Chapter Summaries

Geralt and Little Yennefer defeated the captain, while Dick killed him and the surviving wounded soldiers before discovering his energy-point gains. Leofu revealed that the green dragon was her husband, Feicui, and thanked Dick and Geralt for helping her heal him.

• Geralt fought the captain until Little Yennefer trapped him in a whirlwind, leaving him gravely wounded.
• Dick questioned the dying captain, then killed him and the remaining wounded soldiers; his panel showed a total of 700 energy points.
• Leofu told Dick and Geralt that her summoned Wyverns had refused to help because Dick had killed one of them.
• Leofu asked for their [Swallow Potions] to treat her wounded husband, and Dick and Geralt gave her the potions.
• Leofu emerged from the cave with a green-haired man and revealed that the gluttonous little green dragon was her husband, Feicui.

Leofu and Feicui thanked Dick and the others for saving them, revealed their unborn dragon children, and rewarded the group with dragon tear gems and instructions for using them. As Leofu prepared to return to the D'Shar Tribes, Dick asked why she had been unable to resist the monster soldiers despite her command over dragonkind.

• Leofu and Feicui thanked Dick, Geralt, and the others for their help, then revealed two eggs containing their unborn children.
• Leofu and Feicui discussed their wish to live peacefully together, and Leofu gave the group four dragon tear gems as repayment.
• Leofu explained how to make a potion from dragon tear gems and advised Dick to add their powder when reforging his broken silver sword.
• Leofu said she and the others would return to the D'Shar Tribes and told the group they could leave through the cave behind her.
• Dick asked Leofu why she had been unable to resist the monster soldiers despite being able to command other dragonkind.

After helping Leofu escape, Dick returned to Longsong Harbor but Brownie refused to let him enter and accused him of killing his men. Dick then realized the golden dragon resembled a seal connected to an earlier attack and set out for Ravenstern City to ask the queen about the threats against him.

• Leofu flew away with Aisha and Weisha, and Dick searched the fallen soldiers before rejoining Geralt, Little Yennefer, and Leidi at their horses.
• Dick and his companions rode back toward Longsong Harbor, where Brownie’s soldiers aimed weapons at them and Brownie accused Dick of killing his soldiers and mercenaries.
• Brownie refused to let Dick’s group enter the city, so Dick turned away and discussed Brownie’s influence with Geralt.
• Geralt chose to travel with Little Yennefer to her homeland, while Leidi continued to guard her and Dick prepared to travel alone.
• Dick remembered that the golden dragon’s wings resembled a seal found after the Black Cat Mercenary Company ambushed him, and Little Yennefer offered to ask around about it.
• Dick decided to visit the queen in Ravenstern City to learn who was targeting him and rode onward.

Dick arrived in Ravenstern City, where he learned that Prince James had publicly executed the witcher Ivan and that soldiers were turning the city against witchers. He bought Ivan’s equipment from a half-elf blacksmith and haggled over the price, while deciding he needed to leave quickly.

• Dick entered Ravenstern City in disguise and found a half-elf blacksmith to repair his broken silver sword.
• The blacksmith told Dick that Prince James had publicly beheaded Ivan and that soldiers were spreading accusations against witchers.
• Dick realized Ivan’s execution might be part of a plot to discredit witchers and decided to leave the city soon.
• The blacksmith offered Ivan’s armor, swords, and witcher medallion, and Dick agreed to buy them all.
• Dick tried to lower the 450-crown price by offering his battered armor in exchange for a 50-crown discount.

Dick disguised himself in new armor, sunglasses, and a cloak, then went to confirm Ivan’s death. Soldiers escorted him to Prince James, who wanted to speak with him, and required him to surrender his weapons and belt pouch at the palace.

• Dick bought sunglasses and received a hooded cloak from the blacksmith to hide his cat eyes and witcher armor.
• Dick saw Ivan’s head displayed on the gallows and confirmed it was him.
• Soldiers stopped Dick near the city gates and told him Prince James had summoned him.
• Dick agreed to go with the patrol captain, who explained that Ivan had been executed for killing a Ravenstern citizen.
• At the palace, Dick handed over his swords, crossbow, and dagger, and was told to surrender his belt pouch as well.

Dick met Prince James, who explained that he had used Ivan’s execution to pressure witchers into obeying the kingdom’s laws and offered Dick wealth in exchange for reporting on the Witcher Order. James denied any role in the Black Cat Mercenary Company’s ambush and asked Dick to accept the task, leaving Dick’s answer unknown.

• Palace steward West escorted Dick to Prince James, who told him he could take Ivan’s preserved head and said he sought unity against threats from the Jatu and the Misty Mountains.
• Dick asked James about the Black Cat Mercenary Company and revealed that their letter bore a dragon seal matching the armor of James’s Dragon Knights.
• James said the Order of the Dragon Knights had not arranged the ambush and claimed its members would not act behind his back.
• James asked Dick to report the other witchers’ actions in exchange for future wealth, arguing that the continent needed witchers less as monsters disappeared.
• Dick questioned whether James wanted the throne and suggested asking Ruiwen for information, but James said he acted to support Queen Meve and asked Dick to accept his offer.

Dick left James and rode to Firstfall Bay, where he learned that Kayn had recently passed through and was safe. At Duke Amara’s castle, a priest temporarily eased the possession afflicting Lady Amara but said a witcher was needed to drive out the evil spirit.

• Dick refused James’s order, then left with Ivan’s head and suspected James knew something about the Black Cat Mercenary Company’s seal.
• Dick rode to Firstfall Bay and, at a tavern, learned that Kayn had been there several days earlier and was traveling alone.
• Dick concluded Kayn was likely heading back to Kaer Morhen and arranged extra care for Spotty before resting.
• At Duke Amara’s castle, a priest used enchanted holy water to calm Lady Amara, who was bound to her bed and possessed by an evil spirit.
• The priest told Miss Vanessa that the holy water had only temporary effects and recommended seeking a professional witcher.

Vanessa kept watch over her possessed mother, Lady Amara, while Duke Amara was away on campaign. At dawn, Lady Amara woke lucid and said the exorcism had worked, but she immediately asked for food and smelled fresh blood.

• Vanessa asked Yuanyuan to rest while she stayed beside her chained mother, and he left after warning the maids to keep Lady Amara's condition secret.
• Vanessa worried that withholding food would leave her mother starving, then thought of her absent father and her beloved Kebi before dozing off.
• Lady Amara woke at dawn and assured Vanessa that the evil entity had been destroyed and that she recognized her daughter.
• Lady Amara teased Vanessa about marrying Kebi, then asked Vanessa to undo her chains and said she could smell the blood of a chicken being slaughtered.

Vanessa discovered that Lady Amara’s evil spirit had tricked her into unlocking its chains and fled through the fortress after eating a chicken. As Dick rode to the fortress to help, the spirit reached Vanessa’s bedroom and appeared beside her bed.

• Vanessa unlocked Lady Amara’s chains, and the spirit broke free and crawled toward the kitchen.
• Lady Amara knocked out the soldiers and maids, ate a chicken, and chased Vanessa up the stairs.
• Vanessa hid in her mother’s room while Yuanyuan ran outside, and she waited for help behind the iron-clad door.
• Dick agreed to help the fortress and rode there with Duke Amara’s butler.
• Lady Amara entered Vanessa’s room through the window and appeared upside down beside her bed.

Dick rescued Vanessa and used [Magic Trap] and the witchers’ exorcism spell to draw a demonized Arachas out of Lady Amara, then killed it. As time froze around him, the [World Jester] Yuejiqi appeared and introduced himself.

• Dick knocked out Lady Amara, contained her with [Magic Trap], and told Vanessa and Yuanyuan to bring soldiers to guard the doorway.
• Dick recited the witchers’ exorcism spell, forcing a demonized Arachas out of Lady Amara.
• The Arachas tried to escape through the window and doorway, but Dick stunned it with [Mind Shockwave] and cut it in two.
• Dick noticed that everyone else in the room had stopped moving and that Lady Amara appeared not to be breathing.
• Yuejiqi, the [World Jester], appeared behind Dick, bowed, and introduced himself as Yuejiqi or the [World Jester].

Dick questioned Yuejiqi, the World Jester, about the demonized crab spider and learned how a trapped Jiatu War Rider had tried to kill Lady Amara and Vanessa through a demonic wager. Yuejiqi offered Dick a wager, but Dick refused, and Yuejiqi departed after promising not to trouble the Amara family unless they sought him out.

• Dick confronted Yuejiqi, who explained that his spell had temporarily frozen the others and could not control Dick, a Transcendent.
• Yuejiqi extracted and consumed the crab spider’s green spirit, revealing it belonged to a captured Jiatu War Rider who had made a wager with him to frighten Lady Amara and Vanessa to death.
• Yuejiqi explained that the War Rider had possessed a crab spider and used an ability borrowed from a Feikexai, but Dick’s actions had helped foil the plan.
• Yuejiqi told Dick he had noticed his recent deeds and wanted to make a wager with him, but Dick refused to contract with a demon.
• Yuejiqi promised to leave the Amara family alone unless they sought him out, then dissolved into the air.

Dick exorcised the demon possessing Lady Amara, then accepted payment from Vanessa and stayed to watch over her mother. Lady Amara awakened with no memory of the possession, and Vanessa offered to have chicken made for her.

• Dick told Vanessa that he had killed the demon inside Lady Amara and warned her to stop shaking her mother.
• Vanessa arranged for Lady Amara to be carried to her room and checked that the household attendants had awakened safely.
• Vanessa explained that Kebi was her lover and had told her Dick was his best friend; Dick accepted the 200 kelangs for his commission.
• Dick agreed to stay with Vanessa and the butler to keep watch until Lady Amara woke.
• Lady Amara awoke confused and remembered entering the mine before everything went dark, while Vanessa reassured her and asked what she wanted to eat.
• Lady Amara said she was hungry and asked for chicken.

After recovering from possession, Lady Amara learned that [Arachas] had infested the silver mine and that the miners were on the verge of rebelling. She agreed to go negotiate with them and asked Dick to deal with the monsters.

• Lady Amara regained her strength, ate a small meal, and discovered that her body had become unusually flexible.
• As Dick prepared to leave, a soldier reported that the miners at the silver mine were about to rebel.
• The soldier explained that [Arachas] had appeared in the mine, killed five miners, and dragged others into its depths.
• Lady Amara rebuked the soldier for forcing criminals to mine despite the danger and insisted they were still people deserving equal treatment.
• Lady Amara asked Dick to help negotiate with the miners and clear the mine of [Arachas], and they set out.

Lady Amara and Dick reached the silver mine to negotiate with the miners, who were threatening to revolt over the dangerous Arachas and forced labor. Ron revealed that he had survived four years in the mine and blamed Brownie, Prince James’s bastard son, for framing him.

• Lady Amara, Vanessa, and Dick followed a soldier through a hidden cave to the silver mine, where Ron confronted the thirty soldiers with the miners behind him.
• Lady Amara asked Vanessa to stay back and approached Ron with Dick, promising that the witcher could deal with the Arachas.
• Ron said he trusted Lady Amara personally but distrusted nobles, and explained that Duke Amara had promised freedom to miners who survived five years.
• Ron recounted how famine left him alone, and how he was beaten and framed after taking a butter bun from Brownie’s traveling party.
• Ron identified Brownie as the man who had insulted him, saying he was Prince James’s bastard son.

Dick helped Lady Amara secure the miners’ surrender by frightening them with his Witcher abilities and a display of fire magic. He entered the mine alone to hunt the [Arachas], while Lady Amara ordered the soldiers to keep Ron’s claims about Brownie secret.

• Lady Amara promised to pardon Ron if his account of stealing bread during the famine was true, and Ron explained that the other miners planned to resist because they feared punishment.
• Dick convinced Ron that the miners could not defeat the soldiers, then used Witcher Senses and a burst of fire to threaten them into surrendering.
• Ron returned from the mine and agreed to surrender after Lady Amara promised not to hold the miners responsible for their actions.
• The soldiers disarmed and subdued more than a hundred miners, and Dick asked Ron about the mine’s passages and the [Arachas] within them.
• Dick entered the mine alone to hunt the [Arachas], while Lady Amara told the soldiers to pretend they had not heard Ron’s claims about Brownie.

Dick searched the abandoned mine for the missing miners and followed signs of the Arachas into a hidden underground nest. After finding a miner reduced to a husk and descending into the nest, he struck a flower-like hiding place and killed an Arachas, while the Arachas Queen remained an unknown threat.

• Dick entered the unlit passage, used a Cat Potion to see through the fog, and found a miner whose body crumbled when he touched it.
• Dick deduced that an Arachas leader had taken the other miners to its nest and recalled that the leader was an Arachas Queen.
• Dick found the opening to the nest, climbed down a rope and rock notches, and discovered a cold underground cavern with a shallow stream and clusters of flowers.
• Dick crossed the stream and slashed a flower cluster, revealing and killing the Arachas hidden inside it.

Dick fought through a fog-producing flower patch and reached a cavern where four miners were webbed beside a mass of Arachas eggs. He faced the Arachas Queen and its underground ambush, then charged toward the queen with both swords as the battle began.

• Dick burned one Arachas and cut down two more, then destroyed the flowers that were producing the thick fog.
• Dick entered a circular cavern and found four web-bound miners beside pulsing Arachas eggs.
• Dick spotted the descending Arachas Queen, whose silver-like body appeared strengthened by nearby silver ore.
• The Arachas Queen summoned more than twenty Arachas from underground, and they fired webs at Dick.
• Dick burned through the webs and activated [Panther Zither Jade], cutting through the attacking Arachas as he charged at the queen.

Dick fought the Arachas Queen until killing another Arachas gave him enough energy to advance Swordsmanship to master level and learn Sword Qi. He used the new technique to cut open and kill the Queen, then reflected on Sword Qi’s strengths and limits.

• Dick struggled to damage the Arachas Queen and was thrown against a cave wall, where he spat blood.
• Dick killed an Arachas that tried to ambush him, earning the energy needed to advance Swordsmanship to master level and gain Sword Qi.
• Dick taunted the Arachas Queen, slid beneath it, and slashed through its thinner abdominal shell with his swords covered in Sword Qi.
• The Arachas Queen collapsed and died, and Dick received 50 energy points for the kill.
• Dick considered how Sword Qi improved his blades while consuming stamina, and recalled Geralt sustaining it throughout a fight.

Dick killed the remaining Arachas, destroyed their eggs, and rescued the imprisoned miners, killing one who tried to attack him. He led the surviving criminals toward the exit, where Lady Amara and Vanessa waited as footsteps approached the mine entrance.

• Dick killed the remaining Arachas, burned their eggs, and collected useful parts from the monsters.
• Dick freed the miner who had called for help, then killed him when he tried to strike Dick from behind.
• Dick questioned the remaining miners about their crimes and ordered them to follow him out of the underground passages.
• Dick freed the miners and led them toward the surface, while Lady Amara and Vanessa waited outside the mine.
• Vanessa worried that Dick had been underground for too long, and footsteps sounded at the mine entrance.

After rescuing three miners from the infested mine, Dick investigated whether Ron had told the truth about his past. Ron was freed and offered a place as a castle guard, while Dick learned that Brownie served as deputy commander of the Order of the Dragon Knights.

• Dick returned with three surviving miners and warned Lady Amara to seal the mine and stop working it.
• Lady Amara asked Dick to verify Ron’s story, and Dick used Hypnosis Signs to confirm that Ron had told the truth.
• Lady Amara freed Ron and offered him food, lodging, wages, and a position among her castle guards.
• Lady Amara warned Ron not to speak again about Brownie being Prince James’s illegitimate son or seek revenge on him.
• Dick learned that Brownie was deputy commander of the Order of the Dragon Knights and that Duke Yalike was close to Prince James.