Act I, Arriving in Flotsam

Act I, Arriving in Flotsam

After the Prologue ends you will get a series of CS's -- a summary and then as the new Act begins, you will get to see more of the backstory on the Assassin of Kings and his new allies, the Elves you are seeking with Roche.  After the CS ends you are on board the boat but you have arrived, and Roche tells you it is time to recon the area.  Triss intends to go with you but, before you leave the boat, search it for a loot item and then loot the supplies stacked up on shore, as there are some useful items to be had here including the crafting diagram for the Witcher's Silver Sword so do NOT miss looting that!

After you finish looting, follow Triss and Roche to learn a little about the area from their conversation, and you will eventually encounter an elf playing a flute.   Here is where you meet Iorveth -- chat with him and you will learn some small facts, and then you are under attack!

Triss casts a spell but it seems it is nearly one spell too many for her constitution and she collapses; while Roche carries her you must defend them from the Elves.  Slowly you work your way along the path to the entrance of the nearby village, where you encounter a Guard who welcomes you -- sort of.  You learn about the execution that is about to take place and get a briefing on what the town has to offer, and then you are back in control.

On your way to the Market Square loot the containers along the path and be sure to read the poster on the building to the left -- it tells of the reward for slaying the Kayran -- when you are happy that you have looted all that you want here, head through the door in the gates and head towards the marker on the map -- pausing to read the wanted poster for Iorveth at the next gate.

When you arrive at the Square it triggers a CS in which you recognize the two being executed -- and you must help them...  Talk to the Guard and with the assistance of the crowd you goad him into attacking you for another QTE -- followed by a second with the Executioner -- at which point the man who actually rules the town shows up, and you have a chat.  Be nice and you will convince him to call off the execution, and he gives a rousing speech to the assembled crowd about the death of the King and their duty to defend the town, which he intended to arm them to do!

After that is another brief CS with an invitation to meet the man later and a conversation with the pair of mates you rescued -- then you are back in control of your character once again.  Talk with Triss by the entrance to the Inn and then head inside to chat and see what there is to see -- remember that you need to meet with Loredo at dusk...  And hold off playing mini-games for now...

-- The Flotsam Inn --

This is an important stop off because talking to the bloke behind the counter gives you some, well, important choices!  The first is to access storage -- something you will need since there are limits to what you can carry around with you mates.  The other is trading -- you will want to sell off any Junk you have -- so manage that now and, if you have not applied the points you picked up in the leveling you have done, do that now as well...

You are going to need to learn to manage your inventory right away -- the thing is that there are certain items (mostly crafting items) that weigh a lot but that you may very well need, so storing them in your chest in the Inn is preferable to selling them...  One thing you should NEVER sell is Diamond Dust, as you will need loads of that before you are done since it is used in pretty much every kit upgrade.

Obtaining your Witcher Sword and unlocked the Craftsman Achievement

-- Craftsman's District --

Search around here for more loot and an encounter with a trio of bounty hunters who will insist that you kill them -- so kill them -- and do not forget to loot their bodies right?  Get to see your arrest warrant that way :)

Explore to find the Smithy where you can order up a Witcher's Silver Sword -- which you need!  You probably do not have the Silver Ingots but you should have everything else that you need, so purchase two of those from the Smith and then have him make your sword for you!  Excellent, you unlock the Achievement "Craftsman" (10 G) Hire a craftsman to create an item -- which is nice... 

You will notice that the Smith has a lot of diagrams and other things you may well want to own, but you lack the money to buy them at the moment -- too true...  But we will come back to that.

Up the path from the Smithy there is an Alchemist from Viziman who wants you to help with an experiment...  I really don't know what the long-term effects are for this, but it is a mutagen issue, so it may very well be worth doing...  I chose to do it but YMMV...

When you are done with those errands and you have looted to your satisfaction, head back to the Inn and talk to your mates at the table to get some more back-story, as you have Triss fill them in on the political situation and you follow the chat options for that path.  You answer Dandelion's question about the Dragon, and you learn about Zoltan's wedding or lack thereof...  Finally you fill them in about the King and what happened, and that pretty much wraps up the briefing...

This triggers a CS in which "the beast" attacks the town (what it is is a Kraken but they do not call it that in this game, they call it a Kayran).  You meet the sorceress that battled the beast...  Ask about the monster -- and you learn a little more...  Use the Axii to get them to take their mate into a building, and then Louis Merse chats you up about the Kayran... 

You join forces with Sile and then Triss introduces you properly -- then they have a verbal catfight.  Nice!  You discuss the beast some more and then you explain that you need to look into things, talk to the merchants, then to Cedric, and you will meet with her later at the Inn...

On your way to chat with the merchants you run into a bloke on the docks who offers you a quest to find him a formula -- he is very specific about the formula that he wants -- he gives you the details, and you flag the quest The Scent of Incense for your troubles.  Let's head for this new quest marker back in town now, we can talk to the merchants in a bit...

The Scent of Incense and an Intimidation Achievement 

There is a distrust issue between you and the quest giver, so you end up meeting him at the Market Gate but when you exit you get a CS with Triss in which she tries to warn you off of the Kayran quest...  She knows where Cedric is -- instead of following Triss talk to the bloke who tells you he has to blindfold you.  To advance the quest you have to accept the blindfolding -- and of course it is a trap!

You end up his prisoner but you do end up in his lair.  He shares some information with you and it turns out that the formula you obtained is indeed the one that he wanted.  He gives you the reward that he promised you, and then asks you to let his men blindfold you again so that you can depart -- and that completes the quest!  Good on ya mates!