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Pomp and Strange Circumstance

Main questToussaintBlood and Wine

Syanna survived, so Toussaint holds a ceremony to decorate the witcher who ended the Beast. Regis isn't satisfied: four victims stood for four of the five virtues, and the fifth letter points to the duchess herself. What you find, and above all what you say to Syanna in her cell, decides whether the sisters reconcile or Syanna kills Anna Henrietta in front of the court.

Choices

6

Regis' theory

At the tailor's

  • "You're right. Need to talk to the bootblack. Let's go."

    You go to the bootblack together.

  • "No point investigating any further."

    Regis goes alone. You can change your mind and join him at the bootblack's stand.

Why Syanna wanted her sister dead

In Syanna's cell

  • "Cause she turned her back on you, forgot about you."

    Only if you heard her story in Beyond Hill and Dale. Syanna admits it, and it unlocks the next line.

  • "Curse of the Black Sun."

    "You understand nothing." The cell conversation can't save the duchess after this.

  • "Because you envy her."

    The same dead end.

Forgiveness

In Syanna's cell, when she admits she'd try again

  • "Ever thought to forgive her?"

    If you read both governess entries in Beyond Hill and Dale, Geralt reminds her the sisters were inseparable and Anarietta used to calm her nightmares. This is the line that saves both sisters.

  • "Ah, honesty, finally."

    Syanna gets cruel, and nothing changes.

  • "Think I've heard enough."

    Nothing changes.

Your advice to the duchess

At the ceremony, when Anna Henrietta asks you about Syanna

  • "Syanna's crimes were horrible, but she had cause to feel pain."200 XP

    Only if you turned Syanna in her cell. The sisters argue, and "You were children then, both." brings the reconciliation.

  • "Syanna should be punished like any criminal."

    Without the cell conversation, either answer here ends with Syanna killing her sister.

  • "The good of the duchy, that's what matters most."

    Same result.

The crypt

Only if the duchess died

  • "[Place flowers on Anna Henrietta's grave.]"

    Flowers for the duchess alone.

  • "[Place flowers on both graves.]"

    Geralt leaves flowers for Syanna too.

Corvo Bianco

At the end, when Regis asks what you'll do with the vineyard

  • "Yes. Think I'll settle down there for good."

    Geralt admits he'd like to wake up in his own bed one day.

  • "No. I was made to kill monsters."

    Back to the Path.

  • "Don't know yet."

    He leaves it open.

Walkthrough

7
0 of 7 steps done

  1. The tailor

    Next

    Regis watches the tailor fit you for the ceremony and can't let the case go. The victims matched four of the five virtues, so there was surely meant to be a fifth, for compassion. He's learned the bootblack is the one who passed the names to Dettlaff. Agree to look into it, or call it over (see the choices). If Dettlaff died, going on with the investigation counts as valor, one of the five virtues tracked for There Can Be Only One.

  2. The bootblack

    Optional. The bootblack has invested your coin and is doing well. Four beggars brought him the letters, one each, and they come from the shelter round the corner.

  3. The shelter

    Neighbours' thugs are trying to drive the shelter out, so beat them. If they get the better of you, Regis steps in. The keeper lets you wait for the beggars to come for their soup. One still has a fifth letter, due two days after the Feast of Saint Barnabas: "This time you will see to our duquessa." Anna Henrietta was the last victim all along. Regis won't go near the palace or Syanna and waits for you at the cemetery.

  4. Syanna's cell

    Optional, and the most important conversation in the expansion. Syanna is kept in a tower in the palace. Ask why she wanted her sister dead. Only the right two answers, in order, can turn her (see the choices), and they only work if you heard her story in the fairy-tale land and read both governess entries. Afterwards a guard takes you to Damien.

  5. The ceremony

    Damien wants you dressed for the occasion and is happy to hear about the fifth letter if you have it. Anna Henrietta awards you the Order of Vitis Vinifera, your fee of 5,000 crowns, and more than a dozen barrels of Sangreal (200 XP). You can warn her about Syanna's plot here. Then she has Syanna brought in and asks your opinion. If you turned Syanna in her cell, the sisters argue it out. Remind them they were both children, and Anna Henrietta admits she never stood up for her sister and asks forgiveness. They embrace (200 XP). If you didn't, she promises Syanna a fair trial and her love, and Syanna kills her.

  6. The grave

    Only if the duchess died. The flower seller has sold out after the funeral, but when she recognises you she gives you the bouquet she'd put aside for her. Damien is outside the ducal crypt. The Regents' Council has laid Syanna in the same room as her sister. Place flowers on Anna Henrietta's grave, or on both. Regis comes to take you away.

  7. Regis

    11

    Regis wants to stock up on the local mandrake for his hooch. Fresh roots are toxic even to a witcher, so wear the mask and gloves he gives you, and deal with the monsters around the cemetery. When you get back he's gone. Find him with your Witcher Senses. A bruxa and alps have come for him for raising his hand against a vampire, so help him fight. Then sit with him over the vineyards. He's left you a gift on the nightstand at Corvo Bianco, something useful for mutagens.

Rewards

Achievement: Last Action Hero
The Beast's bounty200 XP5000
Both sisters lived200 XP

At most 400 XP and 5000 crowns in one playthrough.

Tips

  • The full chain of conditions for saving both sisters is on the Blood and Wine endings page.

All objectives

14
  1. 1Talk to Damien.Beauclair Palace
  2. 2Place a flower on Anna Henrietta's grave.Metinna Gate
  3. 3[Optional] Talk to the bootblack during the day.Beauclair Port
  4. 4[Optional] Talk to Syanna.Beauclair Palace
  5. 5[Optional] Find the shelter.San Sebastian
  6. 6Defeat the attackers.San Sebastian
  7. 7[Optional] Follow the guard to Syanna's cell.Beauclair Palace
  8. 8Collect mandrake roots.Mère-Lachaiselongue Cemetery
  9. 9Kill the monsters.
  10. 10Return to Regis.Mère-Lachaiselongue Cemetery
  11. 11[Optional] Put on a mask and gloves.
  12. 12Use your Witcher Senses to find Regis.Mère-Lachaiselongue Cemetery
  13. 13Use your Witcher Senses to follow the hoof prints.On the map
  14. 14Help Regis defeat the vampires.Mère-Lachaiselongue Cemetery

Journal

The witcher had, at last, defeated the Beast of Beauclair. Her Enlightened Highness Duchess Anna Henrietta invited him to a ceremony where she would award him the Vitis Vinifera Medal, Toussaint's highest honor.

Geralt, famous for being one of the world's leading scruffs, possessed no outfit that would not violate protocol or be remotely suitable for such an occasion. In her generosity, the duchess agreed to fund a new robe.

Regis, having nothing better to do, accompanied the witcher to the tailor's for his fitting. There, the vampire revealed the thought that was tormenting him. Namely, he believed Syanna had planned five murders from the start. He wished to know the identity of the fifth intended victim. He suggested to Geralt that they investigate the matter to the end.

They first sought out the bootblack. The boy directed them to a poorhouse. It was there they learned Syanna had indeed planned five murders. All to wreak vengeance upon those who had caused her to be banished from the court and the Ducal Palace. The final victim was to have been her very own sister, Duchess Anna Henrietta.

Geralt considered confronting Syanna.

Geralt reached the tower where Syanna sat confined. After speaking to her, he made his way to the ceremony, during which he was to receive his distinction.

On her own behalf and that of her subjects, Anna Henrietta thanked Geralt for slaying the Beast of Beauclair and awarded him the Vitis Vinifera Medal. Thankfully, the ceremony was brief, so the witcher lacked time to demonstrate his ignorance of protocol and thus violate the majesty of the court.

After the ceremony, Sylvia Anna faced her accusers. Alas, her interrogation ended in tragedy. Though her murderous scheme had been thwarted when her "murder weapon," the vampire Dettlaff, had been removed, Syanna decided to see the matter through. Feigning a willingness to reconcile, she tricked all those present and ran a hair pin through her sister's heart. Anarietta died instantly, and no one, not even the witcher with his lightning fast reflexes, could prevent it.

A woman of great beauty, in the prime of her life, Anna Henrietta breathed her last at the foot of her own palace. As she died her thoughts went to the undersigned… Grief grips my heart as I write this, tears flow of their own from my eyes.

The bad seed, Sylvia Anna, perished immediately afterwards, without trial or due process cut down by a ducal guardsman loyal and true.

After the ceremony, Sylvia Anna faced her accusers. When Geralt had spoken to Syanna earlier, he had broached some sensitive issues. These now came to the fore, and a heated argument erupted between the sisters. Those valuing convention and decorum undoubtedly considered it an unsavory public airing of matters private. Yet my own heart inclines me to think it a fortunate turn of events. For we cannot know what might have happened had there been no release of resentments that had accumulated over decades.

Upon quitting the palace Geralt rejoined Regis at his crypt. They indulged in some well-deserved respite while sipping Regis' exquisite (as they both assured me) mandrake hooch.

Geralt visited the crypt where both sisters had been laid to rest. Then he rejoined Regis to enjoy some well-deserved respite, aided by a jug of the vampire's mandrake hooch.