Open Sesame! is the first of Olgierd von Everec’s three wishes in Hearts of Stone: a full-blown heist. Olgierd wants Maximilian Borsodi’s house, a small model of a house kept in the vault of the Borsodi auction house in Oxenfurt. To get it, Geralt has to visit an auction, put together a crew and break into the Borsodi brothers’ vault.
How to start Open Sesame!
The quest unlocks at the end of Evil’s Soft First Touches, together with Dead Man’s Party. The suggested level is 34 and the quest gives about 1,150 XP, plus extra XP from the side challenges at the auction.
The auction
You need an invitation, and the dwarven banker Vimme Vivaldi brings you in as his guest. Upstairs he introduces you to three acquaintances, and each one is a one-time chance:
- The art dealer Yaromir tests your eye. Pick the Portrait of a Merchant to get a tip about a van Rogh painting. Buying it is the only way to unlock Avid Collector.
- Countess Mignole collects witcher gear. Keep talking until she offers to trade: this is your only chance to buy all four Viper School armor diagrams.
- Robert Hilbert challenges you to gwent with a Nilfgaardian deck. Beat him for the unique Gaunter O’Dimm card.
Three lots go under the hammer: a van Rogh painting, a rare eagle statuette (which unlocks A Dark Legacy) and a pair of spectacles that belonged to the assassin known as the Professor. Afterwards Horst Borsodi has you thrown out, and a man called the Stranger asks you to meet him at a herbalist’s hut outside town.
Building the crew
The Stranger has a plan, and it needs three things, each its own subquest:
- Witcher Seasonings: get the guards’ cook to spike their stew.
- Breaking and Entering: recruit a break-in artist, in practice Eveline Gallo.
- The Safecracker: hire either Quinto or Casimir Bassi.
The heist
At midnight the crew breaks in, with Geralt in a mask, a wooden sword and the New Moon armor. The auction house is not empty after all, and things end in a standoff with Redanian guards outside. While the safecracker works on the vault, Geralt negotiates. With Quinto, the right answers avoid a fight; with Casimir, his explosion brings the guards in no matter what you say. Eveline slips out through the chimney either way.
At the vault door the Stranger reveals himself as Ewald Borsodi, Horst’s brother. Horst tries to buy Geralt off, and you must pick a side. The house turns out to hold their father’s will, which neither brother can afford to lose. You can fight for it or make a deal: take the house, leave the documents. Then bring it to Olgierd.
Tips
- Missable: the Viper armor diagrams from Countess Mignole and the Gaunter O’Dimm gwent card are only available at the auction.
- Buying all three auction items gives the Shopaholic achievement.
- Safecracker choice: Quinto lets you talk your way past the guards, but he misses the trapdoor, dropping you into a pit of arachnomorphs. Casimir forces a fight with the guards, but the blast also disables the trap.
- Negotiation answers that avoid a fight with Quinto: “Pull back…”, “Bring us a wagon…”, “Doesn’t matter…” and “Release one…”.
- Who fights whom: Quinto always ends up on Horst’s side, and Casimir always on Ewald’s.
- Loot the vault: you are only here once. The two big chests by the house pedestal hold the Viper venomous steel sword diagram and a relic Ofieri crossbow.
Gwent cards
More about the card game in our Witcher 3 Gwent Hub.
