© Provided by TheGamer
Quick Links
- How To Start The ‘Missing Brother’ Side Quest
- Entering The Mine And Locating The Survivor
- Reaching The Lair And Destroying The Eggs
- Winning The Fight With Harrisi
- Speaking With Bruno And Choosing Your Reward
In The Witcher 3, Geralt’s main focus is locating and saving Ciri. Yet, he still finds to do some monster-slaying on the side. One such contract sees him journey into a deep, dangerous cave to find a local man’s missing brother. Of course, it isn’t just a typical old cave, as it contains the lair of a dangerous creature.
RELATED: The Witcher 3: How To Collect Every Gwent Card
You need to figure out what the beast is and how to defeat it. The former objective is certainly easier than the latter as this monster provides a significant challenge. Yet, this guide contains everything you need to know to kill the enemy as well as complete the rest of the quest.
Updated on December 2, 2022 by Quinton O’Connor: The suggested level for ‘Missing Brother’ is 33 for a reason. The boss fight in this side quest can and will tear unprepared players to shreds. We’ve given this guide a bit of a makeover to make certain you’re prepped to survive your ordeal, Witcher.
How To Start The ‘Missing Brother’ Side Quest
You can pick up the quest from the Inn at the Crossroads notice board. It points you in the direction of Bruno, who’s inside the Inn. You can skip all of this if you want and just head directly to the mine, but Bruno does provide some interesting information.
He reveals that his brother helped some women in need by taking them to the old mines, but nobody has seen them since. After he finishes his tragic story, you can haggle over the reward in typical cold-blooded Witcher fashion.
Regardless of whether you talk price or not, Bruno goes on to explain that his brother has calfskin ankle boots, which can help you identify his corpse. Yet, he doesn’t think you will need that information as he strongly believes that his brother is still alive. After the discussion is over, you’re ready to head out.
Entering The Mine And Locating The Survivor
You don’t have to go too far to reach the mines as it’s only a little northeast of the Inn. You need to enter the cave from the north, not far from the water. Once there, you will notice a big pool of blood and a discarded leg outside the entrance.
Using your Witcher senses, you can locate a set of tracks next to the blood. Follow the prints inside the cave, drop the gap, and head left as it’s the most efficient route to the objective.
Now, keep following the path you’re currently on, and if you use your Witcher senses, you will locate the tracks again. Follow them until you reach a fork in the road.
At this point, you want to turn left to put yourself on the path to the survivor. There are more piles of blood in this area, so examine them to get some observations from Geralt. Continue west to reconvene with the monster’s tracks.
In the next room, there are a bunch of female bodies, which are clearly the women that Bruno’s brother tried to help. Climb up the ladder, and a survivor will be in the room in front of you – before entering the room, you can head left to find chests containing loot.
Interact with the only living woman to get more information about what happened to them. After that conversation is over, head into the darkness to the right. Over there, you will find a lever. Pull the thing to release the bridge and cover the gap you dropped earlier. The action also gives the woman an easy means of escape.
RELATED: The Witcher 3: Tips For Making Geralt Overpowered
Reaching The Lair And Destroying The Eggs
With the lone survivor accounted for, you can now focus on getting revenge for the group. To do so, you need to head back to the fork in the road that you found earlier. So, jump off the eastern side of the bridge to go down the path that takes you there.
However, this time when you reach the fork in the road, head left into the water-filled cavern. Dive underwater, and continue forward until you reach the other side. There are a few things to loot underwater, but if you go for them, make sure you’ve got enough breath to make it to the objective.
When you reach the opposite end and come out of the water, you will be in the Monster’s Lair.
Now that you’re out of the water, you need to go to the left side to find some large eggs. Examine the things to acquire a new objective to destroy them all. It’s not required to do so, but it makes the final battle of the quest a lot easier.
Using Igni on the eggs is a good way to get rid of them. There are twelve of them in total, but they are all in groups of four. These are their locations:
| Group | Location |
|---|---|
| One | These are the previously mentioned ones that are on your left as you enter the area. |
| Two | This bunch is the most well-hidden. Next to the first collection of eggs, there is a pool of water. This is actually the entrance to another underwater cavern. Dive in and follow the cavern around to the right to find another area. It’s a place with a destructible egg in each corner. Unfortunately, it also contains some enemies that attack you. |
| Three | Return to the main area and progress into the next large section to find four eggs to your left. These aren’t huddled up, but they’re still pretty close to one another. You may have to kill a small creature to reach them. |
After you’ve taken them out, keep progressing forward into the next section of the cave to trigger a cutscene where Geralt finds the remains of Bruno’s brother.
RELATED: The Witcher 3: The Most Difficult Creatures To Fight, Ranked
Winning The Fight With Harrisi
After Geralt discovers what’s left of Bruno’s brother, Harrisi reveals itself. The beast is a venomous arachas, and you must kill it. If you destroyed its eggs, then the battle will be one-on-one, but it’s still a tough battle, so you should prepare.
If you have them, you should equip the Insectoid oil to do more damage to the monster and the Golden Oriole potion to protect against the beast’s poison attacks.
Speaking of attacks, Harrisi has three main ones besides its general melee strikes:
- Toxic Projectiles – These are pretty self-explanatory as the arachas will fire poisonous projectiles at you from range.
- Web Pull – Harrisi can fire webs to immobilize you and then pull you in close.
- Gas Attack – You will notice that the creature has a large sac on its back. Once it fills, Harrisi will release a poisonous gas cloud that covers the surrounding space.
From your side of things, it’s smart to make good use of your signs. Igni is particularly effective against Harrisi as it does plenty of damage, and you can use it at a bit of a distance, so you don’t keep having to run through his toxic gas to get to him.
When there is no gas, feel free to go in close with your sword. It’s safest to attack the sides of the creature where it can’t hit back, but that’s not always possible. Yet, Northern Wind bombs or Yrden can stop Harrisi in its tracks, allowing you to get around the side of the creature.
Once you slay the beast, loot its corpse for the trophy. There are also several things inside the lair that you can pick up. Thankfully, you don’t have to go all the back to leave the cave as there’s an exit near where you fight Harrisi.
Speaking With Bruno And Choosing Your Reward
Your final task is to collect your reward. However, Bruno is unwilling to pay you due to his brother’s demise. You can respond in one of three ways:
- “I Risked My Life” – You receive 84 crowns and 200 experience.
- “Give Me The Reward” (Requires Delusion Level 3) – You receive all of your agreed reward and 240 experience (40 for using Axii and 200 for completing the quest).
- “I’m Not Going To Beg” – You don’t get any crowns, but you earn 300 experience.
After the conversation ends, so does the quest.