Wine is Sacred

Following what can only be described as a surprising turn of events, the witcher had no choice but to report to the duchess. He needed to inform her that the hunt for the Beast would be no ordinary monster hunt. Fully aware of the fiery temperament of Anarietta, Toussaint's gracious ruler, Geralt was justified in thinking the meeting would not be among the most pleasant he had ever had…

Geralt managed to sway the duchess' conviction - she agreed that he would, for now, forgo tracking the vampire and focus instead on locating whoever held the vampire in thrall. He had some leads already. These prompted him to go to the ducal vineyard of Castel Ravello. For it was the source of the famed Sangreal, a wine only ever served at the Ducal Palace to the noblest guests to come to court, including - not to boast - the undersigned. And I will be candid - I've had better. Yet it seemed at the time that whoever was blackmailing the vampire had acquired a taste for Sangreal specifically. Thus the witcher and the duchess set out to inspect the vineyard in the hope of finding another lead.

The witcher's suspicions had proved true - Sangreal seemed indeed to be the key to finding the blackmailer. The steward of Castel Ravello admitted he had sold a barrel of the wine to a Cintrian nobleman. The witcher and a unit of ducal guardsmen decided to wait in ambush for said connoisseur…

Alas, the Cintrian proved a notch too clever. When Geralt attempted to deliver the second barrel of wine, the nobleman was nowhere in sight. Some hired thugs found themselves caught in the ambush, and the witcher thrashed them heroically with the aid of his escort of guardsmen. The single captured rogue, when questioned, confirmed the bandits' leader was indeed the mysterious Cintrian, who was said to be hiding somewhere in Toussaint.

While investigating, the witcher had learned the Cintrian was not working alone. He stood at the head of a well-organized group of brigands. It was still not clear that the nobleman himself was Dettlaff's blackmailer. Yet even were he to prove merely an intermediary in the scheme, it was likely he would know where to find those directly responsible.