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Saovine, Samhain, or Forefather’s Eve no matter what it was called where you were on the Continent was always at the end of the harvest season and midway between Velen, the autumnal equinox, and Midinváerne, the winter solstice. In times long past, it marked the beginning of the Elven calendar and was essentially Elvish New Year.
Before the world of magic, monsters, witchers, and nonhumans became a distant memory of the past, relics, myths and legends, this night each year would see the spirits restless and walk among the living. Feasts would be laid out to honor and remember loved ones who had passed beyond the veil of the living just outside of the villages and fields. Most of the spirits and fae that would walk among the mortal living were harmless but the occasional wraith or banshee would appear that would require a liberal application of specter oil, Yrden, and a silver blade courtesy of a nearby Witcher if one was lucky.
It was common that once the harvest was complete a Druid from the local circle would gather the community and a giant bonfire would be lit. Cattle would be sacrificed and each home would take a candle and light it in the flame of the communal bonfire and return to their home and relight their hearth fire. The bonfire represented the last bit of light for the bright half of the year. Bringing that light into your home and keeping your hearth fire continually burning throughout the winter till Imbaelk, the spring equinox, was symbolic of hope and a wish for safety and warmth through the dark half of the year.
It was a very serious, somber, at times, but also, celebratory holiday. It was usually some of the last contracts a Witcher would see before stopping for their yearly Winter Rest. How it turned into a night of frivolity, scares, thrills, and candy, Eskel would never have understood if he hadn’t lived through it. As magic, monsters, and the past became myths, legends and deemed to be the supernatural, anything that did not fit humanity's view of religion or science faded into a shadow society. If you believed in what your ancestors all knew to be true, you would be deemed a cultist, weird, or an outcast to society. All except on the holiday of Saovine. Now if you celebrated the old traditions on the holiday, you were just a hardcore lover of the season.
As the job that he was literally transformed and mutated to do became obsolete, Eskel and his fellow Witchers had mostly retired. He could count on one hand the number of jobs that had required him personally to pull silver in the last couple of decades. He and his brothers had kept in shape and practice but now would rotate who would respond to a true call for their services. Most of those jobs came from within the community of those who lived in the “shadows”. If a request for a Witcher came from someone who was in the know, those jobs were always treated as serious and credible from the start.
Interestingly enough, the last two times Eskel had used silver had been on Saovine dealing with wraiths that had been brought about by horrific actions caused by the very people the specters had attacked. Eskel had dealt with the vengeful spirits as a professional but had collected evidence while he was doing the job that he later turned over to the authorities so that the perpetrators would be punished as they deserved. Starting on Saovine and going till next Saovine, it would be Gaetan’s responsibility for handling any true Witcher work for the coming year.
When Eskel and his brethren had mostly retired, they found to their surprise that they stopped aging. The constant stress and strain being placed on their bodies by witchering had been what was aging their bodies. Once they started “taking it easy” as Lambert liked to call it, their bodies were able to repair the damage and wear and tear that had been occurring. While they would always have their scars, the pain from their prior injuries had faded for the most part to non-existence.
Eskel had been extremely happy seeing Geralt no longer being in constant pain for his leg injuries. His body had finally repaired the damages that had occurred and only under extremely rare circumstances would Geralt even feel a hint of pain. Eskel too appreciated that his own accumulated painful injuries over the years of being an active Witcher had healed. He never realized how much pain he had constantly been in until the absence of the pain made him feel like he was an indestructible teenager again.
Now when it wasn’t their year to be on rotation, Eskel and his brothers would pursue other hobbies and jobs that made them money. Geralt had placed Corvo Bianco in a trust so that it hid the fact that the owner never seemed to age or grow old. In his spare time, he still made wine and the well managed profits from the vineyard and orchard on the property kept Geralt flush with money to support more than just himself if the need arose. Yen still practiced magic on the side for those in the know but had become a lawyer and applied her knowledge wherever it was needed. Ciri had taken up dimension and time hopping. She would regularly come by and visit with everyone especially on holidays or special occasions but you never quite knew which version of her you would be talking with.
Many of the Vipers and Cats had taken on bodyguard type jobs since their skills and training made them invaluable assets to protecting someone from a threat. Letho was especially in high demand for bodyguard jobs. Lambert had initially become an alchemist and later as the profession had shifted, a pharmacist. But eventually, he had become tired of the creep of big pharmacy companies' control over the populace and had taken up baking. He and Aiden were now the proud owners of a bakery that sold some of the finest goods money could buy. They sold classics and made them in traditional methods that had people come for miles around to have some of his baked goods. In addition to classics, Lambert would also make new confections as they became popular.
Eskel had become a writer. Initially, Jaskier had gotten him into writing poetry but over time his interest had shifted to prose. He had developed a couple of pseudonyms that he wrote under depending on the material that inspired him. Every fifty or so years he would change the pseudonyms so as to avoid suspicion. He wrote historical texts based on events that he, his family, and the other Witchers had witnessed. Anything that would fit the populace’s belief of reality were published as true historical texts. Other historical texts that were based on what society deemed the supernatural were written under another pseudonym and treated as historical treatises on the “occult or supernatural”. But he also had written plenty of fiction over the years based on some of his own and his brothers’ real life experiences. He had a love of writing mysteries, epics, and adventures that held “fantastical elements”. As Jaskier once told him early on, write what you know.
But once a year, no matter what a Witcher chose to do in their “retirement”, the Witchers came together for Saovine. What originally was a very traditional celebration of the holiday over the years had expanded. The celebrations lasted for a few weeks. The traditional celebration would still happen outside on Saovine night but the modern traditions had taken up the remaining time. Much of this had been influenced by Lambert who had grown a love of the more secular traditions that had developed around the season. Now that Witchers were not responsible for killing monsters and dealing with the things that go bump in the night, Lambert and many of the other Witchers who missed the adrenaline rush of the hunt had embraced the modern thrills and scares.
As a result, Lambert a few generations back had gotten several of the Witchers to join him in turning the old Witcher Keeps into haunted houses for the public during the season of haunts. Each year the location of the Witcher Haunted Keep would be announced and word would spread. The various keeps and fortresses had been restored to working functional castles that the Witchers owned and maintained through the year as historical sites. Certain parts of the keeps such as the labs would remain closed to the public for the majority of the year but during Saovine the public would be able to access all areas of the Keep except for the administrative offices which were the former trainers offices.
This year’s Witcher Haunted Keep was Kaer Morhen. This meant that Lambert and the Wolves were in charge of putting together the attraction. The Witcher Haunted Keep had the reputation of being the best haunted house you would ever attend. The public would always rave about how scary it was and how everything felt so realistic. People could never figure out how they did their “special effects”. Eskel couldn’t help but take pride in the favorable press. It helped that while the public treated Witchers as myths and felt that the former Witchers had just picked the myth as a theme for their haunted houses; they in fact had centuries of first hand knowledge and connections to draw upon.
All the taxidermic monsters and aspects of the Witcher life would be packed away behind secured doors throughout the year, but it would all get placed back into their places of pride and honour during the Saovine season. At Kaer Morhen the ambiance would begin right away starting at the parking lot which was nothing more than a grass and gravel lot just down the main path outside of the Keep’s outer defenses. The Kaer Morhen Valley was still a wildlife reserve and a park for hiking. Wolves and bears were still common predators in the forests surrounding the fortress. It was not uncommon at this time of year to hear a wolf howl or bear growl off in the distance near the Gwenllech River or down by the Lake. While the Keep had been repaired and was fully functional and finally looked like it did when there were hundreds of Witchers living here year round, the nearby watchtowers and Bastion had never been repaired. Their dilapidated stones and ivy and moss covered fortifications provided the initial feeling that there may be specters and monsters lurking about.
Along the path that went along the outer curtain wall were touches of the modern. The attraction was only open once night had fallen. Kaer Morhen was far enough removed in the mountains that the light pollution was minimal. The Valley was solely lit by natural moon and star light and the brazier fires, oil lanterns and candles of the Keep itself. Kaer Morhen had never been modernized for electricity. Something that granted large advantages to the Witchers preparing to scare the masses that paid to be frightened since they could see in the pitch blackness. As a result of the lack of modern lighting, Lambert and Aiden had spent time carving Jack-O-Lanterns out of pumpkins. Not only did it provide lighting for humans to find the path leading to the entrance of the keep, it began to prepare human minds to be scared.
The pumpkins smiles were jagged and toothy. With only the natural light of the area, the internal flames of the candles made the inside of the pumpkins look like dangerously lit caves or mouths of evil monsters there to devour their prey. Eskel was vaguely reminded of Old Spear Tip’s cave and would shudder even centuries later at the memories it brought back. Geralt had once told Lambert that his pumpkin Jack-O-Lanterns reminded him of a time in Skellige where rock trolls were arguing how to cook some humans around a giant cauldron. The caves as Geralt had described them had glowed with the same orangish flame.
Along the curtain wall next to the path leading to the main drawbridge, Lambert would station some of the Witchers with their armor and blades. Backlit by the walls' brazier fires, the metal pieces of their armor would reflect and flicker with light and leave them mostly as shadowed silhouettes. Due to being shadowed silhouettes, the eye shine of their cat eyes would seem to be hovering in the air staring upon the masses waiting to be scared.
The spiked fortifications outside the walls had never been removed. Lambert had directed skeletons in armor to be placed on the spikes to look like they had been speared and died there. While the armor was real and from the armory’s old stores, these skeletons were some of the only ones that were not made of real human bones throughout the entire attraction. Lambert didn’t use full skeletons in the decorations very often because making them look realistic was too much of a hassle in his mind. But there were plenty of places where random bones would be used and those were all real.
Starting with the bones that laid in the moat below the drawbridge leading into Kaer Morhen. The bones beneath the drawbridge were still the bones of the attackers from centuries before that had attacked the keep unsuccessfully. After Stygga Castle had been attacked, all the other Witcher schools had been warned. Any future attempts at destroying the Witchers, especially in their homes, had failed. The Witchers had banded together in solidarity and to give themselves protection from the humans. Who knows how many Witchers lives had been spared by them unifying. Eskel shudders to think what the massacre would have looked like had the humans succeeded.
Crossing the moat of skulls and bones brought the guests into the gatehouse. The iron braziers and torches flames would dance and flicker across the bolt holes that lined the gatehouse. At the bolt holes the firelight would glint on the sharp arrowheads of what to a human’s eyes would look like loaded and prepared to fire crossbows. The crossbows were just angled in such a manner to make it look realistic but none of the arrows were actually fitted so that they could fire. The Witchers were careful to make sure there would be no unexpected accidents. To add to the fear of being attacked, Lambert had oil heating in large cauldrons that were in the rafters above the gatehouse. The heated oil smelt of pitch and gave the fear centers of the brain the feeling that one might die a horrible death.
Inside the gatehouse was where the public would pay for entry and sign a release form that they wouldn’t hold the Witchers liable for any injuries and that the person was in good enough health that they were not at risk of scaring themselves to literal death. Yen and Triss made an excellent legal council and were fierce in protecting the Witchers from frivolous lawsuits.
Upon exiting the gatehouse, guests would be greeted by various monsters illuminated by the natural lights and torches in such a way to enhance the feeling that they were alive. What the guests had no way of knowing that the Witchers did was some of them were legitimately alive. Geralt had convinced Regis, his vampire friend, to be one of the monsters each year. Also among the monsters was a couple of godlings that took refuge near the keep on the Reserve. There was a descendant of a succubus that Eskel had spent a lovely evening with while high as a kite several centuries before. And for the final living monster was a werewolf who was in complete control of his changes and urges that Aiden knew because he had spared the family ancestor and had kept in touch with the family ever since.
The living “monsters” and the preserved monster corpses were scattered throughout the training courtyard after exiting the gatehouse and along the subtly guided path up to the Keep’s front doors. The living friends of the witchers would stalk and prowl among the guests making them feel hunted. As they went along the walkway making their way to the inner courtyard leading towards the Keep’s doors, they would see the large oak tree in the middle courtyard that many a young trainee had climbed in as a boy. Hung from the tree were the last of the fake skeletons with bags over their heads and arms bound behind them to look like they had been hanged and left to rot. Tattered and rotted cloth hung from the frames of the fake skeletons in quite a believable manner. It helped that having lived through war torn times it was a sight that had been burned into every Witcher’s memory.
In the middle courtyard, the temperature was humid compared to the coolness of the year. This was because Lambert had found ways to safely over the years with the help of some Druids to tap into the natural sulfur vents beneath the Keep. At one time, the pent up energy of the sulfur vents could have caused a massive explosion if lit but now with the improvements that had been made, they were rendered safe. However, the sulfuric fumes gave a fire and brimstone vibe as well as provided a fog effect low to the ground. With the old forge being so close by, occasionally a Witcher manning the old forge would let out a controlled spark and flame to cause jump scares and twists of light that would shift the shadows. Other Witchers would shift in the dark on silent feet during these flashes so that their movement would look like darting shadows that a human’s mind could just play off as an overreaction to all the stimuli.
Some years Eskel would take up a position here near the doors to the inner courtyard and would cross blades with another well trained and in practice Witcher so that their armor and blades would flash in the lights and the clanging of their armor and blades would add to the ambiance of the place. Both combatants would periodically throw signs at each other. Mostly Igni so that the flames would catch eyes but Quen and Yrden were also judiciously used. Occasionally, one of the Witchers would let off a powerful Aard not directed at anything in particular so that the booming sound of moving air would give the feeling of thunder or explosions happening.
Other years, Eskel would be in the Keep itself stationed as one of the many Witchers being used to scare the guests inside. The inside of the Keep was set up to walk the guests through the various experiences that Witchers had gone through during their lives. The haunted house in many ways told the true story and horror of what Witchers had been subjected to. It was the one time a year where the truth of their history would be told. However to the public that had let this history fade into time and legend, it was just hardcore thematic ambiance that gave definite spooky and scary moments.
Inside the entryway, Kiera would cast an illusion using a megascope of her sitting at a mirror and brushing her hair in front of a seated vanity. The effect made the megascope image look like a ghost. Added to the image was the constant mountainous gusts of wind that whipped through the valley and ripped through the Keep during this time of year. Those wind gusts inside the Keep would rattle the windows, make tapestries shift as if someone was behind them, and a continuous moan that at times would be high pitched and whistling and other times low and moaning. Coupled with startled screams and screeches of groups further along in the “haunted house”, the giggling laughter of a couple of godlings, and the occasional wolf howl or griffin screech that some of the Witchers were excellent at mimicking and the soundtrack of the inside of the keep was complete and all without necessary sound equipment that the Keep was not wired for.
The interior of the Keep was kept mostly pitch black. Vesemir who was in charge of maintaining the Keep year round as the Reserve’s full time Warden would not clean the spiders and cobwebs for a good couple of months. When it came time for the haunting to begin, he would at least relocate the spiders from their webs but the webs remained and were natural. The Great Hall’s only source of light was the low coals in the great fireplace between the Kitchen and the Great Hall. Cobwebs lined the darkness and the pillars were covered in tattered cloth. Ripped furs that had seen better days lay on the floor. Monster heads hung from available wall space and the worn murals showed images of Witchers fighting monsters but lit in a way that gave it a sense of the macabre.
Yen, Triss, and Ciri had laid even more megascope powered illusions throughout the Great Hall to make it look like hundreds of specters ate at the long trestle tables. Interspersed would be Witchers who were meditating in awkward positions slumped over tables and “meals” of mushrooms, monster parts, and poisons. The items were actually real and nontoxic to humans just in case and were designed courtesy of Lambert and Aiden to look like the real items. The poisons were all labelled after real potions and poisons and the mushrooms were shaped like the ones fed to trainees in preparation for the Trials.
The meditating Witchers had mastered the ability to meditate with their eyes open. The light of the fire and the spectral quality of the megascope image would gloss the eyeshine of their eyes and make them look dead. For added suspense and horror, occasionally one of the meditating Witchers would become alert and move. Some of them would reach for the guests with looks of horror on their faces as they acted as if they couldn’t breath. Others would use fake blood to look like they had coughed or vomited blood or had been stabbed.
From there guests would move into the kitchen, where Witchers dressed in full armor and swords would be “butchering” monsters. Vesemir usually took a position here. On the table next to where he would be kneading bread and covered in flour would be what appeared to be a swaddled baby. Courtesy of an experience Geralt had with a Hyme in Skellige, as each group would be guided through the kitchen, Vesemir would take the bread that looked like a swaddled child and place them into the oven that was roaring with flame.
Inside the oven was some roasting pork and when the oven would be opened it would give guests the smell of roasted meat making them believe the practical illusion. As the oven would close and Vesemir would turn back to the table behind him would light up a silhouette of a Hyme. It was a practical effect using a quick flick of igni on a candle on the floor hidden from the guest line of sight. Next to the candle was a metal piece shaped like a Hyme. After the Hyme effect would be there for a moment, a quick aard would blow the candle out again making the illusion disappear and leave the guests with a ghostly looking Vesemir who was simply covered in flour with his cat eyes glowing in the dark.
Frequently, some of the loudest screams would come in the kitchen. Vesemir took a certain amount of glee in harmlessly scaring people who wanted to be frightened. Their screams would inevitably get him to chuckle low and slow which to a primed and terrified mind would make them think of a specter giving a menacing laugh. Eskel could actually hear the genuine happy mirth in the chuckle but he had centuries of knowing his mentor to know the difference.
From the Kitchen, the groups would pass into the tower stairs heading up to the classroom and child dormitory halls. Inside the tower before making the second floor halls, some of the dexterous Cat Witchers in the poorly lit tower darkness would climb the sheer walls looking to the scared human eyes like large demons scurrying up the walls. The effect kind of looked like if kikimore’s only had four legs and could climb walls. The Cat’s climbing claws that they used to get a grip in the mortar would also give the sound of chiton skittering across stone. A few of the Cats would also reach out when guests weren’t looking and brush clothing or hair to make it feel like something had just passed the guests.
Exiting the stairwell, the guests would enter the classroom wing and child dormitories. At the end of the hall over what would be the entryway doors to Kaer Morhen was the armory. Other than low light conditions from floating candles courtesy of the sorceresses, the halls were relatively empty of scares to lull the guests into a false sense of safety but the doors to the classrooms and dormitories were kept open. Some practical effects of using cheese cloth on chicken wire lit by a combination of candles set to cast off a greenish flame and the occasional purple light of a casted Yrden made it seem like they were real moving wraiths inside the rooms. In some of the classrooms, a Witcher would stand at the back of the room near a writing slate and would drone on about the horrendous ways that it was possible to die on the Path to the classroom full of “wraith” children. Some of the classrooms used taxidermied monster parts with live Witchers looking like they were autopsying the monsters. The Witchers eyes would glow in the wan lighting and with a judicious application of fake blood and silver knives they would look particularly threatening and gruesome.
The dormitory rooms on the other hand were for the most part absent of the spectral wraith effects. Instead it was sheets and bedding thrown haphazardly everywhere to make it appear like a struggle had happened. On the beds would be toys and stuffies in disrepair that had rips and stains on them. Dust covered toys littered the floor as well. Wooden practice weapons were everywhere making it look like an attack or violent storm had come through. In the far corners where human eyes would be barely able to distinguish the shapes would look like small child-like figures huddled in the corners together. A few of the female Cats were still able to pitch their voices to sound like crying terrified children. It was realistic enough that it would send the chills down even some of the Witchers spines. Eskel in particular would feel like he had been thrown back into his childhood where he had huddled under blankets with his year mates in frightened horror as they would hear the screams of the classes ahead of them undergoing the Trials.
At the end of the hall inside the armory the cauldrons meant to spill oil and tar over invaders would be filled with boiling liquid that looked like oil to a human’s senses but Eskel could smell the ingredients for blade oil. All the swords and blades in the armory shone with ghostly light as the runes laid into the silver swords had been refreshed after being dipped in fresh blade oil and the fire from the cauldron flickered on the steel blades. One of the Bear Witchers who had been a quartermaster and blacksmith since losing his arm in a hunt early in this career would usually stand among the blades and would test the blades sharpness on practice dummies set up within the armory. Geralt would frequently spend his time here during the haunt where he would sharpen and hone every blade with whetstone and blade oil before handing it off to the Bear Quartermaster for his bit of theatre. The combination of the sound and sparks of the whetstone grinding the blades and the low glow of the blade oil caldrons would once again make the two Witchers inside seem silhouettes with just their eyes glowing like predators in the darkness.
The guests were given a brief break to catch their breaths as they started down the winding stairway of the tower near the armory as they were directed to the basement. The stairs were dark and the only thing to startle or scare the guests in the tower was the flapping of bat wings from the roosting bats that Remus would bring with him when he visited for the Saovine event. While Remus found vampire superstitions laughably inaccurate, he had no qualms leaning into some of them.
Once down in the basement, the atmosphere changed from cut stone to hewn rock. The fairly dry cool keep air would become humid and hot. This was of course because of the hot springs the Keep was built over. The change in atmosphere and temperature was usually a shock to the guests system and put them on edge. The basement was creepy and was usually closed off the rest of the year because of what it contained. As such very little decoration was applied to make it creepier. With the exception of the hot springs, the basement was the realm of the potion labs, the mage’s laboratories and the Trial rooms. A low fog from the humid heat of the hot springs rolled around the guest’s legs.
Inside the room for the hot springs, Witchers would be laid on the floor in various states of dress and clothing types. Some had fake blood and gore on them and looked dead. Others looked like they were washing the fake blood off as if horrified or not so horrified with what they’ve done depending on if they wanted to go for an innocent victim or serial killer. Others, mostly Vipers because they hated the cold, were laid out under “bloody” sheets that covered them as if dead in a morgue. Most of those Vipers were just enjoying the heat and grabbing some sleep but it did give a lovely illusion of many dead bodies.
Next to the hot springs was the potions lab. Inside were several Manticores surrounded by jars, bottles, and ingredients used to make all the Witchers deadly poisons. The public, Eskel was sure, just assumed the items were just labelled to give the bizarre and creepy vibe of poisons and potions but they were the legitimate ingredients used in their potions. But what haunted house wasn’t complete with some alchemical lab set up?
The following door down the hall was the lab where the Witchers had made and stored bombs. This was where Lambert loved to hang out during the haunt. He used his extensive alchemical knowledge and along with a few Cranes would put together bombs all the meanwhile looking like crazed mad scientists. Occasionally, they would set off small contained explosions that would cause the basement chambers to rattle with the concussive force. Eskel would frequently see startled squeals and jumps from the unexpected noise and flash of fire from the controlled explosions.
In small alcoves along the basement hall on the way to the mage’s labs and the Trial rooms were well hidden Witchers that would jump scare or do something to help freak out the guests further. But inside a couple of the alcoves were some of the rock trolls that lived near the Circle of Elements in the mountain near Old Spear Tip’s cave. It was all thanks to Geralt’s supreme patience in explaining what the Witchers had planned. With all the humans running around the Reserve whenever Kaer Morhen hosted the haunted house it was safer for everyone if the trolls were believed to be a feature of the production.
Geralt had explained how each troll had to behave while humans were present and near them. He made sure they understood the instructions completely before anyone would be allowed near the rock trolls. It was such a lovely effect though when the public would pass what they were assuming was just large boulders for them to all of a sudden move and become large hulking figures that just boomed a loud “BOOOOO!”.
The mages’ rooms were set up with tons of alembics and preserved monsters in jars. These rooms were relatively untouched because they made most Witchers uncomfortable. Because of that everything was covered in thick layers of legitimate dust and cobwebs. The glass for the monsters kept in glass jars was semi-opaque from time and disuse. The fact the room was empty and had been empty for clearly a long time after having seen rooms with constant stimulus caused great unease in the guests as they expected something to happen and when it didn’t the lack of stimulus put them further on edge.
After the mages’ rooms were the rooms where the Trial of the Grasses occurred. These rooms needed no dressing up. The wrought iron tables that children were strapped into to be mutated were creepy enough as it is but the smell of vomit and decay from the Trials had never left the room. The instruments to inject the poisons into the kids veins were still laid out next to the tables including the potions vials and tubing. The somber nature of the room lent all the gravitas and aura that it needed. The hairs on people’s necks would raise and heart rates would jack rabbit. The room gave off the legitimate aura of death even centuries later.
Once visitors saw the Trial rooms, they would come up from the basement and back onto the main floor where they would re-enter the Great Hall and make the long walk back to the entrance. Having seen the previous scares of these areas it gave the groups time to have their heart rates settle after being near the Trial rooms. It was still scary the second time around but not as unsettling as the first time through these areas.
Inevitably when people made it back to the gatehouse and were about to leave for their vehicles, they would stop to speak with the Witchers manning the entrance and give them feedback on how awesome the haunted house was. The feedback usually ranged from how authentic everything felt regarding the costumes and decorations to how did you get all your contacts to glow in the low light like that? Eskel always got a kick out of how humans explained away Witcher eyes as contacts now that the modern world didn’t believe in the supernatural world anymore.
At the end of Saovine night, the proceeds for the year would be counted up and would then be added to the budget of the location that hosted it so that annual upkeep and repairs could continue to be made. Despite the bad memories that were housed in the basement of the Keep, there were still many good memories of camaraderie, brotherhood, and safety that were built into the fortress’ walls. So while the Witchers over the year would disperse all over the Continent to do the new jobs and tasks they had taken in their “retirement”, every year they would find themselves coming back together to spend a few weeks remembering who they all were, where they all came from, and the siblings they had in their fellow Witchers.
Eskel smiled. He would have never have believed if you had told him centuries earlier what Saovine would turn into but it was always good to get all his brothers and sisters together. Tomorrow would be the traditional Saovine rituals that all Witchers grew up with. To this day, Witchers believed that the traditional remembrances were one of the few reasons the fallen souls of their comrades didn’t come back to haunt them as wraiths each year. No one wanted to have to use silver for a fallen comrade. After proper Saovine remembrance was complete, they would all scatter.
Eskel would keep in touch with a few but others he wouldn’t see till next year's Saovine. His decision of who he would stay with this year hadn’t been decided but by the end of tomorrow he would know. Maybe he would stay with Geralt at Corvo Bianco and write about a warrior turned winemaker. Or Vesemir might invite him to stay and help out around Kaer Morhen and the Reserve which would give him plenty of time to get some inspiration to maybe write stories from his mentor’s promiscuous and mischievous youth. Lambert had hinted that he may want Eskel to spend some time in Novigrad with him and Aiden which he hadn’t done in a while. Maybe he would take a trip over the Spring to Skellige and visit some old stomping grounds on Ard Skellige getting some writing inspiration before settling in with Lambert in Novigrad to write and help out with the bakery. Whatever he decided, he could be certain of one thing, he would see all his family next harvest in the Tir Tochaire Mountains of Vicovaro at Gorthur Gvaed for the Haunt of the Viper Keep next year.