The Path: A witcher's tale

Chapter 12

When we left Skellige, I told Karadine to keep traveling to Kaer Morhen, I had decided to take a job in Novigrad to earn a little more coin before I was snowed in for the winter. I was to meet my contact at a portside inn called the Golden Sturgeon. He was dressed in the clothing of a wealthy man so he stood out from the crowd and I made my way to him. I got to him and asked about the contract, he said that a house he had purchased was supposedly haunted, and he decided to hire a professional to do the job. Before we could come to terms for a price, he asked, "What school do you come from witcher? I don't want some School of the Cat lunatic to take a job involving my personal property." I gave the reply, "Well, nice to see you're somewhat educated, but remember not all School of the Cat witchers are deranged killing machines, one might just prove you right. Look at my medallion, and what animal do you see? A wolf, right? I would pay to be a little more observant next time, you don't want to insult anyone."
He sarcastically thanked me for "educating" him and said that knew of a witcher from the School of the Wolf, but all he could remember was that his name started with a G. We settled on a price of around 450 crowns and he gave me his address and key. I left the inn and made my way to the house. Before I could get there though, some witch hunters jumped me and tried to kill me. It wasn't too long after that when blood stained the ground and a few heads were rolling down the street. I went inside the house and saw salt scattered all over the floor, a superstition that is supposed to drive away spirits and ghosts.
After a while I heard some strange noises, some kind of scurrying and a noise not unlike giggling, but I could tell where it was coming from, meaning that this was no spirit. I went to the basement where the noise was coming from and I saw a furnace. I looked inside the furnace and something said, "BOO!" and started coming my way. I drew my silver sword and jumped back. When the creature crawled out of the furnace, to my surprise, it was just a godling; a relict of a bygone age that has large, bright eyes, a small stature, and a mindset and nature like that of a child, mischievous yet kind. I explained to the godling, a female named Lucy, that she needed to leave because a very rich man paid a lot of money for this house and needs the house. The little creature said she didn't like the man and she didn't want to leave, as she was here first. The godling won me over and decided to let it stay, for it really wasn't hurting anyone. I returned to the man, who was impatiently waiting for me outside the house.
He asked what was the problem and if I had solved it so he could improve the house. I lied to him and said that there was a very powerful and dangerous wraith living there and that I only managed to drive it away temporarily, so there was no way to live in that house. The man seemed to believe me, but only paid me half the reward, for warning him. Then, as if by some ironic twist of fate, I encountered the bruxa I met while doing a contract here quite some time ago. She greeted me warmly and insisted I stay at her house for a while so we could catch up, I agreed and we returned to her small Manor.
She had told me that the death of that feral bruxa has allowed farmers to prosper and it quelled the fear people had when they left the Kingfisher at night. I was telling her about my most recent kill, the manticore, when some guards barged into her house and attempted to kill her. I drew my steel sword and started attacking. There were to men armed with pikes and another with a sword and shield. I used aard to knock them into the street, and them I goaded the guards with spears to stab each other while I rolled and knocked the shield out of the third guard's hands. Once he was left defenseless, I cut off his arm as he went to attack me and I split his skull after he fell to his knees. I thanked the bruxa for the pleasant reunion, and I left on Wasp to complete the trek to Kaer Morhen, where I'm sure to have a lot of catching up to do.