I'm in the Open Sesame section of Blood and Wine. I've recruited Quinto and Eveline and sent them to the Herbalist's hut. Do I need Casimir? I traveled from the hut to Alnes and it looks like Casimir already blew himself up. The "coaching" tip on the screen tells me to "finish recruiting..." but I think I have the two I need. How do I move on to the next "Witcher Seasonings" section?

Max, thank you so much for your reply. Returning to the Herbalist's hut from Alnes didn't change anything. My two recruits and the "stranger" in the basement just made short nonsense comments. I quick traveled back to town, but on entering , the tip section in the upper right didn't say anything about "listening to the guards". I've seen that tip in the online videos I've consulted.
It seems I'm stalled again. Should I go far back in my saves and redo the recruiting or meeting with the stranger? Do you have any other thoughts about moving forwards again?
Thank you.

Did you activate the appropriate subquest (Open Sesame: Witcher Seasonings) in Geralt's questjournal (Lclick)? You should see three questmarkers on the minimap.