The Beast of Toussaint

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The Beast of Toussaint

The Beast of Toussaint is a main quest in the Blood and Wine expansion.

Journal entry

No sooner had Geralt arrived in Toussaint than he got his first taste of the local color. As he was clip-clopping along the high road, chit-chatting with Milton and Palmerin, a most unusual sight unfolded before his eyes. Here was a knight, with all the expected accoutrements, charging headlong at a windmill! The situation became clear a moment later when a giant strode from behind the windmill and charged right back at the knight. Before anyone could say "Only in Toussaint," the witcher and all three knights were swinging away at the brute, amidst the freshly crumbled ruins of the mill and a herd of panic-stricken sheep.

At long last the giant lay defeated, and the men who had vanquished it could make their introductions, then engage in the kind of conversation that oft happens over a fresh monster corpse. The young giant slayer gave the three arrivals fresh tidings – the Beast had struck again. The body of its most recent victim now lay on a riverbank nearby. Geralt decided he needed to see it and explore the crime scene, while Milton thought it both wise and courteous to accompany the witcher.

Geralt failed to find the victim's body on the riverbank. It seemed the Ducal Guard had removed it to the cool cellars of the Corvo Bianco Estate. Ever the ferreter, however, Geralt did spot something the soldiers had overlooked. Based on the item, and with Milton's help, he established the identity of the Beast's most recent victim. Yet he failed to divine the species, genus, or family of the creature that had perpetrated the crime. Only an autopsy could help him do that. So Geralt set off for Corvo Bianco, alone this time as duties at court had called Milton to the Ducal Palace.

Alas, something wicked had arrived at Corvo Bianco Vineyard. As the witcher drew near the estate, yet was still at some distance, battle sounds reached his ears. On arriving, he saw the bodies of guardsmen, murdered just moments before by a bruxa. The witcher promptly defeated the vampiress, who was not the Beast itself but was clearly in league with it. Yet Geralt could not guess at the link between them nor at the identity of the creature that had inspired the bruxa's rampage through the vineyard. The witcher needed information on the Beast's previous victims. He supposed the duchess might have this and thus set off to find her.

Anna Henrietta's time was precious. To get an audience with her was never an easy feat. Even more so in those days, as the duchess was overseeing a chivalric tourney playing out on tourney grounds outside the walls of Toussaint's capital. Yet in the end Geralt faced the one who had summoned him. As they related what each had learned about the Beast, thus pooling their knowledge and hypotheses, they deduced the likely identity of its next victim, who could very well prove to be Milton de Peyrac-Peyran.

Geralt and Anna Henrietta rushed like rabbits through the palace gardens. Ironically, at the time the gardens were the venue for a game of Hunt the Hare. Milton had been assigned the title role. The knight, having donned a bunny rabbit costume, sat hiding in the gardens, waiting to be found by the game's participants based on clues they could win by completing various challenges. Yet the duchess and the witcher could spare no time for such nonsense and set out to win the clues by breaking the rules.

Having assembled the clues, Geralt and Anna Henrietta had concluded that Milton was hiding in a greenhouse. They had set off to find him post haste. Alas, they were too late. Amidst lush vegetation, they found Milton's rapidly cooling corpse. The murderer stood over it. As the witcher stepped towards him, the killer dashed off. Thus ended the first stage of Geralt's investigation. And thus began his mad pursuit of the murderer.

Objectives

• Defeat the giant. (13 + 450)
• Follow Milton to the place where the body was found.
• Use your Witcher Senses to search the riverbank.
• Use your Witcher Senses to search the riverbank for signs of the guardsmen's activities.
• Defeat the necrophages. (50)
• Use your Witcher Senses to search the nets for clues the guardsmen might have overlooked.
• Talk to Milton about your findings.
• Follow Milton to the inn to ask if anyone saw where the body was taken.
• Go to Corvo Bianco and examine the body kept in its cellar.
• Use your Witcher Senses to determine what kind of monster killed the guards.
• Look for the body of the Beast's victim in Corvo Bianco's cellar.
• [Optional] Read the bruxa Bestiary entry to prepare for the fight. (150)
• [Optional] Use your Witcher Senses to investigate the site of the massacre.
• Find the Beast's victim's body in the cellar.
• Defeat the bruxa. (500)
• Examine the body of the Beast's victim. (150)
• Find Palmerin and ask him to take you to the duchess.
• Defeat the shaelmaar. (300 + 100)
• Follow the duchess to the palace gardens.
• Look for the "unicorn" in the clearing in the palace gardens.
  • Use your Witcher Senses to find a treat for the "unicorn."
  • Take the basket of carrots to the "unicorn" to gain its trust. (150)
  • Take the cookie to the "unicorn" to gain its trust.
  • Take the apple to the "unicorn" to gain its trust. (150)
  • If Geralt uses Axii instead: (150 + 40)
    • Defeat the courtiers.
• Retrieve the golden fish from the pond.
  • Use your Witcher Senses to find the golden fish in the pond. (150 / 50)
• Meet the duchess to assemble the clues and learn where Milton is hiding.

Notes

• After the fight with the Shaelmaar, you can choose to kill or spare the monster. If you choose to spare it, it will count as proof of Compassion for the quest There Can Be Only One.
• On the small bridge over a small creek that later turns into a waterfall, you can find a crying woman and a man desperately trying to find her lost ring. The ring is located right below the waterfall, a short way following the creek. Then you can return the ring to the woman, and she will start dancing out of happiness.
• Take the ripe apple or basket of carrots to the "unicorn" to gain its trust (150). Alternatively, cast Axii on it to calm it immediately (150), but this will initiate an encounter with some courtiers that may lead to a fistfight if not calmed with more Axii (40).
• To find the correct golden fish in the pond with the key, it is the fish closest to the shore in the southwest without any candy or toffee.  (150)
• The scene with the golden fish plays out slightly different if Geralt picks up two or more incorrect fish. Instead, a couple will hook the golden fish and take it to a platform to "offer" it to the judge before Geralt comes over and unceremoniously breaks it open to get the key.  (50)
• The answer to the riddle is "Greenhouse".
• If Geralt returns to the Greenhouse after facing the beast, he can find and loot a Hare Mask which Geralt can wear.