After years away, an old noblewoman seeks to return to her ancestral estate, only to find it overrun with monsters! Turned out on her ear by an uppity peasant who has no stomach for a dispossessed noble’s affectations of superiority, the now homeless noble turns to a Witcher to get a roof back over her head. Human immorality is at the root of many monster infestations, however, and there’s no telling what dark family secrets Geralt will uncover in his quest… or will the creature haunting Reardon Manor actually be a ghost from the Witcher’s own past? This page will provide a walkthrough for the quest The Fall of House Reardon in The Witcher 3, including how this quest may intertwine with the optional secondary quest Ghosts of the Past.
Quest Objectives¶
Starting The Fall of House Reardon¶
For a quest that can quickly become complicated, this one at least has a simple start. Head to Lindenvale and just south of the inn you’ll find a woman named Dolores being tossed out of a house nearby. She’ll stand beside the road and sob until some kind Witcher talks to her, and doing so will start the quest. You can also start this quest by reading the notice Monster in my Manor! on the notice board nearby, but you’ll still have to talk to Dolores to get things moving. Note that it’s possible to visit Reardon Manor without starting this quest, where you can complete just about every objective, none of which trigger this quest, but will still help advance the quest when you get around to talking to Dolores.
(1 of 2) You can start “The Fall of House Reardon” by picking up the notice “Monster in my Manor!”,
You can start “The Fall of House Reardon” by picking up the notice “Monster in my Manor!”, (left), or by talking to Dolores directly after she’s evicted from a hut in Lindenvale. (right)
Explore Reardon Manor¶
Whether you have Ghosts of the Past started or not, the next goal is the same - find Reardon Manor. This location is a good ways southeast of Lindenvale - if you first travel east to Lurtch you can follow a road from there southeast which takes you to the western entrance to Reardon Manor. Reardon Manor is also a short trip north from Downwarren. For the sake of simplicity, we’ll assume you arrive from the north, where the Reardon Manor signpost is - if you take another route, just circle around the estate grounds to reach the northern road and enter from there.
Kill the Monsters in the Manor¶
Enter the grounds and if you do not have Ghosts of the Past active, you’ll end up fighting several Wraiths {Lv7), which are the only things of interest you’ll find outdoors. Kill them, but the quest won’t update - has to be something else lurking somewhere in the manor.
(1 of 2) When you arrive at the Reardon Estate you’ll be accosted by either Wraiths,
When you arrive at the Reardon Estate you’ll be accosted by either Wraiths, (left), or traps, depending on whether the quest “Ghosts of the Past” is active. (right)
Disarm the Traps (Ghosts of the Past Only)¶
On the other hand, if Ghosts of the Past is active, there will be no Wraiths. Instead, they’ll be replaced by a far more annoying foe. Traps. These traps liberally litter the grounds and largely consist of two types - explosive devices and tripwires rigged to crossbows. Other designs (like knives tied to the end of sticks) exist, but these are more rare. Quen can absorb most of the damage from explosive traps, while crossbow bolts can be rather deadly, as multiple crossbows are often rigged to a single tripwire, but your best bet is to be patient and try and disarm them.
To do this, use your Wticher senses, which will not only highlight the traps red, but will make them on your minimap with a red spyglass. You’ll often need to use both to find and disarm traps, as the spyglasses aren’t always reliable and the explosives are often well hidden in tall grass. Just move slowly and methodically disarm traps, saving often if you deem it necessary. You won’t get any reward for disarming these traps, so it’s largely a thankless, tedious task… at least Wraiths could drop gem dust and other goodies!
Find Dolores Reardon’s Diary¶
Once the Wraiths or traps have been dealt with, seek out a building on the eastern edge of the manor, where you’ll find a sealed door. Hit it with Aard to break down the door, then search the interior of the building. On the floor in the eastern corner of the room you’ll find Dolores Reardon’s Diary. Pick it up and read it to learn about some of the day-to-day happenings at the manor before it was abandoned, which corroborates what Dolores told you when the quest began.
(1 of 2) Blast through a door with Aard,
Blast through a door with Aard, (left), and search the house beyond to obtain Dolores Reardon’s Diary. (right)
Find the Sturdy Barn Key¶
Next turn your attention to a house on the eastern end of the estate. There are two doors leading into the building - take the northern door, but if you have Ghosts of the Past started be very wary, as there’s a tripwire rigged to two crossbows just inside the door, and inattentiveness will be rewarded with great pain. Disarm the tripwire, then search the northern corner of the room to find a small chest, within which rests the Sturdy Barn Key. You won’t need this to progress, but you will need it to claim your reward from Dolores.
While you’re still searching the estate, leave the house and go through the doorway to the south. When you approach the doorway you’ll hear something from the barn to the south if Ghosts from the Past is active, otherwise, nothing. Either way, go through the door and examine a painting on the southern wall near some stairs to confirm it’s of Dolores and her brother. Now that you’ve examined all the plot elements around the manor, loot this half of the building and exit back outside.
(1 of 3) Disarm a tripwire in the doorway, which is rigged to two crossbows,
Find Dolores’ Treasure¶
Now, the noise in the barn to the south begs investigation, but this only applies to Ghosts from the Past. The quest The Fall of House Reardon doesn’t actually require you to explore that barn, which is more or less empty, so we’ll be ignoring it here. If you examine the ladder in the barn, you’ll end up advancing Ghosts from the Past, so ignore it for now and enter the smaller, locked door east of the barn door. The key you found earlier should open it, and once inside use your Witcher senses to detect some writing on a wooden section of wall. This just says “Dolores”, which isn’t very helpful, but below the writing is a cache you can examine to reveal a hidden chest, which contains 100 Florens. You’ll get 50 EXP for discovering Dolores’ treasure.
Search a wall in the eastern half of the barn to find “Dolores” scratched into the wall, beneath which is a hidden chest containing Dolores’ treasure.
Search the Basement¶
At this point the quest will diverge again. If you have Ghosts of the Past active you’ll need to investigate the noise in the barn, as it’s the only realistic lead on the final “monster” lurking on the estate grounds. If you don’t have Ghosts of the Past, you’ll need to find your monster elsewhere, although it’s worth noting that in both cases you can benefit by exploring a bit more. Head behind (south of) the barn and search behind some bushes to find some stairs leading down into a basement. Descend into the darkness and kill a Wraith (Lv7) to finish off the final monster haunting the manor. Before you leave, however, there’s more looting to be done and some dark family secrets to uncover.
Thoroughly loot the basement, then use your Witcher sense to find an odd brick wall in the northeastern corner. Examining it will reveal that it’s a more recent addition, and if you blast it with Aard you’ll find a secret chamber with a skeleton in it - a proverbial skeleton in the closet. Examine the skeleton to ballpark its gender and age, then pick up some Loose Scraps of Paper on the ground to find out what happened at the manor.
(1 of 4) Find some stairs behind the barn building,
Return to Dolores¶
If you do not have Ghosts of the Past started, you’re done with this quest. Return to Dolores and tell her what happened at the manor. She has an oddly neutral response when finding out about her brother, but it’s not your job to question her emotions or motives. Regardless of how thorough your investigation was you’ll get 25 EXP for talking to Dolores after clearing the manor, while if you found her brother’s body and the letter he wrote you’ll gain a further 130 EXP, split into two sums (80 EXP + 50 EXP). On top of the 50 EXP you got for finding Dolores’ treasure, that’s a healthy 205 EXP for this quest, plus 100 Florens. Not all that bad.
If you have the quest Ghosts of the Past active you’ll need to visit the barn and find out what lurks in there. This will compel you to finish Ghosts of the Past before you turn in The Fall of House Reardon - investigating the barn resolves the Kill the monsters in the manor objective - but the aforementioned quest takes you back to Lindenvale eventually, so it won’t be too much bother to walk down the street and report to Dolores when it’s done. The rewards are the same.
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"Head south through the sacked village to find a road"
It seems to lost at least to POI: "Bandit Camp (level 9)" at the east of the house with cannibal, and then south to that burned viilage, where you can find "Hidden Treasure".
UPD: this two location described in the last Velen section.
"This event can be fairly random where it’ll occur"
it's occure before quest "Ghosts of the Past" is started and on the northwest of the Lurtch. Just take road to the northwest, then west and you must meet him.
"peasants who are being searched by a Criminal (level three)."
Not Criminal, Cannibal :)