Winged Bandit is the first real quest in The Witcher: Monster Slayer.

Walkthrough

The player will find a yellow blob (quest target) nearby them, which turns out to be a young Skellige merchant by name of Thorstein. Dialogue follows, with limited options.

Thorstein has lost his horse to a flying monster.

The witcher will need to track his horse down to about 1 km distance from the starting location. Targets are marked on the map and pointed towards by a yellow arrow and question mark in the main view. Once the witcher is close enough to the target, it appears as another yellow map object to tap.

It turns out to be the horse's head. Interact with the circles to find out it has been a griffin. You are attacked by an alghoul (or two). The player is intended to lose this battle, and this is fine.

Next, the griffin must be found. It is not as far away from the current location, a brief walking distance. The player is presented with another map target.

Once the griffin is found, it has to be defeated. Quest monsters seem to generally not go away when the player loses the fight, so you have as many tries as you need. However, Thorstein gives you some hybrid oil which you can prepare in addition to anything else you might want to use (damage booster potion, bombs) and you should be able to finish it with those. Hybrid oil is easy to come by later, and there is no need to save it even if you might be able to finish the griffin without it.

Once the quest is completed, Thorstein gives you a map for the next quest. It may be best to read it closer to home, as it will be again approximately 1 km away from the reading location. Quest relocation becomes available once you have walked far enough away from the previous location, though.

Journal entry

WHEN THE WITCHER EMERGED FROM THE WOODS, HIS/HER EYES BEHELD A MOST CURIOUS SIGHT: A WILD ASSORTMENT OF PAPERS, BOOKS, BOXES AND GARMENTS LYING ON THE GROUND...

...AND SITTING IN THE MIDDLE OF IT ALL, A CLEARLY PAINED AND MUDDLED YOUNG MAN, DRESSED IN THE SKELLIGE FASHION. THE WITCHER SIGHED AND STEPPED TOWARDS HIM.

On my travels, I came across a young Skellige merchant. He'd been attacked by a flying monster that carried off his horse and his bags along with it. I decided to track it down and help Thorstein that was the merchant's name - recover his possessions.

The monster's tracks took us to the head of poor Joergen, Thorstein's horse. I inspected the site and concluded a young griffin was responsible. It couldn't lift the whole horse, so it tore off the least edible part with its beak. Suddenly, an alghoul attacked, drawn by the stench of carrion, no doubt. I wounded it, but didn't manage to kill it.

Before we parted, Thorstein gave me some hybrid oil, a useful thing when fighting griffins. Something told me that was not the last time he'd surprise me...

I finally tracked down and defeated the griffin. My abilities must have impressed Thorstein because he proposed I join him in a hunt for mysterious treasure marked on a map which he gave me to look over.

THE WITCHER MADE QUICK WORK OF THE GRIFFIN AND SOON REUNITED THE YOUNG MERCHANT WITH HIS WARES.

THORSTEIN DIDN'T THINK TWICE BEFORE OFFERING THE WITCHER A NEW ADVENTURE A HUNT FOR A MYSTERIOUS TREASURE. THE WITCHER DECIDED TO THINK ABOUT THIS PROPOSAL.