Borsody Auction House

In The Witcher 3 the Borsody Auction House stands in Oxenfurt: a handsome two-storey building with a hall where the bidding takes place and, next door, a tall tower whose smooth outer wall looks impossible to climb. That turns out to be a challenge rather than a deterrent. The real treasure lies underground, in a vault behind a massive door, where a trapdoor right past the entrance drops careless visitors into a pit of arachnomorphs, and a hidden exit waits at the far end for anyone who gets that far.

The house belongs to the Borsody family. The business started as a shack outside Novigrad’s walls trading horses and sheep, and over the decades grew into a firm that deals only in jewels, art and collector’s items. In the game, King Radovid lured the business to Oxenfurt with an offer of zero percent tax, and Horst Borsodi accepted.

In The Witcher 3

The auction house is the heart of the Open Sesame! storyline in Hearts of Stone. Geralt attends an auction with Vimme Vivaldi, where he can bid on oddities such as Count Romilly’s figurine, which later starts a treasure hunt. After a frosty meeting with Horst, Geralt is thrown out and meets the Stranger, Horst’s brother Ewald Borsodi, who wants what their father left in the vault.

The heist that follows needs a crew: Eveline Gallo climbs the tower, a safecracker such as Quinto or Casimir Bassi works on the vault door, and Geralt keeps the guards outside talking. Inside the vault the brothers’ feud comes to a head, and the outcome decides who walks out alive.

Quests at the Borsody Auction House

• Open Sesame!
• Open Sesame: Breaking and Entering
• Open Sesame: The Safecracker
• A Dark Legacy

Good to know

• Count Romilly’s figurine can only be bought during the auction, for 300 crowns. Dismantle it to start A Dark Legacy.
• If both Borsodi brothers die, the building passes to Vimme Vivaldi and becomes a closed branch of the Vivaldi Bank.

In the books: in Season of Storms the auction house is an impressive three-storey building just off the main road in Novigrad’s finest district, with auctions held only every three months, always on a Friday. It is also where Geralt’s stolen swords end up, and Yennefer quietly buys them back for him.