Doors Slamming Shut – Witcher 3 Quest

This guide is a walkthrough of a contract side quest in the Witcher 3 for the area of Novigrad. The guide is composed of a map, map legend, and walkthrough to show readers exactly where to go and what to do to complete the quest.

Map Legend

1 – Notice Board
2 – Kingfisher
3 – Dysart’s House
4 – Cracked Wall
5 – Journal
6 – Heavy Door
7 – Lever
8 – Earth Elemental
9 – Crystal

Exits

1. Cellar exit.

Background

You’ll receive this quest when you read the note “Contract: Haunted House” on a notice board in Novigrad. You’ll have two choices for this: the notice board in the northern part of the city (#1) or the notice board by the Kingfisher (#2).

Walkthrough

From the note, you’ll learn that a creature is haunting the residence of Count Kurt Dysart. To learn more about what’s going on, you’ll need to talk to Dysart on the second floor of the Kingfisher (#2). Dysart will tell you that he doesn’t believe in ghosts, but that something in his house is causing the walls to shake and crumble. He’ll then give you the key to the house so you can investigate.

You’ll find Dysart’s house located to the east of Novigrad (#3). Inside, if you turn on your witcher senses, then you’ll discover some things to examine, but nothing of importance until you descend into the cellar. There you’ll feel some wind blowing through a crack in the wall (#4), and you’ll sense something living behind it. When you use Aard on the crack, you’ll create an opening into a cavern.

As you explore the cavern, you’ll discover Amaverick of Sorano’s Journal (#5). It will indicate that the creature causing all of the fuss is an earth elemental. Learning this will earn you 25 xp. Right next to the journal you’ll find a heavy door (#6), but you won’t be able to interact with it, and Aard won’t have any effect on it. To open the door, you’ll need to jump into the water to the east and pull the lever that you’ll find in that direction (#7).

Past the door you’ll come to the earth elemental Therazane (#8). It’ll be encased within a magical barrier. To destroy the barrier, you’ll need to move behind it where you’ll find a crystal on a pedestal (#9). Casting Aard on the crystal will destroy it and the barrier both.

When Therazane is released, it’ll attack you. Therazane is big and hits hard, but it’s also slow, so you should be able to dive in, slash it once or twice with your silver sword, and then dive back away before it can hit you. You might need to repeat this maneuver several times to wear away Therazane’s health, but eventually it’ll go down.

When Therazane dies, it’ll drop an Earth Elemental Mutagen, an Earth Elemental Trophy, a leveled version of the steel sword Cleaver Hood, and more. When you show the trophy to Dysart, you’ll earn your negotiated fee plus 300 xp.