Okay, I have some problems and questions about chapter 3:

1. The gargoyle quest and the runes: I don't think this puzzle makes any sense. I've tried to figure out the paper on the pedestals in the rooms, but they give only three runes, while there are four glowing ones. Further I don't recognize any of the runes to somehow match the inscriptions, and I don't recognize them from power of runes books either. And I wouldn't know how the descriptions on the papers could some map on the runes in the books, even I could match the runes to the depictions in the books. (So, I found myself forced to use the game guide, and it gives two different orders in which to turn the runes off, and only one of them is correct.) Finally, could someone describe where I can find the third group of Gargoyles and runes? If found the ones through the left and right doors at the entrance, but I haven't found the final one.

2. The manuscript one can find in one of the boxes requires ingredients to open, says the mage craftsman. But I don't have the Endrega pheromones anymore; is there an Endraga qqueen around somewhere for me to kill; or is this another problem with the crafting system?

3. I can't remember the third...

- Here is walkthrough from the wiki: http://witcher.wikia.com/wiki/The_Gargoyle_Contract
- Although there are only 3 lines, they contains all 4 symbols.
- Explanation of the symbols:
a) Sky = line within a parallelogram
b) Animal = a snake creeping along a riverbed (the one that looks like S)
c) Time = an open hourglass (meaning one end of it is open)
d) Art = a harp

- I think some symbols are missing from the game, so matching the runes to the riddle can be a stretch at times.
a) "moan" goes under Art (??)
b) There is no rune that corresponds to Death, so "dying" goes under Time (which kind of makes sense although a bit of a stretch)
c) There is no rune that corresponds to Lightning/Thunder, so it goes under Sky - Nope there are no Endrega queens in Chapter 3. They can only be found in Chapter 1. It is not really a problem as much as don't sell items labelled as "quest items" but it is known that there are occasions where potion-making "choose" these quest items. \
- However there are some mods that can help you out listed on this page
http://witcher.wikia.com/wiki/An_Encrypted_Manuscript - Me neither :p

*SPOILERS*
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The paper on the pedestasl describes 3 runes, and their relative order. But you have four runes to put out, so what you have to do is figure out where the 4th rune, the one that is not mentioned in the paper on the pedestal, belongs in the chain. Is it the first rune in the chain, second, third or fourth ? You can figure it out simply by using trial and error, at most it will take you 4 tries.

For instance,

A doe's long shadow - animal
The moon quietly moans - sky
It is autumn already - time

In addition to these 3 runes you have the 'death' rune to extinguish in this room. Since you already know the relative order of 3 of the 4 runes all you need to do is fit the 4th rune in the sequence.

Try #1 - death animal, sky, time
Try #2 - animal, death, sky, time
Try #3 - animal, sky death, time
Try #4 - animal, sky, time, death

In this case you would have got it right at Try #3.

I don't know if there's a way to figure out the 4th rune's position through text interpretation or whatnot, i figured that 4 tries, at most, to finish each of the 3 rooms was fair enough, so i went for trial and error right of the bat.

I've attached a pic with the locations of the gargoyles.

I beg to differ. The 4 runes are being referred to within the 3 lines (although initially i had to admit I was thinking along the same line as you did). But in some cases, the association can be a stretch.

*SPOILERS*
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Ok, let's give it a shot using just the texts. Assuming the answers on that wiki page are all correct,

On the dark sky
The beauty of a falcon's flight
Faster and Faster

Sky/Death/Animal/Time

A doe's long shadow
The moon quietly moans
It is autumn already

Animal/Sky/Death/Time

How would you get 'death' on those 2 ?

Glittering fish
Dying on a fresco
Struck by lightning

Animal/Time/Art/Sky

Or time on that one ?

Edit: Maybe it was a translation thing that screwed up some of the texts ? Are the texts in Polish and English identical ?

The main thing is, I never really associated the harp looking rune as Death (since it resembles a harp way more than a scythe). And with that in mind, here are my arguments:

Well for the first one, beauty = Art

Again, not sure how moan = Death/Art. Both seems inappropriate - this I don't get but accept anyway.

For the 3rd one, "dying" can be associated with that Time when your life passes by. A stretch, but trying to associate "dying" with the other runes (Animal, Art, Sky) seems more improbable.

I don't understand where you get death from?

The "harp" symbol is for Art

To makes things worse, there is at least 1 mis-print in the Game Guide for this quest, if you use this method.

Warning spoilers below!!




In the first room listed in the Guide (the room south of the main gate on the map), the Guide lists 2 solution paths.

In the first solution path, the direction to the first rune is wrong. It should read: rune on the wall to the left from the entrance, not 'right' as written. Then, the second direction: rune on the wall to the right, is correct...

In my playthrough, for the first room, the Guide's first path solution (once I figured out the mis-print problem using the rune books and clues in the note) worked for me. For the second room (one to the north of the main gate) the Guide's second solution path worked. I have not done the third room yet....

The solutions paths for each room seem randomised between the 2 possible solutions described in the Guide.

The guide should provide some diagram, because it is confusing.

Yes guide is confusing, it mentions 6 rune scripts but only 3 locations

If all else fails, heres a pretty good site for the rune puzzels:
http://www.omegamagnus.com/PC-Games/witcher-2-pc-game-gargoyle-contract-puzzle-room-runes-signs.html

Just scroll down for the examples.

Yup.

That's what I think is the case. For one, the rune resembles a harp more than a sigh. The other reason being that except for the case of "moan" (which neither Death or Art fits), the other cases "Dance", "fresco", "lullaby", "Divertimento", "beauty" are readily identifiable with Art.

So what you're saying is that whenever the word Death comes up in a solution, in that wiki page, it should actually be Art ? And vice-versa i assume ?

In my opinion, they should all be Art. The death rune (described as depicting a scythe) simply does not exist.