Overview
Contract: Mysterious Tracks is a witcher contract in The Descent, the wooded area around Lindenvale in Velen. A local hunter has spotted tracks that belong to nothing he recognises and wants a professional opinion. The recommended level is 20, though the fight at the end tends to feel tougher than that number suggests.
The tracks lead to a dead fiend, and the thing that killed it is the real target: a chort known as the Howler. If a creature that can tear apart a fiend is prowling the woods, the hunter was right to be nervous.
Getting the contract
The notice hangs on the Lindenvale notice board. Read it, then talk to the hunter who posted it; he is open to haggling over the fee. You can also skip the notice entirely and find the tracks or the cave on your own. In that case the quest starts anyway, and you check the Lindenvale board afterwards to claim the bounty.
The investigation
Head to the marked area and use your Witcher Senses on the dead wolves. Tracks lead away from them to a tree with fur caught on the bark, which gives Geralt a scent to follow. The trail ends below a steep cliff where the cave entrance sits out of reach. A dung pile here (and another on the hilltop) marks the area as fiend territory.
Climb around and up the hill. Near the northernmost tree on top, just to its northwest, there is a hole in the ground. Drop through it; expect to lose a little health on the landing. Inside, examine the fiend carcass, its mouth (note the fur), the two different sets of prints and the blood. Put together, the clues point to a chort that killed the fiend in a territorial fight.
The chort won’t come out just because you asked. You need to lure it with bait made from the chort lure formula, which now appears in your alchemy menu. It calls for fiend dung, which you can scoop from any of the three dung piles outside, and crow’s eye, which grows on and around the hill. Craft the lure, equip it like a torch and spread it at the four marked spots around the hill. Then go back into the cave and wait for the Howler to arrive.
Fighting the Howler
The cave is cramped, which is the main problem. The Howler’s charge hits hard enough to end the fight on higher difficulties and can cause bleeding, and there is not much room to sidestep it. It also regenerates, so a timid fight drags on.
- Coat your silver sword with Relict Oil before you drop into the cave.
- Keep Quen up at all times to soak the charge and the heavy swipes.
- Dodge the charge to the side instead of trying to block it, and watch for the spin attack after you evade.
- Devil’s Puffball works well here; take one or two hits per opening, then move again.
Full tactics are on our Howler page.
Rewards
Loot the body for a chort trophy, a chort mutagen and the silver sword Azure Wrath. Back in Lindenvale, the relieved hunter pays 193 crowns. In total the contract gives 425 XP: 25 for identifying the beast in the cave and 400 for the turn-in.
While you are in Lindenvale, the village has more work for a witcher, including Contract: The Merry Widow and Witcher Wannabe.
