Open Sesame: Witcher Seasonings – Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone Quest

This guide is a walkthrough of a main quest in the Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone DLC. The guide is composed of a map, map legend, and walkthrough to show readers exactly where to go and what to do to complete the quest.

Map Legend

1 – Auction House
2 – Pier

Walkthrough

For this quest you’ll need to “cull” the guards at the Borsodi auction house in Oxenfurt in Velen North. To do this, you’ll need to taint their food with a Cleansing Mixture so they’ll be indisposed on the night when you go in to steal Maximilian Borsodi’s house. To help you out, your partner the stranger will give you the recipe for the mixture. It’ll only require basic ingredients (that the herbalist hiding the stranger will have for sale), so you shouldn’t have any trouble making it.

To get the mixture into the guards’ food, you’ll have to find their cook. To do this, you’ll need to eavesdrop on the guards at the auction house (#1). This will require you to stand near them — but not too near — while you have your witcher senses on. Eventually, you’ll overhear two guards talking about their fish chowder, and you’ll learn that Maarten the cook can be found on the pier next to the western gate.

At the pier (#2), you’ll find Maarten fishing. You’ll have two choices for how to convince him to taint the food: you can bribe him with 500 crowns, or you can use Axii / delusion on him. Either way, he’ll agree to help, and you’ll earn 150 xp.