Long read: The beauty and drama of video games and their clouds

"It's a little bit hard to work out without knowing the altitude of that dragon..."

If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

The Witcher 3 - Novigrad: every side quest in the Gildorf and Oxenfurt regions

How to find every side quest in the Gildorf and Oxenfurt regions of Novigrad in The Witcher 3, and what you need to do to complete them.

Here's the final batch of Secondary Quests sprinkled throughout Novigrad. You'll be able to pick up all of them in the Gildorf and Oxenfurt sections of the map.

A Tome Entombed and Fencing Lessons

A Tome Entombed

From the Southern Gate signpost, cross the bridge and pass through the gate. Turn left under an archway, turn right and take the first left. In the distance is a sewer entrance. Head in and down the stairs. Cross the first large chamber and go into a brick tunnel. Follow it around to the left until you pass through a metal grating.

Turn to your right and Aard the cracked wall, then head down into the crypt below. Speak to the guy trying to open the coffin and agree to help him. A vampire will wake up and then go back to sleep. You can either let him rest or disturb him a second time (resulting in a fight), but either way the quest concludes.

Fencing Lessons

This becomes available after meeting Rosa on the hunt for Dandelion.

Talk to the guard captain, then head out of the city to find Rosa. She leads you to the bridge for a duel and then runs off - use your Witcher Senses to find her. Examine the footprints, then follow them. Rosa is being harassed by some peasants. Pay them off, kill them, or - if you have sufficient Axii - make them apologise.


Hidden Messages of the Nilfgaardian Kind and Never Trust Children (1)

Hidden Messages of the Nilfgaardian Kind

From the Hierarchy Square signpost, head east under two arches, then cross the small courtyard area and pass through another arch. Bear left up the hill towards the arch to catch two people looking suspicious. Once they're gone, use your Witcher Senses to find a loose brick, and read the note you find behind it.

Follow the marker and repeat the process to find the next note. Read it, and follow the marker to the sewers. Climb down, kill the drowners, and open the chest to complete the quest.

Never Trust Children (1)

You may come across an upset child outside Crooked House in Hierarch Square. Trail the child, then get ready to deal with the bandits who ambush you. When they're all dead, you'll wrap up the quest nice and easy.


Of Dairy and Darkness and Rough Neighbourhood

Of Dairy and Darkness

Required: 20 Crowns, Eye of Nehaleni

To activate the quest, talk to the merchant in the shop next to the noticeboard near St. Gregory's Bridge and buy the lizard and jade figurines.

Follow the quest marker, then use your Witcher Senses to examine the pentagram on the floor of the ruins. Interact with it to be teleported to the dungeons. When you reach the tyromancy room, head left and stick as close to the edge as you can - when you have to drop to ground level, don't hang about as the cheese is fatal.

After a short sprint you should find a staircase to clamber onto. Follow it up and around, eventually coming to a small room. Interact with the floor just in front of the alcove at the rear to open another portal. Head down the stairs, then down a rough slope to the left of where the stairs end.

A quick underwater swim north will lead you to a series of stone platforms to climb and jump across, ending up in some sort of laboratory area. Fight off the foglet ambush, then continue through to the next room. On Aeramas' desk is a new figurine which you can use to activate another portal in the archway ahead.

Step through to find yourself confronted by a big glowing magic barrier. To your left is an illusory wall. Use the Eye to open it up, then set fire to the pyramid within using Igni (it may take a few blasts). Cross to the other side of the room and light the other pyramid to deactivate the barrier.

Head up the steps, loot the chest and take the sword, then locate a last archway behind the statue. Activate it with the figurine from the chest, and you're out in the fresh air again!

Rough Neighbourhood

Head south from the Oxenfurt Harbour signpost, following the path that runs along the shore. As it curves left and heads uphill, you'll come across a bunch of thugs harassing a woman. Trying to calm them down won't work, so give them a good thrashing and then walk Dora home.

If you return a few days later you'll be ambushed around the Western Gate area, but this time Dora will join in. Kill the ambushers to complete the quest.


Our Witcher 3 walkthrough and guide can help you with the main story, including the Wandering in the Dark and Family Matters missions, and eventually, one of several Witcher 3 endings. There's plenty of side content, too, including Witcher 3 Contracts, White Orchard quests, Velen quests, Novigrad quests and Skellige Isles quests. Elsewhere, learn about the best Witcher 3 builds, the best Witcher 3 mods, how to make money in Witcher 3, find Places of Power locations, and learn how to do Witcher 3 crafting and Witcher 3 Alchemy And when you're done with all those - we can help you through expansions with our Hearts of Stone walkthrough and Blood and Wine walkthrough.


The Most Truest of Basilisks and The Nobleman Statuette

The Most Truest of Basilisks

Head out of Novigrad Gate and go across the bridges. On the right as the path bends there's a small camp and a bit of a commotion. Investigate, have a quiet word with the troops, and then either fight the beast or run like crazy as it escapes from its cage.

The Nobleman Statuette

After completing Of Dairy and Darkness, visit Triss at The Crooked House and show her the figurine.


The Price of Passage and The Soldier Statuette

The Price of Passage

There's an archway just north-east of the Oxenfurt Harbour signpost with a couple of guards lurking in it. They'll try and stiff you for a 50 Crown "war tax". If you pay up, they'll try it again at the south gate. If you pay them a second time, you'll never hear from them again.

Refusing either time will result in them calling their superior officer, a plan which backfires. They'll then be on the lookout for you on the outskirts of town - punch them into submission or chop them to pieces.

The Soldier Statuette

While completing A Dangerous Game, you'll gain possession of a Jade Figurine. Take it to Triss who'll either be at the Rosemary and Thyme or in her hideout. When you lift the spell, a soldier will appear - send him on his way to end this quest.


- The next part of our Novigrad guide explains how to complete The Witcher 3 - Lord of the Wood Contract.

- Return to the index page for more The Witcher 3 - Novigrad Secondary Quests and Contracts.

- To find all of our help for the game, take a look at our Witcher 3 walkthrough.