Dead Man's Party - Hearts of Stone

This quest begins immediately after you complete Evil's Soft First Touches, the first story quest of the Hearts of Stone Expansion. For the first part of this quest you'll need to travel to Oxenfurt where you'll meet up with Shaina from the previous quest.

After speaking with Shaina in Oxenfurt you'll need to travel to the northeast where you'll find Shaina waiting for you again at the Von Everec Estate. Meet her here, there will be some dialogue after which your quest will update and have you follow Shaina inside of the estate just a tad until you come to the entrance of a crypt.

Wraith Weaknesses: Specter Oil, Moon Dust, Yrden and Quen

Inside the crypt you'll be facing a few Wraiths, defeat them then inspect the tombstones until you find the one that belongs to von Everec (pictured below). Your quest will update after finding this tomb and now have you place incense in every room of the crypt to perform the ritual. Last but not least, light the torch in the middle of the main room to start the next scene.

The whole von Everec family will attack you once the ritual is complete (pictured above) and once you defeat them all you'll be able to speak with Olgeird's brother. There will be a lot of dialogue for you to go through here, during which Geralt agrees to let Vlodimir possess him for the night.

Once all of the dialogue is complete you'll be tasked with meeting Shani to the north by the Brunwich Signpost. When you get close to this quest area a scene will begin with you and Shani, after a bit of dialogue again you'll find yourself back in control of Geralt in the town of Brunwich during the wedding.

Your first task will be to speak with the newlyweds then you'll be tasked with speaking to a bunch of people at the wedding. The quest opens up a lot here and you'll have many options for proceeding forward. Basically, you do any of the two events mentioned below to advance the story forward to the evening dance. At this time there will be some story then the quest will open up again for you to do more events.

 

King of the Swineherds

At the wedding there will be a game involving round two pigs into a pen. There are two ways for you to complete this, the first is to use Axii on the pigs which will net you less EXP for completing this task and means you won't receive the King of the Swineherds Trophy (15% Bonus Gold).

This trophy is the highest bonus gold trophy in the entire game, if that interests you then you shouldn't waste your opportunity to get it now. In order to round up the pigs regularly without using Axii you'll need to wait until they stop moving then position yourself being them and push them forward. They can panic easily and don't always do what you want them to do but overall this isn't too challenging to complete without using Axii to cheat.

If you herd the pigs properly you'll win all of the prizes, including a stuffed pig for Shani. During the dialogue after the pig rounding Shani will challenge you to seduce a random woman she choses. During your seducing her, her brothers will interrupt and want to fight you. It'll be a three on one fight and all you'll have to defend yourself with is a fence post.

 

Fish Shani's Shoes out of the Lake

Over by the lake a few party guests will be playing a game that involves a girl tossing a pair of shoes into the water and a man diving to get them out. In the pond you'll want to use your Witcher Senses to locate the shoes; of which there are a total of 3 for you to find. You only need to find her shoe but finding all three will get you the biggest EXP reward.

 

Evening Dance **Story**

When evening strikes Voldimir will grab Shania and bring her into the dance hall where you two will have two dances and some scenes. Make sure to answer correctly if you plan to romance Shania, you can tease her and joke with her just don't be a dick and everything will be fine.

Once you've finished dancing with her go and speak with O'Dimm who is here as well to learn what he is doing here. There will be a scene and a bit more dialogue before this part of the quest completes. Off to do a few more tasks before Voldimir leaves your body.

Note: Since you can do these tasks in any order, scroll around the page to the one you're on - I put them in the order I did them but you may do it differently.

 

Find the Fire Eater

To begin this part of the task you'll want to speak with the groom's parents who are located in the center of town (speak with the old lady). After some dialogue you'll be tasked with finding the dog, Daemon. Start by examining the tracks near the dog house and then follow them to the north out of town.

Not too far outside of town you'll hear the fire swallower yelling and you will be able to follow the sound to locate him. Keep an eye on the ground as you run though, as you'll find his hat (pictured above) which you're able to give back to him. This part is optional so it's up to you if you even want to bother.

Once you find the fire eater he'll be up a tree and the dog will be barking at him. You'll be given the option of using Axii on the dog or scaring the dog away, as usual Axii will give an EXP reward too. Speak with the fire eater, give him his hat back (if you want) then return to the party.

Shortly after crossing the river on your way back to the party (pictured above) you'll run into a boar that you'll have to defeat. Make sure you do not let this kill the Fire Swallower, it's not very difficult for him to die here. Return to Brunwich after the boar is dead to watch the Fire Swaller perform his trick and complete this activity.

 

Halfling Game of Gwent

There will be a table with three halflings (pictured above) playing Gwent at the wedding. Approach them and offer to play them for this task. You'll have to play them in two games and if you lose both games you'll have to wear the ass ears for the rest of the night. This will change a bit of the dialogue as well throughout the night.

 

Midnight - Capping Ceremony

Once midnight rolls around you'll have to return to the barn for the capping ceremony. When you enter the barn there will be a scene, choose whichever dialogue options you wish until they very last one (pictured above) where Shani will ask you if you wish to leave or stay.

If you choose option 2, as shown above, and stay at the party then you'll receive the A Midnight Clear Side Quest. This is the side quest for romancing Shani and will need to be done now as it'll automatically fail once you go to Oxenfurt and turn complete Dead Man's Party. If you've completed both Open Sesame as well as this quest then you'll be able to move onto the next one.

Note: Playing Olgierd in Gwent and beating him will get you the Toad card.

 

Continue to Scenes From a Marriage Quest Walkthrough

Continue to Open Sesame Quest Walkthrough