Chapter Summaries

Dick and Banyang sold the Cockatrice’s head to the jeweler Val for fifty crowns, and Dick gave Banyang his half despite Banyang feeling he had not earned it. After Banyang reunited with George, Dick shared a meal with them in their home.

• Dick sensed a powerful monster approaching after the Cockatrice fight and decided to return to Odinburg with Banyang.
• Banyang told market vendors that Dick had saved him, and Dick showed the crowd the Cockatrice’s head.
• Val bought the Cockatrice’s head for fifty crowns and invited Dick to bring him more monster trophies in the future.
• Dick gave Banyang twenty-five crowns, but Banyang tried to return the money because he felt he had done too little.
• George greeted Banyang when they were together, and Dick later ate dinner with them while Banyang said he still felt unworthy of the money.

After surviving the Cockatrice fight, Dick studied Fire Signs and went to find a blacksmith to repair his armor. The dwarven blacksmith recognized him and accused him of bullying Odinburg’s people, warning that his cousin led the Cleaver Gang.

• Dick warned Banyan to stay alert because Jatu stragglers had come to nearby villages, then returned to his lodgings.
• Dick studied Fire Signs until he learned the novice skill, but could only produce a brief flame before exhaustion forced him to stop.
• Dick inspected his damaged armor and decided to find a blacksmith the next morning.
• Dick went to the market, where vendors greeted him warmly, and asked where he could get his armor repaired.
• Dick followed the vendor’s directions to a dwarven smithy, where the blacksmith finished forging a blade and finally looked up.
• The dwarven blacksmith accused Dick of bullying Odinburg’s people and threatened him with the protection of his cousin, the Cleaver Gang’s boss in Long River City.

Dick had his armor repaired by the dwarf blacksmith Zeus and studied the Protection Sign while he waited. Zeus told him about the Cleaver Gang and Baron Odin III’s campaign against the Jatu, leaving Dick asking whether the baron’s soldiers would soon defeat them.

• Dick showed Zeus the monster damage on his armor, and a dwarf confirmed that Dick had saved a woodcutter and stopped bullying people.
• Zeus agreed to repair Dick’s Forktail-leather armor for thirty crowns and began stitching the cut with special dwarven wire.
• While Zeus worked, Dick studied his notes and learned the Protection Sign, a novice spell that shielded part of his body.
• Zeus finished patching the armor and told Dick that his cousin Thor led the Cleaver Gang in Long River Town.
• Zeus said Baron Odin III had marched against the Jatu, and Dick asked whether the baron would soon defeat them.

After Kebi returned to Odinburg defeated, he told Dick that the Jatu had captured Baron Odin III and Xiya. Dick refused to stay and defend the city, and rode out with Kebi toward Stony Town to rescue her.

• Dick learned that Baron Odin III and the others had not returned, then found no demon-hunting commissions at the noticeboard.
• Kebi returned wounded with a handful of survivors and told Dick that the Jatu had captured his father and Xiya.
• Kebi explained that the Jatu had ambushed their force with about two hundred cavalrymen and planned to study Xiya's rare lightning magic.
• Dick insisted on learning the Jatu's route and said he would go rescue Xiya, despite Kebi warning him of the danger.
• Kebi agreed to guide Dick to Stony Town, and the two mounted horses and rode out of Odinburg.

Dick and Kebi reached a Jatu outpost at Stony Town while searching for Xiya and Kebi’s father. As Dick prepared to infiltrate the camp, memories of his witcher training surfaced and showed him how to use his heightened senses to track a heartbeat.

• Captain Fisher ordered his troops to withdraw into the city and prepare its defenses against the Jatu.
• Dick and Kebi rode to a hill overlooking Stony Town, where they saw a small Jatu outpost guarded by soldiers.
• Kebi proposed attacking the outpost to find Xiya and his father, but Dick volunteered to go because Kebi was wounded.
• Dick recalled his master teaching him about assassination and the strengths of the Witcher schools.
• Dick remembered learning to use his Witcher Senses to mark and follow his master's heartbeat.

Dick recovered the original owner's memories and used his Witcher Senses and combat skills to infiltrate Stony Town. He silently killed several Jatu soldiers while searching for Xiya and Baron Odin III.

• Dick recalled learning to use Witcher Senses to track a person's heart and gained improvements to his combat skills.
• Dick left Kebi behind and entered Stony Town under cover of the weeds, sensing eleven Jatu soldiers, a likely priest, and a captive.
• Dick killed a Jatu soldier who had come to feed the horses, then killed a guard at the corner of a house.
• Dick climbed onto the rooftops and used his crossbow to kill two soldiers guarding the village's edge.
• Dick moved across the rooftops, dropped among three soldiers, and killed all three with his dagger.

Dick silently killed the Jatu guards and went to rescue Xiya, who was being held by a priest. After surrendering his sword to protect her, Dick turned the tables on the priest, who collapsed clutching his throat.

• Dick killed two Jatu soldiers with his crossbow and slit the throat of a third as he slept.
• Dick approached the village's central house and overheard the Jatu priest threatening Xiya and discussing her magical abilities.
• Dick entered the house, but the priest detected him and attacked with a staff before using Xiya as a hostage.
• Dick dropped his sword and obeyed the priest's orders, while Xiya urged him to fight back.
• The priest swung his flaming staff at Dick, but its flames went out and he fell backward clutching his throat.

Dick rescued Xiya, and he, Xiya, and Kebi escaped the village with a string of horses after burning the villagers’ bodies to prevent monsters from gathering. Back at Odinburg, they learned that Jatu forces with Stone Trolls threatened the castle, and Xiya objected when Fisher asked Dick to help defend it.

• Dick killed the priest, freed Xiya, and accepted Kebi’s help in taking the village horses and finding the villagers’ bodies.
• Kebi discovered the bodies and grew furious, while Dick explained that burning them would prevent Ghouls and Rotfiends from turning the area into a disease-ridden zone; Xiya set the house ablaze.
• Dick, Xiya, and Kebi left with the horses, and Dick received 50 Energy Points for completing Kebi’s commission.
• The group returned to Odinburg, where Fisher reported that Jatu forces and two Stone Trolls might attack the castle.
• Fisher asked Dick to help defend Odinburg, but Xiya insisted that witchers remained neutral in worldly affairs.

Dick and Xiya agreed to help Fisher defend Stony Town from the Jatu, while Kebi organized the town’s preparations. As Dick took Xiya to dinner, Kebi set aside his personal feelings and asked whether the nearby villagers had been evacuated.

• Fisher argued that the Jatu would consider Dick involved in the war after he killed their soldiers, and reassured Kebi that Duke Amara planned to exchange a Jatu leader for his father.
• Dick and Xiya agreed to help defend Stony Town, and Fisher promised them a generous commission.
• Xiya told Dick that the Jatu priest had questioned her about her lightning magic after stopping his soldiers from assaulting her.
• Dick persuaded Xiya to eat by claiming that skipping meals would cause wrinkles, then invited her to dinner.
• Kebi declined to join them and began organizing the town’s defenses, while Fisher reassured him about his prospects for advancement.
• Kebi told Fisher he would not let personal matters distract him and asked whether the villagers, especially Uncle O'Neill and his people, had reached town.

After helping prepare the castle’s defenses, Dick and Xiya found shelter and dinner at a shop as the Jatu army approached. Their meal turned into a personal conversation, which ended with Dick grimacing after gulping down the shopkeeper’s wild grape juice.

• Kebi ordered the castle’s defenses prepared and instructed Fisher to record Dick’s return of the horses as a military achievement.
• Dick and Xiya found the market deserted and went to the shop where Dick usually ate.
• The frightened shopkeeper let them inside and prepared steaks and wild grape juice.
• Xiya thanked Dick for rescuing her, and Dick told her she was someone important to him.
• Xiya tasted the grape juice and frowned, while Dick gulped down a large mouthful and made a pained face.

Dick and Xiya prepared for the coming Jatu siege, with Xiya making him a Dimeritium Bomb. After returning to his courtyard, Dick sensed danger and drew his sword.

• The vendor offered Dick and Xiya a free meal as his commission for defending Odinburg from the Jatu, and Dick promised to return after the battle.
• Dick accompanied Xiya to her laboratory, where she made Swallow Potions and began preparing a Dimeritium Bomb in exchange for Cockatrice materials.
• Xiya explained how Dimeritium affected sorcerers and witchers, then told Dick she would bring him the bomb the next morning.
• Dick left the laboratory and returned to his courtyard, planning to practice his swordsmanship and replenish his crossbow bolts.
• Dick noticed the unnatural silence and his medallion began vibrating, so he drew his silver sword and turned toward the danger.

Second Granny confronted Dick over her third sister’s death and confined him in the courtyard. She offered to spare him if he drugged Odinburg’s soldiers’ breakfast to help the Jatu capture the castle, leaving Dick to decide whether to cooperate or fight.

• Second Granny arrived with two monsters and accused Dick of killing her third sister.
• Dick tried to escape the courtyard, but Second Granny’s confinement spell blocked him.
• Second Granny showed Dick her dead sister’s head, which identified him as the killer.
• Dick claimed he had killed the third sister in self-defense, and Second Granny accepted that the stronger had prevailed.
• Second Granny revealed that she and her eldest sister were working with the Jatu to conquer Odinburg.
• Second Granny demanded that Dick pour a sleeping potion into the soldiers’ breakfast or face death.

Dick learned that the Broom Witch had killed the market vendor, then fought and defeated her two Gargoyles. The Broom Witch transformed and stopped Dick’s sword with three fingers, leaving him trapped in close combat.

• The Broom Witch revealed that her Gargoyles had killed the market vendor, whose last words had mentioned Dick and Xiya.
• Dick charged the Broom Witch and fought both Gargoyles while she described her necromancy and their construction.
• Dick found the Gargoyles’ exposed necks and severed both their heads, using the Protection Sign to block one attack.
• The Broom Witch transformed into a hulking monster, crushed a Gargoyle’s head, and attacked Dick with a cleaver formed from her broom.
• Dick dodged the cleaver and thrust at the Broom Witch’s abdomen, but she caught his sword with three fingers and halted him.

The Broom Witch forced Dick to drink an experimental potion that made him stronger and accelerated his healing, but his body began swelling as they fought. As the battle left Dick near death, Xiya headed to his residence with a Dimeritium Bomb she had made overnight.

• The Broom Witch battered Dick, dragged him into the courtyard, and forced him to drink her experimental Gargoyle Third Generation potion.
• Dick’s wounds began to heal and his strength increased, but a growing lump in his skull caused him severe pain.
• Dick and the Broom Witch fought across the ruined courtyard, and she warned that the flawed potion would not save him before attacking again.
• Xiya walked toward Dick’s residence carrying the Dimeritium Bomb she had successfully made on her first attempt.

Xiya sensed danger at Dick’s courtyard and shattered its ward with a lightning spell, saving him from the Broom Witch. Dick and Xiya defeated the monster, but Dick’s mutation worsened as his Witcher talent advanced.

• Xiya discovered a ward around Dick’s courtyard and used a lightning spell to break through its defenses.
• The Broom Witch was struck by Xiya’s lightning while Dick lay helpless and continued to mutate.
• Xiya threw a Dimeritium Bomb at the Broom Witch, and Dick kicked it into the monster, blocking her transformation.
• Dick beheaded the Broom Witch and crushed both her head and the previous Broom Witch’s head.
• Dick’s panel credited him with defeating the monsters and showed that his School of the Lynx Witcher talent had increased his physique.

Dick removed the mutation from his self-healing talent after defeating the Broom Witch, then carried the exhausted Xiya home and resolved to tell her how he felt. As Odinburg prepared for the coming Jatu attack, Dick received recovered alchemical ingredients and his damaged silver sword.

• Dick spent 200 Energy Points to remove the mutation from his self-healing talent, restoring his fingers and healing the swelling at his temples.
• Xiya fainted from exhaustion, and Dick caught her before Kebi arrived with soldiers; Dick warned Kebi that the Jatu had allied with monsters and more Stone Trolls might attack.
• Dick carried Xiya to her bedroom, cleaned the sweat from her face, and decided to tell her how he felt when she woke.
• Dick asked two soldiers to guard Xiya while he rested for the coming defense of Odinburg.
• Soldiers returned Dick's silver sword and a bag of materials recovered from the courtyard, and Dick saw that the sword had been badly chipped in his fight with the Broom Witch.

Dick recovered from his battle with the Broom Witch, changed into armor, and prepared to defend Odinburg as the Jatu attacked. At the city gate, Kebi rallied the frightened soldiers by warning them that the Jatu would show them no mercy.

• Dick learned that the Broom Witch had left behind only a broken broom, then accepted replacement armor from Kebi’s soldiers.
• Dick noticed his wounds healing through Intermediate Self-Healing, ate the food Kebi had prepared, and meditated while he rested.
• A soldier alerted Dick that the Jatu were attacking after the war horn sounded, and Dick went to the city gate with two soldiers.
• Dick found the troops frightened and bewildered as Kebi addressed them in full armor.
• Kebi urged the soldiers to hold Odinburg, warning that the Jatu would kill them and their families and that they had no way out.

Kebi rallied Odinburg’s outnumbered defenders with promises of pay and compensation, while Dick assessed the Jatu siege force and its dangerous monsters. As the defenders prepared for battle, Dick reassured a frightened young soldier that he would stay and fight beside him.

• Kebi raised the soldiers’ morale, promised them twenty crowns for each day they held out and compensation for their families if they fell, then assigned Fisher to defend the west wall.
• Kebi admitted to Dick that Odinburg had barely over a hundred defenders against more than three hundred Jatu, and asked Dick to help protect Miss Xiya if the city fell.
• Dick and Kebi inspected the battlements and spotted the Jatu building siege equipment, accompanied by a priest, a Broom Witch, and two Rock Trolls.
• Kebi began patrolling the wall while Dick stayed at his post and promised to look for an opening to deal with the monsters.
• Dick reassured a frightened freckle-faced young soldier that fear was normal and urged him to be brave, promising to stay with him.

Dick and Kebi faced the Jatu army’s demand for Odinburg’s surrender, and Dick killed the envoy to force the defenders to accept that they had to fight. As the defenders took their positions, Dick spotted a battering ram being pushed toward the gate.

• Carter told Dick he would protect his home, and Dick promised to remember his name.
• At dawn, a Jatu envoy demanded that Kebi surrender Odinburg and threatened to slaughter its people if the castle fell.
• Kebi refused to kill the envoy, but Dick shot him and told the defenders that surrender offered no escape from the Jatu.
• Kebi rallied the soldiers and ordered them to their defensive positions along the walls.
• Dick assessed the Jatu siege equipment and recognized that their covered battering ram could break through Odinburg’s gate.

Kebi ordered Odinburg’s defenders to destroy the Jatu battering ram despite the villagers forced to shield it, while Dick watched the siege escalate. After Rock Trolls smashed all three catapults, Dick prepared to use his crossbow and activated his Witcher Senses to investigate why the trolls had withdrawn.

• Kebi ordered the defenders to shoot the battering ram, and the arrows killed the villagers shielding it as well as several Jatu soldiers.
• Kebi directed the catapults to fire, and a stone smashed the battering ram.
• Two Rock Trolls hurled boulders at the walls and destroyed all three catapults, shrugging off the defenders’ arrows with their armored backs.
• Kebi urged the shaken soldiers to hold the city while Dick moved to a battlement gap and prepared his crossbow.
• The Rock Trolls stopped attacking and trotted toward the Jatu shield wall, so Dick activated his Witcher Senses to listen in.