Overview
Equine Phantoms is a Blood and Wine witcher contract, and one of the expansion’s most memorable. The hermit Pinastri claims she is hunted by a demon that no one can see without drinking a brew made from graytop, a mushroom thought extinct, which she has managed to grow. She has no money and can only pay in potatoes. Haggling and then offering to work for free counts as a Proof of Generosity for There Can Be Only One.
The investigation
Dead moths lie outside the hut. Inside are graytop and a note on the table, and a bloodstained pillow on the bed. A blood trail leads out through the small window and stops where Geralt’s medallion senses magic but his eyes see nothing. Something is clearly feeding on Pinastri at night. Once Geralt drinks the brew, he is locked into the quest, and wandering off fails it.
Talking to Roach
The graytop brew lets Geralt talk to his horse, and Roach has opinions. Nearby animals can be chatted with too. When Geralt examines the moths again, Roach spots the culprit: an umbra. The chase on horseback cannot be won, but giving up fails the quest. It ends at the Mont Crane cemetery.
The knight and his horse
At the cemetery, the umbra fades and four spectral panthers attack. Afterward, a knight’s spirit rises from the grave and tells his story, blaming Pinastri for denying him peace. Geralt can:
- Ask Roach to forgive him on behalf of his horse. The spirit departs for good. This counts as a Proof of Compassion.
- Declare he deserves no mercy and fight him. He wields a halberd and drops the umbra trophy. This counts as a Proof of Valor. Pinastri refuses to forgive him, so he eventually returns, and later she is found dead in her bed, drained of blood.
Either way, Pinastri thanks Geralt and, unless he refused payment, hands over sixty potatoes.