The Gargoyle Contract (Roche) – Witcher 2 Quest

This guide helps players with a specific side quest of chapter 3 for Roche’s side in The Witcher 2. It has a map, legend, and walkthrough to show you exactly how to complete the quest.

Map Legend

1 – Notice board
2 – Bras of Ban Ard
3 – Active runes point
4 – Active runes point
5 – Active runes point

Background

Ruins of Loc Muinne possess a large amount of summoned creatures called gargoyles. As a result, the fortress is threatened and it’s up to Geralt to cleanse it from the gargoyle menace.

Walkthrough

This quest is received from the notice board #1. If you didn’t read any books on gargoyles yet, you’ll require knowledge on them before being able to douse the runes. Bras of Ban Ard can assist you with that. Talk to him (#2) about the gargoyles and buy the books called The Runes of Power I, II, III and IV. Reading the books will give you information on how each rune is represented. There are three magically active sites which must be deactivated.

As far as deactivation mechanics go, at each of the sites you’ll find a certain rune combination. There are six of them and reading the bookstand will give a clue in which order to douse them. Doing it in the wrong order causes magical lightning damage, but you can use Quen if you’re trying trial and error.

Once you reach a site, examine the bookstand and read what it says. The first line is the number of rune combination (i.e. first, second) while the text provides the clue. There are six combinations in total. Associate the words with either death/art, animal, sky or time. For example, first rune combination reads as:

A doe’s long shadow
The moon quietly moans
It is autumn already

Now, examine the meaning. “Doe” (deer) is an animal, “moon” relates to sky, “quietly moans” relates to death and “autumn” is one of the four seasons, so it’s time. The corrected order is therefore Animal – Sky – Death – Time.

The others are as follows:

Second rune combination: Animal – Art – Time – Sky
Third rune combination: Animal – Time – Art – Sky
Fourth rune combination: Sky – Animal – Time – Death
Fifth rune combination: Art – Sky – Animal – Time
Sixth rune combination: Sky – Death – Animal – Time

To perform deactivation, simply follow the order with the provided rune pictures.

It is suggested that you visit site marked with #3 first, as you’ll get the best silver sword in the game from the chest in there. Once you put out the runes, you’ll be able to loot the chest which contains Addan Deith, one of the best silver swords in the game (the other being Zerrikanterment, whose recipe can be bought from Bras). In addition to the sword, you’ll also get 50 orens and Diagram: Elder Blood Trousers.

Now you can visit either #4 or #5. The chest that gets available after deactivation at #4 contains 50 orens and a Diagram: Elder Blood Gauntlets. The other one at #5 has Ancient Manuscript, which starts a quest An Encrypted Manuscript, and Diagram: Elder Blood Boots. You’ll also receive an ability called Arcane Knowledge, which grants +0.5 sign intensity.

After completing the objective of the quest, head back to Bras of Ban Ard (#2). Complete this quest to earn 200 orens and 150 experience points.

Also be sure to ask him about the manuscript that you found. In the end, you should also craft all the elder blood items as they are top gear for a swordsman. Mages might want to hold onto +sign damage items.