The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Act 1 – Find Johnny, Complete Family Matters, Kill the Basilisk

These are the final main quests in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s Velen region. Complete them all to move on to the Novigrad quests. 

Main Quest: Ladies of the Wood 

Go into Geralt’s inventory and check the Quest Items section for a book with the title, “The Ladies of the Wood.” Read this book and now travel to the marker displayed on the map. When you reach this area, use Geralt’s Witcher Senses and inspect the wood statue, then look for red glowing items hanging from trees. Walk in their direction and view the cut scene. 

From here, travel to the next marker. Walk into the hut and chat with the boy. Leave and talk to the kids about playing Hide and Seek.  No need to run around aimlessly. Geralt’s Witcher Senses will help you find all four children, though they will only reveal their whereabouts after talking to each kid. 

Note: After finding one child, return to the exact spot where you initially spoke to them all to discover another set of footprints. Repeat this process until all of the kids have been found.

With that out of the way, travel to the next marker and kill the Water Hag and Drowners.  Now use Geralt’s Witcher Senses to inspect the footprints, follow them and kill more Drowners. 

You will eventually come to what appears to be a tiny home for some creature, a burrow, if you will.  Call for Johnny and then take after him.  Along the way you will battle Drowners, and bees if you interact with the beehive. If you do the latter, Igni Sign magic will eliminate the insects. 

Stay on Johnny’s trail and watch the ensuing cut scene.  Walk up to the very top of the cliff and slay a Wyvern and three Harpys. Ideally you want to engage them one-by-one. Draw one out, back away, kill the creature and then repeat the process until all are dead. 

Grab all of the items from the nest (including a Raven Feather) and then return to Johnny.  Continue following the little guy, dealing with the Water Hag and Drowners.  Watch the cut scene that plays, then make off for the village of Downwarren to find out what killed some of its inhabitants. 

Approach the marker on the map (in this case, an ealdorman wearing green) and have a chat.  Now travel to the highlighted spot on the map, which gives Geralt access to the west, but you need to enter from the north, so go in that direction. Wolves will appear, but they’re little trouble so long as you don’t allow these animals to gang up on Geralt. 

There is a Werewolf by the entrance. Don’t panic. He will briefly escape to replenish health, but so long as you hit him with fast attacks, this won’t be much of an issue. 

Approach the entrance and absorb power from the orange rock to receive one attribute point. Now move east of this rock and climb to gain access to the cave entrance. 

Upon entering the cave, walk to the end of this path and then go for a swim. Veer to the left and pick up loot, then once more near the end of this area. Exit the water and then walk into the area to kick off a cinematic.  Will you assist the entity or slaughter it?  Rescue this spirit and you start Main Quest: The Whispering Hillock.  You will need to finish The Whispering Hillock before continuing Ladies of the Wood. 

Should you choose to attack the entity, Geralt must deal with an Endrega first. Take down this adversary and then strike the roots surrounding the entity. Additional Endrega will appear, but you have plenty of time to get in lots of hits before they pose a threat. There’s a chance you will be able to destroy the entity before the Endrega reach Geralt. Either way, you’ll probably have to kill minimum three of these creatures before or after disposing of the spirit. 

Main Quest: The Whispering Hillock

You kick off The Whispering Hillock in search of a wild horse, the spirit’s remains and a raven’s feather.  You probably have the feather, which you picked up while completing Main Quest: Ladies of the Wood. If not, read that main quest. 

Exit the northern passage and travel to the marker on the map, fully aware of the Water Hag about to strike. She disappears into the water and then reappears behind Geralt, so be on guard. 

Now go to the middle of this location, triggering multiple Drowners to engage Geralt.  Kill these enemies and then use Witcher Senses to locate a tombstone to the south. Inspect it and then travel to the next marker on the map.  Use Axii Sign magic on one of the black horses to calm it down.  Now immediately get on the horse.  We hope you leveled up Axii Sign magic. If not, use it again until the horse is relaxed. 

While on the horse, go back into the cave and then watch the cut scene.  Beginning the ritual ends this main quest and brings you back to Ladies of the Wood, which we will now pick back up. 

Main Quest: Ladies of the Wood (continued)

Go to the marker on the map and report to the ealdorman, providing you took down the entity from before. This results in a cinematic, transitioning into Main Quest: Ciri’s Story: Fleeing the Bog. This also concludes Ladies of the Wood.

Main Quest: Ciri’s Story: Fleeing the Bog

No time to enjoy the scenery. It’s time to fight! When in control of Ciri head east, cutting through enemies as you go. Travel all the way to the marker on the map and the quest ends. Now it’s time to finish Main Quest: Family Matters once and for all! 

Main Quest: Family Matters (continued)

With Ciri’s Story complete, go north to the fast travel point and use it to reach Crow’s Perch.  Complete Family Matters by talking to the baron. This leads to the next main quest. 

Main Quest: Ciri’s Story: Out of the Shadows

You’re in control of Ciri again. The goal? Kill a basilisk with no health items available. 

Thankfully, this fight shares similarities to the Griffin boss battle from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Prologue. Do whatever it takes to strike the basilisk from behind or to one of its sides. Doing this means avoiding its dangerous poison breath.  Don’t get too carried away here. Hit the basilisk once or twice and then dodge.  Should the creature fly, dodge to the side when it goes in for the attack. 

Ciri will regenerate health over time when not absorbing damage, so retreat when she’s low. Now go back on the attack until a cinematic plays. When it concludes, go right of the tower, ascend the rocks and watch the baron attempt to kill the basilisk; Ciri winds up rescuing the baron.  Ciri’s Story: Out of the Shadows is complete. 

Pledging to help the baron locate his wife kicks off Secondary Quest: Return to Crookback Bog. 

If you followed Prima’s free The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt walkthrough, you successfully completed all of the Velen region main quests. Proceed to Novigrad for the next Main Quest line, beginning with Pyres of Novigrad!

Ready to stand against the Wild Hunt? Prima’s official strategy guide provides a comprehensive walkthrough to help make decisions, navigate the vast game areas and reach the ending you want. The collector’s edition offers even more, with 32 pages of bonus content.