hohenfriedberg: potential spoiler for stuff between 'A Matter of Life & Death' and 'Now or Never'

So I finished 'A Matter of Life & Death', did some other stuff, then fast traveled to Novigrad's Glory Gate fast travel point/marker.
So I cross the bridge there and there's this pyre surrounded by people, Temple Guards and Witch Hunters.

There Doesn't seem to be Anyone on the Pyre at all. There is no triggered sequence.
Since I had just saved, I thought: maybe I'll try to use Aard on the fire and kill it. Guards and Witch Hunters go hostile, but they're all relatively low level (15 vs my 24).
After the fight, a conversation triggers w/ the guy/mage I met w/ Triss at the 'A Matter of Life & Death' 'party' named Moritz Diefenthel.
There's a conversation option.
After the conversation, nothing else seems to happen: no XP, no quest notes, nothing seemed to have been triggered as far as a quest goes.

Question:
- Did I do something out of order? Did I accidentally do something that's part of a quest? If so, which one?
- If not, is this then just a bugged encounter that failed to load properly or trigger?

I'll probably avoid Novigrad, in the meantime (as the next thing that happened was an encounter/cutscene when trying to go through the gate and requiring a Pass)

sariaen: Nope. This is how it is supposed to be, apart from the 'no visible mage on the pyre'. There are no triggers, you are supposed to hear him scream for help and react by attacking the guards or putting the fire out. Then you get a conversation and you both walk your own paths. No exp, no nothing. This is a side encounter. Your reward is saving a human life :P