After that party at the New Narakort, we’ve unveiled more of the political structure of Temeria. There’s now no doubting that a faction within the royal court is aiding Salamandra, although who, exactly, is involved and why they are aligned with Salamandra remains a mystery. We’ve also burnt bridges with either the Scoia’tael or the Order. The further you walk, the deeper it gets. We’ve explored the Trade Quarter in detail, and have completed most of the side quests left in this Chapter. There’s still some dice to throw, and a brothel to investigate sure, but uncovering more of the schism within the royal court, hunting down Salamandra, and helping Triss out are our primary goals.

Dice and Bounties¶

After all that heavy-handed politics, it’s time to take a break from intrigue and do some honest Witcher’s work. Now that “A Posh Reception” is done, we can go find Velerad and turn in those bounties. Note that he’ll be somewhat unhappy with us if we helped the Elves during “Gold Rush” , and won’t play dice with us. Oh well, it’s a necessary evil-if you didn’t complete “Echoes of Yesterday” and “Six Feet Under” before “A Posh Reception” , you’ll be unable to complete one or the other. If you complete one (or both) before “A Posh Reception” you’ll be whisked away on “Gold Rush” afterwards (tying up Velerad in the process). And of course, you can’t talk to him before “A Posh Reception” … damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

It’s no big deal, you can always play de Wett for that last Professional match, if you wish, and there are plenty of professionals in the next Chapter. You can find Velerad in the Watchtower-the same Watchtower where de Wett spends his time, in fact. De Wett is on the upper floor with the Order, while Velerad is on the lower floor, with the guards. Turning in all those bounties will get you a hefty 800 Orens and 20,000 Experience-very substantial boosts by any reckoning.

Blue Eyes¶

Now let’s visit the House of the Queen of the Night and investigate Patrick de Weyze’s sister. You can find this brothel west of Triss’ House. First loot around, then talk to the “Bodyguard” by the stairs. If you show him the “House of the Night Signet Ring” he’ll let you pass, but you could also just throw a lot of Orens at him.

Head upstairs to find the “Lady of the Night” and her “Sisters of Mercy”. Our amulet starts going crazy, letting us know that Patrick was probably right when he suggested Vampires were involved with his sister. It’s not like they are being terribly discrete.

Talk to the Lady of the Night, who has apparently been keeping track of you. Ask more about it to learn that she was once the lover of Regis, our Vampire friend that Dandelion mentioned. Other than that, she doesn’t have much interesting to say, besides foreshadowing a decision you’ll have to make at the end of this quest.

Return downstairs and talk to the “Blue-Eyed Lass” and ask if she has a brother. She’ll deny it, and the game will urge you to report to Patrick-but it’s an unnecessary step. Proposition her, and she’ll ask for a ‘donation’ of 500 Orens to the brothel. If you try to haggle, she’ll raise the price to 750, and if you haggle some more, she’ll jack it up to 1000. Alternatively, if you show her the “House of the Night Signet Ring” she’ll drop the price down to 300 Orens. Like all courtesans, however, she fancies gems-which means a significant discount for us. Give her a Sapphire and you’ll get the “Blue-Eyes” Sex Card . If you talk to her afterwards, you can comment on her scars, which Geralt apparently noticed during intercourse.

Return to the New Narakort and update Patrick. He’ll fervently deny that his sister would stoop so low until you mention the scars. After this, devoid of hope that it’s not his sister, he’ll blame the Vampires, and ask you to free his sister from their spell.

Go back to the House of the Queen of the Night and head upstairs to talk to the Lady of the Night. She’ll outright admit to being the Vampire in question-but she’ll inform us that Patrick is an abusive lout who was trying to sell his sister into the slavery we call an “arranged marriage” She makes a convincing point-who wouldn’t want to escape the bleak existence of a wife in a marriage-for-profit, especially in exchange for the easy life of luxury and eternal youth?

You have two options-let the Vampires go and enjoy the pleasures of the House of the Night, or kill them. Killing them is by far the least rewarding way to resolve this quest, and only the rather rigid neutral Geralt chooses this route-killing monsters is his job, after all. No exceptions. Well… maybe a few exceptions… Afterwards talk to the Blue-Eyed Lass and she will run off. When we report to Patrick he’ll refuse to pay up. Typical.

The Scoia’tael-and-Order-aligned Witchers, however, have a more subjective view on the term “monster”. One views himself as a mutant and sympathizes with nonhumans of all stripes, be they Dwarves, Elves, or apparently Vampires. The other considers himself a human dedicated to protecting humans from monsters, be they Drowners, Elves, or other humans. They both agree to ignore the Vampires, which obtains them the “Vampiress” Sex Card .

After our rather creepy encounter, Patrick will burst in with his friends from the Order. A stand-off ensues, with Geralt in the middle. We now have three choices-to side with the Order, to side with the Vampires, or to side with neither, and have both turn against us. If you side with the Order here, it just makes you look like an indecisive fool. Patrick threatens you for hanging out with Vampires, you get stiffed, and the Blue-Eyed Lass ends up back with her abusive brother.

If you decide to remain neutral, you’ll have to fight both sides, and this can be quite a fight, considering the Vampires’ scream attack and the sheer durability of Patrick’s Squires. Of course, they’re just as willing to cut each other up if you run to the far end of the room. This isn’t a very satisfying solution, either. Although the moral monster and literal monsters are both dead, the Blue-Eyed Lass isn’t happy, and Geralt is still an unpaid liar

Keeping your word and siding with the Vampires, then, seems to be the best policy. The Vampires might be monsters, sure, but they don’t kill anybody, and don’t take anything that their customers aren’t willing enough to provide. On the other hand, the brother is… just a rotten bastard, really. Both the Order-aligned Geralt and the Scoia’tael-aligned Geralt are more interested in the morality of the issue. Even though Patrick is a knight of the Order, he doesn’t exemplify any of the qualities that makes it an organization worth supporting, and for the same reason we wouldn’t help de Wett, I won’t help him. Tell him that his sister is under no spell, and he’ll attack. Kill him, and the Lady of the Night will do something that Patrick would never do-well, besides that-she’ll pay you. Even if you’re just being practical, the best reward comes from siding with the Vampires-although Geralt feels slimey afterwards. Talk to the Blue-Eyed Lass near the stairs and she’ll make

things right by thanking Geralt… for his humanity.

Love Triangulation¶

Well, that turned out more political than we thought it would-lets go deal with those those stupid “Magic Sensors” Triss gave us. We’ve had them for too long-it’s time to put them around the city and help Triss out. Surely some light-hearted delivery-boy caliber work will distract us from the monumental tasks before-and behind-us… at the very least we can be certain that, unlike in “Gold Rush” we won’t be forced to choose between two friends and earn the ire of the side we don’t favor, right?

By now you know enough about the city to put the Sensors where they belong, without me having to hold your hand too much. You’ll need to place the sensors in various “Reliefs” throughout the city. There’s one near the entrance to the Sewers in the Temple Quarter, there’s another Relief on the exterior wall of the Chapel Ruins in the Cemetery-near where we talked to Vetala earlier, and the last one is in the Trade Quarter, on the Town Hall/Vivaldi & Sons Bank building, near the entrance to the Bank.

Once you’ve placed all the Magic Sensors, return to the Triss’ House and talk to Triss. If you want to chat with her about your identity, you can do so, and tell her about the choice you made at the bank. As long as you don’t tell her that you don’t know why you chose the way you did, she’ll compare your decision to what the old Geralt would have chosen. It updates the quest “Identity” , and is worth some experience, so you might as well.

Now talk to Triss about the Magic Sensors. Triss tells us that as soon as they were placed she was able to locate the source of the anomaly-a boy named Alvin. That’s right, our Alvin from Chapter 1. It seems that the source is a source. Triss tells us that to secure the safety of Vizima, we need to recover Alvin from Saint Lebioda’s Hospital. Of course, there’s a catch. Shani doesn’t want to let him go, for whatever reason. Who wants to wager that this will get messy real quick-like? At least Triss will give us a scroll “Formula for De Vries’ Extract” , which she says will help us against the critters that are attracted to sources like Alvin.

Head over to the Temple Quarter, where you’ll be ambushed by a very unhappy Shani. She really bares her fangs here, questioning your relationship with Triss, and demanding that you leave Alvin in her care, instead of turning him over to the machinations of a barren witch like Triss. What was that about not having to choose sides and burn bridges earlier? Oops. It should become abundantly evident that this conflict isn’t so much about Alvin as it is about the love-triangle that has apparently formed… at least in the imaginations of these women.

Triss and Shani are more important than the other flings Geralt enjoys-if for no other reason than for the fact that they knew Geralt prior to his apparent death and subsequent amnesiac revival. In this whole equation Alvin serves as the symbolic token of Geralt’s affection-and a stand-in child for the one that Geralt could never create with Shani or Triss. It doesn’t matter what you do-Geralt is going to piss off an old friend (and making a redhead angry is never a good thing!)

If you have a personal preference for either one, go with that-it’s your game and your Geralt, after all. As for the Geralts this guide revolves around.. there are points and counterpoints for siding with either of them. Clearly Triss is more familiar with the Witchers and the politics at play in Vizima-and unlike Shani, she can offer more than just superficial aid. Remember Kaer Morhen? She’s bled for Geralt already in this game, while Shani seems to be more in danger from the association than anything else.

The downside, however, is that since Triss is involved in the local politics, she’s certainly capable (and guilty) of playing politics. Sure, she’s on the same side with us as far as Salamandra is concerned, but we shouldn’t forget the mysterious friend in the mirror we overheard her talking to at the beginning of the chapter. Despite that, it seems very difficult to choose Shani. At the end of the day, Triss is a mage, and Alvin probably needs to be under scrutiny of a mage more than he needs a good mother-figure (if you’re even willing to grant that Shani would make a better role-model than Triss.) Considering what we’ve seen with Alvin so far, and from the trouble loose mages can cause in general, it just seems irresponsible to leave Alvin with Shani.

The Scoia’tael-aligned and Neutral Geralt both opt to favor Triss, and the Order-aligned Geralt hands Alvin over to Shani.. more for diversity than for any good reason. This choice will affect how either lady responds to you from now on-obviously the scorned party isn’t going to be pleased with Geralt. It’ll also effect where Alvin ends up during Chapter 4, and it will influence a few things in the epilogue, but nothing serious. It’s more a personal-story choice than a gameplay one. Honest.

Pick your gal and head over to Saint Lebioda’s Hospital, where you’ll find Dandelion, of all people. He explains his presence with a typical tale of debauchery, and explains that Alvin was just whisked away against his will. Fortunately, however, Dandelion outdid himself-he was able to stop leering at nurses long enough to see where they took Alvin. The only catch? We have to take Dandelion with us. He senses an imminent ass-whupping, courtesy of Geralt, and like any good bard, he wants to witness it. Good story material and all that.

Follow Dandelion out the hospital and he’ll lead you into the nonhuman district, to a building across from the house next to the Blacksmith. One which we’ve previously been unable to enter, but have certainly seen Assassins exit from. Geralt succeeds in convincing Dandelion to stay out of the way, after which all there is to do is enter the building.

Inside you’ll find four Assassins that need to be introduced to Geralt’s sword. After they’re dead, Alvin (who has seen us fight at least three times by now) will talk to you. Dandelion follows him shortly, and when Geralt hears more enemies approaching will tell Dandelion to take the boy to safety. Direct Dandelion to take Alvin to either Triss or Shani. After he leaves, more Assassins will show up. They might be more diverse this time, but they’re still terribly under-powered. Slaughter them, loot, then leave.

Now head to the house of the lady you told Dandelion to take Alvin to. Talk to Shani/Triss, and she’ll tell you to go tell Triss/Shani about your decision with Alvin. That’s right, now that they’ve “won”, they want you to go tell the scorned gal about it. Geralt is understandably reluctant, but to progress the quest it’s got to be done. Tell the scorned girl about your choice, endure their anger, then head back to the Alvin-gifted girl and talk to them.

They want you to give them a ring as a show of affection… although they try to play it cool. This is, in fact, extraneous to the quest itself, which is over regardless of what you do next.. but since we’ve cut loose either Shani or Triss, we might as well make the most of what we’ve got left.

As is clear from Geralt’s words (not to mention from the journal entry about the quest ’The Source“ ) Geralt has some reservations about the whole affair. Thankfully Dandelion shows up to check on the situation, and his keen bardic sense detects the woman troubles Geralt is having. Being a good friend, he decides that the only solution is to head to the New Narakort/Hairy Bear and get drunk (depending on whether you picked Triss or Shani, respectively) with Zoltan while trying to give Geralt relationship advice. Geralt is wisely unconvinced that either a man-whore of a bard or a scruffy Dwarven mercenary are good sources of wisdom on the subject, but off he goes.

A lengthy sequence of talking will follow, where Geralt is asked about whether he wants a family, and general speculation about the unpredictibility of womenfolk. It ends with Dandelion trying to convince Geralt that a trip to the local whorehouse will clear everything up. It’s mostly just good fun, so do what you will, and answer as you please, and when the guy-time is over, you’ll be at your lady’s house. Talk to her to get scolded if you wish (this seems more and more like a relationship every second!) and sleep off the ill-effects of your revelries.

It’s time to solidify our relationship with our chosen lady, and either way the same thing is expected by you. Sure, they asked for a ring to show your commitment-but they both want you to build up a relationship with Alvin first. How does this work? Well, talk to Alvin and he’ll make an inane statement, request, or complaint. Leave the house and return and talk to Alvin again to get him to say something new. Do this over and over again until Shani/Triss is impressed.

Note that it doesn’t seem to be as simple as witnessing everything Alvin has to say-for example, while playing the over-indulgant “parent” Triss might complain that you’re “spoiling the boy”. The solution? When he repeats himself, pick another option, and Triss will eventually be satisfied… it seems that your lady is looking for unique responses from Alvin.

You’ll know you’ve appeased Triss/Shani when they change the way they respond. When satisfied, Triss will say “You’re so good with Alvin.” and Shani will say “I’m happy you and Alvin get along. He treats you like a father, you know?” Once they’re saying this, give Triss a Silver Ruby Ring or give Shani a Silver Amber Ring, and you’ll get either the “Shani #2” Sex Card or the “ Triss #2“ Sex Card . Below is a crude list of the various things Alvin will say, for reference. Once you’ve obtained the Sex Card, you’re done appeasing Shani/Triss.

Both:

“I want a puppy.”

“She doesn’t let me eat sweets!”

“Geralt, teach me to swordfight.”

Shani:

“I don’t want to attend Oxerfurt University. And Shani said..”

“Shani and I played pick-up sticks today! I won!”

Triss:

“Triss has made me look at stupid pictures!”

“Triss said it wasn’t a nice shed anyway…”