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Carnal Sins is a secondary quest in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Note: this quest will fail if not completed before starting The Isle of Mists.

Walkthrough[]

After talking to Dandelion in The Chameleon, a messenger from Vilmerius Hospital bursts through the door, informing you that Priscilla has been attacked. Dandelion asks you to accompany him to the hospital.

The Hospital[]

Upon arriving, Geralt and Dandelion find Priscilla in a terrible state, being tended to by the head doctor Joachim von Gratz. He discusses Priscilla's state, saying that she is critical, but expected to live; however she is not the first victim of this style of attack, as others were killed in similar fashion. He then mentions his idea of 'preventive medicine', suggesting that he and Geralt go to the morgue to see the previous victim's body.

The Sewers and The Morgue[]

Follow von Gratz through the sewers and fight off several drowners and a bilge hag. During the journey, Geralt and Joachim discuss how he tries to prevent attacks from happening in the first place. He also mentions that whilst he believes Priscilla is certain to survive, he fears for her singing voice.

At the morgue, you need to search for a dwarven carpenter's corpse, found in the nearest room after you climb the ladder, though Joachim leads you to the other one. When you do find it, a small cutscene will begin and you can then examine his body to find evidence of the killer's M.O. before you are interrupted by the coroner, Hubert Rejk. He and Joachim have history, and they are not fond of each other. Pay attention to the dialogue, as it provides a subtle clue. As the conversation ends, Nathaniel Pastodi enters and insists that you leave, while Hubert covers for you and then agrees to update you on any news. On the way out, Joachim mentions that the reverend used to be a torturer for the Eternal Fire before he was promoted to reverend. Joachim then leaves to attend to Priscilla while you go search for more clues.

You now have three places to investigate: the location where Priscilla was attacked, the site of the woodcarver's murder, and Eustace the corpse collector. These can be investigated in any order. It is important to note that once you have completed any two of the locations, approaching the third location will have a guard approach Geralt to tell him that there has been another murder and the coroner wants to speak to him as soon as possible. The entire quest is directed to provide a sense of urgency, but nothing hangs on this - you can investigate all three spots.

Investigate the site of Priscilla's attack[]

Upon arrival, you will see some peasants and a prostitute called Whistling Wendy who walks away from you if approached. Eventually, the gate you entered through is closed and the three peasants attack you in a fistfight. Knock them out and then speak to Wendy, who believed you may have been the killer and she wanted to avenge Priscilla. As you search for clues, the objective for this location will complete, but continue examining until you find that the killer jumped over a wall too high even for a witcher. There is also a Concerned Citizen's sermon attached to the wall. You can speak to Wendy again for an additional conversation choice and to let her know what happened. Then head for the next objective.

Investigate the site of the Woodcarver's murder[]

Approach the closed door and knock. A voice from the other side will question you and then the woodcarver's brother Gus Meyer will let you in. Speak to him and then search for clues in the yard. Another Concerned Citizen's sermon will be found in the area. After finding all of the clues outside, either ask Gus to let you into the workshop or just try to enter and he'll unlock it for Geralt. After investigating all of the clues in this area, you can speak to him again if you wish. An additional conversation choice will appear allowing Geralt to tell Gus what likely happened to his brother. If you don't have a new conversation choice, then there are still items to investigate. There is a very subtle clue here, particularly related to the blood stain, but Geralt will only mention it to himself and not while talking to the dwarf.

Speak with Eustace[]

Eustace is the corpse collector, who is rather blunt about his profession and disrespectful towards the corpses. You can loosen his tongue by either paying him 200 Oren3 (20XP earned based on the Story and Swords! difficulty level) or using Axii (requires Delusion level 2 for a minimum of 35XP earned based on the Story and Swords! difficulty level), threatening won't achieve anything. However, he does reveal that inside the dwarf's body there was a note naming Priscilla as his next victim, which he kept to sell instead of providing it as evidence. You can choose to punch him or just walk away in disgust.

Return to the Coroner[]

Speak to the coroner and you can ask some questions that raise some suspicions about Hubert, especially if you've paid attention so far. Then you can look over the body and Hubert will find a note indicating the next victim - Patricia Vegelbud. Head over to the Vegelbud Residence.

The Vegelbud Residence[]

When you are allowed in by the guard, Ingrid Vegelbud will welcome you and take you to her mother's room, whilst mentioning that Patricia has denounced the Eternal Fire faith. On entering her room, you find Patricia murdered and the killer fleeing. Chase him (ignore the hostile dogs), until the guards mistake you for the killer and you are forced to fight them. When you cut one down to almost dead, or, alternatively, let them nearly kill you, a cutscene will trigger and they lead you back into the house. Ingrid will then defend you and allow you to search Patricia's body, where you will find a note with the final victim - Sweet Nettie of Crippled Kate's.

Crippled Kate's[]

Enter the brothel and you'll be told that Sweet Nettie is on the top floor. When you burst into her room, you find her tied up, gagged and about to be tortured by Reverend Nathaniel. You can choose to immediately attack him or talk first. Hearing him out will reveal that while hе is sick and perverse, he is not the serial killer. You then realize that the coroner, Hubert, is the real murderer. Sweet Nettie will plead for your help, and you can choose to either kill Nathaniel (100XP earned based on the Story and Swords! difficulty level), use Axii (requires Delusion level 3; 40XP earned based on the Story and Swords! difficulty level) to make him leave, or leave him to his twisted desires. If you do not kill Nathaniel, you will miss the chance to loot the unique poker he is using to burn Sweet Nettie.

Important: if you kill Nathaniel without hearing him out first, you will not be able to find the real killer even if you know who he is.

The Warehouse[]

If you got the truth out of Nathaniel, head to the warehouse by the docks and find Hubert inside. After a bit of talk, Hubert will then reveal himself to be a vampire and will fight you in the form of a katakan. After defeating him (500XP earned based on the Story and Swords! difficulty level), loot his corpse for Deargdeith and a katakan mutagen.

Return To The Hospital[]

Head back to the hospital. Priscilla is recovering and Joachim says that she will definitely survive and her voice isn't expected to be severely damaged. Dandelion thanks you and then says that for now, they will perform as him providing vocals and her playing the lute until her voice recovers. The quest will then end.

Journal entry[]

Telling this story, my dear reader, will tax me greatly. It is a dark and somber one, encompassing the greatest sorrow my heart has ever known. It all started the day of the grand opening of my cabaret. Everything had been spit-polished to perfection - all that was left was to wait for Priscilla, whose performance was to be the crowning moment of this glorious evening. Yet when the doors of the Chameleon burst open it was not she who stepped inside. Instead, it was a messenger from Vilmerius Hospital. His face pale and his countenance dour, he informed us Priscilla had been badly wounded in an assault - and was currently tottering on the brink of death.
Geralt's investigation took him to Crippled Kate's, a pleasure house of dubious repute. It is there, according to the note left by the murderer on Patricia Vegelbud's body, that the fiend would take his next victim - a prostitute named Sweet Nettie.
If Geralt kills Pastodi without question:
Geralt entered her room and found the Reverend Nathaniel, whom he had met earlier at the morgue, inside. The situation was clear - Nathaniel was standing over Nettie with a white-hot poker in his hand - so Geralt meted out justice to this cruel and perverted man without betting an eye.
If Geralt kills Pastodi after speaking with him:
Geralt entered the room and found the Reverend Nathaniel, whom he had met earlier at the morgue, inside. Though the situation seemed unambiguous - Nathanial [sic] was standing over Nettie with a white-hot poker in his hand - Geralt did not let his emotions get the better of him. He spoke calmly with the cruel pervert until he could identify the true murderer - then killed Nathaniel without batting an eye.
Hubert Rejk seemed like a kind, gentle and accommodating man - but in truth he was a bloodthirsty, brutal and murderous vampire, hiding a twisted and fanatical mind behind his never-changing mask of eternal youth. Geralt cut him down after an extraordinarily difficult duel, avenging Priscilla's suffering and saving the lives of countless others who surely would have died by this base monster's hands.
If Geralt spares Pastodi after speaking with him:
Geralt entered her room and inside he found the Reverend Nathaniel, whom he had met earlier at the morgue. Though the situation seemed unambiguous - Nathaniel was standing over Nettie with a white-hot poker in his hand - Geralt did not let his emotions get the better of him. He spoke calmly with the cruel pervert, and in this way determined the identity of the true murderer.
Hubert Rejk seemed like a kind, gentle and accommodating man - but in truth he was a bloodthirsty, brutal and murderous vampire, hiding a twisted and fanatical mind behind his never-changing mask of eternal youth. Geralt cut him down after an extraordinarily difficult duel, avenging Priscilla's suffering and saving the lives of countless others who surely would have died by this base monster's hands.

Objectives[]

  • Talk to Dandelion.
  • Talk to Dandelion.
  • Go meet with Von Gratz.
  • Go through the sewers to get to the mortuary.
  • Find the dwarven woodcarver's body using your Witcher Senses.
  • Find Eustace the corpse collector.
  • Talk to Eustace.
  • Investigate the alley where Priscilla was attacked using your Witcher Senses.
  • Examine the place where the woodcarver died using your Witcher Senses.
  • Examine the woodcarver's workshop using your Witcher Senses.
  • Talk to the coroner.
  • Go to the Vegelbuds' residence.
  • Follow Ingrid to Patricia's room.
  • Chase the murderer.
  • Find Sweet Nettie at Crippled Kate's.
  • Enter Sweet Nettie's room.
  • If you decided to kill Nathaniel:
    • Kill Nathaniel. (100XP earned based on the Story and Swords! difficulty level)
  • If you talked with Nathaniel first:
    • Go to the warehouse near the port.
    • Kill the vampire. (500XP earned based on the Story and Swords! difficulty level)
  • Talk to Dandelion about Priscilla's condition.

Trivia[]

  • The quest might be a reference to the movie Se7en.
  • In addition to the vampire-themed Deargdeith sword, Hubert always drops Rubedo - a very rare find as loot, but also a themed drop in itself, referring to his use of formaldehyde to induce coagulation in his victims.

Notes[]

  • If the player kills Nathaniel without questioning him, it is assumed that Geralt thought Nathaniel was the murderer. If so, after the quest completes two additional things can be found to tell Geralt that he was wrong:
    • A woman's corpse can be found next to Triss' hideout, on which Geralt will find a letter taunting him.
    • Hubert leaves a confession note on a table in the morgue, allowing Geralt to learn the full story.
  • While this is hindsight after the Blood and Wine expansion, Hubert isn't a Higher Vampire like he claims. A rationalized explanation for his true nature is one of a very old Katakan in his ability to turn near invisible and disguise into humans, while having obvious intelligence and sentience. Hubert's corpse also gives a Katakan mutagen amongst other loot.
  • Clues pointing to Hubert being a vampire before he reveals himself include the murderer's ability to jump over very high walls, the insufficient amount of blood in the woodcarver's workshop (because the rest of it was sucked out) and obviously his exceptionally young appearance despite age.
  • Five different versions of the Concerned Citizen's sermon exist, one of which can be found all around Novigrad as soon as the quest begins, and another in the Bits is only found after the woodcarver's body was examined.
  • This quest was originally intended to be a main instead of a secondary one, and there's a lot of content that was cut from it:
    • Letter found on the woodcarver's body, message from Hubert Rejk and a murderer's note are referred to in dialogue and cutscenes during the quest, but don't appear during gameplay. It's possible that these three don't appear simply due to bugs.
    • A Nathaniel's sermon also exists, as well as some evidence of a second sermon by Nathaniel and more letters by him.
    • Some sort of blackmail, a prescription, a guillotine, ethanol and paraffin wax were at some point intended to be components of the quest.

Bugs[]

  • Priscilla stays indefinitely at the hospital, seen in her beaten up state, even after Dandelion possibly mentioning that she's recovered and has even started singing again (further in the main story and the Blood and Wine expansion). A recent patch (after Patch 4.0) has made her invisible, but she's still there and can be interacted with.
  • When Geralt has to go to the Vegelbud residence, the quest Race: The Great Erasmus Vegelbud Memorial Derby is paused, likely because of content that's been cut from this quest. However, there's no check for the race quest's status and it is always updated, resulting in it being possible to start this way.
  • Upon meeting with Ingrid Vegelbud, she has different dialogue lines depending on whether she's already met Geralt during A Matter of Life and Death. However, even if they haven't met, as both are walking toward the house and reach the pile of burning books, she'll start talking about how she's already told Geralt about her mother's faith in the Eternal Fire.

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