Witcher 3 Precious Cargo: Fate Of A Lying Merchant

Precious Cargo in Witcher 3 is a side quest that players partake in while visiting the White Orchard area of the game. A merchant tasks Geralt to find out what happened with the precious cargo he was riding on. The later part of the quest unfolds the plain lies the merchant tells Geralt, and in fact, he is the one who kills a medical officer to get hands-on with some medicine and a little box.

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Key Highlights

• The Precious Cargo quest can be triggered by visiting a merchant sitting near the South of Nilfgaardian Outpost in the White Orchard area.
• The merchant tells a made-up story to Geralt so that he can collect his cargo that was attacked by some spooky monsters.
• Geralt takes the job and finds out that the cargo was ambushed and the rider, as well as the horse, were killed by arrows. 
• Geralt collects the precious cargo box and confronts the merchant, who seems to act out of fear after being caught red-handed by the Witcher. 
• Merchant tries to make a run for his life, but Geralt catches him.
• Players get three options when they catch the merchant; whatever happens to him depends on the outcomes of the 3 choices.

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Precious Cargo Side Quest Location

The Precious Cargo side quest can be found if you go South of Nilfgaardian Outpost in the White Orchard, as seen in the map’s image above. Once you are there, you will see a merchant sitting a little off-side of the road on a log. Interact with him, and you will trigger the side quest.  

Walkthrough

You, as Geralt, will be tasked to find a cart that left the road and went into a foggy swamp, probably overtaken by monsters such as Drowners. You can find tracks of the cart any time of the day after triggering this side quest. Also, you just need to take a little right from where the Merchant is sitting, use your witcher senses, and you will see the cargo’s track going off-road.  

After finding the tracks and going off-road in search of it, Geralt finds out the truth that the Cargo was ambushed, and a bow killed the horse. You will find the following once you go to the foggy swamp.

• Drowners appeared near the dead body of the horse and its rider.
• An arrow shot killed the rider through the neck.
• Ambushed cargo containing the “Little Box” and other loot items scattered near it.
• Human blood was all over the place, indicating someone else was at the site.

Confronting Lying Merchant

After finding out what really happened in the foggy swamp, Geralt returns to the merchant to confront him. Once you interact with the merchant, you will have two options to progress the events of the Precious Cargo quest in Witcher 3. You will see the following choices: 

• Seen through your lies
• Found it here

If you select the “Seen through your lies” option, Geralt will confront the merchant and will end up catching him. However, if you go with the “Found it here” conversation option, then Geralt will hand over the little box to the merchant and, in exchange, will get some gold prize out of the side quest. 

Catching the Fleeing Merchant

If you select the former, the merchant will try to outrun you, and you will begin a horse chase. After catching the merchant, you learn the real story of why the merchant killed the rider of the medical transport. He tells Geralt another sob story that his lads could use the medicine inside the little box so that they can continue fighting for a free North against Nilfgaardians.

Once you have heard enough of the merchant’s story, you will again be prompted to select the fate of the merchant from three options on the screen. The options to select are the following:

• Taking you to Nilfgaardians
• Fine. Go
• You’re free to go. But the medicine stays with me. 

If you select “Taking you to Nilfgaardians,” the side-quest continues, and the fate of the merchant lies in the hands of Nilfgaardians. Going with the “Fine. Go” option will allow Geralt to look the other way and let the merchant go harmless. However, if you select the “You’re free to go. But the medicine stays with me” option, then Geralt will get to keep a little box, giving you 5x Celandine items as a reward for doing the Precious Cargo quest.

The quest ends here if you select the second and third options but continues if you go with the first one. Whatever option you select will not affect Geralt negatively, as this is a side quest. 

Handing Over Merchant To Nilfgaardians

Assuming you went with the first option, the only course of action then left will be to hand over the merchant to Nilfgaardians in exchange for some coin (Witcher’s code and all). Geralt spills the beans and tells Nilfgaardian soldiers that the merchant has killed the rider of their medical transport and wanted to steal the supplies, but the monsters spooked him, and he ran away. 

After handing over the merchant, you will get 10XP and 30 Crowns for completing this Precious Cargo side quest in Witcher 3. 

Summary

That is pretty much everything you need to know about Precious Cargo side quest in the game. The side quest is neither big nor special, but it was one of the few ones that CD Projekt Red showcased. If you are someone who has not played the game yet or just played for a couple of hours on PS4, you can now continue playing it on PS5. All you need to do is transfer Witcher 3 PS4 to PS5 save file, and you can experience the game in updated graphics. 

Having excellent gear, such as the best Steel swords, runewords, and crossbows will help Geralt challenge monsters in the game. However, if you are tired of fighting back-to-back, you can take a break, visit barber shop locations to fix Geralt’s hair or maybe change his attire for a change. Witcher 3 has got you covered!

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