Chapter Summaries

Ailin and the other witchers found Viscount Hudson’s castle abandoned, and Vesemir returned to Hundred Fruit Garden in low spirits. The next morning, a taste of the inn’s stew made Vesemir recognize the flavor of the Hudson Family Cook.

• Ailin learned that Vesemir had last visited the abandoned castle fifteen years earlier, and the group returned to Hundred Fruit Garden.
• The witchers lodged at a rural inn, where Ailin pondered the Red-haired Elf’s commission and resolved to search for the human couple it concerned.
• The next morning, Vesemir took Ailin and Huus to breakfast after Bont and Fred failed to wake on time through meditation.
• Ailin tasted the stew and found it delicious, while Vesemir recognized it as the flavor of the Hudson Family Cook.

Ailin, Vesemir, and Huus faced a tense encounter with King's Guard searching for a hooded suspect, but the knights left without a fight. Bob revealed that the guards had been hunting elves near Ban Ard for months, and Vesemir asked whether he knew Viscount Hudson.

• Three King's Guard knights entered the inn and questioned Bob about a hooded stranger.
• The knights identified Vesemir's group as School of the Wolf witchers and asked whether they had seen elves or other suspicious people.
• Vesemir refused to assist the guards, citing the School of the Wolf's neutrality, and Captain Serio warned the witchers before leaving with his men.
• Ailin appraised Serio and was surprised that the captain's Strength and Agility exceeded his own.
• Bob told Ailin that the King's Guard had been searching nearby towns for elves since the winter solstice and still visited every few days.
• Vesemir asked Bob whether he knew Viscount Hudson.

Vesemir recalled his disastrous Rock Troll hunt and praised Viscount Hudson for treating him kindly afterward. When Vesemir asked what had happened to the Viscount’s family, Bob and Mary prepared to tell him privately, beginning with an event from eight years earlier.

• Bob recognized Vesemir as the witcher who had been beaten until he coughed blood by a Rock Troll, and Vesemir explained that he had accidentally damaged the mine while fighting them.
• Vesemir recounted how Viscount Hudson had paid for his treatment and his commission despite the ruined mine, and Mary recognized Vesemir as well.
• Vesemir asked Bob and Mary what had become of Viscount Hudson, the Viscountess, and their children, so they shut the inn and windows before answering.
• Ailin and Huus left the room to give Bob and Mary privacy with Vesemir.
• As Ailin headed upstairs, he overheard that the story began eight years earlier, when the Viscount brought a married couple back from the battlefield.

Ailin overheard Bob and Mary tell Vesemir how Viscount Hudson sent them away before his castle burned, killing or vanishing everyone inside. Vesemir planned to investigate the castle, while Ailin was left wondering whether the mysterious couple was connected to the Red-haired Elf.

• Ailin paused at the door and listened as Bob described Hodon, a knight who had arrived at Viscount Hudson's castle with an unidentified woman.
• Mary recalled the woman's haughty manner and said she suspected the couple had brought disaster upon the Viscount and his family.
• Bob said Viscount Hudson gave him and Mary an inn and sent servants away shortly before the castle burned, leaving no survivors.
• Bob revealed that no noble knights came afterward, though a group of Sorcerers visited the castle once.
• Bob and Mary asked Vesemir to find the family's remains, and Vesemir agreed to investigate the castle after making preparations.
• Ailin considered the castle's unexplained abandonment and wondered whether the couple was the one the Red-haired Elf sought.

Ailin told Vesemir about the red-haired elf’s request to escort a married couple and argued that the Wolf School might need allies beyond neutrality. Vesemir agreed to take Ailin to Viscount Hudson’s castle, while Captain Serio and two knights grew suspicious of activity at the inn.

• Ailin told Vesemir about the elf’s commission and suggested that the Wolf School should prepare to win allies if the king threatened Kaer Morhen.
• Ailin connected the elf’s search to the human couple Viscount Hudson had brought to his castle ten years earlier, and Vesemir warned that the castle might contain several specters.
• After Ailin said he had studied specters and promised not to act recklessly, Vesemir agreed to take him to the castle.
• Captain Serio refused his knights’ suggestion to challenge the witchers, reminding them that the king had invited them as guests.
• Serio and the knights hid when the innkeeper closed the windows and front door, then concluded that the innkeeper was up to something.

Ailin and Vesemir headed to Viscount Hudson’s ruined castle, with three King’s Guard knights following them on suspicion that elves might be nearby. As they entered the castle, Vesemir revealed that he had once been friends with Viscount Hudson, and Ailin sensed danger as the Wolf Emblem began to hum.

• Ailin warned Vesemir that three King’s Guard knights had been following them, and Vesemir told him to claim they were surveying the castle for an evil spirit.
• Captain Serio questioned the witchers, then insisted that his knights accompany them to Viscount Hudson’s castle in search of elves.
• Serio sent Bowen to report their itinerary to the mayor while he and the other knights continued with Vesemir and Ailin.
• Inside the ruined castle, Vesemir admitted that he had visited fifteen years earlier and that Viscount Hudson had been a very close friend.
• Ailin worried that the King’s Guard’s hostility toward witchers reflected the king’s stance, then felt a sudden chill and heard the Wolf Emblem hum.

Ailin and Vesemir fought six wraiths that ambushed them in a narrow passage alongside three knights. Ailin saved the wounded Fago, but two wraiths kept him on the defensive as he searched for a chance to strike back.

• Ailin drew his silver sword and blocked an attack on Bowen as the wraiths appeared and split the group across three fights.
• Ailin used Yrden to slow one wraith and struck it three times with Elsa's Silver Sword.
• A wraith slashed Fago, and Ailin shoved the wounded knight out of danger so Bowen and the middle-aged knight could keep fighting.
• Two wraiths overwhelmed Ailin with repeated blinks and attacks, forcing him to dodge while he looked for an opening to defeat one.

Ailin fought a group of nekkers alongside Vesemir and the knights, then used Monster Hunt to kill them. After accepting a new nekker-hunting quest, he was asked whether he knew Viscount Hudson.

• Ailin struggled against the scythe- and longsword-wielding nekkers until the middle-aged knight called him over and engaged the longsword nekker.
• Ailin used Yrden to slow the scythe-wielding nekker and restored his stamina while Vesemir and the King's Guards held off the others.
• Ailin activated Monster Hunt and beheaded the scythe-wielding nekker, then rescued Bowen by killing the nekker attacking him.
• Ailin swept through the remaining nekkers, earning purified spirits, experience orbs, chests, and a new Nekker I hunting quest.
• A knight asked Ailin in astonishment whether he knew Viscount Hudson.

Bowen watched Ailin and Vesemir kill the nekkers and reconsidered his assumptions about witchers. Vesemir found that the nekkers had left behind unusually malicious residue and appeared in daylight, while a wounded knight called the witchers over.

• Bowen recalled how Ailin and Vesemir had easily killed the nekkers and wondered whether Ailin was truly a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old apprentice.
• Bowen asked Ailin whether he knew Viscount Hudson, but Ailin said he did not.
• A cry of pain reminded Bowen and another knight that their companion had been seriously wounded, and they hurried to help him.
• Vesemir showed Ailin the black residue left by the nekkers and noted that it differed from the bright materials they usually left behind.
• Ailin appraised the residue as Residue of Grudge and suspected the Witcher's Handbook had extracted the nekkers' good side.
• Vesemir observed that nekkers rarely appeared by day, and a middle-aged knight called the two witchers over.

After Vesemir treated Fago’s wraith wound, Bowen revealed that the court wizards had linked Viscount Hudson’s family’s death in a fire to an evil spirit and commissioned the witchers to clear the castle ruins and investigate the monsters’ origin. Ailin urged Vesemir to accept the job’s deposit, and Bowen asked Ailin his age as they prepared to leave.

• Vesemir treated Fago’s wraith wound, and Serio Coyle thanked Ailin for helping save him.
• Bowen asked Vesemir whether the wraiths appearing in daylight indicated unnatural causes, then revealed the court wizards had suspected Viscount Hudson summoned an evil spirit before his family died in a fire.
• Bowen explained that House Coyle wanted to reclaim the fief and learn the truth, while Serio regretted hearing information that could involve his family in a conflict with powerful interests.
• Bowen offered Vesemir a commission to clear the castle of monsters and investigate their origin for one thousand Oren, giving him five hundred Oren as a deposit.
• Ailin quietly urged Vesemir to accept the deposit, and Bowen asked Ailin how old he was.

Ailin persuaded Vesemir to accept Bowen’s commission, arguing that the Witchers needed cover for their true plans and should prepare to join forces with the elves. At Hundred Fruit Garden, Serio and Bowen discussed the deal before learning that the king and sorcerers from Ban Ard Academy had arrived in Yadai Town.

• Ailin convinced Vesemir that accepting Bowen’s commission would conceal their search for the Viscount’s family and help them prepare for conflict with Kedwen’s ruler.
• Vesemir questioned whether the fabricated Precognitive Dream would come true, then praised Ailin for killing the wraiths.
• Serio agreed to keep Bowen’s secret in exchange for promised benefits, while Bowen marveled at Ailin’s strength and envied the Witchers’ abilities.
• Fowler arrived and told Serio that the king had come to Yadai Town and summoned him to Count Burns’s manor.
• Fowler warned Serio that sorcerers from Ban Ard Academy had also gone to Yadai Town.

Ailin and Vesemir investigated the nekkers in the ruined castle, uncovering clues that the victims had been deliberately gathered and likely had not died in the fire. Ailin obtained a Specter Oil formula and revealed that his unusual Witcher’s Eye gave him sudden alchemical insights, leaving Vesemir stunned.

• Ailin collected the nekkers’ Residue of Grudge, upgraded Yrden Sign to LV3, and used five Nekker's Purified Spirits to raise his Perception.
• Ailin opened four Nekker's Chests and obtained three Experience Orbs and the Specter Oil Sword Oil Formula.
• Vesemir found six human skulls and explained that the bones showed no burns or injuries, suggesting the victims had been gathered there and killed by some other means.
• Vesemir suspected the victims had not been killed by demons and said he trusted Viscount Hudson’s character.
• Ailin stopped Vesemir from exploring farther and proposed preparing Specter Oil before they entered deeper into the castle.
• Ailin explained that his Witcher's Eye and alchemy studies gave him sudden formulas while hunting monsters, and Vesemir reacted with disbelief and amazement.

Ailin and Vesemir explored Viscount Hudson's castle ruins, where Specter Oil let Vesemir destroy most of the specters they encountered. After finding only bones and no clear clues about the deaths, Ailin realized he could use his Witcher's Eye to see the magic Vesemir suspected was affecting the castle.

• Ailin and Vesemir entered the castle passage after applying Specter Oil to their silver swords.
• At Count Burns's estate, Serio and Bowen reported Fago's specter injury, and the king questioned them about the castle ruins near Hundred Fruit Garden.
• Vesemir used Specter Oil to rapidly kill specters, leaving Ailin only two of the ten creatures to defeat and loot.
• Ailin and Vesemir searched the castle and found bones that showed the victims had not died in the fire but offered no further clues.
• After Vesemir wondered whether magic caused specters to appear during the day, Ailin realized his Witcher's Eye might let him see it.

At the castle ruins, Ailin found an unusual magical element and led Vesemir to investigate it, while King Haxor learned the witchers were still clearing the ruins. Haxor then sent the Little Wild Cats after the School of the Wolf apprentices at Hundred Fruit Garden.

• Vesemir could not identify Viscount Hudson's remains, and Ailin reassured him that the lack of children's bones suggested the family had been rescued.
• Ailin revealed that he could see the elements in the air, including an ominous black element, and led Vesemir toward its concentration.
• Serio told Haxor that the School of the Wolf witcher and his apprentice were still inside the castle ruins, and Haxor concealed his alarm from Grandmaster Soyer.
• Jens told Haxor that the ruins no longer mattered and that the search for Melekh's target could be completed within days, then left through a portal.
• Haxor learned that the Little Wild Cats had arrived in Ban Ard and ordered Philis to direct them to the School of the Wolf apprentices' commissions at Hundred Fruit Garden.

Ailin and Vesemir discovered a hidden chamber in the castle ruins, where Ailin saw a dark Circle of Elements that might lead them to the missing couple. After returning to the inn and improving his companions’ skills, Ailin learned that masked strangers had gathered outside Hundred Fruit Garden.

• Ailin and Vesemir found the hidden chamber’s mechanism behind two paintings and opened a passage beneath the ballroom.
• Inside the chamber, Ailin saw a dark Circle of Elements and realized its trail might help them locate the missing couple, while Vesemir saw only an empty room.
• Ailin and Vesemir buried the castle’s remains, returned to the inn, and told Bob and Mary that Lord Hudson’s remains could not be identified.
• Ailin upgraded Huus, Bont, and Fred’s Alde Signs and raised Huus’s Wolf School two-handed sword skill using Combat Points.
• Masked strangers gathered on a hillside outside Hundred Fruit Garden, and one asked whether all the targets were there.

Ailin and the other School of the Wolf witchers were ambushed at the inn by School of the Cat witchers hired to sabotage the apprentice tournament. Ailin fought Brett while Vesemir confronted Guksat and another attacker, and the chapter ended as Ailin activated Monster Hunt.

• Guksat ordered the School of the Cat witchers to attack the apprentices, leaving one wolf cub alive for the tournament.
• Ailin heard a disturbance, raised Quen, drank Cat Eye Potion, and fought Brett after he broke through the window.
• Ailin identified Brett as a School of the Cat witcher and realized the attack targeted the School of the Wolf apprentices.
• Vesemir confronted Guksat and another School of the Cat witcher, realizing they were holding him back while the apprentices were attacked.
• Brett pressed his assault on Ailin, who activated Monster Hunt as their swords clashed.

Ailin killed Brett after surviving his deadly attack, then rescued Huus and Fred from their School of the Cat opponents. As Ailin prepared to reach Bont, Huus cried out in agony, leaving Bont’s fate unclear.

• Brett nearly pierced Ailin’s heart, but Ailin used Witcher’s Eye and his strength to kill him.
• Ailin found Huus holding the upper hand against a School of the Cat witcher and knocked the opponent unconscious.
• Ailin sent Huus to help Bont while he went to find Fred.
• Ailin knocked out Fred’s opponent and prepared to regroup with Huus and Bont.
• Huus screamed in agony from outside the window, alarming Ailin.

Ailin fought the School of the Cat witcher Fredika, who had tortured Bont and attacked the Wolf School apprentices. Ailin killed Fredika with his broken sword, but a system message identified the witcher as a subjugated monster and began settling a reward.

• Fredika tortured Bont while Huus tried to protect him and hold off the attacker.
• Ailin arrived, told Huus and Fred to tend to Bont, and challenged Fredika.
• Ailin used Demon Hunt to overwhelm Fredika, whose superior sword began breaking Ailin’s blade.
• Fredika’s sword shattered Ailin’s Quen Shield, but Ailin reached 100% progress, dodged the thrust, and cut off Fredika’s head with his broken sword.
• Bont woke and heard Fredika ask how Ailin had known his name, while a system message announced that the monster “Witcher” had been subjugated.

Ailin and Vesemir discovered that Bont’s sword hand had been crippled, but Veridian Sigh healed him and restored his ability to wield a sword. The chapter ended with Ailin noticing the unconscious School of the Cat witchers and their bodies in the room.

• Vesemir arrived and found Bont grievously wounded after Ailin had avenged him.
• Vesemir explained that the dryads of Brokilon might heal Bont but were hostile to witchers, then suggested Lady Vesemir’s Veridian Sigh as an alternative.
• Ailin discovered he already had three bottles of Veridian Sigh, and Vesemir confirmed that the potion could heal Bont’s injury.
• Fred gave Bont the potion, and Bont endured a painful recovery before regaining the use of his hand and demonstrating his swordsmanship.
• Bont’s favorability toward Ailin rose to unwavering loyalty, and Ailin’s Resonance skill reached Level 2.
• Innkeeper Bob checked on the group, and Ailin noticed the bodies of the School of the Cat witchers on the floor.

After the School of the Cat witchers’ attack failed, Ailin discovered it had been commissioned as a job and used Brett’s memories to learn the School of the Cat Two-Handed Sword. Guksat revealed that King Haxor of Kedwen had hired them to hunt the School of the Wolf witchers.

• Ailin and Vesemir realized that two captured School of the Cat witchers had been rescued, and Ailin concluded the attack had been an assignment rather than a school order.
• Ailin used the Witcher’s Handbook loot to experience Brett’s memories, unlocked the School of the Cat Two-Handed Sword, and raised the skill to level three.
• Outside Hundred Fruit Garden, Guksat and the other School of the Cat witchers learned that Brett and Fredika were dead and suspected their employer had tricked them.
• Guksat told the others that King Haxor of Kedwen had commissioned the hunt against the School of the Wolf witchers.