As a former adviser to late King Foltest and member of the Lodge of Sorceresses Triss is a prime target for Radovid. Her resources - though now greatly diminished - are stiff sufficient for her to seek escape, but instead of saving herself Triss has decided to remain in Novigrad and seek to build up the funds required to rescue her less powerful and prestigious fellows, at great risk to herself. When an opportunity arises to both earn a great deal of money and rescue a budding alchemist from the Witch Hunters, Triss finds it hard to refuse, and Geralt’s too much of a gentleman to let her wade off into danger alone. This page will provide a walkthrough for the secondary quest A Matter of Life and Death in The Witcher 3.

Quest Objectives¶

Starting A Matter of Life and Death¶

This quest will begin after you finish Count Reuven’s Treasure, but to get things started properly you’ll have to go visit her at her hideout - a worrying tilted building northeast of Hierarch Square. While this is a secondary quest, it and its followup quest [Now or Never] have some important ramifications, namely it lets you decide whether you’re going to try and romance Triss or not, and will determine Triss’s availability in Novigrad for the foreseeable future. If you complete this quest Triss won’t be around for the quests [The Soldier Statuette], [The Nobleman Statuette] or Redania’s Most Wanted, forcing you to put those quests on hold or skip objectives until later in the game. If you want to complete those quests in a timely manner, you might want to avoid completing this quest for now. You can also win some unique Gwent Cards during this quest, and if you do not win them here you will not be able to obtain them this playthrough, so make sure your Gwent deck(s) are up to snuff!

Meet with the Vegelbud’s Servant¶

Head over to Triss’s apartment, knock on the door, exchange words with her landlords, then head upstairs and talk to Triss before ultimately offering to help her out. Now that that quest is properly moving, leave the apartment and head to a market just southwest of Hierarch Square, where you’ll need to look for a man wearing a “blue shirt with keys hanging off his belt”. There are enough blue-clad men roaming about to make this a virtually useless piece of information, so just activate your Witcher senses and look for keys, which will be glowing red. We found our man just south of the center of the search area.

When you find the servant, talk to him, then follow him south across a bridge and through an archway, where you’ll be attacked by some Bandits (Lv12). Fend them off and after a few steps the servant will stop and engage you in conversation, finally realizing how serious matters have become. Triss will join you and you’ll talk shop, after which you’ll need to do some shopping.

Prepare for the Masquerade Ball¶

You’ll now have three objectives, two of which are just buying masks. To do this head to Elihal’s shop in the nonhuman district (you met him during Broken Flowers, if you recall) and buy Triss’ Fox Mask from him. This will set you back a whopping 1 Crown. For yourself, buy any of the other three masks - it doesn’t matter which one you choose (although the Wolf Mask is a bit on the nose), they all cost the same and will work just as well.

For the third objective you’ll have to dress up nice for Triss before going to visit her. To do this, just wear the Nilfgaardian clothes you were given way back during Imperial Audience, if you still have them. If not, buying another set will cost you a good chunk of money. Triss will make some happy noises at you if you dress up properly, but otherwise this objective isn’t that important, and probably not worth wasting money on if you didn’t stash the clothes. You’ll get 25 EXP for preparing for the party, whatever you buy or wear.

Attend the Masquerade¶

Return to Triss’s hideout and talk to her, and choose which mask you prefer. If you have more masks you’ll get more choices, but you can only wear one. It’s entirely cosmetic, anyways, so pick whichever mask you fancy and you’ll appear outside the Vegelbud Estate. Your objective here is to Meet Ingrid Vegelbud., but there are some encounters you can take care of before that which are worth discussing. You can talk to guests and find a few distinguished characters here, including Dijkstra and Morvran Voorhis, but none of these encounters are terribly important. You can also loot the area, mostly for various bits of food and alcohol, if you wish.

Deal with the Drunkard¶

Once you’re inside the grounds of the Vegelbud Estate, walk down the road to the southeast and Triss will be accosted by some drunk. After he’s done insulting Triss you’ll get the choice to respond. Pick “You asked for it.” to start a fight (Lv10) - standard fistfight here, just parry and counter until he’s defeated, but you’ll be chastised by Triss for causing a scene, even though it doesn’t affect the quest any. On the other hand if you pick “Triss, let’s get out of here.” you’ll avoid a fight like a responsible adult and will gain 25 EXP in the process.

Win the Gwent Tournament at the Vegelbud Estate¶

Continue southeast up some stairs to reach the site of the masquerade proper, stopping to chat with a man named Moritz Diefenthel. Say whatever you want and you’ll be free to wander about the masquerade grounds, talk to various attendees and stuff your pockets with food and alcohol, as you please.

South of where you entered the masquerade grounds you’ll find some men sitting at a table playing Gwent. Talk to a Croupier and he’ll invite you to join their tournament - there’s no entry fee, no penalty for failure, and you can try to win as much as you need. The opponents aren’t terribly talented, being of standard Novigrad difficulty, but if you haven’t played Gwent since White Orchard you may not be able to defeat them. Each one will yield a rare card, and this is your only change to win these cards in the entire game, so you need to win this tournament before advancing the quest any further. Your opponents are as follows:

The only deck you really need to watch out for is the Monster deck in the third round. Not because it’s exceptionally powerful in isolation, but because most Monster decks around this point in the game are relatively strong. Your foe can use the Arachas, Vampires and Crones muster cards and buff them with Eredin: Commander of the Red Riders, putting an awful lot of points on the board. Can’t really compete with a competent Northern Kingdoms decks, but if you get a mediocre draw (something the computer doesn’t have to worry about) then things might get hairy.

Persevere and you’ll win Milva, a 10 strength ranged unit card with the “Morale Boost” ability for the Scoia’tael (surprisingly not a Hero card!), Vampire: Bruxa, a 4 strength close combat unit card with the “Muster” ability for the Monster deck and Dandelion, a 2 strength close combat unit card with the “Commander’s Horn” ability, giving every other card on the row he’s played in double the strength. Surprisingly Dandelion is probably the least useful of these cards, as both Milva and the Vampire: Bruxa cards are staples for their decks, while Dandelion is… situationally better or worse than just using a standard Commander’s Horn? Still, better to have him and not use him than not having him at all, plus you’ll earn 50 EXP for winning the tournament.

Help Albert Escape¶

With the Gwent tournament won you can finally see to the task at hand - rescuing Albert from the Witch Hunters. First find Ingrid Vegelbud to the north and talk to her to find out that Albert’s a bit of a dullard and more importantly, what he’s wearing. After talking to Ingrid you’l have three search areas to investigate - head to the southernmost one and you’ll find a guest in a panther mask boasting to a woman. Interrupt and he’ll confirm that he’s a bit simple before arranging to meet you later in the hedge maze.

Choice: Kiss Triss or Not¶

In the meantime, head outside the masquerade grounds and sit on the marked bench with Triss, where she’ll get herself inebriated and babble. Pick whatever dialog options you want and eventually Triss will run off into the hedge maze. Follow her and you’ll trigger a scene, after which you’ll get a timed choice: If you want to keep the possibility of romancing Triss alive you must pick the option [Kiss Triss.], otherwise pick [Not the time for this.] to kill the romance. This does not lock you into a romance with Triss, it merely gives you the option to romance her later.

Defeat the Witch Hunters¶

After you make your choice, Albert will show up and after a mask switcheroo and a bit of a wait you’ll be free to follow Triss and Albert out of the hedge maze. It turns out your prudence was warranted, as some men will intercept you as you’re leaving, resulting in fisticuffs with a trio of Witch Hunters (Lv12). You were all disarmed prior to entering the grounds of the Vegelbud Estate, but this is no mere drunken scuffle - these men have ill intent, and there’s no reason to follow some unstated honor code by indulging them in a fair fight. You can use your signs, and that will make this battle much easier - torching them with Igni seems rather apropos, considering their intentions regarding Albert.

Dodge around, burn the chumps every time your Stamina allows, then leave the hedge maze and rendezvous with Triss and Albert. Say what you will and Triss will announce that the Vegelbud’s funding has provided her with the long-sought means to evacuate all the magical miscreants from Novigrad. This ends A Matter of Life and Death and begins its followup quest [Now or Never]. You’ll gain 50 EXP for thumping the Witch Hunters, and another 50 EXP for completing the quest.