The Witcher

Again.

Shit!

That's enough. We'll start fresh tomorrow.

I can do it.

You need rest.

Anything else will have diminishing returns.

Sir Lazlo, he protected me in Cintra,

and he said less than perfect means death.

Your stomach's growling loud enough to wake the dead,

if that counts.

Hunger makes for good sauce.

Also makes for shitty lunges.

Ciri.

You are safe here.

Was it the Black Knight again?

- No. - If he's still haunting you...

Whose turn is it for lunch?

Coen!

What's the difference between a witcher and a heap of shit?

Well, go on, then.

Eventually, the shit will stop smelling.

That joke's old as the Conjunction.

Well, you tell me one, then, you comedic fuck.

All right.

What do you call a witcher with no brains?

Lambert?

Okay, now she's funny.

Oh, Lambert!

When you finish this, get some rest.

Ciri.

Trouble with the pretty, pretty princess?

- Leave it alone. - Why should I?

He made his choice.

Cost us a brother.

That wasn't our brother.

Not by the end of it.

And bitterness won't help us find what killed him.

Oh, I know what killed him.

Leave it alone.

Wait, Geralt...

Eskel?

Sorrel's waiting for us.

No, no.

I'm finished, mate.

We're finished when we're counting worms in the ground,

not after an hour on the combs.

Three fucking hours.

You sound just like Vesemir.

Last I checked, we come here to rest in the winter,

and to restore, and to have some fun,

not train till our legs give out.

- Legs seem fine to me. - Arsehole.

I haven't seen you this sore since Vesemir tanned our hides

for tying that thread to the bumblebee's leg.

It wasn't the thread that was the problem. It was the jug we tied to the other end of it.

"If you don't leave that bee in peace, you'll feel my sting again."

See, you're just like him.

We're all just like him.

We won't get any rest.

None of us will have any peace

until there are no monsters left in the world.

- Until our life's mission is complete. - Which will be never.

- 'Cause what else would we do? - Exactly.

Come on.

- One more hour. - Fine. One more hour.

Then you can hang what's left of me on the medallion tree.

Hah.

Just like...

Thank you, Wolf.

Don't thank me yet. It was Lambert's turn to cook.

This shouldn't have happened.

We shouldn't have lost him this way.

I know.

There must be more tests I can run to track whatever mutated the other leshy.

If there was a scientific explanation for any of this,

you would've found it by now.

We've got a lab full of alchemical compounds

that can change day to fucking night.

I'm not going to give up now.

I'm not asking you to give up.

But it's time to let Eskel rest.

He deserves the peace.

Yeah.

So tell us, Istredd, while at the Nilfgaardian dig site,

did you absorb any insight into their followers?

I absorbed nothing. Except perhaps some dirt.

Archaeological dig sites being what they are.

A respected mage, and even he found no indication of their plan to attack.

How could any of us have known?

Because we told you.

Vilgefortz had one good hunch about Nilfgaard's military strategy.

A hunch that saved the Continent.

Ah, I am not here to glorify my part in our victory in Sodden.

Nor to watch you perform feigned inquisitions

- to distract from your failures. - Hmm.

The Northern kings are coming for the memorial, and they need answers.

The Nilfgaardian prisoner hasn't proven fruitful.

There's evidence of a magical barrier in his head.

- So we need to search elsewhere. - Yeah, I would help if I could.

But I wasn't there to study Nilfgaard.

I was there to study monoliths.

They hold the history of this Continent.

I think they hold our future too.

A future that will soon go to hell now that the elves are flocking to Cintra.

If we want to keep our people safe,

we'd be wise to recognize the enemies in our midst.

The elves are not our enemies.

They've already aligned with Nilfgaard,

proving what many of us have known for centuries.

They cannot be trusted.

If we don't control this now,

it'll grow

beyond even our capabilities.

We'll be burying a lot more than 14 mages then.

Thirteen.

Yenna.

I waited a month

to carve it.

Mm-hm?

What was happening in there?

It's tumultuous.

Artorius can feel his grasp on the leadership slipping.

- And Stregobor is... - A fuckhead.

Desperate.

Which makes him dangerous.

- I need to tell you something. - Let me speak first.

Your actions

turned the tide at Sodden Hill.

You are a hero to me and many others.

But we need to let Vilgefortz carry the mantle of victory for now.

- You want me to lay low. - I need you to.

Because you and Vilgefortz are making a play for their seats.

We know it's dangerous, but this is not the time to be weak.

It's the time to be strong.

Just like you were at Sodden.

You did what you had to do.

And I, for one, will always be grateful for your sacrifice.

Make sure you have your papers!

They're coming to Xin'trea from everywhere.

A place of refuge,

where elves can be safe.

Our scouts tell us the North has turned against the elves completely.

- It wasn't that far to turn. - Yes, you should know.

But our immigration to Xin'trea has inflamed tensions.

With Nilfgaard, who will protect us.

I've never known a human to give out of the kindness of his heart.

Yes, there's a cost.

But if it saves our people, it's one I'm happy to pay.

- You say that now. - Because I stand in the here and now.

Where Ithlinne wanted us.

Go. Eat meat.

Be happy.

We're safe here.

I hope so.

Gettin' tired?

Do you remember wasting your time battling sacks of straw, Coen?

Can't say I do.

What did you do, then?

I don't think so.

Some things are far too scary for little girls.

I'm not little, and I'm not afraid.

That's easy to say. But our road is a dark one.

Full of dangers.

Is that what you want?

I want to do what a witcher does.

Come on, then.

Afraid to break a nail, Princess?

Give it a try.

Go on.

Are you sure about this?

I'm just having a little fun.

Still wanna be a witcher?

Now you can rest.

None of this makes sense.

Death by a mutating leshy. Find that in our annals.

How did we miss this?

I feel like the Continent's evolving underneath our feet and...

we didn't see it coming.

Maybe another Conjunction'll come along and change it all again.

I know you think I'm mad,

but I need to know what happened.

If it were your child...

you'd be going crazy to figure it out.

What you missed.

What you could have done differently.

I know.

It's a burden I now share.

They're here.

Fuck. Fuck!

Do you kiss your elven father with that mouth?

We heard you were back.

Word spread fast.

Like wildfire.

We heard about that too.

You survived.

So did you.

How divine.

Indeed, darling. Indeed.

Come on, join us for a swim.

It's freezing.