Now or Never is a secondary quest in Witcher 3 that requires Geralt to follow Triss in saving her fellow witches from the witch hunters in the city of Novigrad. The quest starts after the A Favor for Radovid, Radovid’s Most Wanted, and A Matter of Life and Death quests. You’ll soon get a letter after these quests asking you to meet her at her apartment. Here’s a guide on how you can complete the now-or-never side quest successfully.
Witcher 3 Now or Never Quest Walkthrough
After receiving the letter, meet Triss in her apartment. You’ll find some guards outside her house signaling danger. Go inside, and you’ll find Triss’ landlords asking for her necklace as payment. Here, you can either step in and fight or let them keep the necklace. Neither choice has any impact on the quest.
Once the altercation ends, Triss tells Geralt about her plan to escape from getting captured for being a witch. Unfortunately, she is missing two people and is worried about them. You can choose to save them or tell Triss to worry about herself.
- Option A. We should help Anisse and Berthold: Follow Triss and save both mages.
- Option B: Don’t risk everything for two people: Go straight to the Kingfisher Inn.
Option A: Saving Anisse and Berthold
If you choose to save the other two (this is optional), she will lead you to the location of Anisse and Berthold. As soon as you leave the apartment, the guard outside will attack (if you haven’t dealt with them before). Now, follow Triss closely and look out for guards. She would lead you to the mages’ house. Go upstairs, and you’ll find some guards planning to kill the mages. Barge in and kill them.
If you manage to save one mage, you’ll get 200 XP and 300 if both are alive. Once the fight ends, talk to them and convince them to lead them to the Kingfisher Inn. Berthold would try to resist so you have the Axii Sign on him so they both follow you.
Now go to the Kingfisher Inn. As soon as you enter, the Innkeeper will be killed, and three hunters will attack you. Defeat them and follow Triss to the next room.
Option B: Go Straight to Kingfisher Inn
If you decide to save only her and convince her to do so, she will lead you to the Kingfisher’s Inn. Here, the innkeeper, Oliver, would let them into the hidden area. Nothing much would change other than you won’t get the chance to get the extra XP points, so either option is fine.
Once you enter the hideout, you’ll get the chance to talk to Sigismund Dijkstra. After a short conversation, Triss would explain the plan to everyone. Then she will accompany you down in the sewers to find a way out. Kill all the Mucknixers in the way to clean the area. After a while, you would find a wall that can be revealed using an Aard sign on a slightly broken wall. You can collect a lot of books from here.
Continue on, and after a while, you’ll come to face a Katakan, a vampire on level 14. Defeating him is a little difficult, so be prepared. Since the creature can regenerate health, you will need to hit it as much as possible so that it can regenerate much health. It’s recommended that you do the fight during the day as it’s more vulnerable during the day. Yrden and Igni signs work well against this monster, so use them as much as possible. If you can use vampire oil on your weapon, that will also be a big plus. The fight can be long so stay patient and look for the openings, and you can take it down eventually.
After this, you’ll reach the Docks. Dijkstra would be waiting here, so talk to him. Soon, some witch hunters arrive, which you need to fight. As they are defeated, the last cutscene will start where you have the chance to romance Triss or not. Once decided, the ship will sail off, and the Now or Never quest will end.
Should you romance Triss or not?
After the fight, as she approaches Geralt and bids farewell, you can choose to pursue a romance with Triss. You can only do this if you choose the “I love you” option timely. If time runs out or you choose any other option, this chance will vanish, and you won’t be able to be with her. If you have no intention of romancing her, let her go.
Ensure that you don’t want to romance Yennifer, or else this would cost you both Triss and Yennefer. But if not, you can go after Triss. Ensure you know whom to go after, as you can only choose one. Once she boards the boat, the quest will end.
Witcher 3 Now or Never quest not starting?
As the Now or Never quest has some choices that can affect the storyline, you wouldn’t want to miss it. If you are not getting the quest, make sure you have completed the A Matter of Life and Death quest. Only then the prompt or letter for this quest will start.
Also, avoid Fast Travel at all costs during quests that occur near the Now or Never quest. Once you are in the Junior’s Estate during the Get Junior quest, don’t fast travel anywhere. Leave it and wait for a quest named A Favour for Radovid to appear. This will then lead to the Now or Never quest.
If you have missed the quest and now want a way to get it back, here’s how you can do it explained by a reddit user u/SignDeLaTimes.
Enable the debug console and use a mod for this. Now type the following commands one after the other:
- addfact(q302_completed)
- addfact(q302_post_mafia_completed)
- addfact(sq302_start)
This will then trigger the Radovid’s Most Wanted quest, which will trigger the Now or Never quest.
