Now or Never is a secondary quest in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
Note: By completing this, you won't be able to use Zoltan for the stealth approach in The Great Escape.
Note: this quest will fail if not completed before starting The Isle of Mists.
Note: this quest is the cutoff point of the unmarked secondary quest, Witch Hunter Raids.
Note: Depending on your choice, the Kingfisher Innkeep, Olivier, may die, so if you have not bought the available Gwent Cards from his store, then buy them first in order to complete your Gwent Card Set.
Note: The 
rewards for most tasks in this quest decrease after reaching level 21 (17 before Patch 4.0). Specifically, this applies to all tasks except defeating witch hunters at the port and romancing with Triss, both of which follow the regular rules.
Walkthrough[]
This quest may be started by talking to Triss after completing A Favor for Radovid and A Matter of Life and Death. If they aren't completed in that order, a perfumed letter will be delivered to Geralt, urging him to visit the sorceress.
Before doing so, there is one related event that is only available before talking to Triss. On the bridge at Glory Gate, Geralt can find Moritz Diefenthel (the masked mage who Triss ran into at the ball) about to be burned alive by witch hunters. You can choose to let him burn or save him (use Aard and then kill the guards), after which he can be told to seek Triss for help and if so, he can later be seen during the quest. Note: Prior to Patch 4.0, Moritz could often be bugged and invisible until after you saved him, so this was easy to miss. If having trouble with this, just look for the he pyre itself, it is very noticeable.
Meet Triss[]
When Geralt arrives at Triss' apartment, there are two temple guards and a witch hunter outside. Prior to Patch 4.0, Geralt could interact with them and if he tells them to mind their manners, they will become hostile. If Geralt chooses the other dialogue option, they will allow him to leave.
When Geralt enters the apartment, Triss is being hassled by the homeowners who sheltered her, demanding she give them her necklace as pay since the risk for sheltering a mage has increased dramatically. Geralt can either choose to step in, or do nothing. Afterwards Triss explains to Geralt that she's in a bind: she has to evacuate the mages as soon as possible, but two of them haven't reported in and she is worried they have been turned in. Triss must either risk everybody to try and save the two, or leave them to a certain death. Geralt can make the choice here by advising Triss on the matter.
Follow Triss[]
If Geralt did not kill the guards prior to entering of Triss' apartment, the guards will ambush the pair as they exit the building. After the fight is over, Geralt and Triss continue on, but must stop and wait for a patrol to pass before continuing on, otherwise more witch hunters have to be dealt with. If he chose not to save Berthold and Anisse, then Geralt and Triss head straight for The Kingfisher Inn, where Olivier will let them into the basement. If Geralt chose to save the two, he and Triss head to the couple's hideout, where they have to defeat the witch hunters before they kill the mages, earning 200 if both mages survive or, oddly 300 if only one survives. After the fight, if both mages survived, Geralt will have to use Axii on Berthold to convince him to come to the inn (25 even without Delusion). On the way out, the couple's landlords downstairs can optionally be talked to. However, due to the time spent rescuing the mages, Geralt and Triss will arrive too late at the inn and Olivier will die. Regardless of the innkeeper's fate, 200 is awarded for helping Triss reach the Kingfisher.
Enter the mages' hideout and follow Triss[]
Mages and the like have gathered here, ready to go to the port through the sewers. Sigismind Dijkstra is there as well, not to flee Novigrad, but to help the mages on their way, and at the same time to assure he'll have some friends and allies amongst them once they reach safety. Triss makes a speech to rally the mages before outlining the plan for escape.
Note: If Geralt completed Witch Hunter Raids and rescued Moritz Diefenthel from the pyre at Glory Gate, he and Remi will also appear in Triss' speech.
Find a path through the sewers[]
Geralt and Triss must then clear a safe path through the sewers so the others can follow their trail and reach the ship. After killing several mucknixers along the way, Geralt comes to a wall that can be opened using Aard, revealing an ancient library. Multiple rare books can be found in it, but to progress the quest, another wall on the opposite end must be broken. Geralt and Triss then kill more mucknixers and several swarms of rats before finding corpses. Investigating these leads Geralt to conclude that a katakan is lurking nearby. Triss provides support, but Geralt still needs to beware of this vampire's regenerative abilities. After eliminating it (500), Geralt and Triss make their way to the the docks (200).
Meet Dijkstra at the port[]
On the docks, Dijkstra starts a conversation, only to be interrupted by several witch hunters who must be defeated (300). Triss starts to say farewell and Geralt is left with a choice. If he says farewell to Triss, then she boards the ship and leaves with the mages. Dijkstra then offers to tell about his romance with a sorceress. If Geralt asks Triss to stay and tells Triss he loves her after romancing her during the previous quest, she comes back as Dijkstra is talking. Geralt and Triss then escape to a lighthouse for a private moment together (300).
Note: If Geralt has already romanced Yennefer in The Last Wish, he will lose them both if he romances Triss in this quest, or if he subsequently romances Yennefer after committing to Triss here.
Journal entry[]
- Novigrad was once famed as a place of tolerance and the rule of law. That is why it attracted mages from all over the world, those persecuted by Radovid and Emhyr alike. The Free City did not live up to their hopes, however, and rather than being a safe haven it became their slaughterhouse.
- Triss Merigold, with whom you, dear reader, are already well acquainted, decided to evacuate all mages still alive to a place far removed from the front lines - Kovir. This was no simple task, and so the sorceress asked the witcher for help. Geralt agreed out of concern for the persecuted mages' fate - and Triss' fate most of all...
- When it seemed the mages were finally safe and would set sail for Kovir's snow-covered shores, witch hunters swarmed over the docks and attacked their ship. Like setters who track down hares in even the deepest burrows, they had picked up Triss' trail despite her painstaking efforts to cover it. Luckily, Geralt stood in defense of the mages - as did, surprisingly, Dijkstra, for whom "love thy neighbor" had never been a guiding principle, nor the fate of the mages a matter of particular importance.
- If Geralt tells Triss he loves her:
- With the witch hunters dispatched, the time had come to say goodbye. Geralt sensed his heart accelerate as he realized he might never see Triss again. The thought was unbearable, so before it could overwhelm him, instead of bidding her farewell, he asked her to stay. Though the circumstances on the blood-spattered docks were decidedly unromantic, in that instant all the feelings between Geralt and Triss came rushing back in full force.
- If Geralt lets Triss go:
- With the witch hunters taken care of, the time had come to say goodbye. Though much had bound Geralt and Triss in the past, on this black day, on the blood-slicked planks of the Novigrad harbor, their paths parted. Witcher and sorceress would, true enough, meet again on several occasions, but only ever as friends. Their flight from the Eternal Fire had been the last flicker of the fires of their mutual affection.
Objectives[]
- If A Favor for Radovid is completed after A Matter of Life and Death:
- Read the mysterious perfumed letter.
- Meet Triss.
- If agreed to help Triss:
- Kill the Eternal Fire guardsmen.
- If chosen to save Berthold and Anisse:
- Follow Triss to Berthold and Anisse's hideout.
- Follow Triss.
- Kill the witch hunters. (200
)
- If going straight to the Kingfisher:
- Follow Triss. (200)
- Enter the mage's hideout and follow Triss.
- Enter the sewers.
- Find a path through the sewers.
- Find a way across the rats' feeding ground.
- Meet Dijkstra at the port. (200)
- Kill the witch hunters. (300)
Notes[]
- If Olivier dies and he has't been beaten for Gwent: Playing Innkeeps, once that quest is initiated his unique card will be located in the room next to the bar and the unnamed innkeep at The Kingfisher Inn, in a small lockbox over the cabinet.
- Geralt can save Anisse, Berthold and Olivier by doing nothing. If he rejects Triss' request, she gets sad but does fine on her own and waits for Geralt at the Kingfisher, from where the quest resumes as usual, except that romancing Triss would no longer be possible.
- If Geralt does not choose to romance Triss, allowing her to leave Novigrad, and has not already completed the quests "The Nobleman Statuette" and "The Soldier Statuette", he must wait until they meet again after Blindingly Obvious, back at the Chameleon, to complete them. Note that, unlike A Matter of Life and Death, Geralt isn't given a dialogue option to start this quest; it begins automatically as soon as he approaches Triss in her boarding house, so these quests must be completed before triggering that one if the player doesn't want to wait.
- On one of the corpses near the rats, a crumpled letter can be found, and a witch hunter's orders were also supposed to be found on one of the two witch hunter corpses seen later before the katakan, but for unknown reasons don't appear.
Bugs[]
- During the sewers part of the quest, Triss may get stuck in one place and stop following you, particularly at points which have scripted conversations. This usually doesn't matter as you can reach the exit at the port alone and she'll appear then, but if you want her with you and her help during fights, you can just walk back and bump into her to fix the issue.
- If you rescued Moritz Diefenthel outside Glory Gate and told him to seek out Triss, he will remain sitting in the basement of the Kingfisher after the completion of this quest.
- After Triss gives her speech to the other mages in the hideout, it is possible to interact with the mechanism to open the the hidden door at the top of the stairs, despite being on the wrong side of it. If you do so, returning to the first floor of The Kingfisher will temporarily fail the quest objectives "Enter the sewers." and "Find a path through the sewers.". Returning to Triss near the sewer entrance will remove the fail marks; however, this may cause either or both objectives to not update properly as Geralt progresses into the sewer.
- Prior to Patch 4.0, if you have Enemy Upscaling enabled, rats are extremely powerful and almost fully Igni-resistant. If you have the Whirl skill unlocked, it is easier to kill them that way, but turning upscaling off is the natural workaround.
Videos[]
