Temple Quarter Merchants¶

Now to familiarize ourselves with the Temple District before we actively start questing in the Slums. Leave the Dungeon area (marked as the “Guardhouse” on your map) and take a right. Head up past the Hospital and take another right to find Merchant Street. Here you’ll find a Dwarven Antiquary who will sell you all sorts of good books, a Peasant Trader who will sell you food of dubious origins, a Peddler who sells flowers, jewelry, and garments, and an Herbalist who sells a few books, flowers, and alchemical ingredients. The first thing you should notice is that it’s going to require a small fortune for you to get all those books. You can give the Herbalist a Red Shawl as a gift and she’ll tell you where she gathers her herbs, for what that’s worth.

As for blacksmiths, you have two options. First, there’s a blacksmith in “Little Mahakam”, and then there’s an Order blacksmith right across from the stairs leading to the Slums. One will trade with you, depending upon which faction-the nonhumans (Scoia’tael) and the humans (Order of the Flaming Rose) trusts you at the moment. Either way, they both sell the same loot; two pieces of Blue Meteorite , some weapons we don’t need, and an “Excellent Leather Jacket” , which is an improvement over what you’re wearing now. It’s also one of the two other suits of armor in the game, and since the next suit of armor can’t be obtained until Chapter 5… it’s worth picking up at some point. The only problem is that it costs a whopping 5,000 Orens. No matter how you slice it, that’s a lot of boxing and poker. If you want to switch which merchant favors you, you’ll get a chance to do so later, depending on how you resolve the quest “Force Recon” , which we won’t be bothering with until near the end of the chapter.

Random Folks Worth Talking To¶

Anyways, that’s it for the Merchants, now for random folks worth talking to. Your old buddy Siegfried can be found, either near the Dike (if you allowed him to join you) or near the Hospital (his punishment post if you didn’t let him join you.) Approach him and he’ll allow you to access one place or the other for free-otherwise the guards will have to be bribed to gain access. You’ll also get to see a neat little cutscene. Wee.

Walking around town is a lady named “Gossip”. Talk to her repeatedly and exhaust every dialogue option and Geralt will reveal his identity. The lady will excitedly ask for some gift or another to show her friends (she’s called a Gossip, after all). Give her some Red Women’s Gloves (which can be purchased from the Peddler for 100 Orens, or found in the Hospital, if you’re willing to wait) and she’ll decide that she needs to see more of the “White Wolf”, thus granting you the “Poor Townsfolk” Sex Card .

Next up there’s an “Old Woman” wandering about who will talk to you for a bit, before insisting that her throat is too dry. She’ll accept alcohol readily enough, but no matter how much of your booze she guzzles, she’s never sated. Either she’s not getting what she wants (although she does take your alcohol, regardless) or she’s just a conniving old bitch trying to scam you out of beer.

Now head down into the Slums. The first figure that should strike you as interesting is Carmen. Talk to her, and she’ll flirt with Geralt a bit before backing off. Ask if she has any work for you, and she’ll give you the quest “Working Girls” . It’s not much of a job for a Witcher, but the money will help. Carmen also plays poker at the Novice level, if you still need to defeat three Novice players, or if you just want to score some Orens.

Go to the unmarked house across from the Warehouse. It’s on the north-facing end of the same building block as the Hairy Bear. Inside you’ll find a Thug who’ll give you a job if you talk to him. Seeing your obvious prowess, he offers to tell you about a haunted house. You clear the house, and split the loot with him 50/50. Agree to get the quest “A Ghost Story” .

The Hairy Bear Inn¶

It’s finally time to head over to the Hairy Bear Inn. You may as well search the notice board while you’re here. Doing so will start the quests “The Alghoul Contract” , “The Dogcatcher of Vizima” , “The Drowned Dead Contract” , “The Echinops Contract” , and “The Wolf Contract” .

Inside you’ll find the typical bar features-an Innkeeper who will store your loot, a Waitress who will flirt with you-but will ultimately only peddle beer, and a two-bit Gambler who plays strictly low stakes poker. There’s also a Boozer who will drink with you, but no prize is forthcoming, so save the seven beverages it takes to win for a real opponent.

Now for the interesting folks. Talk to a man named Conrad, who will be drinking during the day. He’ll wine about the quality of the alcohol here, and ask if you’ll do a job for him. Accept and he’ll give you the quest “A Most Uncommon Wine” ask where this house is to get it marked on your map. You can also drink with him-if you provide some wine, but like the Boozer above, he offers no reward.

While you’re here, talk to your old friend Zoltan Chivay. You can get philosophical with him, if you want to hear some Dwarven wisdom. More importantly, ask him about work to start the quest “Safe Haven” . Tell him about your dice poker successes (if you’ve completed “Dice Poker: The Novice” ) and he’ll tell you that you’ll need to beat four Professional players to become a Professional yourself. Lastly, ask him about Vivaldi’s bank and he’ll tell you that Vivaldi no longer actually owns the bank. It won’t update the quest “Suspect: Vivaldi” , but it’s useful to know, nonetheless.

Talking about Dwarves, you can find Munro Bruys nearby. He’s another old friend of yours, but he’s not quite as prominent of a pal as Zoltan is/was. Talk to him about dice poker and he’ll admit to being a Professional, and will offer to play you at any time. This officially starts the quest, “Dice Poker: The Professional” and completes the quest “Dice Poker: The Novice” . Even though you can only find two Professional players in Chapter 2, you might as well play Munro Bruys and make some progress on this quest.

While we’re in this corner of the bar, lets do some boxing. Beat up all the lesser boxers and earn yourself some money (you should have been doing this already), and challenge Butter Bean. This time you can get 150 Orens, two Bottles of Mandrake Cordial, or a Golden Necklace. Honestly, the 150 Orens is probably the most valuable reward, but it seems like a shame to grab Orens when you can just box twice for more.

Now it’s time to deal with Coleman. Head into the back to find him-he’ll usually be drinking with Ramsmeat. First, ask him about Witcher’s work to get the quest “The Rat” . Next, tell him about the parcel that vanished up Jethro’s nose. The best option is to tell him the guards took it-he’ll forgive you, and you’ll get some nice experience out of the deal. If you’re confrontational, he’ll send some thugs after you. After you kill them, he’ll make peace. You can also ask him about the Salamandra sign, which will get you a journal entry about Ramsmeat, but it’ll also piss Coleman off for a little while. You can also drink with Coleman, but unless you want to hear him sing, there’s no point. You could also talk to Ramsmeat, but he doesn’t really have anything interesting to say right now.

Go find the “Messenger” near the bar. Don’t bother trying to bribe him, just ask to drink with him. Five bottles of cheap beer later and he’ll be ready to talk. Ask him about work, and he’ll tell you that he works for Leuvaarden, our old friend from the outskirts. Seems like we’ll have to pay him a visit for more than just Drowners. This updates the quest “Wanted” . There’s still a lot to do before midnight, so talk to the Innkeeper, shell out five Orens, and sleep off the insobriety.