Reason of State Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Quest
Suggested level: 30
Group: Secondary Quests
Location: Novigrad
This quest will be available if you have completed "A Deadly Plot", "Redania's Most Wanted", and "An Eye for an Eye" quests and decided to share information about Emhyr's plans with Dijkstra during the "Blindingly Obvious" quest.
Momentous decisions altering the fate of entire nations are often made under unusual circumstances. For example, when Geralt was asked to take part in the assassination of King Radovid, he was standing in a bathhouse in Novigrad, half-naked and staring at a sweat-soaked Dijkstra. If he agreed to join in, he was to attend a meeting in a warehouse by the docks. There the co-conspirators would hash out the details of their plan to kill the most powerful ruler in the North.
Warning: You have to do this quest before you talk to Avallac'h in the "On Thin Ice" quest. If you don't do it, it will fail.
Prior quests
To begin Reason of State you must first complete A Deadly Plot, Blindingly Obvious, An Eye for an Eye and Redania's Most Wanted.
Quest stages of Reason of State
1. Meet Dijkstra, Roche and Thaler in the portside warehouse.
Go to the warehouse that Dijkstra told you about and knock on the door and you'll be let in. There you'll find Dijkstra, Roche and Thaler talking to each other. They'll introduce you to their plan to kill Radovid. Your job would be to tell Radovid that you managed to find Philippa and lure him from his ship to the bridge leading to Temple Isle.
You will be able to agree or refuse to participate in the assassination. In the second case, the quest will end in failure.
To this day I don't know what truly drove the witcher to take part in the assassination plot against Radovid. I also don't know what drove him to resign from this participation. Such are the facts, however: Geralt first courted high politics, then left them at the altar to fend for themselves while he saw to a more important matter: the fight against the Wild Hunt.
2. Lure Radovid from his ship.
When you are leaving the warehouse, you will meet Philippa. She was eavesdropping on your conversation and decided to help you. She'll give you a ring that should help you convince Radovid that you tracked her down.
Radovid's ship will be moored in the port of Novigrad. Go there and tell the guards that you want to talk to Radovid. Before you're allowed to board the ship, you'll have to hand over your swords. When you show Radovid the ring you received from Philippa, he will gather his soldiers and set off to capture the sorceress. You will go with him.
Once you arrive, Radovid will order his men to secure the bridge and then tell them to kill you. Then he'll go towards the house where he expects to catch Philippa. Fortunately, when the soldiers are going to kill you, Roche and his men will come and rescue you. As your weapons are taken from you, you will pick up the sword of one of the soldiers and you will have to kill the first group of opponents using it. Then you will automatically be equipped with the weapons you have been using.
3. Kill Radovid. / Follow Roche.
Then go with Roche towards the Temple Isle. On your way you will have to kill several more soldiers and witch hunters (27-31).
When you break through to the place where Radovid is situated, Philippa will appear, and she will first blind Radovid and then kill him by stabbing a dagger in his back. Then she will turn into an owl and fly away.
Anyway, Radovid is dead and you will be able to retreat to the empty theatre to meet the other conspirators. There Roche and Thaler will tell you what their plan was. They are going to sign a pact with Emhyr so that Temeria can become a vassal state to the empire, with its own courts, administrative structures, and army.
After a while it will turn out that Dijkstra actually has other plans. He wants to continue fighting against Nilfgaard and unite the northern kingdoms under his leadership. To do so, he decided to get rid of the other conspirators. He will offer you the opportunity to walk away and you will have to decide whether you do so or take the side of Roche and Thaler.
Note: The final fate of Temeria, Emhyr and even, if you meet the additional conditions, Ciri herself, will depend on your choice.
If, as Dijkstra suggested, you decided to leave:
Their bold plan succeeded: the Redanian king was assassinated on the bridge leading to Temple Isle. Radovid's was not the last blood to be spilled as a result of this conspiracy, however. With no more common goal to bind them, the co-conspirators turned on each other.
Geralt, who has always cherished his neutrality, decided not to get involved and left the assassin's hideout before fighting began. Though Roche and his band had already overcome a great deal, it was clear they would not be able to defeat the overwhelming numbers of Dijkstra's thugs. Madame Irina's empty theater hosted a brutal spectacle in which the fiercest Temerian patriots met a bloody end.
4. Defeat Dijkstra and his men.
If you decided to take Roche and Thaler's side, then you'll have to kill Dijkstra (30) and a few of his men (30). Then Roche will thank you and the quest will be over.
Their bold plan succeeded: the Redanian king was assassinated on the bridge leading to Temple Isle. Radovid's was not the last blood to be spilled as a result of this conspiracy, however. With no more common goal to bind them, the co-conspirators turned on each other.
Though Geralt has always prized his neutrality, he did not intend to sit idly and watch Dijkstra's thugs butcher his friends. And so the Redanian spy's long-awaited moment of triumph transformed into his final defeat at the witcher's hands.