A Joint Venture is a quest in The Witcher: Monster Slayer.
Walkthrough[]
At the end of the previous quest, the player is presented with a treasure map by Thorstein.
After it is read, a new quest location to investigate appears at about 1 km away from the player's current location.
At the first quest target location, a stone monolith is found, with four sides covered with runes. The game instructs how to touch the sides in the correct order, though the game is safely railroaded and brute-forcing the order is fine.
The player learns that a Gargoyle King must be brought a gift befitting of royalty. A map below the monolith shows three possible targets which appear on the map: a sword, a crown and a heart. These targets are guarded by easy undead opponents that appear when the map item is selected, without the option to prepare.
At the first one (or at the sword), the Gargoyle King's statue and an offering bowl can be found. It can be offered wrong things for thoroughness and entertainment. The one the king expects is the stone heart, which much be discovered on the map before it can be offered to the bowl.
After a successful offering, the Gargoyle King is pleased and agrees to fight you. On the first fight, there is no option to prepare, but if you need to try again you can use oils, potions and bombs as usual.
Once the gargoyle is defeated, a pedestal with an elven figurine thrusts up from the ground.
To tie the quest to the next, Thorstein proposes to bring it to a scholar who might be interested in such elven handicrafts, located in Dol Tirthana.
Journal entry[]
- Thorstein proposed I join him on a hunt for mysterious treasure and gave me a map marked with its location. I need to examine it.
- The map seemed legitimate enough, and besides, I was intrigued. I decided to accept Thorstein's offer. Together we set off for the spot marked on the map.
- At the spot stood a stone monolith, its four sides covered with runes. Thanks to some hints written on the map and Thorstein's suprising and useful skill with languages, we touched the sides in the right order and found out what task lay before us. To get the treasure, we must bring a gift befitting of a royalty to the gargoyle king, then defeat him in combat. After touching the last rune-covered side, chart-like points appeared at the base of the monolith. We marked them on our map.
- The question is, which gift is most fitting: the crown, the heart, or the sword?
- I gave the gargoyle the right gift - the heart - then fought it, though unfortunately not without some complications along the way. Once it fell, an ornate pedestal thrust cup from the ground. Upon it stood our treasure: an elven figurine. Pretty, yes, but difficult to divide in two. The silver lining was that Thorstein knew a scholar who might be interested in such elven handicrafts.
- WHEN THE GARGOYLE DROPPED DEAD, A STONE PEDESTAL THRUST UP OUT FROM THE GROUND. DISAPPOINTMENT WASHED OVER THE COMPANIONS' FACES WHEN THEY SAW WHAT TREASURE IT HELD.
- THE ELVEN FIGURINE HAD CLEARLY SEEN BETTER DAYS YET STILL RETAINED ITS SUBTLE BEAUTY. AS FOR THE MATTER OF SPLITTING UP THE TREASURE, WELL, THAT HAD SUDDENLY GROWN QUITE COMPLICATED...
- And so I set off to Dol Tirthana, an overly enthusiastic merchant by my side and worsening pain in my head from his constanta yapping...
- THE YOUNG MERCHANT WAS BURSTING WITH ENERGY, PAUSING HIS MONOLOGUES ONLY TO BREATHE. THE WITCHER COMPLAINED THAT EVEN EATING DID NOT SEEM TO SLOW THORSTEIN'S MADDENING CHATTER.
- THE MONSTER SLAYER WAS NOT SURE HOW HE/SHE WOULD SURVIVE THIS JOURNEY. FORTUNATELY, THE PROSPECT OF GOOD PAY HELPED HIM/HER CONTAIN HIS/HER ANNOYANCE.