In the Claws of Madness is a quest from Chapter 1 in The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings.
Walkthrough
Initiate this quest by talking to Cedric and asking him for work. He will tell you about two missing men who went off to explore the ruined hospital nearby. You will find one of the missing man near some crazed nekkers next to some ruins poking out of the ground, to the south of Flotsam. Follow the map marker over to where a dog was fighting the nekkers. There will be a set of stairs leading underground.
Go down the stairs, and explore the ruins until you come to a large room with a wooden trap door in the center. Once you loot the chest in the room, two wraiths will spawn and attack you. Once you kill the wraiths, you'll see some ghosts (non-hostile), and a wandering soldier ghost who seems to spawn fire that blocks off certain paths. Follow the open paths to more chests and wraiths.
Eventually you will encounter Gridley (one of the missing explorers), who is rambling and needs some medicine to calm him down. The medicine is in the room on the right before the wall of fire, next to two more wraiths. After you give Gridley the medicine he will tell you what happened to the sanitorium, and explain that the wandering soldier ghost is a curse that haunts the area.
Talk to the ghost, who demands retribution.
Template:SpoilerYou can either trick Gridley and his friend into coming back down to the ruins (to be killed), or you can trick the ghost, and you will have to fight him. Gridley and his friend are given to the custody of Loredo. If you choose the former option, you can loot the diagram for a Superb Witcher's Sword off Gridley's body. (varying reports claim looting a diagram for a Robust Silver Sword) Template:Endspoiler
Journal Entry
Do you like ghost stories? You are going to hear a lot of them. Ghosts appear for the first time in this story in Flotsam, in a house standing in the depths of the forest... But let us start at the very beginning. It all began when Geralt was talking with Cedric. The elf told him about two men who had headed for a ruined mansion -a place where the mentally ill had once been kept - and had never come back. The witcher was intrigued. He decided to see what happened to them.
Not far from the ruins Geralt found the first traveler. Rupert was sobbing by a tree, evidently looking for something. The moment he saw the Witcher, he started begging for help, for his friend Gridley, who disappeared in the ruins. The Witcher heard the howling of Nekkers and understood that this was no joke. He reached for his sword.
after entering the hospital's basement, Geralt experienced something even more paranormal than the usual fare for a witcher. he saw a ghost that sent him a vision. everything around them started to burn and the specter - in true ghostly fashion- passed through the wall into the next room. Geralt recovered and followed the it, though not through the wall.
The chest contained some doctors' notes. these stated that the medical staff had carried out experiments on the mentally ill. Geralt read on and learned that a group of soldiers had brought a Nilfgaardian prisoner to the hospital. The soldiers had wanted to interrogate him, but the notes did not reveal how that story ended. Geralt started searching the mansion, looking for signs Gridley might have left.
Phantoms, like people, know how to set traps. Geralt followed the specter and was attacked by a horde of hungry wraiths. as he started to defend himself, he noticed a chest standing agasint a wall.
And he found a bottle of medicine, which he brought back to the hospital.
Calmed by medication, gridley talked of past events. He and Rupert had been stationed in this place years ago. They had killed the preist who tended to the ill, and tortued a captive nilfgaardin, hoping to learn the location of a huge treasure. They set a fire to cover their tracks and abducted the most attractive patient. Hearing the story, Gearalt understood that the place was cursed and that finding the tormented Nilfgaardian's ghost was the key to the matter.
The lost soul desired only one thing - the death of his former oppressors. he still felt their stares upon him, and only death would bring him peace. he wanted to consume the eyes and hearts of his tormentors. Geraly returned for Gridley and took him back to the surgace, to Rupert.
