After the opening cut scene you must use your Witcher Senses to find the key to the bedroom door. Activate your Witcher Senses to find objects of note. On the table nearby there's a pitcher which you can examine to get a response from Yennefer. Your primary objective is on the table by the wall ahead. Sitting on top of the book on the table is a key that opens the door to the left. Before you leave you can speak to Yennefer on the far side of the room, but she'll simply instruct you to leave.
Go to the lower level down the stairs ahead to join Ciri in a run along the ramparts down to the lower courtyard. After a few dialogue selections you can opt to run the walls to begin a tutorial, or skip this if you're already versed in running and jumping. The next batch of dialogue offers you a chance to perform combat training. Once again, you can skip this if you already know your way with a sword.
The Witcher 3: Walkthrough and Guide
The Witcher 3: White Orchard - Missing in Action
The Witcher 3: Velen - Bloody Baron, Family Matters
The Witcher 3: Ciri's Room, Fake Papers
The Witcher 3: Novigrad - Get Junior, Broken Flowers
The Witcher 3: Skellige - The King is Dead, Nameless
The Witcher 3: The Battle of Kaer Morhen
The Witcher 3: Bald Mountain, Imlerith Battle
The Witcher 3: White Orchard Contracts - Devil by the Well
The Witcher 3: Velen Contracts - Jenny 'O the Woods, Missing Brother
How to Earn Infinite Crowns in The Witcher 3
The Witcher 3: How to Play the Gwent Card Game
The Witcher 3: How to Use Skills, Signs and Mutagens
The Witcher 3: All Places of Power Locations
The Witcher 3: Bestiary, Monster and Boss Battle Guide
The Witcher 3: Geralt's Carnal Knowledge Encounters
After another cut scene, it's time to kill the ghouls. Several ghouls attack but they are easily dispatched with a few swings of your silver sword. A decimated military camp is close by. Loot the corpses here to find weapons and items.
Once the ghouls have been defeated and you've searched the military camp, get on your horse and follow Vesemir. Along the road you come across several houses, one of which is currently under attack by wolves. You can stop to help these people as well as collect ingredients from bushes nearby, but this is purely optional.
Travel a short distance to initiate another cut scene, then determine if you'd like to accept payment for your deeds. The man tells you about a town nearby. Go to the tavern in White Orchard to initiate another cut scene and gain access to the shop here.
You must speak with the people in the tavern to ask travelers about Yennefer. For the most part you will have to use your magic to make them talk. To do this, select the option with the triangle next to it. If you speak with the scholar on the far side of the bar you can learn about the card game, gwent. Speak to all three tables at the tavern to continue the quest.
Head out the door to engage three men outside. Take them out with hand-to-hand combat (no need to draw your sword), then mount your horse and head north toward the yellow marker on the mini-map. You can stop in the houses along the way to pick up various loot if you'd like.
As you approach your next destination, take the western-most path to avoid trouble in the swamp area. When you reach the garrison continue toward the waypoint marker and up the stairs. To ask the Nilfgaardians about Yennefer, go to the top of the stairs head through the doors and into the garrison. Continue to the right and up the small stairs to initiate another cut scene.
After your conversation you have two objectives: ask the herbalist about buckthorn and ask the hunter where he found the bodies. You need to complete these before you can slay the griffin, which is your next task. The herbalist is closer, so head there first.
When you head back down the stairs there's an armor enhancing table to the left. Enhance your armor and then head out the door you came in and down to the bottom of the stairs, near the entrance to the garrison. You can access the sign here to fast travel south to the Sawmill or you can take your horse. Either way, the waypoint marker for the herbalist is due south of your present location, east of the Sawmill.
Head inside the herbalist's house to initiate another cut scene. After the cut scene you can talk to the herbalist again to access her shop full of herbs. When you're done browsing, head northeast to the yellow circle marked on your map. This is where you can find some buckthorn on the riverbed using your Witcher Senses.
Swim into the middle of the lake and use your Witcher Sense to spot the buckthorn on the bottom. You'll have to dive down to reach it, but you can easily grab three or four buckthorns before you need to surface for air. You only need one buckthorn to continue the quest.
Look for the next waypoint marker on the map and head to that location. When you arrive at the house, knock on the door to find that the hunter is not home. Use your Witcher Sense to find the hunter's footprints near the door to his home. Examine the footsteps, then follow them into the woods to find the hunter, Mislav. Speak with him to ask the hunter where he found the bodies.
Head to the next waypoint on the map to find and kill the wild dogs. Make quick work of them, talk to the hunter again. Follow Mislav to the location where the soldiers died to initiate another cut scene. Examine the site of the Nilfgaardian soldiers' death using your Witcher Senses. Finally, locate some footprints to the south and follow them to the griffin's nest.
Search the griffin's nest using your Witcher Senses, specifically the dead griffin in the middle. Learn all you can about the beast, then head back to town to talk to Vesemir. You can head back to the area where you found the dead soldiers and use the sign post there to fast travel to the Woesong Bridge and cut down your travel time.
When you get back to the tavern where you left Vesemir, you'll find him standing outside. Speak with him and go through the dialogue options. If you're ready to engage the beast, tell him it's time to set the traps. Meet Vesemir in the field where you plan to ambush the griffin, speaking with him to initiate another cut scene, followed by a battle against the griffin.
The battle against the griffin is fairly straightforward. Just before the battle begins, Vesemir gives you a crossbow. You can use this to shoot the griffin out of the sky whenever it takes off. This will happen multiple times throughout the battle. Keep a lock on the griffin so you can use the crossbow with ease.
If you can shoot the griffin while it's in the air, it will crash to the ground, allowing you to hit it several times before the beast recovers. While it's in the air, the griffin will dive toward you as it attacks. Dodge to the left or right as it approaches to avoid these attacks. You can also use the crossbow on the ground, but it's not as effective as your silver sword.
When the griffin is on the ground, attack it with Fast Attacks two or three times, then dodge away to avoid its counterattack. Even with quick reactions it's difficult to dodge the griffin's attacks if you wait until it moves its wings. It's much easier to simply dodge after two or three attacks. Using this method you can easily drain the first half of the griffin's health while taking minimal damage yourself.
Once the griffin is down to 50 percent health, it will fly off. Call your horse over and use your Witcher Senses to track the beast if it flies out of visual range. Look for the flashing red circles to indicate the direction of the griffin. Once you catch up to it the battle resumes.
This time around the griffin will stand on its hind legs and emit a sonic boom attack. This stuns you and inflicts damage if you're standing in front of the griffin. Attack from the sides or back, but make sure you favor the back side. The sonic boom has a very wide range and will hit even if you're standing to the side but slightly in front of the griffin. As long as you dodge the sonic boom attack and continue to use the strategy of attacking a few times, then dodging, the griffin will go down in no time.
With the griffin down, approach the corpse and examine the remains nearby to obtain your loot. Take a trophy from the griffin's corpse, which you need to take to the Nilfaardians. Head back to the garrison, but as you cross the nearby bridge you'll notice an enemy waiting for you. Take it down and look around the northwest side of the bridge to find a slain soldier.
Loot the body to obtain a Temerian Lily Key, then dive into the water nearby and use your Witcher senses to find a box full of loot, including Blood-soaked military orders, 18 Florens, a Silver amber necklace and a Temerian Special Forces Insignia. Collecting these items is part of the Temerian Valuables treasure hunt quest.
Continue back to the garrison, up the stairs and through the door at the top to initiate another cut scene and collect your reward from the Nilfaardians. This places you back on the other main quest, Lilac and Gooseberries.
Head back to the tavern and prepare to leave White Orchard with Vesemir. After a brief cut scene you must engage several soldiers. They don't put up much of a fight, but don't delay in taking them down. The longer you take to engage the soldiers the easier it will be for them to gang up on you. It only takes a few swings to deal with each one, so do it quickly.
As soon as the battle is over, Yennefer finally makes an appearance in another cut scene. After some dialogue you'll watch one more cut scene that leaves you in the castle for more dialogue that deals with the previous Witcher games. That completes the main quest, Lilac and Gooseberries.
To get dressed and talk to the chamberlain, walk over to the three garments ahead and loot the one you wish to wear. Equip it in the inventory menu, then you can pick up the other two outfits if you desire. Once you're done, speak with the chamberlain to the right. If you rehearse your bow, select the option for, "Left leg forward, right hand on chest" to continue.
This conversation is of great importance. If you are playing and PC and still have a save file for The Witcher 2, your actions during that game will determine what happens here. If you are playing on PS4 or Xbox One and don't have a save file, you must answer a few questions that will have an impact on some future events in The Witcher 3.
Arjan LaValette
The path of Roche or Iorveth
Sile de Tansarville
The Witcher Letho
Follow the chamberlain out of the room and into the imperial chambers ahead. You will have a limited amount of time to determine if you wish to bow or not. After a conversation with the emperor, you must follow the chamberlain again. This time you'll pass a moderately sized box to left. You can loot this box before continuing.
When you reach the next room you can loot many of the bookshelves here to obtain new reading material. Once you're done, make your way to the waypoint marker to talk to Yennefer and initiate another cut scene.
After the cut scene, circle around the room to loot all of the items here. There are a large number of books and other loot to find, so be sure you explore every bookshelf and box. When you're done, head southwest into the previous room and out the door to retrieve your equipment from the chamberlain. This completes the main quest, Imperial Audience, as well as the prologue to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
