Chapter Summaries

Gerd crossed the ditch under fire and rejoined the defenders as Earl Tulius sent fresh Nilfgaardian troops to continue attacking the palisade. The assault stalled at the ditch, but Nilfgaardian archers pinned down the defenders, leaving the battle unresolved.

• Gerd used bombs and a corpse for cover to cross the ditch while Lynn shot pursuing Nilfgaardian soldiers, and the Tuirseach troops sealed the palisade behind him.
• Earl Tulius ordered the Württemberg Infantry and the Nassau Infantry to withdraw after they suffered heavy casualties, and sent the Palatinate Infantry and the Lübeck Infantry to attack.
• Earl Tulius chose to press the assault because he feared failure would bring the emperor's wrath and cost him his position or life.
• The Palatinate Infantry and the Lübeck Infantry struggled to climb the ditch and palisade, where defenders killed or impaled men attempting to advance.
• Nilfgaardian archers outnumbered the an Craite archers and forced them and the Tuirseach troops behind the palisade to fall back.

Clan Drummond ambushed the Nilfgaardians with alchemical bombs, allowing Lynn to lead the an Craite and Tuirseach troops in a counterattack. The Nilfgaardians fled in panic despite still outnumbering the islanders.

• The Nilfgaardians cleared the palisade and advanced through the narrow passage toward the Tuirseach troops.
• Clan Drummond soldiers rose from the side ditches and hurled alchemical bombs into the packed Nilfgaardian ranks.
• Earl Torgil moved the Tuirseach troops aside, and Crach asked Lynn to lead the an Craite counterattack.
• Lynn charged with Gerd and the an Craite troops, using Gwyhyr and Aard to cut down Nilfgaardian soldiers.
• The Tuirseach and Drummond troops joined the assault, and the Nilfgaardian retreat turned into a rout driven by panic.

Lynn helped the Skelligers defeat Earl Tulius's Nilfgaardian landing force, then pursued the retreating fleet alone to prepare another attack. After secretly boarding a ship and disguising himself as a Nilfgaardian soldier, he learned that Earl Tulius and Charimir were aboard the flagship and swam toward it.

• Earl Tulius fled with the surviving Nilfgaardians, leaving more than six hundred soldiers behind, and the Skellige lords began clearing the battlefield.
• Lynn persuaded Earl Torgil, Crach, and "Madman" Lugos to keep the wounded Nilfgaardians alive as laborers.
• Lynn planned a new ambush and sent the three lords to gather reinforcements, while Gerd stayed behind to help.
• Lynn swam to the retreating fleet, boarded its last ship, and disguised himself in Nilfgaardian armor using the Glamarye.
• Lynn used the Axii Sign on a soldier to learn that Earl Tulius and Charimir were aboard the flagship, then swam toward it under cover of darkness.

Lynn infiltrated the Nilfgaardian flagship and killed Earl Tulius after Axii failed against the earl’s dimeritium necklace. He discarded the necklace and regained access to his Signs and pouch, then used Axii to control a guard who discovered the scene.

• Earl Tulius suspected the Druid Order had supplied the islanders with alchemical bombs and planned to retreat and report to the emperor.
• Lynn’s Axii failed when he tried to manipulate Earl Tulius, so he struck the earl down and stabbed him in the neck.
• Lynn found a dimeritium necklace on Earl Tulius, threw it into the sea, and regained the use of his Signs and runic leather pouch.
• A guard entered with food, found Lynn beside the dead earl, and Lynn used Axii to leave him vacant and compliant.

Lynn impersonated Earl Tulius and diverted the Nilfgaardian squadron to Ashton Port Town, where he used Axii to secure supplies. He then led the squadron into a Skellige ambush, leaving the Nilfgaardians defeated and their ships captured.

• Lynn used Axii to make a guard forget what he had seen, then killed Earl Tulius and took his clothes and appearance with Glamarye.
• As Earl Tulius, Lynn ordered the squadron back to Ashton Port Town and used Axii to make the mayor authorize the Nilfgaardians to take supplies.
• Lynn brought the squadron to an uninhabited harbor, where Skellige soldiers and longships ambushed the Nilfgaardians as they landed.
• Lynn killed the guards on the flagship, revealed his true appearance, and returned to his witcher gear as the Nilfgaardians surrendered.
• Earl Torgil, Crach, and Lugos celebrated capturing the squadron, its supplies, and its ships, while the Nilfgaardian prisoners were put to work.

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.