Not everything that goes bump in the night is a monster, but the absence of monsters doesn’t necessarily mean a job isn’t worth Geralt’s attention. When hired to deal with a rather straight-forward monster infestation, Geralt will find himself embroiled with politics and enemies from his recent past. This page will provide a walkthrough for the secondary quest Ghosts of the Past in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Quest Objectives¶

Starting Ghosts of the Past¶

One of the most easily missed quests in the game, before you actually even begin a playthrough this quest could become impossible to start. In order for this quest to appear in a playthrough **you must ensure that Letho survived The Witcher 2. ** Don’t worry, you don’t actually have to play The Witcher 2 to get this outcome, as you can choose some plot variables from the second game to carry over to The Witcher 3. To do this you must:

• In the main menu, when starting a new game, you must pick YES when asked to Simulate a Witcher 2 Save. If you pick no the game will choose a predetermined slate of Witcher 2 outcomes, and the default option is that Letho is dead.

• After you choose to Simulate a Witcher 2 Save you must complete White Orchard, the prologue area, then during the quest Imperial Audience you will be questioned by Morvran Voorhis about past events. Your answers to his questions will determine what happened during The Witcher 2. When he asks about Letho you must respond with “That alliance still alive? What happened to Letho?”

Once all that is done, this quest should be locked in. To actually start it, travel to Lindenvale in Velen and talk to Dolores, an old lady who gets evicted as you walk through town - you’ll find her sobbing by the side of the road near the inn. Talk to her and she’ll ask Geralt to clear out the monsters infesting her ancestral estate to start The Fall of House Reardon. If you kept Letho alive via the aforementioned choices above Ghosts of the Past will also start without any fanfare or explanation.

Search Reardon Manor¶

There’s a lot of overlap between these two quests, and to start you’ll want to head to the Reardon Manor to the southeast. When you arrive, the consequences of your choices will start to be felt - normally the manor would be infested with Wraiths (Lv7), and completing the quest would largely be a matter of rooting those specters out, optionally finding Dolores’ treasure and making a seedy discovery in the basement, and reporting back to the old lady. With Ghosts of the Past active, however, the manor will be littered with traps of decidedly human contrivance, with nary a monster in sight.

The traps found throughout the manor consist of explosive satchels and tripwires, the latter of which are usually, but not exclusively, rigged to crossbows. Use your Witcher senses to cause these traps to glow, but some of them are buried in grass to the point where you’ll want to use your minimap to confirm their location. Be patient and disarm any trap you come across as you explore the manor - you can find Dolores Reardon’s Diary in a hut to the east and the Sturdy Barn Key in a house to the west. You don’t need either for this quest, but they help advance The Fall of House Reardon, and as you explore the houses and disarm traps you should hear a clamor from the barn to the south. This will occur as you approach the door to the southernmost of two buildings to the west, inside of which you’ll find a painting of the Reardon twins.

Enter the barn via the large, western doors and disarm two more tripwires and an explosive device, then approach the southern stall to find a toppled ladder. Interact with it and Geralt will set up and climb the ladder, bringing him into contact with Letho. Exhaust his dialog options and you’ll find out that he’s fallen out with Nilfgaard and is hiding from the bounty hunters that pursued him here - he’ll also tell you he took care of the monsters here, which resolves the Kill the monsters in the manor objective for The Fall of House Reardon.

Help Letho Defeat the Headhunters¶

Geralt once again finds himself drawn into a fight that isn’t his, as Letho’s plight will be emphasized by the arrival of a group of headhunters. Say what you will, but you can’t really choose to not help Letho here - the Headhunters (Lv6-7) won’t be able to kill him nor he them, and they’ll attack Geralt without question the moment you leave the barn. Cut them down - seven or so bounty hunters are a poor match for two Witchers - and Letho will ask for Geralt’s continued support in his counteroffensive against the bounty hunters. At this point you can choose to decline further participation, and if you do the quest will end after Letho gets far enough away.

Confront Louis with Letho¶

If you want to continue the quest, agree to accompany Letho and mount Roach, following Letho on horseback. He’ll chat about his relationship with the treacherous Louis as you go, eventually taking you to an Abandoned Site whose resident enemies have been temporarily despawned for this encounter. When you reach Louis’ camp Geralt and Letho will confront Louis, and as one might expect, things end in violence - whatever dialog options you pick are irrelevant, as Letho’s spoiling for a fight. Dispatch Louis (Lv9) and his goons (Lv6) and more chatter will ensue, leading to Letho getting the info he seeks - his pursuer, Arnout Vester, is in Lindenvale.

Letho will leave Louis to his fate, after which you’ll be free to loot the camp and put Louis out of his misery, if you wish. When you’re ready to move on, mount up and follow Letho back to Lindenvale.

Choice: Kill Arnoud Vester or Do Not Interfere¶

Ride with Letho until he dismounts near the blacksmith’s house along the northern end of Lindenvale, then follow him near a fence where he’ll try to limit collateral damage before going to confront Arnout Vester and his crew. He’ll leave Geralt with simple instructions: “Don’t interfere, no matter what happens.” After the confrontation is over you’ll be left with two choices: Kill Arnoud Vester or listen to Letho and do not interfere.

If you pick the dialog option “You’re as good as dead.” Geralt will provoke Arnoud Vester (Lv8) and his fellow survivors (Lv5). Alternatively, respond with “Don’t want trouble.” followed by “His medallion’s all you need.” and you’ll avoid a fight. Either way, Geralt sniffs out a ruse and some time later Letho will revive and talk to Geralt. If you didn’t follow his command and killed Arnoud Vester he’ll be upset that you spoiled his scheme, but some complaints are really the only consequence you’ll suffer.

Whatever choice you made, navigate dialog with Letho until he mentions going into hiding, at which point make the suggestion “You could go to Kaer Morhen.”. Planting this seed of an idea will sprout into assistance in a later quest given the benefit of time, and comes highly recommended. Check the spoiler box, below, for more details. If Letho does not go to Kaer Morhen, you won’t see him again the rest of the game. Either way this quest will end and you’ll be free to walk down the road and talk to Dolores, finishing up her quest, as well.