Pomp and Strange Circumstance follows a victory over Dettlaff with Syanna still alive. Duchess Anna Henrietta plans to give Geralt Toussaint’s highest honor, but one question remains: who was the Beast’s fifth victim meant to be? The answer, and how Geralt uses it, decides the fate of both sisters.
How to start Pomp and Strange Circumstance
It starts after Tesham Mutna if Syanna survived. The suggested level is 49. The quest gives about 200 XP and 5,000 crowns.
The fifth victim
Regis wonders who the fifth victim was supposed to be. Visit the bootblack in Beauclair Port, who says the letters came from beggars at a nearby shelter. Deal with two men harassing the shelter’s owner and wait for the beggars. One still has the fifth letter, and it names Anna Henrietta herself.
Talking to Syanna
At the palace, visit Syanna before the ceremony. If you have met every other condition, the correct answers are:
- “Cause she turned her back on you, forgot about you.”
- “Ever thought to forgive her?”
The ceremony and the endings
Geralt receives the Order of Vitis Vinifera. Then Syanna is brought before the court. To save both sisters you need to have:
- completed Beyond Hill and Dale…;
- read the first two entries in the governess’s journal in the playroom;
- listened to Syanna’s story while hunting the magic beans;
- found the fifth victim and asked Syanna about it;
- given the two correct answers above.
If you did all of this, the sisters argue in front of the court and then forgive each other. If not, Syanna kills Anna Henrietta and Damien shoots Syanna with a crossbow bolt. Geralt later visits their graves at the Temple Cemetery. If you chose the Unseen Elder’s path, nothing you do here can change this outcome.
Either way, Geralt ends the night with Regis at Mère-Lachaiselongue Cemetery. He helps Regis pick mandrake roots and fights off bruxae loyal to Dettlaff. Regis explains he must leave the region. The epilogue is Be It Ever So Humble….
Tips
- Wear the mask and gloves before picking mandrakes. Without them toxicity rises fast, and picking both roots unprotected can kill Geralt.
- Telling the duchess that her sister wanted her dead changes nothing, and neither does what you tell Damien.
- If you ended The Warble of a Smitten Knight by moving the curse to Guillaume, you can find him and Vivienne on a balcony at the north end of the palace.
