Assault on Stygga Castle was an unprecedented event in the Second Northern War with Nilfgaard. It was ultimately during this battle that Vilgefortz was finally defeated and killed.
There were actually two assaults that happened on the castle. The first by Geralt of Rivia and his company, which was initiated to free Ciri and Yennefer, and the second assault right after which was undertaken by the Nilfgaardian Impera Brigade led by Emperor Emhyr var Emreis himself, to get to Ciri.
Background[]
Vilgefortz used a number of hideouts to try and conduct experiments on, in particular focusing on women and their wombs, with the intent to try and create a child with Ciri, whose future child was foretold to be extremely powerful and thus something Vilgefortz coveted, wanting to be ever powerful himself. However, he managed to keep his true hideout, Stygga Castle, a secret from almost everyone.
Having betrayed both the Northern mages and the Nilfgaardians during the Thanedd coup in his quest to get Ciri though, Vilgefortz was forced into hiding. To complicate matters, Geralt, who was doing his own search for Ciri, learned of Vilgefortz's actions and knew his best option to find Ciri was to find the mage as well. During all this he managed to also capture and imprison Yennefer who learned of the portal Vilgeforz had setup at the Sedna Abyss and used it to try and find Ciri herself with the intent of using the sorceress to draw Ciri in.
However, realizing the danger Geralt still presented to his plans, Vilgefortz worked through his own loyal agents and various mercenaries to try and kill the witcher on his travels, including his apprentice Rience, the assassin Schirrú, the Nilfgaardian double agent Stefan Skellen, and by extension, the Nightingale gang, the bounty hunter Leo Bonhart, and Stefan Skellen's gang.
Eventually though all these attempts failed and between Geralt's company and Ciri, they whittled down most of Vilgefortz's allies. Realizing it was only a matter of time before they or Emhyr found him, Vilgeforz had the remaining allies converge on Stygga Castle to guard it against the impending future attacks.
Geralt's assault[]
While in Toussaint, Geralt and his company learned of Vilgefortz's actual hideout location and set out to get to it to reach Ciri, not realizing Ciri wasn't actually there. However, a short time before they actually did arrive, Ciri herself arrived at the castle to free Yennefer and face her destiny. This proved to unintentionally aid Geralt's assault as Vilgefortz and his close allies were too focused on Ciri that they left only a handful of guards at the gates. Combined with Regis' vampire abilities, Geralt's company made easy work of entering the castle, killing most of the guards who didn't run except Boreas Mun, who showed them how to reach Ciri before they quickly left the area.
Later in the battle, things degenerated into chaotic skirmishes and chases through the castle's labyrinth of hallways. The team split up with Geralt, Cahir, Angoulême, and Milva taking a more conventional approach and Regis using his shapeshifting to facilitate a bit of reconnaissance.
Regis managed to find Ciri in the lab and made quick work of Vilgefortz's assistants. In doing so, he broke his long abstinence from drinking blood. Ciri then insisted that he return to Geralt and warn him about Vilgefortz while she set off to find Yennefer. Meanwhile, Geralt and the rest of the team were set upon by crossbowmen and pinned down. They ultimately made it through, but Angoulême was wounded and Milva was killed, though not without decimating the crossbowmen. At that point, Geralt set off in one direction to find either Ciri or Yennefer and Cahir and Angoulême set off on another.
The castle guard also split up, with Leo Bonhart setting off alone to find and kill Ciri. Stefan Skellen found most of his men ready to run from the hopeless ordeal. Realizing that their small group didn't have a chance of winning against a witcher in combat, he gathered his men and blocked the only exit from the castle, the main hall where a large staircase descended.
As Ciri made her way through the endless corridors searching for Yennefer, she began to despair that she would ever find the sorceress and began calling her name. This alerted Bonhart to her location and he cornered her in a large vaulted chamber. Ciri tried to use her teleporting ability to get away, and thought she had succeeded, only to realize that she'd only teleported to the other side of the chamber. Seeing two possible exits, she chose one but ran into Skellen's men and was forced to turn back. Upon re-entering the chamber she was faced with her recurring nightmare: the black knight with the winged helmet, Cahir.
As she was losing hope, she saw Angoulême behind Cahir and to her great relief, both of them started fighting Skellen's men. Once the trio had routed the guards, brief introductions were made and Ciri finally learned Cahir's name, but their acquaintance was short-lived as Bonhart closed in on them. Trying to distract the bounty hunter, Ciri and Cahir pretended that the young knight was in fact "the witcher". Bonhart was not entirely convinced but chose to fight Cahir nonetheless while Ciri and Angoulême ran ahead. Though he put up a good fight, Bonhart's skills were superior and Cahir was killed.
As Ciri and Angoulême tried to run, Angoulême's wound slowed their progress and eventually the two were forced to stop. Ciri tried in vain to stop the bleeding but her new-found companion died in her arms. Bonhart closed in once again, continuing to menace Ciri and backed her to the far end of the corridor where she realized they had reached the ruined part of the castle where most of the floor had collapsed. Engaging Bonhart on a series of exposed beams, Ciri was able to outmaneuver her enemy using the pendulum training she'd acquired at Kaer Morhen, first slashing Bonhart across the back, much to the bounty hunter's disbelief, before causing him to lose his balance and fall, seriously injuring himself. Bested, Bonhart all but begged for his life, insisting Ciri was too noble to murder a beaten foe in cold blood. Denying him a coup de grâce, Ciri took the medallions Bonhart had taken as trophies from witchers he'd claimed to have killed; humiliated and enraged, Bonhart sprang to his feet and tried to attack Ciri from behind. At the last second, Ciri heard Bonhart coming, dodged aside from his attack, and then slashed his throat the same sword he'd given her before coldly watching the bounty hunter bleed to death.
Meanwhile, Geralt and Yennefer had found Vilgefortz and were busy trying to defeat him. Vilgefortz did not seem to be particularly stressed by their combined assault as he hurled fireball after fireball at them and gained the upper hand, where he had a chance to strike and kill Yennefer. However, at this opportune moment Regis arrived on the scene, providing enough distraction for Geralt and Yennefer to gather themselves, but Vilgefortz managed to kill Regis in the process. The battle then continued with the witcher, the sorceress, and the mage, with Vilgefortz again looking like he would win. Yennefer was seriously wounded and it came down to just the witcher and the mage. Vilgefortz materialized an iron rod to fight Geralt and dominated the witcher in terms of swordplay and maneuvering, wounding Geralt blow after blow. As Vilgefortz prepared for the final strike, Geralt managed to cast a high level illusion using Fringilla Vigo's medallion, causing Vilgefortz to miss his swing. Geralt, seizing this opportunity, slashed the surprised mage across the chest and then beheaded Vilgefortz as he fell to his knees.
Ciri managed to find and reunite with her adoptive parents and the trio set to get outside of the castle. As they slowly made their way to the only exit, they encountered the remains of Skellen's men and were forced to fight their way down the main staircase. Side by side, Ciri and Geralt proceeded to kill everyone in their way, with Ciri managing to deflect a bolt with her sword, though Geralt warned her afterwards to not do that again.
Emhyr's assault[]
Emhyr var Emreis, who found out from Dijkstra's letter where Vilgefortz was hiding, decided to attack the castle without further delay to recover his daughter, although all his armies were in the North, either fighting or occupying conquered regions. Therefore, he took his own personal Impera Brigade to attack the place. However, they arrived near the end of Geralt's assault, coming to the entrance just as Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri were fighting the remains of Skellen's men at the main staircase.
Realizing they were extremely outnumbered now, Skellen's men surrendered without a fight. Stefan Skellen was accused of treason by Emhyr var Emreis himself and arrested along with his men. Emhyr then took Geralt aside for a long private conversation. At that point, Geralt let Emhyr know that he had figured out that he was in fact Duny, Ciri's father.
Aftermath[]
However, these victories came at a great price. All the witcher's companions died in battle, with Milva mortally wounded by an arrow, Angoulême died from a lance wound to the leg, Cahir was killed by Bonhart, and Regis was melted by Vilgefortz. The only survivors were Geralt, Ciri, and Yennefer.
Meanwhile, Emhyr revealed in private to Geralt he planned to take Ciri and impregnate her himself to fulfill the prophecy and his destiny, to which Geralt expressed his disgust. As the truth of this couldn't get out, everyone who knew the whole story couldn't be allowed to live, namely Geralt and Yennefer. The emperor then gave his assurances that he would never hurt Ciri (other than, of course, incestuously impregnating her), and as Emhyr respected the couple and appreciated all that they'd done for Ciri, he would allow them to commit suicide by slitting their wrists in a warm bath. He also allowed Geralt and Yennefer to say their goodbyes to a shocked and confused Ciri.
Geralt and Yennefer grudgingly agreed and after saying goodbye, entered the heavily guarded bath chamber. Emhyr assured them that they could take as long as they wanted to, and that only once they were ready, they could call in his guards who would give them knives to complete the act. Before he left, Yennefer made him promise that he would never make "her daughter" cry.
Though he was not initially in much of a romantic mood, Yennefer convinced Geralt that they might as well have one last romantic interlude before they slit their wrists. After this, they called in the guards. However, nobody responded so they called again and this time the door opened and none other than Ciri poked her head in. She then explained to the stunned pair that she had been prepared to leave with the emperor, and was in fact on her way out when she lost her composure and began sobbing about the loss of her foster parents. Realizing that he had just broken his promise to Yennefer, the Emperor decided to let them go. Without any more fanfare, he left with his brigade and returned to Nilfgaard.
The trio then gathered all of Geralt's dead companions and buried them outside the castle.
Notes[]
- The assault on Stygga is referenced further in the games, particularly in the Blood and Wine expansion due to the reappearance of Regis who explains how he survived. However this information should be considered non-canon in regards to vampires.