Lynch Mob Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Quest
Suggested level: 7
Group: Secondary Quests
Location: Velen
Near the Hangman's Alley signpost, you come across a few peasants and the Nilfgaardian Deserter. A soldier claims he escaped from the Nilfgaardian army to return to his wife and daughter, but the peasants don't care and are preparing to hang him.
You can stand up for a soldier and demand his release or you can not to interfere and let the peasants do what they want to do.
Note: This quest must be done before starting A Favor for a Friend quest, or you will only find the dead body of the soldier.
Should a soldier be held responsible for the decisions of his commanding officers? Is collective responsibility justice? To us, dear reader, these are rhetorical questions. Geralt, however, often found himself forced to answer them - and quickly. For example, once in Velen he happened across a group of villagers preparing to lynch a captured Nilfgaardian deserter. Not for the first time, the witcher had to decide which was the lesser evil...
If you don't stop the peasants, they'll hang a soldier and go away. If you check the soldier's corpse afterwards, you will find a letter from his wife, which proves that he did not lie and wanted to go back to his family.
The witcher made his decision. So that many could live, he agreed to allow the death of one. He knew that, if he defended the Nilfgaardian, he would be forced to slaughter the entire crowd of enraged peasants and so merely shook his head and walked on.
Related points of interest
Nilfgaardian Deserter
Velen / Novigrad
Quest stages of Lynch Mob
1. Kill the peasants.
If you decide to side with a soldier, you will have to kill all four peasants.
Afterwards Geralt will give the soldier some advice on how to get home safely and the soldier will head back to his family. You will get some XP and the quest will be over.
The witcher made his decision. He defended the deserter and earned the peasants' ire. They attacked at once, and thus in order to save one man he had to kill many others.