Carnal Sins

Overview

Carnal Sins is a secondary quest in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and one of the best detective stories in Novigrad. It starts at the end of Cabaret, when a messenger tells Dandelion that Priscilla has been attacked. It fails if not completed before The Isle of Mists.

A killer in the city

At Vilmerius Hospital, the head physician Joachim von Gratz says Priscilla will live, though he fears for her singing voice. She is not the first victim: others were killed the same way. He takes Geralt through the sewers, past drowners and a bilge hag, to the morgue to see the latest body, a dwarven woodcarver. There they meet the coroner Hubert Rejk, who has no love for von Gratz, and Reverend Nathaniel Pastodi, a former torturer of the Eternal Fire, who throws them out.

Three leads

Geralt can investigate in any order:

Where Priscilla was attacked. Locals think Geralt is the killer and start a fistfight. The clues show the attacker leapt a wall too high even for a witcher.
The woodcarver’s yard. His brother Gus lets Geralt search the yard and workshop. A small detail about the blood is worth noting.
Eustace, the corpse collector. For money or Axii, he admits he kept a note found in the dwarf’s body naming Priscilla as the next victim.

Each crime scene also has a sermon by a “Concerned Citizen” railing against sinners.

Closing in

Another murder brings Geralt back to Hubert, who finds a note naming the next target, Patricia Vegelbud. At the Vegelbud Residence she is already dead and the killer escapes, leaving Geralt to fight guards who mistake him for the murderer. A note on her body names the last victim: Sweet Nettie of Crippled Kate’s.

In the brothel Geralt finds Nathaniel about to torture Nettie. Listen to him before you act. He is cruel and twisted, but he is not the killer, and hearing him out is what reveals the truth. If you kill him first, you cannot find the real murderer. Geralt can then kill Nathaniel, drive him away with Axii, or leave.

The real murderer

The trail ends at a warehouse by the docks. The killer is Hubert Rejk, the coroner, and he is a vampire. He fights Geralt as a katakan and drops the sword Deargdeith. Back at the hospital, Priscilla is recovering and her voice should survive. Until it does, she and Dandelion plan to perform with him singing and her on the lute.

Walkthrough

Go with Dandelion to Vilmerius Hospital.
Follow Joachim through the sewers to the morgue and examine the woodcarver’s body.
Investigate the site of Priscilla’s attack, the woodcarver’s yard, and talk to Eustace.
Return to the coroner and read the note naming Patricia Vegelbud.
Go to the Vegelbud Residence, chase the killer and survive the guards.
Search Patricia’s body and head to Crippled Kate’s.
Hear Nathaniel out, then deal with him.
Go to the warehouse at the docks and kill Hubert Rejk.
Return to the hospital.