An Encrypted Manuscript

An Encrypted Manuscript is a quest in Chapter III of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings.

Walkthrough

This quest begins when you find an Ancient manuscript in a chest in the southeastern rune room during the quest "The Gargoyle Contract".

You will need the following items to complete this quest:

• Warrior nekker blood
• Queen endrega's pheromones
• Bullvore brain
• Harpy egg (or Rotfiend tongue)

There are bullvores and rotfiends in the sewers beneath Loc Muinne, and harpies on a ledge, but you would be well prepared to have all these items prior to finishing Chapter II, especially the nekker blood and the pheromones (Do not sell those items or accidentally use them in Alchemy).

Notes

If you have accidentally used the above items, you can use either of the following mods to add the items to a near merchant for purchase:

• Encrypted Manuscript - Merchant mod
• Queen Endrega Pheromones mod

The text that the manuscript actually contains reads

GUR SNZVYL BS QNFUJBBQ UNQ YBAT ORRA FRGGYRQ VA FHFFRK. GURVE RFGNGR JNF YNETR, NAQ GURVE ERFVQRAPR JNF NG ABEYNAQ CNEX, VA GUR PRAGER BS GURVE CEBCREGL, JURER, SBE ZNAL TRARENGVBAF, GURL UNQ YVIRQ VA FB ERFCRPGNOYR N ZNAARE NF GB RATNTR GUR TRARENY TBBQ BCVAVBA BS GURVE FHEEBHAQVAT NPDHNVAGNAPR. GUR YNGR BJARE BS GUVF RFGNGR JNF N FVATYR ZNA, JUB YVIRQ GB N IREL NQINAPRQ NTR, NAQ JUB SBE ZNAL LRNEF BS UVF YVSR, UNQ N PBAFGNAG PBZCNAVBA NAQ UBHFRXRRCRE VA UVF FVFGRE.

Spoiler warning: Significant plot details follow.

Employing the ROT13 Caesar cipher to this (i.e. each letter is replaced by the one 13 places further on in the alphabet, so that A becomes N and B becomes O etc.) reveals the cleartext to be

THE FAMILY OF DASHWOOD HAD LONG BEEN SETTLED IN SUSSEX. THEIR ESTATE WAS LARGE, AND THEIR RESIDENCE WAS AT NORLAND PARK, IN THE CENTRE OF THEIR PROPERTY, WHERE, FOR MANY GENERATIONS, THEY HAD LIVED IN SO RESPECTABLE A MANNER AS TO ENGAGE THE GENERAL GOOD OPINION OF THEIR SURROUNDING ACQUAINTANCE. THE LATE OWNER OF THIS ESTATE WAS A SINGLE MAN, WHO LIVED TO A VERY ADVANCED AGE, AND WHO FOR MANY YEARS OF HIS LIFE, HAD A CONSTANT COMPANION AND HOUSEKEEPER IN HIS SISTER.

which is actually the first three sentences of the book Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, admittedly not much related to the Witcher world.

Significant plot details end here.

Journal Entry

In one of the ruined passages in Loc Muinne, Geralt found a manuscript written in a strange language. He could not understand a thing of it, so he decided to find a professional who would help him decipher the document.

This professional was Bras of Ban Ard, a sorcerer enamored of antiques. He decided that the book is encrypted with a spell, but that it could be broken. He needed ingredients for the counter spell: the pheromones of an endrega queen, the blood of a nekker warrior, the brain of a bullvore (a rare thing!) and a harpy egg, though a rotfiend's rongue would serve as a cheap substitute for the egg. With no other choice, the witcher started looking for the ingredients.

And his effort was rewarded. Bras used the ingredients and cast a decoding spell. He revealed that the book contained instructions for creating a powerful sword named Caerme. Bars (sic) knew a thing or two about weapons and was a sorcerer on top of that. He was able to prepare the blade for the witcher!

Quest fails if Geralt follow Triss along "A Summit of Mages"

Geralt never learned the contents of the manuscript, however. When the sorcerers started dying at Loc Muinne, they had no time or inclination to study the wisdom of treaties.

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