Witcher 3 Velen main quest line (Velen main quest) is the stretch after the audience with the emperor, where Geralt gathers clues about Ciri in Velen. In Czech the region is called No Man’s Land. The core is the Bloody Baron at Crow’s Perch and the Ladies of the Wood in the swamps. Once those clues tell you Ciri rode on, the game pulls you toward Novigrad.
After the audience into No Man’s Land
The game sends you from Vizima into Velen. The emperor wants Ciri alive and Geralt wants her before the Wild Hunt takes her. The first name you keep hearing in the region is the Bloody Baron. He sits at Crow’s Perch in the middle of the map and that is where the search starts. How you reach the castle is in the guide how to get to Crow’s Perch. Until you talk to the baron, you do not even know if he saw Ciri at all.
The Baron and his family
Baron Phillip Strenger really did see Ciri, but he will not tell you everything at once. First you have to deal with his family in Family Matters. You search for Anna and Tamara and along the way you learn things were bad at home and the women ran away. The trail leads to a hut by the bog and on into the swamps. The whole branch is in the Bloody Baron story line guide. Without Crow’s Perch the main Velen line does not move.
Swamps, Keira, and the Ladies of the Wood
Family Matters stalls when you need to find out what happened to Anna in the bog. Meanwhile the game sends you on the branch with Keira Metz, which the Keira story line guide covers. In Hunting a Witch and Wandering in the Dark you open elven ruins and more traces of the Wild Hunt. Only then do you reach Crookback Bog and the three sisters Ciri escaped from in the swamp. Anna watches over orphans there and choices at the Ladies of the Wood reach all the way to the end of the game. When you return to Crow’s Perch with news about Anna, the baron tells you the rest about Ciri.
What you learn about Ciri
The baron does not dump everything about Ciri on you at once. He gives it in parts and in those memories you play as her.
The first is Ciri’s Story: The King of the Wolves. Ciri saves a girl Gretka in the swamps and both end up at the table at Crow’s Perch, so you know for sure she really was at the baron’s.
The second memory is Ciri’s Story: The Race. The baron bets with Ciri over a horse and a sword and they ride to an abandoned tower, but the telling cuts off before the end.
The third is Ciri’s Story: Out of the Shadows. When you bring him news about Anna after the Ladies of the Wood, he finishes how Ciri saved him from a basilisk at the tower. The Wild Hunt found her there, so she rode on to Novigrad. That is the piece of information that ends Velen as the main trail.
What to finish before you leave
To move on to Novigrad it is enough to finish the baron’s trail through Out of the Shadows. Then you know where Ciri went and the main arrow pulls you north. Crossing the river is covered in the guide how to cross the Pontar. Return to Crookback Bog is the branch about saving Anna. You can do it right away or come back later. How the family turns out is in the Bloody Baron endings guide. Keira, Letho, and notice boards in Velen belong to the region, but do not let them block your departure once you have Ciri’s trail into the city.
In Novigrad you search for Ciri among mages, crime, and witch hunter fire. The whole arc of the game is in the Witcher 3 story guide. The atmosphere of Velen and why the region holds up is also in the Witcher 3 review. The guide overview is on the Witcher 3 hub.
