Vergen

Vergen is a dwarven town in the hills of northern Aedirn, built where a road climbs from the Pontar valley into the kingdom’s interior. Its founders dug mines into the surrounding hills and carved homes, halls and gates straight out of the rock, so the whole town feels like one great fortress. That is exactly what it becomes in The Witcher 2: the last stronghold of Upper Aedirn, packed with dwarves, Saskia’s peasant army, displaced Aedirnian nobles and, on one path, Iorveth’s Scoia’tael, all waiting for King Henselt of Kaedwen to come knocking.

Vergen is the main setting of Chapter 2 of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, but how you see it depends entirely on the choice made at the end of Chapter 1 in Flotsam. On Iorveth’s path Geralt lives inside the town; on Roche’s path he spends the chapter in Henselt’s camp and only enters Vergen when the Kaedweni storm it.

In The Witcher 2

Iorveth’s path. Geralt arrives with Iorveth and is welcomed by Alderman Cecil Burdon. At the war council beneath the town hall, Saskia, the so-called Dragonslayer, accepts the Scoia’tael into the defence, and Philippa Eilhart explains the curse on the old battlefield nearby. Then Saskia drinks poisoned wine. Most of the chapter is spent gathering ingredients for Philippa’s antidote, including royal blood from Prince Stennis or Henselt, while also investigating who poisoned her. When Henselt finally attacks, Geralt helps hold the gate, discovers that Saskia is really a dragon in the Tunnels of the Founders, and Iorveth’s reinforcements arrive in time to force Henselt to surrender. Vergen wins its independence, but Philippa and Saskia vanish through a portal right afterwards.

Roche’s path. Geralt works for Henselt, deals with the curse on the battlefield and uncovers a plot inside the Kaedweni camp. In The Siege of Vergen he and Roche slip into the burning town through secret tunnels, face the sorcerer Dethmold and go after Síle de Tansarville, who is hiding in Philippa’s house. On this path Vergen’s defenders cannot hold against Henselt’s veterans and the town falls, at a heavy cost to the attackers.

Quests in Vergen

• Prelude to War: Aedirn (Iorveth) or Prelude to War: Kaedwen (Roche)
• The War Council
• A Matter of Life and Death, with Royal Blood, Subterranean Life and Hunting Magic
• Suspect: Thorak and The Walls Have Ears
• Vergen Besieged (Iorveth) or The Siege of Vergen (Roche)
• The Spear of Destiny, Hatred Symbolized and Death Symbolized (relics for lifting the battlefield curse)

Side quests around town include Hey, Work’s On in the Mines!, With Flickering Heart, Baltimore’s Nightmare, A Sackful of Fluff, The Harpy Contract and The Queen Harpy Contract.

Good to know

• Most of Vergen’s side content is only available on Iorveth’s path, since that is the only way to spend the chapter inside the town.
• The tavern is the hub for minigames: One on One: Vergen, Poker Face: Vergen and Bring It On: Vergen. Yarpen Zigrin hangs around the tavern, but the arm wrestler to beat is the alderman’s nephew Skalen Burdon.
• The Mines of Vergen are overrun by monsters, and the old quarry hides the nest of the queen harpy.
• Contract bounties are posted on the notice board near the tavern and paid out by Cecil Burdon.