Contract: The Mystery of the Byways Murders Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Quest
Suggested level: 22
Group: Witcher Contracts
Location: Velen
You can start this quest by finding the "Contract: Missing Soldiers" notice posted on the Oreton Notice Board or by visiting the Byways village.
A Nilfgaardian patrol had gone missing near the village of Byways. Geralt took an interest in the matter, for the local Nilfgaardian commander suspected a monster was involved and Geralt knew imperial soldiers were always upfront and honest when it came to pay.
... or, if the village was discovered first:
While traveling across Velen, Geralt happened across a village which seemed to have been abandoned. The ghouls lurking amidst the huts gave him a bad feeling about its former inhabitants' fate, so the witcher decided to kill the monsters and investigate what had happened.
Related points of interest
Oreton Notice Board
Velen / Novigrad
Milan Noran
Velen / Novigrad
Byways
Velen / Novigrad
Ekimmara's Lair
Velen / Novigrad
Sarasti
Velen / Novigrad
Quest stages of Contract: The Mystery of the Byways Murders
1. Talk to the commander of the Nilfgaardian patrol.
Go and talk to the commander of the Nilfgaardian patrol - Milan Noran. You can haggle with him - 260+ crowns.
2. Find out what happened in Byways. / Deal with the ghouls prowling the village.
Head to the Byways village. It's overrun by ghouls (23), kill them all.
3. Find the surviving villagers.
When you get rid of the monsters, two survivors, Bytomir and another peasant, will come out of one of the huts after a while. Geralt will ask them about what happened here and notice that they are hiding something.
You'll have a choice of how to react to the fact that they're hiding something from you.
- It's my job. - This option will be available if you've talked to the Nilfgaardian commander before.
- I'm nosy. Very. - This option will always be available and seems to be the best because after choosing it and killing the beast, the villagers will come to the conclusion that they should pay you for it.
- So be it. - You won't go on about it, and you can only go back to the Nilfgaardian commander to inform him of the fate of his soldiers.
4. Explore the village using your Witcher Senses.
If you decided to find out what's going on in the village. then you should examine the bodies of two soldiers.
5. Follow the scent of blood using your Witcher Senses.
Follow the scent to the locked hut located in the northwestern paart of the village. Then one of the villagers, Bytomir, will come to you and try to convince you not to go inside. Eventually you will persuade him to tell you what is inside and give you the key.
Geralt discovered that local villagers had decided to make a few extra crowns by digging in an ancient elven mine. Since the old underground complex hid its fair share of unpleasant surprises, it wasn't long before they ran into trouble.
The self-taught treasure hunters had awakened a particularly nasty kind of vampire known as an ekimmara, and this enraged beast had attacked the Nilfgaardian patrol as it passed through Byways. Geralt decided to eradicate the beast and tracked it to the ruins outside the village.
6. Explore the tunnels under Byways using your Witcher Senses.
Go into the house and examine a piece of fur you'll find there, and then Geralt will come to the conclusion that he has to deal with ekimmara. Or simply remove the planks covering the cave entrance, go inside and search the cave.
7. Find and kill the ekimmara. / Take a trophy from the ekimmara.
When you enter the largest cave, you will face Sarasti. Kill the beast and take the Ekimmara trophy (5% Bonus experience from monsters). In the corpse you will aso find the relic steel sword - Bloed Aedd.
8. Talk to Bytomir.
Go back to the villagers and tell them you killed the monster. If you haven't told them before that someone is paying you to do a contract, then they will pay you 210 crowns, 25XP.
The villagers were grateful to the witcher for his help in slaying the ekimmara, so much so they even agreed to pay Geralt a reward.
Otherwise they will assume that if someone hired you, they do not have to give you anything.
When the ekimmara had been defeated, the villagers of Byways did not prove very grateful. With long years of witchering experience under his belt, Geralt did not find this very surprising.
9. Talk to the commander of the Nilfgaardian patrol. / Report back to the Nilfgaardian patrol commander.
Return to Milan and inform him about the fate of his soldiers. The amount of money you will receive from him will depend on whether you have talked to him before and whether you have haggled.
If you've talked to the Nilfgaardian commander before:
The Nilfgaardian soldiers proved themselves honorable men and paid the witcher without a murmur, handing him not only what he was owed for killing the ekimmara, but also a reward for having discovered the truth of what had happened to their missing patrol.
If you found the village first:
Geralt told the Nilfgaardian commander what had happened to the missing patrol and received his reward. The commander brought no dishonor to his uniform and paid in full, without haggling or backpedalling.
