I have completed the premium module Price of Neutrality; a nice addition to the base game, and a new opportunity to interact with the other witchers. However, I don't understand how I have won the boss fight in the end.

SPOILERS AHEAD

I decided to follow Vesemir's advice and stay neutral, which leads to Dreirdre summoning five super-archespores in Kaer Morhen. They have a fancy name (Cursed Soul or Condemned Soul), are a lot tougher to kill and don't have a health bar, so you never know how close you are to finish them off. Price of Neutrality is harder than the base game (I was killed more than once by simple wolves), but this fight is particularly brutal. Even with potions I was massacred several times. My strategy was taking as many potions as my toxicity level allows, kill one of the archespores with silver sword and Igni as fast as possible and then find a safe spot where the archespore ranged attack couldn’t reach me. The placement of the enemies seems to be somewhat random so the safe location varies at each attempt. After that, combine silver swords attacks while health is high enough, throw fire balls when there is still endurance, and go back to the safe spot to heal. However, after some time one of the archespores suddenly disappears underground and reappears at the spot of one of the dead ones, rendering my "safe spot" useless.

On my sixth or seventh attempt, after having killed 2 out of 5 super-archespores, I am throwing fireballs at the third one from my safe spot hoping it doesn't move. Well... it does, and suddenly it's just next to me shooting projectiles. I take my silver sword and start attacking it like there's no tomorrow. Somehow I manage to kill it... but I am almost dead, toxicity doesn't allow me to take more potions, and there are still two of those things trying to eat me.

Or aren't they? All of a sudden there is a cinematic, with no archespore on sight, and I go help poor Eskel.

What happened? The journal said I needed to kill the archespores. Is this a bug or are you supposed to only kill some? Not that I am not relieved that this fight is over, but I would like to understand what happened.

Otherwise, the adventure had a great story and was pretty challenging, which was good, but this part was just unnerving.

Also, please feel free to criticize my strategy. I probably should have distributed my talents at the beginning in a more effective way (I distributed them quite evenly, which made me a jack of all trades, master of none). I didn't manage to level up until just right before the boss battle, when there was no chance left to meditate.

It's a long time since i played it...so i hope i remember it right.

The spores should be sumoned with one in the center and the other 4 a bit radomized around it, killing the central spore should make the other die/disappear/...
If the 3. spore you killed was the central spore everything is fine :)

That makes sense, I am not sure because the super-archespore moved, but it could very well have been the central one (and its name was probably different). I wish the journal instructions were clearer.

Thanks!

I got Deidre by myself but had too search the Witcherboard for a way to get Sabrina's.

Yeah, for someone who is supposed to be a nymphomaniac, your timing has to be spot on to get the Sabrina card.

I got Deirdre's without any effort, but I didn't even get close to Sabrina's. Apparently I mentioned the boy with the dog incident too soon.

Is this "Price of Neutrality" some kind of DLC<?? I thought that there were no DLC for the Witcher 1...

It's one of the extra adventures included in the Enhanced Edition. No separate purchase needed. Just click "New Game", then "New Adventures". ;)

Most of them are fan-made, but there are two developed by CD Projekt RED, commonly called "premium modules": The Price of Neutrality and Side Effects. They have professional quality, including full voice acting.

Bows before a true Witcher player.