Recaps

Arwen learned that Nenneke’s body-tempering ointment could grant dragonlike strength but risked turning its user bloodthirsty, and he agreed to attempt making it under the temple’s supervision. As Nenneke recalled a prophecy of danger, an armed crowd gathered at the temple entrance and Arwen rushed out to confront them.

• Nenneke explained that the ointment had been created to strengthen human fighters against dragons but was abandoned because it drove users into violent rages.
• Arwen asked to try the ointment, and Nenneke agreed to gather its rare ingredients and prepare it inside the temple, keeping some of the finished ointment and Royal Wyvern materials.
• Arwen showed Nenneke an amethyst necklace, but she could not identify its magical effect.
• Arwen and Nenneke saw the bruised red-robed priest and tenant farmer they had interrogated, who still could not reveal the mastermind behind the protests.
• An armed crowd arrived at the temple, and Arwen pulled up his hood and charged outside.

Margo and her brother Logan faced a hostile crowd outside the Temple of Melitele as Baron Marcus tried to bring her back, but she demanded that he divorce Nicole and marry her. When Marcus ordered his guards to seize Margo, Mia opened the temple doors to let them in and realized Margo’s apparent desperation concealed a scheme.

• Logan defended his pregnant sister Margo from protesters who accused her of seeking an abortion.
• Baron Marcus arrived and ordered Margo to return with him, but she demanded that he divorce Nicole and marry her.
• Marcus refused and ordered his guards to drag Margo away.
• Margo pleaded with the Goddess Melitele for help as Logan led her toward the temple doors.
• Mia opened the doors and invited Margo inside, then noticed the smug mockery in Margo’s eyes.

Arwen killed Logan and Margo after Margo stabbed Mia, exposing the pillow hidden beneath her robe. Baron Marcus incited the crowd and his soldiers to attack the temple, and Arwen fought back as arrows began flying.

• Logan stabbed Mia, but Arwen kicked him across the ground and killed him.
• Nenneke rushed to help Mia while Arwen killed Margo and kicked a pillow from beneath her robe.
• Baron Marcus accused the temple and Arwen of crimes, then urged the protesters and his armed soldiers to attack.
• Arwen fought through the mob, cutting down rioters and using fire magic against the halberdiers.
• Baron Marcus ordered the archers to shoot Arwen, and Arwen seized a rioter as an arrow flew toward him.

Arwen defeated Baron Marcus’s forces after High Priestess Asumpta used the temple’s Suffocation potion to incapacitate the crowd, then dragged the baron to the Temple of Melitele. Mia was alive, and Nenneke warned Owen Marcus that his attack on the temple could bring him to trial.

• Arwen prepared to fight Baron Marcus’s guards as the baron ordered his men to kill him.
• High Priestess Asumpta threw a bottle of Suffocation potion, and the pink mist incapacitated the rioters and guards.
• Arwen used a dead rioter as a decoy, broke through the guards, and captured Baron Marcus.
• Asumpta warned that an age of blood and fire was coming before returning to the temple.
• Arwen learned that Mia’s wound was not serious and brought Owen Marcus before Nenneke, who challenged his claim that his noble status protected him.

Arwen learned that Baron Marcus had murdered Ian’s family and acted on Viscount Jennings’s orders to kill the witcher and destroy the Temple of Melitele. Though Nenneke warned him that killing Jennings would leave no turning back, she gave Arwen a Blizzard potion and sent him to attack the viscount’s camp.

• Arwen found a gray potion bottle on Baron Marcus and used a sign to force him to reveal that Ian from Trouser Cuff Village had supplied it.
• Baron Marcus confessed that he had killed Ian’s whole family and that Viscount Jennings had ordered him to kill Arwen and destroy the Temple of Melitele.
• Arwen crushed Baron Marcus’s neck and headed for the stable, intent on confronting Jennings, who was camped two li away.
• Nenneke stopped Arwen, warned him about the consequences of killing a viscount, and prayed with him as he gripped his silver sword.
• Nenneke gave Arwen a glass bottle of Blizzard and urged him to go slaughter the men in Jennings’s camp.

Arwen infiltrated Viscount Jennings’s camp under cover of mist and killed the sentries and soldiers. He reached Jennings’s tent as the viscount received a magical communication from an unidentified figure.

• Arwen drank the [Blizzard] potion and used its heightened reflexes and the mist to approach the camp.
• Arwen killed the sentries Cole and Darcy on a watchtower, then descended into the camp.
• Arwen used his perception and the [Cat] potion to locate and kill the camp’s soldiers through the night.
• Arwen reached Viscount Jennings’s tent and saw Jennings with Sienna, the Wife of the Baron of White River.
• A crystal mirror began to flash, and Viscount Jennings answered it, greeting a blurred phantom as a distinguished sir.

Arwen overheard Viscount Jennings conspiring with a crystal apparition to drive the Temple of Melitele out of Kaedwen, then attacked the camp and claimed an elven stone ring. He disrupted the apparition’s communication magic, while the mage behind it vowed to make him a puppet.

• Viscount Jennings told the crystal apparition that he had stirred up trouble at the Temple of Melitele and planned to use his army to seize its high priestess.
• Arwen overheard Jennings praise the apparition’s anti-witcher pamphlet and reveal that he had found an object the mage wanted.
• Arwen killed Jennings and Sienna, then took the ancient stone ring carved with elven runes.
• Arwen used mental magic to destroy the mark sustaining the crystal communication and stop the apparition from ending the connection.
• In Cinda, the mage smashed his mirror and vowed to turn Arwen into his puppet.

Arwen burned Viscount Jennings’s camp after killing everyone there, then reunited with Geralt and Holt. As the three rode away, Holt explained that his snake medallion was homemade and did not signify membership in the School of the Viper.

• Arwen searched Jennings’s tent, took a magical crystal mirror and gemstones, and gained a level in School of the Wolf Witcher Swordsmanship.
• Arwen set the camp on fire with the Igni Sign and discovered that the stone ring was an unusual object whose effects he did not yet know.
• Geralt and Holt arrived, and Geralt learned that Arwen had taken out Viscount Jennings’s camp alone.
• Geralt warned Arwen about the consequences of killing a noble, then accepted that the fire would erase the evidence and left with him and Holt.
• Holt told Arwen that he had made his snake medallion after his wolf medallion was taken back and he left Kaer Morhen.

Arwen revealed that a wizard had orchestrated the attack on Kaer Morhen and was plotting to destroy the Temple of Melitele, then confronted Holt about concealing the wizard’s identity. Holt admitted that Atamont was behind the pamphlet and confessed he had intended to use Geralt, before explaining that guilt over fleeing Kaer Morhen had tormented him for thirty-six years.

• Arwen showed Geralt and Holt a magical mirror he had taken from Jennings’s camp and described the plan to provoke and wipe out the Temple of Melitele’s followers.
• Arwen connected the mirror’s footless-bird emblem to Holt’s estate, Rocamadour, and accused Holt of knowing who had attacked Kaer Morhen.
• Holt identified the mirror’s owner as Atamont of Assengard and admitted that Atamont had written the pamphlet against witchers.
• Geralt accused Holt of lying and using him, and Holt admitted that he had intended to use Geralt but not harm him.
• Holt confessed that he regretted fleeing Kaer Morhen and wished he had died fighting beside Bernjof and the apprentices.

Holt confessed that he had abandoned Kaer Morhen after its massacre, then secretly killed three riot leaders and planned to use Geralt to kill the mage Atamont before taking the blame himself. Arwen concluded that the School of the Wolf remained in danger and called on Geralt and Holt to unite against the threat.

• Holt recounted escaping the 1194 massacre, falling out with Vesemir, and later seeking revenge for his former companions.
• Holt revealed that he had killed Otto Magerius, Remco Hvarba, and Kari Nuredd, but his crippled leg prevented him from reaching Atamont of Asgort.
• Holt explained that he had waited for Geralt and intended to guide him into killing Atamont, then confess and take the blame himself.
• Geralt learned that Holt had used him but had also planned to protect him from punishment.
• Arwen argued that Atamont and Kaedwen still threatened Kaer Morhen, and urged the witchers to stand together and fight back.

Holt explained how Cevahir Herada and Atamont’s past romance led to the death of their beloved son and the start of the accusations against witchers. He revealed that the official investigation blamed the young Earl’s murder on a witcher.

• Geralt and Arwen asked Holt to explain what happened and why Atamont targeted witchers.
• Holt said the story began in 1170, when Cevahir Herada met and fell in love with the sorcerer Atamont.
• Cevahir later married Marquis Laode Grafiakan, and after the marquis died, she gave birth to a son who was named heir.
• Holt described how Cevahir and Atamont spoiled their son, who grew arrogant and cruel toward serfs.
• The young Earl attacked a man dressed in black at a tavern, and the man stabbed him before fleeing.
• Holt said the official investigation identified the black-clad assassin as a witcher.

Arwen, Geralt, and Holt questioned the accusation against witchers and found clues linking Atamont to the Order of Witchers. With evidence still lacking, Geralt contacted a sorceress who owed him a favor, and a powerful magical reaction began as they awaited her arrival.

• Arwen argued that the young earl’s death and the accusation against witchers seemed suspicious, especially given Atamont’s magical abilities and affection for the child.
• Arwen showed Geralt and Holt the stone ring, and Holt identified its markings as references to Morgraig and Alzur’s Lightning.
• Arwen concluded that Atamont’s interest in the Order of Witchers could give him a motive to frame witchers and provoke an attack on Kaer Morhen.
• Arwen said they needed more evidence and a magic user to examine the crystal mirror, and Geralt offered to summon a healer who owed him a favor.
• Geralt rubbed the topaz pendant three times, triggering a strong magical reaction as the three witchers waited in an open area.

Geralt, Arwen, and Holt asked Freyja Natavren to restore a magic mirror and learned that their investigation might connect Atamont’s golem research to an old murder and the persecution of witchers. After Freyja revealed where Lady Cevahir had ordered a village massacred, Arwen insisted that clues could still remain there.

• Freyja Natavren emerged from a portal, recognized Holt, and agreed to help Geralt and the others because she owed him a favor.
• Arwen gave Freyja the magic crystal mirror, and she identified its erased mental imprint and the crest of a footless bird before agreeing to restore its images in three to four days.
• Freyja explained Atamont’s research into intelligent golems, and Arwen connected it to Alzur’s experiments modifying living creatures.
• Arwen, Geralt, and Holt reasoned that an assassin may have framed witchers for the young earl’s murder to justify distributing Monstrum and attacking Kaer Morhen.
• Freyja recalled that Lady Cevahir had ordered a village slaughtered after the murder and identified the later-built Shoemaker Village as a possible place to investigate.
• Geralt and Holt doubted that evidence could survive forty years, but Arwen said there was still a chance.

Arwen and Holt arrived at Shoemaker Village to investigate its haunting and learned from elder Xavier Brook that a ghost had stolen shoes for decades before beginning to kill villagers and travelers. The village offered them one hundred crowns to deal with it, and the killings were traced to the woods east of the village.

• Arwen and Holt rode to Shoemaker Village after splitting from Geralt and Freyja, who returned to the Temple of Melitele.
• Arwen confronted a villager and demanded that he bring the village leader, then questioned elder Xavier Brook about the haunting.
• Xavier explained that shoes had gone missing since the village was founded thirty years earlier, until a woman saw a ghost stealing them and muttering about boots.
• Xavier said the ghost began killing people five years ago, and village dogs returned with the victims' bloodied boots.
• Xavier told Arwen and Holt that the bloodshed had driven merchants away and begged them to stop the ghost, offering one hundred crowns.

Arwen and Holt investigated a corpse-strewn forest where they expected to find a wraith, but instead faced creatures summoned by resentment. After fighting off several Hounds of the Wild Hunt, they encountered a much larger Hellhound.

• Arwen and Holt found dozens of corpses beneath an ancient tree and prepared their silver swords with Specter Oil.
• At night, Arwen and Holt detected approaching monsters and protected themselves with Quen shields and potions.
• Several Hounds of the Wild Hunt attacked, and Arwen and Holt killed them with coordinated swordplay.
• A green fireball forced Arwen and Holt to dodge and set an alder tree ablaze.
• A powerful monster emerged from the smoke, and Holt identified it as a Hellhound.

Arwen and Holt fought the Hellhound and its summoned Hounds of the Wild Hunt, killing the beast after it unleashed a wave of eerie green fire. Arwen installed the Hellhound Mutagen and gained the Eerie Green Flames talent, but an ominous gust then drew their attention to the boots swaying from a nearby tree.

• Arwen killed most of the summoned hounds while Holt limped forward to help fight them.
• The Hellhound wounded Arwen's defenses and unleashed green flames, forcing Arwen and Holt to shelter behind their Quen Signs.
• Arwen bound the Hellhound's legs with his silver chain, dragged it down, and beheaded it.
• Arwen installed the Hellhound Mutagen, gaining increased mental power and the Eerie Green Flames talent.
• An eerie gust swept over Arwen and Holt, and they noticed boots swaying from a branch of an ancient tree.

Arwen and Holt uncovered a skeleton beneath an ancient tree and found a dagger that helped a wraith remember he was Mitchell Forrest, butler to Marquis Grafiakan. Mitchell revealed that he had killed the young Earl after Atamont manipulated him, then began describing what happened when Atamont came for him.

• Arwen noticed that the wraith always returned to the same spot beneath the ancient tree and dug there with Holt.
• Arwen removed a boot from the buried skeleton and found a dagger engraved with a bird in flight.
• The wraith became the ghost of Mitchell Forrest, who recognized the dagger and learned that the young Earl had been dead for over forty years.
• Arwen used Axii to calm Mitchell and persuaded him to help investigate the Earl's death.
• Mitchell admitted he had stabbed the young Earl after Atamont's letter and dagger led him to Upper Marker, where he saw the Earl whipping serfs.
• Mitchell said he fled beneath the alder tree, realized he had been set up, and saw Atamont arrive in purple robes, intending to silence him.

Arwen and Holt discovered that Shoemaker Village’s elder had lured them into a poisoned trap and led a murderous mob against them. After killing the villagers who attacked, they faced a group of women emerging from the village.

• Mitchell asked Arwen to witness Atamont’s death before his spirit dissipated, and Arwen refused to carry the dagger to Ard Carraigh.
• Arwen and Holt returned to Shoemaker Village and discovered that Elder Xavier’s purse contained poison rather than the promised payment.
• Elder Xavier admitted that he knew Arwen had uncovered the villagers’ crimes and summoned more than twenty armed villagers to kill the witchers.
• Arwen killed Elder Xavier and fought alongside Holt to slaughter the attacking villagers.
• Several women approached, believing the witchers had been killed, but found Arwen and Holt standing among the bodies.

Arwen learned a more deceptive, elegant style of swordsmanship from Holt while they traveled back from Shoemaker Village. Three days later, he and Holt met Geralt near the besieged Temple of Melitele and learned that the marquis's army was demanding the high priestess, while Lady Freyja hid in a nearby cave.

• Arwen told Holt he had found about two hundred crowns in Shoemaker Village, and Holt advised him to forget about the dwarven bank checks.
• Holt showed Arwen how to combine diagonal slashes, spinning strikes, and feints, then revealed that the techniques came from a School of the Cat witcher.
• Arwen practiced the moves and gained experience in School of the Wolf and School of the Cat swordsmanship.
• Three days later, Arwen and Holt saw that the Marquis of Upper March's knights had surrounded the Temple of Melitele and carried dimeritium shackles.
• Geralt told Arwen that the army had given the temple seven days to hand over the high priestess, that Lady Freyja was hiding in a nearby cave, and that dimeritium prevented portals from reaching the temple.
• Arwen said he had found useful information, and Geralt proposed that they meet up before discussing it.

Arwen and the witchers confirmed that Atamont had framed them and planned to lure him into a trap, while seeking a royal decree to clear their names. With Freyja’s help, Arwen used a Royal Wyvern salve to undergo a dangerous body-tempering transformation, emerging stronger and ready to act.

• Freyja verified that the blood on the dagger came from Marquis Grafiakan’s direct line, confirming the plot against the witchers.
• Arwen, Geralt, and Holt discussed luring Atamont to Alzur’s Stone Circle and concluded that King Miodrag’s decree was needed to clear the witchers’ names.
• Freyja gave Arwen a body-tempering salve made from a Royal Wyvern’s heart and warned him that the transformation was dangerous.
• Arwen endured the salve’s pain and the Wyvern’s resentment, using his abilities and mental power to overcome it.
• Arwen completed the transformation, gained immense strength, and declared that it was time to end the conflict.

Arwen ambushed Atamont on Crow Ridge after Atamont arranged to have Holt framed and executed. Their fight left Arwen facing a golem whose amber cat eyes matched his own.

• Atamont received a challenge to meet on Crow Mountain for the stone ring and ordered George to arrange Holt’s imprisonment and execution.
• Atamont waited on Crow Ridge, but his first visit was an illusion; he returned to find the challenger had not appeared.
• Arwen used a six-pointed star formation and a sword strike to attack Atamont, who defended himself with a barrier and powerful spells.
• Atamont recognized Arwen as the witcher after their flames collided and his gale dispersed Arwen’s concealing mist.
• Arwen charged and struck Atamont’s shield, but a dark figure blocked his sword and attacked him with a powerful gust.
• Arwen recognized the figure as a golem when it raised its head, revealing amber cat eyes.

Arwen defeated Atamont’s golem Bernjof, then rejected the wizard’s offer to cooperate over Alzur’s legacy. Atamont summoned seven more witcher golems, but seven other figures with cat eyes appeared in the woods to face him.

• Atamont revealed that the gray-haired witcher was Bernjof, whom he had turned into a golem, and sent him to attack Arwen.
• Arwen used his swordsmanship and strength to behead Bernjof, despite the golem’s Quen shield and powerful blows.
• Atamont offered to recommend Arwen to Ban Ard Academy, reverse his mutations, and share Alzur’s knowledge in exchange for the stone ring and Morgraig’s location.
• Arwen showed Atamont a silver dagger stained with Young Earl Grafiakan’s blood and asked why it bore the mark of a footless bird.
• Atamont summoned seven more witcher golems, while seven pairs of cat eyes appeared in the nearby woods and fixed their gaze on him.

Geralt, Eskel, Aiken, Paul, Horton, and Winston arrived to help Arwen fight Atamont’s witcher golems. Arwen killed Matthew Miller, but Atamont continued attacking him with fire while threatening to capture and dissect him.

• Geralt, Eskel, Aiken, Paul, Horton, and Winston charged into battle against Atamont’s golems, while Arwen confronted Atamont.
• Geralt, Eskel, Paul, Winston, Horton, and Aiken each fought a golem, with Paul and Winston trading places after Paul was driven back.
• Atamont summoned Matthew Miller, the seventh and last golem, and Matthew narrowly dodged Arwen’s first strike before punching through his Quen shield.
• Arwen’s Draconid Scale stopped Matthew’s fist, and Arwen then cut through Matthew’s arms and beheaded him.
• Atamont sent a serpent of fire and a rain of fireballs at Arwen, vowing to destroy the witchers and dissect Arwen.

Arwen drew Atamont into the mist, but Vesemir ambushed the wizard with a dimeritium bomb and severed his arm. Atamont escaped and summoned approaching knights, leaving Vesemir facing an overwhelming force; the chapter then included the author’s note about the story going premium.

• Arwen used Illusory Mist Invisibility to evade Atamont’s fireballs, while Atamont prepared to escape through a portal.
• Vesemir appeared behind Atamont and used a dimeritium bomb to disrupt the portal before cutting off the wizard’s arm.
• Atamont escaped with his teleportation amulet and realized that the witchers’ amulet had concealed their presence.
• Vesemir declared that he was avenging Bernjof and demanding repayment for Atamont’s blood debt to the School of the Wolf.
• Atamont pointed out that knights from Marquess Lindenbrock and the Grafiakan family were approaching, and Vesemir recognized the danger.
• The author announced that the novel was going premium, thanked readers, and explained why a mass release was not possible.

Vesemir and the witchers used dimeritium bombs to disrupt Atamont’s magic and destroy his witcher golems as Vesemir fought toward him. Vesemir killed his old companion Grayson, while Atamont fled.

• Atamont recalled his golems to protect him and prepared a fiery attack against Vesemir and the other witchers.
• Vesemir threw a dimeritium bomb that disrupted a witcher golem, allowing Geralt to behead it.
• Geralt, Eskel, Aiken, and the others hurled more dimeritium bombs, filling the area with smoke and cutting off Atamont’s magic.
• Vesemir remembered how he had spent decades preparing dimeritium to prevent another attack on Kaer Morhen and avenge its destruction.
• Atamont sent his last golem after Vesemir, then fled as the dimeritium smoke extinguished his magic.
• Vesemir defeated the brown-haired witcher Grayson in a clash of Signs and killed him with his sword.