Elven Ruins Under Vizima¶

Now is as good a time as any to explore the newly opened Trade Quarter Sewers. There are a few corpses and barrels to loot… and Drowners to kill… always Drowners to kill. There’s also an exit to the Trade Quarter, which is handy.

The most interesting area, however, are the Elven Ruins. They’re part of the “Echoes of Yesterday” quest that Yaevinn will give us, but there’s no harm in exploring it now. There are two Elven corpses to loot for minor gains, and two Trunks with more goodies in them. The ruins are guarded by lesser Vampires (Fleders, Alps) and some Necrophages, but this shouldn’t be seen as an inconvenience-looking at it optimistically, it’s a way to obtain new teeth to sell to Zahin Schmartz. There’s even a new teleporter nearby, for easy access to and from this location. Just be sure to activate it, and you can come and go as you please.

This is also another location where we can earn some money, as the Alchemist in the Marketplace will buy each Alp Fang for 5 Orens. If you have the “Ingredient Extraction” talent you can obtain 10 Orens per Alp. Only one spawns at a time, but it will respawn every time you rest-and there’s a Fireplace right in the same room. As a bonus, they occassionally drop Naezen Salts, which sell for 8 Orens. Near the entrance to the Elven Ruins you’ll almost always find a Fleder, whose fangs sell for 10 Orens each. So, rest, kill the Vampires, and when you’ve got enough fangs, sell them for some decent cash.

Old Friends, New Problems¶

When you’ve killed as many Alps as you wish (at least one to appease Zahin) we can finally go do Yaevinn’s quest. Or start it, at least. We avoided this earlier so we could kill undead in the Elven Ruins. Once you start “Echoes of Yesterday” the normal undead that spawn there will be replaced by critters related to the quest. Use the nearby teleporter and use it to return to the Swamp Forest.

Head to the Druid Grove and talk to Yaevinn. He’ll shed some light on his past interactions with humans, and ask some political questions of his own. Ask if he has a job for you and he’ll ask you to go see what happened to one of his squads he had operating in Vizima’s sewers. He’ll also tell you the Elven version of the Lara Dorren story.

Return to the Swamp Tower and teleport to Kalkstein’s Laboratory-we could go right back to the sewers, but we’ll pick up (and complete) another quest along the way. Also, Yaevinn’s quest expects you to enter from the Sewers, so that’s what we’ll do. Once back in the Temple Quarter head to Siegfried’s Post and talk to Siegfried. Ask him what he’s doing here and he’ll ask you to look into the disappearances in the Cemetery, promising pay-besides the Order’s gratitude, that is. This starts the quest “Six Feet Under” .

There’s no reason not to go to the Cemetery now and give it a look-see. Right in front of you you’ll find a Man’s Corpse, which Geralt will identify as the work of Ghouls. Head to the pond in the south-eastern corner of the Cemetery to find a Woman’s Corpse, which was most certainly not slain by Ghouls.

Now head to the Chapel Ruins in the middle of the area to find a unique Ghoul named Vetala. Approach it and it will talk to you, of all things. While it can’t hide it’s nature or its diet, it will deny killing any living people. If you pick a fight with it, Geralt will pin it as the culprit, and killing Vetala will end the quest… however, it’s not the correct solution, and only the neutral Geralt is set on killing this Ghoul, regardless of its guilt. If you kill Vetala now, report back to Siegfried for your full reward (see below)…

…If not, get Vetala to tell you who the real culprits are and it’ll tell you that Elves rob graves and kill anybody who gets in their way. The Ghouls leave them alone because of the food they bring.

Head over to the Crypt and sure enough, you’ll find a group of Scoia’tael loitering about. They might be savages who murder innocents, feed them to monsters, and loot graves, but they’re not foolish enough to want to fight a Witcher. They’ll pose Geralt with a conundrum-they left people down in the Crypt, in the dark, with Ghouls. If you chase after them, the innocents will die at the hands of the monsters, but if you save the people, the Scoia’tael will go free.

Whether you plan to side with the Scoia’tael or the Order in the long-term, it’s a good idea to let the Scoia’tael go. You’ll get a better reward for saving the people in the Crypt, and after all, Witchers were created to protect people from monsters-that should come first. Nonetheless, if you choose to kill the Scoia’tael, report back to Siegfried for your full reward (below).

Ignore the Scoia’tael and enter the Crypt. Head east, down the tunnel opposite the entrance, and keep going until you reach the furthest room, where you’ll find an Alghoul and some Ghouls about to… harass… some peasants. Kill the monsters and one of the women will thank you for saving them before running off. Now it’s time to go see Siegfried for our reward.

Report back to Siegfried, and he’ll respond differently depending on your report. If you killed Vetala, he seems indifferent. If you let the innocents die, he’ll be disappointed and dock your pay. If you saved the innocents, he’ll be almost beside himself with giddy joy and admiration (as giddy as Siegfried gets, anyways). For being “like a true knight” and performing the highest service, you’ll get a bonus. Now lets head back into the Sewers and hunt down Bleinheim… he’s not too far away from the Temple Quarter entrance.

To reach the Transfer Point where we’ll find Gellart, go south as far as you can down the tunnel with the Temple Quarter exit along the northern end, then take a connecting tunnel to the east. You’ll get a cutscene showing your prey, after which they will head towards you. Dispatch Gellart and his Salamander goons and search the second Bleinheim’s body for another Royal Letter of Safe Conduct , and the “Key to Salamandra Code” .

Now that we’re back in the Sewers, lets finish up Yaevinn’s little task. Head to the Elven Ruins in the Sewers to find a Dwarf named Ren Grouver out front with a couple of Elves. When you approach he’ll converse with you, and tell you that some monster destroyed most of his squad. Head down into the ruins to find a Bruxa, victorious over a fresh kill. This thing is nothing more than a beefy Alp, and at a decent level it should go down without causing too much trouble.

Immediately after the Bruxa dies, Ren will thank you for the task. Yaevinn will then teleport into the area via the teleporter (which will go dormant from now until after “Gold Rush” is complete.) He’ll talk to you, reward you, and then promptly tell you to forget what you saw here. There are no artifacts to be found, so the Scoia’tael must need this location for another purpose. I’m sure we’ll find out why soon enough.

We have both an encoded document and the cipher for the code. We’ve destroyed two related (pun intended) cells of Salamandra’s drug ring, and have killed the Bleinheim brothers. We’ll butcher the entire Bleinheim brood at this rate! All that’s left to do is talk to Jethro and claim our reward. Geralt parts with one last threat, and we’re out of leads.