Chapter Summaries

Ailin worried that the May Festival’s rituals might trigger a disaster and prepared to brew protective alchemical supplies. After visiting Mary and Yennefer, he left for Kaer Morhen, while Yennefer admitted she had avoided speaking to him because she did not want him to see her this way.

• Ailin suspected the May Festival’s Ritual to Appease Specters could go wrong and decided to prepare more Specter Oil and Moon Dust bombs.
• Ailin found Mary teaching Yennefer magic and Elder Speech, then asked to borrow her portable alchemy tools.
• Mary was stunned that Ailin had devised several formulas after killing a Giant Ghoul, and she brought him a bag of equipment.
• Ailin told Mary about his dream, the Great Old One’s Curse, and his suspicion that trouble would come during the festival; Mary agreed to make Specter Oil and tell Vesemir.
• Ailin asked Mary to see whether Vesemir could send Yennefer and Royce to Kaer Morhen, then left with the equipment.
• Mary asked Yennefer why she had barely spoken to Ailin, and Yennefer said she did not want to talk to him while looking like this.

Mary agreed to let Yennefer help brew potions after recognizing her fear of being sent to Kaer Morhen. At the sanctuary, Ailin brewed and tested Blizzard, then startled Lyra by saying that witchers were not human.

• Mary comforted Yennefer and invited her to help brew potions rather than refusing her offer.
• Ailin set up his cauldron by the sanctuary entrance and brewed ten doses of Blizzard, along with plans to test other alchemical recipes.
• Ailin drank Blizzard and discovered that it slowed time when his adrenaline activated, with its energy able to block only a few attacks.
• Lyra arrived from the garden and worried about Ailin's potion-induced appearance, so he drank White Honey and explained that witchers quickly metabolized toxins.
• Ailin told Lyra that he was a witcher, not a human, and Lyra froze in shock at the claim.

Ailin tested the Giant Ghoul Decoction and found that it greatly enhanced his abilities and strengthened Blizzard, letting him imagine hunting a Greater Griffin alone. Elsewhere, a Sorcerer and Dean investigated Tomas Morra and Macaque’s disappearance and wondered what they had discovered that led someone to capture them alive.

• Lyra brought Ailin food from the Big Beard Tavern, then blushed and hurried away after learning he had heard her humming.
• Ailin brewed potions and bombs, then drank the Giant Ghoul Decoction and found it increased his strength, agility, and reaction speed by twenty percent for at least three hours.
• Ailin combined the decoction with Blizzard and found the potion’s energy and slowing effect became stronger, though the accumulated toxins caused lingering pain.
• A Sorcerer reported to the middle-aged Dean that Tomas Morra and Macaque’s tracks ended near Vergen and had been deliberately erased.
• The Dean concluded that Tomas Morra and Macaque were alive and wondered what they had learned that made someone risk offending Ban Ard to capture them.

Henn Gedimidis suspected internal conflict in Ban Ard behind Tomas Morra and Macaque’s disappearance, but held off on a conspicuous search as war loomed. Meanwhile, Ianna brought Ailin to meet the Old Duke, who asked whether Ailin had seen the Wild Hunt.

• Shaquille suggested several possible culprits behind Tomas Morra and Macaque’s capture, and Henn Gedimidis ordered an investigation into their research and rivals.
• Ailin woke without receiving another vision from Goddess Meritellie, and Ianna arrived to take him to the Old Duke.
• Ianna teased Ailin and Lyra about their relationship, then asked which woman Ailin liked; Ailin said he would not consider personal matters while blood and fire threatened the world.
• Ianna comforted Ailin after he described the suffering and destruction he had witnessed and expected to come.
• The Old Duke met Ailin outside the temple and asked whether he had seen the Wild Hunt.

Ailin told Duke Mason what he knew about the Wild Hunt and learned that nobles might treat it as an unavoidable disaster rather than seek revenge. Mason left the Temple and arranged festival security, ordered a major Sword Oil purchase and partnership, and demanded that those spreading rumors about witchers be driven from Arland.

• Ailin described the Wild Hunt's attack on Gors Velen and explained that he and Vesemir had been badly injured by the spell's aftermath.
• Ailin told Mason about Fiora Duli and the ordinary people who had died, while Ianna explained why political concerns could outweigh vengeance for the dead nobles.
• Ailin went to the Temple archives to check whether Vesemir had found useful records and to test the potions he had brewed.
• Mason ordered Agatha to obtain Wyvern urine, expanded May Festival security, and told the city watch to inspect arrivals more strictly.
• Mason ordered his steward to buy as much Sword Oil as one hundred thousand Oren could purchase and to pursue a long-term partnership with its creator.
• Mason ordered an investigation into who was spreading witcher rumors and commanded that they be driven out of Arland.

Ailin found Vesemir asleep among the Wild Hunt research in the Temple of Melitele's library, then told him about a possible accident during the May Festival and invited him to test two new potions. Vesemir hurried Ailin to a secluded spot behind the library and began a sparring session with wooden sticks.

• Ailin searched the library's third floor and found Vesemir asleep beside piles of books and a note listing more than thirty research sources.
• Vesemir woke when his hat fell, insisted he was fine, and said he intended to finish organizing the Wild Hunt files before the May Festival.
• Ailin told Vesemir about a possible accident during the May Festival and mentioned that he had brewed two new potions.
• Vesemir eagerly led Ailin out of the library, where Ailin learned that the sleeping old matron had been the Temple of Melitele's previous High Priest.
• Vesemir took Ailin to a secluded clearing behind the library, handed him a wooden stick, and challenged him to show how much he had improved.

Ailin sparred with Vesemir to test his swordsmanship, but Vesemir defeated him and criticized his School of the Cat techniques. Ailin then drank two potions and challenged Vesemir to discover their effects, leaving Vesemir staring at empty grass after his attack.

• Ailin and Vesemir cast Quen and began a staff duel, with Vesemir gradually overwhelming Ailin through his superior agility and perception.
• Ailin used a sudden lunge and a School of the Cat wrist thrust, but Vesemir dodged by straightening his body and struck Ailin's chest to win.
• Vesemir explained how he had learned to counter Cat School techniques after nearly dying to a Cat School witcher, then criticized Ailin's swordsmanship.
• Ailin drank two potions that made his veins bulge and his eyes turn icy blue, then invited Vesemir to test their effects.
• Vesemir attacked without warning, but Ailin vanished from the grass, leaving Vesemir staring at his empty hands as a wooden staff fell into the mud.

Ailin tested his potions against Vesemir, explored the effects of Dragon's Dream and Moon Dust, and continued learning rituals as the May Festival approached. Ianna taught him the taboo Spirit Summoning Ritual, leaving Ailin puzzled by her remarks about the dead and the truth.

• Ailin defeated Vesemir in a second sparring match, then explained the strengths and dangerous side effects of Giant Ghoul Decoction and Blizzard.
• Vesemir advised Ailin to keep studying the School of the Cat's swordsmanship because witchers' enemies were no longer only monsters.
• Ailin tested Dragon's Dream and Moon Dust in the Mahakam Mountains, finding that Dragon's Dream gas could cling to moving targets and ignite while Moon Dust seemed ineffective against ordinary creatures.
• As the May Festival preparations continued, Ailin studied rituals with Ianna and learned Fire Divination and the Spirit Summoning Ritual.
• Ianna explained that Spirit Summoning could contact the dead and told Ailin that truth and dignity were usually more important to the dead than rest.

Ailin prepared for the May Festival carnival and received Duke Mason’s payment for Specter Oil, then discovered that Yennefer had secretly stayed behind and helped Mary brew it. After Ailin reassured Yennefer that he was not angry, she began crying while insisting that she did not hurt at all.

• Ailin realized the May Festival carnival had arrived after spending days brewing Specter Oil for Duke Mason’s preparations.
• Arthur delivered a 50,000-Oren deposit certificate and asked Ailin and Vesemir to attend the carnival.
• Ailin followed Arthur to Mary’s Alchemy Room and discovered that Yennefer had stayed behind instead of returning to Kaer Morhen with Royce.
• Mary revealed that Yennefer had secretly brewed hundreds of bottles of Specter Oil to help Ailin.
• Ailin told Yennefer that he was not angry and that she had helped him, but she started crying and said that it did not hurt.

Ailin agreed to enjoy the May Festival with Mary while Lady Vesemir kept Little Monster with her, and the Monster Hunter Army received Specter Oil for its patrol. As night approached, the officers trusted the oil’s effectiveness but remained unaware of the danger awaiting them.

• Lady Vesemir let Little Monster stay with her instead of returning to Kaer Morhen, then urged Ailin and Mary to enjoy the May Festival before protecting Arland.
• Lady Vesemir gave Ailin a pouch of small change, and Ailin and Mary left the Alchemy Room.
• Sir Arthur delivered five hundred bottles of Specter Oil to Sala and the Monster Hunter Army for their May Festival patrol.
• Sala questioned whether the untested oil worked, but Arthur and the other knights cited Ailin’s successes with Necrophage Oil and his mentor, Bloody Red Fox—Vesemir.
• Sala arranged for the soldiers to collect the oil as darkness fell, while the officers wondered how many of them would survive the night.

Ailin and Mary explored Arland during the May Festival, shared food and flowers, and joined the nighttime dancing. They were crowned May King and May Queen and swept into a procession before meteors crossed the sky.

• Ailin and Mary met Cynk, who directed them to Arland Market Square and assured Ailin that the city would be safe.
• Ailin bought Mary a red rose, and they ate, shopped, and watched the festival celebrations together.
• The previous year's May King and May Queen lit the bonfire and invited the crowd to dance.
• Mary pulled Ailin into the dancing, and the pair moved together until the crowd acclaimed them as the new May King and May Queen.
• Ailin and Mary joined the flower-strewn procession, and countless meteors streaked across the night sky.

The Wild Hunt attacked Arland during the May Festival, killing and injuring many people as Ailin protected Mary and helped treat survivors. As Lyra began preparing a magic ritual and Vesemir warned of a greater danger beyond the city, the witchers’ medallions started trembling again.

• Ailin recognized the colorful falling lights as the Wild Hunt and threw himself over Mary as their magic blasted the parade route.
• Ailin and Mary found many festivalgoers dead or gravely wounded, then bandaged the injured and made splints from the parade platform.
• Vesemir and Lyra arrived with knights, and Lyra embraced Ailin before setting up a magic ritual with materials they had brought.
• Vesemir told Ailin that the Wild Hunt’s fire spell had struck Arland’s crowded market square, causing deaths and a deadly crush.
• Ailin’s and Vesemir’s wolf medallions began trembling as an icy wind swept in, and Ailin looked toward the new danger and cursed.

Ailin and Vesemir faced a tide of more than a thousand specters threatening Arland while Lady Vesemir prepared a ritual. As Arthur’s Guard Knights used Specter Oil to charge and delay the monsters, Ailin and Vesemir rode toward the horde, leaving Sala unable to stop them.

• Ailin and Vesemir recognized the approaching lights as a huge horde of specters, while the black-helmed knight calmed the panicking revelers and sent the wounded toward Arland.
• Mary refused to leave Ailin, and the Monster Hunter Army and Guard Knights formed ranks to protect the city and give Lady Vesemir time to complete her ritual.
• Arthur led the Guard Knights in a cavalry charge, discovering that their Specter Oil let them destroy specters with swift strikes.
• Sala realized most of the specters were still advancing toward Arland and worried that the cavalry would not hold them for long.
• Ailin and Vesemir mounted their horses and rode toward the horde, and Sala watched without calling them back.

Ailin and Vesemir cut through the nekker horde, but the Guard Knights ran out of Specter Oil and the spectral tide threatened Arland and Vera’s ritual. Ailin sent Vesemir to help the knights and prepared to face a separate battlefield alone.

• Ailin and Vesemir used their horses and Specter Oil-coated silver swords to carve through the nekkers while the Guard Knights fought from the other side.
• Ailin discovered a Main Quest requiring him to eliminate 1,614 nekkers and realized his kills were also advancing a Hunting Quest that would trigger a Conjunction of the Spheres.
• After the Guard Knights exhausted their Specter Oil, they drew a much larger mass of specters toward Arland and the ritual circle.
• Arthur ordered the Guard Knights to turn back and lure away the specters, but they lacked the oil needed to attract many of them.
• Ailin told Vesemir to lead the Guard Knights in a charge, then said he had a battlefield of his own.

As the ritual neared completion, Ailin and Vesemir split the nekker tide between them while the Monster Hunter Army prepared to defend Arland. Ailin completed his first nekker hunt and learned that a Conjunction of the Spheres nekker would appear in 54 seconds.

• Sala refused to send the Guard Knights the collected Specter Oil and ordered the Monster Hunter Army to prepare for the approaching nekkers.
• Mary worried that she could not help with the ritual, while Vesemir rode out to draw nekkers away from the army and slow the tide.
• Ailin charged into the nekker tide with the Alde Sign, boosting the Monster Hunter Army's morale and drawing a portion of the horde after him.
• Ailin judged that the ritual still needed at least half an hour, so he rode to a nearby hill, prepared potions and a bonfire, and killed the hundredth nekker.
• Ailin accepted the next nekker hunting quest, and the Monster Bestiary warned him that a Conjunction of the Spheres nekker would appear in 54 seconds.

Ailin summoned a monster through the Conjunction of the Spheres and discovered that Balmor could wound it with extraordinary force. Meanwhile, Vesemir tried to rest his exhausted escort, then spotted a gigantic Skeleton Giant behind the specter horde and rode to warn Ailin.

• Ailin used the Nightshade set to hide as the Conjunction of the Spheres opened a portal nearby.
• A tiny green light emerged from the portal and expanded into a huge wraith monster, while Balmor trembled as if eager to fight.
• Vesemir ordered the exhausted Guard Knights to rest, but Arthur and the others continued to fear for the ritual and the people at Arland.
• Arthur and Vesemir spotted a ten-meter Skeleton Giant that cowed the specters, and Vesemir rushed toward Ailin.
• Ailin drank Blizzard and struck the monster with Balmor, cleaving through its elemental protection and opening a cavity in its hide.
• Ailin saw his Monster-Hunting Progress reach 69%.

Ailin used Balmor and Monster Hunt to kill the one-eyed monster while the specter tide rushed toward him and the defenders of Arland rode out to help. After the monster burned away, Ailin told Vesemir it had seemed to speak to him, but he could only repeat its strange roar.

• Ailin struck the one-eyed monster twice with Balmor, reaching 100% Monster Hunt progress and dodging its attacks as it tried to crush him.
• Mary mounted a warhorse and attempted a spell to save Ailin, while Sala and Arthur led the Monster Hunter Army and Guard Knights against the approaching specters.
• Ailin followed the monster's footprints, evaded its bite, and killed it with a final attack that filled its body with scorching heat.
• As it died, the one-eyed monster remembered death and tried to warn Ailin to prepare for the white light and frost.
• Vesemir rushed through the specters to reach Ailin and watched the monster burn away in green and orange-red flames.
• Ailin told Vesemir the monster had seemed to speak to him, then answered Vesemir's question by imitating its roar.

After Ailin killed the one-eyed specter, he reunited with Mary and returned to the ritual as the specters drifted back toward Arland. Vesemir and Ailin prepared to face the horde, but the Guard Knights insisted on joining them, until a woman called for them to make way.

• Ailin remained certain that the dying one-eyed monster had tried to tell him something, while Vesemir urged him to focus on protecting Arland.
• Mary arrived and used Flash Fire against the specters, then collapsed into Ailin's arms; Ailin brought her back to the ritual, where the Monster Hunter Army cheered them as king and queen.
• Vesemir explained that the specters' attention had reset, leaving the Guard Knights unable to draw them without Specter Oil, and said that he and Ailin would handle the horde.
• Arthur and the Guard Knights insisted on fighting beside Vesemir and Ailin, despite the many comrades they had already lost.
• As the Guard Knights and Monster Hunter Army prepared to charge, a cool female voice asked them to make way.

Lady Vesemir used a ritual-enhanced Fire Baptism to devastate the nekker tide, then left the survivors for Ailin and Vesemir to hunt. Ailin’s Balmor proved ineffective against the specters, but after switching to Elsa and using Specter Oil, the hunt concluded and the One-Eyed Nekker subjugation reward settlement appeared.

• Lady Vesemir summoned a massive Fire Baptism that incinerated much of the nekker tide and raised Ailin’s main quest count to 1390 of 1614.
• Lady Vesemir told Ailin and Vesemir to deal with the surviving nekkers, and Vesemir challenged Ailin to a contest.
• Arthur declined to send the exhausted Guard Knights after the survivors, explaining that stealing their allies’ spoils and merit would not be honorable.
• Ailin charged at a specter with Balmor, but the sword’s strike bounced off its magical protection, so he switched to Elsa coated with Specter Oil.
• Ailin and Vesemir killed the remaining specters, and the One-Eyed Nekker subjugation reward settlement appeared.

After defeating the Nekkers, Ailin returned to Arland with Vesemir and was celebrated as a hero, while Vesemir quietly let him take the credit. The victory gave way to grief as they entered the devastated city, where Ailin revealed that the Wild Hunt had attacked and the survivors faced the scale of Arland’s dead.

• Ailin received an S-rank settlement for defeating the Nekkers, completed the Main Quest, and gained Divine Communication and Dream Entry.
• Vesemir said he had killed 114 Nekkers to Ailin’s 110, then asked Arthur to leave him out of the report so Ailin could gain the reputation.
• Arland’s soldiers cheered for Ailin as the May King and lifted him into the air, while Mary watched him and admitted he felt close yet far away.
• Sala ordered soldiers to gather the dead children, and the returning group entered Arland to find ruined buildings, corpses, and grieving survivors.
• Ailin told Arthur and Sala that the Wild Hunt had ridden skeletal horses and fired the meteor that struck Arland; Arthur urged the soldiers to calm civilians before seeking justice.
• Ailin, Mary, the Guard Knights, and the Monster Hunter Army continued through the bloodied streets, overwhelmed by the many dead and the devastation of the city.