Roland Bleinheim

Roland Bleinheim is the man in charge of Salamandra’s operation in the Swamp Forest outside Vizima in Act III of The Witcher. His men kidnap innocent brickmakers and force them to gather beggartick, an ingredient the gang needs for its fisstech labs. Vaska, the brickmakers’ eldress, calls him simply an evil man.

In The Witcher

Geralt hears of Bleinheim in Reaping Time, which Declan Leuvaarden sets in motion after the Salamandra trail leads to the swamp. Vaska explains that the captives are split into three groups held at Salamandra camps, one of them in a cave. Geralt frees each group by killing its overseer and his helpers, and the brickmakers walk home on their own. Vaska rewards him with the book Hymns of Madness and Despair and the blessing of the Water Lords her people worship.

Bleinheim himself is the target of the next quest, Diplomacy and Hunting, in which Vaska asks Geralt to deal with him. He holds the main Salamandra base in the northern part of the swamp, and there are two ways to get to him:

• Storm the base alone. It is one of the harder fights in the game, and it is worth less experience.
• Set a trap with the Hierophant. The druid in the Druids’ Grove despises Salamandra’s fisstech trade. Bring him Psilocybe from the cave in the southern part of the swamp, and he brews a potion that lures Bleinheim to a meeting place further south. Bleinheim arrives with his men and two kikimore warriors, while Geralt fights alongside the Hierophant and a pair of wyverns. Return to the Hierophant afterwards to finish the quest.

Search his body when the fight is over. Bleinheim carries the Werewolf’s Wrath scroll, a Royal Letter of Safe Conduct and an encrypted document, which hint that Salamandra’s dealings reach well beyond the swamp.