Open Sesame! (Hearts of Stone)

Open Sesame! is a main quest in the . As part of his three difficult tasks, Olgierd von Everec asks Geralt to bring him Maximilian Borsodi's house.
== Walkthrough ==
Upon reaching the Borsodi Brothers' Auction House, you'll be confronted by two guards who inform you no one is admitted without an invitation. Thankfully, Vimme Vivaldi steps in and adds you as his +1. Once inside, Vivaldi will converse until you head upstairs where, upon reaching the auction floor, he offers to introduce you to some of his fellow business associates. (100)
 Each of Vivaldi's associates will have a mini challenge for you with extra for successfully completing it, and each conversation is only a one-time opportunity, so think twice before declining further interactions with them.
=== The Art dealer ===
If you say you know a bit about art, Yaromir will challenge your knowledge as he'll assume you know as little about art as Vivaldi, who only buys to invest rather than loving the artwork. Prove him wrong by choosing the correct painting - the Portrait of a Merchant.
For pointing out the correct piece, the dealer will give you a tip: a painting by the unpopular artist, van Rogh, is going on auction but you could earn a nice profit by selling it to an avid admirer and collector in Novigrad. Afterwards, Vivaldi will ask what Yaromir told you; if you tell him the truth you'll have to outbid him for the painting, otherwise you can lie without any consequence. (100​​)
 Making the correct guess and later buying the painting is the only way to unlock the secondary quest Avid Collector.
=== The Countess ===
Countess Mignole, an aging widow, is a collector of rare and valuable witcher gear after meeting a witcher in her youth.
----
Exclusive Witcher Gear
Don't miss this opportunity to acquire some rare witcher gear only available during this one interaction in Hearts of Stone. Purchase the diagrams for the Viper School gear from the Countess when the "Merchant" icon appears during the conversation.
----
If you're interested in learning more about the widow's past, offer to help find her earring on the balcony. (100)
=== The Gwent Player ===
This interaction is fairly straightforward. Robert Hilbert will ask what your preferred Gwent deck is and challenge you to a match. Your answer makes no difference, though you'll want to have a solid deck assembled if you want to stand a chance at defeating him. He plays a Nilfgaardian deck with Emhyr var Emreis: Invader of the North as his leader. Vivaldi will ask for a finder's fee on your potential winnings, but he won't take any offense if you reject him. If you beat Robert, he will give you the unique Gaunter O'Dimm card. (100)
=== Auction ===
The auction will start after meeting Vivaldi's acquaintances or by choosing to go sit and wait. There are three items up for auction:
* "Starry Night Over the Pontar" by the artist van Rogh - 20 (60 if you have to outbid Vivaldi)
* A rare statuette of an eagle - 300 and unlocks A Dark Legacy after its dismantled
* A pair of spectacles - once belonged to the hired assassin known as The Professor and you can wear them as a mask, or potentially create a Concealment kit - 350 
 buying all the items above will grant the Shopaholic achievement.
Once bidding on these items has ended, the auctioneer will announce an intermission and Vivaldi will attempt to introduce you to the establishment's proprietor, Horst Borsodi. Be as charming or as indignant as you like as there's no version of this conversation that ends well and Geralt is "escorted" out by the guards.
Once outside, defeat (or be defeated by) the two would-be tough guys in a fist fight to trigger a cutscene introducing The Stranger, who instructs Geralt to meet him at the Herbalist's Hut outside of town. (200)
Head there, but be aware that there is the possibility of combat along the way. If you go on foot, as you walk the road northeast towards the herbalist hut fast travel marker, a cutscene will take place and a wild boar will charge you. Defeat it and Geralt will comment about there being a crossbolt in the beast and that something must be going on nearby. A hunter's letter can also be found if the boar's tracks are followed. As you approach the hut, another cutscene may trigger where you will notice three Fallen Knights pounding on the door. The knights will turn their attention towards you as you get closer and you will have to dispose of them. After defeating the knights, a third cutscene may follow and the herbalist will let you in. Give him the password and he will open a trap door leading to the Stranger.
 The second cutscene seems to only trigger if you didn't skip the first by fast travelling, but you'll still have to face the fallen knights.
===Planning the Heist===
You can question the Stranger first, and even choose to return later, but you have no option except to join him. (100) He will propose a plan in which you need two more accomplices and also bribe a cook to spike the guards' food and thus reduce their numbers. This will start the following subquests, all of which must be completed before you can continue:
* Open Sesame: Witcher Seasonings
* Open Sesame: The Safecracker
* Open Sesame: Breaking and Entering
===The Heist===
Once you've completed the 3 sub-quests, go back to the herbalist's hut cellar for a team meeting, after which you can choose to start the heist immediately or meet later by the auction house. (100) If you show up a little earlier than the actual time or just sharp, the Stranger will make a remark on this, but otherwise carries on as normal.
 At this point, Geralt is equipped with a non-relic version of the New Moon armor set and changing any kind of equipment is disabled until after a fight inside the vault. You can't even look at equipped armor in the inventory, but the weapons are visible and you can apply blade oils.
After Eveline successfully scales the tower, you discover it's is not empty after all. However, it's too late to back out, so respond however you like and Geralt will then arm himself with a wooden sword to prevent killing anyone before donning masks. Head downstairs to stumble across some guards and customers along with Horst Borsodi. After a fight with the guards, during which a civilian rings the alarm bell and is consequently killed by the Stranger, things end in a stalemate with guards outside the auction house and Horst Borsodi locked away in his vault.
The Stranger grabs a hostage and leaves the negotiating to Geralt, while the safecracker goes to work on the vault's doors. Depending on who you recruited for your safecracker, the next part plays out a bit differently:
: he'll quietly work on breaking through into the vault. To buy him time you must negotiate with the guards outside and will lead to several timed responses. Choosing "Pull back...", "Bring us a wagon...", "Doesn't matter..." and finally "Release one..." will make sure you don't have to fight any guards. "Tell me a joke" and "Actually, kinda funny" works too. If you choose any other option, like asking for Radovid's carriage, the guards will burst in and you'll have to fight before continuing. Afterwards, with everything getting too dicey, Eveline explains this isn't what she signed on for and uses the chimney to escape. However, Geralt's not quite so small so you must continue on to the vault.
: he'll go to work on breaking into the vault and, like with Quinto, you need to start negotiating and choose from several timed responses. However, even if you successfully get to asking for any wagon, an explosion will occur and you'll still have to fight the guards as if you said the wrong thing. During this, Eveline will flee and you and the Stranger must take out the guards. Afterwards, the Stranger will explain Eveline fled.
You can refuse to use hostages, but no harm will come to them either way. Regardless, you get 150​​ and it's time to make your way downstairs towards the vault where, along the way, you can find a few interesting notes. However, what happens next depends, once more, on your safecracker:
: while you didn't have to fight the guards if you successfully negotiated, and he broke into the vault, he apparently didn't find the trapdoor. Prepare yourself because as soon as you pass the small door the floor will collapse beneath you and you'll land in a pit with several arachnomorphs. Once you've dealt with them, you'll be helped back up and then you can approach the vault door safely on the other side.
: while his explosion caused you to have to fight the guards upstairs, they incidentally took out the mechanism for the floor trap, thus preventing you from falling into the arachnomorph pit so you can traverse the floor safely to the main vault door.
Interact with the door for a cutscene where the Stranger reveals himself to be Horst's brother, Ewald Borsodi. React however you like and eventually Horst tries to bribe Geralt to switch sides, upon which Geralt may choose from three options: Stick with Ewald, switch to Horst, or try and remain neutral. However, the latter option will be dismissed by Horst, as it's too late to try and remain neutral now, so you're forced to pick a side. Who sides with who depends on you and the safecracker:
* you'll have to fight the guards, Horst, and Quinto, as he'll side with Horst.
* you'll fight the guards and Horst, as Casimir stays with Ewald.
* you'll just have to fight Ewald as Quinto sides with Horst as well.
* you'll have to fight Ewald and Casimir.
Note that you don't actually need to kill everybody here, as a cutscene triggers when the enemy Borsodi brother is down to about a third of his health bar and the rest will automatically fall.
It is then revealed that Maximilian Borsodi's house contains the will of their father and neither brother will give it up as it means they'll lose all their fortune due to the binding clause that wasn't kept. If you still wish to take it, you'll have to fight once more, and if the safecracker survived from earlier, you'll now have to kill them and the remaining brother. However, if you don't want to fight, you can make a deal where you can take the physical object but not the documents within. Either way, you receive 100 and it's time to leave through a secret passage, which will be automatically opened by the remaining brother if you made a deal. If you killed everybody, you'll have to open the passage by finding a pressure plate on the stone pillar near the pedestal where the house was.
 You're only here once, so make sure you're not forgetting any loot. There are a lot of valuables, but the two big chests nearest to the house pedestal also contain Diagram: Viper venomous steel sword and a relic Ofieri crossbow.
Proceed then through the now open tunnel and as you exit through another stone wall on its other end, you'll receive 150. There may be another cutscene if Ewald is still with you, but then all that's left is to report back to Olgierd. (250​) If you've already completed Dead Man's Party, he will now give you the third task, starting the Scenes From a Marriage quest.
== Journal entry ==
: Olgierd's wishes were unusual, to say the least. One demand was for Geralt to bring him the house of Maximillian Borsodi. He didn't supplement this request with such key details as where this house was located or just how the witcher was to transport said real estate. Geralt only knew his first stop should be Oxenfurt, the city to which the Borsodi family had moved their world-famous auction house...
: Horst Borsodi did not demonstrate a flare for hospitality. He greeted Geralt with unmasked disdain, then, upon hearing the witcher had come for Maximilian Borsodi's House, had him summarily tossed into the gutter. Geralt was still picking himself up when he discovered a stranger awaiting him there... a man who could help him fulfill Olgierd's wish.
: The mysterious stranger revealed that he was planning to rob the Borsodis' Auction House. He swore Geralt would find Maximilian's House within it, as impossible as that sounded. First, however, the witcher would have to help him put together a full break-in crew of daring professionals and find a way to weaken the Redanian garrison. Though Geralt usually tried to live within the bounds of the law, this time he had no choice but to agree to help in this criminal enterprise.
: Not everything went according to plan... to say the least. Geralt successfully broke into the vault, though at the cost of some nerve-wracking moments and a good deal of bloodshed. Once in the bowels of the auction house, he found out that his partner-in-crime was none other than Horst Borsodi's long-missing brother, Ewald. Cheated by his brother out of his inheritance, Ewald had planned his revenge during his long years of exile.
: Geralt stands with Ewald...
:: Ewald had planned his revenge during long years of exile - and the witcher helped him bring this plan to fruition.
:: ...but also demands the papers:
::: Yet when Geralt realized the remaining Borsodi brother was using him as well, he made sure he joined his recently murdered sibling in the afterlife. With no one left to lay a competing claim on it, Geralt took the golden casket known as Maximilian Borsodi's House and the will hidden inside it. Now he was set to fulfill Olgierd's request.
:: ...but does not take the papers:
::: Ewald killed his older brother, avenging years of poverty and humiliation in one furious moment. The blood still on his hands, he gave Geralt the golden casket known as Maximillian Borsodi's House in compensation for his help, though not before taking for himself the will hidden inside it. With this is his possession, Geralt was set to fulfill Olgierd's request.
: Geralt stands with Horst...
:: Yet now, on the cusp of his plan's completion, the White Wolf stood in his way. Geralt hadn't trusted Ewald from the very start and decided to hold his nose and support the disagreeable Horst rather than help Ewald commit fratricide.
:: ...but also demands the papers:
::: Yet when Geralt realized the remaining Borsodi brother was using him as well, he made sure he joined his recently murdered sibling in the afterlife. With no one left to lay a competing claim on it, Geralt took the golden casket known as Maximilian Borsodi's House and the will hidden inside it. Now he was set to fulfill Olgierd's request.
:: ...but does not take the papers:
::: Yet fratricide occured nonetheless -- for Horst killed his younger brother. The blood still on his hands, he gave Geralt the golden casket known as Maximillian Borsodi's House in compensation for his help, though not before taking for himself the will hidden inside it. With this is his possession, Geralt was set to fulfill Olgierd's request.
== Objectives ==
* Go to the Borsodi auction house in Oxenfurt and ask for the owner. (100)
* Go to the upper floor of the auction house.
* (Optional) Meet Vivaldi's friends. 0/3
* If agreed to help the Countess' earring:
** Find Countess Mignole's earring using your Witcher Senses. (100)
* If talked to all three associates:
** Wait for the auction to start.
* Defeat the guards.
* Go to the herbalist's hut near Oxenfurt and give the password.
* Talk to the Stranger. (100)
* If you didn't immediately agree:
** Return to the Stranger to discuss the details of the robbery.
* Recruit the rest of the crew and prepare for the robbery. 3/3
* Unless you went there immediately with the last accomplice:
** Go to the herbalist's hut to prepare for the robbery.
* Be at the gateway to the Borsodi Auction House around midnight.
* Defeat Horst Borsodi's men. (150)
*If negotiation fails or there's an explosion:
** Fight off the Redanian soldiers' attack.
* Go down into the vault.
*If Quinto is the safecracker:
** Defeat the monsters.
* Search the vault for Maximilian's House.
* Defeat Horst/Ewald Borsodi. (100)
*If rejected deal:
**Defeat Horst/Ewald Borsodi.
* Take Maximilian's House.
*If rejected deal:
** Find the secret way out of the vault using your Witcher Senses.
* Get out of the auction house. (150)
* Take Maximilian Borsodi's House to Olgierd. (250)
== Notes ==
*After the quest completes (not just the heist) you can find the Diagram: Concealment kit at Eveline's circus troupe camp, in a chest under the stairs to the stage.
*If both Borsodi brothers die in the heist, the auction house will be acquired by Vivaldi and will become an (inaccessible) branch of his bank.
*Even if you have the Skellige deck, it's not possible to tell Robert Hilbert it's your favorite.
*The Stranger can actually be found inside the auction house, disguised and standing on the stair between the first and second floor.
*A "Triss wanted" poster can be found on the board of potential recruits for the heist, but it is crossed out, indicating that the Stranger considered hiring her at one point, but decided against it or couldn't contact her.
*Naturally, the balcony scene with Countess Mignole plays out differently if Vesemir is still alive. In that case, the old witcher also has an additional dialogue option when talked to.
*A number of documents can be found during the heist, revealing further details about events around the heist or the larger story:
**Love letter written by Olgierd to his then future wife, Iris von Everec.
**Letter from Master Matthew found before entering the vault, where the person foresaw the events that were going to happen during the quest.
**Request for payment on one of the tables before entering the vault, reveals that Robert Hilbert (the gwent player) was involved in installing the vault doors.
**List of objects in need of restoration also on a table before entering the vault, reveals that "van Rogh" is actually a pseudonym used by Iris von Everec.
== Bugs ==
* ​Purchasing all three items will earn you the Shopaholic achievement, however it can sometimes be bugged and not unlock even after purchasing the three items. In this case, it may be necessary to save before the auction begins and reloading it if it doesn't unlock.
* ​If you have to fight the guards after the negotiation scene, it's possible that Geralt gets stuck in one place at the start of the fight. The guards can't actually reach him, so dying isn't a possible outcome, but there's no known way to continue either. It is possible that you can wait for the Stranger to deal with them by himself, but this would take a long time and isn't tested. Only known solution is to reload the previous checkpoint or to "bunny hop" until you reach the vault and the cutscene, as jumping isn't locked out by the bug.
* A bug in High Stakes prevents Robert Hilbert from recognizing that Geralt took part in the Gwent tournament. It can be corrected via the following console command: 
== Trivia ==
*Many items in the auction house make references. For more detailed explanations see easter eggs page:
**The painting The Battle of Anghiari is clearly a tribute to the well known painter Leonardo da Vinci.
**The painting The Spice Merchant is an obvious reference to artist Vermeer.
**The painting Starry Night Over the Pontar is a reference to Van Gogh.
**One object in a display case, the Goblet of Fire, references the Harry Potter series.
**The falcon statuette is a reference to The Maltese Falcon.
**An armored gauntlet with circles on the knuckles and in the center of the hand is a reference to the Infinity Gauntlet from Marvel Comics.
**In the fistfight with the guards, one of the guards say "And your mum smells like gooseberries!", a reference to Monty Pythons' movie The Holy Grail.
**In the conversation with Robert Hilbert, the phrase "nudge nudge wink wink" comes up, which was popularized by a Monty Python sketch.
**You can find Excalibur inside the stone in the Borsodi Brothers' Auction House treasury.
*The artist whose painting you need to guess for Yaromir is a lewd joke from the developers, as his name is "Edward van der Knoob." His last name comes from the word "knob" which can refer to a penis. While it can mean other things too the Polish (Original) version leaves no doubt to the meaning, as the name of the artist is changed to "Edward van der Hooi." Where "Hooi" is pronounced exactly like "chuj" which simply means "dick" in Polish. Another artist, mentioned by Vimme, is called Longendijk - another rather penile name.
*The king masks are likely a reference to the U.S. president masks used by the bank robbers in the film Point Break.
pl:Sezamie, otwórz się! (Serca z Kamienia)
ru:Сезам, откройся! (Каменные Сердца)
uk:Сезаме, одчинися!
Category:Hearts of Stone quests