The Nefarious Blacksmith of Oxenfurt

[Ian_Gere]

The Nefarious Blacksmith of Oxenfurt

If you search his house to find the cellar, you'll find that he has broken through a wall of it into the much vaunted "based on Elven viaducts" sewer system of Oxenfurt. There's a secret brick which glows red under Geralt's Witcher scrutiny which opens a secret door in the brickwork to reveal a treasure chest - woohoo, the contents aren't very interesting unless you're on a gear hunt. There are 2 possible directions to go in the sewers, but both are blocked by iron grates with locked doors.

Is there a quest that allows you to find the key? Is there actually a key at all? Or is it like the doors in Devil's Pit: so tantalising and yet still inaccessible...

 

[Ingsoc85]

The left one is always locked however the right one

Spoiler

lead to the basement at the house of whoreson junior, it only became open after you finish the quest where you locate him (or is it a possible alternate route to the quest? I don't know, defiantly worth exploring when I start a new playthrough).

 

[Lytha]

The left one is always locked however the right one

Spoiler

lead to the basement at the house of whoreson junior, it only became open after you finish the quest where you locate him (or is it a possible alternate route to the quest? I don't know, defiantly worth exploring when I start a new playthrough).

It's an alternate route for Get Junior indeed. The "stealthy" one.

Spoiler: to have it available during Get Junior, you need to...

- not visit any hideout in team with the Cleaver henchmen of Gangs of Novigrad. That is unstealthy and thus a bust.
- not alert any Whoreson NPC about your actual reasons why you visit the Arena and the Casino. That is: Do not show at any point interest in "I want to see the owner". You need to act like you're genuinely interested in becoming a pit fighter guard and a gwent addict. Else it's a bust.
- You also must not drag on the charade in the Casino until they clear the area and try to kill you on the gwent table floor instead of the attic. You can play a bit coy and shy at first, but there is a point after which your reluctance about visiting the "special gwent player" attic makes them suspicious. If they do clear the area and surround you on the 2nd floor with the intent to throw you into the river, then witnesses got away, and it's a bust.


You do have freedom about how to enter the lairs (bribe or axii or "Zdenek"), and some minor freedom about how to act inside the Whoreson lairs:

- "I'm a witcher, I am used to kill" or "I need a job" is both fine.
- Sparing the first dude or not is both fine.
- It does not matter if that first dude survives or not.
- Stealing everything from their containers right away is fine.
- Prematurely visiting the attic's locked door is fine.
- Chatting all 3 gwent players up until they're willing to play, but then suddenly changing your mind and telling him that you do not want to play him anyway is fine (though you obviously need to play and win against 2 of them for the quest to proceed.)

And, that may be important: This does not automatically fail "Gangs of Novigrad". You only need to talk with Cleaver before you start visiting Arena and Casino, so that his henchies wait in the street. I always go and see them and tell them to wait; and the Casino Cleavers I always tell afterwards that I did it all by myself. And you afterwards only need to talk with Cleaver before moving onto the next step (journey to Oxenfurt and the real lair.). Cleaver will not be thrilled, but the Gangs of Novigrad will finish peacefully.