Chapter Summaries

Lynn’s party entered the silent forest after disembarking from the barge, and Lynn sensed an imminent attack. The chapter ended as something rushed through the trees toward them.

• After nearly a week on the Adalatte River, Ser Royce led the party ashore and organized the soldiers around Tyrion’s caravan.
• The party traveled into the gloomy forest, where the unnatural absence of animal sounds unsettled Lynn.
• Lynn warned the others, drank four superior potions, and told them to prepare for an attack.
• Ser Royce formed the soldiers into a shield circle while Tyrion’s guards took up crossbows, and Marillion pleaded for a weapon.
• The party heard something moving swiftly through the woods.

Lynn, Triss, Ser Royce, and the caravan guards fought off a pack of undead wolves in Brokilon. After the wolves fled, an enormous dark shape charged through the forest toward them.

• Ser Royce rallied the soldiers, and Tyrion ordered the caravan guards to fire at the undead wolves surrounding them.
• Triss cast a magical barrier while Ser Royce discovered that severing the wolves' heads and black roots destroyed them.
• Lynn cut down and burned the undead wolves as the soldiers fought beside the barrier, until the remaining wolves fled.
• Triss maintained her protective magic while Lynn stayed on guard and the exhausted survivors rested.
• The ground shook, and an enormous dark shape charged through the forest, knocking down trees as it approached.

Lynn fought and killed an enormous bear carrying a greatsword embedded in its neck, using his potions, bombs, and Signs to outmaneuver it. After the bear fell, he exposed and burned the black roots inside it, leaving the onlookers wondering what had infected the animals.

• Ser Royce formed a shield wall as the giant bear charged, and Lynn told his men to protect the sorceress and the others while they retreated.
• Lynn stunned the bear with Superior Samum Bombs, then wounded its hind legs with his silver sword as it attacked.
• The bear pulled the greatsword from its neck and swung it wildly, but Lynn dodged its strikes and severed the paw holding the weapon.
• Lynn tossed a Superior Dragon's Dream into the bear's mouth, ignited it, and drove his sword into the nape of its neck.
• Lynn opened the bear's body and detonated bombs inside, revealing burning black roots that writhed out as the onlookers watched in horror.

After a frightening encounter in the forest, Tyrion asked Triss whether Necromancy could explain what they had seen, but she could offer no answer. Marillion shared a legend about beings that erased every trace of those they devoured, and Lynn urged the group to stay cautious as they continued through the forest.

• Tyrion asked Triss whether Necromancy could have caused the earlier phenomenon, and she explained that its effects did not match what she knew of the forbidden art.
• Marillion told the campfire group a legend about an ancient race that devoured intelligent beings and erased all traces of their existence.
• After Ser Royce left to tend his horse, Lynn reminded the group that they were still in danger and told them to eat, rest, and keep moving.
• Lynn meditated while Triss replenished her magical power from the fire, and the others rested before the party set off again.
• As the group continued through the hot, humid forest, a young caravan guard complained that he wished they had a bard to sing for them.

Lynn and Ser Royce’s group camped overnight in a dark forest after a long day of travel. Lynn took the first watch, slept through the morning, and was woken by Triss after the sun had risen high.

• Ser Royce asked the caravan guards whether they could eat mushrooms they found, and Triss reassured the group that she could obtain food through a portal.
• The group stopped in the dark forest and set up camp, with Ser Royce arranging three shifts of four men to keep watch.
• Lynn drank a Superior Cat Potion and stood the first watch with three soldiers, while feeling that he had forgotten something important.
• A soldier relieved Lynn, and Lynn went to sleep in his tent.
• Triss woke Lynn the next morning, and he emerged to find the sun already high.

Lynn and Triss discovered that something in Brokilon’s forest had erased their memories of the other people traveling with them and dragged their companions away. Lynn followed the tracks into the forest with Triss to search for survivors.

• Triss told Lynn they were investigating missing Kerack merchants in Brokilon, and recounted how they had reached their campsite.
• Lynn suspected there had been others with them and used the Eye of Nehaleni to reveal eleven additional tents and many footprints.
• Lynn identified a drag mark and concluded that a living tree had taken their companions deep into the forest.
• Lynn drank several superior potions, and he and Triss followed the trail to search for the missing people.

Lynn and Triss discovered that the Mother Tree of Flesh had captured people and erased them from memory, then faced an attack by its undead animal servants. The chapter left them shielded as Lynn’s thrown vials froze the air around the charging wolves.

• Lynn stopped Triss from attacking a living forest wolf, but black roots seized it and dragged it into the forest.
• Lynn and Triss reached a giant black tree and found Ser Royce, Tyrion, and Marillion trapped alive in its sacs.
• Triss identified the tree as a Mother Tree of Flesh that consumed intelligent beings, erased memories of them, and controlled animal corpses with its roots.
• The Mother Tree sent the dead wolves around it to attack Lynn and Triss.
• Lynn drank three potions, burned the advancing wolves with Igni, and threw four vials at the flanking pack before shielding himself and Triss with Quen.

Lynn and Triss fought the Mother Tree of Flesh and the corpse monster it created. Triss began a powerful finishing attack, leaving the monster’s fate uncertain.

• Lynn froze the surrounding wolves with a Superior Northern Wind Bomb, and Triss burned the Mother Tree of Flesh with a giant bird of flame.
• The wounded tree expelled corpses that joined together into a crawling monster, while its canopy drooped.
• Lynn pushed Triss out of the path of the monster’s acid attack and drew its attention while she prepared a spell.
• Lynn dodged the monster’s attacks and bombarded it with alchemical bombs, finding that fire caused the most damage but could not stop it from regenerating.
• Triss pulled Lynn back with a magical rope as a giant fireball descended onto the monster and exploded in a mushroom cloud.

Lynn and Triss destroyed the Mother Tree of Flesh, rescued the captives, and returned them through a portal to Kerack. Lynn also rescued an unconscious green-skinned dryad, whose identity Ser Royce and Tyrion kept from King Belohun.

• Lynn and Triss confirmed the Mother Tree of Flesh had died, then freed Tyrion and the other captives from its storage sacs.
• Tyrion clung to Lynn in relief, and the rescued group thanked their rescuers as they recovered.
• Lynn returned to the dead tree and carried out an unconscious green-skinned woman with pointed ears.
• Triss explained that the Mother Tree of Flesh was still juvenile, and the group abandoned plans to open a trade route through the ancient forest.
• Marillion and the others crossed Triss's portal to Kerack, while Ser Royce and Tyrion chose not to reveal that Lynn had rescued a dryad.

Lynn freed the dryad healer Aglaïs and sent her back to her companions, insisting that he served no king. The next day, he woke in Triss’s Novigrad home after spending the night with her, and they shared breakfast together.

• Lynn told Aglaïs he knew her name and healing work, then offered to let her go free.
• Aglaïs summoned her companions with a flute, and Lynn sent her off with greetings for Lady Eithné.
• Triss teleported herself and Lynn back to her Novigrad home, where they spent the night together.
• Lynn woke beside Triss the next morning, and she asked him to call her by her name and stay in bed longer.
• Triss used magic to prepare breakfast, then stopped urging Lynn to eat vegetables when he claimed he was allergic to green.

Lynn declined Triss's offer to return to Vizima, but moved into the house she had rented for him in Novigrad. Seeking help with housework, he asked Vimme to find servants and was introduced to a frightened, white-haired elven girl.

• Triss offered Lynn a place beside her in Vizima, but he refused because he wanted to protect the School of the Wolf from future danger.
• Triss let Lynn borrow her Novigrad house, promised to return with his remaining payment in a week, and gave him a voice box to contact her.
• Two days later, Lynn moved into the house with his horse, Nidhogg, and decided to hire help with housework.
• Lynn visited Vivaldi Bank and asked Vimme to find one or two temporary servants, specifying that they should be hardworking, honest, and trustworthy.
• Vimme brought in a filthy, thin elven girl with white hair and ruby-like eyes, and introduced her as Lynn's prospective new servant.

Lynn agreed to give a poor, orphaned girl a one-month trial as his servant after Vimme offered her to him. Vimme explained that the Children of Freedom had destroyed her village, then told Lynn that Ruxe wanted to see him about an important matter.

• Vimme offered Lynn a homeless girl as a servant, and Lynn agreed to give her a one-month trial with room to stay and proper wages if she proved capable.
• Lynn asked Vimme how the girl had reached Novigrad, and Vimme said her village east of the Kestrel Mountains had been destroyed and her family had died fleeing.
• Vimme blamed the Children of Freedom for the attack and accused the Nilfgaardians of manipulating them.
• Vimme told Lynn that Ruxe had visited several times and wanted Lynn to meet him soon about an important matter.

Triss traveled to Thanedd Island to ask Tissaia for a Permanent Extension Charm with an interior as large as a villa. Her request led Margarita to suspect that Triss had fallen seriously in love, and Triss left her suspicions unanswered.

• Triss rode through Gors Velen's gates and continued to Thanedd Island, where Aretuza Academy stood.
• Triss went to Headmistress Margarita Laux-Antille and asked where Tissaia was so she could request a favor.
• Triss told Margarita she needed Tissaia to cast a Permanent Extension Charm with space at least the size of a villa.
• Margarita asked whether Triss had fallen in love with someone, and Triss refused to discuss it.
• Margarita teased Triss for being seriously in love, while Triss did not deny it.

Lynn accepted Professor Gloger's request to protect an expedition searching for the lost elven city of Aet Aye, suspecting the other witcher was from the dangerous School of the Cat. He then left the Vivaldi Bank with the newly cleaned-up girl, whose growling stomach she tried to deny.

• Myshelle asked Lynn to protect Professor Gloger's expedition to the ruins of Aet Aye, and Lynn accepted the commission.
• Myshelle explained that the sponsor had assigned another witcher whose threatening behavior made Professor Gloger uneasy.
• Lynn recalled that a School of the Cat witcher had doomed the expedition in another timeline and decided he should help Professor Gloger and Myshelle.
• Lynn asked Lucas to arrange daily deliveries of meat and vegetables to his residence, then took the girl with him from the Vivaldi Bank.
• As they passed a restaurant, the girl's stomach growled, but she insisted the sound had not come from her.

Lynn fed Kasja, brought her to his temporary home in Novigrad, and set the terms for her work. Days later, he arrived at the Oxenfurt excavation and confronted the hostile School of the Cat witcher guarding Professor Gloger’s party.

• Lynn took Kasja to a restaurant and encouraged her to eat until she was full.
• Lynn brought Kasja to his rented home, explained the rules and promised her a wage if she did well.
• Lynn told Kasja to rest and begin work the next day, while planning to make Novigrad a secret witcher base.
• Days later, Professor Gloger’s students and laborers gathered near Oxenfurt’s gates with a witcher assigned to protect the expedition.
• Lynn arrived on horseback, and the School of the Cat witcher insulted him and blocked his way.
• Lynn dismounted and challenged the School of the Cat witcher’s hostile welcome.

Lynn confronted the Cat witcher Kiyan after arriving as Professor Gloger’s hired helper, but Gloger prevented their fight by agreeing to pay Lynn himself. After Lynn explained the differences among witcher schools, the story shifted to Prince Adrian sitting in his study at Drahim Manor.

• Kiyan threatened Lynn, and Lynn challenged him to test whether his sword or Signs were faster.
• Professor Gloger intervened and explained that he had hired Lynn to help with the dangerous ruins of Aet Aye.
• Gloger offered to pay Lynn himself, so Kiyan backed down and made an uneasy apology.
• Lynn told Gloger that witchers’ reactions to one another depended on their school and individual temperament.
• The scene shifted to Prince Adrian sitting in his study at Drahim Manor.

Prince Adrian hired Kiyan to kill Lynn and ordered him to wait until Gloger found the treasure in the elven ruins. Kiyan pretended to reconcile with Lynn, then poisoned the camp’s communal food and attacked Lynn’s tent at night.

• Prince Adrian told Kiyan to eliminate Lynn, offering triple pay, while instructing him to wait for Gloger to uncover the valuable treasure.
• Kiyan apologized to Lynn, claiming his incomplete Trial of the Grasses had caused him to lose control, and Lynn accepted the apology outwardly.
• Lynn revealed after Kiyan left that he knew Kiyan’s story was false and that a miserable fate awaited him.
• Kiyan drugged the communal food, took a potion, coated his blade with poison, and approached Lynn’s tent during his night watch.
• Kiyan murmured that Lynn should not blame him and thrust his poisoned blade down into the tent.

Lynn caught Kiyan attempting to kill him, defeated and killed him, then secretly disposed of the body. The next morning, Lynn joined Professor Gloger and the students to investigate Kiyan’s disappearance, and they prepared to follow the footprints leading away from camp.

• Lynn revealed that he had anticipated Kiyan’s attack and hid in a neighboring tent while Kiyan stabbed an empty bed.
• Kiyan attacked Lynn, but Lynn dodged his sword strikes, punched him unconscious, and snapped his neck.
• Lynn carried Kiyan’s corpse far from camp, washed off the blood, and returned to his tent before morning.
• Professor Gloger and the students told Lynn that Kiyan had disappeared and showed him footprints leading away from camp.
• Lynn suggested that Kiyan had left after noticing something on patrol and agreed to follow the footprints with the group.

Lynn led Professor Gloger and the students to a reed bed, where he killed the Nekkers and arranged for Kiyan to be remembered as a hero. After Marco and Gottfried returned from burning the monsters’ bodies, Professor Gloger promised to have Kiyan’s story made into a ballad.

• Lynn led Professor Gloger, Myshelle, Marco, and Gottfried to a reed bed and warned them that Kiyan’s tracks went inside.
• Lynn told the group that Kiyan might be dead and entered the reeds to fight the Nekkers.
• Lynn killed the Nekkers, then asked Marco and Gottfried to burn their bodies while he returned to camp with Professor Gloger and Myshelle.
• Marco and Gottfried returned to camp sickened by what they had seen and began vomiting.
• Professor Gloger declared that he would find a bard to make Kiyan’s story into a ballad.

Professor Gloger found the ruins of the elven city-state Aet Aye in the wilderness northeast of Oxenfurt. Lynn cautiously opened the palace entrance and signaled for Professor Gloger, his students, and the workers to join him, leaving the dark passage unexplored.

• Professor Gloger identified the ruins in a crater-like basin as Aet Aye, confirming the location he had spent years researching.
• Professor Gloger asked Lynn to scout the ruins before the workers began their excavation.
• Lynn circled the ruins, then approached the palace entrance and found no danger with his enhanced senses or Wolf Medallion.
• Lynn cast Quen, set an Yrden Trap, drank a Superior Swallow Potion, and forced open the enormous iron door.
• Lynn braced the open door with rocks and signaled Professor Gloger, who arrived with his students and the workers to inspect the ruins.