Start
Having visited the city for the first time, we will be shown a cutscene of another sorceress being publicly burned in the central square. The Eternal Fire dominates the streets, destroying all evil spirits, including magicians and magicians. Hard times have come for wizards in Novigrad.
And so, we are interested Triss. Let’s go to her house, it is very close, almost on the square itself. We pass through the gate and see two marauders. The men will immediately begin to show aggression, deciding that we claim their prey. We will have a choice hit them or just talk.
In any case, we learn from them that the sorcerers are forced to flee and we should search the Rotten Groverun by the King of Beggars. Only now they do not know where to look for this place, but we can turn to the poor or thieves, wandering the streets, forced to pay tribute to the King of Beggars. Marauders will also warn of danger – even Menge (this is the head of the temple guard) does not climb into the Rotten Grove.
In general, the goal is clear – it is necessary to find the thief and follow him, although we can also ask the beggars.
Looking for clues and the Rotten Grove
Before heading to the main market, I advise you to look into the house of the sorceress and look for clues. On the first floor we will find herbs and a comb, on the second all sorts of magical things, and on the third we will find clothes and the Rose of Memory, which Gerald once gave.
After searching the house of Triss, we set off to look for the Rotten Grove. We have three options:
- Find the thief and follow him.
- By asking the beggars.
- Find an alternative entrance through the sewers.
Next, let’s look at each of the methods.
Follow the thief
As soon as we enter the Main Market, we will immediately become witnesses of theft – a pickpocket insolently pulls a bag of coins from a city dweller. I think you understand who we need – a man in a hood. You will find it near the armor.
We follow the thief, keeping our distance. On the way, a poor man will become attached to us and start begging. If we ask him “Where is the King of Beggars?”, then he will immediately get rid of. We continue to follow the thief. On the way, he will hand over the stolen goods to someone – Gerald will notice this, and they will show us in close-up.
After that, we follow the second person to whom the money was transferred. If we go further after the thief in the hood, then we will be ambushed.
As a result, we will come to the entrance to the Rotten Grove. We knock on the gate and chat with the guard, he will require a password or an entrance fee of 50 orens. Plus, you need to hand over your weapons. We will have a choice:
- Pay 50 orens. We get 5 experience.
- Use the Aksy sign. The weapon will still have to be left, but we will get 35 experience points. To do this, you need to pump the skill “Deception” to level 2.
Talk to beggars
In the Main Market we will find a lot of beggars, but we need a specific one, everyone else will not really tell anything, and we will spend extra money. The necessary poor man sits on the scaffolding directly near Vivaldi.
At first he will refuse to tell the location of the Rotten Grove, asking to contact him later. Thereafter start talking again and asking the same question. This time he will tell you where to look for the Rotten Grove and at the same time tell you the password for free entry – “The old pig bred gilts.”
Through the sewers
By choosing this method, we no experience points for finding Rotten Grove, and thieves will be extremely unhappy our appearance. To find the entrance through the sewers, we set off on the bridge “Gate of Glory”.
Barrels with smuggling will float in the water here. The entrance is located under the right arch under the bridge. You will immediately notice it, as you swim up to the smuggling.
Inside we will find several drowners. Kill monsters and searching the corpse take the key, open the grate and go upstairs. There we are met by disgruntled thieves and a fight begins.
In general, this is not the best way to meet the King of Beggars, so it is better to choose one of the previous ones.
Rotten Grove
Using one of the three described methods, we pass into the Rotten Grove and head to the King of Beggars, he is already talking to Triss. We get acquainted with Francis Bedlam, he will introduce himself and tell about his future plans for Novigrad. Talking to the King follow Triss. We leave the gate and talk to the sorceress.
We tell her that Ciri was in Novigrad and needs help in the search. Triss will agree to help, but first we must solve her problem with the delivery of magical herbs. The smuggler Umnik was supposed to deliver the package to the sorceress, but was frightened by the approaching guards and threw the package into the river. I’ll have to dive. Well, there is nothing to do, then we follow Triss.
Valuable cargo for Triss
The red-haired girl will lead us to Clever (the same unfortunate courier) to find out more about the place where he threw the parcel with herbs. During the conversation, the guards will approach the house, it will no longer be possible to go back through the door. Egghead says escape through the basement.
Below we kill the drowned man and looking for a secret door. Using the witcher’s flair, on the central column we click on the brick.
We leave with Triss to the place where Egghead dropped the bundle of herbs. An area for research will appear on the map, we dive and turn on the witcher’s flair again. At the bottom we will find a couple of chests with useful resources, equipment and blueprints. The bundle itself will lie near the broken boat.
Now we return to Triss, give the package, listen to thanks and follow her again.
rat trap
The bag of herbs was needed in order to destroy the mice in the warehouse of Brandon’s customer. He knew from the very beginning that a famous sorceress in Novigrad would be called to order to exterminate the rats. In connection with recent events for Triss, such orders were the only way to earn money. We will have the opportunity to intervene in the dialogue by demanding payment in advance:
- “For work.” Triss won’t get the money.
- “You will pay up front.” Brandon isn’t going anywhere and will pay the full amount right away.
- “Pay us half.” Triss will only receive 50% of the total order value.
After we go to the warehouse and lay out the poison in the corners of the room, then we tell Triss that we have done everything. While the spell is in effect, there will be time to chat with the sorceress. I’ll tell you right now – no matter what you answer her in the dialogue (including the question about Yennefer), this will not affect your future relationship with Triss if you decide to have an affair with her.
Immediately after the conversation, the traps will work and the rats will start to run away from the warehouse, and Brandon and the Witch Hunters will come to us. Everything was clear from the very beginning – Triss was betrayed (it was not in vain that they demanded money in advance).
Fighting the guards and leave the warehouse. Brandon is waiting outside, sure that the sorceress and the witcher have been captured. The merchant will be frightened when he sees the angry face of Gerald and will begin to ask for mercy, for which the White Wolf will demand double payment for the set-up. There is nothing to do and Brandon will calmly pay.
After that, we chat with the sorceress again. She will thank you for your help and tell you to contact Corina Tilly, who is a oneiromancer and can help with the search for Ciri. If you plan to start an affair with Triss, then choose softer answers in the dialogue, for example, at the end it doesn’t hurt to say – “It was nice to meet you.”
This completes the passage of the task “Bonfires of Novigrad” in The Witcher 3 and the next begins – “Dream in the City”in which we will get to know the oneiromancer and learn another part of the history of Ciri.
