Reason of State

Side quest Side quests · 121 of 159 → Novigrad suggested level 30 On the world map

“Reason of State” is a side quest in Novigrad in The Witcher 3 (recommended level 30). It is missable: it fails during “On Thin Ice” if it is not done by then. Those involved include Dijkstra, Irina Renarde and Radovid V the Stern. The first objective: Meet Dijkstra, Roche and Thaler in the portside warehouse.

⚠ Missable

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

On Thin Ice: „Join Avallac'h and the sorceresses on Undvik.“

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

During this quest the game temporarily takes your gear away.

From the journal

Momentous decisions altering the fate of entire nations are often made under unusual circumstances. For example, when Geralt was asked to take part in the assassination of King Radovid, he was standing in a bathhouse in Novigrad, half-naked and staring at a sweat-soaked Dijkstra. If he agreed to join in, he was to attend a meeting in a warehouse by the docks. There the co-conspirators would hash out the details of their plan to kill the most powerful ruler in the North.

Their bold plan succeeded: the Redanian king was assassinated on the bridge leading to Temple Isle. Radovid's was not the last blood to be spilled as a result of this conspiracy, however. With no more common goal to bind them, the co-conspirators turned on each other.

Geralt, who has always cherished his neutrality, decided not to get involved and left the assassin's hideout before fighting began. Though Roche and his band had already overcome a great deal, it was clear they would not be able to defeat the overwhelming numbers of Dijkstra's thugs. Madame Irina's empty theater hosted a brutal spectacle in which the fiercest Temerian patriots met a bloody end.

Read on (2 paragraphs) – reveals how the quest unfolds

Depending on the outcome: … With no more common goal to bind them, the co-conspirators turned on each other.

Though Geralt has always prized his neutrality, he did not intend to sit idly and watch Dijkstra's thugs butcher his friends. And so the Redanian spy's long-awaited moment of triumph transformed into his final defeat at the witcher's hands.

To this day I don't know what truly drove the witcher to take part in the assassination plot against Radovid. I also don't know what drove him to resign from this participation. Such are the facts, however: Geralt first courted high politics, then left them at the altar to fend for themselves while he saw to a more important matter: the fight against the Wild Hunt.