Ciri's Story in Velen: The King of the Wolves, Fleeing the Bog, The Race and Out of the Shadows (Witcher 3)
All four Ciri's Story quests in Velen: what to inspect on the body in The King of the Wolves, Fleeing the Bog, The Race and the basilisk in Out of the Shadows.
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Updated October 2026. In Velen you don't only follow Ciri's trail, you play parts of it. Four short main quests put you in her boots: The King of the Wolves, Fleeing the Bog, The Race and Out of the Shadows. Each takes a few minutes and starts on its own when a character tells you what happened. Only one of them has a choice that matters, and it's in the first one: how you read a dead man's wounds.
Quick answer
The King of the Wolves: inspect the corpse's chest, legs and belly so Ciri works out it's a werewolf. Get it wrong and she brews the wrong oil, and the fight is harder.
Fleeing the Bog: just run to the marker. You don't have to fight the drowners or hounds.
The Race: win or lose, the story is the same.
Out of the Shadows: hit the basilisk, climb the ledges with white marks, then finish it off.
All Ciri's Story Quests in Velen
| Quest | When it starts | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| The King of the Wolves | In Bloody Baron, when the Baron tells Geralt how he met Ciri | Save a girl, read the clues on a body, brew an oil, kill a werewolf |
| Fleeing the Bog | Near the end of Ladies of the Wood, in Crookback Bog | Escape through the swamp while Imlerith chases you |
| The Race | In Family Matters, when the Baron tells more of the story | A horse race against the Baron |
| Out of the Shadows | Right after The Race | Fight a basilisk and save the Baron |
Story order: Fleeing the Bog happens first for Ciri, but you play it second. The game shows the scenes in the order people tell them to Geralt.
Ciri's Story: The King of the Wolves
This one starts during Bloody Baron, when Baron Phillip Strenger tells you how he met Ciri. She is running from someone, falls into a dry riverbed and follows it. She finds a girl named Gretka stuck in a tree and walks her home, fighting wolves on the way.
Then she finds a mangled corpse. This is the one choice that matters:
| What you inspect | Ciri's conclusion | The fight |
|---|---|---|
| Chest, legs and belly | Werewolf. She brews the right oil (wolfsbane). | Normal. The werewolf is not hard. |
| Miss some of them | Fiend. She brews the wrong oil (mistletoe). | Harder: the werewolf uses its Full Moon ability and gets stronger. |
Ciri gathers the ingredients, brews the oil at a campfire and goes into the cave to fight the King of the Wolves, a werewolf. For more on oils in the main game, see our oils guide.
When the flashback ends, the Baron lets Gretka stay and work in his kitchen, but he won't tell you where Ciri went until you help him find his wife and daughter. Family Matters and the small quest Ciri's Room start here.
Comforting Gretka and what you say to the Baron afterwards are optional. They don't change anything.
Ciri's Story: Fleeing the Bog
This plays near the end of Ladies of the Wood in Crookback Bog. Ciri wakes up, learns what the Crones plan to do with her, and escapes through a window. Imlerith of the Wild Hunt is after her. Run to the marker on the far side of the bog. Drowners and Wild Hunt hounds show up, but you don't need to fight them. A cutscene shows Ciri hiding in a tree until Imlerith passes, then she runs, falls down some rocks, and the quest ends. That fall is how she ends up in the riverbed in The King of the Wolves.
Ciri's Story: The Race
Later in Family Matters, the Baron tells you more. Ciri stayed at Crow's Perch as his guest. Around a fire, she challenges him to a horse race, and the next morning you ride it. Follow the marked path. It's easy to win, but the result doesn't change the story. At the finish a basilisk dives at them.
If you haven't finished Ladies of the Wood yet, the game sends you back to look for the Baron's wife first. Once you report to the Baron about Anna, he finishes the story and Out of the Shadows begins.
Ciri's Story: Out of the Shadows
- Attack the basilisk until its health is almost gone. A cutscene shows it grabbing the Baron and flying to the top of a tower.
- Run to the stone ledges with white marks and climb.
- Halfway up, a cutscene shows Ciri using her powers to save the Baron.
- Finish off the basilisk.
Back at Crow's Perch, Ciri gets ready to leave for Novigrad. Using her powers could bring the Wild Hunt, so she leaves to keep everyone safe, hoping to find Yennefer there. That's your next lead too.
Video: The King of the Wolves
Frequently Asked Questions
QWhat should Ciri inspect on the body in The King of the Wolves?
The chest, the legs and the belly. That leads her to the right answer, a werewolf, and the right oil. If she decides it's a fiend, she brews the wrong oil and the werewolf gets stronger.
QDo the Ciri's Story choices affect the ending?
No. These four Velen quests don't change the ending. The choices that decide Ciri's fate come later, see our Witcher 3 endings guide.
QDoes winning the race with the Baron matter?
No. The race result doesn't change anything.
QDo I have to fight in Fleeing the Bog?
No. Just run to the marker. The drowners and hounds can be avoided.
QHow do I beat the basilisk as Ciri?
Hit it until it's nearly dead, climb the ledges with white marks after the cutscene, then finish it.
QIn what order do the Ciri quests happen?
You play them as The King of the Wolves, Fleeing the Bog, The Race and Out of the Shadows. For Ciri herself, Fleeing the Bog happened first.
More: the Bloody Baron and Family Matters walkthrough, the Bloody Baron good ending guide and all Witcher 3 quests.
Sources: in-game quest text and journal; steps and choices checked against the Witcher Wiki pages for Ciri's Story: The King of the Wolves, Fleeing the Bog, The Race and Out of the Shadows. Screenshots: gameplay frames from YouTube walkthroughs.
Kai Mercer covers game news, free games, release calendars and guides for xGamerss.
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