The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine - Blood Run
Face off against The Beast of Toussaint and reunite with an old friend.
The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine - Blood Run
Blood Run is a short quest, kicking off automatically at the end of The Beast of Toussaint. You'll part ways with the duchess during the cutscenes and end up in a warehouse some distance away, where you'll have a chat with the Black Beast of Toussaint and then fight it.
This is another fight with no time for proper witcher preparation, so it’s mostly a matter of clever duelling.
Boss: Black Beast of Toussaint
You can use Black Blood to make this battle a little easier but to be honest it’s really just a matter of careful fighting; you don’t even need Yrden, which is not especially helpful here.
The real trick is just to duel conservatively. The beast will rush at you - dodge and give it a smack before immediately dodging away again. Don't roll, as it puts you out of reach for a strike, and stick to just the one fast attack; save combos and strong attacks for better openings.
These openings come at regular intervals. If the Beast winds up with its arms above its head it’s about to rush forward. Dodge this attack for a great chance to hit back during the beast's recovery. More frequently, the beast will vanish when you hit it after one of its standard attacks, and teleports behind you for a sneak attack. If you’ve been wise and only hit it once before dodging again, you’ll be safe and have another chance to strike.
If the Beast halts in place, it is regenerating; hit it quickly, but be wary of its counter attack, as it won’t just stand there waiting for you.
If you’re good with Quen it serves well in this battle, but Igni is also a great help; at close range it will stagger the Beast briefly, allowing you to get a hit or two in. If you have trouble timing your dodges, try dodging constantly in a circle around the room until you have the stamina for Igni, then get close, cast the sign, hit once and repeat. It's slow and boring, but survivable.
After the battle you can have a chat with Regis, an old pal of Geralt’s who introduces the Black Beast as one Detlaff. The end of this conversation ends the quest, and begins La Cage au Fou.
Before doing anything else, run along the HorsePS path towards the next quest marker so you are interrupted by a messenger boy with a letter opening the quest Turn and Face The Strange. Follow this to unlock those witcher mutations mentioned earlier.
Secondary quest collection
This is the first real pause for breath since the DLC began, so now’s a good time to go do some secondary quests and open world activities if you want a break. As a bare minimum, I recommend checking out No Place Like Home to establish Geralt's home base in Toussaint.
Whether you go off on side quests or not, it’s worth having a poke around the city of Beauclair before moving on. There’re two inns, an alchemist, a blacksmith, an armorer and a herbalist, with Gwent matches in all.
In a courtyard near the armorer and blacksmith you’ll see an orange exclamation mark indicating meet a bloke who advises you to go to the bank for a stack of overdue coin, opening the Paperchase side quest (recommended level 36).
Near the merchant you’ll see another orange exclamation mark. Exploring the conversational prompts unlocks all five Scavenger Hunts for master Witcher gear (recommended level 40) and the parent secondary quest Master Master Master Master (recommended level 40).
Visit the orange exclamation mark near the second inn and speak to the Art Curator, agreeing to hear him out, in order to unlock the secondary quest Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Granite.
Visit the notice board to collect Father Knows Worst (recommended level: 37), Til Death Do You Part (recommended level 36), There Can be Only One (no level) and Fists of Fury: Toussaint (recommended level: 36).
There are several other secondary quests around the wider Toussaint map on notice boards, but you probably won’t have unlocked fast travel points near them yet, so you may as well save them till you’re in the area during other quests