Overview
Contract: An Elusive Thief is a witcher contract in Novigrad, suggested for level 13. Sylvester Amello, a merchant at the Hierarch Square market, wants someone to catch the “imp” that keeps stealing from the merchants’ guild stalls. It sounds like pest control. It is not: the thief is a doppler, a shapeshifter who can copy anyone’s appearance, and the trail runs from the market down through the Bits and Farcorners.
One warning before you start. The chase passes a pair of elves that belong to Racists of Novigrad, and you can’t avoid them. Finish that encounter first, or one of the two quests may fail once the pursuit begins.
Getting the contract
Take the notice from the board in Hierarch Square, then find Sylvester Amello at the marketplace during the day. He tells you what little he knows about the imp and lets you get on with it.
The investigation
Use Witcher Senses around his stall and you’ll pick up tracks that look like a large cat’s. Follow them to a wall where the thief dropped some food; from there the prints turn into scratch marks. At the bridge Geralt reasons that the imp jumped into the moat, so swim across. On the far shore the trail has changed again, this time into ordinary footprints.
They lead to a house with a wide open door. Read the short letter on the table and the picture clicks: a doppler, which means tracking his face is pointless. Upstairs, his clothes reek of lavender. Follow that scent outside until you spot an Eternal Fire guard chatting far too warmly with an elf. Walk up, and the pair start an unconvincing argument before the doppler gives up the act and bolts.
Stay right behind him. If he gets too far ahead, the quest fails. Catch up and grab him when the prompt appears.
Fighting the doppler
After a short exchange he turns into a copy of Geralt, signs and all, so you are effectively fighting yourself. Read his attacks the way you would read a human swordsman’s and coat your blade with relict oil. Don’t try to run away. He will follow you across the map, even through fast travel, and only gives up the chase if you leave for another region, picking it up again when you return. Bring his health down to about a quarter and he surrenders. Full tactics on our Doppler page.
Choices and outcomes
- Spare him: the doppler must leave the city. He thanks you with crowns and the Gnomish Gwyhyr diagram, but Sylvester only pays half because you have no head to show him.
- Kill him: he loses the witcher form and fights like an ordinary bandit, which makes him much easier. You get the doppler trophy, the doppler mutagen and the full bounty. This is the only way to get the doppler mutagen in the game.
- Story option: if you have finished Count Reuven’s Treasure but not The Play’s the Thing, Geralt can ask him to pose as Caleb Menge and sail to Temple Isle. The terrified doppler refuses, Geralt lets him go, and you get neither his gift nor the full bounty.
Rewards
Return to Sylvester at the market during the day. Killing the doppler earns 182 crowns plus his trophy, mutagen and Mountain Folk boots. Sparing him earns 91 crowns from Sylvester, 215 crowns and the Gnomish Gwyhyr diagram from the doppler. The quest itself is worth 270 XP either way, and the doppler adds another 25 XP if you let him live.
