Walkthrough
You can start this quest in a few ways:
- Pick up this contract off Oxenfurt's notice board
- Find Hans at his camp and talk to him
- Find the archgriffin's nest while exploring
If you found the notice, head out to the impromptu camp east-southeast of the Herbalist's Hut to find Hans. He'll tell you how he and his group of men decided to try and take out a beast in the area to help the locals but it was clear they were outmatched as 2 of his men just disappeared, never to be seen again, thus his notice. You can haggle with him if you wish, then he'll give a location further east-southeast.
Head out here to find a corpse and a lot of blood, but notably not a second body. After examining these 2 pieces of evidence, go further north to find a human arm, and nearby more blood, though this time you have a better trail to follow the flying monster. While you follow this trail, you'll likely come across a pack of wolves, so kill them off, then continue following the trail to where some ravens are gathered around the last bit of the body, picked clean. While this trail has disappeared, you can follow the birds in the sky to the east, as they'll lead you to the rest of the body. If it's after 7pm, you'll likely hear the monster soon, otherwise during the day, you'll need to investigate some more.
As you near some rocky cliffs here, if it's nighttime the archgriffin, Opinicus, will be here and you'll go straight into fighting it. Otherwise, you'll find some large feathers nearby or at the nest which, on examining them, Geralt will deduce it's an archgriffin. Regardless of how you learn about it, you'll earn 25 XP earned based on the Story and Swords! difficulty level here.
If it's during the day, climb up the ledge to find the nest and what's left of the second body. However, there is an interesting letter on the body here that you should read and Geralt will make a comment on, then meditate or come back after 7pm and Opinicus will be there. If you found it after nighttime, you can still find the letter after killing Opinicus to use later. After you kill the archgriffin, loot the body for the archgriffin trophy, archgriffin mutagen, and the Zireael armor, then head back to Hans or, if you found the griffin by accident, get the notice off Oxenfurt's notice board to turn it in.
Talk to him to let him know it's dead, but if you found the letter, you now have a choice to mention it and demand a better reward. Doing this will earn 300 XP earned based on the Story and Swords! difficulty level and 331 (or 170 on top of what you haggled originally). If you didn't read the letter though or didn't mention it, you'll still get 300 XP earned based on the Story and Swords! difficulty level but only 221 Oren3.png. Whatever you decide, the quest will then conclude here. Consequences: with the Hearts of Stone expansion, if one wants to get Quinto, you'll have to deal with Hans again who will be mad and demand you pay double to release him if you had demanded he pay you more during this contract.
In-depth Walkthrough:
How to kill Opinicus the Archgriffin
Use your witcher senses to listen to the crows, then climb the hill as you explore the sky. You should be able to see the birds circling pretty close. Keep going up until you reach what's left of a nest, not to mention a few details of an unfortunate soul.
If it is not dark yet, you will have to meditate for a while until you provoke the arrival of the Archgriffin. Fight the creature like you would any other aerial beast, and use the Grapeshot bombs, the hybrid oil on your swords, and your Aard sign as well. These three combat bonuses will make the fight much easier.
Once you've beaten the beast, loot the corpse for some ingredients and a trophy, then head back to Roach and head back to the Mercenary Camp. When you get there, you can show Hans your proof and get your well-earned reward.
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