Chapter Summaries

Keira brought Lynn in to help track Redanian infiltrators, disguising him as a bounty hunter so his identity as a witcher would remain hidden. The next morning, she equipped him with plate armor and led him and a squad of elite soldiers out of Vizima to search for the infiltrators.

• Triss was shocked to find Lynn at the private room, but Keira explained that he would pose as Li Wei, a bounty hunter, and reassured Triss that his identity would stay concealed.
• Keira teased Lynn and pushed Triss to leave so he could rest before their work the next day.
• Keira brought Lynn a suit of plate armor, and he adapted to wearing it while she showed him how to lift the helmet's visor.
• Keira used a portal to take Lynn outside Vizima, where a dozen elite soldiers saluted and joined them on Foltest's orders.
• Keira introduced Lynn as a bounty hunter who specialized in tracking, then led the soldiers out to search for the Redanian infiltrators.

Lynn and Keira investigated a massacre at Pine Tops and tracked the Redanian soldiers responsible. Lynn lured them into an ambush, confronting three men as Keira and Temerian soldiers prepared to strike.

• Lynn and Keira found a family and other workers murdered at Pine Tops, and Keira explained that Redania had planted border posts in Temerian territory to extort the former subjects of Emblonia.
• Lynn used his Witcher Senses to follow the Redanians’ trail and detected more than twenty people ahead, including a sorcerer.
• Lynn proposed luring the Redanians into an ambush, and Keira cast Lightness and Iron Armor spells on him before he went ahead.
• Lynn found Redanian soldiers assaulting a farmer and his family, ordered them to leave, and drew their attention as armed Temerian riders emerged behind the house.

Lynn drew the Redanian troops away from a civilian family and led them into an ambush set by Keira and the Temerian soldiers. The ambush routed the Redanians, leaving a few survivors for Keira to take for interrogation.

• Lynn refused the Redanian commander’s demands, and the commander threatened a farmer, a woman, and a child to force him to surrender.
• Lynn killed the three soldiers holding the civilians and the commander with five arrows, then ran to draw the Redanians after him.
• Lynn dodged the sorcerer’s lightning and led the pursuing riders into Keira’s ambush, where Temerian arrows and a fireball struck them.
• The Redanians fled but hit a trip rope, and the concealed Temerians attacked the fallen troops.
• Keira kept a few Redanians alive to hand over for interrogation.

Lynn traveled from Novigrad to the Skellige Isles despite reports that Skelligers had begun raiding ships after two northern royals died on Great Skellige Island. He arrived safely at Kaer Trolde Harbor and saw the an Craite Clan hold a solemn sea burial for a Cintran princess.

• Lynn learned from Novigrad captains that Skelligers had recently been plundering ships after two members of a northern royal family died on Great Skellige Island.
• Lynn offered the captains extra payment, and a drunken captain agreed to take him to the Skellige Isles.
• After a week at sea without encountering pirates, Lynn reached Kaer Trolde Harbor on Great Skellige Island.
• Lynn watched two an Craite soldiers place Cintran-style armor and a princess's gown in a straw-covered boat, which a young red-haired nobleman set alight with a flaming arrow.
• The crowd dispersed after the burning boat disappeared over the horizon, and Lynn disembarked at the harbor.

Lynn learned that Princess Pavetta and Duny had died in a shipwreck, then took monster contracts across Skellige while building ties with its clans. After six months of earning fame across the islands, he arrived at a mine on Great Skellige Island to take on another contract.

• Lynn bought drinks for the tavern patrons and learned that Princess Pavetta and Duny had died when their ship sank in a storm.
• Lynn accepted the tavern keeper's monster contracts, ate, and rode Nidhogg toward their locations.
• Lynn spent six months traveling across the six major islands, completing contracts and befriending islanders through horse races, boxing, Gwent, and drinking.
• Lynn became widely known across Skellige as a heroic witcher and shared some of his winnings with those he defeated.
• Lynn accepted a contract posted at a country inn and arrived at a mine in the middle of Great Skellige Island.

Lynn investigated a mine where a worker had been killed by a sheep falling from the sky, an incident the miners blamed on the gods. Examining the bodies, he found evidence of a high fall and wounds from a Forktail, but had yet to determine what happened.

• Lynn arrived at the mine and offered to investigate after hearing the workers argue over whether the death was a divine calamity.
• The mine owner explained that Lackey and the sheep’s bodies had been left at the scene and asked Lynn to find out why the sheep fell.
• Lynn questioned the mine owner, who said the workers had heard an unknown beast roar before the incident.
• Lynn examined Lackey’s body and found a fatal fracture at the base of his skull, with no other wounds.
• Lynn inspected the sheep and found injuries from a fall, along with claw marks he identified as those of a Forktail.

Lynn tracked the wounded Forktail hatchling that had caused a mine worker’s death and found its nest on a hill. He killed both Forktails, then burned the hatchling with Igni.

• Lynn burned the two corpses at the mine, found blood and crash marks, and deduced that a wounded Forktail hatchling had accidentally dropped a sheep onto Lackey.
• Lynn followed the hatchling’s blood trail through the forest, drinking a Superior Cat Potion as darkness fell.
• Lynn found signs that a larger Forktail had carried food to the wounded hatchling and followed the remaining blood to their nest.
• Lynn drank combat potions, climbed the hill, and confirmed the hatchling’s wound near its eye.
• Lynn stunned both Forktails with a Superior Samum Bomb and killed the larger one with Aard.
• Lynn evaded the hatchling’s attack, slashed its belly with his silver sword, and burned it to death with Igni.

Lynn killed a Forktail and its hatchling, explained the sheep incident to the mine owner, and returned with proof that the threat was gone. The story then shifted to Port of Holmstein and the history of Clan Drummond, whose presence on Great Skellige had displeased Clan an Craite.

• Lynn harvested the adult Forktail and collected its eggs after defeating the creatures.
• Lynn told the mine owner that a Forktail hatchling had dropped a sheep after a tree injured its eye, and confirmed that he had killed both Forktails.
• The mine owner thanked Lynn but said he could pay only the agreed fee, and Lynn accepted.
• The narration described how Hemdall and Hulda's son Mordvarg became the ancestor of Clan Drummond.
• Clan Drummond abandoned Undvik for Great Skellige, angering Clan an Craite.

After finishing the monster contracts on Great Skellige, Lynn was summoned to Kaer Muire Castle by Lugos the One-Eyed. Lugos asked him to make someone disappear, but Lynn refused, citing the witchers’ neutrality.

• Lynn ate at a tavern in Port of Holmstein, where Clan Drummond soldiers arrived to summon him.
• Lynn followed the soldiers to Kaer Muire Castle and watched Lugos the One-Eyed win a staged sparring match.
• Lugos invited Lynn into the longhouse, shared Redania Lager with him, and asked whether he would make trouble disappear.
• Lynn told Lugos that witchers were not assassins and refused to take the job.

Lynn refused One-Eyed Lugos’s assassination offer, but agreed to help his son clear the Haunted Castle for two thousand ducats and the right to keep anything found there. One-Eyed sent Lynn to meet Madman Lugos, who bristled at being given a helper.

• Lynn rejected One-Eyed Lugos’s plan to have him assassinate Crach an Craite, explaining that assassination was disreputable and unjust.
• One-Eyed Lugos asked Lynn to accompany Madman Lugos on an expedition to clear the Haunted Castle, and Lynn agreed for two thousand ducats.
• Lynn demanded everything found in the Haunted Castle as an additional condition, and One-Eyed Lugos accepted.
• One-Eyed Lugos sent a guard to introduce Lynn to his son, who angrily protested that he needed no help.
• Lynn faced Madman Lugos’s glare and remarked that he had heard no one in Clan Drummond could match him.

Lynn introduced himself as a witcher and joined “Madman” Lugos’s expedition to clear the Haunted Castle, hoping the achievement would help Lugos persuade his father to reconcile with Clan an Craite. At camp beneath the castle, Lugos’s soldiers questioned the danger of the plan but ultimately chose to stay and fight beside him.

• Lynn explained that wraiths could pass through walls and could not be harmed by ordinary weapons, persuading “Madman” Lugos that a witcher’s help might be needed at the Haunted Castle.
• “Madman” Lugos welcomed Lynn after learning he was the witcher who had cleared monsters from the island.
• Lynn, “Madman” Lugos, Bjorn, Floki, and Judith traveled for two days to the Haunted Castle, where Lugos explained that he hoped clearing it would help him persuade his father to make peace with Clan an Craite.
• Lynn went alone to observe the castle while the others made camp at its foot.
• Floki and Bjorn questioned whether Lugos should risk the expedition and suggested raiding the Nilfgaardian coastline instead.
• Lugos told them they could return at dawn, but Floki and Bjorn withdrew their suggestion and chose to fight beside him.

Lynn taught the Skelligers how to fight wraiths and led them toward the haunted castle at noon, preparing himself with oils and potions. The group reached the castle gates, where Lynn’s potion-induced appearance left his companions wary.

• Lynn explained that Specter Oil and silver weapons could harm lesser wraiths, while higher wraiths required Signs or magic, and warned the group to retreat if they met one.
• Lynn volunteered to keep watch overnight, then delayed the group’s departure until noon to weaken the castle’s wraiths in the sunlight.
• Lynn led the group up the hill to the ruined castle, where the others coated their weapons with Superior Specter Oil.
• Lynn applied oil to his silver sword and drank several potions and Ancient Leshen Decoction to prepare for the fight.
• Lynn’s complexion changed as the potion toxicity took effect, prompting Bjorn to swear and the others to edge away from him.

Lynn and the Skellige warriors entered the haunted castle, where wraiths attacked them. Lynn used a Yrden Trap and his silver sword to destroy the wraiths, then warned the others to fight while staying alert for their sudden appearances.

• Judith asked what Lynn had drunk, and he explained that witcher potions were poisonous to ordinary people.
• Lugos worried the potions might make Lynn lose control like the Vildkaarl, but Lynn reassured him.
• After the potions took effect, Lynn and the warriors entered the castle and were paralyzed by the wraiths' chilling presence.
• Lynn pulled Lugos back, cast a large Yrden Trap, and killed two slowed wraiths with his silver sword.
• Lynn urged the warriors to attack inside the trap and swiftly destroyed another wraith as it appeared beside him.

Lynn and the Skelligers defeated the recurring evil spirits outside the keep, then Lynn entered alone because his witcher potion let him see in the dark and torches would hinder him. Inside, he found a ruined hall and a strangely pristine portrait hanging opposite the entrance.

• Lynn cut down three evil spirits, and the Skelligers joined him in fighting the horde inside the Yrden Trap.
• The evil spirits repeatedly revived, but each death weakened them until the Skelligers killed the last one.
• Lynn told Madman Lugos, Bjorn, Floki, and the others to stay outside because they could not see in the dark, and he explained that his potion was toxic to ordinary people.
• Madman Lugos gave Lynn a horn to summon help, and Lynn accepted it before heading to the keep.
• Lynn drank a Superior Cat Potion, cast a Quen Shield, and entered the keep alone.
• Lynn saw a dilapidated, dust-covered hall with a pristine portrait hanging opposite the entrance.

Lynn searched the castle’s main keep, fought the evil spirits haunting its ground floor, and climbed to an upper hall filled with portraits of the noblewoman and a knight. The staircase collapsed behind him as heavy footsteps and a dragging sound approached.

• Lynn burned the noblewoman’s portrait after her evil spirit emerged from it.
• Lynn searched the ground-floor rooms, then killed the evil spirits that trapped him in the corridor’s last room.
• Lynn dodged a falling chandelier and suspected that a powerful spirit was controlling the castle’s lesser evil spirits.
• Lynn reached the upper hall and found portraits depicting only the noblewoman and a knight.
• The doors closed and the staircase collapsed as heavy footsteps and a scraping sound approached Lynn.

Lynn fought a reanimated knight and the noblewoman’s evil spirit inside the keep, forcing them to teleport away before he could finish them. After resting and searching the upper floors, he found no trace of them and went to check the rooftop terrace.

• Lynn fought the reanimated knight, set it ablaze, and cut off its head, leaving it unable to fight.
• The noblewoman’s evil spirit attacked Lynn with a sonic blast, but he countered with Igni.
• The evil spirit teleported away with the reanimated knight before Lynn could strike it down.
• Lynn meditated, replenished his potions, and searched the second and third floors for the pair without finding them.
• Lynn decided to check the rooftop terrace before searching the first floor.

Lynn defeated the noblewoman’s evil spirit and uncovered the undead knight’s remains beneath the rooftop illusion. After burning and defeating the knight again, he searched the castle rooftop for the noblewoman’s body and found a narrow staircase and walkway leading nowhere else.

• Lynn bombarded the lantern Wraiths with superior Moon Dust bombs as the undead knight attacked with its halberd.
• Lynn anticipated the undead knight’s Blink, trapped it with Yrden, and killed the noblewoman’s evil spirit with three sword strikes.
• The rooftop illusion vanished, revealing the undead knight’s remains and dried-blood symbols.
• Lynn burned the undead knight’s remains with Igni and defeated it again after it reappeared.
• Lynn searched the rooftop, descended a short staircase, and followed a narrow wooden walkway to its dead end.

Lynn found the hidden chamber in Thornflower Castle, destroyed the noblewoman's wraith, and read a book revealing the castle's bloody history. He learned that the last Thornflower lord's turn to Svalblod worship led to a revolt and that the book's author, a spymaster who helped incite it, died trapped in the chamber.

• Lynn used Witcher Senses to find invisible ink on the outer wall and opened a concealed stone door.
• Lynn found two skeletons and burned them with Igni, causing the noblewoman's wraith to appear again.
• Lynn destroyed the wraith and read the book in the secret chamber.
• The book revealed that the last Thornflower family head abandoned the Lady of the Lake after his wife's death and turned to worshipping Svalblod.
• The Thornflower lord's misrule prompted a revolt, and the people stormed the castle after the guards' captain betrayed him.
• The book's author, a spymaster who had helped stir up the rebellion, escaped into the secret chamber but eventually died trapped inside.

Lynn cleared the two strongest evil spirits from Thornflower Castle and returned to Kaer Muire Castle with “Madman” Lugos and the others. At the celebratory feast, “Madman” Lugos proposed that Clan Drummond reconcile with the an Craite Clan, bringing the gathering to a sudden silence.

• Lynn took the gold and jewelry from Thornflower Castle’s secret chamber and escaped the keep without encountering another evil spirit.
• Lynn told “Madman” Lugos and the others that he had destroyed the two strongest higher evil spirits, then advised them to purify and demolish the castle before rebuilding.
• Two days later, “One-Eyed” Lugos rewarded Lynn and hosted a feast to celebrate the clearing of the Haunted Castle.
• Bjorn, Floki, and Judith entertained the feast with embellished tales of their adventures at the castle.
• “Madman” Lugos proposed that Clan Drummond end its border disputes and reconcile with the an Craite Clan, silencing the gathering.

Lynn gave Lugos "One-Eye" and his son his honest counsel, arguing that Clan Drummond should reconcile with the an Craite Clan for the sake of the isles' unity. Lugos "One-Eye" deferred the sensitive decision and ended the dispute, leaving reconciliation unresolved.

• Lugos "One-Eye" asked Lynn for his opinion after his son argued against continuing the feud with the an Craite Clan.
• Lynn advised that unity among the isles mattered alongside Clan Drummond's interests and agreed with young Lugos's call for reconciliation.
• Lugos "One-Eye" patted Lynn's shoulder, then said reconciliation was a complicated issue that could not be settled immediately.
• Lugos "One-Eye" praised Lynn's service to Clan Drummond, excused his blunt remarks, and urged the vassals to drink and dance.