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Background

You can trigger this quest in two places: by reading the note "Contract: Devil in the Woods" on the notice board in the refugee district south of Novigrad in the Novigrad Outskirts (#1), or by reading the same note on the notice board at Cunny of the Goose (#2).


Walkthrough

From the note, you'll learn that a stretch of woods seems to be haunted by a "cruel evil." To learn more about the woods, you'll need to talk to Brean Hotsch at Cunny of the Goose (#2). He'll tell you that he hired three dwarves to do some logging for him, and that one day all three of them went into the woods but only one of them returned.

You'll find the surviving dwarf in the tavern with Hotsch. He'll tell you that he heard howling noises before the beast attacked, but that he ran for crossbows and didn't actually see the beast.

To learn about the beast, you'll need to visit Hotsch's cabin (#3). There you'll spot the wheel ruts from the loggers' cart, and following the ruts will take you to the site where they were attacked (#4). After examining the scene plus the bodies of the two dead dwarves, you'll decide that a leshen must have been responsible. This will earn you 25 xp.

To track down the leshen, you'll need to find its totem. You'll note that crows often serve leshens, and when you turn on your witcher senses, you'll detect four crows in the area. The correct one is the one to the east, where you'll find the totem (#5). Destroying the totem (using Aard or your weapon) will summon the leshen Kernun. Leshens are vulnerable to Relict Oil, so apply that to your silver sword first.

Kernun will summon wolves and crows, hit you with roots, and disappear and reappear. None of these spells will do a lot of damage, so as long as you avoid his melee attacks, you should be able to defeat him relatively easily -- although possibly slowly -- even if you're under the recommended level for the quest.

When Kernun dies, he'll drop a Leshen Trophy, a leveled version of the steel sword Black Unicorn, and more. When you show the trophy to Hotsch, he'll give you your negotiated fee, and you'll also earn 250 xp.


1 - Refugee District


2 - Cunny of the Goose


3 - Hotsch's Cabin


4 - Attack Site


5 - Totem