The Path: A witcher's tale

Chapter 8

Upon our departure from Kaer Morhen, Karadine and I started looking for work. We both thought it would be a good idea to travel to Toussaint to earn some coin and possibly get new gear. Along the way, we had plenty of work opportunities, it's amazing what some people would do to get rid of a nekker nest. We also did a contract on an ekimmara that was taking refuge in the caves under a village. Ekimmaras are a species of lower vampire, resembling overgrown bats, and their actions are ruled by instinct, not reason. But this does not make them any less dangerous, as they have incredible strength and agility, along with a vicious killer instinct. The beast was awoken from its hibernation when the villagers living above its lair had been visited by the armies of Kaedwen, as their soldiers explored underground to look for valuable resources. The Ekimmara slaughtered the soldiers and a number of villagers as well, so they decided to post a notice. Karadine and I saw the notice and took the contract. That damn vampire wasn't easy to kill, it was nowhere and everywhere, because of Karadine's swiftness, we wounded the monster, so it left a blood trail that could be used to predict where it would be next. Using this method, I sent a well-aimed swing into the vampire's torso, leaving it crippled, but still with a lot of fight left in it. The monster actually jumped on me and attempted to tear me apart, but I had drank some Black Blood beforehand, so the moment some of my blood was drawn, the vampire recoiled and scurried to a corner where it met its end. I landed the final blow right into the monster's skull and into its wicked brain. When the beast fell, I went to look for Karadine who had been hit by the Ekimmara. I found her lying down against a wall with a wound along her side, it was a shallow cut, but it was bleeding heavily. I gave her some swallow and hoped the would do the trick after an hour or so. Thankfully, the potion worked and she was back on her feet in no time and we collected our reward.
Afterwards we went to Toussaint as fast as our horses would take us and we stumbled on yet another notice, this one talked about what people described as a massive rooster with the body of a lizard. I told Karadine to rest at a nearby inn while I went and killed the monster, as she was in no shape to hunt. She protested but eventually she decided it would be best. I went and examined bodies and saw that they all died from a strike to the aorta or the left kidney, meaning they died after one hit. Given the description and what seemed to be the preferred killing method of the monster, it was obviously a cockatrice, a rooster like draconid that can be very lethal. I went to the what was reported to be the nesting grounds of the cockatrice. I waited and sure enough, there it was, eating it's most recent kill. I threw a samum bomb to blind the monster so I could go in and wound the monster. I decided to inflict some retribution and hit the draconid at it's aorta, but this wouldn't kill, it only stuns it. It took repeated blows and stabs to make the monster fall, but before it did, it landed a shallow slash across my face. I stanched the bleeding of the wound and took the head to the contract issuer.
Once I collected the coin I decided to help out Karadine by going to a grandmaster smith in Beauclair to craft her some grandmaster feline gear. It cost quite a lot of money, but it was worth it and I made myself some grandmaster wolven gear. Replacing everything but Bloede Bleidd, I went back to the tavern, coincidentally called "the cockatrice." I went up to the innkeep and and asked if he saw any witchers come in the tavern recently. He told me that there was a witcher who came and rented a room upstairs. I thanked him and went to the room Karadine was resting in with a satchel slung around my shoulder. I found her sharpening her blade and getting ready to go on the next hunt. She turned and asked me where I got the new gear, I responded that I stopped by a smith on the way here and I noticed her gear was falling apart, so I told her to look inside the satchel as I tossed it at her feet. She looked inside and saw the grandmaster feline gear and jumped with excitement. She told me to turn around while she tried it on and when I saw her in her new gear, I told her that I've never seen a better equipped witcheress in my life. She thanked me for the gear and we left the tavern, giving a small tip to the innkeep as we left.
We rode to my vineyard to see how things were going over the past 2 years that I was gone. I returned to see everything fully refurbished and renovated and went straight to my majordomo. I asked how in the world he wad able to afford this and he said that there was a plentiful harvest with great quality wine. I let Karadine keep the guest room in the main house while I kept the master bedroom, and we rested and let our wounds heal. After about 2 days, there was word that a Spriggan had taken residence in a hill close to Beauclair. Making the townsfolk afraid to leave, so it was about time that some professionals took care of the problem. I told Karadine about the contract and the had said that it was about time we tested this new grandmaster gear on a hunt. Spriggans are the southern dwelling cousins of leshens and this one was living in the nearby Gorgon foothills inside a cave full of vegetation. There were also plenty of flowers and I had a hunch that destroying the flowers would provoke the Spriggan into attacking.
Once the monster showed itself, our new gear was very helpful as it gave us the upper hand as, along with quen, we could survive crushing blows from the monster and still stay in the fight. I did the first attack and hacked at the beast's body, this stunned it momentarily while Karadine landed stabs at the monster's back and made the it drop. Although it was on the ground, the beast wasn't dead, Karadine landed the killing blow and, as I had done with the Leshen in Velen, she lopped off its head. We reaped the reward and went back to my vineyard when we saw another notice, but this contract seemed very peculiar, as it said the reward could be chosen by the hunter.