Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

You’ve reached the laboratory of Professor Moreau. Now to conduct a search into exactly what he was researching. Discover the following using your Witcher Senses.

• A vat with the remains of an unwilling test subject.
• A piece of intriguing machinery; a contraption looking a little like an iron maiden, but you lack the knowledge to start it up.
• A bookcase with tomes on mutations and genetics. There’s also a long, carved shelf with a row of preserved organs.
• A megascope with five entries to view. Entries #2 and #4 are missing the required megascope crystal. Assuming you’ve gathered the crystals, you can watch the late Professor explain his findings at each major point during his experimentation period.
• First Entry: The start of the Professor’s great endeavor, begun to help save his son, Jerome. A device has been devised to study mutations in the hopes to reverse those that have plagued his child.
• Second Entry (Crystal required): Despite applying toxicity to his experimental subject, Moreau records no overdosing symptoms. His mutations allow better toxicity toleration!
• Third Entry: Research indicates the mutation must be applied continuously, and to prevent this from killing his subjects, he adds the albumen of a mutated giant centipede egg.
• Fourth Entry (Crystal required): A method is discovered by which one type of mutagen may be transmuted into another through the addition of ingredients.
• Fifth Entry: All the years of experiments are for nought! Each “cure” that was applied only deepened his mutations, further augmenting his speed and strength. What was a failure for Moreau could be a boon for you!

It seems centipede albumen is likely the catalyst to help with your pursuance of augmenting yourself with the Professor’s mutations. Look for the open cage door near the bookcase, and step through the hole in the wall to where the professor’s centipedes have burrowed. Enter the cave and slaughter the two Pale Widow Giant Centipedes. If you’re having trouble, consult the Bestiary entry. Head to the back (roughly south) of the cave, climb a rock ledge to an upper tunnel, and face a third Pale Widow. This one is guarding three egg sacs. Use your Witcher Senses to spot them, gather the albumen (only one is needed) and return to the laboratory.

Locate the contraption that looks a little like an iron maiden, and open the hatch in the back, placing the albumen in there. The contraption opens up, but doesn’t start up. Enter your Inventory Menu, and remove all your armor and swords. You can keep your pants and boots if you suffer from gymnophobia. Step into the contraption, and hold your breath…moments later, you are imbued with powerful new capabilities; mutations that normal men could never even hope to acquire! Welcome to the mutations system!

All that remains is to leave this elven ruin, and you’re fortunate that an exit portal is accessible at the end of the laboratory corridor to the northeast. Find the crystal on the right wall, and charge it using a blast of Aard. This opens the portal. Step through, and you appear underwater, on the opposite side to the portal you entered the ruins from. This quest concludes, though you’re only getting started researching your Mutations!