The Unforgiven

The Unforgiven is the last quest in Act III. It is given to Geralt by Declan Leuvaarden and sees our hero finally locate the Salamandra's base of operations.

Walkthrough
Having completed Lock and Key and All the King's Men for Triss and Leuvaarden, Geralt goes back to the inn to discuss his next move. Declan tells him that things are actually worse than he anticipated and that it would be a good idea to bring in some backup, either from the Scoia'tael or the Order. Based on his experience with the factions leading up to this point, the witcher makes his decision.


 * Scoia'tael path: The witcher decides to side with the Scoia'tael and Yaevinn, so he goes to Vivaldi's house to speak to the elf, or
 * Order path: The witcher decides to side with the Order of the Flaming Rose and Siegfried, so he finds the knight, who is at his post outside the Cloister and makes a proprosal.

His ally agrees to join him and the witcher then goes to inform Triss that backup has been secured. She says that she will set up the meeting at the New Narakort but that Geralt should wrap up any unfinished business first. [She really means it here! Do anything that you still need to in Act III, you won't get another chance, the second time you speak with her, the conversation will trigger the final events in this Act.]

The sorceress has had the opportunity to examine the magic stone the witcher found at the Salamandra hideout in the restricted area. The last communication "on" it came from somewhere very near by, so on his way to the New Narakort, Geralt stops by Radovid's hideout and has a little chat with him. [If you forgot to speak to him earlier, this option won't present itself.]

He then continues on his way. Upon entering to the inn, depending on his choice in the Beauty and the Beast quest,


 * Spared and cured the werewolf: Geralt is greeted by Vincent Meis who tells him that the Salamandra are onto him. He and the City Guards will then help the witcher as he is attacked by Salamandra, or Spared but did not cure the werewolf: Geralt is first greeted by Vincent in human form, who tells him that the Salamandra are onto him. He then switches to werewolf form and, along with the City Guards, helps the witcher as he is attacked by Salamandra, or
 * Killed the werewolf: Geralt is "greeted" by the City Guard and their Salamandra informant who positively identifies the witcher as the murderer of Captain Vincent Meis, saying he personally witnessed the whole scene, which might be a half-truth. The witcher tries to explain that Vincent was a werewolf but the guards will have none of it so he is then forced to fight the four city guardsmen and one Salamandra mage.

After the set-to and subsequent looting of corpses (hey! our witcher is an environmentally conscious guy, he doesn't just leave garbage lying around), Geralt heads upstairs to the reception room for the rendezvous with Triss, Leuvaarden and his ally who are busily brewing their own grand plan. Unfortunately the meeting is interrupted by Roderick de Wett and some knights of the Order. Since they have no other options, Triss utters the phrase "Alk'h imbagha, harr'a...! Dar'kh ambra der' ha DREAN!" and teleports the witcher and his ally directly to the Salamandra base.

Our hero then finds himself in a cave, the Salamandra base presumably, but alone. Oh well, better than in the middle of a crowded hall full of bad guys, but where is his backup? He looks around and sees some old roots blocking the corridor and decides to break through using a little Aard. He then fights his way through the five or six Salamandra asassins and thugs guarding the place, does a little more "shopping" among the remains, and then continues down the next corridor, hopefully to find Yaevinn (or Siegfried).




 * Yaevinn: Yaevinn is indeed waiting at the end of the corridor and fills the witcher in on what has happened, including the fact that Triss cast Alzur's shield on our hero as she teleported him. The elf then points him to the portal, making it clear that there is no time to waste, or
 * Siegfried: Siegfried is indeed waiting at the end of the corridor and does the same, but blusters on about elven devices before pointing Geralt to the portal and making it clear that they must hurry.

The witcher spies the Professor and Azar Javed at the back of the cave, standing in front of a different portal (more of a round white luminous area). A large group of Salamandra, including two mages stands between him and his targets. He activates the portal and allows the reinforcements to come through. [At first it looks like only three of them come through, but it is obvious later that more of them have arrived so the "reinforcements" are not as laughable as they initially seem].

A battle, of course ensues and once all the Salamandra assailants have been neutralized, Geralt proceeds to where Azar Javed and the Professor are standing. This initiates a chat with Azar Javed and our hero is subjected to the mad mage's explanation of the "Grand Plan". But enough posturing, he forces the issue and goes to finish off Javed. Just as he winds up to deliver his first blow, he is knocked unconscious by the mage who flees through his own portal exclaiming that he has no counter spells for Alzur's shield. Once again he leaves the Professor behind to deal with the witcher alone. The Professor is no fool and runs away down the corridor towards another cave.

When Geralt regains consciousness, he finds his allies are on the other side of a magic barrier, so he is forced to go on alone. He follows the only available corridor through what will be the first of several archways (rough-looking wooden support structures) into another cave. There he finds the Professor at very back of the chamber with a few minions around to help protect him (as if they could!). The witcher fights his way to the scoundrel and they have a touching exchange of views, which ends with a bit more swordplay and the Professor being knocked down.

He tries to crawl away but he is on his back. He asks for mercy and some classic Witcher humour ensues. Apparently the witcher isn't in a mood to be showing any mercy. The Professor then makes one last desperate attempt to thwart his nemesis by shooting him with his wrist-mounted mini-crossbow. The witcher then demonstrates the he can indeed parry arrows (or bolts) in flight after all! The Professor then shoots what appears to be some of the stolen witcher equipment from the lab at Kaer Morhen which triggers some sort of explosion and they both to drop down into the cave below, the Kikimore queen's lair.

After picking himself up, Geralt sees that the Professor is still not dead, and is in fact "holding" the witcher's steel sword for him (he's impaled on it). Just as our hero goes to retrieve his weapon, a Kikimore queen erupts from somewhere further underground and finishes off the Professor in a fairly dramatic manner leaving our hero to deal with the gigantic creature alone.

Rather than embarking on a suicide mission, Geralt decides to run straight to the other side of the cave when the queen dives underground. She resurfaces, but luckily not before our hero makes it to the other side. He continues through the archway into the corridor, then spins around and immediately casts Aard to collapse the structure. He then sees more smaller kikimora ahead but decides to ignore them. He proceeds, each time he passes an archway he repeating the same process.

The third archway leads to a larger chamber which has a corridor leading out of it. The witcher heads for it hoping to find an exit. On the way he passes one last support post which seems to be carrying an even greater load than the others. He turns around and casts Aard on it, like the previous supports. The entire cave collapses behind him, crushing the Kikimore queen and at the same time revealing an exit.

Geralt loots the queen's remains. Since she ate the professor, any stuff he was carrying will probably be in her gut. He slices her open and sure enough, there are all the Professor's things. He then makes his way out of the cave and finds himself on the Vizima Dike, but not alone.

There, surrounded by crossbowmen and a knight of the Order in full armor, is Adda. She condemns the witcher to immediate execution for knowing about her connection to Salamandra and the attempted coup. But, very luckily for our hero and before this can occur, he is teleported to the Lakeside - courtesy of Triss who is seen watching the whole thing from wherever she is at the moment.

This concludes this and the All the King's Men quests, updates Berengar's Secret and Witchers' Secrets, and causes to fail any unfinished quests obtained during Geralt's stay in Vizima, except the Won't Hurt a Bit quest. It also marks the beginning of Act IV.

A Tense Situation
The party's over for Leuvaarden. Things are getting tense and we need allies. I need to talk to Leuvaarden. I need to speak with Leuvaarden.

Allies
Leuvaarden wants me to find new allies. We can't defeat Salamandra alone. The elves, the Order and the Temerian state are the only potential allies I know of. Leuvaarden doubts I'll be able to convince Velerad, so that leaves the elves led by Yaevinn and the Order with my friend Siegfried. I must convince either Yaevinn and the elves or Siegfried and his friends from the Order to join us.

Trust
All have refused to help. Seems I need to win their trust. ''No one trusts me enough to help me. I need to win them over.''

Siegfried's Trust
It seems Siegfried doesn't trust me enough to risk a mission against Salamandra at my side. ''I should get Siegfried to give me an important task. Maybe that's a way to win his trust.''

Yaevinn's Trust
It seems Yaevinn doesn't trust me enough to help me fight Salamandra. He refuses to risk his unit until he's convinced I'm on their side. ''I should get Yaevinn to give me an important task. Maybe that's a way to win his trust.''

Help from Velerad
Velerad refuses to help me fight Salamandra. It seems he fears the organization's wrath and doesn't want any trouble in the city. I should look for help from Yaevinn or Siegfried. Velerad refuses to fight Salamandra, I should speak with Yaevinn or Siegfried.

Allies Won
Leuvaarden was glad to hear I found some new allies. He asked me to tell Triss about it - she's at home, busy with her research. I should tell Triss about the secret meeting.

Anomalies
Triss told me we won't be able to defeat Salamandra until she solves the problem with magical anomalies. I guess I should help her. I need to figure out Salamandra, but to do that I must first help Triss identify the nature of the magic anomalies.

Alvin
Great, Triss wants me to take care of that Alvin kid. I saw this coming. She won't help me with Salamandra until I do something about the boy. I have to finish this Alvin business.

Alvin is Safe
Alvin is all set and Triss should now help me deal with Salamandra. I should speak to her. ''Alvin is safe. Time to talk to Triss about Salamandra.''

I Should Tend...
I should tend to any unfinished business in Vizima and prepare. When I'm ready, I'll go see Triss. I should prepare and go see Triss.

The New Narakort
Everybody's waiting for me at the New Narakort. I should join them immediately. I should go to the New Narakort.

The Trap
Salamandra set a trap for me at the New Narakort. Things are heating up. I'd better see Triss and Leuvaarden right away. I'd better see Triss and Leuvaarden right away.

A Warning / Vincent's Friends
Depending on your choice in the Beauty and the Beast quest,

The Salamandra Base
What am I doing here? I'm inside the Salamandra base, though I have no idea where it is. On top of that - where is my backup? ''I'm in the Salamandra base. I must locate my reinforcements.''

The Power Stone
I have the Power Stone and can now activate the portal and let in the reinforcements. I should activate the portal and let in our reinforcements.

A Chat
I managed to open the portal and let the troops in. The barrier was deactivated when I used the portal. Time to talk to the Professor and Azar Javed. ''Using the portal temporarily deactivated the barrier. Time to chat with the Professor and Azar Javed.''

The Confrontation
Finally, eye to eye with the Professor, the man who helped Azar make off with the witchers' secrets... and Leo's killer. ''This is the Professor's end... He will pay for his deeds.''

The Kikimore Lair
I defeated the Professor, but that's hardly the end of my problems. I fell into a kikimore lair - I must defeat their queen and get out of here. I must defeat the kikimore queen and get out of here. (1500 XP)

The Queen
I succeeded in defeating the kikimore queen. Time to look for a way out. Time to look for a way out.

Adda
I found some strange notes among the kikimore's guts. It seems Princess Adda was helping Salamandra! Time to get out of here. I'll try the passage that opened with the second tremor. ''Princess Adda was supporting Salamandra. I need to get this information to Triss.''

A Partial Success
I destroyed Salamandra's bases and rooted the organization out of Vizima. I also destroyed the kikimore queen's lair, so those monsters no longer threaten the town. The Professor is dead too, although Azar managed to escape. ''I managed to destroy Salamandra in Vizima, but Azar escaped. I need to leave the city too.'' (3500 XP)

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