The Salamander’s Tail

The Salamander’s Tail is the main quest of Act I in The Witcher, set in the Outskirts of Vizima. Shani starts it when Geralt arrives at the village: the Salamandra trail leads here, and the Reverend, as the village’s leading voice, is the man to ask. The Reverend is wary of witchers because of another one who passed through earlier, so Geralt first has to earn the village’s trust by helping the Reverend, Haren Brogg, Mikul and Odo, and dealing with the Beast.

Once trusted, Geralt learns that the Salamandra are holed up in a village house and that the key is with Olaf at the inn. The bandits’ hideout leads into a cave, where Geralt learns that the mutagens have already been moved to Vizima, that Berengar was mixed up with Salamandra and that the Reverend sent Alvin to them. The act ends at the city gate with Shani at his side and a letter of safe conduct in hand, either given by the Reverend or taken from his body.

Walkthrough

Talk to Shani on arrival in the Outskirts, then get the Eternal Fire signet ring from the Reverend (or from the beggar woman in the south of the village in exchange for White Gull).
Earn the village’s trust through four quests: Of Monsters and Men (Reverend), Strangers in the Night (Haren Brogg), Buried Memories (Mikul) and Secret Garden (Odo). Do your selling first, as most traders at the inn vanish afterwards.
Return to the Reverend, who names the Salamandra house and says Olaf at the inn has the key.
At the inn, Olaf is dead and Shani is cornered by five thugs; kill them and take the key from Olaf’s body.
Clear the Salamandra house (two lackeys outside, three plus a boss inside), then use the trapdoor to enter the cave.
Kill the thugs and their boss in the cave and loot The Book of the Tawny Owl, diamond dust and a blue meteorite.
Blast the weak wall in the southeastern corner with Aard (Alvin points it out) to reach the cave where Abigail hides, and deal with the mob outside (see Of Monsters and Men).
With the letter of safe conduct, collect Shani at the inn and head to the Mill Gate to end Act I.