Crime is rampant in Novigrad, to the point where gangs of thugs openly roam the streets, shaking down merchants and business owners and enforcing their will in the most flagrant manner… as long as they don’t tread on the toes of the Hierarch of the Eternal Fire. In the wealthier parts of town guards act as a deterrence that encourages lesser criminals to at least keep their crimes covert, but one wrong turn and you could find yourself at the mercy of ne’er-do-wells. This page will provide a walkthrough for the secondary quest Suspicious Shakedown in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
Quest Objectives¶
Starting Suspicious Shakedown¶
Suspicious Shakedown is a freeform quest that doesn’t have a journal entry, one of many such quests that are only marked by an exclamation point on your map when you get close enough to trigger it. Like many of these types of quests, timing and proximity are key - if you leave the area or wait too long before completing it, the quest will resolve itself without you. To trigger Suspicious Shakedown you must head to an enclosed area along the northeastern edge of Novigrad’s southern island, north of the Gate of the Hierarch and west of Tretogor Gate after completing the main quest Pyres of Novigrad. This is the same place you could have followed a thief to during the aforementioned quest, where you’d have had to have fought a trio of Thugs to learn the location of the Putrid Grove.
(1 of 2) Head to an alley along the northeastern corner of Novigrad’s southern island,
Head to an alley along the northeastern corner of Novigrad’s southern island, (left), where you’ll find some Bandits shaking down a merchant. (right)
Interfere with the Shakedown¶
Enter the alley through a gate and you’ll find two Bandits shaking down a merchant. Approach them and you’ll make their robbery your business. If you pick the dialog option “ Least I tried…“ Geralt will give up without accomplishing anything, so pick “Try concerned citizen.” to get some real options. Once done you’ll get three options, and once again the option “None of my concern.” just causes Geralt to walk away without putting up a fight.
For a less useless option you can pick “I’ll have to convince you.”, which will start a fight with the Bandits (Lv8-9). They’re not exceptional in either armament or skill, so cut them down and afterwards Geralt will impress upon the merchant the common sense of avoiding these sorts of situations. Alternatively you can use 
Axii to convince the Bandits that this merchant isn’t worth the trouble, avoiding a fight, assisting the merchant and earning you some EXP in the process.
(1 of 2) If you leave the merchant to his fate, he’ll be cross with you later, so either kill the Bandits,
If you leave the merchant to his fate, he’ll be cross with you later, so either kill the Bandits, (left), or discourage them with Axii. (right)
Whether you kill the Bandits or discourage them with Axii, help the merchant and he’ll later be found in his shop northwest of Hierarch Square, in a building just northwest of a Blacksmith nearby. If you assisted him he’ll offer you a discount - it’s a phantom discount, and his wares are mostly junk, but you can play Gwent with him, for what that’s worth. If he refuses to play Gwent with you (presumably because you failed to help him) don’t fret - he’s one of many “players of no particular skill or renown” that yields a random card when bested, and there are more of those than there are cards you can win this way, so you can miss a few of them.
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