth in a legal (and very profitable) overseas trading company. In a way, you could say he was living the "Novigrad dream."


The next debt Ciri had to repay was with a young woman named Bea. She took an immediate liking to our friend the witcher, and he in turn was not left indifferent by her considerable charms. Ah, had they but world enough and time... But they hadn't, so Ciri gave her a trinket and they moved on to an itinerant circus troupe's camp outside Novigrad.

It was here that Valdo and his comrades had taken Ciri in when she had no place to stay and not a copper to her name. Geralt learned that Ciri had tried to set up an anonymous meeting with Triss, and become hunted by the temple guard when they showed up instead. She was welcomed no less warmly upon her return. Valdo proposed she and Geralt stay for some friendly horseracing and a pleasant evening of drink and dance around the fire. Geralt knew they both could use a moment to catch their breath and accepted the invitation.

Our friends were eating, drinking and delighting in the joyful atmosphere of the circus performers' camp when a certain Aegar came to them and asked for help. He needed to steal some horses from a Novigrad merchant. Geralt let Ciri convince him to participate in the heist. And he didn't regret it. What a rollicking adventure they had! First the tense thrills of sneaking into the stables, then the mad joy of galloping off, the wind in their hair. A spark of happiness flashed in Ciri's eyes, the first in a long, long while. This was the best reward the witcher had ever received.
 
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Geralt returned to the Chameleon and soon came upon Acallac’h whom had what seemed urgent business. News that Ciri and Geralt had defeated and killed Imlerith reached Avallac'h at once. I don't know how this happened, exactly, save perhaps that quickly learning of such things is the very essence of being a "Sage." At any rate, a wild notion possessed him. What if they could now sway Ge'els, one of Eredin's most powerful allies? Drawing on his knowledge of internal Aen Elle politics and the strengths and weaknesses of the Wild Hunt's commanders, Avallach crafted a plan to eliminate one of Eredin's most powerful allies - his master of manipulation, Ge'els.

Intelligent, composed and endowed with massive charisma, Ge'els enjoyed the respect and trust of the inhabitants of the Aen Elle world as well as that of their previous ruler, Auberon Muircetach. For this reason Ge'els not only retained his high-ranking position after Eredin took power, but also became one of the new king's most powerful allies, acting as his viceroy while Eredin traveled at the head of the Wild Hunt. Though Ge'els was one of the most influential of the Aen Elle, power had never been among his driving aims. According to Avallac'h, his loyalty and sense of right and wrong constituted a weakness that could be used - possibly to tip the scales of the final battle.

In order to convince the general to betray his current king, Avallac’h intended to show him what Eredin did in order to become king. Auberon Muircetach, also known as King of the Alders, had once been ruler of the far-off land of Tir ná Lia - the world which is home to Avallac'h and the Wild Hunt. He died after being poisoned by Eredin Bréacc Glas, who then declared himself king. At the time of his death Auberon had been exhausted and embittered by over six hundred and fifty years of living. Revealing this fact would certainly not earn him friends and popularity amongst the Alder Folk.

What if they could bring him over to their side? A key general and advisor, Ge'els was the individual Eredin relied on for reinforcements. For his plan to work, he would need a dreamer, so Triss pointed him towards Corinne Tilly in Novigrad. Thus, by the time Geralt and Ciri rode into town, everything had been arranged. Now all they needed was Ge'els.

In order to accomplish this, Avallac'h was willing to do anything - even risk a dangerous journey to Tir na Lia. To reach him, Avallac'h and Geralt would need to travel to the land of the Aen Elle, a voyage that would involve interdimensional travel, which in turn meant a whole lot of teleporting. Geralt vomited a little in his mouth and prepared to face the music. However, the gamble seemed necessary, and Geralt immediately left with the sage and soon arrived where a nearby portal would open. When it did they walked through … and Geralt landed in another world altogether.

When he stepped out of the portal he was in a desolate wasteland Avallac’h called the Ddiddiweddht Desert. Above them in the sky were many celestial objects, and beneath the sands were insect like creatures that would devour any living beings they came across. Avallac’h claimed the world had once been covered in oceans, but that the creature who inhabited it had sucked it dry of almost all resources. The found the next portal at almost the same time that the insects found them. They defended themselves from wave after wave of the creatures until the portal opened. They ran through.

An unpleasant surprise was in store for Geralt after he departed the Ddiddiwedht Desert: Avallac'h was no longer with him. The Sage had warned him that something of the sort might happen, but Geralt had quietly hoped this would not be the case. His hopes had been misplaced, and now the witcher would have to stumble blindly and alone as he searched for the passage to the next world. The world was a sea of grassy fields populated with a poisonous gas emitting flower. Out of the fields shot gigantic pillars of stone that almost reached the sky itself. Geralt tried to avoid the noxious gases as much as possible, and after a time found the next portal. This one led him into a cave filled with water. Thankfully this cave had another portal already open he could swim though before he drowned.

This passage through time and space took Geralt to a world filled with ice. It was a city that had apparently died long ago. Geralt found some papers that were written in his own tongue which put the witcher ill at ease. However soon he saw a light in a far-off tower. Through the biting cold and howling winds he trekked until he reached the beacon.

He found Avallac’h sitting in a room in the tower waiting for him. Geralt somehow felt like the room was familiar, and the elven sage told the witcher he had indeed been there before. You see Geralt had for a time travelled with Eredin’s Red Riders after he exchanged his soul for Yennefers … but the witcher had no memories of those times. Avallac’h told him that it was Ciri who had rescued him and taken him to Kaer Morhen years before. Geralt wondered why Ciri never told him … but he suspected it was to keep him from feeling any responsibility for the Wild Hunt’s chasing her. The two sat in the room discussing their journey thus far until the next portal opened and they stepped through.

Ah, what I wouldn't give to see with my own eyes what Geralt saw in the worlds he traversed. Yet most intriguing of all seemed the world of the Aen Elle, the end point of Geralt's and Avallac'h's journey. To behold the glories of this ancient elven civilization… but alas, fate granted this privilege not to a poet but to a witcher, who returned not with paeans to the distant world's beauty, but with a general of the Wild Hunt - one Ge'els. I must be fair, however, and state that the general proved useful. Avallac'h decided to bet all on the ace he had tucked up his sleeve. He promised Ge’els to show them who killed their king using an Omneiromancer. Intrigued, Ge’els consented to accompany them without a fight.

With the help of the dreamer Corinne Tilly, he proved to Ge'els that Eredin had killed Auberon, the erstwhile king of the Aen Elle and the object of Ge'els' undying devotion. Confronted by this revelation, Ge'els could hardly return to business as usual. As predicted, Ge'els acted out of loyalty to his former king and withdrew support for Eredin once he learned the truth about Auberon's death. This momentous act portended important ramifications for the outcome of the coming battle. He struggled internally for some moments before revealing the one way Geralt and friends could hope to defeat Eredin and company. They would have to battle Eredin and the Hunt in their own world and on their own terms. The first step - to use the Sunstone to summon the Naglfar. A plan of action was devised - Geralt, Ciri, the sorceresses and Avallac'h would sail to Skellige to find the stone, while Zoltan and I would stay behind in Novigrad to keep the hearth fires burning and secure our friends' return.


However, first they still needed more allies, specifically of interest was Philippa Eilhart. Triss returned to Novigrad after leaving Kaer Morhen with one goal - to find Philippa Eilhart. When Geralt went to speak with the sorceress, she had made a shocking discovery - Philippa had been right under our very noses the whole time! Thanks to her mastery of the difficult art of polymorphy, Philippa had been able to evade her pursuers by transforming into an owl. Then she had holed up in a hideout outside Novigrad to wait out the worst. During her flight from her pursuers she had sought shelter with an old lover and fellow mage. He must've still born a grudge, however, for he tricked her and imprisoned her in her owl form.

After the with hunters carted him off, his house was plundered and the owl wound up in the hands of... our dear friend Zoltan who, ignorant of his new pet's true identity, strived to make of her a replacement for his former foul-mouthed parrot companion, Field Marshal Duda. Sadly Triss discovered this right after Zoltan had lost the owl in a game of cards - meaning our search had to continue. In order to find her, Triss wanted to try and use hydromancy to find Phil using one of her owl forms’ feathers. The sorceresses spell worked, and they learned where she was.

Triss was not the only one to uncover Philippa's whereabouts. Coming to that conclusion slightly before her was Dijkstra, who shared with Philippa the strongest bond possible - love turned to seething hate. The one-time spy and current mafia boss had captured Philippa and imprisoned her in his bathhouse. Was it a coincidence that she was now in the hands of her spurned-ex-lover and hated enemy? Triss certainly didn't think so, instead suspecting the former spy had woven a gwent-centered web of subterfuge in order to settle some old score.

Triss and Geralt knew they must hurry - it was clear Dijkstra had not gone through all this trouble to chat with Philippa about old times. Vengeance was more likely on his agenda, vengeance for breaking his heart and daring to plot against him. It is frightening to think how this story might have ended had Triss and Geralt not arrived at the bathhouse in the nick of time. As they approached the refuge, they heard a massive explosion and rushed in to see what was happening.

A dimeritium collar had kept Philippa trapped in owl form, but somehow she had managed to free herself from it, revert to her true self, overcome her guards and start tearing the bathhouse apart. Geralt chased her through the Bathhouse and into the sewers below. She had enchanted the Cave Troll Bart, but Geralt was able to convince him he only wanted to help Philippa. Dodging her furious blasts, Geralt was finally able to corner her and convince her he and Triss did not want to harm her - in fact, they needed her help. Once she believed him, Philippa came back up to the Bathhouse.

Dijkstra was not inclined to allow Phil to leave the Bathhouse. Geralt promised to give him information about Emhyr if he acquiesced and let the sorceress leave. Though Dijkstra was vehemently opposed to letting the sorceress go, he ultimately realized resistance was futile in the face of Geralt's ironclad logic. And so Philippa Eilhart regained her freedom and joined the offensive against Eredin and his Red Riders.

As for Dijkstra, momentous decisions altering the fate of entire nations are often made under unusual circumstances. For example, when Geralt was asked to take part in the assassination of King Radovid, he was standing in a bathhouse in Novigrad, half-naked and staring at a sweat-soaked Dijkstra. If he agreed to join in, he was to attend a meeting in a warehouse by the docks. There the co-conspirators would hash out the details of their plan to kill the most powerful ruler in the North. Anyone who thought Dijkstra had broken all ties with the world of political schemers and plotters was sorely mistaken.

Geralt went to the warehouse to hear the spy out. There also was Thaler and Roche. They told him that Radovid had moved his ship from Oxenfurt to Novigrad and was residing in it at the cities port. The plan was for Geralt to report back to Radovid about his contract to find Philippa. He would tell him she was hiding out on St. Gregory’s Bridge. There Roche’s men would be waiting in ambush.

The terror of Radovid's reign had led not just enemies, but also his allies and even his subjects to long for his death. The phrase "monster in human flesh" fit Radovid the Stern perfectly. Perhaps it was awareness of all the cruel and bestial acts this madman perpetrated that led the witcher to get involved in the plans for his assassination. Although the witcher had many reservations about getting involved in the plot, Radovid had proven a thread to every magical being in the north, including Yen, Triss and Ciri … so he agreed to try and lure the King off his ship in Novigrad and to toward Temple Isle.

When Geralt left the warehouse, he found Philippa waiting for him. She told Geralt that he would never succeed in drawing Radovid off the ship. Then she handed him a ring that she had received from Radovid’s father before his death. She told the witcher that if he showed that to the King of Redania, it might just work. Geralt thanked her for her help, but asked her what the catch was. She said there was none, wished the witcher good luck, and polymorphed back into an owl.

Geralt went to seek an audience with the King. They spoke and Geralt became very glad Philippa gave him the ring, as his attitude changed completely when he saw it. Hatred for Philippa Eilhart proved to be Radovid's weakness. He was ready to do anything to capture her - even abandon the safe confines of his flagship.

The plan for luring Radovid out of hiding worked, though not without complications. Irritated by Geralt's typical cheek, Radovid brayed for the witcher's blood, and Geralt only dodge the executioner's axe thanks to the intervention of his co-conspirators. Roche took part in the assassination personally and was responsible for saving the witcher. Perhaps the delay this caused was what allowed the ruler to nearly escape his assassins, but in the end he could not cheat fate and died at the hands of Philippa Eilhart, who descended suddenly, a veritable demon of vengeance, to revenge the wrongs he had done her. With a wave of her hand she blinded her former king, and then delivered a killing blow.


Their bold plan succeeded: the Redanian king was assassinated on the bridge leading to Temple Isle. Radovid's was not the last blood to be spilled as a result of this conspiracy, however. The group toasted to their success and the future of Temeria. Geralt then learned from Roche and Thaler that they had plotted for an Armistice were Foltest’s former kingdom would become a vassal state within Nilfgaard. The king of Redania's death was to be a guarantee of Temerian independence. In order to achieve this, Roche was not afraid to strike a deal with the Nilfgaardians. This move played right into Dijkstra's hand.

As an experience dragonslayer once commented, more than once heads have only rolled after the dragon's been slain, the mead broken out and the campfire lit, for when it comes time to share the treasure, hunters of beasts often become slayers of men instead. Such was the case after the assassination of Radovid, when Dijkstra tried to renege on the terms of their arrangement and do away with Thaler and Vernon. He had no intention of letting the war end with surrender to Nilfgaard. Though Geralt has always prized his neutrality, he did not intend to sit idly and watch Dijkstra's thugs butcher his friends. And so the Redanian spy's long-awaited moment of triumph transformed into his final defeat at the witcher's hands.

In the chaos that took Novigrad after Radovid’s death, Geralt returned to the Chameleon. I had no idea of his involvement in the King’s death until years later. He simply returned to the tavern, ordered a drink and got some well earned rest. The next morning would launch the witcher far from Novigrad.

When Geralt awoke the city was still abuzz with what had happened, but our party was focused on planning their departure. Geralt and the sorceresses successfully gathered their allies and reconvened Lodge of Sorceress. Confronting the Lodge - now there is a difficult task, one many a brave soul would move mountains to avoid. Cirilla, however, decided to stand and face the powerful sorceresses. From the accounts that reached my ears I can conclude that she let the mistresses of magic know in clear terms that she had a mind of her own and would not be a servile tool in their hands. Since they were never members of the Lodge, Geralt and Yennefer waited anxiously outside the room for her, as they believed it would be best to let Ciri make her own choices. However, they couldn’t stop themselves from trying to spy on the magicians meeting. Their faith in Ciri was rewarded as she made Philippa turn pale with her response to the Lodge’s offer. Afterwards, Ciri said she needed some fresh air to clear her head, and that she would meet them on the ship to Skellige that evening. Though many obstacles had threatened to block their progress, they had surmounted them all and emerged relatively unscathed. All the preliminaries were now finished - and the last battle against the Wild Hunt could commence. And so that evening Geralt, Ciri, Yennefer, Triss, Philippa Eilhart, Margarita Laux-Antille, and Avallac’h the Aen Elle set sail for Skellige.

Geralt knew he could only defeat Eredin with the help of mages and on his own terms. Since the King of the Wild Hunt was traveling on the Naglfar, the spectral vessel known from Skellige legend, somewhere between worlds, our heroes had to summon him back and somehow cut off his escape route. Such a feat could only be performed by a group of mages acting in concert and aided by a legendary elven artifact - the Sunstone. However, the group could see when they arrived that there was a complication in the form of Emhyr var Emreis. The emperor's flagship was anchored in Skellige's waters when Geralt arrived. His Imperial Majesty would preside over the battle in person - but more important to Geralt was the prisoner he held on his ship, the Nilfgaardian sorceress Fringilla Vigo, whose aid could turn the tide of Ciri's defense.

Emperor Emhyr had once presented the mages of Nilfgaard with a simple choice: either serve their country unquestioningly or die in prison. Fringilla Vigo, a mistress of magic holding office in the vassal duchy of Toussaint, refused both options and instead joined the infamous Lodge of Sorceresses, whose aim was to stand up to the dictates of kings and emperors. These bold ambitions were never fulfilled, however, and Fringilla Vigo lived in fear that her ties to this subversive organization would be discovered and she would meet a quick end at the hands of the emperor's executioners.

One must mention here that Geralt first met Fringilla at the ducal palace in Beauclair many years ago, when we were there enjoying the hospitality of my one-time love, Duchess Anna Henrietta. The witcher, always a sucker for sorceresses, conjoined with Madame Vigo during this time in a quite lively relationship that surely was no cause of joy for Triss or Yennefer. All indications were that Fringilla had been arrested and remained in a Nilfgaardian prison, undoubtedly awaiting execution for acts of high treason. However, Yennefer asked Geralt to go to Emhyr and take him a letter she had written reminding him of their pact, and the Ciri’s life may very well depend on Fringilla’s freedom.

So the witcher had two tasks to undertake before they would be ready for battle. He needed to find the sunstone, and he needed to find a way to get Fringilla Vigo released. Since they were in Kaer Trolde, Geralt thought he sould first speak with the an Craites to see if he could gather any information that would be of help. He found Crach on the water’s edge in port and asked him where Ermion was as the druid might have information about the Sunstone. It turned out Ermion had travelled south to Kaer Muire to meet with Madman Lugos who was still bitter about the an Craite on the throne of Skellige.

Geralt decided to head south and meet the old druid, as from there he could sail to Emhyr’s fleet with relative ease. Geralt rode south without incident until he returned to the fortress of Clan Drummond. When he arrived he found Emrion was already there, and in a heated argument with Lugos about his lack of support got the the other Jarls with the Nilfgaardian fleet at their shores. Seeing his own son die and Crach an Craite's child take the throne of Skellige proved too much for Lugos to bear. Enraged and embittered, he refused to listen to reason and attacked the witcher, thus picking a fight that could only end one way. However the witcher did not have to fight alone. When persuasion and reason failed, Ermion would, as a last resort, turn to violence - and then he became a foe to be reckoned with. Madman Lugos found this out personally. As they had in the past, witcher and druid stood side by side and fought a common enemy. They killed Lugos and several of his men, before escaping Holstein.

Ermion had expected negotiations to turn sour, but had not expected the witcher to appear at his moment of need. He asked why the witcher had come. It was then that Geralt asked his old friend about the Sunstone. Ermion did not know, but he knew of a man named Eyvind who was obsessed with Aen Seidhe artifacts that lived in Arienbjorne. Ermion wished him luck and gave a warning about the caves the stone likely stayed in. It would have been raided years before unless protected by magical forces. The druid recommended Geralt have a sorceress accompany him.

The man was watching the seas for a great white whale to appear, as he believed legends portended this day to be when it appeared. Geralt said he would watch with the man, and used the occasion to ask about him about Elven ruins on the isle. As they spoke Geralt saw what could only be described as a great white whale, but by the time he realized it and shouted for Eyvind to look, the great beast was already gone. Eyvind asked why Geralt wanted to know about this cave, to which the witcher responded it was for an adventure novel. Upon hearing this Eyvind told all, and said the best preserved elven caves on all of Skellige were east of Kaer Trolde along the face of some cliffs. Geralt thanked the man and wished him luck in his sighting the whale.

So the witcher waited for night to fall and sailed for the Nilfgaardian fleet off the coast on Undvik. As an attentive reader you surely remember that the Wild Hunt could only be defeated with the help of powerful magic, and for this reason Geralt had recruited the most powerful sorceresses in the world, both those he liked and those he utterly detested, to join his cause. When a chance arose to add Fringilla Vigo to the roster, Geralt seized it without a moment's hesitation and went straightaway to the emperor's ship, where the dark-haired sorceress was being held. Fringilla Vigo was the emperor's prisoner, and probably would have remained so till the end of her days if not for Yennefer's pact with Emhyr. He agreed to let the sorceress go - on condition she help in the fight against the Wild Hunt.

They returned to the other sorceresses in Kaer Trolde via a portal. Ciri pulled Geralt aside for a confidential heart-to-heart. She confided to him that Avallac'h had a hidden lair, a secret place that not even Ciri, his star pupil and long-time traveling companion, had been allowed to visit. Geralt thought the idea was dubious as they needed to find the Sunstone, which was on Ard Skellige while this lair was on a small island between Spikaroog and Undvik. However when Ciri asked Geralt to come with him, he agreed. The most important part of any conspiracy is for the co-conspirators to trust each other fully, and Ciri's revelation had cast a shadow of suspicion on Avallac'h. Geralt knew light must be shed on this shadow before it proved too late.

He mentioned the cave the Sunstone was likely to be in. Despite habing just regained her vision – and magically at that - Philippa said she would meet the witcher there and disappeared into a portal. Yennefer and Ciri likewise took a portal to Avallac’h lab to scout ahead, but the witcher … who hated portals, took a small boat from port and sailed to Avallac’h small isle.

It turned out Avallac'h's well-guarded secret was a hidden laboratory in which he carried out research on Lara Dorren's gene - the gene Ciri bore within her, the cause of her power and her misfortune. Geralt's trip to Avallac'h's laboratory confirmed that the Sage was interested in Ciri and her genealogy.Ciri was understandably less than thrilled to see herself through Avallac'h's eyes as a subject in some twisted experiment.

Meanwhile, they also discovered this secret research wasn't the only reason the Seer kept the place hidden. Avallac'h seemed to have been using it as a pleasure alcove for trysts with his elven lover. Who would have thought? It turns out even the wisest of sages is not always driven by pure reason alone. Theshe elf they stumbled across in Avallac'h's laboratory claimed his interest in Ciri was purely pragmatic and that he secretly loathed her for the human blood in her veins. Was Avallac'h truly so two-faced - or was the mysterious she-elf merely twisting his words to hurt Ciri? Geralt saw how much these revelations were hurting Ciri, so he decided to give her the opportunity for some release. As he looked at some documents, the witcher casually pushed a bottle off of a table so that it shattered on the floor. He looked a Ciri, and then the two of them began to attack the elven sage’s furniture like a couple of common vandals. Though unleashing anger on inanimate objects might not be considered mature behaviour, it definitely helps bring one relief. Ciri thus reached for this most simple of solutions.

After they had torn down to their hearts content, Geralt, Ciri and Yennefer left Avallac’h lair and spoke upon the shore of the isle. Ciri mentioned she wished to visit someone very special to her, a young man named Skjall who had helped her flee the Wild Hunt. Yennefer and Geralt exchanged grim looks and gave Ciri the tragic news: Skjall was dead. Fighting back tears, Ciri announced she was going to visit his grave. They did not mention that they had brought him back from the dead in excruciating pain to learn of what had happened to her. Ciri asked to go pay homage to Skjall, and though it was not their purpose for being in Skellige, the matter seemed important to the witcher’s ward, so he agreed to accompany her. Yennefer opened a portal and in a moment, Ciri and Geralt were on the opposite side of the archipelago.


It turned out brave Skjall was not treated with the respect he deserved after his death. His body was thrown in a ditch like a rotting animal carcass. Offended to her very core, Ciri pulled his corpse out of the ditch and buried it with Geralt's help near the cemetery. This violation of custom aroused the disgust and outrage of nearby Skelligers, to whom Skjall was a disgraced outcast. Ciri remained intransigent and refused to give any ground to local sensibilities. All in all, it was an unfortunate incident that could have been handled more, hm... delicately.

Ciri and Geralt then returned the Ard Skellige to meet with Avallac’h and the others who were finishing their preparations for the battle to come. It seemed that Yennefer had been busy and the both Skellige and Nilfgaard’s forces were going to stand in Defense of Ciri. Crach and Hjalmar were prepared to sail their fleets from Ard Skellig to Undivk, where they would stand side by side with perhaps their greatest enemies. Emhyr was likewise ready to halt the campaign he was personally overseeing in Skellige to ensure his daughter’s safety … thus proving that family ties can sometimes be stronger than political grievances.

Avallac'h remained shockingly unperturbed when he heard Geralt and his companions had visited his secret laboratory. He openly admitted that he was interested in Lara's bloodline and in protecting her descendants. When they brought up the she-elf they came across in his lab, Avallac'h reacted with mild amusement, as if that particular subject was not worth treating seriously. He was much more interested in dealing with the Wild Hunt.

However, before they could spring their ambush, Geralt had to find the Sunstone. You will remember he had been given a location where it might be, and the Philippa had gone off to look for it. Geralt arrived at the location and found the sorceress still outside attempting to unseal a magical barrier. After some time she succeeded and they entered the cave together. While they searched for the Sunstone, Philippa seemed to be asking a great many questions about Ciri and Yennefer, and had a great deal more interest in them than the witcher generally liked. Soon it became apparent that Philippa wanted Geralt to take Yen with him, and leave Ciri to become Empress of Nilfgaard, with Philippa as her advisor. Geralt told Philippa to leave Ciri alone, and then refocused on their task.

Soon they found the stone they found the Sunstone - a feat which, to give credit where it's due, would have been impossible without the help of Philippa Eilhart. Everyone knew what this meant: the preparations for the great battle against the Wild Hunt had come to an end, and what would follow their activation of the Sunstone would determine the fate of the world. With everything ready, our heroes set off to meet with the Nilfgaardian and Skellige fleets near Undvik, where they would all join together in fighting the Wild Hunt.
 
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Every story, even the longest epic, must end, and so this one too now nears its conclusion. Geralt and his friends had acquired the Sunstone and secured the help of Fringilla Vigo. In other words, the long and dangerous process of preparing was over at last and everything was in place for the final battle against the Wild Hunt. All that remained was to summon the Naglfar to the shores of Undvik – and straight into their trap. The Nilfgaardians and warriors of Skellige would aid in the battle. Neither Emhyr nor Crach balked when the time came to stand and fight Eredin.

Avallac'h played an active role in the war council preceding the luring of the Wild Hunt into their trap. During these discussions he and Ciri briefly got into a heated argument because Avallac'h firmly insisted she not engage directly in the coming conflict. But the plan was finalized. The mages would prevent the Naglfar from departing the world once it arrived, and the soldiers would attack the vessel from all sides, with Geralt fighting with one of the Nilfgaardian regiments at the center of the attack.

Soon everyone was heading off to get in position for their task. However, Yennefer stayed behind to share a moment with Geralt. She told the witcher that after this was over, and Ciri was safe, she wanted to find a quiet spot in the world and spend time there with her lover of yore. Geralt had never heard such a promising proposal in all his long life, and instantly agreed to join her when the war was done. With that the lovers parted, hoping they would get the chance to see their dreams come true.


With everything in place, Ciri activated the Sunstone, thus tricking Eredin into thinking that she had just used her powers to arrive on Undvik. It was not long until the Wild Hunt arrived in force, and met was met with a much larger force than they had anticipated. Every plan looks best on paper. It was no different this time – though every last detail had been seen to, our heroes were still in for many an unexpected danger and difficult moment. Their division of elite Nilfgaardian soldiers was frozen in ice before it could board the Naglfar. Ciri, who was supposed to stay out of the fighting, was forced into the fray to save Geralt.

She sprinted through the battle, slaying every Wild Hunt warrior she could get within striking distance of. Those soldiers who survived the battle would swear that the ashen haired woman had been in many places at once, and this was not so far from the truth. Ciri was racing to find Caranthir, the mage who froze Geralt and the Nilfgaardian’s in ice. Soon she found the mage and the two lunged at one another teleporting all across the battlefield until Ciri destroyed the Aen Elle’s staff. However when she destroyed the staff a great magical explosion enveloped her. She was dazed and had to flee from the battle while she still could.

Caranthir was wounded, but still breathing. However with his spell broken, the witcher broke free of his frozen shackles, and faced Avallac’h golden protégé in one on one combat. Caranthir used every magical trick he knew of. Teleporting, shooting magical projectiles and summoning creatures from the void. Yet even with his tricks and spells Caranthir still died during the final battle against the Wild Hunt, his body swallowed up by the cold waters of the ocean. You see, dear reader, in a last suicidal act the Aen Elle grabbed Geralt and teleported to the bottom of the sea beneath the waves of Undvik.

Geralt was always a strong swimmer and could hold his breath better than most men. So it should be of no surprise that despite Caranthir’s efforts, the witcher soon surfaced in the waters of Skellige, and immediately rejoined the fighting. Meanwhile glory-seeking, fearless (or reckless, some might say) Skelligers rushed into the bay to fight the riders of the Hunt. They attacked Eredin’s flagship, with Crach and Craite leading the charge. Though Eredin killed Crach during this fight, the jarl's death did not break the islanders' spirit, instead becoming a model of how to die like a true hero.

Geralt arrived on the Naglfar just in time to see his old friend perish. Filled with rage, and ready to slay this elf who wanted to kill his daughter the witcher began stalking in circle around the Aen Elle’s king. Eredin's last battle is worthy of a poem - nay, an epic - all to itself, yet this is neither the time nor the place to pen it. To be brief, on that fateful day the cruel King of the Hunt seemed unstoppable and tore asunder all who dared stand in his way - until, that is, his way led him smack into Geralt of Rivia. The two expert fighters faced off in a last skirmish on the ghastly deck of the Naglfar. The fight was long and difficult, but the witcher's blade struck true in the end, cutting down Eredin's dreams of power and conquest. So died Eredin Bréacc Glas, King of the Wild Hunt.

[video=youtube;-OkrNt74oBM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OkrNt74oBM[/video]

It was too early to rejoice, however – right before his death Eredin revealed that Avallac'h had betrayed the witcher and had his own nefarious plans for Ciri. Eredin's last words sowed seeds of doubt in Geralt's heart, and Ciri and Avallac'h's sudden disappearance led them to spring into thorny shoots. Everything seemed to indicate that the Sage had been pursuing a hidden goal the whole time – to open the gates between worlds. Geralt did not know whether to trust his enemy's words – but circumstances did not allow for long and careful deliberation.

When the gate between worlds was opened, all manner of creatures began spewing out across Undvik, and meteors began falling from the sky. This was Ragh nar Roog, the end of the world. Yennefer found Geralt and the two soon saw a blinding light emenating from Tor Gvalch'ca, a nearby ancient elven tower. They knew that this would be where Avallac’h had taken Ciri, and so they rode off in that direction without sparing the horses they found. As they approached the tower, the White Frost had begun freezing the Earth all around them. Yennefer cast a spell that protected them as they approached the tower. However when they arrived it was protected by a magical barrier. Yen used all her remaining strength to pierce the barrier just long enough that Geralt could squeeze through and race on to save their daughter.

When the witcher arrived at Tor Gvalch’ca, he found Avallac’h and challenged the elf to fight him, believing the sage had betrayed Ciri. However, Ciri soon appeared and convinced Geralt that Avallac’h was no enemy. It turned out that, while Avallac'h had not been entirely honest with the witcher, he was no traitor. Ciri had slipped off with him during the battle of her volition in order to – and please pardon the grandiosity, dear reader – save the world. Eredin had perished - but the evil king's death only ever heralds the end in fairy tales. In our Story, this meant it was time for Ciri to face her destiny. Only she possessed the power to stop the White Frost - the near mythical force which threatened not just our world, but countless others as well. She was convinced Geralt would never allow her to embark on this mad endeavor, and so decided she had to operate behind his back.


When Geralt learned of her intentions, to travel into the White Frost and stop it from ever reaching their world, he told her he didn’t have to sacrifice herself. All his promises and threats were for naught – there was no stopping Ciri once she'd made her mind up. She told Geralt that she had to try and stop this from happening, or one day all of the worlds in existence would become uninhabitable. Hearing her acceptance of her destiny, all Geralt could do was wish his daughter luck as he watch her pass through the veil to another world. The witcher could only watch as she stepped into the elven tower – and hope she would return safe and sound. After what seemed an endless time to the witcher, something happened. The chaos erupting all around Undvik ceased. It was clear that Ciri had saved the world from the White Frost itself. She had succeeded. But what had become of the witcher’s daughter?

***

My story began in Temeria, near Vizima, with Geralt dreaming a dream of Yennefer, Ciri and the Wild Hunt. It returns in Temeria as well, with the witcher riding to Vizima to have one last conversation with the emperor - and tell him Ciri would not be coming back. The witcher informed the Emperor that Ciri was dead. He explained all that had happened, and that Ciri had stopped the White Frost and thus saved the world, but had perished in the process. The Emperor told Geralt he was free to go, but told the witcher he never wanted to see him again. Without another word, the witcher left the Royal Palace of Vizima and never looked back.

After his meeting with Emhyr var Emreis, Geralt set off for White Orchard, where he had agreed to meet someone amidst the ruins of the old castle there. The former Nilfgaardian Garrison was now abandoned by the soldiers as they were departing the area. Temeria was once again free, though a vassal of the empire. With Radovid’s death, all the North was soon under the service of the sun of Nilfgaard. The witcher waited until his contact arrived. It was a master swordsmith whom the witcher had asked to craft a sword. The man brought his handiwork, a specially crafted sword named Zirreal – Swallow. Geralt thanked the man, and paid him in gemstones, as the currency of the land was understandably less than assured in it’s state of flux.

In the dawning light, the witcher left the Garrison and rode back towards the tavern at White Orchard. As he did so, he came upon a dwarf. And this wasn’t just any dwarf, but one of the company that had stolen his boat from the isle of the mists. The dwarf, knowing they had in the not too distant past “borrowed” the witcher’s boat without permission fled and warned his brethren of who was approaching. The dwarfs hid, but the witcher could hear them all even as they cowered in fear. He called them out and they all obliged. The apologized for taking the boat, but said Geralt wouldn’t have fit with all of them anyways.

Soon there was the sound of horse hoofs on the road and it became clear the dwarfs were in trouble with someone else too. The went back into hiding as some Nilfgaardian’s approached. It seemed the men were looking for the dwarfs as they had stolen a chalice from the new local Governor of the Region. I’m not certain why he did so, but the witcher covered for the dwarves and said he was searching for them too as they had stolen his boat, and that he was at least two days behind them. Soon the Nilfgaardian’s lost interest and the dwarves came back out thanking the witcher for not turning them over. Geralt asked what they had taken. It seemed they had agreed to abscond with a chalice and turned it over to a Master “Mirrory.” Geralt felt a chill as he thought of Gaunter O’Dimm. He then wished the dwarves well and continued on his way to the tavern.

And who awaited Geralt in White Orchard? Ciri - packed and ready to set off on the Path. Where did the witcher and his ward venture, you ask, and what became of them? That, dear reader, is another story. Suffice it to say that for the next several years, the witcher taught Ciri everything he knew about monsters and the path. Once she had learned all Geralt had to teach the two parted, with each traveling down their own witcher’s path.


When Geralt had taught Ciri everything he knew they parted ways. The witcher felt this made knowledge of Ciri’s being alive less likely to reach the ears of Emhyr far to the south. Ciri headed for Kovir while Geralt decided to return to Novigrad. As he approached the city from the west, he came upon a notice. You can tell an experienced witcher by the way he examines a notice board. To the novice eye, these weathered planks contain nothing but clumsily-scrawled messages touching on matters thoroughly mundane: trifling announcements, offers of sale or purchase, lewd rhymes, et cetera, et cetera, ad nauseam.

A witcher with years under his belt, however, will search the dross carefully, knowing that it often hides a jewel – a witcher contract, for example, or, as in this particular case, information about a mysterious "runewright" from a far-off land... A small fortune was all it took for the Ofieri to get started. Geralt had money to spare and was hoping to enchant the sword Olgierd had gifted to him – Iris. Once the runewright received it, he got down to work and from then on Geralt could buy simple runes and glyphs from him and have him place basic words in his swords and armor.

The Ofieri runewright got down to work, but announced at once that more advanced runes or glyphs would require special materials. Jade, it seems, is a necessary part of advanced runewrighting. Since Geralt was interested in enchanted goods of the better sort, he decided to look around for a hunk of this element. He made his way north of Novigrad where jade was known to rest. Finding large quantities of jade was not easy, but when the witcher set his mind to it, he could even find a dove in a blizzard. He eventually found some in a cave full of arachnomorphs.

While there Geralt happened across the body of an unfortunate wretch who had stumbled into this death pit. In his pockets was a yellowed letter. The letter was from a thief informing his partner about where he had hidden their takings. To their great misfortune, the damp cave he had chosen was also home to monstrous spiders, who'd made the treasure's hiding spot the very heart of their lair… The letter told the truth – Geralt found the hidden treasure and kept a one hundred percent finder's fee for himself. After recovering the treasure, Geralt went back to the enchanter. Soon enough the Ofieri runewright had what he desired, and was more than happy to enchant the witcher’s sword.

"Witcher" has become a synonym for "monster slayer" in many minds. While accurate as far as it goes, this does not encompass the whole truth, for witchers take on a broad variety of other tasks besides the slaying of monsters. For example, they sometimes use their superhuman senses to find missing persons. Such a lost individual was the subject of the notice hung by a certain Otto Bamber, an herbalist residing near Oxenfurt.

Otto told Geralt his apprentice, Folkert, had not returned from an herb-gathering excursion to the Deadwight Wood. Though this was not at all on Geralt's way, he decided to help the desperate herbalist. Something tells me this was not merely on account of the reward on offer – though those knowing only Geralt's surface from ballads and rumors might find this hard to believe, deep down, he was really a softy.

Geralt followed the path the halfling was supposed to take. Some miles away, Geralt came across the cart that must have belonged to Folkert … with blood. He followed the trail to a small village that seemed nearly abandoned. There Geralt found Folkert – carefully gutted and salted and hanging in a larder belonging to an elderly couple living near the woods. The couple swore they hadn't killed the young halfling and had been forced into cannibalism by famine. Though Geralt condemned their actions, he decided punishing cannibals was not his duty and walked away.

Thereafter the witcher returned to Otto’s and told him that Folkert was killed by monsters. The witcher did not know if these monsters were human or canine … so he left out the details. The herbalist thanked the witcher for his work, and paid him his reward. Then Geralt set off south.

Though Geralt had plenty of other worries, he had not forgotten about his trade – which is, let I remind you, slaying monsters. While striving to practice his profession he came across a contract offering an altogether attractive sum in return for tracking down a certain missing individual. No mention of monsters, true, but Geralt had seen enough incidents of its like to suspect one might turn up – and besides, when it comes down to it, coin is coin.

It turned out the missing man’s name was Mikkel, and his brother was willing to pay top dollar to have him found. The missing man had travelled off with a group of women and hadn’t returned for some time. Velen's woods and bogs brim with monsters. This fact is well known, and thus when the war drove refugees into this hostile land, certain of their number thought to avoid the dangers of the lowlands by hiding in an abandoned mine. In my experience, mines either hold precious metals or (more frequently) deadly monsters. They were in for an unfortunate surprise. The shaft they chose for their sanctuary was inhabited by a poisonous arachas - a merciless and bloodthirsty monster.

As he ventured inside he found but one survivor, a woman who claimed to have been with Mikkel. Geralt escorted her out of the mine and went back to slay the beast and find evidence of Mikkel’s fate. The witcher knew he was in for a tough fight. The arachas had dwelled in the mine for years and had grown large and particularly strong and resilient in that time. Like other members of its vile species, it would be dangerous both at close quarters and at a distance. What's more, it was almost certainly venomous - he would need to imbibe Swallow or Golden Oriole (or both) before attacking if he was to stand a chance of surviving. As a small consolation, the witcher knew the monster would be vulnerable to his Signs as well as to the Northern Wind bomb.

The witcher arrived at the cave too late to save most of the refugees - but he could still avenge their fate. Geralt knew he had to annihilate the arachas for good - meaning he had to kill the female and destroy all the eggs she had lain. Arachasae are incredibly dangerous beasts, but a witcher is not just some run-of-the-mill adventure seeker. In a bloody battle whose echoes could be heard throughout all of Velen, Geralt killed the old arachas queen and put an end to her vile line. In the queen’s lair, the witcher found the dead brother’s blood soaked boots, and knew he was dead. He returned to the man whom had hired him, who stiffed the witcher on his full reward since the brother was dead … but did give the witcher some small amount of coin. Risking one’s life for less than bargained is just part of the job for a witcher.

Geralt then rode through Velen searching for more work. It was a time when there seemed to be two Geralts. One was a celebrity, at least in certain circles, while the other remained a mercenary who did dirty work for coin. At any rate, both these Geralts happened on a contract of an unusual sort, not least because it marked the star of a new adventure. And this adventure I will gladly relate. It began in a manner most ordinary, with a notice posted on a board in Velen.

“Geralt of Rivia,

At the behest of our merciful sovereign, Her Illustrious Grace Anna Henrietta, we have journeyed to the Northem Realms to lay before you our mission. A terrible monster has appeared in the Duchy of Toussaint, a beast that has committed heinous crimes against her Grace's subjects. Only the Most Famous Among Witchers has the ability to destroy the Beast, thus we humbly beseech you to appear in the village of Holloway, where we shall await you in full hope that you will deign to hear of our woes and liberate our land from the clutches of fear.
Your humble servants:

Sirs Palmerin de Launfal and Milton de Peyrac-Peyran, Knights in the Service of Her Grace and the Duchy”

Geralt was intrigued because he knew both of the knights who had posted this notice. They were Knights Errant from the southern duchy of Toussaint. Not all knights errant in Toussaint were embodiments of virtue, but if I had to choose one among them who did personify their chivalric creed, it would be Palmerin de Launfal. He is all the more admirable for the fact that, years ago, he was no stranger to the pleasures of eating, drinking and making merry in a variety of fashions. With time, however, he abandoned vice and drew closer to the knightly ideal. Geralt realized this when Palmerin came to him as an envoy from Anna Henrietta. The old-fashioned and somewhat naive knight immediately made a good impression on him, for while he did take formalities and courtesies a tad too seriously, he was anything but pompous or grandiose.

Milton de Peyrac-Peyran was a baron from Toussaint and a member of Anna Henrietta’s inner circle of knights. This good-humored nobleman never met an overloaded banquet table he failed to unload of its burdens, yet nor did he ever shirk a fight against heavily-armed bandits or any other enemies of the duchy. Geralt had met Milton years ago, under very peculiar circumstances that deserve to be recounted properly and at length. Their roads crossed again when Milton came to the witcher as the duchess’ envoy, to ask our hero to journey with him to Toussaint.

The Witcher read the notice and set out see what else he could learn. In Holloway, the witcher came upon the two friends of years long past who had come to Velen as emissaries of their sovereign duchess. If you find yourself wondering why these knights errant seemed stuck in this slipshod backwater hamlet in Velen, I hasten to explain – they had decided to wage war on some local bandits. Palmerin, ever eager to resolve crises peacefully, intended to address the robbers, appeal to their sense of decency and thus direct them onto a path of virtue. Geralt expected Palmerin's rhetoric to fall on deaf ears. When the bandits arrived, Palmerin put in a valiant effort, yet ultimately the bandits insulted the knights’ duchess and a bloody fight broke out. The witcher assisted the knights from afar to deal with the local rabble. Though this could seem a somewhat unpatriotic act, there is no doubt Geralt's choice was thoroughly justified and that he had taken the moral high ground.

Yet in telling a story, one should never get ahead of oneself. Suffice now to say the knights delivered their message from Duchess Anna Henrietta. If this world has ever known a ruler who enjoyed the absolute admiration of her subjects without the need for systematic repression or a particularly cruel hangman, it was, without a doubt, the sovereign of Toussaint. Called Anarietta by those who knew her well, she was the widow of the late lamented Duke Raymund and one-time lover of a very famous and talented artist who would prefer to remain anonymous. A few years prior, when the witcher and a band of friends were visiting Toussaint, Anna Henrietta had had the pleasure of meeting Geralt of Rivia. When a mysterious Beast began attacking her courtiers, the duchess thus knew exactly whom to summon. In her summons, the Duchess wrote:

“Most Honorable Geralt, Slayer of Monsters and All Evils Nefarious which Prey on the Defenseless of this World! Whereas never have you been known to deny help to the innocent nor leave widows and orphans to fates undeserved, answer you now our present summons! Free us from the Beast which floods our streets with blood and sows panic in the hearts of rich and poor alike! Come to our aid, witcher – thus humbly beseeches you the star-crossed city's most gracious protectress, Her Illustrious Highness, Duchess Anna Henrietta.”


Geralt asked his knight companions for information about this Beast. However, eyewitnesses to gruesome monster attacks always have a hard time describing the creature in question. The beasts move quickly and often attack at night, while the witnesses are terrified and primarily concerned with fleeing for their lives. As a result, witchers quite often have no inkling what creature they face until they find tracks or otherwise establish something for themselves. Such was the case with the Beast tormenting Beauclair. Geralt learned from the knights only it was deadly, elusive and fiendishly clever. Everything else he heard was clearly the product of imaginations fed by fear of a dangerous predator. However, Geralt thought a journey to the land of Toussaint to hunt his Beast might be profitable and interesting … so the witcher agreed to take on the contract. He then promptly set off for Toussaint in their company to face the Beast that tormented the duchy. And thus the adventure was underway.
 
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No sooner had Geralt arrived in Toussaint than he got his first taste of the local color. As he was clip-clopping along the high road, chit-chatting with Milton and Palmerin, a most unusual sight unfolded before his eyes. Here was a knight, with all the expected accoutrements, charging headlong at a windmill! The situation became clear a moment later when a giant strode from behind the windmill and charged right back at the knight. According to legend, this giant named Golyat had once been a knight who violated his vows, for which he was punished by the Lady of the Lake. Transformed into a giant, he fled into the mountains and would only descend into the inhabited lowlands when hunger forced him to it. There’s no knowing how much truth lies in that legend, yet it is incontrovertible fact that this dangerous giant gobbled up shepherds and sheep alike, and was so widely feared, governesses used him to scare children into eating their vegetables.

Before anyone could say "Only in Toussaint," the witcher and all three knights were swinging away at the brute, amidst the freshly crumbled ruins of the mill and a herd of panic-stricken sheep. Though he came across as a wild, unthinking beast, Golyat used simple tools and any item could turn into a deadly weapon in his powerful hands. When fighting Geralt, Golyat wielded a millstone, making his every blow truly crushing. Luckily, Geralt already had some experience slaying giants and made quick work of Golyat as well, with the much appreciated help of three knights - Milton de Peyrac Peyran, Palmerin de Launfal and Guillaume de Launfal. Guillaume de Launfal was the very model of a knight errant – the placard boy for Toussaint, if you will.

At long last the giant lay defeated, and the men who had vanquished it could make their introductions, then engage in the kind of conversation that oft happens over a fresh monster corpse. The young giant slayer gave the three arrivals fresh tidings – the Beast had struck again. The body of its most recent victim now lay on a riverbank nearby. Geralt decided he needed to see it and explore the crime scene, while Milton thought it both wise and courteous to accompany the witcher.

Geralt failed to find the victim's body on the riverbank. It seemed the Ducal Guard had removed it to the cool cellars of the Corvo Bianco Estate. Ever the ferreter, however, Geralt did spot something the soldiers had overlooked … a handkerchief with the initials d.l.c. on it. Based on the item, and with Milton's help, he established the identity of the Beast's most recent victim, Count Louis de la Croix.. Yet he failed to divine the species, genus, or family of the creature that had perpetrated the crime.

Milton and Gralt deduced that the whomever had found the body was likely to be found in the nearby “Cockatrice Inn”, so they headed that direction. There was a time when the Cockatrice’s owner, Adam de Guy, loved to recount the tale of how the inn got its name. In his youth, his story went, he served as squire to a knight errant and together they defeated a bloodthirsty cockatrice. The beast’s head decorated the auberge’s entrance for many years until a certain traveler from Oxenfurt ascertained it was unfortunately but a rather amateurish hobbling together of pheasant, weasel and pig parts. His pride wounded, de Guy took down his trophy, but the inn kept its name.

When they arrived at Cockatrice Inn, they did not find the body, but they did find the man who had found it. The man informed them that he had awoke that morning to see a blood red sky, and then went down to his nets to bring in the catch of the day. When he got there he saw a head and hand bobbing in the water. The man called the Ducal Guard, who arrived and had indeed taken the body to Corvo Bianco. The man also divulged that each of the murders had occurred on the day of celebration for one of Toussaint's patron saints. Geralt noticed a woman in a cloak eavesdropping on their conversation who left once the witcher noticed her. He asked the others about her, but they dismissed his suspicions.

Geralt was developing some solid ideas about the nature of this killer, which seemed a sentient creature, but only an autopsy could help him determine exactly what he was dealing with. So Geralt set off for Corvo Bianco, where the body had been taken. Constructed on elven ruins, Corvo Bianco — known as Gwyn Cerbin in the Elder Speech is one of the oldest vineyards in the duchy and producer of startlingly unique wine, Sepremento. Sadly, the rakish lifestyle of one of its owners, the last member of the Bolius line, drove the possession into ruin. The next owner, Baron Rossell, tried to return the vineyard to its former glory, but to no avail. Corvo Bianco was then auctioned off and eventually passed under the control of the Ducal Treasury. He travelled alone this time as duties at court had called Milton to the Ducal Palace.

Alas, something wicked had arrived at Corvo Bianco Vineyard before Geralt. As the witcher drew near the estate, yet was still at some distance, battle sounds reached his ears. On arriving, he saw the bodies of guardsmen, murdered just moments before by what could only be a bruxa. With the bodies was a cloak the witcher recognized. The woman who had been eavesdropping on them at the inn must have been this deadly beast. Fortunately for us all, bruxae are rare creatures. Most live far from population centers, for they care greatly for their own safety and make their lairs in places where they cannot be taken by surprise. Those who decide to live near men avoid crowds and normally emerge from their shelters only at night. When they do, one could almost mistake them for delayed travelers hurrying towards their night’s lodging, yet subtle details give them away: their close ties to birds, their piercing voices and the breathtaking speed of their movements. Bruxae are far swifter and stronger than men, but their greatest asset is their ability to turn invisible.

Bruxae dart about with uncanny speed, and with their power of invisibility they can easily confuse opponents and attack unexpectedly or from behind. Thus when fighting these vampires the Moon Dust bomb is a great aid – while it cannot eliminate the vampire’s invisibility altogether, it can make it easier to track its motions. A generous smearing of vampire oil is also effective. Bruxae use their sharp claws to attack and can easily break through an opponent’s guard by buffeting him with a hail of blows from all directions. They will try to bite their prey and drink its blood once it is weakened, so every witcher who expects to encounter such a monster should swallow a Black Blood potion beforehand.

It appeared she had descended into the cellar of Corvo Bianco, which also happened to be where the Beast’s last victim’s body was located. As he entered the cellar, sword drawn, the witcher open and drank a drought of black blood. In the distant past, mages working with witchers developed this potion specifically for use in fighting cemetery and crypt dwellers that drink the blood or eat the innards of their still living victims. Witchers use Black Blood rarely because the potion only works when a monster begins to feast on their body. Their transmuted blood proves to be a deadly drink.

The bruxa Geralt encountered at Corvo Bianco differed from other creatures of this sort. Firstly, it was more intelligent, capable even of articulating words in human language without much difficulty. What’s more, this bruxa was tied to the Beast, the mysterious murderer prowling Beauclair at the time. Fighting it presented Geralt with quite the challenge. Sure enough the vampire disappeared and soon grabbed the witcher during their duel, trying to drink of his blood. She realized only too late that it was in fact poison. After this weakened her, the witcher promptly defeated the vampiress, who was not the Beast itself but was clearly in league with it. Yet Geralt could not guess at the link between them nor at the identity of the creature that had inspired the bruxa's rampage through the vineyard.

De la Croix’s body offered some clues however. It had been quartered with extremely sharp and powerful claws. Also a bad of coins had been lodged in the nobles throat. Finally, there were three hands with the body, and the third was still warm despite having been separated from the body the night before. The witcher needed information on the Beast's previous victims. He supposed the duchess might have this and thus set off to find her.

Anna Henrietta's time was precious. To get an audience with her was never an easy feat. Even more so in those days, as the duchess was overseeing a chivalric tourney playing out on tourney grounds outside the walls of Toussaint's capital. Geralt went to find the Duchess there, but first saw Palmerin de Launfal outside the festive arena speaking of their slaying Goylat to a group of children. As the witcher approached, Palmerin announced that he was a valiant witcher who had come to help hunt the Beast. The children ask the witcher if virtue always trumps villainy. Geralt responded to the children that virtue does not always win, but that all should strive to do good anyways because decent men attract other good folk, and rogues can often only find other rogues. Palmerin sent the children on their way, and told the witcher they would have to wait for the next match of the tournament to end before they could approach the Duchess.

Gladiator fights in massive arenas are a popular form of entertainment in Nilfgaard. Usually the fighters are slaves specially trained for this purpose, yet at times the arena masters pit humans against monsters. On this day the monster was a shaelmaar that had been a present from the emperor to his relative, Duchess Anna Henrietta. It had been caught while young and prepared for its ultimate purpose by Nilfgaardian trainers. That does not mean it was tame, however – in fact, its wildness and inborn ferocity had not been dulled one whit. Like all creatures of its species, it was blind but could unerringly pinpoint its opponents’ location using echolocation. The shaelmaar had thick armor and near impenetrable skin. It could also roll into a ball and charge its opponents. Its underbelly, however, was relatively vulnerable and became exposed when its charge failed.

Geralt thought the idea was reckless and dangerous, not to mention cruel to the shaelmaar, and asked who the fool was that would fight it. Palmerin told him it was the same young knight that had helped them fight the Giant that morning, Guillaume. Getting himself into trouble clearly counted among Guillaume’s favorite hobbies. The fight began and soon after it became clear that the knight was no match for the beast. This second time Geralt met Guillaume, he had to again rescue the knight, this time from the enraged shaelmaar trying its best to rip him to shreds in a packed arena. Geralt and Palmerin jumped into the area from the stands and drew their swords. Though the fight was long and difficult, Geralt defeated the shaelmaar and, when the duchess called from the stands for him to finish the beast off, he refused to kill the creature, not wanting to take a life merely to amuse a crowd.

After the incident with the shaelmaar, Geralt faced the one who had summoned him. Duchess Henrietta asked the witcher to accompany her. As he spoke with Henrietta, Geralt met the man that had been leading the investigation of the Beast of Beauclaire, Captain Damien de la Tour, the captain of the Ducal Guard. He was absolutely and unconditionally (to say “unthinkingly” would be unfair, yet not entirely inaccurate) devoted to his position and worshiped the ground the duchess walked on. If you want my personal opinion, he was most definitely besotted with her. He came across as a typical soldier, i.e., a thickheaded lackey who, seeing Geralt, immediately decided he must prove who had the more massive unmentionables. Geralt treated this challenge with dispassionate superiority, yet accepted it nevertheless and in doing so earned himself another enemy.

However, the Duchess, over the Captain’s objection, offered Geralt the contract to complete this investigation in person. Everyone who has even a passing acquaintance with Geralt of Rivia knows it was very rare for the witcher to be paid before completing a contract. Retainers or down payments, however, were another story. Those would often be given him by the best of employers, those who had no intention of backing out of their side of the bargain and who wanted the job done and done well above all else. In this regard, Anna Henrietta stood out as one of the best employers Geralt had ever had. Why is that, you ask, Dear Reader? Why, because in exchange for agreeing to kill the Beast of Beauclair, she gave Geralt... the deed to the Corvo Bianco vineyard (and promised further payment in gold as soon as Geralt completed the job). Say what you will about her, but no one can deny Anna Henrietta's generosity.

The witcher agreed to take on the investigation into the Beast of Beauclair. To begin, Geralt asked the Captain and Duchess about each of the victims so far. The first victim, Count Crespi called himself a knight, but rarely displayed any chivalry. In later life he had earned many enemies as well as a reputation for dishonorable deeds. His death was strange in that he suddenly disappeared from feast, and was found an hour later deceased. His body was found on hands and knees, propped up against pillory. Corpse was already in a state of rigor mortis, which could indicate Crespi had undergone great physical exertion before death. More likely, the murderer waited for the postmortem stiffening to set in so the body would remain in the desired pose without the need for further support. Crespi died from wounds dealt by long claws. His own sword, in its sheathe, was hung around his neck. He was clothed in attire which, according to his servants, he usually donned for suppers.

The second victim was Ramon du Lac. He had been at one time an adviser to Anne Henrietta’s father. After the former duke had perished, du Lac pursued some murky business dealings with the criminal world, but Damien de la Tour never gathered enough evidence against him, so he was not charged. The night of the Feast of Saint Nepomucen two patrons exiting the Clever Clogs Inn came across a corpse lying in the gutter. Both witnesses – Xavier and Bruno – are known to the Ducal Guard as they have previously been convicted of petty theft. Seeing the highly unusual circumstances of the deceased’s death, the witnesses informed the Ducal Guard and Guardsmen arrived on the scene in short order. Sir du Lac was dressed in a nightgown and nightcap, with a pillow placed under his head and a bedwarmer placed in his hand. His clothing and the pillow had been soaked through by the gutter’s contents. The victim perished as a result of being pierced through the heart by long claws. The blow was dealt with great precision. The cause of death seemed very strange, as the household members said shortly before du Lac had slept in the bedroom of his house. None of them heard or knew how the assassin got in, nor how he brought the noble's body to the street.

The third victim, Louis de la Croix believed that the new times and customs required that knights change their attitude towards life and entrepreneurship, which he believed should become a sixth chivalric virtue. He alone resigned from being a knight and took up the grain trading business using a Mill that he inherited from his mother and which made him a sizable fortune. Palmerin de Launfal maliciously even nicknamed him "Sir de la Stingy". The evidence suggesting this was the Beast’s third victim were the wounds to the body’s rib cage, which were dealt by long claws and constituted the immediate cause of death. It is not known why the Beast dismembered the body. Perhaps this was a matter of staging to provoke certain connotations, as in the case of the two previous victims.

As they related what each had learned about the Beast, thus pooling their knowledge and hypotheses, they deduced the likely identity of its next victim. Each of the victims had been killed on a holiday celebrating the chivalric virtues. Furthermore, it turned out that each had been a knight errant who seemed to in some way betray one of the chivalric virtues of Toussaint – valor, wisdom, honor, generosity and compassion. Finally these three victims had all once been connected in their youth as part of a knightly team that served Henrietta’s father. The forth and sole surviving member of that team was none other than one of the very knights who had brought Geralt to Toussaint, Milton de Peyrac-Peyran.

They deduced two things from this pattern. First that Milton was likely to be the next target of the beast, and second that he would somehow have to represent either a lack of valor or compassion. Suddenly the Duchess turned pale. Ironically, that very night the gardens at the Palace of Beauclair were the venue for a game of Hunt the Hare. Milton had been assigned the title role. The knight, having donned a bunny rabbit costume, sat hiding in the gardens, waiting to be found by the game's participants based on clues they could win by completing various challenges. Hare’s being notorious for their lack of valor, would make tonight an excellent opportunity for the Beast’s next murder.

While searching for the Beast, the duchess proved that, when the need arose, she was able to throw off the chains of convention and get her hands dirty with direct action alongside the witcher. Even if she had to do so in a state of relative dishabille. The duchess tore off a portion of her elegant dress (which would have made it impossible to ride a horse) and with the witcher following galloped to the palace gardens. Surprisingly enough, the duchess handled the rigors of the trail as adroitly as she did those of palace audiences. Geralt quickly saw how, even when stripped of her sumptuous gown and wrapped in a coarse cloak, Anna Henrietta remained the same confident and tenacious ruler as ever. Yet then again, this should not have come as a surprise, for the Toussaint court on a daily basis hosted battles of cutting remarks, malicious half-truths and bald-faced lies that were just as fierce as any fought with sword and cannon. The duchess was an unchallenged master of this courtly warfare, and the witcher had the chance to make use of this experience.


Geralt and Anna Henrietta rushed like rabbits through the palace gardens. In order to find Milton, they would have to find three objects and use them to find the Hare. They needed a “unicorn” horn, and golden fish and an egg. Anna told the witcher to find the unicorn and fish while she searched for the egg. Yet the duchess and the witcher could spare no time for such nonsense and set out to win the clues by breaking the rules. Geralt saw the horse with the horn affixed to it’s face and joined several other hunters in trying to catch it. Rather than use the less effective methods of the other participants, Geralt used the Axii sign and the horse immediately approached him. On the unicorn’s horn was half of a riddle it seemed. He grabbed the horn and began to set off, but a group of men stopped him and started a quarrel. Delaying Geralt while trying to save a friend’s life has never proven a good idea. He quickly knocked the three men to the ground and continued down to the garden’s lake.

When he arrived at the lake, their were dozens of participants using poles to catch the “fish” – which was really one of many porcelain fish that had been placed in the pond and could be hooked. Rather than grab a pole the witcher took a more direct approach and dove head first into the water. He went from fish to fish until he found one that looked golden, but just as he approached, a man and woman caught it with their pole and sailed back to shore to collect their prize. Geralt followed and, interrupting an cherished ceremony, grabbed the fish from the couple and broke it upon the ground. Inside it he found a key.

The Duchess had also broken the games rules to collect the rules, greatly disappointing the items true discoverer. It contained the other half of the riddle. Putting them together, Geralt deduced that the answer to the riddle was “Greenhouse.” Having assembled the clues, Geralt and Anna Henrietta had concluded that Milton was hiding in a greenhouse. They had set off to find him post haste. Alas, they were too late.

Amidst lush vegetation, they found Milton's rapidly cooling corpse. Milton made for good company. Was he also a good man? That I do not know. Geralt told me later some incidents from his past gnawed on his conscience. We shall never know precisely what moral burdens he carried, for Milton de Peyrac-Peyran perished in the palace gardens, the Beast’s fourth victim. May he rest in peace. However, the scene was different from the others in that the murderer still stood over his victim. As the witcher stepped towards him, the killer dashed off. Thus ended the first stage of Geralt's investigation. And thus began his mad pursuit of the murderer.

When word of yet another murder reached the tourney participants, panic broke out among them. Geralt, affected by no such emotion, remained on the killer's tail as they rushed helter-skelter through the streets of Beauclair. Geralt chased Sir Milton’s murderer with mad intensity. Milton’s murderer was very swift. Even with years of witchering under his belt, Geralt could barely keep up with him. I do not know, nor do I know of, a single soul more experienced than Geralt in his profession. To surprise the witcher takes incredible guile, yet the murderer sowing terror throughout Toussaint managed just that. Soon, it became clear the killer was as clever as he was fast, by entering an old warehouse where he set a trap for Geralt.

In this way Geralt had his first face to face encounter with the Beast of Beauclair – and discovered it was a higher vampire named Dettlaff. There was a brief exchange, then a fight most fierce ensued. A fight immediately ensued which might have ended very badly for the witcher, had he not been saved in the nick of time by an old friend, Regis, who put a stop to their battle. He threw himself between Geralt and the Beast just as the Beast was launching himself at the witcher. He spoke to the Beast as though they were friends, and asked him not to harm Geralt. After that, Dettlaff fled away in a puff of fog… Thus, Geralt's first confrontation with the Beast went unresolved.

Only the witcher and Regis remained in the warehouse. Geralt was awe-struck at the sight of his old friend. Here I must explain that, years ago, Regis had joined Geralt’s band of fellow travelers (of which I was a proud part) and set off with us in search of Ciri. Together we lived through many fascinating adventures and Regis proved himself a loyal friend, the kind you can trust with your life. Sadly, the expedition ended tragically for Regis. He was killed by Vilgefortz, who reduced him to nothing more than a wet stain.

Hence the witcher’s immense surprise at encountering his old friend – after all, he had seen Regis die with his own eyes. But the thing is, that was not Regis’ “final” death, nor even his first. As a young man, Regis had been a bit of a free spirit and overindulged in the drinking of blood. This lifestyle led to him being butchered by angry villagers. Regenerating from that took him fifty years – or nearly no time at all, for an immortal. When he was back in full health, he kicked the habit of blood drinking for good. For years, we’d all thought he was gone forever. Yet there he was, standing in front of Geralt in that dockside warehouse. Regis explained he had regenerated and come to Toussaint to find Dettlaff, a friend. This friend was apparently a higher vampire and the murderer Geralt was hired to slay.


Such were the dramatic circumstances bringing Regis and Geralt together again in Beauclair. They did not have long to enjoy their reunion, however. They could hear others approaching and Regis, not wanting to risk an encounter with angry humans, agreed to meet back up with Geralt at the cemetery where he had made an altogether comfortable temporary home for himself. However, the witcher was exhausted from his fight, and first needed to get some rest … so he decided to head for his new estate at Corvo Bianco.

After his eventful first day in Toussaint, Geralt needed to find rest. It was a warm summer evening... but the weather and time are of no import, what matters is that at this exact moment Geralt received a letter from Yennefer, who informed him about a most unusual discovery she had recently made. It said:

Dearest,

I suspect weighty affairs, rather than merely the Wine Festival, have drawn you to Toussaint. Perhaps you'll find time to probe a certain matter in spite of this. I recently came across the mention of one Professor Moreau, a scholar in Beauclair who conducted research into witcher mutations. Though the details are rather murky, as is the location of the scholar's laboratory, his journal could contain more information. It lies buried with him in his tomb. I enclose a map I found in the tome I happened upon. Though less than completely legible, I trust it will prove useful nonetheless. I felt this matter could prove of some importance to you, thus I dispatched this letter without delay. Whatever you decide, please take exceedingly good care of yourself.

Your Yen.

Geralt, realizing the importance of this discovery. decided to find this laboratory. The first step would be to find the professor's journal which, according to Yen, had been buried with him. However, the witcher first decided to return to Corvo Bianco to rest after his harrowing day.

A preliminary inspection of Geralt's new property uncovered that the vineyard would need quite a bit of fixing up before it could shine in all its glory. However it was all he could due when he rode onto the property to not fall of his horse. Geralt rested that night in the stables with Roach. When he awoke, Geralt was surprised to see there were people around the property working. Knowing he had not hired them, he was even more surprised to learn that while he was sleeping, these workers had cleaned up a great deal of the mess left by the witcher’s battle with the Bruxa the day before. The witcher noticed that one man seemed to be directing all the others, and so he approached the supervisor. Fixing his newly earned estate would be a monumental task requiring aesthetic sensibilities Geralt was not sure he possessed. Luckily, he did not have to take it on alone. Aiding him in it would be Barnabas-Basil, his majordomo, who, Geralt soon learned, was an expert not only in the running of households, but also in their remodeling.

Barnabas-Basil Foulty was a gentleman’s gentlemen if there’s ever been one. His whole life he had served distinguished nobles - the Kniebihly family, for example, or Admiral Rompally, for another – for he would never tolerate an employer who detracted from his personal dignity. Since Barnabas-Basil remembered the times of Monsieur Bolius and Baron Rossell, he was a wellspring of anecdotes about the vineyard’s past. He knew every corner and every secret of Corvo Bianco.

Corvo Bianco’s origins have been lost to the mists of time. We have only a bare legend about the vineyard being founded by the owner of the Pomerol estate’s son, who had been disinherited and exiled with only a Carvanere sapling to his name. The modern history of Corvo Bianco begins with Master Bolius, who settled in the vineyard in his elder years. As a young man, Bolius had headed a division of sappers which fought in the far north. For his service, he was made a noble and awarded a great deal of coin. He took to rebuilding Corvo Bianco with great zeal. He dedicated the most energy to planting a beautiful garden for his wife, thus starting the craze for the use of herbs which swept Toussaint at the time. After his wife, Bolius’ second love was the olive tree, which is why he planted a great many of them all over Corvo Bianco.When Bolius’ wife died, life lost its savor for him and he began to think constantly about death. He sold his estate to Count Crespi, and the very day he signed the last piece of paperwork, he died.

An excellent administrator, B.B. (as Geralt would come to call him) offered a wealth of information about the property and good advice concerning the modernization and management of the estate. Geralt could not have hoped for better help. One could even say that, by entrusting Corvo Bianco to the hands of that marvelous majordomo, Anna Henrietta had given the witcher the most beautiful present he’d ever received, for a home without someone capable to care for it is no home at all. After speaking with B.B. for a time – and paying a not inconsiderable amount of coin for renovations – the rested witcher headed back to Beauclair to look for information on this lab of professor Moreau. After all, Regis was on the other side of this greatest city of Toussaint.

As he passed through Beauclair, Geralt found a notice posted by an armorer. Since to the witcher a good suit is potentially a matter of life or death, and since he had always benefited from working relationships he had struck up with able plate bangers, our hero debated the issue only briefly before resolving to visit the artisan.

Finding a grandmaster armorer borders on being a miracle. The world is full of rumors about elves and dwarves with a thorough mastery of the art of shaping leather and metal. The sad thing is most of these tales contend that all of them have long been dead. Yet as the Good Book sayeth, "Ask, and ye shall be answered. Seek, and ye shall find.” Imagine Geral's delight when he happened on an exceptionally talented armorer, and one eager to work! This man's name was Lafargue, and he had been an apprentice of an elven master of the craft. Lafargue possessed not only the required skills, but he also knew where our witcher might find some lost grandmaster diagrams hailing from five witcher schools.

Geralt made a deal with Lafargue - he promised to find the diagrams, while the craftsman pledged to produce gear for the witcher based on them. For you ought to know that this armorer's greatest dream in life was to produce the most perfect set of witcher gear. Doing so would mean that Lafargue had fulfilled his guild's final requirement and he could thereafter term himself a grandmaster. All Geralt had to do was to find the lost diagrams.

When he came to the other side of Beauclair, Geralt made for the cemetery Yen had mentioned in her letter. Geralt soon discovered not only he wished to find Professor Moreau's laboratory. When the witcher reached the cemetery, he found the professor's grave had been dug up and the journal was nowhere to be found. The only clue he did find was an inscription on a grave mentioning the legendary Dol Naev'de, the Valley of the nine, which had been flooded years before by the Sansretour River. Seeing no other way to find the professor's lab, Geralt decided to search for more information in those sunken ruins. But first he owed a visit to his old friend, Regis.

Geralt paid Regis a visit at his cemetery hideout. Geralt found Mère-Lachaiselongue Cemetery and the crypt where Regis not only lived, but had also managed to set up a well-equipped alchemist's workshop. The began to confer. Regis explained he believed his friend had become implicated in some serious trouble. When they figured out they had overlapping goals, they decided to join forces and together seek out the vampire Dettlaff, better known in the duchy as the Beast of Beauclair. Geralt also learned how it was Regis had returned to the world of the living. He had been helped by none other than the very one they sought: Dettlaff. In light of this, Regis insisted they find a peaceful solution to the "Dettlaff problem."

After a long debate, the two old friends concluded their first order of business was to find Dettlaff. Regis was to prepare a concoction to aid them in this endeavor. They decided that an aid was needed, a certain potion called Resonance. Said brew required an array of ingredients, many of them hard to find. To brew it, Regis needed some bodily tissue from the object of their pursuit. Luckily, Geralt had earlier found a dismembered hand belonging to the murderer. Another ingredient needed to brew Resonance was saliva (or salivary glands) from a spotted wight. There were other possible substitutes (such as Kobalt eyes), but none were likely to be found in Toussaint, and Spotted Wights were thought to have gone extinct a century before.

Regis suggested they rely on the assistance of Ravens. It seemed that Regis was able to confer with the birds and thought hundreds of eyes were more likely to find one of the ingredients they needed than many. So the vampire sent out his winged friends to search while he and the witcher shared a bottle of distilled mandrake.

The two agreed that they would keep no secrets between them, and Geralt was given the chance to ask the vampire several academic and personal questions about higher vampires. They first discussed blood addiction, which Regis had previously been a thrall to. As time went on their discussion meandered back towards their shared history. The witcher apologized for not staying with Regis after he believed he was killed. Regis told the witcher there was nothing to forgive, and asked if Geralt had found Cirilla. Geralt gladly recounted how he had found her, been separated, and then found her again … culminating in their years on the path together as a mentor and student.

Regis then recounted had Detlaff had found and saved him. The Beast of Beaucalir lent Geralt’s friend his own blood continuously for some time. It took a year before Regis was even able to stand again after his “death” at Vilgfortz’s hand. Geralt asked Regis if he was in fact dead, and what that felt like. Regis said all he could remember was a dee vague sense of unsettling cold and unimaginable fear. And Detlaff saved him from what would seem an eternity in that state. Geralt asked about regeneration and how long it would take. It seemed that Regis would have eventually regenerated on his own, but that he may well have gone mad by the time he did. It seemed that only a higher vampire could kill another higher vampire permanently.

Regis then took an interest in Geralt’s somewhat similar darkness, his memory loss he experienced a few years prior. Geralt explained about the Wild Hunt and how Triss helped him get his memory back though magic. This led Regis to ask a question. If Geralt could be reborn, would he still want to be a witcher. Years on the path, lost friends and endless hunts were by this time history to Geralt of Rivia, who had already lived a life longer than a normal human would. However, when he looked back, Geralt confessed he would choose a different life, a simple one if the choice had been his to make. Regis thanked Geralt for his honestly, and the two continued to speak of tales old and new until one of the Ravens returned.

[video=youtube;Gwd_UCgBe-s]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gwd_UCgBe-s[/video]

It seemed one of the creatures had found a beast long thought extinct. A spotted Wight to the far east of the Toussaint Valley at the Trastamara Hunting Cottage. Amadis de Trastamara obtained this property from Duchess Caroberta in recognition for his service to Toussaint. The ruler’s gift came with an unexpected barb, however, for the house turned out to be haunted and, even worse, deep in tax arrears. Trastamara consulted the druids of Caed Myrkvid about his case and was given the following advice: if you cannot reach a deal with the specter, let it be and call it a day..

Spotted wights were a subspecies of wight which the witchers drove to extinction. They were larger than their unspotted kin and owed their names to their numerous blotches and effusions. Spotted wights would most often dwell in derelict cemeteries and empty wildernesses, there they would indulge in their greatest passion: creating brews from their own emission. When not disturbed, spotted wights would not act aggressively. If threatened, however, they became very dangerous indeed. In the colder months or when faced with an unseasonable chill, they would slip into a state of lethargy, making them easy targets. Even during their active periods, it is said the witchers found a surefire way of besting them, based around careful casting of the Yrden Sign - or at least, so claims witcher lore... Having discovered that one such creature resided nearby, Regis sent the Witcher to hunt it down. The vampire would stay behind and work on crafting the other ingredients necessary to create the resonance.

Geralt rode east along the bank of the land’s great lake until he came near the location where Professor’s Moreau’s lab was said to be by Yennefer’s map. As unlikely as it sounds, Geralt found the entrance to Professor Moreau's laboratory in the sunken elven ruins of Dol Naev'de. Things seemed to be getting more and more interesting, so the witcher did not hesitate to plunge onward... His path was riddled with traps and other such obstacles, but our brave hero had much experience in running even more difficult gauntlets. Tired in both mind and spirit from his efforts, in the end he made it to the professor's lab.

Searching Professor Moreau's lab gave Geralt a somewhat expanded view of the professor's past and his research. It seemed Moreau's goal had not been to discover how to strengthen the witcher mutations, but just the opposite, how to reverse them, so he could "cure" his son Jerome of being a witcher. To Geralt's delight, the professor’s plan failed to achieve its desired result. This failure could be of use to the witcher, however, for by mixing the professor’s secret formula into his bloodstream he gained access to a whole range of new mutations. These promised to make him stronger, faster, more resilient – in short, better. Geralt looked forward to putting them to the test in combat.

Proceeding on his way to Trastamara Hunting Cottage, Geralt encountered one in need, as he had many times before. I must emphasize that though ostensibly cool and aloof, the witcher, in fact, has a heart of gold. Thus none should wonder that he agreed to help the anxious vintner. For a modest fee, of course. Without a moment's hesitation Geralt plunged into the darkness of the Grey Grotto and cut to bits the monsters that had made their lair there... His employer thanked the witcher, payed him and promised him reduced prices at his vineyard.

After a time winding through the scenic countryside of Toussaint, the witcher neared his destination but reach a place of immense interest to him. You see Geralt himself was of the School of the Wolf, so it's no surprise he was particularly interested in finding diagrams that would allow him to craft grandmaster level gear of this brotherhood. He began his search by visiting elven ruins a certain witcher had visited years before while protecting the members of an archeological expedition. Geralt's own exploration of the site ended in the cellars beneath the ruins. Our hero learned the scholars had reached a spot haunted by elven specters. Both the learned men and the witcher escorting them had perished at the wraiths' hands. Geralt proved a mite luckier. He not only emerged from the ruins alive, but he also found all the diagrams he gone there to seek. He kept the scrolls on his person, intending to bring them Lafargue.

Geralt rode south until he reached Trastamara. Whenever on the one hand witchers swear they have driven a certain species of monster into extinction and one the other someone claims to have seen a member of that species walking around in apparent health, most likely we are dealing with a curse. This rule of thumb showed its worth with the spotted wight from the Trastamara estate. Geralt found the spotted wight at the old, abandoned estate. It turned out this creature was in fact a woman transformed into a monster by a curse many years prior, as punishment for refusing food and shelter to a wandering beggar. The wording of the curse was that “none shall sit and dine with you at your table, no spoon you have shall sate you, never again shall you wish to spy your reflection in the mirror.” The witcher had decided not to kill the wight, opting instead to hide in a wardrobe and await his chance, though how it would come, he could only guess. When the opportunity. When the wight appeared in the room, he came out of hiding and tried to speak with the cursed being. Geralt willingly sitting down at the table with the wight, and together, without using spoons, they ate the brew which it prepared. Once it drank the brew, the wight looked at the bottom of her bowl and saw it’s own reflection, which caused the curse to break. The cursed beast writhed in pain and fled the room, barreling though the house and then outside. Once the wight had come and gone, Geralt collected its saliva, which the monster had added to the brew it was making in a large cauldron.


His sample collected, Geralt set off in pursuit of the fleeing wight. To the witcher's surprise, the creature proved to be a woman who had been cursed centuries ago. Geralt had lifted the curse that held her, and through his efforts the wight had transformed back into someone of yore named Marlene. The witcher then learned Marlene's story. She had suffered unimaginable pain while cursed, fated forever to hunger and waste away.

Since she was young, Marlene loved to arrange parties, to which she invited all the people of the duchy. One day, during one such party, a certain individual claiming to be a beggar knocked on the door of her residence, with a bowl and spoon in hand, asking for food.
According to an old Toussaint tradition, the owner of a house must offer food and wine to such a beggar but Marlene refused to feed him, saying she'd prefer to give the leftovers to the dogs. The beggar then cursed her. The curse grew gradually and eventually turned her into a spotted wight and her family, distraught over her transformation, left the cursed estate for Kovir, leaving her behind. Over the following hundred or so years, Marlene the wight tried many times to lift the curse by capturing people and forcing them to dine with her, but without any success. She also hoarded spoons, littering the estate with them, and spent most of her time preparing a wight's brew in a cauldron in the cottage basement.

Geralt, big-hearted as he was, could not leave the woman to fend for herself. He invited her to stay at Corvo Bianco, the estate the duchess had granted him in recognition of his service. The estate's majordomo took Marlene under his wing. The witcher decided he would visit the cured woman several days later.

After leaving Marlene at Corvo Bianco, Geralt returned to Regis. Once Regis received the penultimate ingredient required to brew Resonance, he said the time had come to tackle the most difficult challenge. For apart from all else, Resonance had to include the blood of a higher vampire. At first, Geralt saw this as no challenge at all, as standing before him was a representative of said species. Yet Regis revealed that the blood he needed had to have a specific chemical composition. His blood would change only under conditions of great suffering. Regis offered to endure this without hesitation.

They thus would need to invoke maddening bloodlust in Regis, who had abstained from that vampiric vice for years. In order to accomplish this, Regis brought Geralt to Tesham Mutna. It is widely accepted that vampires came into our world during the Conjunction of the Spheres. They quickly spread across all the Continent, trying to adapt to their new situation. According to legend, one of them, Khagmar, settled in Toussaint. Grim tales are whispered about his deeds, but whether he truly even existed is hard to say. The tales do agree on one thing, however: Khagmar’s story is inextricably tied to the mysterious fortress known as Tesham Mutna. This grim place had been used by vampires ages ago to raise humans like cattle. Geralt later said even the air in that place smelled of pain and fear. The plan was to lock Regis in a type of cage that could hold a higher vampire, set bait to attract necrophages, and then kill them to release the irresistible scent of blood. Regis could not vouch for how he would handle the upcoming ordeal and had Geralt lock him in a hanging cage, from which he was to watch as Geralt butchered. Having placed bait to lure out monsters, Geralt began his slaughter. Blood flowed at Tesham Mutna once again, and Regis nearly went mad with desire. It proved quite the ordeal for Regis, a sacrifice one might say. But they obtained the last ingredient required for Resonance, and the vampire could prepare the concoction. The witcher and Regis then returned to the vampire’s lair to finish brewing the resonance.

Geralt imbibed the Resonance potion Regis had prepared, allowing him to see a fragment of the day Dettlaff had committed his most recent murder. He saw Dettlaff, where he had recently been, what he had done. It seemed Dettlaff had met Louis de la Croix shortly before the Count’s death as a customer of a young Bootblack in Beauclair and the two became friends. Then the vision continued as Detlaff went with Louis to see an old mill. During the inspection of the building Dettlaff killed the Count by piercing his heart, then stuffed a bag of florens from different provinces of Nilfgaard down his throat before quartering his body and throwing the pieces into the river. Overcome by guilt for murdering a friend, Dettlaff then cut off the hand that pierced the Count's heart and threw it into the river. This was the hand the witcher later found. It was enough for Geralt to know he now needed to find a local bootblack. He hoped the boy would help him locate his foe.
 
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It proved quite the ordeal for Regis, but he had obtained resonance for Geralt and visions ensued that gave the witcher a lead. He saw Dettlaff meet and speak to a young bootblack.The witcher and the vampire would have to set off in search of the boy. However, Regis would have to recuperate and asked Geralt for a couple of days before they continued. Geralt agreed to meet him soon and thus returned to his estate, where he found that the renovations seemed to be coming along well. In addition, Marlene turned out to be an open and honest woman. She and Geralt had a friendly, candid conversation and decided she would remain at Corvo Bianco for the foreseeable future. She would tend to the kitchen there. Thus, in addition to Marlene's gratitude, Geralt gained an able cook (the majordomo was thought to have no culinary talents whatever, having burned several pots of water in his time). Marlene also told the witcher that a long time past her father had amassed for her a dowry that was likely to be lying undisturbed in the cellars of the Trastamara Estate.

Geralt decided to return to Trastamara to find the hidden dowry. Sometimes traveling can be deadly dull - nothing but the slow crawl of the horizon, the sun beating down on your neck and the chirping of crickets. Other times, however, it can be surprisingly eventful, as a certain Gaston, a simple merchant from Toussaint, learned for himself when he happened across a mortally wounded man by the roadside. Though he provided aid as quickly as he could, the mysterious man soon bled to death. Right as he did, Geralt rode upon the scene.


Though Geralt usually works alone, he made an exception in this case and agreed to let Gaston accompany him. Together they set off following the dead man's tracks towards a residence in which all seemed calm and quiet. Yet once they entered, they found overturned tables, cracked dishes and... more bodies. Luckily, the owner of the villa, Durand Faucher-Plamondon de Savarin, had survived the massacre and was able to tell them what had happened. It seemed Durand and his companions from the Society of Friends of the History of Toussaint had accidentally summoned the massacre. The group met at this estate every year to mark the anniversary of the Elven Homage. Dunard claimed that the festivities included staging a scene where Divethaf, the last elven ruler of Toussaint, surrendered and paid homage to the human lords of Toussaint. When they set the scene this year however, the society had been set upon by spirits. Geralt knew his duty was to draw the beast there again and exterminate it before it could shed more blood.

To do so Geralt would have to try and summon whatever the spirit was by again reenacting the Elven Homage. He asked Dunard and Gaston to help him when he learned it would take at least three people to reenact the scene. They decided they would first need to clear the bodies, set the scene and wait for dusk. When dusk came they began the scene. As the came to it's in, they discovered the massacre had been committed by... elven statues. Durand had purchased these a few weeks prior. They were in truth golems, meant to be part of a trap set by the last elven ruler of Toussaint, Divethaf, to take out his vanquisher and tormentor, King Ludovic. Divethaf's trap was never sprung, so his golems slept through the centuries, undisturbed until Durand repeated a formula during an act of historic reconstruction and they awoke. Geralt drew his sword to protect his comrades, and put and end to the ancient elves. Dunard paid the witcher for his aid, and Geralt continued down the path.

Later that evening Geralt arrived once again at the Trastamara Estate. He searched the cellar for the dowry Marlene had tol dhim about and soon found it in an emptied wine barrel. With his reward in hand the witcher returned to Corvo Boanco to get some rest.

The next morning was to be the day of the tournament, and Geralt decided he would enjoy the annual festivities. In the charming fairytale duchy for which Toussaint commonly passes, love blooms and erupts into flames faster than in any other corner of the known world. I know what I say, for I too experienced my share of beautiful, passionate moments there, with the painfully lovely Duchess Anarietta, no less... But to return to Geralt's adventures, soon after he arrived at the Tournament, he was approached by Guillaume de Launfal, the injured knight he had assisted a few days before.

The matter turned out, as it matters' wont in Toussaint, to be an affair of the heart. Guillaume was tormented by unrequited love for the duchess' lady-in-waiting, Vivienne de Tabris. was Anna Henrietta's lady-in-waiting. She was a tight-lipped, secretive, inaccessible person, but her beauty fascinated men. Geralt saw proof of this when he took the contract from Guillaume, who was in love with her. The youth, lacking experience in love's games, its ruses and deceits, was feverish and suspected the lofty and inaccessible object of his love’s frigidness and distance must be the result of some malicious curse. Geralt, a professional curse-breaker, naturally took the contract. To get a chance at an audience with Lady Vivienne, he had to take the wounded Guillaume's place in the knights' tourney, where Vivienne was acting as patroness. In observance of tradition, the witcher had to reveal a name to take part in the tourney. He chose the immensely original moniker "Geralt of Rivia." He then made a vow on the honor of his lady, Yennefer of Vengerberg.

The first contest was a bow tournament. The witcher was allowed to use his crossbow and thus felt right at home. Before the game began, Palmerin de Launfal (who was Guillaume’s uncle) made Geralt and offer. If Geralt played him in Gwent and won, Palmerin would agree to switch spots with him in the lineup. Palmerin claimed this would be advantageous for the witcher, as the sun was likelt to be in his eyes as the schedule currently stood. Never one to turn down a game of Gwent the witcher agreed, and with the cards in his favor was able to secure a better time to shoot. When his turn came, he easily defeated the competition and received as his reward a new crossbow.

The next contest (and final of the tourney’s first day) was to be a horse race that also included hitting targets and dummies with bow and sword. Geralt was no novice when it came to mounted combat, was able to finish the contest in an adequate time so as to proceed to the second day of the tournament and was invited to be an honored guest at the feast that night.

After his successful first day, Geralt and Guillaume sat down to enjoy the feast and company. The spoke into the evening and toasted to the young knight’s love Vivenne. All was going well until they were approached by the young prince Ansèis of Lyria and Rivia. You see dear reader, the Prince’s mother, Meve had been the one to knight Geralt in the first place after the Battle of the Bridge, which he helped Queen Meve win. He soon thereafter left her service without leave, as he was on his own mission to find a young Ciri at the time. On seeing Geralt Anseis scorned the Witcher by calling him a deserter who ran away from his service. Anséis then threw down his iron gauntlet in front of Geralt demanding a satisfaction via chivalric duel. Geralt tried to decline, but was told he would forfeit his place in the tournament if he did so. This would ruin his contract with Guillaume so the witcher had no choice but to accept and humble the young prince. Afterwards, the wittcher explained to the prince that he had good reason to leave his mother’s service. Anséis accepted the witchers word as a man of honor as by agreeing to the duel Geralt had shown he was a true knight.

After the duel, Vivenne arrived at the feast and honored the contestants. Shortly thereafter she retired bacl to her tent. Geralt did not dare neglect his witcherly duties and decided to seek the young lady out at her tent. He spied on Vivienne and followed her to a forest glade, where he discovered her secret. By following Vivienne and examining the evidence, Geralt discovered Guillaume was right. Vivienne had indeed been struck by a powerful curse before she was even born. This curse caused her to turn into a bird whenever she was touched by the moonlight. She told the witcher she was ready for death, assuming he had been hired to killer her. The witcher told her that was not his purpose there, and that he wanted to help her.

Though Geralt would later tell me that Vivenne was a true beauty in her own way, even as a cursed monster, she was miserable, lonely and always fearful because of her condition. She had been cursed by a nymph when her mother and father frequented the same glade which the forest spirit considered it’s domain at the time. Geralt listened to the story of the curse, then offered to try to lift it. He warned her that this would not be a simple matter. The curse could be transferred to another, but Vivienne did not want to agree to that. It could also be removed entirely, but then it was possible Vivienne would only have a few years left to live. Vivenne seemed to prefer the second route as she did not wish to pass the curse on to another, though Geralt had grave reservations about it and thought the curse would have lesser effect on an adult human. Either way, Vivenne told the witcher she would make her decision after the tournament concluded. In the meantime, she asked the witcher to keep her secret.


Geralt made no such assurances, but head back to the tourney grounds where Guillaume awaited. He reported back to Guillaume on what he had learned. Guillaume rose to the occasion and offered to take the curse upon himself in order to free Vivienne from it. Geralt explained there might be negative consequences, but the knight insisted that he wanted to assist the object of his affections in any way. Geralt was glad to have option to present Vivenne, but first had a tournament to finish.

There were to be two rounds of combat competitions on the day. The first was a melee competition between two groups of the five knights. Geralt was on a team with Anséis, Donimir, Tailles and Rainfarn. Anseis tried to take command of the team. He told Geralt that witchers had no knowledge of knightly combat and asked him to stay out of their way while fighting against Palmerin de Launfal and his men. Before Geralt could tell the Prince exactly what he thought about the horns blew and the combat began. The witcher stayed clear of the others in his group, and was able to strike down one of his opponents quickly. However, the other knights at his side had fared much worse, and soon it was the witcher alone fighting three enemies, including Palmerin. However, these three proved no match for the witcher in the end. Palmerin was the last to fall to Geralt’s quick swordplay, but fall he did, and the witcher was the only contestant who remained.

Having won the prior contests, the witcher had earned the right to face the prior year tournament’s champion, Gergoire de Gorgon. The knight was a mountain of a man. De Gorgon weilded a two-handed greatsword with immense reach that could likely cut a man in two. However, his fighting style also made him slow and thus vulnerable to fast attacks. Soon the witcher was able to put his skills to the test, and like all who came before him, Gorgon became a mountain that fell. Geralt had one, and became that year’s champion of Toussaint.

After the tournament, Guillaume convinced Vivienne to undergo a ritual which would transfer her curse to him. According to Geralt, once transferred the curse's effects would be weakened, but he was not able to make any guarantees concerning the young knight's fate. That night at midnight, the three of them met in the same glade where the curse had been cast to see if they could lift it. Aided by Guillaume, Geralt performed a ritual that was to lift the curse from Vivienne and transfer it to another. As soon as they had performed the ritual, Vivienne felt the curse had been lifted. Though the witcher doubted it could be effective, the rite worked and the curse passed to the young knight who had valiantly agreed to shoulder its burden. It brings a tear to the eye to think how a seemingly superficial fascination for a woman's beauty can take a turn even more beautiful. Passed to Guillaume, the curse seemed much weakened, its symptoms far less powerful than those that had troubled Vivienne. When Geralt happened upon the couple some time later in Toussaint, they looked happy and in love. This only serves to confirm my observation regarding the unusual aura that seems to hover over the duchy. It almost inspires one to exclaim, "They lived happily ever after!"


The next morning, the witcher set off to meet with Regis to continue their investigation as they had agreed. They had to find this young bootblack. The young bootblack whose name Geralt never learned was an extremely charming scamp, in that cheeky, lovable rascal, street urchin sort of way. He also demonstrated striking entrepreneurial flair, so much so, in fact, that it got him into trouble at times. Geralt saved him from one such scrape by fending off a group of men intent on giving him a thorough tanning. The bootblack had done his share to deserve this, having spilled his wastewater in front of their shop every day in an attempt to muddy more boots and drive more customers his way.

The bootblack proved both pugnacious and resolute. Geralt and Regis were desperate to learn anything they could about Dettlaff. The boy sensed this and decided to take advantage. It was clear he would one day go far, such was the knack he demonstrated for business. Geralt took such a liking to this enterprising little shoeshine boy he decided to invest some coin in his business. He did not have to wait long to see the effects of this investment. The bootblack used these funds to improve his stall and purchase additional equipment. Business was booming!

As regarded the search for Dettlaff, Geralt and Regis learned he had brought his boots to be cleaned on a number of occasions. Each time, he had asked the boy to return them to an old, abandoned shop, where he was to leave them at the door. The witcher and the vampire set off to explore the site. Geralt and Regis then searched Dettlaff's hideout. Ironically, the "Beast" had made his lair in a storeroom above an abandoned toy shop.

Sadly our heroes did not find Dettlaff at home. They did not leave empty handed, however. After searching the shop, Geralt found a letter which revealed Dettlaff was being blackmailed. He had committed the murders in Toussaint at the behest of mysterious individuals who were holding his beloved hostage. The blackmailers had kidnapped his lover, Rhenawedd, and threatened to torture her if he did not do as they said. Thus Dettlaff had killed the targets they designated. After a short consultation, our intrepid duo resolved to split up. Regis would remain at the toy shop and hope Dettlaff would return. He preferred to speak with Dettlaff alone, without the witcher there to disrupt their tête-à-tête. Geralt would go to Anna Henrietta and report on the investigation's progress.

Following what can only be described as a surprising turn of events, the witcher had no choice but to report to the duchess. He needed to inform her that the hunt for the Beast would be no ordinary monster hunt. Fully aware of the fiery temperament of Anarietta, Toussaint's gracious ruler, Geralt was justified in thinking the meeting would not be among the most pleasant he had ever had.

On his way to the palace the witcher stopped by the master armorer Lafargue’s shop. At long last, after numerous trials and tribulations, Geralt managed to assemble all the diagrams from the witchers' wolf school, diagrams that would allow the armorer to produce a complete set of gear at grandmaster level. Lafargue was consumed by joy. At last he could get to work and fulfill his dream. For he had no doubt he would succeed in creating a wondrous suit of witcher armor worthy of his deceased master.

Geralt continued towards the palace, but noticed a crowd that unknowingly would lead him into a very interesting contract. The crowd had gathered to see a certain famous local statue, but was being shoed away by the exhibit’s art curator. After the crowd dispersed, Geralt learned the man was looking for a discrete professional to investigate a mystery concerning Reginald d’Aubry's statue. It seemed someone had stolen the nude statue’s testicles.

Geralt tracked down the thief, one Hughes de Saberre, and confronted him, only to catch the man in a wholly different type of act with a married woman named Rosalinda. It turned out the thief was motivated by the claim that the genitals grant unparalleled virility to whomever strokes them. With the stones in hand, Hughes went home and thrice made love to his married mistress. As they spoke, Rosalinda’s husband arrived suspecting the relationship. When he found his wife with not one man, but two, the knight became enraged. Geralt did not have time for this dramatic affair, and so bewitched the knight using the Axii sign and told him to return home.

Hughes was most grateful for the witcher’s intervention and gave Geralt a most atypical offer. The man wanted to borrow "Beauclair's most valuable jewels" for a few more days so he could... finish some things. However, the witcher was paid to fulfill a contract, and he was determined to do so. Thus Geralt was able to retrieve "Beauclair's most valuable jewels" and Reginald d'Aubry's statue was once again made whole. Thanks to this, both the curator and a great number of local matrons were highly satisfied, people in general were more relaxed and merry, a bumper crop of children was on its way and tourism to Beauclair reached new heights. All thanks to a humble witcher.

The witcher continued to the Palace of Toussaint to meet with her Grace. He informed Henrietta that the Beast was a higher vampire, and that he was being blackmailed. The witcher also gave her grace his opinion that it would be easier to stop the killings by hunting the blackmailers than stopping the beast himself. Geralt managed to sway the duchess' conviction – she agreed that he would, for now, forgo tracking the vampire and focus instead on locating whoever held the vampire in thrall. He had some leads already, most notably some notes from the blackmailers to the Beast that had a very rare wine spilled on them. These prompted him to go to the ducal vineyard of Castel Ravello. For it was the source of the famed Sangreal, a wine only ever served at the Ducal Palace to the noblest guests to come to court, including – not to boast – the undersigned. And I will be candid – I've had better. Connoisseurs claim the best wines of Metinna or Alba do not hold a candle to even the most mediocre labels from the Sansretour Valley. Among the countless larger and smaller local vineyards found here, Castel Ravello is the most renowned – and for good reason.


It seemed at the time that whoever was blackmailing the vampire had acquired a taste for Sangreal specifically. Thus the witcher and the duchess set out to inspect the vineyard in the hope of finding another lead. The witcher's suspicions had proved true – Sangreal seemed indeed to be the key to finding the blackmailer. The steward of Castel Ravello admitted he had sold a barrel of the wine to a Cintrian nobleman. He had also prepared a second barrel that was to be delivered to an old ruin that very night. The witcher and a unit of ducal guardsmen decided to wait in ambush for the steward’s corrupting connoisseur.

Alas, the Cintrian proved a notch too clever. When Geralt attempted to deliver the second barrel of wine, the nobleman was nowhere in sight. Some hired thugs found themselves caught in the ambush, and the witcher thrashed them heroically with the aid of his escort of guardsmen. The single captured rogue, when questioned, confirmed the bandits' leader was indeed the mysterious Cintrian, who was said to be hiding somewhere in Toussaint. The Duchess ordered Damien de la Tour to use his ducal forces to find out any information they could about the Cintrian, and they all agreed to meet in the Beauclair port later that evening.

When he left Castle Ravello he passed near Lac Celavy. Upon a notice board in Toussaint, Geralt had previously found a call to all who wished to submit to a Test of Virtue. The notice's mysterious author summoned any who dared to the isle upon Lac Célavy, where they would have a chance to prove their worthiness of character. He who successfully completed the test would receive a reward. Though Geralt had never thought of himself as particularly virtuous, he found the summons intriguing and, since it was on his way, decided to go to the appointed spot to learn what the trials entailed.

On the lakeshore Geralt encountered a hermit who promised the witcher a wondrous blade. To receive it, Geralt had to prove he lived by the five chivalric virtues. These virtues, as previously mentioned dear reader include valor, honor, generosity, wisdom and compassion. Many consider themselves courageous, yet when confronting true danger prove consummate cowards. Naturally, this applies in no way to Geralt, who faced mortal danger and vanquished it post haste, thus successfully passing the Trial of Valor. Paradoxically, it is sometimes easier to demonstrate valor or honor than it is to show generosity. For the fact is many are courageous and honorable simply to advance their own cause. Generosity is a hard virtue to demonstrate for the simple reason that it generally requires to demonstrator to bear a cost. Many show themselves capable of being valiant or honorable when it benefits them, yet when circumstances call on them to dig deep into their coin pouches, the purse strings turn out to be knotted tight. Geralt, like all witchers, worked for coin, but always knew well when a situation required him to show generosity. No surprise, then, that he successfully passed the trial meant to test this virtue. Not a soul expects witchers to show compassion for the simple reason that their profession offers few opportunities where they even might demonstrate mercy, let alone should. Geralt nonetheless managed to demonstrate that he could show compassion when warranted, and thus also was in possession of this virtue. Among the virtues, wisdom is arguably hardest to prove, for many consider themselves wise, yet the world is full of fools. Geralt never thought of himself as excessively wise, and perhaps this is why he managed to prove this virtue was no stranger to him.

Thus Geralt proved that he lived by the Five Chivalric Virtues. However the Hermit informed the witcher that any man who seeks to receive the sword must prove he is worthy in battle.
In a duel that played out upon the lake's surface, Geralt found himself in a fierce bout with the mysterious hermit. This final trial hardly proved easy, but Geralt emerged from it victorious, defeating quite an extraordinary foe. He thus proved he was no stranger to the chivalric virtues. To his great surprise, the hermit then proved to be no man, revealing himself to have been the Lady of the Lake in disguise.

Geralt had met the Lady some time past along his Path. Geralt had first encountered the Lady of the Lake when his search for what had been stolen from Kaer Morhen took him to the village known as Murky Waters. There a mysterious female being dwelled in the murky depths of the village’s namesake waters and watched over the residents living on the shores. Such was their esteem for their underwater guardian, they erected a monument in her honor. The Lady of the Lake once had many knights in her service, but they had all died, as valiant knights tend to, during campaigns in far-off lands. She now lived in near solitude, so was glad to accept Geralt’s company, the witcher being someone she liked and respected. Once the witcher had believed the Lady of the Lake was some kind of local goddess, but their reunion at Lac Célavy made him realize she did not dwell only in Murky Waters. Instead, the Lady of the Lake calls home any place where virtue and chivalry are honored. The Lady of the Lake bestowed upon him the legendary blade called Aerondight.

Evening approached as the witcher rode into Beauclair port, his new sword on his back. There he met with the Duchess and Damien. It seemed the head of Anna’s guard had discovered this was a larger conspiracy than they had originally known. The Cintrian was not working alone. He stood at the head of a well-organized group of brigands. It was still not clear that the nobleman himself was Dettlaff's blackmailer. Yet even were he to prove merely an intermediary in the scheme, it was likely he would know where to find those directly responsible.

It seemed as if matters had come to a head and the witcher would finally face he who had for some time succeeded in slinking from Geralt's grip like a snake. The Cintrian was to appear at a soirée hosted by "Mandragora" – an exclusive club that brought together all manner of artists who thought very highly of themselves. As I see it, they were a host of individuals whom nature had denied any significant talent. Thus, they opted not to produce more and better work, but instead to whimper into the ears of wealthy patrons – a practice for which I have always had the utmost contempt. But back to the Cintrian – Geralt and Anna Henrietta decided they would attend the soirée and nab this scoundrel dog.

In their pursuit of the blackmailers, Geralt and Anna Henrietta found themselves at a private residence used for meetings of the Mandragora - an exclusive club for the boheme of Toussaint. The residence's owner turned out to be a woman named Orianna. Together, the duchess and the witcher searched for the Cintrian. He had reportedly arrived for the evening with the famed singer Cecilia Bellante on his arm. They learned from a man at the door to the soiree that the famous troubadour was wearing a koviri orchid in her hair and set off looking for her.

The witcher was largely unaccustomed to battles in which lies, flattery and the occasional petty insult served as the combatants' chief arms. Yet with the aid of Anarietta (much better acquainted with this type of combat – mean retorts being her weapon of choice), he managed to blend into the members of Beauclair's boheme who had assembled and mingle largely unnoticed.

In the midst of all the spectacles of the evening, they came upon a woman with a blue orchid in her hair as she was having her portrait done in the nude. The painter was none other than Dorian Vilesse, apparently known to Anna by the style of his painting. Not wanting to reveal her own identity, Anna told Dorian that she heard the Duchess herself say she wished to be a model for him. Vilesse responded that he would love to do so, but that the Duchess’ chamberlain had told him he could not paint the Henrietta in a state of undress, which was required by the artist. Henrietta coyly smiled and stated the artist may yet get a chance to paint the duchess.

They then turned their attention to the subject of the painting. It turned out this beautiful woman was not Cecilia, but had been gifted the flower at the end of the musician’s performance. The model then told them she saw the artiste leave for the refreshment area holding a heart shaped box with a Cintrian. Anna and Geralt knew they were right in the heals of the man they wished to find.

When they went to the refreshment area, they did not find the singer, but did find a heart shaped box she was recently seen with. It had a faint smell of perfume about it, enough for Geralt to follow the scent. They followed the perfume’s subtle floral notes to a locked room with a guard standing over it. The man recognized the Duchess’ voice, and let them into the room. Alas, poor Cecilia had not known the evening would end in tragedy for her. Geralt found her, her throat cut just moments before, and set off in pursuit of her murderer.

Geralt followed a blood trail outside to the balcony and then up to the room above, which apparently belonged to the event’s hostess, Orianna. It quickly became clear that the Cintrian had appeared that evening to steal the Heart of Toussaint, a ducal jewel in the possession of Orianna. It looked like the man had tried to rob Orianna of this very specific piece of jewelry while ignoring all other valuable items in the room, and then been attacked and pushed out of a window. However first the man had pulled out an ornate hunting knife and managed to do nothing but drop it somehow. The witcher could not interrogate the thief, as he had died tragically while attempting to make off with his loot.

As he searched the room for clues, the Duchess soon arrived with Orianna, who told Geralt she had found the man in her room and attacked him. Geralt told Orianna she was reckless to attack the man, but she informed the witcher she could handle herself. There was something about the soirée's host and valued patroness to many local artists that made most who met her feel somehow ill at ease. She could not break the witcher’s iron-hard self-composure, of course, but she did give him the impression she was no normal aristocrat – and his impressions were usually spot-on. Geralt told her he thought the man was after a specific piece of jewelry, and showed it to Orianna. Anna Henrietta immediately recognized this as the Heart of Toussaint, an heirloom of her family for generations. Finally Geralt showed them the knife the Cintrian had drawn. Both the women recognized it as having the emblem of Dun Tynne on it.

As they finished their discussion, Orianna’s guardsman asked to speak with her a moment, While she was gone, the witcher told Henrietta he was worried this might be a plot on her life since the blackmailers seemed to be both interested in wine and jewelry connected to the royal line. However, the Duchess thought it might be something else … it might be that her sister Sylvia Anna was amongst the schemers.

Sylvia Anna… A lovely name, don’t you think? This beauty should come as no surprise, given it’s the name of the daughter of a duke and the sister of a duchess. Yet the fate Syanna (as her intimates called her) met was not as beautiful as might have been suspected for one so well-born – though, as it turns out, she had in truth been born rather inopportunely. She came into this world during an eclipse and thus fell victim to the panic surrounding the Curse of the Black Sun, which was said to affect young girls from ruling families birthed in similar circumstances. Though Geralt had serious doubts whether this curse truly existed, many claimed it caused horrible mutations which filled its victims with cruelty and a desire to kill.

Syanna’s parents certainly seemed to be among the believers in the curse, for they deemed her too dangerous to be allowed to remain at court and forced her into exile. Syanna then fled to Nazair and soon, for all intents and purposes, dropped off the face of the planet. Anna Henrietta, full of sisterly love and compassion, spent years mourning the absence of Syanna, who had officially been declared missing and presumed dead. If she was now back and plotting against Anna Henrietta, the connection to Sangrael and the Heart of Toussaint would make sense … especially the latter object as it had once been gifted to Syanna. Henrietta told Geralt he must go to Dun Tynne and find her, making sure no harm comes to her.

Just then Orianna returned with two very surprising guests. When Geralt went to Orianna’s residence with the duchess, he was certain Dettlaff was somewhere far away, safe in Regis’ care. He was wrong, as he found out while watching both vampires stroll into the room, his surprise quickly turning to irritation. The evening ended in a philosophically complex scene featuring the duchess of Toussaint, several ancient higher vampires and a grumpy witcher sharing a table. In the conversation that ensued, Geralt gathered Regis and Orianna were old friends. The entire conversation had a rather surreal nature, seeing as how the duchess had no idea she was speaking to the murderer she so wished to have slain. In fact, the Beast of Beauclair even came off as… charming. The conversation proved both lively and varied, spanning matters ranging from the intricacies of combating monsters to the propriety of wearing deep-cut formal dresses. Detlaff even gave a cryptic apology to the witcher, saying some monsters have no choices when loved ones are at stake. Geralt retorted that everyone has a choice, but he made it clear that he would rather help than kill some monsters.

Geralt pulled Regis aside and they conferred briefly. The conversation with Henrietta’s key outcome was the conclusion that the blackmailers were holding Dettlaff's lover at a place known as Dun Tynne. Geralt was firmly against revealing this information to Dettlaff. To his thinking, this could lead to serious trouble. I must say, I agree with the witcher's reasoning. When a higher vampire loses his self-control, trouble always ensues. Bloody trouble.


Soon, the witcher and Duchess took there leave, while Orianna, Detlaff and Regis remained behind. Ducal guardsmen commanded by Captain Damien de la Tourwere to aid Geralt in storming Dun Tynne – this was the duchess' wish and command. The briefing before the assault would be held at the mill where Dettlaff had recently dispatched Count de la Croix in cold blood. That night they were to attack at midnight. The Duchess’ forces awaited for the right moment, and then struck without warning.

Within Dun Tynne's walls, the witcher came upon Roderick. The old knight had erred many times in his life, yet never as gravely as he had when opening his castle to a group of bandits, a vandaguild. He had been persuaded to do so by none other than Syanna, Duchess Anny Henrietta's sister. The young woman had clearly captured the lord of Dun Tynne's affections, or perhaps merely aroused his passions. This achieved, she had quickly wrapped him round her finger. Interestingly, Roderick seemed to know Syanna well, yet he had heard nothing of her abduction. Having questioned the wounded knight as much as he wished, Geralt gave the knight a wrapping for his wound and set off for the castle's keep, in a room of which he expected to find Anna Henrietta's dear sibling.

While storming Dun Tynne, Geralt was surprised to find he had two allies – Regis and Dettlaff. The vampires kept tabs on Geralt's progress through the use of avian allies and thus were the instant he found himself in dire straits. They reacted at once. Soon, Dun Tynne was drenched in blood. Naturally, the witcher assisted by two higher vampires plowed through the castle's defenders about like the Nilfgaardian conflagration had plowed through Cintra. Believing he was battling the men responsible for his beloved’s kidnapping, Dettlaff killed with unseen passion. He only stopped when there was not a being left on the battlefield giving out the least sign of life.

At long last they reached the room where Geralt expected to find Syanna… And he was not disappointed. Yet it turned out Syanna was not just the young lady banished from court those many years ago. No, she was also Rhena, the missing, presumed-to-be-kidnapped young woman who was Dettlaff's beloved. The witcher and company learned she had controlled the Cintrian, bidding him to steal Sangreal wine as well as the ducal jewel. She had also sent Dettlaff the names of the intended victims. The vampire needed all his strength to quell his desire to tear her to shreds then and there. Upon learning the woman he loved was using him for her own ends, Dettlaff lost all will to keep on living. The only thing left to him was a longing for vengeance – blind, unrestrained vengeance. He seemed a shard of ice as he issued a clear ultimatum: Syanna was to meet with him alone and explain everything. If she failed to do that, Beauclair would be awash with blood. No one had any doubts Dettlaff meant exactly what he said.

The witcher found himself between a rock and a hard place. One the one hand, a vampire consumed by fury demanded he deliver Syanna to him in three days' time. On the other hand, Anna Henrietta awaited. If Geralt thought the tales of Her Illustrious Grace's implacable wrath were exaggerated, he quickly was shown how greatly he was mistaken. As soon as Anna Henrietta learned the vampire had not only escaped, but had also threatened the life of her sister, she flew into a rage that precluded all discussion. She presented matters very clearly: Geralt was to complete his contract and bring her Dettlaff's head on a silver platter.
 
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After three days of searching, Geralt and Regis went back to Anna Henrietta. It was painfully clear the audience with the duchess would not be a pleasant one. For Geralt and Regis had failed to establish Dettlaff's whereabouts, though not for lack of trying. The duchess chastised the witcher for his inability to fulfill his end of the contract. However, before the audience ended, matters quickly took an even more tragic turn. When Geralt failed to deliver Syanna to the lover betrayed, he fulfilled his threat and sent down upon Beauclair and its environs a plague of horrid beasts. A Bruxa attacked the audience in the Palace, killing several guards before the witcher was able to help slay her. Henrietta was rushed away to safety, and the witcher immediately resumed his efforts to find and confront Dettlaff.

Before he ran off, Regis stopped Geralt for a moment to consider their options. The witcher could either appease Detlaff by bringing him Syanna – against the duchess’ orders – or find another route. Geralt remembered that Regis had once mentioned a way to summon a higher vampire that he would rather not pursue. When Geralt pressed Regis to tell him of this other way, his friend relented and told him of the ruler of all vampires in Toussaint, the Unseen Elder. Geralt was as intrigued as I was, and as I imagine you shall be, to learn higher vampire society is organized in a strict hierarchy based on age: the older a vampire, the greater his say in their matters and the stricter the punishment for going against his will. One extremely elder vampire lived in Beauclair, in the cave where he had been deposited during the Conjunction of the Spheres. The only problem was that the more ancient members of the vampiric race were not very… how to put this… amenable to company. This particular elder so deeply disliked visitors Regis trembled at the very thought of having to disturb his peace. Geralt had a difficult decision to make: should he risk a visit to the Elder’s domain, or try to find Syanna?

Geralt decided to not cast aside any option yet. He would need to speak with Damien – who was mounting a defense against the vampires in Beauclair - to see if he could discover Syanna’s location. When he asked Regis how he might find the Unseen Elder, Regis suggested Great visit Orianna at her estate – confirming the witcher’s suspicions that she too was a vampire. Regis said he would remain in the city to help defend the people there from the onslaught, and told the witcher to speak to a raven if the witcher wanted to summon the vampire.

Looking for both Damien and Orianna, Geralt dove head long into the massacre that was being perpetrated on the citizens of Beauclair. Garakins, Alps and Bruxas were all over the city, killing without mercy. Geralt tried to save as many people as he could and slay the beasts as he searched for his two possible sources of information. Soon he began to find the bodies of ducal guardsmen and knew Damien must be near. He followed the trail of blood, bodies and vampires until he found the Captain of the Guard’s unit besieged by vampires in the main city square. Geralt entered the fray and helped kill the attacking vampires.

After he bloodied himself side by side with the witcher, Damien decided the White Wolf was actually an altogether decent fellow who wished only to help. One could even say they shook hands and made up. In their hearts, at least. If he was going to use Syanna to appease Detlaff, Geralt needed to establish where the troublemaker was being held. The witcher suspected he could extract this information from Damien, and so he asked. Though the Captain was reluctant to betray the Duchess’ confidence, he could see that the slaughter around him had to be stopped. He told the witcher the last he had seen Syanna, Henrietta was escorting her to an old playroom in the Palace grounds. Geralt thanked the Captain for his assistance, and headed off to find Orianna … for the lead he had on Syanna seemed tenuous at best.

Geralt once again waded through the city's vampire-infested streets to reach Orianna's estate. He entered her grounds only to find that she was leaving. The witcher stopped her and informed her that he knew what she was. Orianna seemed amused that the witcher thought this would be a revelation to her. The vampires was hardly eager to help the witcher find the Unseen Elder. She was on her way out, about to leave Beauclair for the orphanage she maintained outside the city walls. Anxious about what she might find there, she had neither the time nor the desire nor the patience to listen to the wticher's arguments. Geralt had no choice but to accompany Orianna, hoping to convince her along the way.

Orianna's concerns had been completely justified. One of the vampires Dettlaff had summoned had perpetrated a bloody massacre on her orphanage. It seemed the establishment’s head abandoned location when danger appeared, instructing the children that they would be safe if they remained quiet. This was of course a lie, as the only surviving orphan could attest. All of the other children, including his sister, had been slaughtered. Geralt calmed the boy using Axii and learned as much as he needed to know. Enraged by what she found, Orianna pledged to help the witcher find the Unseen Elder - on one condition. Geralt had first to bring her the head of her wards' murderer. If I know Geralt, however, he would have hunted the bastard down without the promise of any reward.


When a vampire gives a witcher a contract to kill another vampire, you can be certain neither of the two is entirely normal. The contract seemed simple enough, though Geralt knew his target was a vampire. Yet one must bear in mind vampires are a very diverse group and their various species differ from one another greatly. The witcher established the individual he sought had long, hooked claws with which it could tear apart a body with ease, leaving behind venom which hindered the clotting of blood. What's more, it could use these claws to scale even the sheer outer wall of a building, giving others the impression it possessed mind-boggling powers. Geralt also realized his opponent was an experienced predator able to set ambushes for its prey and attack it unexpectedly.

The monster he was tracking turned out to be a powerful type of garkain, a pack leader or alpha. As the witcher expected, in addition to its ability to emit waves of mental energy, this alpha garkain also had powerful venom at its disposal. The monster killed for pleasure, not just to satisfy its hunger. It must be admitted that Geralt also gained a measure of satisfaction from eradicating this beast, for he could still remember the massacre in the orphanage for which this garkain was responsible.

Geralt had slain the garkain, but when he rejoined Orianna, he learned Regis' charismatic fellow vampire was nowhere near as civilized and humanitarian as he. When returned to Orianna, he found her feeding on the sole surviving orphan. It turned out the orphanage outside the city was, to the witcher’s horror, a sort of blood cellar. Orianna visited it whenever the urge struck her to drink some blood straight from an orphan’s neck.Though his hand itched to grab the hilt of his silver sword once more and tend to Orianna as he had tended to the garkain, the young orphan pleaded with him to stop, as Ms. Orianna was always so kind to him. It seemed the orphan submitted to being fed upon, and that Orinna never killed her wards. The witcher was disgusted, but he was well aware saving the city's inhabitants was far more important at the time. In any event, Orinna told the witcher of a cave where he would be able to find the entrance to the Unseen Elder’s lair and the witcher left with a warning that he would one day find her.

Having gotten as much information as he could, Geralt now had to make his decision. He found a raven and told it to find Regis. The witcher said he would meet his old friend at a pier near the Palace of Toussaint. Shortly after he arrived, Regis also appeared. As the witcher met once more with Regis, two possible paths lay before him. He now had to choose between meeting with the Unseen Elder or finding Syanna. Regis was of the opinion that finding Syanna was the best option, warning that there was no guarantee that the Unseen Elder would not kill them at first glance. Geralt heeded Regis' advice and would seek to resolve the crisis through peaceful means. To do so, he would need to fulfill the vampire blackmailer's demand and free Syanna.

Just as Damien had advised, Regis and Geralt went to the playroom at the Ducal Palace. It seemed a strange choice for a prison, but Anna Henrietta was known to have oft unusual ideas. The witcher and the vampire searched the room but found no sign of Syanna. They deduced she had to be concealed inside an illusion. It appeared the mage Artorius Vigo had created it years earlier, for the ducal daughters when they were but children. It was a fairytale land called the Land of a Thousand Fables one could enter through the room. Knowing what he had to do, the witcher wasted no time, opened the book, and was transported into the illusion itself.

The Land of a Thousand Fables was an extraordinary place. Now, it was also extraordinarily dangerous. For Artorius Vigo's spell, cast many years earlier, had begun to degenerate, change and grow wild. This was the result of something called magical entropy. The world's fairytale characters had grown unpredictable and aggressive - something the witcher got a taste of soon into his adventure there.

When Geralt first arrived in the illusionary fairytale, he found himself in an enchanted forest with mushrooms taller than he was. He travelled through the woods and through a Grigg village until he came upon something unlike anything he had seen before. Though evil witches are often considered creatures born of the overactive imaginations of fabulists and mythologists, cartoonish characters only a child would ever be frightened of, there are accounts of men who claim to have happened across one of these improbable beings. All these accounts agree that the witch not only did in fact eat men, but had mastered the cooking of humans to a fine art. They are said to be particularly fond of children’s liver fried in butter and served in a saffron sauce, balsamic vinegar-marinated fingers roasted to a golden crisp and, yes, even freshly-squeezed corpse juice. It should be noted here that all the above-mentioned witnesses who swore they saw such a witch were patients of the Ellander Institute for the Mentally Ill, thus the veracity of their testimony is highly debatable. However, standing before Geralt appeared to be the epitome of a wicked witch and it was arguing with Syanna. As Geralt approached the hag noticed him, grabbed her broom and instantly began to attack. She swooped at him from all directions until Geralt landed a well placed shot, knocking her off her broom. Once she was within reach of his sword, the witcher made quick work of the illusionary witch.

Once the wicked which was no longer moving, Syanna ran over to what appeared to be a large oven and released a small boy she called Jack. It seemed this was the young man from the tale “Jack and the Bean Stalk.” According to him, a boy named Joss would know where to find some magic beans that Syanna was very interested in.

Syanna asked Geralt why he was there. Geralt told her he wanted to help her escape, if she agreed to meet with Detlaff to end the violence that had overtaken the city. After hearing that Beauclair’s populace was being slaughtered, Syanna agreed … saying innocent deaths were not part of her plan. Only those whom had wronged her were to die. Geralt asked Syanna why she ordered the specific men Detlaff killed to be slain. It seemed the four knights were the ones who escorted her from the realm when she was banished. The Duke banished her because of the curse of the black sun. What’s more, they were cruel to her when they did so. Geralt understood her anger at these four after hearing her side of the story, but still wasn’t sure it warranted murder.

Regardless, the witcher and the duchess' sister now shared a goal - both trapped in this magical land, they needed to find the way out. They joined forces. Syanna knew the exit from the Land of a Thousand Fables lay hidden among the clouds overhead. Their first task was to find magic beans that would help them ascend. Soon enough they found Joss - who obsessively cried "Wolf!" and was known by all to be a pathological liar. He proved hard to pin down, for his convoluted clues were the exact opposite of the truth. By Joss' reckoning the red bean "had not been swallowed," though the one who had not swallowed it was the "most humany human in all the land." The blue bean, on the other hand, "Lay out in the open" watched over by "nobody" times three. The yellow bean, in turn, could be found "deep underground," a "bald farm-hand" its guard and keeper.

The last bean was easy enough to figure out. A giant tower in the center of the land housed Longlocks … who awaited prince charming to come rescue her. That had to be where the yellow bean was. Everyone knows love stories can have tragic endings, but few would think this also apples to princesses from fairy tales created to relieve a set happy ending over and over again. Longlocks had the misfortune of becoming just such an unlikely tragic heroine. After the duke's daughters grew up and the Land of a Thousand Fables went feral, Longlocks, whose prince never came and who suffered greatly from her loneliness, decided to hang herself by her own braid. After she died, her ghost stayed to haunt the castle in which she had awaited her suitor. Geralt put the spirit to rest, and found the yellow bean.

There was a nearby village Geralt and Syanna visited next. The villaged seemed deserted other than a cat with boots on and a girl by the name of Little Flint. Flint apparently used to act as a sort of innocent little merchant at one point, but the years of magical entropy had turned her into a drug dealer. When they began to speak with her, Syanna noticed a ribbon that had once been hers and demanded it back. Flint refused, but Geralt decided to challenge her for it in a game a Gwent. Like so many challengers in the real world, Little Flint soon found herself surrendering her prize to the witcher after trying to best him in Gwent. Syanna asked Geralt what he wanted in return, and seemed genuinely shocked when the witcher replied that he wanted nothing.

As they travelled from the village, Geralt and Syanna soon came upon the homes of the three little pigs. They thought perhaps they could be the “three nobodies” Joss mentioned in one of his lies. The three little pigs are perfect examples of a rather unfortunate phenomenon. Leave even a kind-hearted, warm, naively benign creature to fend for itself, and it won't remain so benign for long. The three little pigs from the Land of a Thousand Fables were left for years without Artorius Vigo's supervision. During this time they went completely feral, transforming into three wild boars which attacked anyone who dared approach their ruined home. More importantly however, they did indeed have the third magic bean, which Geralt collected shortly after showing them why they ought to fear wolves.

The witcher and Syanna continued down the path towards the home of Red Riding Hood. When they got their the girl was gone, but her fairytale nemesis was asleep in the yard. The Big Bad Wolf who lived in the Land of a Thousand Fables was, like the other denizens of that strange sphere, created by Artorius Vigo based on a figure from folk tales. Once he served as a playmate to the duke’s daughters, acting out scenes with a certain red-hooded girl and her grandmother, but as the fable land slowly degenerated, so did he. Geralt and Syanna met the Big Bad Wolf while he was nursing a nasty hangover and was not eager to cooperate. Yet since our heroes needed a bean which the wolf had, they forced him to act out his tale. That tale ended as it always had: the Big Bad Wolf attacked the Hunter (played by Geralt), biting and clawing him fiercely while his own wounds healed almost instantaneously. Inevitably, however, the Big Bad Wolf was killed and his stomach cut open. This time, out came not a grandma and her granddaughter, but a magic bean.

Geralt’s journey to the Land of a Thousand Fables bore more fruit than he had expected. His conversations with Syanna shed light on a few matters: she made no secret of the fact that her elaborate murder plot was about getting revenge on the people who had forced her into exile. Vengeance is one of the oldest motives in the world and has brought many doom and few relief. It was to bring Syanna face to face with a higher vampire who was simultaneously a serial killer, her slighted beau and, it seemed, a being still deeply in love with her.

The witcher and Syanna found all the beans at last. They planted them and climbed the stalk that sprouted into the clouds. High in the sky they spied a castle, then the giant who called it home. The Cloud Giant was most likely meant to be a pleasant-natured strongman who would carry the duke's young daughters on his shoulders and never grow tired. When he became degenerated and overgrown, however, he turned into a dangerous monster. After Jack stole his goose that laid golden eggs, the Cloud Giant decided in the future anyone who climbed onto his cloud would be tossed off, without a word of warning. "A giant," you might say, then tremble in your boots. But the witcher and his companion defeated it post haste. Syanna seemed to want to celebrate with the witcher in a relatively intimate way … but the witcher had no such intentions with the lives of so many hanging in the balance.

Geralt and Syanna finally left the Land of a Thousand Fables. Meanwhile in the city, the massacre had raged unchecked. Yet Syanna had returned, so hope burned anew. If Dettlaff and his former lover could be made to meet, the vampires' rampage in the city could come to an end. When Geralt brought Syanna to the meeting with Dettlaff, he never expected this story would end with such a finale. Higher vampires bear an uncanny resemblance to humans. Yet the similarities are only skin deep. We mere mortals have a dastardly time trying to understand their emotional makeup and morals. So Geralt could never have foreseen what happened - that Dettlaff would try to take Syanna's life. Though several days had passed since their last meeting, Dettlaff had not managed to rein in the wrath he felt toward Syanna.

As Regis had feared, his friend proved incapable of restraining his rage and tried to kill his one-time love. Luckily, Syanna had her protective amulet. Right before his blow struck, Syanna disappeared, whisked away to a safe place by the magic ribbon she had taken from the Land of a Thousand Fables. Crafted long before by Artorius Vigo, it did exactly what it was created to do. At the crucial moment, the duchess' sister disappeared, transported to a spot both safe and secure. Syanna thus escaped Dettlaff’s claws and landed straight in the palace dungeons. Dettlaff flew into a rage.


Dettlaff then vented his fury on Geralt and Regis. He lunged at the witcher, intent on tearing him to shreds. I think it greatly surprised Detlaff when Regis joined the fray on Geralt’s behalf. Before the witcher could even react, the two vampires where locked in a duel so quick mere mortals would barely be able to see the movements. When Geralt joined the fight it seemed for a moment that Dettlaff was defeated when Regis subdued him. However, when Regis paused before landing a killing blow, Dettlaff took the opportunity to knock his supposed friend unconscious. This would come down to the vampire and the witcher. He was faster than any foe the witcher had faced before, and stronger too. He would attack on the ground and from the sky. They danced across the battlefield in the deadliest waltz until Geralt managed to defeat Dettlaff by cutting him in twain. But a higher vampire can only be truly killed by one of his brethren. This was perhaps the most difficult decision Regis had ever faced in his life. He killed his friend, having decided Dettlaff's failure to adapt to this world was a burden his friend could no longer bear. And with that, it was done. The Beast of Beauclair was slain by a friend he had once saved. Toussaint was safe once again.

The witcher had, at last, defeated the Beast of Beauclair. Two weeks later, her Enlightened Highness Duchess Anna Henrietta invited him to a ceremony where she would award him the Vitis Vinifera medal, Toussaint's highest honor. Geralt, famous for being one of the world's leading scruffs, possessed no outfit that would not violate protocol or be remotely suitable for such an occasion. In her generosity, the duchess agreed to fund a new robe. Regis, having nothing better to do, accompanied the witcher to the tailor's for his fitting. There, the vampire revealed the thought that was tormenting him. Namely, he believed Syanna had planned five murders from the start. He wished to know the identity of the fifth intended victim. He suggested to Geralt that they investigate the matter to the end.

Though the investigation had already revealed almost all the key details of the mysterious murders – Geralt now knew their means, method and perpetrator and had even prevented their continuation – he still did not fully understand why this whole plot had been hatched in the first place. The last virtue that had not been represented by the killings was compassion, and Regis wished to look into who the final target would have been. Yet he did not have to try hard to learn this last bit of information. Syanna did not hide it had been a simple matter of getting revenge on those who had forced her into exile. Vengeance is one of the oldest motives in the world, one which has brought many doom and few relief. As for Syanna, it brought her to a cell in the ducal palace.

When the witcher and Regis put their mind’s to something there isn’t much they can’t uncover. Regis suggested they seek out the bootblack, whom Regis had learned was involved with the messages being sent to Dettlaff about whom the now slain vampire was to murder. Geralt was done with his fitting, and had time before the ceremony … so he saw no reason to not indulge his friend’s curiosity. Together they headed off to meet the bootblack once again.

They approached the bootblack, for whom business appeared to be booming. The lad was able to tell Geralt and Regis how the letters with the Beast’s victims’ names on them had been delivered to Dettlaff. Beggars had brought the letters to him. Four times a letter was brought to him. It can be truly amazing how much useful information one simple child laborer can possess. The boy directed them to a poorhouse, as that was where most of the beggars stayed at night. The boy reasoned the witcher was sure to come across at least one of the messengers there. He gave them directions to the house for the poor. Regis tipped the bootblack, and then out pair of investigators strode off to see what they could find.

When they arrived at the poorhouse, some men appeared to be bothering the beggars. After chasing them off, the shelter’s head welcomed Geralt and Regis into his establishment. Inside was a collection of poor folk in need of rest and a hot meal. The witcher asked the man if he knew whether any of his wards were acquainted with the bookblack. The man did not know, but invited them to stay for the next meal when they men would be present themselves.

Sure enough the beggars soon began to arrive one by one. When they were all there, the shelter’s head told them the witcher had a few questions. Geralt asked about the letters, and soon enough some of the men began to admit they had made deliveries. Indeed Geralt was shocked to learn, one of the men even still had a letter. This must have been the fifth name. It was there they learned Syanna had indeed planned five murders. All to wreak vengeance upon those who had caused her to be banished from the court and the Ducal Palace. The final victim was to have been her very own sister, Duchess Anna Henrietta. Geralt considered confronting Syanna. The greatest obstacle would be that she was under lock and key in the Ducal Palace. Regis wished the witcher well, he had no interest in being caught after the Night of Long Fangs. Regis told the witcher he would be waiting for him after the ceremony at his home in Mère-Lachaiselongue Cemetery.

Though Syanna had shown she could be merciless with those she considered enemies, the witcher felt sorry for her, in a way. Perhaps because he had also been considered a freak his entire life, or perhaps because, though he never admitted it, he simply had a good heart. Whatever the cause, he decided to visit Syanna in her cell, where she revealed to him that her plan had one last, culminated step: the murder of Anna Henrietta. Syanna applauded Geralt’s deduction that she planned the murders because Henrietta had forgotten her, banished her from memory. Geralt spoke frankly with the Duchess’ prisoner and told her she ought to forgive her sister. Luckily, Geralt was able to get her to listen to reason and she decided to await her sentence patiently. She knew her sister well and could be confident Anarietta would not let any harm come to her. After speaking to her, he made his way to the ceremony, during which he was to receive his distinction.


Damien found the witcher first. The Captain of the guard’s injuries were healing well, though Geralt doubted the scars would ever heal. He passed along the information he had about Syanna to the captain. The last thing he wanted to do was have the duchess be harmed. Damien said he would double the guard for the duchess whenever Syanna was nearby. Then the captain brought the witcher to the duchess for the ceremony.

On her own behalf and that of her subjects, Anna Henrietta thanked Geralt for slaying the Beast of Beauclair and awarded him the Vitis Vinifera Medal. She also gave the witcher a generous financial reward, as well as a dozen barrels of Sangrael, the wine normally reserved for the ducal table. Geralt told Anna that he was honored to receive these gifts, showing once again that the witcher could at times surprise those who thought monster slayers incapable of courtly etiquette. Thankfully, the ceremony was brief, so the witcher lacked time to demonstrate his ignorance of protocol and thus violate the majesty of the court.


After the ceremony, Her Grace asked Geralt to stay for the audience where Sylvia Anna was to face her accusers. The duchess began the audience by stating that Syanna had committed grievous crimes, but that she could not be unbiased in this matter. Shocking everyone present, not the least of which Geralt, she asked the witcher to advise her on what to do. Geralt always tried to remain neutral when he could, but when called upon by Henrietta, what could he do but speak the truth. He told the duchess he could understand Syanna’s actions based on the wrongs done to her in the past, but that they did not justify murder.

When Geralt had spoken to Syanna earlier, he had broached some sensitive issues. These now came to the fore, and a heated argument erupted between the sisters. Syanna accused Henrietta of causing part of the disturbance that led to Syanna’s banishment, and then remaining silent as the punishment was handed out. She had been abandoned by her own sister. Syanna claimed that she expected to be judged by the ministers of Toussaint and her parents, but never her Anarietta. Those valuing convention and decorum undoubtedly considered it an unsavory public airing of matters private. Yet my own heart inclines me to think it a fortunate turn of events. For we cannot know what might have happened had there been no release of resentments that had accumulated over decades. In the end, Henrietta showed more grace than even one bestowed with that title could be expected to have. Her love of her sister outweighed all else. Henrietta acknowledged her wrongs begged her sisters forgiveness, and embraced her. For a moment the witcher grew concerned knowing Syanna had very recently been plotting to kill her sister … but his worry faded when the embrace was returned. The sisters, parted for so many years, were only now reunited, in perhaps the most unlikely of circumstances.

The ducal palace became the sight of a celebration that night, but Geralt of Rivia was not present. No the witcher preferred a quiet drink with a very old and very dear friend. Upon quitting the palace Geralt rejoined Regis at his crypt. The indulged in some well-deserved respite while sipping Regis' exquisite (as they both assured me) mandrake hooch. Geralt would tell me the vampire was so proud of this batch, that he insisted they go search for more mandrake roots in order to obtain supplies for more.

The witcher relented, and the pair searched through the cemetery looking for the mandrake roots that grew there. After Geralt had found a few roots, he went back to meet with Regis, but found his friend being attacked by Bruxae. The witcher sprang to his friend’s defense, and the would-be assassins were soon dispatched. Geralt then realized Regis had become ostracized from his people by killing Dettlaff. He had chosen the lives of innocents, knowing it would mean isolation and risk to his very life. Geralt thought to himself that his friend the vampire was perhaps the most compassionate being he had ever met.

Regis acknowledged that he would have to leave Toussaint. His plan was to travel south to Nilfgaard. The empire’s attitude towards all things supernatural meant that few citizens in the south even believed vampires existed … this would have definite advantages for Regis, who of course wanted to remain incognito as much as possible. However, Regis said he would leave in the morning, for he wanted to share one more night of conversation with his old friend.

He told Geralt that while the witcher was at the ceremony, he had left him a small alchemical gift at Corvo Bianco, in recognition of their continued friendship. Speaking of Geralt’s estate, Regis asked the witcher what he would do now that he was a proper land owner. Geralt confided in his friend that he was tired. Years of constant searching, fighting and monster hunts had worn on the witcher. Ciri was safe. Yennefer was safe. For so long he had struggled to protect the ones he loved. What he longed for most now was to perhaps settle down and be able to sleep in the same bed every night. The path had led him here … his school was all but finished. He had no intention of subjecting any more children to the witcher’s mutations. Given all of this, why not take the opportunity to find somewhere to call his own?

As conversation between old friends is want to do, it soon turned towards old memories the two men shared. They spoke of old times from their first adventure through Toussaint. They camping in a cave during a blizzard in the mountains. The fairytale of Toussaint itself, with it’s wine and women so alluring. Then conversation turned back to their original task and it’s end at castle Styrgga. Regis asked Geralt what had become of Vilgefortz, the mage who had all but killed the vampire. Geralt assured his friend that Vilgefortz had breathed precious few breaths after attacking Regis. Between he and Yennefer, they managed to cut the mage down and save Ciri. In the silence that followed Geralt pondered all that had happened before that moment and sense. Regis seemed to be able to sense the witcher’s thoughts, and said that they had witnessed - and in fact on several occasions incited many great and weighty events over the years. After all that toil, Regis estimated they had both earned a bit of rest. “That we do” agreed the witcher, and looked off into Toussaint’s clear night sky.

[video=youtube;-hy9SHS6b0g]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hy9SHS6b0g[/video]
 
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The next morning, the witcher and Regis parted as friends, and Geralt was left wondering what he would do now that his contract was fulfilled. He had always wanted the chance to settle down, but only really knew life on the path. For the next month, the witcher ended having both worlds, where he would look for witcher’s work in Toussaint while he slept at Corvo Bianco every night and learned more from B.B. about running a vineyard.

It began with the witcher learning that the ducal clerk needed assistance. He was to find a new owner and steward for the Belgaard Vineyard, which at the time remained the property of the duchy. The owners of two other vineyards were competing for control of Belgaard. They were Matilda Vermentino and Liam de Coronata. Belgaard had been the jewel of Toussaint's crown of vineyards. Yet since the death of its owner, Count Crespi, it had fallen on hard times. The ducal clerk had been tasked with finding a new steward, but only one who stood to restore Belgaard's reputation and fame.

Wine is important - this we all know. Yet in Toussaint wine is sacred. Soon Geralt found himself embroiled in a dispute between two great winemaking families, represented by Matilda Vermentino and Liam de Coronata, and he knew he was treading on shaky ground. However, the witcher still thought it was a huge opportunity. He could learn more about vineyard management while also working his trade. You see dear reader, Count de la Croix’s death at the claws of the Beast of Beauclair had led to his vineyard being up for sale … and that deepened an already vicious rivalry between Matilda and Liam. Geralt agreed to help each for a substantial sum. From the start, both Matilda and Liam insisted the problems at their vineyards had not appeared out of thin air. Naturally, they accused one another of foul play. Geralt suspected there was more to the matter, and yet again his intuition proved true.

While trying to address the maladies affecting Vermentino Vineyard a short distance from Castel Ravello, Geralt happened on a notice posted by Jacob, a lumberjack. The logger was in search of someone who had no fear of spells and could thus face a witch. This was the very description of the witcher, no two ways about it, so it was no surprise that our hero took an interest in the notice and decided to visit Jacob.

Jacob proved a true expert on tales. The lumberjack readily explained to Geralt that the woman enchanted in the tree was Daphne, transformed out of great longing due to her deep love for the knight Gareth, whose return she awaited. Gareth had gone off to scale Lynx Crag, atop which he was to find the witch who dwelled there. He was to force her to lift the drought that plagued the land. Alas, the knight had not returned, and the tale from which the logger drew his knowledge said nothing about what had befallen the knight. If there was any answer to the mystery, it could only be found on Lynx Crag.

Geralt found the witch of Lynx Crag and did precisely what the knight from Herrera's tale was said to have done. He bowed before her and asked her for help. Though fussy, the witch seemed appeased and betrayed the manner in which the woman imprisoned in the tree could be freed … but only after the witcher gave her a strand of his hair, which she claimed would make the witch invisible to Geralt in the future. The success was bitter-sweet, however, as neither the witch nor the witcher could restore to the woman the life she had lost. Shortly after being freed, her spirit left this world, though it did so at peace with its fate.

While working on ridding the Coronata Estate of archespores, Geralt did not neglect his vocation and the true core of his existence, namely, pursuing and slaying monsters. Having found a notice on a notice board, posted by a merchant guild beset by some beast, the witcher decided to go to the appointed spot to learn about the details of the matter.

At his destination, Geralt found a ransacked camp. It looked as if it had been destroyed recently. He also happened on the bodies of two merchants. Their wounds had clearly been caused by a monster of ample size. While combing the surrounding area, the witcher happened on Count Borhis di Salvaress, who claimed the monster Geralt was tracking was a silver basilisk - the last surviving specimen of the subspecies which also happened to be the Count's wildlife roaming pet, a pet the nobleman desperately wished the witcher would spare. Geralt searched the bodies of the merchant and discovered that those who had posted the notice had indeed known there was danger in sending their now deceased merchants along this route, but they seemed to care more about profits than employees.

Geralt followed the silver basilisk’s trail until he came upon some truly unfortunate news. To make matters worse, it turned out the basilisk was also the quarry of a small company of Crinfrid Reavers. Count Borhis di Salvaress approached all five of the men and offered to pay them a sum equal to that of the contract if they left the basilisk alone. It seemed this “pet” was actually the last known kind of it’s sub-species and also part of the di Salvaress family history and crest. The witcher did not feel overly sympathetic to the merchant’s guild since they knew of the dangers in coming to this land … and the Count had amptly warned others far and wide to stay off of his family’s property. Thus, he suggested that the Reaver’s take the Count up on his offer. They agreed, and all were paid without spilling an ounce of blood of either beast or man.

When Geralt first agreed to look into problems at some of the vineyards in Toussaint, he had not expected these matters to occupy him for long. But while solving the problems at each of the vineyards of Liam and Matilda, he had happened on some notes. These suggested someone had intentionally planted archespores amidst the vines at both estates. The witcher had also found a key to the shelter where saplings of the beastly plants had been stored. This changed the circumstances as quickly as a wildfire might dash through a vineyard in a drought. Geralt soon discovered that a third party was behind the problems at Coronata and Vermentino. Count Crespi had provoked the quarrel between the vineyard owners, and thus an end to the mess was finally in sight. He shared this news with the vineyards' owners. Prodded by the ducal clerk, they accepted their continuing feud made little sense and agreed to form a consortium. The ducal clerk was clearly pleased to see Liam de Coronata and Matilda Vermentino join forces. And he agreed to transfer Belgaard to them jointly on one condition - they would first need to resolve the troubles at their home estates. As soon as these matters were done, the clerk put his seal to the paperwork, and Geralt’s employers were each immensely generous with their rewards.

Geralt accompanied the new partners to their recently purchased estate for a proper inspection of the property. The inspection yielded only one conclusion - Liam de Coronata's and Matilda Vermentino's newly formed consortium faced quite the challenge. And the witcher once again had much to do... Not monsters, not bandits - Geralt feared nothing! He quickly tended to the problems at Coronata and Vermentino, then set off to see the co-owners of the newly formed consortium to collect the reward they had promised him. Thanks to the witcher, the Belgaard Vineyard could shine once more. Relations between Liam and Matilda were also improving, the two young co-owners now clearly fond of one another. After paying the witcher a generous reward, they asked him to look in on them in a while, promising a surprise...

Geralt went home after several weeks of work not only a well paid man, but one who knew a great deal more about the running of a vineyard. The next day, Geralt happened upon an unusual contract notice. Someone was seeking the aid not of some unnamed witcher, but specifically of the witcher named Geralt of Rivia. The notice listed no other details, so Geralt, admittedly intrigued resolved to see what was the issue. The individual so intent on employing the White Wolf and no other was a certain Count Beledal, a nobleman from Kovir. The aristocrat wished to embark on a nature trek with the legendary witcher, and my dearest friend, as his guide. As the count was offering an exceptionally generous fee, and the job seemed simple enough in its nature, Geralt did not take long to accept the job.

The task took them to a place called Chuchote Cave. To listen to the old folks’ jabber, this place was once home to Whispess – a woodland witch eager to help any in need. When Whispess peered into a certain knight’s heart, she saw that it was black and refused him aid. The knight reacted with wrath and burned the witch alive in her cave. Soon afterward, the knight went mad and killed himself – claiming he was tortured by a strange voice whispering in his ear that no one else could hear. The excursion with the Koviri noble proved rather refreshing, though not nearly as safe and certainly not as boring as Geralt had initially assumed it would be. During its course, the witcher was forced to fight giant centipedes, to tame a number of panthers, and to attempt to control a flock of peacocks. In a word, he had a grand old time, while at the excursion's end his coin pouch grew markedly heavier.

Pleased with the excursion and with Geralt for proving a consummate professional, Count Beledal invited the witcher to attend a picnic he was to host the very next day.

To refuse the invitation of a luminary such as Count Beledal would have been tactless. Thus Geralt appeared at the nobleman's temporary residence at the appointed time. There he had an opportunity to view the paintings his host had produced based on the illusions he had captured during their excursions using the parestisomach. Grateful for the excellent job the witcher had done as his guide, the count decided to additionally reward him, granting Geralt one of his works.

After two more days passed, he returned to Belgaard Vineyard. This tale had begun with wine and vineyards, and it was with wine in a vineyard that it came to an end. The wine in question had been made with Geralt in mind and was to be named “White Wolf.” To this day it has become a tradition for some in Toussaint that they remember the night of long fangs by raising a glass of White Wolf in remembrance. It was final proof of Matilda Vermentino's and Liam de Coronata's gratitude. For the witcher had not only helped them grow their enterprise, he had also caused them to realize they had feelings for one another - feelings that now sprouted and bloomed. Quite the matchmaker Geralt proved to be. Who could've known?

In the weeks that followed, Geralt rode across his newly adopted homeland in search of re-learning the land. On most days, little more than a lovely ride and some wine tasting took place. However, on one such day Geralt had an experience unlike any he had in all his years on the path. I have oft heard Geralt boast that in terms of monsters, he firmly believes he has seen it all. Yet what he encountered on this occasion demanded that he revise that view. While travelling through Toussaint, he happened on a female hermit named Pinastri who claimed she an invisible specter was tormenting her and would be her end. The witcher was skeptical, not least because he could not imagine how he might defeat something invisible. The woman's suffering seemed so intense, however, that he resolved to try to help her.

To be able to track the hermit-haunting wraith, Geralt imbibed a dose of a brew the woman prepared. The concoction had a highly surprising side effect – for Geralt began to understand the speech of his trusty steed, Roach. A horse is more to a witcher than merely a means of locomotion - just ask any bandit who has taken a well-aimed hoof to the head during combat. Additionally, many a witcher has talked over the nuts and bolts of his current contract with his horse while staring at the stars shining above the lonely road, though few would ever admit to this.

Geralt named his every mount Roach, though no one really knows why or what Geralt had in mind with this name. When asked, Geralt would dodge the question or give an evasive answer. Perhaps this had just been the first word that came to his head? Roach, for her part, seemed to accept the name with no reservations. Geralt would grow annoyed and curse whenever Roach panicked and tossed him in the middle of a battle, as well as when she would suddenly turn a different direction that he wanted while he was riding at full gallop towards some urgent destination. In truth, though, he was very attached to her and would never trade her for any other horse. Not even one which, when summoned, would never stand helpless in front of a seemingly easily surmountable obstacle, such as a low fence or stray piece of timber. Nor even one which would sometimes, in some incomprehensible fashion, wind up dancing on some peasant's roof. "Well," Geralt would say with a shrug. "A witcher's horse isn't a normal animal. Constant contact with magic beverages and Signs must have left a mark."

However, even with all they had been through together, it wasn’t until completing this contract in Toussaint that Geralt had the chance to find out exactly how serious Roach took her role and how well-versed in the arcana of the witcher's trade she was. He also discovered she was an entirely pleasant conversation partner. Together, the witcher and his mount tracked down the nightmarish ghost. It proved to be the spirit of a knight, Pinastri's former lover, who had committed a terrible crime when in anger he had attacked his own horse and beat it to death.

You see Pindestri grew up in a poor village with Marcello Clerici, who was in love with her. Seeing her always feeling down, Marcello concluded that it must be because they were always poor, so he decided to move to Beauclair, taking her with him in hopes that would make her happy. She had a falling out with Marcello after he entered a tournament in hopes of winning to prove his love for Pinastri. However, his horse Blaze bucked him off and in his rage over losing, Marcello flogged Blaze to death, causing Pinastri to hate him. She soon left them to become a herbalist and made a solitary home for herself in Toussaint's countryside. Marcello later died, and he remained restless in the afterlife for the hermit had refused to forgive him for the deed. Yet the story ended happily thanks to Roach – namely, the mare decided to forgive the ghost on behalf of the horse he had murdered.

The witcher was becoming quite accustomed the charming land of Toussaint. One day Geralt got an unusual proposition that continued to help in this enchantment. A portrait artist, inspired and delighted by the witcher's singular appearance, asked if he would pose for a painting. Largely open to the varied experiences life offers, the witcher agreed to model for the painter. Though he later claimed he was driven primarily by a desire to support the arts (an impulse laudable in and of itself!), I suspect plain old vanity might also have come into play. The witcher and the artist set off together for the countryside, where the beautiful landscape was to serve as the backdrop for the portrait.

Once they arrived at their destination, it turned out that some picnickers had occupied the vista the artist had chosen. To make matters worse, the artist's painting tools had disappeared, and the witcher had to find them. In the end he could finally get down to posing and was pained to learn that a portrait takes much longer to produce than he had supposed. He did not manage to grow thoroughly bored, however, thanks to a griffin that swooped in unannounced. Geralt had to defeat the beast to save both the painter and his emerging work. He received payment for posing and learned he would be able to view the finished portrait the next day in the main town square.

Geralt finally saw the work that generated quite a lot of interest from the inhabitants of Beauclair. As it turned out, in the portrait the painter had rendered the witcher in the nude. Though explicit, the representation was flattering. To this day I remember the sheepish grin on Geralt's face as he related the tale to yours truly!

All of these tales however pale in comparison to the act that solidified Geralt’s residence in the Duchy of Toussaint. After another day’s long adventure roaming the roads and fields of the Sansretour vally, Geralt decided to go home to Corvo Bianco. At his new abode, an unexpected guest awaited... yet it was someone Geralt was more than glad to see. Yennefer awaited him inside and greet the witcher with an embrace he is unlikely to forget. She had come to Geralt seeking a home. It had been years, but the witcher and sorceress were reunited for good.


And so ends the epic tale of the witcher Geralt dear reader. The world continued to move, but Geralt settle down with his beloved and vineyard. While monarchs moved boarders and populations, Geralt and Yennefer live a calm, quiet life far from all things political. The breakfasted well after noon, more often than not in bed and passed the days on lazy strolls and long conversations. Boring you say? Perhaps. But both had sought this more than anything else. They would have visitors from near and far at times, even at times a certain witcheress who preferred to avoid the eyes of the Nilfgaardian authorities. However, Geralt confided in me that he was at his most content when alone with Yennefer, and with no plans. I do not begrudge the witcher this life, for no man has done more to deserve it than my friend, Geralt of Rivia.


THE END

 
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