Fool’s Gold – Witcher 3 Quest

This guide is a walkthrough of a side quest in the Witcher 3 for the area of Velen. 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 – Lurtch
2 – Hog Hut Cave

Background

When you reach the village of Lurtch in Velen East (#1), a man named Yontek will come running up to you wailing about bandits taking Yagoda. If you try and talk to him, then he’ll just say that they went “thataway” rather than “thisaway,” which won’t help you very much. In actuality, the bandits will be at a campfire nearby, peaceably roasting a pig — Yagoda.

When you talk to the bandits, if you stay out of the matter, then they’ll kill Yontek, and that will end the quest before it starts. But if you intervene, then the bandits will attack you, and afterwards Yontek will tell you that the villagers have been affected by “piggy magic.” This will trigger the quest.

Walkthrough

To find out what’s going on, you’ll need to turn on your witcher senses and examine one of the pigs in the village. You won’t see anything unusual about it, but your medallion will react strongly, so you’ll decide to talk to Yontek again. Yontek will remain as incoherent as ever, but he’ll mention Igor, a key, and a “hog hut.” He’ll then give you the Key to the Hog Hut so you can explore it.

You’ll find the locked door leading to the hog hut inside a cave to the east (#2). Some bandits will be guarding the door and the cave, but you should be able to defeat them easily. Yontek’s key will get you through the door.

Inside the hog hut, you’ll meet a pig, and you’ll work out that it’s Igor the Herbalist. Igor will let you know that the hut is really a temple. In the back of the temple, you’ll find some pig statues, plus a container with one gold coin left inside. When you ask Igor about the gold, he won’t provide you with any new information, but you’ll decide that the container must have been full of gold, and that the villagers took it, not realizing that there was a curse attached.

When you return to Yontek in Lurtch (#1), you’ll discover that there are wolves in the village, and you’ll decide to defeat them before they can eat the pigs. Luckily, once the wolves see you, they’ll just attack you, and so this battle shouldn’t be any more difficult than any other wolf battle. Afterwards, when you talk to Yontek, he’ll agree to fetch the gold while you round up the pigs. To get the pigs to go to the right spot, you’ll just need to use Axii on them.

Once you’ve gathered all the pigs, you’ll automatically start for the hog hut with Yontek. You’ll get attacked by nekkers (including a nekker warrior) along the way, but once again they’ll focus on you and ignore the pigs. Then inside the hog hut, Yontek will return the gold, and the villagers will return to their regular selves. However, they’ll be angry with Yontek, since he’s the one who found the key and started the mess. So you’ll have to make a choice:

• If you let the villagers turn on Yontek, then they’ll hang him, but you’ll earn 100 crowns and 50 xp.
  
• If you protect Yontek, then you’ll only earn 50 xp.

Either way, the village of Lurtch will return to normal, but it won’t have any shopkeepers or anything.