In Wolf’s Clothing – Witcher 3 Quest

This guide is a walkthrough of a side quest in the Witcher 3 on the Skellige Isles. 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 – Larvik
2 – Lofoten
3 – Front Gate
4 – Chapter House
5 – Well / Well Exit
6 – Sluice Gates
7 – Lair
8 – Prison

Background

You’ll trigger this quest by reading the note “Contract: Morkvarg” on the notice board in Larvik on Hindarsfjall in The Skellige Isles Northeast (#1).

Walkthrough

The note will inform you that a creature called Morkvarg has been plaguing Freya’s Garden. To learn more about the creature, you should speak to Sister Josta in Lofoten (#2). She’ll tell you that Morkvarg was once a man, but that he was cursed to take on the form of a beast and to always return to the garden, even after death. She’ll also mention that Einar survived an encounter with him. If you talk to Einar (found at the dock north of Larvik), then he’ll pretty much just repeat what Josta told you.

When you reach the front gate to Freya’s Garden (#3), you’ll catch sight of Morkvarg, who will appear to be some sort of werewolf, but the gate will be locked, so you won’t be able to confront him. To enter the garden, you’ll just need to climb the stairs next to the gate. This will give you access to the garden’s walls, and from there you’ll be able to jump down into the interior.

Inside the garden, you’ll encounter a few level 14 wolves, but they should be easy for you to kill. To find Morkvarg, you’ll need to head to his lair (#7) or to the prison (#8):

• Lair. When you enter the lair, you’ll overhear Morkvarg asking “Ramund” (a skull) about a key. Then when you explore the lair, you’ll spot a crevice in the ground with a draft coming through it. This is a clue that you’ll find a key beneath the lair. See the “Cure Him” section below for more information.
  
• Prison. You’ll only be able to reach the prison by going through the middle sluice gate (#6). When you examine the chains inside the prison, Morkvarg will show up and tell you how he chewed through his leg to free himself, and how he then tore apart his captors.

Either way, Morkvarg will attack you, but after you’ve done enough damage to him, he’ll fall to the ground, helpless. This will give you a chance to “interact” with him, which will start a conversation. Morkvarg will ask you to end his curse, and he’ll promise you a reward if you do. Morkvarg will also mention that anything he bites into turns to ash, making him permanently hungry, and that if he tries to eat his own flesh, it burns his throat.

At the end of the conversation, you’ll get a chance to “finish” Morkvarg. This won’t actually kill him — he’ll just return later — but you’ll still be able to loot his corpse for Werewolf Meat plus other werewolf parts. If you plan to kill Morkvarg, then you should finish him at least once. If you finish Morkvarg at both locations, then you might have the leave the garden and return after 24 hours to get him to appear again. For these reappearances, Morkvarg will only show up in his lair, so you won’t have to worry about the prison after your encounter with him there.

You’ll have two ways to deal with Morkvarg:

• Kill him. Each time you “finish” Morkvarg, he’ll drop Werewolf Meat. After acquiring the meat, the next time Morkvarg attacks you and you interact with him, you should feed it to him. You’ll find the Werewolf Meat in the quest items section of your inventory. When Morkvarg eats the meat, he’ll die, and you’ll earn 50 xp. Then when you return to Josta in Lofoten (#2), she’ll give you your reward: 85 crowns and 50 xp.
  
• Cure him. To cure Morkvarg, you’ll need to enter the cave beneath his lair (accessed via the sluice gates, #6) and pick up the Padlock Key there. This will allow you to open the interior doors of the chapter house (#4), behind which you’ll find Morkvarg’s Journal. The journal will reveal that Einar was a part of Morkvarg’s crew when he attacked the garden and received his curse.
  
  When you return to Einar (#1), you’ll have two choices for how to deal with him. You can either attack him (and the handful of men with him) or you can talk to him. Either way, you’ll end up with a Cursed Fang, but if you don’t talk to Einar then you won’t learn that the fang is the cause of Morkvarg’s curse, and that you can cure it by giving it to him (which means if you kill Einar then you won’t be able to cure Morkvarg).
  
  When you return to Morkvarg in his lair (#7), you’ll have to fight him again, but once you can interact with him you’ll be able to give him the fang. This will turn him back into a human, and Morkvarg will be all excited about filling his belly and restarting his nefarious ways. You’ll then have two ways to proceed:
  • If you kill Morkvarg, then you’ll still be able to collect the reward from Josta in Lofoten (#2).
    If you ask for your reward, then Morkvarg will tell you to see Vulture the money-lender (aka the loan shark) in Novigrad. When you go there, you’ll receive a leveled version of the silver sword Deithwen, the recipe for Werewolf Decoction, and 50 xp. If you want, you can turn around and kill Morkvarg after he tells you about Vulture, and then you’ll be able to collect the reward from Josta as well.
  
  Either way, you’ll also earn 80 xp for ending the curse.

1 – Larvik

2 – Lofoten

3 – Front Gate

4 – Chapter House

5 – Well / Well Exit

If you jump down into the well here (#5), then you’ll find a skeleton holding the Key to Freya’s Garden. The key will unlock a couple of doors in the garden, including the well exit door (#5a).

6 – Sluice Gates

The levers here will give you control of the three sluice gates in the garden. The left lever will open the current gate. The right lever will close the current gate and advance you to the next gate. So the levers will allow you to open one of the sluice gates while keeping the other two closed. The leftmost (southern) gate will give you an exit from the garden. The middle gate will give you a path to the prison (#8). The rightmost (northern) gate will give you access to the underwater cave beneath Morkvarg’s lair, where you’ll find the key to the chapter house (#4).

7 – Lair

8 – Prison