Beauclair Art Merchant¶

Leave the Beauclair Blacksmith building and head south to find a tunnel to the east, head down some stairs, then turn north to find an ocher-colored building, which houses a merchant’s shop. You can buy a variety of paintings (if you want to spruce up Corvo Bianco at some point) and low-quality crafting components from him. He also plays Gwent, fielding a standard Monster deck - if you have a deck from the main game, this will prove no challenge, as you’ll only be dealing with the standard collection of “Muster” cards. Victory earns you the Clan Dimun Pirate card (6 Strength, “Scorch” ability), which can prove useful in Skellige decks. On the other hand, the Skellige deck’s “Tight Bond” combos often ensure it has some of the strongest cards in play, so it’s a very situational card, and can often become dead-weight in a high-powered Skellige deck.

Lazare Lafargues Workshop¶

Head outside and continue down the street to the east to find another store, which the colorful sign identifies as Lazare Lafargue’s Workshop. Enter the red building and talk to Lafargues, who seems to have no trouble identifying your profession… and even less with pushing a quest on you. It’s well worth your time to hear him out, however, as he just so happens to be looking for the diagrams for grandmaster witcher gear, which just so happened to have ended up in Toussaint, and he just so happens to know where they all are, and he just so happens to need your help to get them.

Coincidence much? You bet. The explanation given is that he was the apprentice to the elven smith Tyen’sail, and his prices drove Witchers to take on nigh impossible contracts in the area. When they failed, they left the diagrams behind. Yeah… don’t bother fussing over the flimsy setups for quests in videos game, it’ll drive you insane. Just accept it and move on.

His terms are pretty generous - you do all the work, he gets copies of the diagrams you find, then you can pay to upgrade your Witcher gear to grandmaster quality. Ask about each Witcher school to learn that set’s location, which starts several quests: “Master Master Master Master!” , which tasks you with finding all the grandmaster diagrams for one witcher set (likely so poor Lafargue can prove himself the equal of Tyen’sail) and four treasure hunts, “Scavenger Hunt: Grandmaster Feline Gear” , “Scavenger Hunt: Grandmaster Griffin Gear” , “Scavenger Hunt: Grandmaster Manticore Gear” , “Scavenger Hunt: Grandmaster Ursine Gear” , “Scavenger Hunt: Grandmaster Wolven Gear” .

All of these quests have a recommended level of forty, so they’ll be postponed in favor of other, lower-level quests. They are usually quite manageable, however, and running about after various diagrams will serve as a fine excuse to explore much of Toussaint.

Herb Store¶

Delay your dreams of tromping about in search of witcher diagrams and get back to to the business of exploring Beauclair. Exit Lazare Lafargue’s Workshop and head northwest down some stairs, then, when you reach the road below turn southeast until you find the “Herb Store” to your left, inside of which you’ll find the store’s proprietor - an Herbalist.

She sells Potions of Clearance (just like the Merchant at the Beauclair Perfumery), as well as Potions of Restoration (they might prove useful after you start dabbling around with Mutagens after completing the quest “Turn and Face the Strange”). Otherwise, she basically peddles over-priced alchemy ingredients you can just find on your own.

The Herbalist also plays Gwent, coming to the table with a Skellige deck. It’s mostly standard stuff you’ve seen before, but she’s not above playing several “War Longship” cards, some “Clan Drummond Shield Maiden” cards (perhaps boosted by the “Dandelion” card), using “Decoy” or “Yennefer” to send your “Spy” cards back at you, or frustrating you with “Scorch” and “Villentretenmerth”. She can also play a “Young Berserker”/“Ermion” combo. So, again, it’s all stuff you’ve seen before, nothing a good deck from the main game can’t beat, provided you get a decent hand. Your prize for victory is a Mardroeme card.

The Adder and Jewels Winery¶

Exit the Herb Store and follow the road outside to the northwest until you find a small crowd complaining about their lack of access to some “Reginald d’Aubry” monument. Ignore them and the Art Curator desperately trying to calm them down (while keeping their coin) - it’s another quest that can wait until you’re done exploring Beauclair.

From here, however, turn northeast and go down some stairs to reach “The Adder and Jewels Winery”. Enter the building and talk to the Sommelier (that’s fancy-talk for wine steward), who just so happens to play Gwent. This exploration of Beauclair almost seems like a Gwent tour, doesn’t it? Oh well, the Sommelier has a Skellige deck that is capable of the usual tricks - “War Longship” combos, “Cerys” with a few attendant “Clan Drummond Shield Maiden” cards, “Dandelion” and “Commander’s Horn” cards. He’ll also play the “Cow” card if he draws it! Best him and his bovine and you’ll nab the Olaf card, a 12 Strength card with “Agile” and “Morale Boost” which is NOT a Hero Card. Hard to imagine any deck that wouldn’t benefit from that.

Beauclair Notice Board¶

Bid the winery adieu and head northeast, ascend a ramp, then follow the road above to the northwest. Pass under an arch and you’ll discover “The Gran Place” signpost, south of which is Beauclair’s notice board. On this notice board you’ll find a stupid amount of quest-starting notices, many of which may well be absent if you’ve started these quests other ways.

The notice “Wanted: The White Wolf” will start Big Game Hunter , while the “Notice from the Ducal Camerlengo” begins the quest “Knight for Hire” . The “Announcement from the Office of Internal Revenue of the Duchy of Toussaint” will commence “Wine Wars: Belgaard” and the “Contract for a Witcher/Witchers: Caravan Escort” will begin the rather high-level quest “Mutual of Beauclair’s Wild Kingdom” . You should have already started the quest “Master Master Master Master!” , but in case you didn’t, you’ll find the notice “Contract: Grandmaster Armorer”. Remember the Art Curator you passed a moment ago, who was trying to calm the angry crowd? Turns out he posted the notice “Wanted: Discreet Specialist” with the attendant quest Goodness, Gracious, Great Ball of Granite! . If you didn’t take the detour to the lake/island recursion northwest of the Tourney Grounds, you can start the quest There Can Be Only One by grabbing the notice “Test Yourself with the Trials of the Virtues!”. The notice “Fisticuffs!” is pretty self explanatory, and begins the quest Fists of Fury: Toussaint . The notice “Armed Escort Wanted!” will inform Geralt of the quest Father Knows Worst and the notice “Contract: Quarreling at the Cemetery” will begin Till Death Do You Part , a quest that can be completed without leaving Beauclair, and hence, will be attended to shortly.

Tailors Shop¶

Whew! That is, in technical RPG terms, a whole crap-ton of quests. You’ll get started on some of them shortly, but first, there are a few more places to visit. Continue up the street northwest from The Gran Place signpost and follow the road as it bends west. Just after you pass under another arch you’ll find the “Tailor’s Shop” to your right. The proprietor - Pierre - will insult your attire, after which you can get revenge by challenging him to a game of Gwent. He can put up stupidly high scores, and like many Nilfgaardian decks is capable of volleying “Spy” cards back and forth with “Medic” cards and “Decoy” cards. He does this, however, largely by using weak “Tight Bond” cards, so his deck isn’t quite as scary as other Nilfgaardian decks. Other than the aforementioned cards, be prepared to face “Scorch”, “Villentretenmerth” and “Commander’s Horn” cards. Your reward for triumphing is a Young Berserker card.

The Ducal Camerlengo¶

Leave the Tailor’s Shop and head uphill to the northwest, then turn southwest off the bright red cobblestone path and on onto some drab, gray cobblestone path. Continue south past a fountain and near an arch you’ll find “The Ducal Camerlengo”. Head inside and talk to the Camerlengo (that’s Chamberlain for all you English-speakers), Rafael de Surmann, who will tell you some wonderful news: as you explore Toussaint, if you happen to rout bandit hanses and rescue prisoners, you’ll earn rewards. Seems that being a knight in Toussaint isn’t all about the five chivalric virtues, after all.

Naturally Rafael de Surmann also plays Gwent, and he, like Pierre, will pit a Nilfgaardian deck against you. In fact his Nilfgaardian deck is uncannily similar to to Pierre’s… Trounce him and take his King Bran card.

The Belles of Beauclair¶

Only two more stops to make during this bout of exploration… and yes, that means two more opportunities to play Gwent. Your goal is the eastern end of Beauclair, where the crescent-shaped city reaches out to the body of water that forms its eastern boundary. Here you’ll find the Beauclair Port signpost, and along the way you can also discover the Cooper’s Gate signpost (north of “The Gran Place” signpost) and to the east, northeast you’ll find the Harbor Gate signpost, midway between The Gran Place signpost and the Beauclair Port signpost. Other than that, however, there’s little of immediate interest between the two signposts.

From the Beauclair Port signpost make your way north along the dirt road (this part of Beauclair is somewhat less pretty, eh?) until you reach a stone building adorned with red awnings and flowers. The sign outside proclaims the place to be “The Belles of Beauclair - House of Pleasure”. Naturally, Geralt is something of a connoisseur when it comes to women, but you weren’t brought here to indulge in such perversions. Gotta stay classy in this guide, but… well, those poor prostitutes do need to earn a living…

Ahem! Talk to the Madame and challenge her to a game of Gwent - that’s right, time to feed Geralt’s another, more nerdy addiction. She’ll play a weak Scoia’tael deck which, aside from an uncommon number of weather cards and the typical “Muster” combos isn’t very noteworthy. Give her the kind of spanking that results in her paying YOU money and she’ll also fork over another Mardroeme card.

The Butcher¶

Exit the brothel and turn northwest to find some stairs leading down to a “Butcher’s Shop”. Complete with a pig-shaped sign and everything. Doesn’t this place flood when it rains, though? Also, a butcher’s shop next to a brothel? Subtle commentary there, CDProjekt. Anywho, talk to the Butcher and… c’mon, you’re not here for meat. You know what’s coming up - Gwent!

The Butcher has a potent Skellige deck, capable of pulling off the “Young Berserker”/“Ermion” combo, as well as the “Cerys”/“Clan Drummond Shield Maiden” combo. Like the Barber at the Tourney Grounds, he also somehow possesses two “Villentretenmerth” cards, and will also reward you with a Skellige Storm card if you win.

You’re now done exploring Beauclair, and if you did everything included in the previous paragraphs, you shouldn’t be wanting for quests to undertake. Also, optimistically, you could now have bested fifteen of the nineteen random Gwent players in Toussaint. If that’s the case, your Skellige deck should be quite playable, even if it’s missing a few key cards. Alas, the remaining four Gwent players lie outside of Beauclair’s walls.

Speaking of which, what to do next? There are plenty of options, but geography and suggested quest level pull in slightly different directions. The two level thirty-five quests should probably take priority, even though there are a few quests of comparable level that can be completed without leaving Beauclair’s walls. The quest “Turn and Face the Strange” will unlock new character development options, and should not be postponed, so that’ll be the quest which is covered next. After that, it’ll be time to go help out the chronically foolish Guillaume by starting Warble of a Smitten Knight. After all that… well, let’s worry about that later.