the-witcher-2
The guide for Witcher 2 which comes with the premium/collector's edition says you can get the troll contract off the notice-board, but I never got any.
Do I have to read the notice to get the quest? (And what should I do if I've sold off those notices?)
There seem to be multiple different puzzles, and which one is finally used in a room seems to be random.
There are three rooms in total where you must extinguish the signs in the correct order. They are all underground, look for stairs leading down in the three locations marked on this map:
The descriptions of the signs are in the Books of Magical Signs Volumes 1-4, they are as following:
art = harp
war = clenched fist
thunder = striking lightning bolt
death = scythe
sky = line within parallelogram, pursed mouth
butterfly = line crossed twice
weather = arrow sliced in half
reason = bear dancing on dew
time = open hourglass or chalice
life = blossoming flower
animal = snake creeping along riverbead
fate = cross within circle
I've only had 4 different runes in my game, I identified them as the following
Animal
__
/
/ / /
/
--
Time
\ /
\/
/\
/ \
----
Sky
----
|\ |
| \|
----
Art
-----
| /
|--/
| /
|/
The clues in each room are numbered, there appear to be at least 6 different ones.
First encrypted rune combination:
A doe's shadow
The moon quietly moans
It is autumm already
Solution: animal sky art time
Second encrypted rune combination:
Three field mice
Dance in a circle at dusk
Stars are like grain
Solution: animal art time sky
Third encrypted rune combination:
Glittering fish
Dying on a fresco
Struck by lightning
Solution: animal time art sky
Fourth encrypted rune combination:
Behold the comet
It is like a wolf in times of scarceness
An evil lullaby.
Solution: sky animal time art
Fifth encrypted rune combination:
Divertimento!
Coulds are like bees
When bells ring
Solution: art sky animal time
Sixth encrypted rune combination:
On the dark sky
The beauty of a falcon's flight
Faster and faster
Solution: sky art animal time
You should certainly go see the commandante first, that is part of the main quest and not that difficult. Afterwards you need to go outside in any case.
The by far most important thing you should do before venturing into the forest is to get a new silver sword. Don't try to kill monsters with an iron sword, you will be at a huge disadvantage.
But you should be able to handle the monsters from the beginning of the chapter, once you got your silver sword. Remember that you can use bombs, traps, potions and blade oils. I've written about general combat tactics for our Gaming.SE blog, maybe that can help you a bit.
Best Answer
CD Projekt says they will address the Troll DLC problem in the next patch specifically here.
They claim the patch could be available as early as the evening of the 25th (which is like right now).
If you're playing the Steam version, I image you'll have to wait until the patch is rolled into an auto update.
Keep in mind that if you advance beyond chapter 1, the troll quest won't be available on your most current file (at least I can't see how it could be).