Overview
Blood Ties is a secondary quest in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. It starts in the Nilfgaardian Army Group ‘Center’ camp in Velen, where a noblewoman sits under a makeshift tent near the camp’s merchants.
A mother’s question
Her son Hrodeberth served with the army, and no soldier will tell her what happened to him. She asks Geralt to find out and suggests he start with the quartermaster, Tavar Eggebracht. Eggebracht can be paid, charmed with Axii, or, if Geralt finished Contract: Patrol Gone Missing without digging further, will simply tell him.
The truth is ugly. Hrodeberth’s unit tried to desert. Some were caught and hanged, the rest fled into the swamps. Eggebracht does not know which group the boy was in.
Following the trail
Northwest of the House of Respite, Witcher Senses reveal tracks by a dead horse. They lead past one body that is not Hrodeberth, possibly some ghouls, and finally to a row of hanged men. One of them has red hair, and an unsent letter lies beneath him. That is the proof Geralt needs.
The choice
Back at the camp, Geralt tells the mother her son is dead. He can spare her by lying about how he died, or tell her he deserted. Either way she thanks him and pays him.
