Highway To The Danger Zone

The Beauclair Coopers’ Guild is looking for an escort to help a merchant convoy navigate an area threatened by a beast known as the “Great White Terror”. Gallop northward, toward the Trading Post deep in the Vedette Valley. When you arrive, it appears by the ruined tents and wanton carnage, that you’re just a little too late to help the guild members, whose remains can be seen scattered about the forest clearing.

Finding out exactly what happened here requires a thorough inspection of the area using your Witcher Senses. Areas of importance include:

• Fresh blood; this attack was recent.
• Signs of a fight with paw prints just in one spot, an attack from the air?
• A poster note regarding the “danger zone” of the White Terror, which you’re apparently trespassing into.
• A merchant bled to death after being struck by a big beast, with claw marks and a throat ripped open.

You surmise this was an attack from a Draconid, but not a variety you’ve encountered before. After your surmation, you’re interrupted by a man of fancy ways and means, who has implicit knowledge of this attack; this is Count Borhis di Salvaress; the man responsible for posting the signs of the “White Terror” around Toussaint, and a true (bordering on insane) animal lover. He has put his mind to saving the “last surviving basilisk” (mainly, it seems, because the beast is a subspecies of his dynastic symbol). You can ask him about paying off the families of the victims, whether he’s sticking to his story, and who exactly he is. When you ask where the beast is, he refuses to help, as you’ll just kill it!

The investigation continues. Using your Witcher Senses, look for further evidence, such as:

• Basilisk scales on the ground. The beast is sensitive to fire; a fact the Count readily confirms.
• Strange burn marks on a log; it looks like the beast spits highly toxic venom.
• Busted barrels indicate tannin was inside (used to treat leather).

Now you have two scents (the venom and the tannin) to sniff out, you can follow a meandering trail, with the Count accompanying you to see no harm comes to his “pet.” While he follows you, he will mention a suspicion he has. According to him, the merchants scent their goods on purpose, to use the beast for the destruction of their goods in order to ask for later compensation. Head farther into the woods until you reach a patch of long grass. Examine it, as the odor has dispersed, the Basilisk must be high in the sky. Follow the trail of blood marks roughly westward until you pick up the trail again, and finally discover the crumpled remains of the second victim. The poor fellow seems to have been dropped here, but why? Search the corpse for a note, which you can optionally read. Reading the note gives you a hint that the Count’s suspicion may be true.