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As befits its dark fantasy universe, The Witcher 3 is filled with contracts for Witchers in need of coin. The Shrieker contract will take players to the region of Velen, specifically to the northwest, into a smaller area called Crow's Perch.
While hardly the toughest contract in the game, the Shrieker will nonetheless test your early mettle. It's well worth the effort, with plenty of rewards to be earned. Let's get to it, then, Geralt.
Updated on December 3, 2022 by Quinton O'Connor: We've added a detailed look at the rewards you'll earn for saving the locals from yet another threat in 'Contract: Shrieker'.
How To Start The 'Shrieker' Side Quest
You'll get this monster hunt in Velen, where a huge and dangerous beast has been tormenting the folks at Crow's Perch. A fitting job for a Witcher. To start this quest, you can either read the notice at the Crow's Perch's notice board or find the Shrieker's cave on your own.
After reading the notice, you'll have to talk to Chet.
He'll tell Geralt that the creature killed the last man who tried to go after it, leaving nothing but his son behind, who Chet has taken in since the father's death. Geralt can talk to the little kid, who's just behind the same house where Chet is, and ask him what he knows since he was at the crime scene. After that, you can leave him alone or kindly calm the little one with an Axii Sign.
Hunting The Shrieker
After talking to the two of them, it's time to hunt down this monster, head to the field that's east of Crow's Perch, and use Geralt's Witcher senses to find a dead dog and the monster's tracks, which you can follow. At this point, Geralt realizes the creature must be injured because there's monster blood everywhere.
Follow the blood trail, and it will lead you to more tracks; this time, they will guide Geralt to a nearby cave entrance.
Enter the cave and keep following the trail; remember to keep using the Witcher senses as they highlight with red any clues, making things easier. Eventually, you'll hear the Cockatrice making some noise, and Geralt will point out that the sound is coming from above.
To lure the Cockatrice out, toss a bomb up there where the sound came from. You should use a samum, grapeshot, or dancing star bombs against this type of creature. However, once you've done that, the monster flies away through another exit.
Killing The Cockatrice And Claiming Your Reward
Get out of the cave and start chasing it. The creature will see Geralt coming after it and fly down to start the fight. Since the Cockatrice can fly, this fight will be somewhat reminiscent of the Griffin one. This particular beast will charge heavily in Geralt's direction whenever it sees him, so try to stick to the blind spots, like the back or the sides.
As the creature gets injured, it will try to fly away to gain some distance from Geralt; you can use the crossbow when this happens. You can also use the Aard sign to stunt it.
Looting The Beast
- Cockatrice trophy: this trophy can be attached to Roach's saddle and give Geralt a 10 percent chance to dismember enemies. It weighs 1.01 and has a base value of 150.
- Cockatrice stomach: this alchemy ingredient is needed to craft the superior beast oil, the superior dracanoid oil, and the enhanced dracanoid oil. You can also dismantle this ingredient to obtain monster blood and monster saliva. The Cockatrice stomach is a relatively rare item in the game, so use it wisely.
- Monster blood: a crafting component needed to craft a wide array of items.
- Monster feather: a crafting component needed to craft a wide array of items.
- Cockatrice egg: an alchemy ingredient, you can dismantle it into a Chitinous shell and monster egg.
- Cockatrice mutagen: an alchemy ingredient used to craft cockatrice decoctions. This mutagen acts like a lesser blue one and grants Geralt +5% sign intensity.
- Dwarven axe: It has a weight of 1.24 and gives Geralt +100 armor-piercing and +25 percent of critical hit damage bonus.
After you've looted the monster, go back to the village and talk to Chet. You can either take the money or say that he can keep it for Symko. There's no right or wrong answer, though, so it boils down to whether you want Geralt to be nice or pragmatic. You can't always have it both ways.