Cemetaur

Cemetaurs are necrophages in The Witcher, the strongest of their kind and, as the bestiary puts it, the true kings of the necropolis. When a cemetaur moves into a graveyard, it takes over, and every ghoul there bows to it. They are rare, turning up on battlefields, in cemeteries and in ancient crypts, and they are said to bring certain death to anyone but a witcher.

In The Witcher

The first ones Geralt might meet appear in Act III, occasionally prowling near the collapsed tower in the swamp at night. In Act IV the most famous cemetaur, the ancient Ureus, has its lair in the crypt in the fields near Murky Waters. Tobias Hoffman, the village chief, puts a price on its head in the trophy quest The Ancient Cemetaur. The crypt is crowded: on the way down Geralt has to get past alps, alghouls, ghouls, fleders, other cemetaurs and a garkain. The beast has probably killed plenty of villagers, and its trophy earns 800 orens and 7,000 XP.

In Act V the refugees hiding in the swamp cemetery want revenge for their dead. In The Cemetaur Contract they ask for five complete cemetaur jaws as proof, paying 250 orens and 7,000 XP once the threat is gone.

Good to know

• Cemetaur remains only give up their jaws once the Bestiary has an entry on cemetaurs, so get it before taking the contract.
• In Act IV a peasant in Murky Waters will tell Geralt about cemetaurs and unlock the entry.
• In Act V, after the fighting in Old Vizima, an old refugee woman sometimes asks Geralt for food and repays him with a tale about cemetaurs.
• The books The Tome of Fear and Loathing, Volume II and Physiologus also cover them.
• Cemetaurs drop cemetaur jaws, white vinegar and abomination lymph.