Following the Thread is a side quest in The Witcher 3 which involves Lambert and his thirst for revenge. Lambert’s friend, Aiden, was a Witcher from the Cat School who had been murdered by a man named Jad Karadin, whom Lambert plans to kill with Geralt’s help.
Geralt decides to help Lambert since he’s an old friend from his school, the School of the Wolf. Lambert has also made appearances in the previous Witcher games, so you may know of him already.
This quest takes place in Novigrad. It’s one of the few quests that require you to visit two different nations – so buckle up for a lot of traveling. Note that this quest will fail if not completed before starting the Ugly Baby quest.
Read on throw this guide for a complete walkthrough on the “Following the Thread” side quest in the Witcher 3.
How to start the quest
Starting the “Following the Thread” is very simple. All you have to do is find the Contract: “Monster in the Bits” on the notice board located right opposite the Hierarch Square Sign Post, Novigrad.
Although this may look like an ordinary contract or monster hunt, the quest in question starts automatically as a part of it, with its story unraveling as you progress through the contract.
Following the Thread walkthrough
After taking the contract from Hierarch Square’s notice board, the quest will start. You must first talk to the supervisor that offered the contract to get some information.
The supervisor informs Geralt that the contract is already taken by someone else, and hence won’t negotiate on the payment. He will then tell you the location of the incident so you can check it out for some clues.
Follow the tracks
Once at the location indicated by the supervisor, you must search for clues and tracks. Geralt will determine that the monster he needs to hunt is an Ekimmara – a vampire.
Follow the tracks and eventually, you will come across a river. The tracks continue on the other side of the river and lead to a small structure. You will find the Ekimmara in this structure, fighting with your old friend Lambert.
You must now kill the Ekimmara. The fight won’t be much difficult since you’ll have Lambert’s help. You can get it over with fairly quickly if you use Vampire oil on your blade to slice up the beast.
Once the Ekimmara is dealt with, Geralt will have a conversation with Lambert. Lambert asks Geralt to accompany him to the supervisor’s place. If you choose to go with him, you won’t be able to loot the Ekimmara, but you can always come back for it. If you want to make the trip back, you can tell him that you’ll catch up with him later and loot the beast at the moment.
Talk to the Supervisor
The next step is to meet Lambert at the supervisor’s place. Here, things will get heated up between them, and the supervisor will take off. Lambert chases after him, and you’ll be left to deal with three of the supervisor’s guards.
After killing the guards, head over to Lambert, who sends the supervisor off to hell right as you arrive. He will then ask you to meet him at the Seven Cats Inn to have a chat.
Meet Lambert at the Seven Cats Inn
Now you need to head over to the Seven Cats Inn, where Lambert explains that he’s looking for someone who goes by the name of Jad Karadin. Apparently, Karadin had murdered his friend Aiden (Witcher of the Cat School) and Lambert plans to avenge his death by killing him in turn.
You will now be tasked to find information on Karadin’s whereabouts. You will find an elf by the name of Vienne at the Inn. She doesn’t know exactly where Karadin is but gives you information on two of his accomplices – Hammond and Selyse. At the end of the conversation with her, you will have two dialogue options to choose from.
If you choose the “Do what you think is best” option, a fight will break out and you will have to kill Vienne along with three more elves. If you don’t want any bloodshed, choose the “Don’t kill her” option to finish things off smoothly.
Now that you have two leads on Jad Karadin, you will have to split up to follow them. Geralt will be tasked to find Hammond the pirate.
Find and kill Hammond
Hammond can be found in Faroe Isle, Skellige. You will have to head over to the Isle’s eastern side – the Trottheim settlement, where Hammond resides.
There is a bug you need to counter here. You mustn’t fast-travel to Trottheim at this point, instead, you need to walk over to the settlement. This is because the conversation with the pirates does not start if you fast-travel to Trottheim, regardless of whether you’ve been to the place before or not.
Moreover, there is another quest linked to this place – “Flesh for Sale” which will become unavailable if you come here during this quest.
You will have a conversation with the guards at the gate. If you choose to say that you’re surprised by Hammond’s piety, the whole town will become hostile toward you.
In any case, the guards will inform you that you can find Hammond over at the temple to the east. At the temple, you will have a brief conversation with Hammond after which a fight will break out.
After the fight, you can loot Hammond’s body to find a note mentioning Karadin’s location – Novigrad. Now that you have the information you need, meet up with Lambert at the Nowhere Inn in Novigrad.
Meet Lambert and decide Jad Karadin’s fate
Lambert tells Geralt that he knows Karadin’s exact location – so they pay him a visit. The guards outside Karadin’s humble abode take you directly to him. The duo will have a conversation with the man, who informs them that he himself was a Witcher and only killed Aiden because he was forced to.
Geralt will have to decide Jad Karadin’s fate at this moment. Should you let Karadin live? Well, it doesn’t really matter. Choosing to spare Karadin will make Lambert mad for a bit, but everything will be fine after the quest ends.
Choosing to kill Karadin won’t make much of a difference either. In Either case, this will mark the end of the “Following the Thread” side quest.
