You can get two red fragments in the first act and a red fragment during the prologue by choosing to kill the frightener and talking to Vezemir afterwards albeit this will allow the Salamandra to steal more equipment and you will encounter mutated beasts earlier.
(Such as the dog creature after helping Mikul.)

The second red fragment is available from the Ghoul boss in the crypts, don't forget to take his head to the hunter for a reward and remember that collecting all trophies gives you a really good reward during the final act.
(You can choose between either a new steel sword or a silver sword.)

I don't remember where I got the third fragment but I think it was from a quest after having all three fragments you only need the 1000 gold to buy the sword and it gives a nice +45% damage which should make any other sword obsolete until the second act depending on if you find the sword Helviss or not.

Talk to Leuvarden when he is at the inn and agree to find his missing friend then go to the cave near the city gates close to the "haunted" mill and kill all the echinop spores there, take the human remains and either return to Leuvarden or go directly to the Reverend to gain access to the crypt/chapel since he wanted his friend properly buried.

Toss the bones into the pit and the "Wild Hunt" should appear, talk to it and depending on your choices it will either leave you or fight you - to get the red ore you need to fight it which will bring back the ghost of the witcher guy the professor killed during the prologue (Can't remember the name right now.) this will also bring a bit of back story to why you were running around in the forest during the opening intro and after killing the ghost the red ore (Meteorite fragment?) will be on his body.

honestly, what i was hoping for was that you would see the hell hound rise out of the pumpkin patch or something, that woulda been sweet and i think would have given a lot more satisfaction out of the dog and given it more purpose or something... but oh well...

the fact that odo works on his "garden" at evening/night sometimes plus the occurance of several Echinopsea suggests that there was a great crime committed there, a great injustice.. the dog is just extra proof

Yea, they're all guilty and I went and screwed that Witch and then let them burn her on the stake

actually she was just flat out pig-stuck... you can go back and loot the corpse

im curious... if you let her die, what happenes in chapter 4? does some generic old crone replace her in the village? let me kno plz.

Decision: Save Abigail

Impact: If you save Abigail, she fights with you against the Beast. If you don't save her, she dies and you face the Beast with a bunch of villagers. If she lives, you will meet her again in Chapter 4 and she will also help you fight in the epilogue. If she dies, a generic healer will be in the healer's hut in Chapter 4 and you will have to fight her in the epilogue. Your choice in this decision seems to alter the way in which the "Heat of the Day" quest in chapter 4 plays out as well because this decision impacts whether you are someone who stays out of other people's business or whether you try to help others by getting involved.

thanx... its pretty much what i expected anyway, generic crone takes over if shes dead...

useless bitch though... you leave her to look after the kid, and the first thing she does is ditch him... women in this game are so useless, cant even look after a kid, its insane! that shani chick is worthless, should never have picked her to look after alvin... i bet she couldnt even look after a pet fucking rock.

Lol yea, and that Sorceress aint much better. Even her voice acting is one of the worst in game.