Contract The Apiarian Phantom Walkthrough
This quest can be acquired via a notice posted on the Yantra Notice board.
Once you have obtained the contract from the Yantra notice board, make your way to the objective marker on the map directly east of Novigrad. It is located just by the ‘Honeyfill Meadworks’ fast travel marker (if you have that unlocked) or about halfway between the ‘Arette’ and ‘Dancing Windmill’ fast travel markers.
Upon arriving at the Honeyfill Meadworks, enter the main building here to find and speak with the Halfling, Holofernes Meirsdorf on the ground floor. He’ll fill you in with a little more detail on the contract.
After chatting with the Halfling, we’ll need to follow a pair of his sons, Franklin and Bernie who’ll lead us to the site of the attack. When you arrive, examine the investigation area. Activate Geralt’s Witcher Senses and inspect the following points of interest:
- The small pool of blood next to the bee hive.
- The frozen bee hive in the centre of the search area.
- A set of footprints leading away from the bee hive.
Follow the footprints away from the frozen bee hive here until they disappear into the water. At this point, follow the shore to the south, killing two groups of Drowners and Drowned Dead enemies (watch out for the latter, they are of a higher level!). Along the shore of the lake just to the west of a small ruin on the map, you’ll find the footprints once again.
Once again, follow the footprints until they lead you to a small hole in the ground. We won’t be able to go any further, so climb up and examine the ruined building above. Follow the objective marker to find a short set of stairs leading down to the basement of the ruin. Approach the locked door for a scene.
Note: At this point, you’ll earn 25XP.
Following the short scene, the door will now be unlockable. Open it and head inside when you are ready for a fight.
Boss: Apiarian Phantom
The Apiarian Phantom is in fact a Hound of the Wild Hunt and although he has a little more health than the standard variant, he’s fortunately easy enough to eliminate. As with the other Hounds you’ve encountered previously, it utilises the same general move sets as the rabid Dogs or Wolves. As such its moves are easy to predict and dodge.
The Hounds of the Wild Hunt are weak against IGNI and can be stunned using AXII, so be sure to utilise those two abilities to make things easier on yourself. Despite the cramped surroundings, you’ll still need to dodge the boss’s attacks however, so try to move laterally rather than forward or back to prevent yourself from getting stuck on a wall or cornered.
Other than that, compared to some of the other contract monsters, this one should be a push over. Simply dodge attacks and drill him with your own when there is an opening and after a short fight victory will be yours!
Once the boss is dead loot its body for the Wild Hunt Hound Trophy along with any other items of interest it is carrying around.
With your new Wild Hunt Hound Trophy in hand, return to the Holofernes Meirsdorf who can now be found in the fields outside the Honeyfill Meadworks to hand in the side-quest.
Note: At this point, you’ll earn 250XP and 249 Crowns.