The exploration/diagram hunting phase of your unfinished business in Skellige is largely over, so now it’s time to turn your attention to some outstanding Witcher contracts.

Contract: Missing Miners (level 27)¶

Return to Redgill and use the signpost there to fast-travel to Blandare. Time to go hunt some missing miners! First, though, head to the south-eastern end of the village to find the village elder’s house, wherein you’ll find Gjarr. No, that’s not some pirate typing, that’s the elder’s name. His mother must have hated him. Anywho, talk to him and ask about the miners and he’ll tell you a rather bland story that doesn’t tell you much more than the name of the quest itself. Haggle for more coin, then depart.

There’s no point in running up the roads north of Blandare, so just use the “Blandare” signpost to fast-travel to the “Miner’s Camp” signpost. Once there, activate your Witcher Senses and examine some silver in a tray near a tent go score two units of Silver Ore, then examine some footprints. Follow the tracks along the road to the north-west and pacify a pack of Winter Wolves (level fifteen), then continue on to find the body of one of the miners. Apparently they angered something strong. Very strong. A short distance along the trail you’ll find another track you should investigate, after which continue up the road until you spot two broken trees to the south. Yikes.

Follow the trail further west, then north to find a cave. Investigate some human bones at the mouth of the cave, then head inside. At the back (north) of the cave you’ll find a Rock Troll named Wham-a-Wham, and it’s not happy to see you.

Wham-a-Wham wastes little time in attacking, but Trolls aren’t like most monsters - some can be reasoned with. Apply the Quen sign and dodge Wham-a-wham’s attacks until it calms down and is willing to talk. It’ll tell you why it wham’d the miners, and you have a simple choice to make; side with the poor troll whose home was invaded and vandalized, or put down the dangerous beast. If you leave the troll alone it’ll reward you and leave you in peace, then you can return to Gjarr in Blandare for another reward… although he’s understandably unhappy that you let the troll live, even if the Skelligers were in the wrong.

Or, you can condemn the troll and continue your fight. Wham-a-Wham won’t throw rocks at you, but he makes up for it by being extra vicious in melee. It’s not quite as bad as the Ice Elemental earlier was, but it’s still strongly in the territory of “don’t get hit”. Even with Quen. Fortunately, trolls are easy to dodge. Unfortunately, Wham-a-Wham will take a lot of abuse before he falls. You can speed this up by using Ogroid Oil, especially in conjunction with the “Poisoned Blade” ability. Igni, on the other hand, will not prove effective here. Once the troll is dead loot its remains for a “Troll Mutagen”, the steel sword “Caroline” and a “Cave Troll Trophy”. With those gruesome prizes in hand return to Blandare for your proper reward.

Or… if you want to get both rewards, you can leave Wham-a-Wham alone and get his reward, then attack and kill him. Cut a trophy off of him, then talk to Gjarr to get a reward from him, too. Either way (or both ways!) be sure to explore the cave when you’re done with Wham-a-Wham, as you can find the miners and the silver vein they were after down a passage to the west. There are also some barrels and sacks to loot down here, and more lootables (including a chest) along the northern end of the cave, near where the troll brewed his unspeakable stew.

Contract: Dragon (level 28)¶

Your next destination is Fyresdal, the small village along the southern end of Ard Skellig. They had a “dragon” problem, and you’re now powerful enough to look into it. Fast-travel to Fyresdal and talk to the village elder, Vagn - a better name than Gjarr, to be sure - learn about this “dragon”, then haggle over the price. If it really was a dragon, he’d need to be willing to offer a lot more gold than this.

Once you’re done with the village elder, head over to a house to the west, where you can investigate the bodies of Askel and Nilas - the “dragon’s” victims. Talk to their mother to learn about the attack and gain permission to examine the bodies, then investigate them to get a rather cursory autopsy out of Geralt.

Follow the northern road out of Fyresdal and when it forks turn north-west to find a search area. Pop on your Witcher Sense and examine a cow - more evidence this “dragon” is probably something less terrible - then search some rocks to find a blood trail you can follow. Do so and it’ll lead you north-west to the body of a dead dog. Examine it and Geralt will identify the “dragon” by its nest, which is atop the abandoned siege tower along the river.

The Forktail clearly isn’t going to cooperate with you, and you’re on a schedule, dammit! Don’t have all day to wait for some draconid to come down and say hello. You don’t really have the time to be messing around with all these contracts, either, but… eh, Ciri will be fine. Return to Vagn in Fyresdal and requisition a sheep from him - no buckthorn-smeared decoy this time; you’re using live bait!

Time to be a good sheep-herding Witcher; when the animal goes left, you run to its left side and spook it back right, when it goes right, spook it left. All in all, keep brave Mia heading north-west towards a search area near the Dragon’s nest. When you get the sheep close enough, the Forktail will swoop down to claim its lunch, but if you’re quick enough, you can spare Mia from such a terrible fate. Or not. It doesn’t matter either way.

You know how a Forktail fights by now; it’ll bite, it’ll claw, it’ll fly around. Apply Draconid Oil to your silver sword and use Igni liberally, as setting it on fire will do tremendous damage. When it falls loot it for a “Forktail Mutagen”, a the steel sword “Dancer” and a “Forktail Trophy”. Afterwards, Geralt will either lament poor Mia, or allow her to frolic freely. All in all, she didn’t do any worse against the Forktail than Askel and Nilas did.

Return to Fyresdal and show off your trophy, but be sure to… massage the truth a bit. If you reveal that the beastie you fought wasn’t a dragon, your monetary reward will be significantly reduced. If you have the DLC “Contract: Skellige’s Most Wanted” installed, continue with that quest next, otherwise, skip ahead to “Contract: Missing Son”.

Contract: Skelliges Most Wanted (level 29)¶

While you’re still around Fyresdal head over to the notice board and grab the contract “Witcher Needed!”, which starts the quest “Contract: Skellige’s Most Wanted”. Make your way down the road south, then east to find some Skelligers gathered around. Talk to the man wearing a green shirt and he’ll rudely dismiss the help of some guards. He’s got some inconsistencies in his story, his knowledge of Skellige, and of monsters, but a job’s a job. Haggle over coin if you wish, then leave the town.

Follow the road out of Fyresdal to the north, then follow a fork to the north-east and cross a river until you find the site of the attack. Examine the bodies here - both man and horse - and you’ll get a nasty surprise. Bogus bodies and a belligerent boulder? This must be investigated! Scale the mountain to the east to find a furrow you can examine, then search the precipice upon which the offending stone was perched. Keep your Witcher Senses activated to find a trail you can track to the south, which leads past a pack of Winter Wolves (level fifteen) and into a cave.

Before you enter the cave, consider popping a dose of Golden Oriole and applying some Insectoid Oil to your Silver Sword, then enter the cave and venture north-east. Drop down a ledge and you’ll have to fight off a pair of Endrega (level twenty-eight), then half a dozen Endrega Workers (level twenty-seven) and finally an Arachas. The first and last of these are entirely incapable of harming you if you have access to Superior Golden Oriole, while the Endrega Workers are hardly a threat regardless.

Once the bugs have been squashed, scale a ledge to the south-east, then continue on until you find a discarded Nekker foot. Further on you’ll find the headquarters of this conspiracy, complete with crudely drawn images planning out this entire fiasco. This juvenile scheme has so far succeeded far more than it had any right to, but it’s time to put an end to this game.

After Geralt is done peeking at the the pictures, examine a mistreated Nekker corpse, then leave the headquarters by exiting through a door to the east. Outside you’ll find a pack of Nekkers (level twelve), which insist on pestering you. Teach them the error of their ways, then make your way uphill to the north-east to find the recessed area the conspirators have chosen as their meeting spot.

Rest until night, if necessary, and you’ll encounter an odd collection of monsters - a Troll, a Doppler, a Godling and a Werewolf. They’ll put Geralt - and his profession - on a sort of trial, and if you pick a fight you’ll get one. While the Godling wisely runs away, the other three remain behind and try to take you on, three-on-one. You’ve fought all these foes individually, and they’re not too much more trouble in a group. The Doppler is the weakest, and fights like any sword-armed humanoid you’ve face thus far. The Rock Troll will content himself with throwing rocks at you, making him the most annoying, and the Werewolf is fast and hardy enough to make himself a nuisance to focus on while the other two are still alive, despite the fact that he’s the “boss” of this encounter. Kill the Doppler, then the Troll, and finally finish up with the Werewolf to complete this quest.

On the other hand, if you don’t pick and fight and select the dialogue option “I’ve helped monsters on many occasions”, then continue to boast about your deeds, you’ll avoid having to fight the Doppler and the Troll, leaving only the implacable Werewolf to fight you one-on-one, which is tantamount to suicide on his part. Defeat him and the Godling will return and give you some “Nekker Hide Boots”, which, in addition to the larger XP reward, makes this path the most rewarding. Especially since only the Werewolf drops any monster bits. Either way, this quest is over.

Contract: Missing Son (level 29)¶

Two contracts done (not counting DLC, anyways), one more to go. Fast-travel to Rannvaig, which is west of Blandare and south of Kaer Trolde. Once there talk to Odhen, whose son as gone missing… as you may have gathered from the name of the quest. Haggle for some more coin then ask where to look and he’ll point you towards a ruined fortress outside the village. Ruins, trouble-makers from Faroe, a thirst for treasure and adventure… this never ends well.

Follow a road running south-east out of Rannvaig and when you hit the first fork in the road, ignore the larger, more substantial road to the south and instead continue east on what amounts to an over-grown trail. Eventually this trail will bisect another, larger road, which you should follow south-east. At a third fork you’ll find two roads running south-west; take the more northern of the two roads and follow it until it runs along the north-western end of the ruined fortress you’re looking for.

Examine a strange print on the ground, then a dead Skelliger in a green tunic to identify the beast that lurks here. Make your way into the ruins to encounter the Fiend - Morvudd - which is busy feasting on a Skelliger. Not looking good for Ohden’s son. Time to drive the beast off; it’ll use its magic to obscure your vision, perform charge attacks, and counter by sweeping its horns at you, but it’s not too dangerous. The Igni sign works wonders here, as usual, as does Relict Oil. When it’s sufficiently injured it’ll use its magic to cover it’s escape.

Before you give chase, however, there’s treasure to be had. Investigate the body the Fiend was feeding on, then head to the western corner of the fort and loot several parcels. Once done, turn to face the north-western wall, climb onto this crumbling structure and walk along the top of it to the north-east to find a chest propped up here, near the wall of a square tower. Plunder the chest to obtain the “Diagram: Mastercrafted Wolven Gauntlets” then drop down off the wall and search the eastern corner of the ruins to find more parcels to loot. Finally, run along the south-eastern wall to find a barrel and two crates, both of which will enhance your wealth a bit.

Now that the looting is done, activate your Witcher Senses near the south-eastern end of the ruins to find some claw marks you can follow. Drop down two ledges and follow the trail south across a bridge, turning east and crossing a river to reach Boxholm as the trail dictates. Pursue the Fiend into some ruins east of the “Boxholm” signpost, where it’ll put up a fight to protect its lair. It’ll have regained its health, but it’s nothing a few blasts of Igni can’t fix. Fight it and kill it this time, then loot its remains to claim a “Fiend Mutagen”, the steel sword “Longclaw” and a “Fiend Trophy”.

Before you leave, there’s one more thing you need to do; head to the northern end of the Fiend’s lair to find Odhen’s son… or what’s left about him. Clearly Morvudd liked the taste of him better than that of his fellows from Faroe. Geralt never gets to give good news, but at least he can give Odhen the consolation of vengeance. Return to Rannvaig and tell Odhen the bad news.