THE WITCHER 3: Side Quest Script
Introductory paragraph
This quest initiates after Geralt overhears a vagrant rambling to the authorities about finding bodies down by the bay. The guards don’t seem to heed the warnings, passing the vagrant off as a drunk and shooing him away. Geralt has investigated the bodies down by the bay and noticed hoof marks and burns on them. He uses his Witcher sense to identify a fragrant trail. The player follows it upstream to the back of an unassuming townhome within the city walls. The player climbs a ladder out of the water to a landing with a wooden door.
quest: SATIATING THE SUCCUBUS
INT. VELEN: LAVANDULA’S HOME — GREAT ROOM
[Opens the door to LAVANDULA’S home]
The great room is dimly lit; the drapes are closed, and only a few sparse candles are ignited. Dust floats in the air. It is quiet aside from the player’s footsteps against the weathered wooden floor. There is nothing remarkable about the interior of the home.
[Walks toward the staircase]
LAVANDULA (UNSEEN)
Geralt of Rivia… I had a feeling I would be graced with a visit from you.
GERALT (PLAYER-CONTROLLED WALKING)
How do you know who I am?
LAVANDULA (UNSEEN)
Oh, you can’t have a Witcher come through town without hearing whispers of it. I almost didn’t realize I had company — You may have the grace of a light-footed cat but you have the bearing of a bull trapped in a closet.
[Playful laughter is heard from an unknown location.]
LAVANDULA (UNSEEN)
What can I do for you, Geralt?
GERALT (PLAYER-CONTROLLED WALKING)
Found some men who looked like they had been trampled down by the bay. Thought you’d know what happened.
[Rich laughter is heard from an unknown location.]
LAVANDULA (UNSEEN)
And why would you ever think I would know a thing about that?
[After climbing the stairs, the player walks into a dark hall and through a door at the end.]
TRANSITION TO CUT SCENE
[Geralt walks into a large, exquisite bedroom, dissimilar from the rest of the home, filled with thin smoke from several lit candles. There is a large, empty bed with red satin sheets rumpled around. The bed has a tall, four-post frame with a thin canopy draped over the top. On the far side of the room is a privacy screen.]
CUT SCENE
GERALT
Your scent. The water had almost washed it all away. Most animals wouldn’t have caught it.
LAVANDULA (UNSEEN; HEADY)
Are you not most animals, Geralt of Rivia?
[Her words come from behind him, breath is seen on Geralt’s neck. Geralt turns around, but no one is there.]
GERALT (PASSIVELY)
What happened to them?
LAVANDULA (DISAPPOINTED)
Oh Geralt, you are not what I expected.
[Geralt walks forward toward the privacy screen. Steam is seen rising above it.]
GERALT (CURIOUS)
What did you expect?
[Geralt steps past the privacy screen and sees a woman bathing — early 30s with two goat-like horns nestled in dark hair loosely pinned up with a few strands falling down around her face. She is exposed and the steam rises around her as she looks up at Geralt.]
LAVANDULA (SEDUCTIVELY)
Less business and more pleasure.
[After a pause]
Won’t you join me?
GERALT
[Ignores]
LAVANDULA [DISAPPOINTED]
[SIGH] Very well. I suppose I’ve soaked long enough.
[Lavandula turns her gaze away and pushes herself up to sit on the edge of the tub. She grabs a silk robe from the table beside her and slides it on, draping it against her still damp torso.
She gracefully swings her legs out of the tub, wooly with dark fur and cloven hooves, dripping wet.
She stands to gather a goblet from the same table and pours wine into it from a decanter.
She lightly brushes against Geralt as she passes by him and lays relaxed across the bed. She sizes Geralt up and, seemingly pleased by the sight of him, pats the bed beside her, beckoning him to join.]
GERALT
No, thanks. The last time I got in bed with a succubus I didn’t see the sun for weeks. We almost killed each other.
I’m here to listen to your side of what happened.
[Geralt leans against a wooden support beam and watches Lavandula sip her wine.]
LAVANDULA
[Tisks] Such a shame. You would have been such [emphasized] a joy to lose time with.
[Slowly sips wine]
Fine. Have it your way. What do you want to know?
GERALT
Did you murder those men?
LAVANDULA
[Scoffs] Surely you’ve deduced that already, and you’re clearly not here to waste my time, so why don’t you ask what you really want to ask?
GERALT
I just want to know what happened.
LAVANDULA (EXASPERATED)
I killed them! That’s just it. I killed them and threw their bodies over my balcony when night fell and let the river take them to a nice sandy spot by morning. But you already knew all of that [emphasized] too, didn’t you?
[Geralt stops leaning on the support beam and stands straight up to gesture.]
GERALT
But why? Your kind are peaceful unless provoked.
LAVANDULA
Why does it matter, Geralt? They deserved [emphasized] it.
GERALT
You can’t go around killing men and expect to go unnoticed or unpunished.
[Lavandula stands up, frustrated, places her goblet on the bedside table, and closes her robe while speaking.]
LAVANDULA
And why not? I’ve killed monsters [emphasized]. I’m no different from you, except you even get paid for it.
[Frustration builds in her voice.]
So why do you ask?
So you can be the judge of who deserved to live and die?
To decide who deserves to pay for their crimes more?
[Voice elevated and slightly straining]
What shall I tell you, then? That one day they came while we slept, outnumbering us four to one until I was the only one left?
[Voice cracking more while her face stays stern and gaze unbreaking on Geralt’s eyes]
That I hid like a coward while they defiled my sisters?
Will you deem me worthy of mercy then?
[Lavanduala turns her back to Geralt]
LAVANDULA (UNBREAKING, STRONG-VOICED AT NORMAL VOLUME)
Well I do not want your mercy, Witcher.
[Pause to collect herself]
I will see them avenged —
[Turns her head to look at Geralt over her shoulder]
— and if you are another man to stand in my way —
[slight pause as she turns to face Geralt again]
— So be it.
[Lavandula’s eyes blaze and fire builds around her as she stands open-palmed, ready for a fight.]
END CUT SCENE
[COMBAT BEGINS]
Response
I am no fiend to be conquered! I cannot be contained or silenced. I am everlasting, as my sisters could not be!
Geralts’s Response
This is not the way!
Response
They killed us all, Geralt. And in turn, I will kill them all.
Geralts’s Response
I can’t let you do this!
[COMBAT ENDS; LAVANDULA FALLS TO THE GROUND, LEGS TO THE SIDE, PANTING, LOOKING DOWN, DEFEATED]
TRANSITION TO CUT SCENE
Geralt walks slowly to Lavandula. He squats down beside her, looking her over thoughtfully.
GERALT
This isn’t what they would have wanted.
LAVANDULA (SNIPING)
[Lavandula looks up into Geralt’s eyes.]
And you would know? What else would you know, “master Witcher?”
What is it that you’ve come for?
[Her voice quiets as she looks down again.]
Will you not leave until you’ve added another “monster” to your endless list of death?
GERALT
[Gently]I’m not here to hurt you.
[Slight pause]
[Firmer]But I am here to put an end to this one way or another.
LAVANDULA
What would you have me do?
GERALT
Leave. And don’t return.
[Lavandula looks up quickly]
LAVANDULA (ANGRILY AND STEADILY STRONGER)
Leave?! This is my HOME. They have taken enough from us and I will not stop until I see the end of them — the end of every man who slaughtered my sisters, who lay their hands on women, who lie piss drunk in the streets without regard to those they leave at home.
They DESERVE to pay, Geralt!
GERALT (GENTLY)
They do. But this is not the way.
[Silence fills the room as Lavandula stares at the floor]
LAVANDULA (QUIETLY)
This is all I know now.
[Long pause, as a tear rolls down her face, a single drop bursting on the floor]
LAVANDULA (QUIETLY)
Do what you must.
[The next cut scene depends on what Geralt chooses for her fate:]
If the player chooses to kill her:
[Slow camera pan from the character’s position in the middle of the room toward the door, leaving the character’s out of view.]
Geralt stands up, over Lavandula. He unsheaths his sword. As the camera pans away from the two, you hear the shing of a sword passing once through her.
If the player lets her live:
[Camera stays in a fixed position on the two, pointed toward the door]
Geralt stands up, over Lavandula. He considers her for a moment and then walks away, out the door without another word, leaving Lavandula on the floor.
