Walkthrough for the quest Open Sesame! in the game Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. This page covers all main objectives, key steps, or helpful tips to guide you through the quest smoothly. Whenever possible, the guide points out locations for key items and details interactions with NPCs, among other tips. To ensure maximum clarity, in-game screenshots are included for easy-to-follow visual guidance.
Quest Group: Main Quests (Hearts of Stone)
Suggested level: 34
Location: Novigrad
Prerequisites: To play this quest, you must first complete the quest Evil's Soft First Touches.
You will receive this quest when you complete the "Evil's Soft First Touches" quest. One of Olgierd's wishes will be that you bring him the house of Maximillian Borsodi.
Olgierd's wishes were unusual, to say the least. One demand was for Geralt to bring him the house of Maximillian Borsodi. He didn't supplement this request with such key details as where this house was located or just how the witcher was to transport said real estate. Geralt only knew his first stop should be Oxenfurt, the city to which the Borsodis had moved their world-famous auction house...
Go to Oxenfurt and find an auction house. The guards will not want to let you in because you do not have an invitation to the auction but Vimme Vivaldi will appear and you will enter with him.
When you go inside and you tell Vimme what brings you here, he will promise you that he will try to introduce you to Horst Borsodi. Then follow him to the top floor where the auction will take place. When you get there, he will tell you a little bit about other people taking part in the auction.
You don't have to talk to any of these people, but when you do you can get some benefits.
She is a collector of witcher gear. While talking to her you will be able to buy diagrams of the Viper School from her: Viper Armor, Viper Boots, Viper Gauntlets, and Viper Trousers.
At the end of the conversation the countess will ask you to help her find her earring that she lost on the balcony. Agree and you will soon find out what she really wants.
Go out to the balcony and examine the spilled wine. You will not find an earring there.
Then the Countess will join you. She just wanted to talk to you in private to ask you about Vesemir with whom she was in love a long time ago.
He has earned his fortune from playing Gwent so he will propose you a round. If you agree, you will be able to set the bet amount: 1 - 250 crowns. You can either agree to 10% for Vimme or refuse him. If you win, you will receive a Gaunter O'Dimm card.
If you say you know a little about art, Yaromir will challenge you. To earn his respect, point out a paining of the merchant. If you point out the correct painting, Yaromir will tell you that a painting by a not very popular artist named van Rogh will be put up for auction. If you buy it, you will be able to sell it for a profit to an admirer of this artist who lives in Novigrad. At the end Vimme will want to know from you what Yaromir told you. It is best to lie or you will have to outbid Vimme during the auction. If you do not tell him about the painting, you will be able to buy it for 20 crowns, and if Vimme also bid, you will have to pay 60 crowns.
When you speak to all friends of Vimme or just sit down on the bench, the auction will start. You can choose not to take part in the auction, but if you decide to bid, you will be able to buy three items at the auction. Buy them all to unlock the "Shopaholic" achievement / trophy.
After the first part of the auction is over Horst will show up and Vimme will introduce you to him. Whether you are nice to talk to him or not, when you mention the house of Maximillian Borsodi, he will become very nervous and will order his guards to throw you out of his auction house.
When you go outside, two guards (33) will want to beat you before they give you back your weapons. Show them that you are better than them and beat them in a fistfight.
When you defeat them, you will be hooked by a stranger, who also wants to get into the vault and will offer you a deal. He will tell you to come to an herbalist's hut near Oxenfurt and there you will talk about the details.
Horst Borsodi did not demonstrate a flare for hospitality. He greeted Geralt with unmasked disdain, then, upon hearing the witcher had come for Maximilian Borsodi's House, had him summarily tossed into the gutter. Geralt was still picking himself up when he discovered a stranger awaiting him there... a man who could help him fulfill Olgierd's wish.
Upon arrival at the hut of the herbalist, you will notice three Fallen Knights (33) banging on the hut door. They will attack you as soon as they notice you. Get rid of them and the herbalist will let you in.
When you tell him that you need some yarrow extract, he will open the hatch leading to the basement where you will meet the stranger.
The stranger will introduce you to his plan of getting into the vault and inform you that you will need a few partners to be able to execute it. He will tell you the options you have and you will receive three new quests.
The mysterious stranger revealed that he was planning to rob the Borsodis' Auction House. He swore Geralt would find Maximilian's House within it, as impossible as that sounded. First, however, the witcher would have to help him put together a full break-in crew of daring professionals and find a way to weaken the Redanian garrison. Though Geralt usually tried to live within the bounds of the law, this time he had no choice but to agree to help in this criminal enterprise.
You must now complete the following quests before you can continue:
Go back to the herbalist's hut where in the basement you will meet other members who will take part in the robbery. The Stranger will provide you with an action plan and set a start time for the operation.
Be at the gateway to the Borsodi auction house around midnight. After a while the others will join you and you will start to carry out your plan. Eveline will climb the tower and drop the rope which you will climb up.
As there was a guard in the tower that should not be there, the Stranger will want you to draw your sword and kill any further enemies. But you will refuse to do so and will take the wooden sword lying in the tower. Then you put on your masks and move on.
Go downstairs to the auction house, where you will come across a few workers who will immediately call the guards (33). The fight will begin. After a while Horst will enter the room. When he realizes what is happening he will start running away.
You will chase after him but he will manage to escape and lock inside the vault. One of his men will use the bell and after a while a group of soldiers will appear in front of the auction house. The stranger will grab a hostage and leave you to negotiate to gain some time, and the safecracker will go to work at the vault door. What happens next depends on who you recruited as a safecracker.
If you have recruited Casimir, even if you manage to gain time, the explosion will cause the guards to run inside and you will have to fight them.
If you have recruited Quinto, you will avoid fighting the guards if during negotiations you will choose:
Pull back from the auction house. > Bring us a wagon and horses. > Doesn't matter. Long as it rolls. > I'll set one free now. The rest later.
or
Pull back from the auction house. > Tell me a joke. > Actually kind of funny.
Eveline will leave you, she will squeeze through the chimney so you will go to the vault without her. Make your way downstairs towards the vault.
If you have recruited Quinto to open the vault, after passing through the door to the vault, the trap will activate and you will fall into the cave with four arachnomorphs (32). You will no longer use a wooden sword but your own swords. Once you kill them you will be able to return to the vault.
If you have recruited a Casimir to open the safe, you can easily enter the vault as the explosion most likely destroyed the trap mechanism.
Go on and enter the final room of the vault. You will meet Horst and his two bodyguards there. Then you will know the real identity of the stranger, it is Ewald, Horst's brother, whom Horst banished from home.
Horst will try to bribe you and the safecracker to switch to his side. You must choose which brother you want to support. If it was Casimir who opened the vault, he will alweys choose Ewald's side and Quinto will always take the side of Horst. Then the fight will start.
Not everything went according to plan… to say the least. Geralt successfully broke into the vault, though at the cost of some nerve-wracking moments and a good deal of bloodshed. Once in the bowels of the auction house, he found out his partner-in-crime was none other than Horst Borsodi's long-missing brother, Ewald. Cheated by his brother out of his inheritance, Ewald had planned his revenge during long years of exile – and the witcher helped him bring this plan to fruition.
If you have not accepted Horst's offer then you will have to fight Horst, his bodyguards and Quinto if it was him who opened the vault. You won't kill him, but Ewald will.
After the fight is over, Ewald will not want to give you Maximilian's house because inside there is his father's will, which he needs. You can convince him to keep the documents and give you only the box and then you will part in peace. You can also fight with him.
If you tell him to keep the documents because you just need a box:
Ewald killed his older brother, avenging years of poverty and humiliation in one furious moment. The blood still on his hands, he gave Geralt the golden casket known as Maximilian Borsodi's House in compensation for his help, though not before taking for himself the will hidden inside it. With this in his possession, Geralt was set to fulfill Olgierd's request.
Available only if you decided to fight Ewald. When you kill him, take the house and then find and press the button on one of the columns. This will cause a secret passage in the side corridor to open.
Yet when Geralt realized the remaining Borsodi brother was using him as well, he made sure he joined his recently murdered sibling in the afterlife. With no one left to lay a competing claim on it, Geralt took the golden casket known as Maximilian Borsodi's House and the will hidden inside it. Now he was set to fulfill Olgierd's request.
If you have accepted Horst's offer then you will have to fight Ewald and Casimir if it was him who opened the vault. You won't kill him, Horst will.
After the fight is over, Horst will not want to give you Maximilian's house because inside there is his father's will, which should not reach the hands of Olgierd. You can convince him to keep the documents and give you only the casket and then you will part in peace. You can also fight with him.
If you tell him keep the documents and you just take the box:
Yet fratricide occured nonetheless -- for Horst killed his younger brother. The blood still on his hands, he gave Geralt the golden casket known as Maximillian Borsodi's House in compensation for his help, though not before taking for himself the will hidden inside it. With this is his possession, Geralt was set to fulfill Olgierd's request.
Available only if you decided to fight Horst. In this case you will have to defeat Horst, his guards and Quinto if he opened the safe. When you beat them, take the house and then find and press the button on one of the columns. This will cause a secret passage in the side corridor to open.
Yet when Geralt realized the remaining Borsodi brother was using him as well, he made sure he joined his recently murdered sibling in the afterlife. With no one left to lay a competing claim on it, Geralt took the golden casket known as Maximilian Borsodi's House and the will hidden inside it. Now he was set to fulfill Olgierd's request.
Go through the tunnel and use the lever to open the passage to the outside.
Go to an inn in Oxenfurt and talk to Olgierd. Of course he will be more pleased if you bring him a box with the contents. You can listen to his story about why he hates the Borsodis and then this quest will end.
After completing this quest, you will be able to play the quest Scenes From a Marriage.