Recaps

After helping the islanders defeat the Nilfgaardians, Lynn took custody of Charimir and planned to use him to end the threat to Gerd. While waiting for Triss to arrive and discuss his bargaining chip, Lynn asked Gerd to teach him School of the Bear Swordsmanship and agreed to spar.

• The islanders paid Lynn two thousand gold ducats and promised him a tenth of the proceeds from selling the Nilfgaardian ships, while Earl Torgil rewarded Gerd.
• Lynn asked for Charimir, the captured knight who had tried to kill Gerd, and arranged for him to be kept safely in confinement.
• Lynn reassured Gerd that he would resolve the danger without personally assassinating Duchess Helena, then contacted Triss and invited her to Little Skellige Island to discuss a valuable bargaining chip for her and King Foltest.
• While waiting for Triss, Lynn asked Gerd to teach him School of the Bear Swordsmanship, despite Gerd's doubts that Lynn's training suited it.
• Gerd agreed to let Lynn try and asked to spar with him, so they went outside the castle and took their places on an open patch of ground.

Lynn defeated Gerd in a sparring match and completed his practice of School of the Bear Swordsmanship. Triss arrived on Little Skellige Island, and Lynn took her to the dungeon to see the imprisoned Charimir.

• Lynn fought Gerd, endured his Rage Burst, and won by holding his sword to Gerd's neck.
• Lynn established School of the Bear Swordsmanship on his attribute panel after several days of practice.
• Triss arrived by ship at Little Skellige Island with guards loyal to King Foltest, and Lynn welcomed her.
• Lynn and Triss returned to Tuirseach Castle and went to the dungeon together.
• Lynn found Charimir looking haggard and unkempt in his cell.

Lynn revealed to Triss that Duchess Helena’s duchy had secretly aided Nilfgaard, giving Redania grounds to intervene. Triss brought Charimir to King Foltest, and after a secret meeting with King Vizimir, Charimir was handed over to Dijkstra, where he confessed before being interrogated.

• Lynn told Triss that the Nilfgaardians had used Ashton Port Town to raid Novigrad ships and that Duchess Helena had secretly supported them.
• Triss recognized that the secret agreement could give Redania a pretext to intervene in the Duchy of the Curved Coast.
• Triss returned to the Temerian ship with Charimir and took him to meet King Foltest in Vizima.
• King Foltest and King Vizimir held a secret meeting, after which Vizimir returned to Tretogor with Charimir as a prisoner.
• Dijkstra began to interrogate Charimir, but Charimir confessed everything before Dijkstra used any methods.

After Charimir’s interrogation gave Vizimir an excuse to intervene, Helena and her son died, leaving the Duchy of the Curved Coast under a pro-Redanian regency. Lynn mastered Bear School swordsmanship and resumed the monster-hunting contract at Castle Etnir with Gerd, but their journey was interrupted by a strange roar overhead.

• Charimir revealed the duchy's cooperation with Nilfgaard, and Dijkstra agreed to make him disappear on Vizimir's orders.
• Helena died from a venomous snakebite, and her son became duke before falling from a tower a few days later.
• Helena's young daughter inherited the title, and a pro-Redanian regency council took power as Redania ceded border territory to Temeria.
• Lynn raised School of the Bear Swordsmanship to Master/Limit, gained the Brute Force perk, and decided to have Tyensail forge him greatswords.
• Lynn and Gerd set out for Castle Etnir to resume their monster-hunting contract, then heard a strange roar overhead near the castle.

Lynn found a dying griffin after it fought a flock of harpies and rescued its newborn cub. He decided to raise the cub himself, then entered Castle Etnir with Gerd.

• Lynn climbed to the summit and found a wounded griffin surrounded by dead harpies.
• Lynn approached with a healing potion, but a harpy playing dead fatally wounded the griffin before he could save it.
• Lynn discovered the griffin's newborn cub beneath its mother's body and fed it dried meat.
• Lynn carried the cub to Gerd and the Tuirseach Clan soldiers, telling them he planned to raise it rather than sell it.
• Lynn and Gerd drank superior potions, took alchemical bombs, and entered Castle Etnir while the soldiers stayed outside with the cub.

Lynn and Gerd cleared Castle Etnir, and Lynn learned how to care for the griffin cub from Triss. On the voyage back, Lynn proposed building a witcher school and organized force, and Gerd agreed to hear him out.

• Lynn and Gerd killed every harpy in Castle Etnir and destroyed the eggs, though the castle still needed cleaning.
• Lynn asked Triss how to raise his griffin cub, and she explained its feeding and care; he promised she could ride it when it grew up.
• Gerd said he planned to remain in the Skellige Isles, and Lynn offered him a well-paid position in his proposed witcher school.
• Lynn outlined a school in the Blue Mountains that would train selected orphans, improve the Trial of the Grasses with help from Aretuza sorceresses, and organize witchers alongside ordinary soldiers.
• Lynn explained that witcher chapters would fight in teams, divided into companies and squads, rather than work as lone wolves.

Lynn persuaded Gerd to join his effort to restore the witchers’ standing, then brought him to the Druid Circle on Great Skellige Island. There, they met Mousesack, who asked after Geralt and revealed that he had known about the two witchers since they arrived in the isles.

• Lynn convinced Gerd that witchers could regain respect and a better future, and Gerd agreed to join him.
• Lynn and Gerd returned to Tuirseach Castle and told Earl Torgil that Castle Etnir had been cleared.
• After spending two more days at the castle, Lynn and Gerd left for the Druid Circle on Great Skellige Island.
• Lynn greeted Mousesack respectfully and said that Geralt often mentioned him.
• Mousesack asked Lynn about Geralt, learned that he was well, and recognized Lynn and Gerd as the witchers who had helped repel the Nilfgaard invaders.

Lynn asked Mousesack to join a Kaer Morhen project to improve the Potion of the Grasses, explaining that his wealth could fund research abandoned by the witchers’ founders. Mousesack agreed, and Lynn prepared to bring him to the witchers’ stronghold.

• Lynn invited Mousesack to Kaer Morhen to help research improvements to the Potion of the Grasses.
• Lynn explained that the witchers’ mutation research had stagnated after Alzur and Cosimo abandoned the Order, leaving the witchers without funding.
• Mousesack sympathized with the witchers’ history and agreed to help, citing a debt to one of Geralt’s old witcher friends.

Lynn, Gerd, and Mousesack traveled from the Druid Circle toward Brokilon instead of heading directly to Kaer Morhen, and Lynn explained the danger posed by its dryad guardians. The three entered the forest together, leaving their next encounter unresolved.

• Lynn bought the Druid Circle's stock of potions and left with Gerd and Mousesack for Great Skellige Island's harbor.
• After sailing to Kerack, Lynn told Gerd and Mousesack they were going to Brokilon before Kaer Morhen.
• Near Brokilon, Lynn and Gerd examined a dead runaway peasant, and Lynn concluded a dryad had killed him after firing a warning arrow.
• Lynn offered to go into Brokilon alone, but Gerd and Mousesack refused to wait behind.
• The three continued deeper into Brokilon's lively forest.

Lynn, Gerd, and Mousesack entered Brokilon so Lynn could seek a favor from Eithné, but they found dryads captured by a monster and rescued them. The surviving dryad agreed to contact her companions for further treatment.

• Lynn told Gerd and Mousesack he had come to Brokilon to ask Lady Eithné for a favor.
• Lynn heard a woman calling for help in Elder Speech, and the three followed the voice to a wounded dryad and several unconscious dryads hanging from hooks.
• Lynn dodged the monster's attack, knocked it back with Aard, beheaded it, and burned it with a Superior Dancing Star.
• Lynn, Gerd, and Mousesack freed the dryads, treated their wounds, and stopped the bleeding.
• Lynn asked the conscious dryad to notify her companions, and she followed his instructions despite her suspicions.

Lynn and his companions were surrounded by dryads in Brokilon, but the testimony of the dryads they had rescued persuaded their leader to let them wait while she sought Queen Eithné's decision. Lynn revealed that he wanted to recruit dryads to help improve the Trial of the Grasses, with Aglaïs, a healer he had saved, as his preferred target.

• Gerd warned Lynn and Mousesack that they were surrounded as more than a dozen armed dryads emerged.
• Lynn explained that he wanted to speak with Eithné, and the rescued dryad confirmed that he and his companions had saved them from Dagon's minions.
• The dryad leader thanked the three men but said she would ask Eithné whether they could remain in Brokilon.
• The dryads allowed Lynn, Gerd, and Mousesack to move away from the bloodied clearing and wait under their watch.
• Lynn told Mousesack that he wanted Eithné's help improving the Trial of the Grasses, then clarified that he intended to approach the dryads under her command, preferably Aglaïs.

Lynn met the dryad queen Eithné Silver-Eyes in Duén Canell and asked her to help improve the witchers’ Trial of the Grasses. He explained that he wanted to protect the witcher race from dying out, and Eithné heard his case as their negotiations began.

• Lynn told Mousesack he wanted to gather druids, dryads, and sorcerers to improve the Trial of the Grasses, and named Tissaia de Vries as an expert he had already secured.
• A dryad escorted Lynn, Gerd, and Mousesack to Duén Canell after blindfolding them, while the little griffin had to be caught and blindfolded separately.
• Mousesack and Gerd chose to stay and explore Duén Canell, so Lynn left the griffin cub with them and went to meet Eithné Silver-Eyes.
• Eithné thanked Lynn for rescuing two of her children and helping Brokilon reclaim the northern forest, and promised him safety and a reward.
• Lynn asked Eithné to hire a dryad to assist his research at Kaer Morhen, explaining that he wanted to raise the survival rate of the Trial of the Grasses and preserve the witcher race.

Lynn agreed to destroy Dagon’s cultists in Brokilon in exchange for Eithné sending her finest child to Kaer Morhen. Eithné explained that she could not leave Duén Canell because she was maintaining a barrier over a permanent portal to a burning world.

• Eithné told Lynn that Dagon’s cult had corrupted a lake in Brokilon and asked him to eliminate its followers, promising to send her finest child with him to Kaer Morhen.
• Lynn agreed to the commission and asked why Eithné would not handle the threat herself.
• Eithné pointed out the unusual sulfur scent in Duén Canell and challenged the human understanding of the Conjunction of the Spheres.
• Eithné explained that a permanent portal beneath Duén Canell led to a burning world whose monsters had invaded Brokilon ten centuries earlier.
• Eithné revealed that she remained on her throne to maintain the barrier suppressing the portal and prevent another invasion.

Lynn, Gerd, and Mousesack helped Brokilon by destroying the followers of Dagon who had polluted a lake. After Lynn poured in Eithné’s water of Brokilon, he left the remaining cleanup to the dryads and considered how to preserve his alliance with them.

• Eithné gave Lynn a vial of pure water of Brokilon to pour into the polluted lake, and Gerd and Mousesack agreed to help him.
• Lynn, Gerd, and Mousesack traveled to the lake and found two or three hundred followers of Dagon living amid the corruption.
• Mousesack summoned a burning Wicker Man, which killed the followers with fiery meteors, flames, and crushing blows.
• Lynn poured Eithné’s water into the lake, which seemed to become slightly less polluted, and left the remaining work to the dryads.
• Lynn resolved to maintain friendly relations with Brokilon, considering future supplies of its water and possible help from witchers.

Lynn and his companions fought off a Verden scouting party that tried to capture their dryad companion, then returned to Lady Eithné after killing Dagon’s followers and pouring Water of Brokilon into the polluted lake. Lynn told Eithné about the soldiers they encountered on the way back.

• Lynn detected soldiers ahead, and the Verden squad surrounded his party in Brokilon.
• The Verden officer demanded that Lynn’s group surrender the dryad, then ordered his soldiers to attack despite Mousesack’s warning.
• Lynn shielded the group with Quen while the dryad and Mousesack fought back, and Lynn killed the officer as the forest overwhelmed the soldiers.
• Lynn reported to Lady Eithné that his group had executed all of Dagon’s followers and poured the Water of Brokilon into the polluted lake.
• Eithné explained that purification would take time, and Lynn recounted the encounter with the Verden scouts.

Lynn secured Eithné’s help and the Water of Brokilon for his witcher apprentices before preparing to leave Brokilon with Aglaïs. In Novigrad, Lynn’s allies discussed how Whoreson Junior’s attack on Dudu had halted their businesses and risked drawing the city into a wider conflict.

• Eithné agreed to send Aglaïs with Lynn to Kaer Morhen and let him take as much Water of Brokilon as his enchanted item could hold.
• Lynn promised to send witchers to fight for Brokilon once they had grown stronger, then asked Eithné to have her dryads warn human civilians with arrows aimed in front of them.
• Lynn found Aglaïs caring for his griffin and agreed to wait a few days before departing for Kaer Morhen; Aglaïs explained that diluted Water of Brokilon could accelerate the griffin’s growth and strengthen its bond with Lynn.
• Drake, Roche, Chappelle, and Letho met in Novigrad and learned from Letho that Dudu was hidden safely in the city.
• Drake objected that Whoreson Junior had targeted Dudu, while Chappelle explained that Dudu’s expanding businesses had made Whoreson Junior jealous.
• Roche and Chappelle warned that confronting Whoreson Junior could unite the three major gangs against Lynn’s people and give Redania an excuse to occupy Novigrad.

Lynn returned to Novigrad and learned that Whoreson Junior had been using intimidation, sabotage, and rumors to undermine Dudu’s businesses. As the group weighed how to stop him, Drake offered to kill him, while the Syndicate’s records gave them a way to predict his movements.

• Lynn arrived during a meeting and asked Chappelle to explain the trouble with Dudu’s businesses.
• Chappelle described how Whoreson Junior had tried to bribe Dudu, then harassed his workers, disrupted operations, and spread rumors that Dudu was helping Toussaint take over Novigrad.
• Chappelle explained that Dudu had sent his workers home on a month of paid leave, but the group needed a lasting solution before the leave ran out.
• Drake offered to bring Lynn Whoreson Junior’s head and said the Syndicate could predict the gang boss’s movements with over ninety percent accuracy.

Lynn refused to let the Syndicate kill Whoreson Junior, then visited Carlo Cleaver Varese to propose a nonaggression agreement. Carlo challenged Lynn's identity and motives, and Lynn questioned whether Carlo's supposed neutrality toward Whoreson Junior was genuine.

• Lynn rejected Drake's plan to have the Syndicate assassinate Whoreson Junior, wary of exposing its intelligence network.
• Lynn gave Drake two greatsword diagrams to take to Master Tyensail and left with Roche and Letho.
• Lynn claimed to be Baron Brandon and gained entry to Carlo Cleaver Varese's compound, where Carlo's dwarves surrounded him.
• Carlo said he doubted Lynn's identity and questioned why a baron would seek an agreement while his businesses were struggling.
• Lynn proposed a nonaggression agreement and asked Carlo why he called Whoreson Junior by an insulting nickname instead of Mr. Cyprian Wiley.

Lynn secured neutrality from Carlo and the Cutups, leaving Whoreson Junior as his only gang rival. He then arrived at Wiley Manor to meet Mr. Wiley, and was welcomed inside.

• Carlo agreed not to help either Lynn or Whoreson Junior, and advised Lynn to win the Cutups' neutrality as well.
• Lynn met with the Cutups, who agreed to a nonaggression pact after he said Whoreson Junior was his only target.
• Lynn told Roche and Letho that they would visit Whoreson Junior next.
• A day later, Lynn arrived at Wiley Manor in the rain and identified himself to the guards as Baron Brandon of Toussaint.
• A butler apologized for leaving Lynn in the rain and escorted him and his two attendants into the manor to meet Mr. Wiley.

Lynn entered Cyprian Wiley’s fortified estate and met the gang boss, who warned him against behaving boldly in Novigrad. Cyprian recounted how he had drowned a city councilor who urged him to help the poor, then asked Lynn why he had come from Toussaint.

• Lynn assessed the Wiley estate’s defensive layout as the old man escorted him inside.
• The old man separated Lynn from his two attendants, and guards surrounded the pair in the hall.
• Lynn met Cyprian Wiley and insulted his worn appearance, but Cyprian laughed and cautioned him to rein himself in.
• Cyprian and Ed described how Cyprian had drowned a councilor who pressed him to donate money to Novigrad’s poor.
• Cyprian asked Lynn what important business had brought him from Toussaint.

Lynn questioned Cyprian Wiley about targeting his businesses, and Cyprian explained that he had wanted to meet and propose a wine-distribution partnership. Their conversation revealed that Cyprian hoped to use ties with Nilfgaard to rise from commoner status.

• Lynn asked Cyprian why he had gone after his businesses despite knowing he was a baron.
• Cyprian apologized and said he had provoked Lynn to secure a meeting and discuss a partnership.
• Cyprian offered to distribute Lynn’s Toussaint Rosé wine in Novigrad for thirty percent of the profits, with a chest of gold crowns as compensation.
• Lynn suspected Cyprian had another motive and asked whether he wanted to connect with Nilfgaardians.
• Cyprian said he had heard commoners in Nilfgaard could rise to nobility and did not want to remain a commoner.

Lynn learned that Cyprian Wiley planned to sell information to the Nilfgaardians, then killed him and his men. The chapter ended with Cyprian dead beneath Lynn’s boot.

• Cyprian Wiley revealed that he planned to offer the Nilfgaardians information from Novigrad in exchange for a business relationship with Lynn.
• Lynn declared their cooperation over and attacked Cyprian’s guards and sorcerer with Aard before killing the sorcerer and two guards.
• An old man fired a hand crossbow at Lynn, but the bolt broke against his sword, and Cyprian fled.
• Lynn threw his greatsword into Cyprian’s back, caught up with him, and crushed his head beneath his boot.

Lynn, Letho, and Roche killed the armed men at Wiley Manor, while Cyprian escaped and sought refuge at a Wiley's Gang casino. Cyprian nearly told the casino manager about the attack but changed his mind, leaving his next move uncertain.

• Letho and Roche attacked Cyprian's guards after hearing a disturbance upstairs, and Lynn joined them once the hall was clear.
• The three killed the armed people remaining in Wiley Manor but left ordinary workers alone, then decided not to pursue Cyprian's missing son.
• Cyprian fled Wiley Manor after watching the attackers kill his father and the household's men.
• Cyprian reached a Wiley's Gang casino, where manager Kasno welcomed him and offered him a bath.
• Cyprian began to explain that Wiley Manor had been attacked, then changed his words and accepted Kasno's offer.

Cyprian returned to Wiley Manor, discovered his father was dead, and was killed by Kasno, who revealed he was Cleaver’s mole. Lynn later received Cyprian’s severed head as a gift from Carlo and concluded that a mole inside Wiley’s Gang had arranged Cyprian’s death.

• Cyprian waited before returning to Wiley Manor, then found his father and the manor guards dead.
• Cyprian celebrated his chance to take over Wiley’s Gang, but Kasno revealed he was a mole working for Cleaver.
• A thug struck Cyprian from behind, and Kasno ordered his head taken to Boss Cleaver while his men left the manor.
• Lynn went to Dudu’s shop in Baron Brandon’s appearance and received Cyprian’s severed head from Cleaver’s envoy.
• Lynn told Letho he believed a mole in Wiley’s Gang had killed Cyprian after he fled to Cleaver.

After Cyprian Wiley’s death, Lynn arranged for the Eternal Fire to take advantage of Wiley’s Gang’s internal power struggle and seize most of its territory. He left a small portion to Cleaver’s Gang and the Cutups, then planned to stabilize the city and expand the Eternal Fire’s influence.

• Lynn burned Cyprian Wiley’s head and explained that Cleaver had sent it as an apology and a sign of cooperation.
• Lynn summoned Chappelle and ordered the city guards to clear the streets while Wiley’s Gang fell into a violent struggle over leadership.
• After Wiley’s Gang fought through the night, the Eternal Fire’s Temple Guard attacked its territory and offered safety to those who surrendered.
• Chappelle reported that the Eternal Fire had taken most of Wiley’s Gang’s territory, while Cleaver’s Gang and the Cutups had claimed a small portion.
• Lynn let Cleaver’s Gang and the Cutups keep their share and ordered Chappelle to restore public order and punish criminals.
• Lynn planned to stabilize the city before extending the Eternal Fire’s control over Cleaver’s Gang and the Cutups.