For the higher level players coming back to Velen, and ones messing around with free DLC, there is a new quest you can grab around the Oretan area. Visit the village, and you’ll stumble upon a new witcher quest to discover the fate of a village, and its not so much a monstrous reason this time.

Contract: The Beast of Honorton (Level 25)¶

Speaking of which, since it’s nearby and all you might as well deal with this DLC quest, if you have it. If not, skip down to the section “Velen - The Mystery of the Byways Murders” . You can start the quest by heading to Oreton (south of Crow’s Perch, in case you forgot) and grabbing the notice “Contract: The Beast of Honorton” , which starts a quest of the same name. Whether you have that quest started or not make your way back north to Claywich (which is between Oreton and Crow’s Perch) and from there travel east to reach the village of Honorton.

Before this DLC this little village was an unremarkable collection of houses. Now it’s an unremarkable collection of houses with corpses strewn throughout, and where there are corpses, there are necrophages. Kill the three Alghouls (levels twenty-four and twenty-five) lurking around here, after which the quest “Contract: The Beast of Honorton” will give way to the quest “Where the Cat and Wolf Play…” .

Where the Cat and Wolf Play (Level 25) Walkthrough¶

Turn on your Witcher Senses and get to investigating - there are plenty of things to look at here, including a variety of corpses strewn about, and four marked houses. To proceed you need to enter the mayor’s house to the north and examine the woman’s body, then the Leshen head on the floor. Next head into a barn to the south and investigate some bodies at the end of the barn (after dispatching an Alghoul (level twenty-five)), then head into the northern of two houses west of the mayor’s house to find another body. You won’t be hurt by peeking at more clues, but they all point to similar conclusions - somebody who is a masterfully proficient swordsman butchered the villagers with surgical precision. He clearly hunted a monster for them (the Leshen head) and at some point was injured in the barn, and had consumed potions sometime beforehand. They’re not being subtle with this, eh?

After you investigate at least those four clues Geralt will catch sight of a survivor, who wisely flees. Exit whatever building you were in and grab a Doll off the ground, at the same time noting some footprints. Before you chase after the survivor, however, head to the southern end of town to find two more Alghouls (level twenty-three). Once done, follow the little footprints south along the western end of the village and behind a large tree. Talk to the survivor to confirm the obvious (you’ll get a chance to earn some extra XP by using Axii on her during the conversation, if you wish) and you’ll get the “School of the Cat Medallion” .

Leave the survivor alone and head north-east through the woods to find a circle of stones. Activate your Witcher Senses and investigate a bloody hand print on a stone, then find a bloody footprint on the ground nearby. Follow the tracks north-east to find a road where you’ll need to clear out a pack of Wolves (level five). If you head north along the road you’ll encounter a group of Bandits (level three) who try to lure you into an ambush, but the tracks take you east, then northeast, where you’ll find your rogue Witcher resting in a cemetery.

Where the Cat and Wolf Play: Best Choice¶

Talk to Gaetan and you’ll get the opportunity to outright pick a fight with him or confront him about the massacre and learn what happened. He doesn’t try to lie about it and from the clues you saw in the village, he’s probably telling the truth. There were bad actors on both sides, but Gaetan clearly took it too far. You can either let him walk, in which case he’ll tell you the location of his stash, or you can decide to punish him for making all Witchers look bad.

Fighting Gaetan¶

In the latter case, he’ll ask to heal himself with Swallow before the fight, and if you concede he’ll play a dirty trick which will result in him landing a devastating first strike and leaving you impaired for a while, unable to use potions or block (and hence, riposte). That being the case, you’re better off keeping your distance until the effect wears off, perhaps using Quen to heal yourself, after which you can fight him normally. Either way, he hits incredibly hard - Quen is suggested to mitigate this. Otherwise, he’ll randomly use Aard to knock you back and after taking three hits he’ll protect himself with Quen, so be sure to stick to the rule-of-three. You can break his guard with “Exploding Shield” or just parry his attacks and take advantage of the opening. Hanged Man’s Venom will increase the damage you inflict further and perhaps induce poisoning. When he falls you can loot him for the unique Steel Sword “Teigr” , but only if you let him “heal” before the fight.

After dealing with Gaetan return to Honorton and talk to the girl, at which time Geralt will automatically take her to her aunt in Oreton. Tell the old lady whatever you wish when she asks about what happened, then you’ll get the chance to give her 40 Crowns to provide for her new burden. Again, do what you wish and the quest will end. It’s now time to continue exploring Velen (skip to the section “Velen - The Mystery of the Byways Murders” ) or, if you spared Gaetan, there’s one more stop to make…

Take What You Want (Level 25)¶

If you spared Gaetan he’ll have given you the location to his stash, as mentioned earlier. Since the quest “Where the Cat and Wolf Play…” would have failed if you didn’t escort to girl to her auntie before leaving the area, it made sense to get that out of the way, first. Now, however, you can go claim the treasure Gaetan left you. Fast-travel to Midcopse and head north-east to find a depression dominated by a large tree, just north of Keira Metz’s cabin. Here you’ll find some Bandits (level twenty-five) contemplating some larceny. Put them down, then search north of the tree to find a hole in the ground leading to a cellar. Drop down (or climb a ladder) then loot a chest to find 250 Crowns, a “Letter to Gaetan” (which has an awful Schrodinger’s cat pun) and the Steel Sword “Teigr” .