First Trial: Marksmanship Duel

The tournament is about to begin! When you’re ready to face your first challenger, head down to the shooting range. You’re waylaid by your friend Palmerin, who is waiting his turn at this challenge; he faces Rainfarn of Attre, who seems to be preparing for archery by inhaling fisstech. Palmerin mentions that the marksmanship duel may be slightly trickier than you may have thought, as the sun will be in your eyes. Palmerin, even though he’s a southerner, suggests you play a quick round of Gwent. Win, and you swap places in the duel, with a more favorable view of the targets. Palmerin plays a strong Scoia’tael deck.

You can:

Agree, challenge him to Gwent, and win. The sun won’t be in your eyes during the duel, which now takes place in late afternoon.

Agree, challenge him to Gwent, and lose. Or refuse the game of Gwent. The sun is in your eyes during the duel.

The tournament now begins (in the morning with the sun in your eyes, or late afternoon if you beat Palmerin at Gwent). After a fanfare and some pomp and circumstance from Le Papillon the bard, you begin your duel with Horm Akerspaark.

Unlike in practice, there are 18 targets, with nine for you to hit (red) and nine for Horm to strike (blue and white). If the sun is in your eyes, it’s a little more difficult to make out the colors, so refer to the nearby picture to see where each red target is (Geralt’s head obscures one red target, and his sword hilt obscures one blue and white target).

Depending on the difficulty, Horm can be quite adept. Utilize the tactics you learned during practice to soundly thrash him, but you shouldn’t expect an easy victory on the higher difficulty levels.

After the duel, you have a brief opportunity to speak to Lady Vivienne (and if you win, she presents you with a crossbow adorned with your crest). You can ask her about the other prizes, or that your medallion is humming when she is close by; the latter results in an evasive answer from Vivienne. After a brief congratulation (or commiseration) from Horm, you meet up with Guilaume again. You agree Vivienne is cursed in some way. Guilaume has found which tent she occupies, and reckons searching it might grant you further clues.

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