The Bloody Baron may be a lot of things - a liar, an alcoholic, a wife-beater, a murderer, a traitor - but along all these other positive traits he’s also a shrewd opportunist. While he seems genuinely fond of Ciri and aided her in her time of need, that didn’t stop him from leveraging his knowledge of Ciri’s whereabouts to coerce Geralt into searching for the Bloody Baron’s own missing family. After stringing Geralt along with two other stories he’ll finally tell you the rest of what he knows about Ciri once you’ve located his wife. This page will provide a walkthrough for the main quest Ciri’s Story: Out of the Darkness in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
Quest Objectives¶
Starting Ciri’s Story: Out of the Darkness¶
The third and final “Ciri’s Story” you’ll hear from the Bloody Baron follows on the heels of Ciri’s Story: Fleeing the Bog, which you’ll hear from the Crones of Crookback Bog at the end of Ladies of the Wood. After you’re done dealing with the Crones of Crookback Bog, return to Crow’s Perch and tell the Bloody Baron what you discovered. He’ll fish for sympathy by explaining how his marriage was mutually abusive - respond however you wish and he’ll eventually get around to telling you this “Ciri’s Story”.
Defeat the Basilisk¶
This “Ciri’s Story” picks up where the last one left off - Ciri and the Bloody Baron indulged in a horse race, the ending of which was interrupted by a Basilisk. After a bit of chatter you’ll find yourself fighting this beast alongside the Bloody Baron, who is of dubious utility, at best. The Cockatrice fights much like other Draconids, so if you’ve fought a Wyvern or Forktail by now, you’ll know roughly what to expect… although in truth Basilisks fight more like Cockatrices, so completing [Contract: Shrieker] will prepare you more.
The Basilisk prefers to rely on its wings when it comes to offense, especially when it’s on the ground. It’ll generally perform sweeping attacks with them, and can even use its wings to block against frontal attack, inevitably countering with a wing sweep. The Basilisk can even perform a leaping wing attack, but this is usually somewhat rare. When in flight the Basilisk will either fly around, occasionally raking with its legs, or hover in order to spit poison, giving it a ranged attack. Don’t get complacent, however, as just about every one of the Basilisk’s attacks will inflict poison, dealing damage over time and, worst of all, preventing you from regenerating health for its duration.
Compared to Geralt, Ciri is surprisingly limited here, and it really shows. She can’t knock the Basilisk out of the sky with her crossbow, and she can’t use Golden Oriole to negate the poison, so she’ll just have to cope. Fortunately Ciri’s dodge and health regeneration are as good as ever, and if you’re ever pressured you should be able to just spam dodge until your health recovers. Otherwise, dodge in to attack, land a hit, then dodge away to avoid any of the Basilisk’s counterattacks and repeat.
After you nearly deplete the Basilisk’s life bar you’ll get a scene, and after the Basilisk has flown off make your way east towards the Abandoned Tower and climb a ledge to trigger another scene. This will explain how the Bloody Baron survived, why Ciri had to flee, and most importantly, where she went. After the story end the Bloody Baron will ask you to help rescue Anna, starting the quest Return to Crookback Bog. He doesn’t have any more information to hold over your head, so this time he’ll just offer coin.
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