[boy] It comes on a full moon...
to feed.
That's what Ma used to say.
When a wolf...
crosses a maiden's grave.
A pregnant girl who died before her time.
That babe...
starts growing...
right in her belly.
[dust scatters]
[blows]
[coughing]
When it's big enough...
that babe rips out.
Only it ain't a babe no more.
It's a monster.
A vukodlak.
I swear, Witcher, that's what got me.
I swear I saw it.
-I swear on my ma's grave, I saw it-- -Shh. Shh, shh.
Three thousand orens. Up front.
[coughing]
[screams]
[echoing scream]
[metal clinking]
[hook creaks]
[loud screech]
[woman] No!
[woman screaming]
[metal clinking]
[loud screech]
[grunts]
This... [chuckles] I definitely know.
-♪ The vampiress bled ♪ -[sighs]
♪ As white as a sheet ♪
-[sighs] -♪ And yet her dead heart did beat ♪
♪ Did beat ♪
The kikimora?
Mm.
Hmm.
I don't recall the bard singing of this one.
Who would dare try and rob you of your treasure?
A woman?
Princess.
Were you in love?
What's her name?
When you live as long as I do, all the names start to sound the same.
[sighs] Were destiny a kinder bitch, a whore like me
wouldn't have to settle for her client's telltales.
A friend of yours came through here last month headed for Temeria.
Friend?
Another witcher.
Mm. Blessed that prick with my fullest efforts, too,
-and he-- -What's in Temeria?
-Do you not just hear me talking? -Shouldn't you know
-when someone's pretending? -[pounding on door]
-[scoffs] -[man] It's been three nights.
Pay up or get out!
Temeria?
[sighs] It's got a pest problem.
A few miners rounded up 3,000 orens to have it killed.
Your boy took the coin and ran.
-[banging on door] -[man] You hear me?
[banging continues]
Thank you... for...
everything.
-[man] Witcher! -[banging persists]
Hmm.
-What about the room? -[door crashes open]
[snorts]
[nickers]
Don't judge me.
I'll be back with payment in a few days.
Anything happens to my horse...
[chuckles] You don't scare me.
Point me to Temeria.
Years of attacks by this creature, and the king does nothing.
We must force his hand. Lay down our picks...
and refuse to work.
[all] Yeah.
And a half-measure ain't gonna do! We've got to move on.
Plenty of work south of Sodden.
[others mutter]
[metal clanks]
My son...
rest his soul...
told me...
in Nilfgaard...
the king diddled whores while his subjects starved.
Then someone came.
The Usurper.
And he rallied the people, and they took back what was theirs!
[all] Yeah!
I say we follow their lead!
[cheering]
[Geralt] You can't kill the vukodlak...
so you decide to kill your king?
Great plan.
Another fuckin' witcher.
Your kind already swindled us once.
I take payment after the job is done and for a third of the price.
An apology...
from my guild...
to yours.
And if you can't kill it?
Then I die.
[horse neighs]
[man] Please.
Everyone remain calm.
Lower your weapons and return to your homes.
Do so quickly and without further theatrics...
and you have my word that our king will not hear of this treason.
Foltest commits treason.
He hides in his winter castle as we are eaten.
[all] Yeah!
Mikal was a good boy.
Revenge will not ease your pain.
-[spits] -[all yell]
You know nothing...
of my pain.
[sighs]
Does Foltest have a plan?
See this one to our borders.
Temeria's had their fill... of witchers.
[neighing]
Witcher.
You can put down your sword. I'm not here to hurt you.
Says the witch hiding in the woods.
Sorceress.
Witch.
Triss Merigold. I serve King Foltest.
So he makes a show of kicking me out...
then sends his errand girl to slip me some coin
so I kill his monster.
Not a very original plan for a king.
It's my plan.
My coin.
And I don't want you to kill the beast.
I want you to help me save it.
Six years ago,
stable hands started vanishing at the castle above the city.
Before long, citizens were disappearing throughout all Temeria.
Foltest's royal guards soon realized the creature was coming from the crypt
where the king's sister Adda is buried.
Rumor has it she was having an affair with a young man in town when she died.
Was she pregnant?
If she were, that would make her child the sole heir to the throne
as Foltest never married.
The king fled the castle, ignoring the rising death toll.
After Nilfgaard overthrew their king,
the Brotherhood couldn't risk it happening again,
so they sent me here three months ago to cure the creature.
Vukodlaks are freak mutations.
-They can't be cured. -Good thing it's not a vukodlak.
Two thousand orens if you can tell me what exactly killed these people.
You didn't want the people to know that it bested a witcher.
And you let them believe that he fled with their coin.
You two clearly weren't acquainted.
His heart's missing along with his liver.
Only one creature I know is that picky an eater.
A striga.
-Strigas are old wives' tales. -They're very rare.
The only way to make one is through a curse.
-Someone wanted Adda dead. -Mm-hmm.
But the curse didn't stop with Adda. It turned her daughter into a monster.
Her daughter?
Strigas are female.
[sighs]
This striga's a princess.
[sighing]
Uh... can... can...
Uh, can they do something?
Uh, they-- they're just watching.
[groans]
It was a nice touch with the applause.
[laughs]
So how many more times do you think we get to do this?
I don't know.
Soon you'll be off to your ruins, dashing explorer.
Part-time dashing explorer.
Stregebor says Temeria leans heavily on its mages.
So maybe you'll be too busy for me.
Or maybe you'll be too busy for me once you get a taste of Aedirn revelry.
King Virfuril is handsome. Allegedly.
If I do a good job...
I can persuade him to give you access to our ruins.
-Maybe we'll do this forever. -Yeah.
Well, after the initiation today, we're in charge.
We get to make the decisions, be who we want to be.
What's wrong?
Fringilla and the others see their ideal selves so clearly.
They know exactly what they want for their enchantments.
Stop worrying so much.
Easy for a Ban Ard boy.
You dolts needn't change a single wrinkle before heading to court.
What do you want?
Remember that scared girl who tumbled at your feet in this cave...
totally unaware of her power?
I want to go back home to Aedirn and never be her again.
-You're bound for Aedirn? -Yes.
Let me be candid. You are a... first draft of what nature intended, yes?
Lucky for you, I'm the final artist.
Every girl I enchant leaves Aretuza a living work of art.
Hmm?
No matter how challenging the clay.
[snap]
Perfect for Aedirn.
A gray dress assumes importance without bald ambition.
Ah. Not the final look. More a preview.
There is not a person alive
that does not look into the mirror and see some deformity.
Except for us.
We remake ourselves on our terms. The world has no say in it.
Look.
You can free the victim in the mirror forever.
I don't know where to begin.
Close your eyes.
I said close them.
Imagine the most powerful woman in the world.
Her hair, the color of her eyes, yes...
but also the strength of her posture.
The poise of her entire being.
Do you see her?
Yes.
Open your eyes.
She is stunning.
Miss Merigold, you were dispatched to settle a family affair,
not to enlist a mutant mercenary for a game of sleuthing.
This is no game, Captain. Tonight is a full moon,
and Geralt has already proved himself to be invaluable.
We believe we can cure the creature.
You say she's a girl.
Then you will refer to her as Her Royal Highness.
Segelin, I believe urgency
warrants flexibility in court decorum.
The witcher's theory is nonsense. Princess Adda was the people's angel.
-Who'd wish to murder her? -What about her lover?
Seditious rumors. Idle courtesans trading out boredom for jealousy.
Perhaps if you called off your guards,
if we were able to search the abandoned castle,
we could find clues as to who cursed her.
[Segelin] Except this witcher would kill the princess as she sleeps,
-and collect the miners' coin. -Call her a princess.
Call her a unicorn if you'd like to.
She grew inside Adda, feeding on her petrified womb.
-Have you no respect? -Mutating.
Growing for years till she got so hungry...
she was forced to slither out.
Rotten muscle, bent bones, two spidery legs,
claws dragging in the dirt. An overgrown abortion.
Enough.
-[soldier] Your Highness? -Leave.
[guard] Hey!
-Open the door! -[banging]
-[yelling] -Open this door! Protect the king!
[yelling and banging continues]
[guard] Witcher!
-Who's the princess' father? -My men will kill you, Witcher.
Hmm. It's funny.
You learn that your sister was murdered, and you didn't even flinch.
But the moment I mention the girl's father...
Why were you never married?
You are speaking to a king.
That is exactly my point.
Why not produce your own heir?
Why not kill the striga and avoid this revolt?
Why drag this all out?
Between you and me...
who is the striga's father?
I remember hearing stories about witchers when I was a child.
Is it true what they say?
[thump on door]
That the mutations that grant you your... abilities
also erase your emotions?
[guards yell]
Must be.
'Cause only a man devoid of all heart
could accuse a brother of bedding his murdered sister
while urging him to kill her.
Leave Temeria.
Never return.
[Tissaia] Cintra continues their animosity towards our organization.
[Artorius] Don't tell me they're employing druids
or worse--fortune tellers.
[laughter]
King Dagorad has banned mages from Cintra, God knows why.
I've heard rumors he's taken ill.
Now, if the king dies, perhaps his heiress will be more pliable. Princess...
Calanthe? Good luck with that.
Word is she's even more stubborn than her father is.
How fares Nilfgaard?
King Fergus is proving to be an effective and excitable young king.
Horny, she means.
Spending the kingdom's money on women as his people starve to death.
Fringilla will be in Nilfgaard by week's end.
She will bring sanity and bread to the people.
Your girl is-- With all due respect,
your niece is only capable of doing what she's told.
No ambitious mage wants to be assigned anywhere south of Sodden.
But Nilfgaard needs correcting.
Perhaps we consider sending someone there with a bit more... spine.
Stregobor, did you have anyone in mind?
What about your hunchback protégé?
How's her... spine?
We agreed Yennefer would thrive in Aedirn.
King Virfuril prefers mages from his kingdom,
-and Yennefer was born in Vengerberg. -Oh, we'd be spitting in Dagorad's face
if we send Yennefer to their biggest trade partner.
The only thing Cintra hates more than mages is... elves.
Yennefer's of elven blood?
Quarter elf.
Watch a Cintran do that math.
Let's not model our wisdom on prejudice and paranoia.
Prejudiced or not, you can't deny
Cintra has operated outside our influence far too long.
[Stregobor] Unchecked kings and queens lead to rebellions. Massacres.
It's the reason this chapter was formed.
Still afraid of Falka, are you?
And you, you spare your niece her duties?
Not enough fragrance in Toussaint to take the stench off that nepotism.
Let the Chapter vote, then. I'll even recuse myself.
All in favor of Yennefer to Nilfgaard instead of Fringilla?
Your Excellence, it's an honor.
-The honor is mine. -[door opens]
King Fergus chose this.
-Not me. -King Fergus of Nilfgaard?
-[sighs] -What are you talking about?
Uh...
[sighs]
[door opens]
I demand an audience with the Chapter.
I handle court assignments, Yennefer.
-Not the Chapter. -You promised me Aedirn.
New items came to light which led me to believe
that you would be a better fit for Nilfgaard.
There's no power in puppeting fools,
especially one who'd sooner fondle his sorceress than listen to her!
I don't think new items came to light.
I think the Chapter overruled you.
Is that it? Yeah?
The all-powerful sorceress Tissaia de Vriess
knocked down from her glass pedestal.
[laughs]
'Twas your blood.
Efforts in Cintra prevent the Brotherhood
from placing a mage with elven blood in Aedirn's court.
How could you tell them?
I did not.
Stregobor did.
Divine the rest.
[door closes]
[crows cawing]
[wind whistling]
-[rattling] -[crows cawing]
How many more hours?
Too many.
[Triss] You were told to leave Temeria.
But come on.
These views.
Are you going to kill her?
I don't want the miners' coin.
Or mine, apparently.
What is this girl to you?
Why do you care?
You first.
I saw how Foltest and his boy spoke to you.
Why help those who won't listen?
I'm sure someone as legendary as you
has already figured out several ways to get past Segelin's guards.
[thud]
Move away.
Temeria reeks of secrets. I could sense them.
Just like I could these bodies before we entered.
I imagine you sense them, too.
Foltest and Adda. What happened to them?
Not answering questions is a pillar of your brooding charm.
Pretty sure Foltest is the father.
[Triss] Adda's bedroom.
Do you think he cursed her?
Foltest?
Maybe.
[inhales]
[whimsical tune plays]
[note plays]
[notes play]
Geralt.
Letters.
From Queen Sancia, Foltest and Adda's mother.
A Queen Mother cursing her own children for their affair.
This could destroy the throne.
Sancia wanted Adda to get rid of the child.
It seems she refused. Repeatedly.
And now she's taken that curse with her to the grave.
You've served the family for decades.
Was Sancia involved in dark sorcery of any kind?
No. Of course not.
What was your relationship to Adda?
Well, I like to think that she saw me as a confidant.
And protector, even.
We used to talk at great length about her troubles.
She could be very naive.
She ever mention her brother?
Certainly not like this.
She was ashamed.
Or she was frightened.
What if the relationship was not...
consensual?
Hmm.
You think he raped Adda, then cursed the child to cover it up?
Well, kings have done more for less.
True.
[sighs] There's only one wrinkle, though.
-Your scent was on her sheets. -Geralt.
Old ones...
and new ones.
What would I be doing in a dead girl's bed?
I smelled what you were doing.
Foltest had no right!
He seduced Adda. Abused his position.
He was always nagging her for attention.
Always nagging!
But he didn't love her.
-I did. -You cursed the woman you loved?
I cursed Foltest, not her.
Countless are dead because of your jealousy.
Countless are dead because of Foltest!
He spoiled Adda with his seed.
He refuses to kill this striga.
He lies to his people. And yet you wag your finger in my face.
If you wanted him to suffer, you could have just exposed the affair.
And hurt Adda?
Never.
Her memory will not be sullied, not while I'm alive to protect it.
Tell us how to lift the curse.
No.
Foltest will watch as Temeria turns against him.
Just as he turned Adda against me.
Hmm.
Unh.
I, Sabrina Glevissig, offer myself to the Brotherhood
to make good on the promise of the Spheres.
-To not place power before virtue. -[murmuring]
-To respect... -[thinks] Where is she?
[thinks] You didn't hear?
[Sabrina] ...for as long as my flesh endures.
Welcome to the Brotherhood of Sorcerers. You may perform your enchantment.
Yenna.
Yenna, what are you doing?
Undoing what you've done.
I'll have my father sign this deed declaring me his natural-born daughter
and not an elven bastard.
Do you really think this slip of paper will fool the Chapter? Yenna--
Get your hands away from me!
It was a test.
It was, uh, an idiotic manipulation. Forgive me.
Can your apology save me from Nilfgaard?
Take me to Aedirn?
-Do they make me more than my blood? -And you think this will?
Fine.
Tell them you lied.
Say you concocted this slander to gain the favor of your precious rector.
It's too late. You missed initiation.
The enchantments are done. Think clearly.
You're so smart, aren't you? You know everything.
I'm sorry. I had no way of knowing how the information would be used.
-But neither did you. -Do not turn this on me.
We're pretending your precious rectoress never ordered you to spy on me?
[scoffs]
Look, I-I can fix this.
The Brotherhood--they've offered me a seat on the Research Chapter. Me.
Okay? Neither of us have to go to court.
-You can't be serious? -We can travel the continent together.
We can be together. We can forge a whole new destiny.
Ah.
A life holding dustpans while you brush off forgotten bones?
That's not destiny.
It's slow suicide.
You don't mean that.
Would it frighten you to know you're not privy to every one of my thoughts?
You are patronizing me.
I was going to Temeria for you.
That was your decision.
You really think I wish to waste my days gossiping at court?
That's your fetish, not mine.
A true man would state his desires.
Well, how would I recognize them? Huh?
You get off on disguising yours as my own. Oh.
Stregobor was right.
That's exactly why you're here, exactly what she taught you.
Everyone's a pawn.
I will not be schooled by a man
who pimps the world as some romantic adventure.
My world is cruel.
-[scoffs] -Unpredictable.
You enter, you survive, you die.
-You know, victimhood is not your color. -Nor heroism yours.
You're just angry because you lost your chance to be beautiful!
I want to be powerful.
Seen and adored with everyone watching.
It is what I'm owed.
No amount of power or beauty will ever make you feel worthy of either.
[waltz plays]
Let's take a rest, dear.
Foltest, leave your sister be.
Show Madame de Vriess some respect.
What wonderful children, Your Highness.
Thank you.
Your Excellence.
An Aedirnian would surely have had better footing.
[Yennefer] You claim to be quite the artist. Prove it.
-The Chapter would have my head. -Do they already have your cock?
[chuckles]
-I'll need time to prepare the herbs. -That won't be necessary.
Don't be foolish. You can't be awake during the procedure.
I can.
[sighs]
[Foltest] Oh so quick to violence.
Strange, considering what Miss Merigold told me about you.
-And what's that? -She told me...
to trust you.
[chuckles]
Will this work?
Answer honestly.
I don't know.
Will my...
will my daughter...
be normal?
She'll need special care.
She's lived as an animal.
All she's ever known is...
rage and hunger.
[Geralt sighs]
[sighs]
What is this?
For the princess.
If I can lift the curse.
A gift.
You're giving me this because you do not expect to see morning.
This isn't my first time trying to save a princess
who others see as a monster.
What happened to that princess?
I killed her.
I did try to resist, at first, with Adda. We both did.
For all it brightens, love casts long shadows.
I envy you.
To live...
and never have to fall in love.
[horse neighs]
[moans]
Witcher.
This is madness!
What are we doing here? What's happening?
How can I lift the curse?
No.
This is not right.
Foltest must pay for what he did.
Explain that to her.
Carry me out. I order you.
Tell me how to lift the curse.
[panting]
Sh-She was hiding from the Brotherhood.
She sold me a lamb.
Sh-She told me to wait until a full moon,
to wait and then to kill it.
And then I recited some silly chant.
And then I bathed in the lamb's blood until sunrise.
Until the rooster crowed three times. And that is all.
I swear. I swear. Now please let us leave.
What was the chant?
[gasping] It was years ago.
It was Elven. Um...
[speaking Elder]
[sighs]
[speaking Elder]
Wh-- what is it? The-- I-- I've done what you've asked.
What more can I do?
Nothing, unless you can keep a striga out of her crypt
until a fucking rooster crows three times.
You're gonna have to fight her till dawn.
Leave my eyes. These as well.
[sighs]
There is a cost to all creation.
A sacrifice that is always made.
To be reborn...
you will bear no more.
Do you understand?
Good.
[water dripping]
[screeching]
No. No. Come back here.
Please. Please!
You'd leave a man bound to die in such indignity?
You're not a man.
[whimpering]
[loud screech]
[whimpering]
[croaks]
-[creaking] -[hissing]
[high-pitched groan]
-[cooing] -[clicking]
Please forgive me.
It was Foltest.
It was his fault.
-I loved your mother. -[croaks]
[gasps]
-[screeches] -[gasps]
[screeching fades]
[rasping moaning]
[screams]
[croaking]
[screeching]
[snarling]
[screeching]
[hissing and croaking]
[screeches]
[screams]
Fuck.
[gasps and groans]
[screams]
[whines]
[hissing]
[panting]
[sighs]
-[glass breaks] -[sighs]
[speaking Elder]
[screeching]
[speaking Elder]
[groans]
[screeching]
[groans]
[screams]
[screaming]
[screeching]
[squealing]
[howling]
[screeching]
[wailing]
[screaming]
[scream fades]
-[birdsong] -[rooster crows]
[water dripping]
[stone crunching]
[stone grinding]
[groans]
[panting]
[sighs]
[screeches]
[tearing]
-[screeches] -[groans]
[gasping and groaning]
[yells]
[Geralt growls]
[sighs]
Yennefer of Vengerberg.
My apologies, Your Excellence.
Please allow me to remove this misguided girl.
Now, what sort of a king refuses a dance with one of his subjects?
Vengerberg?
Are you aware that I'm in the market for just such a mage?
On your lead, Your Excellence.
Geralt...
Geralt.
Renfri.
The girl in the woods will be with you always.
People call you a monster too.
Renfri.
You choose...
-[echoing] You choose... -[sighs]
[groans]
[grunts]
Your scars. You heal quite nicely.
Your will to live is strong.
The princess?
I've arranged for her to stay a while with the Sisters of Melitele.
But...
I...
-Her neck? -She'll heal, too.
You should know Foltest issued a statement.
The honorable Lord Ostrit gave his life to slay the vukodlak.
Miners are gathering ore for a statue.
-[grunts] -Anyone else would've killed the princess.
You chose not to.
[grunts] I'll take my coin now.
I need to get back to my horse.
Who's Renfri?
Hers was the only name you uttered over and over in your sleep.
My coin.
So that's all life is to you?
Monsters and money?
It's all it needs to be.
You say this is all life is to you,
but there is a vortex of fate around all of us, Geralt,
growing with each and every one of our choices...
drawing our destinies in closer.
I feel something out there waits for you.
Something more.
[voices whispering]
[crow caws]
[cawing echoes]
[voices whispering]
[gasps]
Ciri.
[whispering voice] Ciri.
Ciri!
Ciri! Ciri!
-[whoosh] -[gasps]
Wha--
[panting] Ciri!
[groans] Ciri! Ciri!
[moaning]
[sobs]
-[groaning] -[whispering]
[whispering voice] Ciri.
Ciri.
Ciri. Ciri.