After knowing the killer's target was the old knight who showed no mercy and figuring out the next victim, Geralt and the Duchess acted immediately, but they were still a step too late.
The fourth victim still appeared, and White Wolf Geralt personally saw the killer, chasing the Beast of Beauclair to a remote farm.
After a fierce fight, a mysterious person suddenly appeared in the middle of the battlefield and took a claw for White Wolf. However, Geralt was shocked when he saw his face.
Through conversation, the player understood the relationship between Geralt and this mysterious person.
Regis, Geralt's former good friend, a higher vampire.
In the world of Witchers, higher vampires are depicted as not fearing sunlight. Blood is not a necessity but a drink like fine wine.
Just like humans, some people like to drink alcohol, and some don't.
For some reason early in his life, Regis quit his habit of drinking blood, met Geralt, and joined the journey to find Ciri. But mid-journey, Regis was killed by a powerful being, and even as a higher vampire, he couldn't avoid it.
Geralt thought his friend was dead, but thankfully, many years later, the Beast of Beauclair, Dandelion, another higher vampire, found Regis and spent a great deal to bring him back to life.
According to Regis, Dandelion doesn't understand human deception or lies but likes to be with humans. However, he doesn't understand good and evil himself, so he might be used by bad people. Therefore, he hopes White Wolf will join him in finding the real killer behind this. Hearing his old friend say this, White Wolf Geralt nodded in agreement.
Playing through this series of game content greatly surprised Grayson.
Because it didn't feel like DLC content at all.
It was completely separated from the main game's story. There were a few dialogues that hinted at connections to the prequel.
But the story of Toussaint was completely cut off, like a brand new independent work.
In terms of gameplay, although it still had the Witcher's dialogue choice system, it added some detective elements to the content.
A murder occurred, clues were found, the killer was found, and then it was discovered that the killer was just a puppet with a bigger manipulator behind the scenes.
The whole mode was linked together, and in the process, it better showcased the customs and culture of Toussaint to the player.
Especially as the story deepened, more and more content was revealed.
First, the White Orchard vineyard given to Geralt by the Duchess was not just for show.
It could actually be decorated and customized.
Compared to past versions, Lucas made significant changes here. In the past, this vineyard management element that many players longed for didn't have much content. You only needed to pay the steward for automatic renovations, and players could only decorate a few small details themselves.
The only other significant uses were for cultivating mutagens and dyeing.
Regarding this, Lucas and his team made some slight changes during development, allowing players to experience more simulation and management fun in the vineyard.
This completely stunned Grayson. Was he playing The Witcher: Wild Hunt or a simulation management game?
And this was just the beginning.
As the story progressed, more new weapons, new gear, set bonuses, and the mutation system made Grayson doubt if this was an expansion or a sequel.
Of course, more importantly, there was the story of Blood and Wine.
It still had the authentic Witcher: Wild Hunt style, bringing players those unspeakable trolley problems and moral dilemmas.
......
You could say the story of Blood and Wine was much longer than Grayson had expected.
If he hadn't known it was DLC, he would have truly thought it was a brand new game.
When he met the Beast of Beauclair and Regis, the entire story of Blood and Wine had only just begun to unfold.
To investigate the truth, they first had to find Dandelion.
But Dandelion had gone into hiding, and even a powerful Witcher like White Wolf was helpless against a higher vampire in hiding.
So, at this point, Dandelion's severed hand from before the mansion came in handy.
Regis told Geralt that they could use the severed hand to brew a potion of resonance, which would allow Geralt to relive Dandelion's memories.
However, the recipe for the resonance potion was complex, and one of the required ingredients was the saliva of the rare monster, a Spotted Wight. Fortunately, Regis found out that there was a Spotted Wight in an abandoned manor, so Geralt immediately set off.
But upon arriving at the location, White Wolf encountered something unusual: there were various soup spoons laid out in the Spotted Wight's house.
After investigating, White Wolf quickly learned that the Spotted Wight living there was actually a cursed young lady of the manor.
The person who cursed her was a beggar who sold mirrors.
Here, players could choose to either kill her directly and take her saliva or endure the unpleasantness and eat a meal with her. This would lift her curse, and in the future, the White Orchard vineyard would gain a kind and friendly cook.
After successfully obtaining the saliva, with Regis's help, White Wolf successfully brewed the resonance potion. Geralt drank the potion and relived Dandelion's memories about the severed hand.
Further investigation revealed another annoyance: brats were still as detestable.
The brats in Red Dead Redemption when you first went to Saint Denis, and the brats in The Witcher were both incredibly annoying!
Suppressing the urge to chop the brat into pieces, Grayson quickly gathered new clues. It turned out that Dandelion was killing people because his lover had been kidnapped. The mastermind who kidnapped his lover threatened Dandelion to assassinate the people on a list. Dandelion had also cut off one of his hands himself because one of the people he killed was someone he knew.
However, upon further investigation, things were not that simple because Dandelion's lover was actually the Duchess's sister: Syanna.
And regarding the Duchess's sister, this was another dark part of Toussaint's royal history.
Syanna was born during an eclipse, and legend had it that noble girls born at this time would be cursed and become cruel and bloodthirsty.
The Duchess's parents deeply believed this, so they were prejudiced against Syanna. Eventually, the royal family decided to banish Syanna.
Combining these clues, both Grayson and the player now understood. Clearly, the mastermind was Syanna.
Finally, after uncovering the truth, Dandelion, realizing he had been deceived by the one he loved most, fell into uncontrolled rage.
He gave Syanna an ultimatum: come to the prison ruins in three days to explain herself, or he would flood Toussaint with blood.
Meanwhile, the Duchess, feeling guilty for Syanna from their childhood and upholding royal dignity, refused to hand over Syanna and asked White Wolf to find a way to kill the Beast of Beauclair.
But with a higher vampire intent on hiding, three days was not enough for Geralt to track him down.
So, on the last night, Dandelion's countless low-level vampire subordinates broke into Beauclair, turning the once fairytale-like city into a hell.
After the Bloody Night in Toussaint, the game officially entered the most crucial moral choice mode of The Witcher.
From this moment on, the player's different choices would lead to different endings.
Seeing the disaster scene of the Bloody Night in Toussaint and Dandelion venting his anger on innocent civilians, Regis began to waver.
He told White Wolf that there were only two possible solutions.
One was to satisfy Dandelion's demands and find Syanna, whom the Duchess was hiding. Dandelion would surely retreat then, but Syanna might be harmed.
The second was to seek help from a reclusive elder vampire nearby, who was the oldest among higher vampires, belonging to the Shadow clan. This elder could forcibly command any vampire within Toussaint to appear, Dandelion included.
But the key was that the Shadow Elder was incredibly powerful, and no one knew what would happen if they met him.
If they chose to see the Shadow Elder, then Regis and White Wolf would go together.
This Shadow Elder, unable to stand the smell of humans, had lived in seclusion in a cave for thousands of years. He was resistant to any disturbance. Regis only said one sentence and was immobilized by the elder.
Similarly, White Wolf only needed to say a few meaningless words here and he would be killed by the Shadow Elder without any ability to fight back.
About ninety percent of players who liked to ask too many questions, upon reaching this point, without looking at a guide, relied on save-loading to cautiously test and finally managed to pass "without taking damage."
After the discussion, the Shadow Elder warned Regis to behave himself.
Because to truly kill a higher vampire, only a fellow vampire could do it. Because of this, there was a vampire race ban against kinslaying. Any violation would result in endless pursuit.
Under the Shadow Elder's power, Dandelion appeared, but no matter how Regis pleaded, Dandelion remained unmoved.
Finally, a decisive battle was inevitable. Regis and White Wolf defeated Dandelion.
Regis, knowing that Dandelion would not give up, ultimately had to choose to end Dandelion's life himself.
Later, White Wolf learned that Syanna's final target was the Duchess. However, Syanna claimed she had let go and would not act further.
But Syanna's inner knot of hatred remained unresolved at the final ceremony.
Syanna pretended to embrace her sister and pierced the Duchess's heart with her headdress. She herself was then pierced through the throat by a guard's crossbow bolt. Toussaint, which was once like a fairytale, fell into sadness.
Of course, besides this "party wipe" ending, there were two other different endings.
As for triggering these two endings, players needed to control White Wolf and enter a storybook.
In the storybook, White Wolf would learn the sisters' story.
The story was full of absurdity and darkness, which greatly surprised the players.
However, the most crucial element here was the collection of a red ribbon.
After collecting all the necessary elements, Syanna would share her heart with White Wolf Geralt in the clouds, and Syanna would finally resolve her inner conflict.
Then, when facing Dandelion again, there were two different endings.
In the first ending, Dandelion suddenly killed Syanna and left Toussaint. But White Wolf, for secretly taking Syanna away, incurred the Duchess's wrath and was thrown into prison.
But thankfully, Regis informed Master Dijkstra about White Wolf's imprisonment, and Dijkstra traveled a great distance to Toussaint to rescue White Wolf.
As for the other ending, the key item was the red ribbon.
If the red ribbon was bought and given to Syanna, it could ultimately block Dandelion's fatal blow.
Afterward, Regis killed Dandelion, and Syanna and the Duchess successfully resolved their inner conflict. However, Regis would have to face a long journey of being hunted.
Finally, White Wolf Geralt talked with Regis under the moonlight, then set down his wine glass with a sense of release and gave a slight smile to the player watching.
After years of wandering, White Wolf finally found a place to settle in Toussaint, a land that didn't discriminate against Witchers: White Orchard Vineyard.
And here, if the player had inherited previous saves, either Yennefer or Triss would come here. If they completed the three-way romance storyline, their adopted daughter Ciri would come here.
Even if they had achieved the "dead wolf" ending, their good friend Master Dijkstra would come over.
And two years later, Ciri, Regis, Master Dijkstra, Keira, Triss, Yennefer, and others who had helped White Wolf, all gathered at White Orchard Vineyard.
He didn't explore the game's side quests but played straight through the DLC's main story, and on the easiest difficulty.
But even so, Grayson played for about ten hours straight.
He didn't play the other DLC, Hearts of Stone.
But he didn't have the desire to. Because he knew that just this DLC called "Blood and Wine" was enough to blow players away.
Especially the final ending, where was the promised death of White Wolf?
For a DLC, it had a new mutation system, new set bonuses, new level caps, and manor gameplay. Was that really necessary?
At that moment, Grayson was incredibly glad he had followed Alex's advice and decided to postpone the release of "Lost Curse," otherwise they would have been in serious trouble!
In reality, just as Grayson had thought, all players who had played the DLC were exploding with excitement.
The most perfect farewell performance for White Wolf, this was a path no one had ever imagined!
(End of chapter)
---
Read +100 advanced chapters on my patre*n
patr eon.com/GustinaKamiya
Free Tier can read 3 advanced chapters
---