The Gambler and the Gardener¶

After talking to Thaler, we have plenty to do. Why not start by returning to the Hairy Bear and questioning that Gambler? He’s rather forthcoming with the information, and flat-out tells you that he won it from the Gardener at the Hospital.

While you’re at the Hairy Bear, if it’s late enough talk to Ramsmeat and ask him what he knows of Berengar. After all, whatever Coleman knew, his boss certainly knew-and more. He’ll tell you that the items were found by the Brickmakers in the swamp, who sold the gear to Coleman.

So, head over to the Hospital and talk to the Gardener. If you ask about his mercenary days, you’ll have to placate him with some food before he’ll chat. You can also trade some food for roses. If you don’t have any, trade some useless food for Red Roses-they’ll come in handy later. If you ask him about the Silver Sword he’ll tell you that he obtained it from a fallen Witcher named Coen at the Battle of Brenna. He’ll suggest you talk to Shani, who also knew Coen. Finally, you can play dice with him, if you want some spare change, or if you still need to beat some Novice opponents.

Shani and the Silver Sword¶

Despite my best attempts at procrastination, it’s time to check out the Hospital now-we need to move the chains on the quests “Vizima Confidential” and “The Crown Witness” . We can only do this at night, but the place bears exploration during the day, anyways. First, however, you have to get in, which involves snubbing Siegfried at the beginning of the Chapter, or bribing a guard. Or, since we already got the “City Guard Signet Ring”, you could just flash that and save some Orens.

Inside you’ll find that there’s stuff to loot, a “Novice Nun” to talk to, and of course, Shani. Talk to her to start the quest “Old Friend of Mine” . She’ll be a little more chatty at work than she is walking to or from. About the Prisoner, she’ll suggest coming back at night, as that’s the only time you’ll get to talk to him. Ask how you can help her and she’ll tell you to get five units of Celandine-a plant extract that helps retard the progress of the plague. After Chapter 1, you should have plenty just sitting in your alchemy pouch waiting to be used. Give her some to update the quest “Old Friend of Mine” . You can ask for a monster anatomy lesson in return, but you probably don’t need information on a Drowned Dead at this point in the game.

Talk to Shani again and, wonder of wonders, you can rest here! Wait until night-time and when you wake up, go bother the Prisoner. The Guards will stop you, forcing you to bribe them to gain access to the Prisoner. 10 Orens later, the Prisoner will cough out the name “Kalkstein” before a group of thugs will attack, courtesy of Ramsmeat. Kill them and leave the Hospital.

Before we bug Kalkstein and Vivaldi-two folks that have as of yet proven immune to our scrutiny-lets go visit Shani at her house. You can find her house in the north-eastern section of the Temple Quarter, near the “Gate to Royal Castle”, just north of where the merchants gather on Merchant Street in the daytime. Once you enter you’ll encounter one of the most amusing-yet least important-NPCs in PC gaming.

“Grandma” will approach you every time you enter the house and randomly chat with you, usually trying to get you to give her some gift or another. Fail to fork what she wants over and she’ll throw a tantrum and kick you out. Sometimes she’ll just be in a bad mood an kick you out. And if you’re the slightest bit drunk (even if you got drunk drinking with her!) she’ll kick you out. Other times, she’ll be ambiguous and kick you out, or she’ll be ambiguous and let you stay. Then again, she can be sweet as pie and leave you to your own devices. There’s a way to get her to leave you alone-which we’ll discuss shortly-but you should experience the random terror of this old lady before we bypass her crazy. If she kicks you out, just re-enter and try again until she lets you pass. While you’re here, try to grab “Grandma’s Cordial” and “Grandma’s Pickles and Lard” . Doing so now will save you some trouble later.

Once upstairs talk to Shani. You can listen to her whine about the Battle of Brenna (a significant part of Temerian history which you should be acquainted with by now), but what we’re really here for is information about Witcher Coen. She will-at length-refer you to Zoltan Chivay, who has an eye for swords.

Vivaldi and Kalkstein¶

Being night-time, we can probably find Zoltan Chivay at Vivaldi’s House, but it’ll much more productive if we visit Raymond first. So head over to Raymond’s House and tell him about your meeting with the Prisoner. He’ll tell you the obvious-that we need to keep an eye on Kalkstein and Ramsmeat, although both seem unlikely suspects. Kalkstein seems more interested in advancing the field of alchemy than hiring out his services-a truly useless intellectual, through and through.

Ramsmeat, on the other hand, is Salamandra’s competition in the Fisstech market. Still, Raymond suggests that we earn Kalkstein’s trust, do a job for him, and learn his secrets. Fortunately, Kalkstein seemed a little too friendly with Witchers in our first encounter, so it shouldn’t be much trouble working with him. This completes the quest “The Crown Witness” , updates “Vizima Confidential” , and starts the quests “Suspect: Kalkstein” and “Suspect: Ramsmeat” .

Now let’s go pay Kalkstein a visit, to get his quests rolling-it’ll also make our visit with Vivaldi more interesting, if we attacked the Scoia’tael in Chapter 1.

Enter Kalkstein’s House and talk to him. He’ll start to tell you about a job before he gets lost in thought. Ask him about it to spur his memory and the quest “A Mysterious Tower” will start. The highlight of this quest? You’ll get 1000 Orens for helping Kalkstein out, which is a tremendous reward by any standards.

First, however, you’ll need to find two books for him, named “Ain Soph Aur” , and “The Secret Gates” . You can talk to Kalkstein about Salamandra, if you wish, but you don’t have enough evidence to make a decision right now. All you’ll learn is that the wounded Salamander at the Hospital was hired by Kalkstein-and Kalkstein swears he had no clue that the rogue was part of a secret organization.

Fair enough. To find out where we can get “The Secret Gates” or “Ain Soph Aur” we could talk to the Dwarven Antiquary, but insider information: Vivaldi owns them, so lets just skip the middleman and pay Vivaldi a visit. While you’re here, talk to random Dwarves wandering around and one might tell you that Vivaldi is a person of interest around here. This updates the quest “Suspect: Vivaldi” .

Head inside Vivaldi’s House and, you’ll notice that this is definitely not the home of a wealthy, political affluent banker. If you let the Scoia’tael take the goods in Chapter 1 you’ll be able to talk to Vivaldi. Do so, and you’ll find that he-like everybody who has been the subject of racism (real or imagined)-can’t help but project his prediction of racism upon every “human” he meets. Anyways, ask him about “The Secret Gates” and he’ll initially refuse to sell them, but will capitulate and sell you “The Secret Gates” for 100 Orens, and “Ain Soph Aur” for 300 Orens. There’s a cheaper (read: free) way to get the latter later, if you’re feeling frugal.

Alternatively, If you killed the Scoia’tael in Chapter 1, Vivaldi should be arrested now, for being assocaited with Scoia’tael. Yeah, racism sucks, but in this case, it’s helpful for you. Head over to the Dungeon and talk to Jethro. Offer to bail Vivaldi out and fork over 200 Orens. To show his gratitude, Vivaldi will give you “The Secret Gates” and “Ain Soph Aur” for free.

Either way, talk to him about Salamandra and-with the evidence we have collected-you should be able to exonerate him. He’ll tell you a bit about Azar Javed if you’re polite with him. Like every truly dangerous person in the world, he’s a college drop-out… His college probably forced him to take a stupid foreign language requirement that had nothing to do with his degree, too. Anyways… Vivaldi is innocent.

Now if you’re lucky, you can find Zoltan Chivay in Vivaldi’s House. If not, you’ll have to go to the Hairy Bear, or wander around town until you find him. In any event, when you do find the elusive little runt, ask about your Silver Sword. He’ll tell you a little more than you’d really ever care to know about it-including one thing-it is indeed a genuine Witcher’s Silver Sword. Thanks Coen. This completes the quest “Memory of a Blade” . You’ll also get an “Earth Rune” for your trouble.