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Fools' Gold is a secondary quest in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. It was released as one of the 16 free DLCs on 12 June 2015. Geralt and Yontek, a village idiot, team up to learn the secret of an abandoned village inhabited entirely by pigs.[1]

Note: Because of a level 12 nekker warrior encountered during this quest, it is advised that you don't attempt to complete it too early or it may prove to be a significant challenge.

Walkthrough[]

To start this quest, head to Lurtch where, just southeast of the signpost, are 3 friendly enough bandits roasting a hog, and you may or may not see Yontek blabbering about, depending on how you approached the area. Talk to one of the bandits who are so happy to have found a nice meal that they offer you a slice. You can accept or politely refuse with no difference, as they will still prepare to cut into it when Yontek runs over and starts crying about them eating Yagoda. The bandits have had enough with this guy though and prepare to kill him and a timed reaction shows here. If you choose to walk away, there's no other way to start this quest.

Tell the bandits to back off, which will lead to you having to kill them. Afterwards, talking with Yontek will reveal there are others in the village, taken by "piggy magic". Head into the nearest hut and use your Witcher Senses to examine a pig to see that Yontek's right, they're magical. Go back to talk to Yontek and he'll eventually give you a key to a "hog hut" and gives you vague directions, but your map marker will show it's a location between Reardon Manor and Toderas.

While heading out on the road, it's best to take care of nekkers along the way, especially if you plan to finish this quest without doing anything else. You may see some ghouls on the way too, but they can be safely avoided. When you arrive at the cave, 3 bandits will be outside. Dispatch of them, then head in, where you have to kill 4 more bandits. Note: this is also the cave where you find the Diagram: Feline steel sword - enhanced.

Now head to the door and use the key and it'll transform to look like a portal, but it's not. Just walk through it into the hidden chamber. Using Witcher Senses, you'll see lots of foot traffic. Further in, you'll find a lone pig and some clothes nearby, most likely belonging to the missing herbalist, Igor. Interact with the pig and talk with him to reveal it's Igor and the place is some kind of temple. Afterwards, head into the last area of the temple to find large statues of pigs and a pedestal between them. Examine this to learn it held gold, then go back to talk to Igor, this time to talk about the gold. Obviously Igor can't converse much as a pig, so you need to head back to ask Yontek about the cursed gold.

However, back at the village wolves are attacking, so you have to take care of them first, then talk to Yontek. He'll reveal he wasn't cursed because he didn't go with the villagers, and he knows where the gold is. While he gathers the gold, you need to go around and herd the pigs/villagers. You just need to use Axii on one pig in each hut to get them moving, though getting the casting right can be tricky. You have to face one of the pigs and use Axii on it while the word "pig" is appearing.

Once they're all gathered, it's time to head to the cave. Thankfully it won't make you go the full way, just to the area of Mowshurst before cutting to the temple. However, you'll have to deal with enemies before you get there. You'll only have to deal with a handful of nekkers that'll pop up around the area, but there's a higher level nekker warrior with them. Despite a count showing you can potentially lose pigs, the nekkers that pop up for this will only go for Geralt. After reaching Mowshurst, a cutscene triggers and the curse is lifted with everyone back to normal. However, they quickly round on Yontek, blaming him for what happened. You can choose to step away, in which case they'll kill him and you'll get 100 Oren3, or defend him and they'll back off (but no monetary reward). The quest will then complete, earning 50 XP earned based on the Story and Swords! difficulty level.

Journal entry[]

During his travels through Velen, Geralt survived many a bizarre adventure, but few more memorable than that which I will now recount. For who would have thought a routine stop in a village strangely empty save a few bandits arguing with a local dunce would end in such a curious fashion? The witcher surely didn't, though he did have his suspicions...
After he dealt with the bandits and talked to the fool, Yontek, he set about visiting the village's huts and the pigs who dwelt in them. Yes, that's right - pigs.
Geralt quickly realized the pigs were not merely farm animals running amok while their masters were away. After all, in this time Velen was gripped by famine and people had long ago eaten all domestic animals. The pigs were, in fact, the cursed inhabitants of the village themselves. With Yontek's help Geralt started to investigate this curious matter.
If Geralt defends Yontek:
Before long, Geralt had unraveled the riddle of the Village of the Swine. He discovered its inhabitants had broken into the treasury of some forgotten god, made off with the gold that was his by divine right and were cursed into hogs as a result. The witcher lifted the villagers' curse, but something of the swine must have remained with them, for as soon as they could utter something more than a grunt, they began tossing around baseless accusations. Yontek became their scapegoat and Geralt had to defend the poor fool from lynching. Alas, such is human nature - we are ungrateful and hypocritical to the point where one almost prefers the company of pigs.
If Geralt doesn't defend Yontek:
Before long, Geralt had unraveled the riddle of the Village of the Swine. He discovered its inhabitants had broken into the treasury of some forgotten god, made off with the gold that was his by divine right and were cursed into hogs as a result. The witcher lifted the villagers' curse, but something of the swine must have remained with them, for as soon as they could utter something more than a grunt, they began tossing around baseless accusations. Yontek became their scapegoat, and the herd of pigs turned into a lynch mob. Alas, such is human nature - we are ungrateful and hypocritical to the point where one almost prefers the company of pigs.

Objectives[]

  • Defeat the looters.
  • Use your Witcher Senses to examine the pigs in the village of Lurtch.
  • Talk to Yontek.
  • Find the hog hut.
  • Go inside the hog hut.
  • Look for clues in the hog hut using your Witcher Senses.
  • Talk to the pig.
  • Talk to Yontek.
  • Kill the wolves attacking the pigs.
  • Use the Axii sign to make the cursed pigs follow you.
  • Gather all the cursed pigs under the windmill. 9/9
  • Escort Yontek and the cursed pigs to the hog hut.
  • Herd size: 9/9

Notes[]

  • There are treasure chests worth looting in the water around the pedestal area. Two of them on the right side can contain random diagrams.
  • After learning of the cause of the curse, Geralt will make a comment about it being like one casting a spell with their feet, a reference to Yennefer accomplishing such in Sword of Destiny.
  • You can use Dragon's Dream and Igni to kill all but one of the pigs during escort part of the mission. If you do, the dialogue when they turn back human is different as they will mention there are "only 3 of us left". But the rest of the dialogue remains the same where 2 of them will accuse Yontek. If you go back to Lurtch afterwards, you will see it full of the normal inhabitants instead of just 3 people.

Bugs[]

  • Since the end of the "hog hut" cave is situated underneath Reardon Manor, when you reach the shrine Geralt might start talking about the traps associated with Ghosts of the Past, possibly even triggering them - this likely happens if you reached the manor but haven't started that quest yet.
  • Choosing to offer Igor some food while the Horn of Plenty is in your inventory will cause it to be lost, regardless of whether it is in a quickslot or not.

Videos[]

References[]

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