SPOILERS AHEAD! YOU’VE BEEN WARNED!
The Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone has some interesting quests for players to embark on. One of these quests is called Dead Man’s Party, and it tasks Geralt with showing Vlodimir von Everec the time of his life. The only problem with this is that Vlodimir happens to be dead, and has been for quite some time. This was definitely a ploy on Olgierd’s part (the man who made the request) in order to make this impossible, but you’re a witcher, and you happen to have quite the powerful ally on your side (whether you wanted him or not).
Geralt doesn’t have much knowledge of the von Everec family so he needs to seek out some assistance, since Olgierd doesn’t prove to be useful. In order to complete his task, Geralt needs to locate where Vlodimir is buried and then awaken his spirit. Normally, this would require necromancy or some other dark art, but Master Mirror provided our hero with some of Olgierd’s blood in order to do so peacefully. But, Master Mirror would not share how to find Olgierd’s long dead sibling. This is where Shani comes in. The red-maned medic happened to have studied Redenian Royalty, so she knew exactly who the von Everecs were and how to find the burial site of Vlodimir. She will meet you at the location with a censer (for spreading incense with the blood).
Once you meet Shani at the location, you can head down to find a tomb. In here are many coffins and lots of treasure. Make sure to loot the area diligently for all of the Crowns, Orens, jewlery, armor, and weapons (especially the steel sword Ofieri Kilij). But be careful, once you enter the large round room with the brazier in the center you will be attacked by two pairs of wraiths.
Once that’s over and done with, use the censer to complete your ritual in the designated areas. All you need to do is walk around as Geralt does his little chant. Once you complete all of the areas, head to the brazier in the center of the round room and a cutscene will play.
It seems that the von Everec lineage isn’t happy with your meddling so you need to fight them all off. They may look like spirits, but you fight them as you would a bandit. Dodging, parrying, and wailing on them with your blade. Quen is useful here just for the extra protection since you are fighting five individuals in a relatively small space. Yrden is always useful against spirits, as well.
After the battle, good ol’ Vlodimir von Everec will make his appearance. He’s an odd fellow, similar to his brother, but much more agreeable. He wants a night of revelry just as his brother intended, and to do just that Geralt agrees to let this spirit inhabit his body. Vlodimir will be in control until midnight, and it makes for some seriously funny events. To assist you in providing this night, Shani has invited you to her friends wedding where there is sure to be multiple opportunities for some harmless debauchery.
At the wedding, there are several activities for Vlodimir (through Geralt of course) to participate in. Hearts of Stone will inform you that you have until midnight so to hurry, but you can take your time. The day passes as you complete activities.
All you need to do is participate in all of them. Some of the actions have multiple outcomes which will provide different rewards. For instance, you will be able to participate in a single game of Gwent. If you win, then you get a powerful card for your collection, but if you lose you’re stuck wearing the ears of an ass for the remainder of the mission (which is something Shani actually likes for some odd reason).
One of the activities within the wedding is a mini quest that tasks Geralt with locating the fire eater and a missing dog. Head on over to the dog’s house (it’s to the left of the way you came into the wedding) and observe it for clues. Just follow the footsteps until you locate the fire eater and the dog. The small dog has managed to chase the cowardly fire eater into the tree. Geralt will take control and send the dog home, but it is up to Vlodimir to make sure the fire eater makes it back safely.
While escorting the fire eater, make sure to stay slightly behind him. Once he reaches the stream, he will scream bear and start to panic. There will be a large boar rushing towards you both, go and attack it before it attacks the fire eater. It is incapable of killing you quickly, so just hold its attention and slash until it dies. If it so much as breathes on your entertainment friend, he will die. His death doesn’t fail the mission, but it does make you look bad. You gave your word to retrieve him, so make sure to do so.
Another activity is the pig herding contest. This one can also go two ways. If you play fair and square by slowly forcing the pigs into the pen, you win a prize for Shani. If you cheat and use Axii, you get nothing. Either way, Shani is amused and Vlodimir enjoys himself, so don’t worry too much here.
One of the last activities involves a lake and some shoes. It’s a simple task, but you’ll be doing yourself a favor if you take the extra few seconds to collect every shoe at the bottom of the lake (there are three). Not only will this entertain Vlodimir a lot, but it will impress Shani as well.
Other than the activities, you need to focus on Vlodimir’s optional responses throughout the wedding. At a certain point, Vlodimir will reveal that he is going to try to help butter up Shani for Geralt since it’s obvious that they want each other. But, getting out of line can ruin the evening so be careful.
Whenever you’re given the option to apologize, do so. When dealing with Shani, opt for the approach that you can’t resist her, not the “it’s my night so I’m gonna do what I want” path. Vlodimir can be pretty insulting, so the less he speaks, the better.
Towards the end of the evening, after the hilarious dance scene with Shani and Vlodimir, you will have to speak to the Mirror Master. While it’s hard to tell just what his game is just yet, he starts to push the buttons of Vlodimir, exposing his past. Choose to not ruin the night by causing a scene and just go on your merry way. It will keep the wedding from being ruined and Vlodimir from being further embarrassed. But make sure to pay close attention to everything Master Mirror says, it will make a lot of the later events in Hearts of Stone make much more sense.
Continue on until the end of the night. After some more partying, Vlodimir will pen a letter to his brother for Geralt to deliver, this will serve as your proof of completing the task.
Once the clock hits midnight, your obligation is complete. Vlodimir will try to continue his night of fun, but a terrifying interference puts that to an end. You can either head on over to turn the quest into Olgierd, or you can stay to pursue the A Midnight Clear quest.
You have just completed one of the longest quests in not only Hearts of Stone, but the entirety of The Witcher 3. Congratulations, you party animal. For more Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone guides, check out our wiki!
