Ladies of the Wood is one of the most unsettling main quests in The Witcher 3, and a turning point in the Velen storyline. Hendrik’s notes were only half right: the witch Ciri clashed with does not live near Midcopse, but in Crookback Bog. Geralt heads into the swamp and finds an orphanage run by a kindly old woman called Gran, with children who seem far too well fed for Velen in wartime.

The Crones

Gran is not what she seems. The bog is ruled by the Ladies of the Wood, three ancient Crones who speak through a woven tapestry and demand payment for everything. The locals worship them out of fear and bring them offerings. Before they will say anything about Ciri, the Crones send Geralt on errands, and one of them leads him to Johnny, a little godling who has lost his voice, and another to Downwarren, a village with a “problem” in the Whispering Hillock.

What happened to Ciri

Once Geralt has done what they ask, the Crones tell the truth. Ciri did come to Crookback Bog, and the Crones tried to hand her over to Imlerith, one of the generals of the Wild Hunt. She escaped their clutches and fled across the swamp, a chase that plays out in Ciri’s Story: Fleeing the Bog. The Crones also have unfinished business with the Baron’s wife Anna, and the choices Geralt makes around the Whispering Hillock will decide how that story ends.