Witcher 3 Contract Shrieker
This quest can be acquired via a notice posted on the Crow’s Perch Notice board.
After grabbing the notice from the board in Crow’s Perch, you’ll need find and speak with Chet who is located nearby. He’ll flesh out some additional details regarding the contract.
Following the conversation, head around behind the building behind Chet and speak with Gynko about the contract (you can use AXII on him for 40XP at the end of the conversation). This will update our objectives.
Exit Crow’s Perch and head to the eastern side of the lake that surrounds it to find the site of the attack. When you arrive, activate your Witcher Senses. Here you can inspect:
- The dead dog by the water’s edge.
- The footprints by the dog’s body.
- The bloodstains by the footprints near the water.
After examining the bloodstains, you’ll notice that there is a trail of blood leading away from the area. Activate your Witcher Sense and follow this trail a short distance until you reach a cave. The monster is inside, so prepare yourself before heading in.
At the back of the cave, your objectives will update. Look for a high up ledge on the western side of the room. Throw a bomb up onto the ledge (Samum, grapeshot or Dancing Star should do the trick) to lure the monster out.
Boss: Shrieker (Cockatrice)
The Shrieker acts in an almost identical way to the Griffin that we fought in White orchard and as such the tactics remain essentially the same. Although it has wings, for the most part it will attack from the ground and has quite a large area of attack due to its wings being able to perform sweeping moves. The Cockatrice can also jump in the air and dive bomb your position and use a nasty lunge attack, which you can roll under if timed correctly. Any attack that it hits Geralt with has the chance to cause a damage over time bleeding effect.
The easiest way to take it down quickly is to hit it with crossbow bolts or AARD whilst it is flying to bring it crashing to the ground – run up and smash it a few times and then use your dodges and rolls to avoid its ground-based attacks whilst dishing out your own attacks when you see an opening. Repeat this process until it hits the dust.
Once the Cockatrice is dead, loot the body for the Cockatrice Trophy.
Now we can walk back to Crow’s Perch and speak with Chet once again to end the side-quest. You can choose to take the reward or give it to the orphan to make you feel good about yourself. Either way the contract is done!
Note: For completing this contract, you’ll earn the ‘Shrieker’ achievement/trophy.