Petting The Big Cats

Begin your tour by heading west along the main road to Astre Castle Ruins, but veer off to the left (southwest), and follow the shallow valley stream until you reach the panthers’ investigative area. With your Witcher Senses, listen for sound pulses coming from the lightly wooded glade ahead of you, and slowly move forward until you’re faced with some grunting and panting; a bear is roaming these woods (this is the first circular investigation area). The Count isn’t eager to face one, so move on. You can:

• At distance, before the Bear sees you, retreat in the opposite direction, so you aren’t seen. This is the Count’s preference.
• Or, you can kill the bear, either by ignoring the Count’s pleas, or by getting too close and having the bear charge you. Either incurs the Count’s wrath. Don’t do this when the actual beasts the Count wants to see are encountered! Should you run into him by accident, you can still run away and disengage from combat.

Head roughly south, watching for red sound pulses, until you encounter a small herd of deer. Though the Count is pleasantly surprised, he’s here for the big cats, so turn and creep roughly westward, toward a large oak tree, and around to some low exposed rocks along a faint hunter’s trail. There are two panthers here, a mother and cub. But what’s this?! The mother seems incapacitated in a poacher’s trap!

Use your Witcher Senses to uncover more poacher traps dotted around the vicinity of the trapped animal. To avoid the creature turning violent, use Axii to calm it, then open the trap to free it while the Count uses his parestisomach. Unfortunately, the flash from the device upsets the animals, meaning you need to retreat back to a trail and leave the animals be. The Count has his memory though! Should you free the Panther without calming him first, it will attack you. However, you can still save it, by using Axii during the combat. The Panthers will retreat, and the Count will be pleased with your work.