This is a non-commercial fanfic based on the universes of The Witcher and Disco Elysium. All rights to the original works, characters, names, and elements of their respective worlds belong to their respective copyright holders. The author of this fanfic does not claim ownership of any of them. Age rating: rated R (18+). The text contains profanity, alcohol, fictional drugs, violence, and other themes intended for an adult audience.
“The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.”
— Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles
NARRATOR – The door to the courtesan’s room is unlocked. Vernon draws his sword just in case and steps decisively inside. You and Rune follow.
KEEN EYE [Medium: Success] – Karmen left in a hurry, but she still took the time to erase the traces of her presence.
DISCERNMENT [Easy: Success] – And yet a faint scent of orange oil still lingers in the room…
NARRATOR – The bed is made, the curtains drawn. It looks as though no one has been here for several weeks at least. An unaccountable sense of unease comes over you.
VERNON ROCHE – There’s some kind of note here on the table…
NARRATOR – He moves closer to the window and pulls the curtains aside.
VERNON ROCHE – Written in pani Karmen’s hand. Let’s see… Ahem.
LETTER – My dear detectives! Forgive me for deceiving you and leaving the city without saying goodbye. I think you’ve nearly untangled this crime already and will manage perfectly well without my help. I’ll leave you with just one final thought: sometimes the answer may be looming on the horizon. Best of luck. P.S. It wasn’t me.
VERNON ROCHE – How touching. And a very interesting remark: apparently, pani Růžička believes the shot really did come from a considerable distance.
NARRATOR – Vernon throws open the balcony door, steps outside, and slowly surveys the view.
VERNON ROCHE – Well… let’s think. I can see several possible positions.
KEEN EYE [Easy: Success] – And the most obvious one…
YOU – Could the killer really have climbed onto the shed?
RUNE – What?! My shed???
VERNON ROCHE – I’ll grant you this: at least part of the room should be visible from there. But as we know, no one heard the shot — neither Karmen nor anyone in the tavern. Unless we entertain the unlikely possibility that the sound was completely muffled by magic…
NARRATOR – He scratches his forehead and frowns.
VERNON ROCHE – Besides, it’s not entirely clear what trajectory the bullet would have taken. Bastien was sitting on the bed when he died, while the balcony is higher than the shed and would probably block the line of sight. In any case, let’s keep thinking.
ARTISTRY [Impossible: Failure] – This would be the perfect moment to offer a simple yet brilliant solution. For example…
YOU – What if the shot came from the balcony — or from inside the room?
NARRATOR – Both of your companions turn to look at you at once.
RUNE – Gramps, have you gone senile or what? Even I can tell that’s bullshit.
VERNON ROCHE – I wouldn’t call the theory completely impossible, but it contradicts almost everything we know so far. Pani Růžička’s guilt has not yet been ruled out, but her motive is unclear. Besides, she claimed she saw no one else and heard no shot. And if we assume some unknown culprit was standing on the balcony, that raises another question: how did they get there, and where did they go afterward?
YOU – Well… In theory, someone could climb up to the balcony from the street and then jump back down…
VERNON ROCHE – Allow me to ask: could you manage something like that yourself?
DEFTNESS [Challenging: Failure] – No. Even if by some miracle you managed to climb onto the balcony, the way back down would end with a broken leg, a smashed face, and humiliating cries for help.
YOU – I doubt it…
NARRATOR – Silence hangs in the air.
WHISPER [Medium: Success] – Wait. Remember what Rune told you when you spoke on the vacant lot?
YOU – Rune, you mentioned some kind of streak in the sky… Roughly where did it come from, and what trajectory did it follow?
RUNE – Fuck, what does “trajectory” even mean?
ELOQUENCE [Trivial: Success] – Simpler. Even simpler.
YOU – Was it going downward, upward, or just straight across the sky?
RUNE – I was high as fuck… But I think it was going downward. Like…
NARRATOR – The boy awkwardly traces a slanted line through the air with one finger.
YOU – At an angle? So if that really was the shot, the killer was somewhere higher up than the victim?
RUNE – Yeah, exactly.
VERNON ROCHE – Forgive me, what streak are we talking about?
RUNE – When I went to take a piss, I saw some weird blue shit in the sky.
VERNON ROCHE – Splendid. Some weird blue shit. One could hardly ask for more reliable testimony.
YOU – But the timing and direction match, Vernon. Karmen mentioned an unusual flash too. If we treat that as a working hypothesis for now, then the shooter must have found a position with a better view. But none of the buildings around here are more than two stories high…
NARRATOR – Your gaze drifts across the sunlit rooftops, finding nothing remarkable.
KEEN EYE [Easy: Success] – You need to widen the search. There’s nothing nearby that could serve as a firing position.
NARRATOR – About four hundred meters to your left, a brick bell tower rises above the rooftops. A few minutes ago, its bells struck twelve.
YOU – What about that bell tower over there?..
VERNON ROCHE – Hm…
RUNE – Are you serious, gramps? That’s an Eternal Fire temple. They don’t let just any asshole in there, and at night you’ve got no fucking chance of sneaking inside.
WHISPER [Medium: Success] – Sounds like the boy has tested that firsthand.
RUNE – And there are guards wandering around the place all the time.
DIALECTIC [Trivial: Success] – Which means an outsider would hardly have gone unnoticed. Nor would the sound of a gunshot.
YOU – I see… Then…
KEEN EYE – Look. Over there in the distance, a little to the right…
NARRATOR – Deeper in the quarter, beyond rows of crooked houses, a dark stone tower rises above the rooftops. Its narrow windows look like empty eye sockets.
YOU – What’s that?
RUNE – Where?
YOU – That tower over there.
RUNE – Oh… That’s just the old water tower. Hasn’t worked in a hundred years. Don’t think anyone really goes there.
YOU – Tall and abandoned…
KEEN EYE – The presumed trajectory fits. From the top floor, the whole quarter should be spread out below like a map, and Karmen’s room would be visible almost in its entirety.
NARRATOR – Vernon narrows his eyes, mentally tracing an invisible line from the tower to the balcony. Then he shakes his head.
VERNON ROCHE – You seriously think the shot could have come from there? The distance is enormous — at least a kilometer. I know of no weapon capable of an accurate shot at that range. And even if one existed, an ordinary marksman wouldn’t be able to hit so much as a doorway from that distance. You might even have to account for wind speed and direction…
CODEX [Challenging: Success] – An ordinary marksman, no. But that blue streak suggests the weapon may not have been entirely ordinary.
YOU – But what if some kind of magic was involved?
VERNON ROCHE – Who knows, Geralt… I’m no expert in such matters. Still, I suppose we should search the water tower, since we have no better ideas at the moment.
NARRATOR – There is doubt in his voice.
VERNON ROCHE – I admit, one thing has been bothering me. Doesn’t all of this seem a little… excessive? If we follow your reasoning, the killer would have needed a specially enchanted weapon, a suitable firing position, and a way to keep watch on Karmen and Bastien until the perfect moment… not to mention making an almost impossible shot. All of that would require time, preparation, and exceptional skill. But for what? We still don’t understand why Bastien Lavelle had to die in the first place.
DIALECTIC [Legendary: Failure] – An excellent question. What a pity there is no answer.
NARRATOR – You can only spread your hands helplessly.
ELOQUENCE [Easy: Success] – He isn’t expecting a ready answer. It’s more something to think about.
RUNE – Hey, enough standing around talking shit! Why don’t we just go to the fucking tower and see what’s there? I’ll show you the way. Come on already!
MASQUE [Medium: Failure] – Onward, maestro! Abandoned towers exist for one purpose only: so that brave heroes may one day venture inside them. Perhaps a captive princess awaits you there!
DIALECTIC [Easy: Success] – Or a heavily armed lunatic capable of putting a shot into someone’s mouth from a kilometer away.
NARRATOR – About twenty minutes later, you reach the old water tower. It stands off by itself behind a low wooden fence. The whole place has been left to decay. The gate hangs wide open, creaking lazily in the wind. Up close, the structure looks far less sinister: just an abandoned tower of darkened brick, with crumbling masonry, shattered windows, moss creeping over the walls, and a drainpipe rusted through from end to end and long since useless.
ARTISTRY [Easy: Success] – From a distance, it looked like the lair of some ancient monster. Up close, it’s merely a building everyone forgot to tear down.
RUNE – Well, there it is. The water tower… Only last time I climbed around here, the place was locked up tight.
NARRATOR – Roche tries the door with a shove. The boy is right: it doesn’t budge.
VERNON ROCHE – An inconvenient, if predictable, obstacle. The second-floor window is out of reach, and boarded up besides… We’ll probably have to find another way in, or—
BRAWN [Legendary: Success] – No “or.” Your turn, fiendmobile. Time to finally show off that HELLISH STRENGTH of yours. Kick this fucking door DOWN!
NARRATOR – You step closer and gesture for Vernon to move aside. He does, raising an eyebrow slightly. Rune watches with undisguised interest.
BRAWN – Get your footing… That’s it… Line it up. Aim near the lock. Breathe out. Feel the confidence filling you… Feel every muscle in your body… Good… NOW FUCKING KICK IT WITH EVERYTHING YOU’VE GOT. COME ON!!!
NARRATOR – Your boot slams into the door. Wood groans and cracks, rotten splinters shower down, but the door holds.
RUNE – Gramps is gonna wreck the whole fucking place! He’s gonna bring the tower down!
VERNON ROCHE – Witcher, perhaps we should—
BRAWN – Don’t listen to him! You’re doing great!
NARRATOR – The second kick makes the entire frame shudder. On the third, the board beside the lock splits, and the door flies inward with a deafening crash.
RUNE – Holy fuck…
NARRATOR – A cloud of dust bursts from the dark doorway. You survey the results of your labor with calm dignity.
BRAWN – And that is how you solve complicated technical problems.
FORTITUDE [Challenging: Failure] – And now your abdomen hurts like hell again. Excellent work, idiot.
VERNON ROCHE – Very elegant. If the killer really is hiding inside, let’s hope he didn’t hear that.
BRAWN – Yeah… I didn’t really think of that.
NARRATOR – Vernon is the first to step over the battered threshold, holding his drawn sword in front of him. You follow. Rune is already trying to slip between the two of you, but Roche lightly holds him back.
VERNON ROCHE – Stay behind us. Closer to the exit and well out of the way.
RUNE – What the fuck is this? I’m the one showing you the way!
VERNON ROCHE – There’s only one way from here — up. And you have an important job, Rune. If a fight breaks out or we walk into a trap, run outside immediately and call the guards. Don’t try to play the hero… And don’t touch anything.
RUNE – Yeah, yeah, I got it… Order received, fuck. Private Rune’s on it.
BOND OF STEEL [Easy: Success] – After what happened in the catacombs, Vernon has become much more cautious. He would gladly leave the boy outside, but he knows Rune would only try to sneak in after you anyway.
NARRATOR – The ground floor of the water tower is a circular chamber with a high ceiling. Rusted pipes run along the walls, while a long-dead pumping mechanism squats in the center: a tangle of gears, levers, and thick chains. The floor is covered with dust, flakes of fallen plaster, and bird droppings.
ARTISTRY [Easy: Success] – Nothing sinister. Just an ordinary city ruin, long since stripped of anything worth taking.
NARRATOR – Water drips from the ceiling onto the rusted metal below. The sound echoes hollowly through the tower.
VERNON ROCHE – Don’t rush. Let’s search this floor before we go up.
NARRATOR – He moves carefully along the wall, peers behind the old barrels, and checks the dark recess beneath the stairs.
KEEN EYE [Medium: Success] – No one’s been here in a long time… Although, wait. Look, right by the stairs…
YOU – Looks like someone’s been walking through here. Recently — and more than once.
VERNON ROCHE – How recently?..
NARRATOR – Vernon looks up. A spiral staircase runs along the wall and disappears into a dark opening in the floor above.
YOU – Hard to say exactly. Maybe a couple of days ago. Judging by the size of the prints, an adult man in boots was here. They look somewhat like the tracks under the tree, but the pattern is clearly different.
VERNON ROCHE – Good. Then we cannot afford to let our guard down.
NARRATOR – You crouch to examine the floor for any other clues. Near the wall, you find a small patch of black, oily substance that vaguely resembles soot.
BRAWN [Challenging: Success] – Serious danger lies ahead. Facing it like this would be unforgivably careless. You need war paint.
YOU – Why?
BRAWN – Because you do.
NARRATOR – Vernon watches in utter disbelief as you carefully dip a finger into the black filth, then draw two horizontal stripes beneath each eye and another across your forehead.
ARTISTRY [Easy: Failure] – You haven’t gotten dirty. You’ve transformed.
VERNON ROCHE – Geralt, what are you doing?
BRAWN – Summoning the spirit of an ancient warrior. Answer with confidence. He’s an experienced swordsman himself — he’ll understand perfectly.
YOU – The legendary hero Zatret Voruta has been reborn within me.
NARRATOR – Vernon studies your painted face for several seconds.
VERNON ROCHE – Is that so? Just don’t tell me one of your swords is now called Balmur. Please, pull yourself together. This is no time for nonsense.
RUNE – Ah, who gives a shit? Let him paint himself like a fucking rooster if he wants. Can we keep moving? It stinks in here…
VERNON ROCHE – We are moving. You are staying behind us. And try to keep quiet for at least one minute.
RUNE – Nah, now that’s asking too much…
DISCERNMENT [Easy: Success] – By the way, that probably wasn’t soot. Judging by the smell, it was old machine grease generously seasoned with pigeon shit.
BRAWN – Ancient warriors are not troubled by such trifles.
NARRATOR – You begin climbing the narrow spiral staircase. The old wooden steps creak softly underfoot, but otherwise the tower is completely silent. Vernon leads the way with his sword ready. You follow, trying to tread as quietly as possible. Rune huffs along behind you — surprisingly, without saying a word.