Nearly all the side quests in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt are worthwhile and have compelling stories and characters to interact with. Many of these come with branching choices that can affect the outcome. The 'Where the Cat and the Wolf Play' quest is one of those side quests in The Witcher 3 that not only has a compelling little murder mystery to solve but decent rewards for completing it.
Before starting the Where the Cat and Wolf Play quest, Geralt must collect 'The Beast of Honorton' contract from a notice board in Crow's Perch. With the new contract in hand, follows the steps to begin and complete The Witcher 3's Where the Cat and the Wolf Play scenario.
Where The Cat and The Wolf Play
- Before heading to Crow's Perch to grab the contract, check that Geralt doesn't already have it in his quest log. It's easy to pick up side quests in his travels and forget about them.
- Geralt is better equipped for this quest if he's at least a level 25.
- Now that Geralt has the Beast of Honorton quest, he must travel to Velen - No Man's Land and speak to the Ealdorman of Honorton.
- Use the Fast Travel points to the Boatmaker's Hut or Claywich.
- As indicated in the above map, Honorton is either east of Claywich or west of the Boatmaker's Hut.
- Upon arriving in the village, Geralt gets attacked by monsters before discovering that the villagers have been slaughtered.
- After defeating the creatures, Geralt must use his Witcher senses to investigate what happened.
- Following the trail of dead bodies, Geralt discovers that the Ealdorman has been killed.
- After investigating all the huts, Geralt discovers a cat medallion in the hands of one of the murdered villagers and suspects that the villagers were attacked and murdered by a Witcher from the School of the Cat and not killed by monsters.
- After making his conclusion, Geralt catches sight of a young running away into the woods after dropping her doll.
- Follow the young girl's tracks using Geralt's Witcher senses.
- The girl is found frightened and hiding by a tree.
- She is startled by Geralt's appearance and confirms that another Witcher killed the villagers.
- To get the girl to cooperate with Geralt, use an empathetic approach and hand her the doll when she asks for it.
- After learning what happened with the little girl, Geralt tracks down the second Witcher for an explanation.
- Geralt will leave the girl waiting by the tree to find the other Witcher, starting with a nearby stone circle.
- Follow the tracks and blood trail from the stone circle, and Geralt will find the injured Witcher.
- After finding the Witcher Gaetan, the warrior explains how the villagers tried to lure him into a trap and murder him instead of paying him what they owed for fulfilling his contract. He also explains that he let the girl live because she reminded him of his sister. Geralt now has to decide whether to spare or kill Gaetan.
Killing Gaetan
Opting to kill Gaetan can be approached in two ways:
- Provide him with a Swallow potion in The Witcher 3 to heal himself before the battle. However, he will trick Geralt with a bomb and use the opportunity to temporarily blind Geralt and make the fight harder for the player.
- Choose not to give him the potion, and the fight will be much easier.
Geralt will receive 200 experience points and obtain Gaetan's sword after looting his body.
Sparing Gaetan
Choosing to spare Gaetan is the easier option. Furthermore, Geralt can relate to Gaetan's reaction and explains how he earned the unwanted nickname The Butcher of Blaviken.
- After sparing Gaetan, he rewards Geralt with the location of his hideout, treasure, and trophies.
- This will trigger a new quest called Take What You Want.
- Avoid looking for the Take What You Want quest before returning to Millie, as this will fail her part of the quest.
If Geralt has killed Gaetan, his hideout can still be located, but there is no treasure. However, he will only get ten experience points for sparing him, though the Take What You Want Quest makes up for the lack of experience earned for allowing Gaetan to live.
Return To Millie
Now that Gaetan has been dealt with, Geralt must return to Millie without leaving the area or getting sidetracked, as this will fail Millie's quest.
- Follow the map's path back to Millie and agree to take her back to her Auntie's.
- This will trigger a scene between Geralt, Millie, and her Aunt in Oreton.
- After explaining what happened, Lucy explains that she would struggle to raise Millie without money.
- Geralt should choose to give Aunt Lucy 40 coins.
- A grateful Lucy promises to look after Millie completing the quest.
When Geralt returns to Oreton village in the future, he will encounter Millie once again. Speak with her, and she will hand him a drawing of the two of them as a gift.
Take What You Want Quest
With Millie saved and assuming that Geralt spared Gaetan, it's time to find his hideout in the Take What You Want quest.
- Ensure that Geralt is tracking the quest. Then head to the nearest Fast Travel point in the Witcher 3.
- Fast travel to the Forest Hut.
- Then travel North East to the hideout's location.
- When arriving at the location, Geralt will be attacked by a group of level 25 bandits.
- To defeat them, use Geralt's parry and riposte techniques against the bandit with the shield.
- Head down the ladder to the underground hideout and loot the chest to receive 300 coins, the Treigr Sword, and a letter to Gaetan.
- Geralt makes an interesting comment about the unclaimed trophies on the wall. He wonders if Gaetan has been ripped off several times before. However, it's possible that it's not the first time that he's taken his grievances over money out on villagers in the past.
Like most quests in The Witcher 3, the choices aren't black and white, but choosing to spare Gaetan appears to be the most rewarding, thanks to the sword that scales with Geralt.
The Witcher 3 is available now on the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One. The PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions are set to launch on December 14, 2022.
