A Matter of Life and Death (The Witcher 3)

A Matter of Life and Death is a secondary quest in . After escaping the witch hunters' outpost during the events of the quest Count Reuven's Treasure, Triss asked Geralt to come to her hideout in The Bits to discuss something.
 several secondary quests involving Triss will become temporarily inaccessible (i.e. The Soldier Statuette and The Nobleman Statuette, plus one of the optional outcomes of Redania's Most Wanted), once this mission begins. It is advised that these be completed before choosing the dialogue option with Triss that begins this mission. If you choose not to, it may not be until much later in the game (after Blindingly Obvious) before these can be completed, depending on choices made in this mission and Now or Never.
 this quest will fail if not completed before starting The Isle of Mists.
== Walkthrough ==
Knocking at the door, Geralt is greeted by the landlord. Despite the landlady's complaining, he is allowed to enter. He walks up to the third floor to Triss's room. Approaching Triss, she asks him if they can have a chat. It seems that Triss has a problem.
Asking her about the problem, it is revealed that Triss received a letter from Lady Ingrid Vegelbud's servant. The letter states that the lady wants to help the mages escape from Novigrad by donating a tidy sum. However, in return, she needs a favor from Triss. As to what the favor is, it was not stated on the letter. Instead, she must meet with a servant. Considering the situation in Novigrad, where witches and mages are being hunted, Triss is hesitant if she'll meet with the servant, worried it may be a trap. Geralt offers to help Triss, stating he'll first talk to the servant on his own just in case it does turn out to be a trap.
=== Meet the Vegelbuds' servant at the fishmarket ===
Geralt must search the fish market to look for the servant who is wearing blue tunic and carrying a lot of keys on his belt. There may be a few people wearing blue shirt but using his witcher sense, he can easily find the servant if he spots his keys.
Upon talking to him, Geralt can tell him the passphrase. Although he is not what the servant is expecting, in the end he asks Geralt to follow him.
Following the servant, they are ambushed by a couple of bandits. Triss appears and tells them that one of the bandits is working for witch hunters. After asking the servant, the man tells them the reason of the discreet manner they contacted Triss is because Lady Vegelbud was afraid the witch hunters would follow her. It is also revealed that the lady's son, Albert Vegelbud has taken an interest in alchemy and Temple Guards know it. The guardsmen aren't that much of a problem though since they were bribed, but the witch hunters are on to Albert. Geralt and Triss then decide it's time for the young Vegelbud to 'disappear'.
They must get Albert outside the mansion discreetly first though. Fortunately, Lady Vegelbud already has a plan to get her son out without being noticed: a masquerade ball. Geralt and Triss are required to prepare, and Triss must have a fox mask for this. Triss tasks Geralt to visit the tailor shop owned by Elihal to buy the fox mask, he can also buy other masks and some elegant outfits he can use. Elegant outfit can be also obtained for free from madame Irina Renarde or earlier during Imperial Audience. Head back to Triss to give her the fox mask and continue with the quest.
 if the quest Carnal Sins still active and the player must go to the Vegelbud Estate, but has not reached yet, Triss will say that the ball is postponed and the quest will be in stand-by. The player must finish at least the part at Vegelbud Estate of Carnal Sins to continue.
=== The masquerade ===
Once everything is ready, Triss and Geralt head to the ball. Inside the estate, they must find Lady Vegelbud. The guard outside told them they would find the lady by searching for a parrot mask. (25)
Upon approaching the house, if you stick to the paved pathway on the left side, Triss is approached by a drunk man who mistakes her for a woman named Vivian. You can choose to either get into a fist fight with him or diffuse the situation. If you diffuse the situation, you will earn 25. Once the man is dealt with, you may continue your search for Lady Vegelbud. At the main courtyard gate, Triss bumps into one Moritz Diefenthel and offers him a way out of Novigrad, but he is hostile to her and refuses the offer. After that, just go through the door to the main courtyard.
Once inside, you can take your time and enjoy the ball before talking to Ingrid Vegelbud. Walk around and observe the drunken guests' antics, play gwent, loot the tables for food and bump into a few familiar characters:
* Sigismund Dijkstra wearing a pig mask at the buffet table on the left side of the venue.
* Morvran Voorhis wearing a lion mask, who is looking for a friend of his near the gwent table on the right side of the venue.
* Maria Louisa La Valette wearing a bird mask and observing a showing of trained dogs in the gardens, far on the right side.
However, only the gwent competition and talking to Ingrid Vegelbud are important.
==== Gwent competition ====
Find the table to the right and speak to the croupier to enter. There are three rounds, with a card being awarded to the winner each round. There are 3 players you have to play against:
* Vladimir de Cret who uses the Nilfgaardian deck
* Gomo Seeling who uses the Scoia'tael deck
* Marius Florin who uses the Monsters deck
Their decks aren't terribly strong, especially if you've been playing Gwent since the start of the game and gotten a number of unique cards. Watch out for Scorches (though you should be fine if you bait out the scorch). Each time you win, you will receive a card for your efforts.
Don't worry if you lose a match, there's no immediate penalty and you can keep playing each opponent until you win. When you win the tournament, you will receive the unique Dandelion (gwent card) and 50.
 If you do not end up beating all opponents in the competition, you will lose the ability to complete the Collect 'Em All quest, and its associated achievement.
==== Meeting Lady Vegelbud ====
You can find her to the left side of the stairs to the house and after some exceedingly polite small talk, she tells Geralt and Triss that her son is wearing a panther mask. Once you find Albert, while he is boasting loudly about his alchemy skills, he tells them that they must meet in the hedge maze once everyone is drunk and distracted by the fireworks.
Triss suggests that they should wait at a nice spot nearby and you go to sit on a bench. There, the two have a little chat and Triss quickly gets drunk and flirty. She runs off to another place and makes Geralt chase her around the garden maze, after which he catches her falling from a fountain edge and you have a timed option to kiss Triss just before the fireworks are lit.
 If you wish to romance Triss then you must kiss her, otherwise she will leave Geralt after completing the following quest no matter what you do.
Kiss or no kiss, they are interrupted by Albert Vegelbud and Triss quickly sobers up. He and Geralt switch masks as an added precaution. Triss and Albert leave the maze first, followed by Geralt after about 15 minutes. As expected, Geralt is ambushed by witch hunters thinking he's Albert and has a fist fight with them (50).
 Unlike other fist fights, you can use signs during this encounter.
Once they are defeated, he must get out of the maze and look for Albert and Triss in the stables. Arriving there Geralt finds that Triss and Albert are done preparing, and Triss hands him back his weapons. The group then rides off, which concludes the quest. (50)
== Journal entry ==
:Of all the so-called "witches" they hunted, there was none the witch hunters wanted more than Triss Merigold, a sorceress of unequaled power. Even in hiding she had proven a thorn in their side, masterminding an underground net of hideouts and covers, keeping other mages out of the hunters' blood-stained hands. When Geralt entered the city, he met up with his dear friend and sometime love. And when the time came that she needed his help with her endeavor, she did not hesitate to ask.
:Their contact revealed that the son of Ingrid Vegelbud, scion of a wealthy Novigrad family, dabbled in alchemy. For that reason he had become a person of much interest to the witch hunters. When Ingrid learned of Triss' operations, she sent her servant to ask the sorceress to spirit her son somewhere far away from his persecutors. The hunters kept a close eye on her residence, so they would need a distraction - and her upcoming masquerade ball promised to provide just that.
:Young Albert's rescue did not prove to be Triss' slickest extraction ever. First, she had trouble even finding the young alchemist amidst the throng of revelers, and then Geralt ran into trouble with a group of witch hunter infiltrators. Still, with a bit of luck and a bit of cunning, or heroes managed to escape the residence and smuggle Vegelbud out without a scratch on him. Mission accomplished. Geralt and Triss proved once again how well they work together as a team - but as a couple, well, events at the Vegelbuds' only complicated that matter...
== Objectives ==
* Meet Triss Merigold at her hideout.
* Meet the Vegelbuds' servant at the fishmarket. He's wearing a blue shirt and has keys hanging form his belt.
* Use your Witcher Senses to find the Vegelbuds' servant. Dressed in a blue tunic, he has keys strapped to his belt.
* Follow the Vegelbuds' servant.
* Help the servant fight off the bandits.
* Buy a mask to wear to the masquerade ball.
* Buy a fox mask for Triss Merigold.
* (Optional) Put on your new doublet, trousers and boots before going to Triss.
*Bring Triss the fox mask.
* Visit Triss and prepare for the masquerade ball.
* Go to the Vegelbuds' residence after dusk and talk to the guard. (25)
*Meet Ingrid Vegelbud.
* Find Albert Vegelbud. He's wearing a panther mask.
* Wait on the bench with Triss Merigold.
* Find Triss Merigold in the labyrinth.
* Get out of the labyrinth.
* Defeat the witch hunters. (50)
* Meet Triss and Albert in the stables.
* Return to Triss Merigold. (50)
== Notes ==
* There is a lot of lootable food to take advantage of all over the place, but particularly under the pavilion where you find Dijkstra, and on tables east of the fountain.
* After this quest, and only before starting Now or Never, you can find Moritz Diefenthel (the masked mage who Triss ran into at the ball), prepared to be burned alive by witch hunters outside Glory Gate. You can choose to save him, or let him burn.
**He can often be bugged and invisible until after you save him, so this is easy to miss. When you see the pyre on Glory Gate bridge with soldiers talking around it - that is the place.
* Geralt's mask of choice will remain equipped in one of his pockets when the quest concludes and must be unequipped manually in order to remove it. Afterwards it stays forever in the inventory and cannot be dropped or sold, but it is useful during The Man from Cintra .
*Even though the guard at the front entrance is tasked with withholding everyone's weapons, Morvran Voorhis still has his sword when you meet him. This is likely just inherent by his character model and an oversight by the developers.
*If Geralt has already been at the Vegelbuds' residence during Carnal Sins, there's unique dialogue reminding of Patricia Vegelbud's death at most stages of this quest.
*The second note left by spy found during Hidden Messages of the Nilfgaardian Kind mentions the masquarade event, and a girl who is supposed to attend it.
*Nether the Elegant Beauclair outfit nor the Ornate robe count towards what Triss considers proper attire for the party.
==Trivia==
*A Matter of Life and Death is the name of both a 1946 British romantic fantasy film and a 2009 album by Iron Maiden.
== Bugs ==
* At the beginning of this quest if you have Triss look at the crystal from Redania's Most Wanted, but don't give it to her it could cause a bug where the Vegelbud Servant won't spawn in the Fish Market. That is if you go on to other quests after that, but before you finish this one. Should this happen, a fix would be to find Triss in her hideout, and give her the crystal (the option is there even if you already gave the crystal to Yennefer after The Last Wish).
ar:مسألة حياة أو موت (الويتشر 3)
pl:Kwestia życia i śmierci
ru:Вопрос жизни и смерти (Ведьмак 3)
Category:The Witcher 3 secondary quests