Witcher 3 Oxenfurt: All Secrets & Hidden Locations

Oxenfurt is one of the most densely packed cities in CD Projekt Red's masterpiece, yet countless players sprint through it chasing main quests without realizing what they're leaving behind. Sitting on the eastern banks of the Pontar River in Redania, this university town is layered with hidden contracts, secret stashes, lore-rich encounters, and mechanical surprises that reward thorough exploration. This guide breaks down every notable secret so you don't miss a thing.

The Underground Sewers: More Than Just Rats

Beneath Witcher 3 Oxenfurt lies an extensive sewer network that most players enter once for a quest and never revisit. That's a mistake. The sewers contain multiple hidden chests scattered along branching corridors, including a stash near the eastern drainage tunnel that holds a diagram for mid-tier Witcher gear if you haven't looted it from another source. More importantly, the sewers connect to the city's black market district — a small underground chamber where a fence operates outside normal merchant hours, offering diagrams and crafting components unavailable above ground.

Watch for the crumbling wall section near the second sewer junction. Using Aard on it reveals a flooded side chamber containing a drowned smuggler's body and a sealed lockbox. The key is on the body; the box contains a unique relic-quality sword that scales reasonably well for the Velen-Novigrad progression window.

The Hidden Merchant Behind the Academy

The Oxenfurt Academy dominates the city's cultural identity, but few players circle behind the main building. Tucked against the rear wall is an unmarked merchant who appears only between dusk and midnight in-game. He sells a rotating stock that includes rare alchemical ingredients — specifically Pringrape, Mandrake Root, and occasionally Foglet Teeth — at prices significantly below standard merchants. Meditating to the right time and making this stop a regular habit will save you considerable crowns on alchemy builds throughout the mid-game.

Abandoned Warehouse and the Eternal Fire Cultists

In the northeastern quarter of Witcher 3 Oxenfurt, an apparently derelict warehouse hides one of the game's more unsettling environmental storytelling moments. Inside, players find evidence of an Eternal Fire cult cell that was conducting unsanctioned witch trials on local residents. There's no formal quest attached — just journals, scattered remains, and a strongbox containing a letter implicating a named Oxenfurt guard captain. You can confront this captain near the main gate; while the encounter doesn't trigger a full quest, he drops a unique guard's medallion and a small amount of crowns if you press him correctly in dialogue.

This is exactly the kind of reactive world detail that makes the witcher series feel alive. CD Projekt Red embedded dozens of these micro-narratives throughout Novigrad and its surroundings.

Gwent Opponents You Can Miss

Gwent completionists take note: Oxenfurt hosts two non-obvious Gwent opponents. The first is a student sitting on the academy steps during daytime hours — he carries a rare Nilfgaardian Army deck card that's difficult to acquire elsewhere before reaching the south. The second opponent is a dockworker near the river landing who only appears during the day and plays a heavily modified Monsters deck. Defeating both is required if you're pursuing the "Collect 'Em All" achievement without relying on merchants.

The Spy Network Side Quest Trigger

One of the most overlooked interactions in Witcher 3 Oxenfurt is a brief conversation available near the main tavern. A well-dressed man sitting alone will comment on Geralt's medallion if you approach him. Exhaust every dialogue option — most players exit after the first exchange. Push through and he reveals himself as a Temerian spy with information relevant to the main political storyline. This conversation doesn't add a quest marker but unlocks additional dialogue options in a later Novigrad scene that most players never see, subtly changing how a key NPC responds to Geralt.

Rooftop Loot and Parkour Paths

Oxenfurt's architecture is unusually climbable compared to Novigrad's denser layout. Several rooftops accessible via barrels, market stalls, and stacked crates hold hidden chests that don't appear on the minimap until you're nearly on top of them. The most valuable is on the roof of the large building adjacent to the southern gate — a chest containing a set of crafting components for Mastercrafted armor that saves a significant shopping trip. Two other rooftops hold notes that expand on the city's lore regarding its tense relationship with Redanian Intelligence.

The Secret Notice Board Entry

Every notice board in the witcher game world is worth reading in full, but Oxenfurt's board contains a pinned letter beneath the standard contracts that's easy to scroll past. This letter, signed only with initials, describes a monster sighting in the basement of a specific inn. The inn itself has a trapdoor behind the bar — lockpicked with a master lock — leading to a cellar where a Noonwraith variant spawns. It's an entirely unmarked encounter with no quest reward beyond the loot on the wraith and a hidden chest in the cellar corner. The wraith drops a unique mutagen not found through standard combat encounters in this region.

Oxenfurt rewards patience and curiosity above almost any other location in the game. Return here at different times of day, exhaust every NPC dialogue tree, and treat every wall as a potential Aard target. CD Projekt Red packed this city with the kind of layered detail that defines why RPG gaming at this level remains unmatched.