How do you get Following the Thread quest?

[eskalano]

there is no contract : monster in the bits in hierach notice board.. so how do you get it?

[Jac]

I think you have to meet up with Lambert to trigger that quest. I came across him completely by accident when I was exploring.

IIRC you need to explore down by the south-east gate of novigrad, by the river. There is a windmill or tower or something.

[orthostatic]

The first time I received that quest, I took an Ekimmara quest or contact in Novigrad. (Sorry, don't recall the name.) I tracked it across the water and encountered Lambert already fighting it.

The second time on a different play-through, just a few days ago, I happened by the house I'd found the first time, and the Ekimmara was upstairs with Lambert with no quest or anything leading up to it.

This is the resulting introductory journal text, pasted from witcher.wikia.com:

While wallowing in the Bits, Novigrad's worst and most notorious slum, the witcher took a contract on a monster committing horrendous murders under the cover of darkness. At the time, he never suspected that a story starting in the gutter would end in a luxurious manor.

Near the Novigrad docks Geralt ran into his old brother at arms, Lambert. Geralt's surprise grew when he realized the ekimmara they both were hunting was not the chief reason for Lambert's presence in the city...