the succubus in Novigrad in the quest deadly delights is innocent or not?

[christiancarnota]

Salma, the succubus, claims to have killed the Temple Guards in self defense after being discovered by them. However, it seems as if there are a few inconsistencies with this story.
the killings in the journal entry are described as a string of killings, which seems to contradict it being a one time, last resort action as she implied. Also, the bodies are dessicated, as if the life had been drained from them, with no other wounds other than scratches from fingernails. Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't succubi only drain humans in this way through sexual contact?

if it was on sefl defense shouldnt be burn marks in the corpses, succubi use fire based magic in combat. The guards weren't burned, they were completely drained, which is a side effect of multiple and/or prolonged sexual contact with a succubus.

but she say that she dont lie or kill without a reason, so is she liying or not. the bestiary say  succubi do not usually commit premeditated, cold-blooded murder. This is not to say they are not dangerous: they will at times kill on accident, when carried away on a particularly gushing stream of ecstasy. At other times, they kill in self-defense.

also why if you spare her the bestiary say that geralt could not escape the fealing that it would come to regret his decision

[JasonBourne]

Yeah they were closing in on her so she took them out yeah

[Valden21]

Faced with Temple Guards? Considering what they would DO to a succubus, just BECAUSE she's a succubus, I'd say it qualifies as self-defense. Temple Guards are chosen for skill and fanaticism, not mercy; they're not good people.

[longjohn119]

I'd chose a succubus over right wing religious fanatics every time and twice on Sunday

[kireta]

Yeah, some quests are a mess when you actually think. Another example is Missing Apprentice quest, where cannibals claim they ate him because they were starving, but their basement is full of food. But if you make promise to not eat people, instead of cutting them down, they actually starve as if food really was scarce.

It's even more obvious in Following the Thread: Geralt says he found out man they're looking for buys goods from pirates, but actual piece of evidence is letter where he bluntly refuses buyng any goods from them.

[ΆΡΗΣ]

would rather kill her and get that succubus milk cause the one in the mountains is a full time party animal

[Rumitus]

I just left her alive, got the trophy and then added myself the mutagen from the console. I used her as an example of Geralt helping monsters for another quest later, but there's many chances for that anyway.

[Jorge]

i just killed her, i think she **** them to death, and she is used to kill people, living in the middle of novigrad not the best

[Valden21]

Originally posted by Jorge:

i just killed her, i think she **** them to death, and she is used to kill people, living in the middle of novigrad not the best

That's Temple Guard reasoning. The bestiary's entry on succubi says that they don't usually kill, and when they do, it tends to be either accidental, or self-defense. Temple Guards are known for two things: fanaticism, and cruelty. That's how doppler-Chappele was caught; Caleb Menge noticed that he wasn't being a sadistic scumbag. Given both of those things, I think it's safe to say that Salma's telling you the truth. She's got no real reason to lie.

[Alexis Machine]

Eh... the whole quest is nothing more than a trap for players who hit that skip button too eagerly when faced with extremely long descriptions.

Despite being quite a loremaster and usally very attentive to plot details, I, too fell for it in my first playthrough, only to realize the disappointing truth once someone told me me to carefully read the description of the corpses given by the redanian sergeant.

The fact that there are wikias inaccurately describing the corpses as burned (when they actually sport NO WOUNDS AT ALL and just look strangely dessicated) adds to the confusion... the lesson here is reading and evaluating the descriptions given ingame, instead of relying on untrustworthy external sources.

Succubi badly maul their victims in combat, either beating them up with their hooves until only a bloodied pulp is left, or blasting them to charred husks with devastating spells. In either case, there's no missing a succubus' victim. But the corpses of the soldier sport no wounds at all, except scratches sustained during sexual intercourse with prostitutes. The soldiers never fought Salma, they only had sex with her... and had their life energy completely drained. Usually succubi don't drain their partners to death, but in this particular case it's obvious that Salma was uncapable of containing her lustful appetite, and subsequently, fearful of Geralt, lied to him about a fight that never happened. The owner of Crippled Kate will confirm this theory if questioned (best done with Axii), revealing that she hired Salma believing her to be a good addition to her roster, and that she never imagined that she would had killed the patrons of the brothel. So, in this case, the persecution (otherwise very believable) is just an excuse to cover Salma's inability to restrain hersefl.

[Valden21]

Originally posted by Alexis Machine:

The fact that there are wikias inaccurately describing the corpses as burned (when they actually sport NO WOUNDS AT ALL and just look strangely dessicated) adds to the confusion... the lesson here is reading and evaluating the descriptions given ingame, instead of relying on untrustworthy external sources.

But that's not what the wiki says AT ALL. Look closer at the quest's entry; what it says is that the bodies are ready to BE burnt. That's something entirely different. The wiki CONFIRMS your claim of how the bodies looked. The way I see it, the deaths of those Temple Guards was either accidental, or in self-defense. The in-game description of succubi says that very thing. Either way, there's one question that should be asked: Just WHAT were Temple Guards up to associating with a succubus?

[Alexis Machine]

[/quote] ...Just WHAT were Temple Guards up to associating with a succubus? [/quote]

It's quite simple.... Sex! Much in the same way in which the priests of the Eternal Fire condemn prostitution in their sermons, but are among the most fervent perusers of the services offered in brothels in their private lives.

Regarding the wikiaS, the plural here is the key: there's more than one, in different languages, and at least one I saw clearly (and erroneously) states that the bodies looked as if burned by something. Of course, as you correctly stated, it's an error, the bodies WERE TO BE BURNED, as per Novigrad burial customs. But I'm sure more than one player was swayed by that sentence.

Anyway, I agree with the accidental death, probably Salma didn't want to kill the soldiers, she was simply unable to restrain herself. And that's fundamentally what the owner of Crippled Kate tells Geralt, she doesn't speak of any fight (although, truth to be told, I wouldn't be surprised to discover the soldiers demanded heavy discounts under the threat of reporting the succubus to their superiors). Actual self defense, however, is to be excluded, no doubt here: no fight was involved, the sergeant himself tells Geralt that the only "wounds" on the corpses were scratches of the kind one gets while engaging in sexual activity with prostitutes, so they died during intercourse, not fighting something. Unless one believes that Salma was attacked and, instead of relying on her powerul spells and hooves, she retaliated by mass raping the entire group of soldiers (!!!!!!).... The only option left is that of a compulsive life drainer. Far too dangerous to be left alive (and working in a brothel, too!) even for the standards of a realtively benevolent witcher like Geralt.