Chapter Summaries

Arwen arrived in Frankenthal seeking the Temple of Melitele and noticed a job hunting a basilisk, whose heart was needed for his alchemical formula. At the Rouge Tavern, he met Glenn and his companions, and Glenn proposed testing him with a game of Gwent before letting him join the hunt.

• Arwen entered Frankenthal after his mare’s worn horseshoe forced him to spend the night in the woods.
• Arwen found a notice offering a hunt for a lisk and went to the Rouge Tavern to meet its poster.
• The innkeeper directed Arwen to room 207, where Glenn, Vaughn, and Sir Draco were arguing over a Gwent game and a debt.
• Arwen showed Glenn the notice, and Glenn invited him to prove himself by playing Gwent.

Arwen played Glenn at Gwent for fifteen crowns and used his knowledge of the game to turn the match around. After Glenn seemed certain to win, Arwen revealed Clear Weather and restored his ballistae, leaving the result in his favor.

• Arwen borrowed Vaughn's Northern Realms deck, changed two cards, and agreed to play Glenn for fifteen crowns.
• Glenn built up his ranged units, but Arwen used Impenetrable Fog to win the first round.
• Glenn took the second round after playing spies that weakened Arwen's board.
• Arwen used Engineering Support and Mardroeme to strengthen his ballistae, then Glenn countered with Torrential Rain.
• Arwen played Clear Weather, removed Glenn's rain effect, and restored his board total to nineteen.

Arwen defeated Glenn at Gwent, joined the group hunting the Basilisk, and assessed his new companions as potentially dangerous. At the appointed meeting, he met Mia Sinclair, a sister of Melitele, who welcomed him as a witcher.

• Arwen won fifteen crowns from Glenn at Gwent and left Vaughn one crown as a rental fee.
• Vaughn challenged Arwen, but Arwen revealed his witcher medallion and intimidated him into accepting Arwen on the team.
• Glenn arranged for the group to meet at three in the afternoon, and Arwen listened in on his companions before resting.
• Arwen met Glenn, Vaughn, and Draco at the inn, where they waited for the assignment's sponsor.
• Mia Sinclair arrived, introduced herself as a sister of Melitele, and greeted Arwen as a witcher.

Arwen joined Mia, Glenn, Vaughn, and Sir Draco to hunt a wounded wyvern after learning the Temple of Melitele had been pressured by Frankenthal’s lord to take the quest. The group reached the wyvern’s nest, where Glenn urged them to begin their plan.

• Arwen learned that Glenn had advertised a wyvern hunt as a basilisk job, then agreed to join after hearing the beast was wounded and seeing Mia’s supplies.
• Glenn assigned roles for the hunt, and the five agreed to split the reward and materials, with Arwen claiming the wyvern’s heart.
• The group traveled north through Frankenthal Valley, where Arwen questioned Mia about the Temple of Melitele’s involvement and learned the town’s lord had imposed the task.
• Glenn led Arwen to the wyvern’s cave, where they heard the beast growling and prepared to start the hunt.

Arwen and his companions confronted a wyvern outside its cave, using a bomb, chain, magic, and a vine to pin it down. Vaughn’s arrow failed to pierce its belly, and Arwen realized they were facing a Royal Wyvern.

• Arwen and his companions prepared potions, weapons, and a Grapeshot Bomb as the monster approached.
• The wyvern burst from the cave, knocked Draco aside, and attacked until Arwen struck it with his silver sword.
• Arwen detonated the Grapeshot Bomb with Igni, knocking the wyvern out of the air.
• Draco and Arwen pulled the wyvern down with a chain while Arwen trapped it with Yrden and Mia’s potion summoned a vine to bind it.
• Vaughn’s arrow glanced off a dark-red scale, and Arwen recognized the monster as a Royal Wyvern.

Arwen and the others fought the Royal Wyvern, but it took flight with him clinging to its back. After Arwen brought it crashing down, he used Vaughn’s poisoned arrow to strike the wyvern’s wound.

• Mia’s Vine potions failed to hold the Royal Wyvern, while Arwen, Glenn, and Draco attacked its neck and wounded it.
• The Royal Wyvern struck Draco aside, leaving Vaughn unable to get a clear shot and Arwen worried that the battle would drag on until dark.
• Arwen used the silver chain to climb onto the Royal Wyvern as it took flight, while Vaughn considered abandoning the fight and Mia threatened to withhold his pay.
• Arwen unleashed an Aard Sign from the wyvern’s back, sending it crashing to the ground and shielding himself with Quen.
• Vaughn fired a poisoned arrow, which Arwen caught and drove into the Royal Wyvern’s wound.

Arwen and the mercenaries killed the Royal Wyvern, and Arwen installed its mutagen to gain the Draconid Scale talent. Just after Draco befriended him, an arrow killed Draco, and Arwen turned to confront the attacker as another threat struck from behind.

• Arwen drank a Swallow potion and joined Glenn, Draco, and Vaughn in attacking the poisoned Royal Wyvern.
• Glenn and Draco brought the Royal Wyvern down, and Arwen killed it with his silver sword.
• Arwen installed the Royal Wyvern Mutagen, gaining increased stamina and the Draconid Scale talent.
• Draco praised Arwen and offered his friendship, but an arrow suddenly killed him.
• Glenn accused Vaughn of killing Draco for the bounty, while Arwen lunged toward the archer and blocked an attack from behind.

Arwen and his companions were ambushed by Glenn and the Scoia’tael, a group of elves and dwarves. After Mia used a potion to transform two elves into frogs, Arwen killed Glenn and charged at the remaining attackers.

• Glenn revealed his Scoia’tael allies, and an elf pursued Mia while the others surrounded Arwen and Vaughn.
• Arwen fought Glenn, blasted a dwarf with a Sign, and killed Titus with his greatsword.
• An elf took Mia hostage as another dwarf stabbed Arwen, and Vaughn was killed by the elves.
• Mia’s hidden potion transformed two elves into frogs, freeing her from the hostage-taker.
• Arwen split Glenn in two and charged toward the remaining Scoia’tael as Mia warned that the transformation would last only thirty seconds.

Arwen killed the remaining attackers, including the elf who had abducted Mia, but was wounded and needed her to treat him. They camped beside the royal wyvern's corpse, shared a meal, and discussed Nenneke and the Temple of Melitele before settling in for the night.

• Arwen killed three dwarves, crushed the frog, and hurled his greatsword into the fleeing elf, killing him.
• Mia treated Arwen's thigh wounds, and he explained that Golden Oriole had slowed the bleeding.
• Arwen retrieved his sword and mare, then made a campfire and roasted royal wyvern meat for himself and Mia, with Raven receiving a piece too.
• Mia thanked Arwen for saving her, and they discussed her transformation potion and Nenneke, who had once taught Arwen at Kaer Morhen.
• Mia leaned against Arwen beneath a quilt, and they wished each other good night.

Masked bandits raided Ian’s village, killed him after questioning him about a witcher, and discovered his mint-scented bottle. After recovering from his wound and searching the fallen mercenaries, Arwen prepared to return to the Temple of Melitele, but hunter Zachary appeared in the woods.

• A bandit leader questioned village chief Ian about a witcher, then killed him despite Ian’s answers and took a glass bottle from his coat.
• At dawn, Arwen and Mia packed up and searched the bodies, finding the mercenaries’ gear, coins, a runic axe, and two Gwent decks.
• Arwen considered how to transport the Royal Wyvern’s corpse back to the Temple of Melitele.
• Raven sensed someone approaching, and Arwen raised his guard as Zachary emerged from the woods and introduced himself as a hunter from the Town of Frankenthal.
• Mia recognized Zachary and reacted with delight.

Arwen and Mia brought the slain Royal Wyvern to the Temple of Melitele, where an angry mob was threatening the temple. Arwen seized the priest leading the crowd and forced him to confront the wyvern’s corpse.

• Zachary recognized Mia and was astonished to learn that Arwen had killed a wyvern.
• Mia, Arwen, and Zachary reached the Temple of Melitele with the Royal Wyvern’s corpse on a cart.
• A priest urged the protesters to storm the temple and burn its residents, accusing them of killing unborn children.
• Arwen pushed through the crowd, seized the priest, and dislocated his jaw when he tried to resist.
• Arwen’s mental power made a muscular protester step aside, and the crowd cleared a path as Zachary and his companion readied their bows.
• Arwen slammed the priest’s face onto the cart beside the wyvern’s head, and the priest passed out in terror.

Arwen drove the protesters away after exposing Rava as a paid instigator and killing him. As Mia and the hunters joined him, a nun emerged from the temple carrying a basket of potions.

• Arwen displayed the dead Royal Wyvern and declared that he had completed the Temple of Melitele's task, causing the protesters to hesitate.
• Rava rallied the crowd by claiming the Wyvern and temple were fake, but Arwen killed him with his greatsword.
• Arwen took Rava's pouch of gold and asked who else had taken money, frightening the protesters into fleeing.
• Arwen stopped Rava's accomplice from escaping and knocked him unconscious.
• Mia, the hunter Zachary, and his brother thanked Arwen, who paid Zachary ten crowns and asked to borrow his two-wheeled cart.
• A wary nun came out of the temple with a basket of potions, whose intense alchemical fluctuations Arwen sensed.

Arwen returned Mia safely to the Temple of Melitele, where he reunited with Nenneke and learned why the temple had helped a widow end her pregnancy. Nenneke began explaining Shana’s circumstances as they prepared to meet the high priestess.

• Mia reunited with Priestess Ellid and told her how Arwen had rescued her, while Arwen cleaned up the battlefield and collected the crowns.
• Arwen and Mia entered the temple, where Arwen prayed before the statue of Melitele and reunited with Nenneke.
• Nenneke noticed Arwen’s thigh wound and ordered him to rest while Mia fetched medicine and bandages.
• Arwen told Nenneke that Glenn had arranged an ambush after the Wyvern hunt and that he had found a red-robed priest and a supposed tenant farmer among the protesters.
• Nenneke explained that the temple had given abortion medicine to Shana, a widowed former orphan, after men targeted her following her husband Oliver’s death.

Arwen learned why the Temple of Melitele had been excluded, heard High Priestess Asumpta prophesy about the coming wars and the White Frost, and discovered Geralt had recently visited. The chapter ended with Arwen recognizing Preston Holt, also known as Ghost Reendt, as a witcher of the School of the Wolf.

• Nenneke told Arwen that the Temple of Melitele planned to move to Temeria and revealed that nobles had turned against them because they taught witchers, as described in Monstrum.
• Arwen met High Priestess Asumpta, whose prophecy spoke of the age of contempt, the White Frost, and a wanderer bearing a silver sword.
• Nenneke explained that Asumpta often prophesied and mentioned that Geralt had visited the temple a few months earlier to take contracts under Holt.
• Nenneke offered Arwen a room and told him that Holt was Preston Holt, nicknamed Reindeer and Ghost.
• Arwen remembered seeing Reindeer in Kaer Morhen’s archives and realized he was a witcher of the School of the Wolf.

Nenneke told Arwen how Holt, once known as the witcher Reindeer, deserted during the massacre at Kaer Morhen and later pursued those responsible. Arwen learned Holt was at Rocamadour in Ban Flyn, then stayed at the temple to recover and prepared a letter while meditating on the magic surrounding him.

• Nenneke explained that the pamphlet Monstrum spread through Kaedwen and that Ban Ard Academy of Magic was likely capable of printing it in such numbers.
• Nenneke revealed that Holt was the eighth witcher at Kaer Morhen, deserted after being gravely wounded, and was expelled after Asumpta reported his confession to Vesemir.
• Nenneke told Arwen that Holt had spent years seeking those responsible and now lived at Rocamadour in Ban Flyn, while Kaedwen's governor of public security watched him.
• Arwen rested at the temple, where Mia redressed his thigh wound and found it had already scabbed over.
• Arwen joined the temple's prayers and evening meal, then requested writing supplies so he could ask Holt or Geralt to visit.
• Arwen wrote a letter and meditated as his wolf-head medallion trembled near a magical nexus.

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.