A Matter of Life and Death

Side quest Side quests · 66 of 159 → Novigrad suggested level 12 On the world map

“A Matter of Life and Death” is a side quest in Novigrad in The Witcher 3 (recommended level 12). It is missable: it fails during “The Beast of Toussaint” if it is not done by then. Triss Merigold, Dijkstra and Morvran Voorhis are involved. The first objective: Talk to Triss Merigold about her problem.

⚠ Missable

This quest fails as soon as you get this far in the story:

The Beast of Toussaint
Ciri's Story: Breakneck Speed
The Isle of Mists: „Travel to the Isle of Mists.“

Finish this quest first, otherwise you can no longer complete it.

During this quest the game temporarily takes your gear away.

From the journal

Of all the so-called "witches" they hunted, there was none the witch hunters wanted more than Triss Merigold, a sorceress of unequaled power. Even in hiding she had proven a thorn in their side, masterminding an underground net of hideouts and covers, keeping other mages out of the hunters' blood-stained hands. When Geralt entered the city, he met up with his dear friend and sometime love. And when the time came that she needed his help with her endeavor, she did not hesitate to ask.

Their contact revealed that the son of Ingrid Vegelbud, scion of a wealthy Novigrad family, dabbled in alchemy. For that reason he had become a person of much interest to the witch hunters. When Ingrid learned of Triss' operations, she sent her servant to ask the sorceress to spirit her son somewhere far away from his persecutors. The hunters kept a close eye on her residence, so they would need a distraction - and her upcoming masquerade ball promised to provide just that.

Read on (5 paragraphs) – reveals how the quest unfolds

Young Albert's rescue did not prove to be Triss' slickest extraction ever. First she had trouble even finding the young alchemist amidst the throng of revelers, and then Geralt ran into trouble with a group of witch hunter infiltrators. Still, with a bit of luck and a bit of cunning our heroes managed to escape the residence and smuggle Vegelbud out without a scratch on him. Mission accomplished. Geralt and Triss had proven once again how well they work together as a team - but as a couple, well, events at the Vegelbuds' only complicated that matter...

Geralt and Triss attended the masquerade ball at the Vegelbuds' residence. Their mission: rescue young Albert. Geralt, however, must have downed one cocktail too many and wandered off before they could fulfill it. Albert was arrested. Triss was furious with Geralt - and much water flowed under Saint Gregory's Bridge before she forgave him.

She had received a very tempting proposition and needed Geralt to accompany her to the Novigrad fish market. A fish market, you say? Had the hunters taken to persecuting flounder as well? Was a mage in desperate need of some herring? I will ignore the sarcasm in your tone and tell you this: the mysterious man awaiting them there would provide answers to all these questions - and more.

At first everything went smoothly and Triss truly believed that, with the witcher's help, she would successfully sneak Albert Vegelbud out of the city, thus saving his life. Yet there was one thing she did not foresee: that Geralt would prove the weak link in her plan and fail to show up at the ball. No one likes being stood up, least of all a sorceress. Thus a lot of water flowed under St. Gregory's Bridge before she let go of her anger...

Their contact did indeed await them at the fish market but - prepare yourselves - at the last minute Geralt changed his mind and ran off on some other errand. Geralt's fickle-heartedness led to tragedy - unknown evildoers killed the informant. Triss had no way to follow up on her proposition, and so was understandably furious with the witcher.

Objectives