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You can’t miss The Witcher 3 Ladies of the Wood quest as it’s a big part of the game’s opening act (assuming you follow the story and don’t charge off randomly). It’s an expansive multistage mission in The Witcher 3 (opens in new tab), full of powerful magic and dark creatures that will take some time to see through. It’s worth it though, as it forms a big part of a great storyline. You’ll need to complete the Witcher 3 Wandering in the Dark (opens in new tab) mission before you start this, so get that quest is done and Ladies of the Wood will automatically trigger. Once you’re there, our walkthrough will help you complete one of the most memorable missions in the game.
Read Ladies of the Wood
During the quest Wandering in the Dark, Keira Metz will have given you a book called Ladies of the Wood. To progress further, you’ll need to go into your inventory, go to quest items and read the book.
- The book has some very interesting things to say about the Crones. If you’re a fan of the Witcher lore, be sure to read it to the full instead of just clicking on and off it.
Find the Trail of Treats
Inside the book you’ll find that the way towards the Crones of Crookback Bog is finding the Trail of Treats – a path that parents would send their young children on in order to give them to the Crones.
Once you’ve finished reading the book, the map will update and you’ll be on your way to the bog!
Keep following the marker on the map until you stand in front of a clearing where you can see a wooden sculpture, covered in sweets.
Follow the Trail of Treats
Thanks to your Witcher senses, you’ll be able to navigate your way through the trail of treats with ease. It’s mostly a winding path, and the only way you’ll get lost is if you see some enemies nearby and want to give them the smackdown.
Keep on following the trail until you get to a clearing and can see three buildings ahead. Hold onto your hats everyone, because you’ve just made it Crookback Bog.
Talk to the Children of Crookback Bog
Stepping into Crookback Bog, a cutscene will trigger and you’ll be treated to a lovely, not-at-all creepy song about eating a dog in order to see who’ll fetch firewood. Smashing.
After that warm welcome, Geralt will reveal the reason he’s in the bog to the children: trying to find the location of Ciri. Exhaust all dialogue options until you can ask more about Ciri. The children won’t have seen her, but one of them will mention someone who might have: someone called Johnny.
However, before you can ask more about who Johnny is, another figure will appear. A clearly disturbed woman called Gran.
Gran isn’t happy with you sniffing around her kids and despite you asking her numerous times about Ciri, doesn’t seem to be able to answer your questions in a way that isn’t disturbing.
Depending on how you answer Gran’s evasiveness, one of the children, a small boy, will mention Johnny once again. But his answer will cause Gran to get angry, and she’ll send the boy inside to have ‘time out’.
Talk to the Boy
Not willing to take no for an answer, head into the house where the boy has been sent and talk to him.
Or at least, you’ll try to talk to him. But as you try, Gran will once more appear and tell you to leave. It seems that if you want to talk to the boy that knows more about Johnny, you’ll have to somehow get Gran out of the house.
Get the Orphans To Help
With no other alternatives, it looks like you’ll need to reach out to the orphans and ask for their help. They’ll agree to do so, but only if you do something for them.
You’ll be given two dialogue options to proceed throughout the quest. These options are:
- Fine: Geralt will play hide-and-seek and count to twenty. He’ll then will chase after the children. You’ll have to use your Witcher senses for this, so make sure you follow their footsteps. You’ll need to locate four children altogether.
- Isn’t there anything else you want?: The kids will ask for something sweet to eat, which Geralt will just have on his person anyway. This is usually the best option if you just want to proceed without really doing anything.
Once you’ve finished one of these tasks, the orphans will hold up their end of the deal and will distract Gran to get her out of the house.
Talk to the Boy (Again)
With Gran out of the picture, Geralt can talk to the boy again. He’ll have changed his tune from last time and, as long as Geralt promises not to hurt Johnny, will tell him where he is.
- If you’d like to, you can also find out more about the boy if you so wish. It can be pretty emotional, so make sure you have your tissues ready.
As it turns out, Johnny did mention that he saw an ashen-haired woman to the boy. The boy will then tell you where Johnny’s burrow can be located: towards the east of the bog.
Find Johnny
With Johnny’s location shown on the map, make your way towards it. As you head closer to it, you’ll notice that there are drowners nearby. No matter what you do, you’ll be unable to avoid this battle.
- A water hag may also appear too, so be sure to get dodging as it can attack twice in quick succession.
Once you’ve dealt with the drowners and water hag – don’t forget to loot them! – it’s time to use your Witcher senses to see if you can track Johnny down.
You’re in luck, you’ll find Johnny’s footsteps leading throughout the bog. Their small and humanoid – is Johnny a human? It looks like we’ll just have to find out.
Keep following the footsteps, fighting drowners and water hags along the way, until you come across Johnny’s burrow.
Talk to and then help Johnny
Calling Johnny will get him to appear from out of his burrow. He isn’t exactly the human you may have been imagining however. In fact, he’s a godling.
- A godling is a rare creature than can speak the common tongue. They are known to live in marshy, swamp-like areas.
You’ll ask him more about whether or not he’s seen Ciri. He’ll answer in the affirmative, but doesn’t seem to be able to say anything else in detail. This is because, for some reason or other, his voice has been stolen.
Eager to find out more, Geralt will offer to help Johnny get his voice back. To do that, you’ll first need to follow him.
You won’t need to worry about your sense of direction in this quest as following Johnny is all you have to do.
But as with everything else so far, you may be expected to fight some creatures along the way as Johnny has a terrible sense of direction and likes to lead you into fights.
Case in point.
Once Johnny stops, another cutscene will trigger and you’ll see that Johnny wants you to retrieve something from a nest on the edge of the cliff you’re near.
Get Johnny’s Voice Back
From the looks of the nest, it looks to belong to ravens. No biggie. Circle around to the left so you can climb up to the nest on the right.
As you make your way up, you’ll hear a screech. Looking up, you’ll see that a wyvern, as well as three harpies, are circling where the nest is, leaving you no other choice but to fight them to get what you want.
- We advise firing the crossbow at the wyvern to get its attention first and lead it to an area where you’re just fighting it one-on-one instead. That way the fight between the harpies will be much easier.
Once dealing with the wyvern, all you’ll need to do to get rid of the harpies is use the Axii sign. Using the Axii sign with the harpies in the air will cause them to drop to the ground, allowing you to finish them off in one move.
With that done, head over to the raven’s nest, grab the bottle with Johnny’s voice in and head back down to where he is.
Go back to the Swamp Village
Once you give Johnny his voice back, he’ll be grateful and after a few words with him, will tell you more about meeting Ciri. It seemed, at least to him, that she was running away from the Crones of the bog, but because he had lost his voice, couldn’t call out to her.
After this conversation, Johnny will agree to help you with contacting the Crones. But first, you’ll have to make your way back to where the orphans and Gran are located.
Again, you’ll most likely encounter drowners and water hags. These are easily disposed of, but if you want to just avoid them completely then rush back to the village without following Johnny. He’ll make his way to you eventually.
Back at the village, Johnny will sing and persuade Gran to contact the Crones on Geralt’s behalf.
Talk to the Crones
Inside one of the huts, there will be a tapestry of three beautiful women. Gran will simply state that these are ‘The Ladies’ that Geralt seeks to speak to.
Once Gran touches the tapestry, three different voices will speak from her lips. These are the Crones and they are surprisingly abrasive considering their appearance.
Geralt will ask them more about what they wanted from Ciri, as well as her location. But the Crones are not interested in telling Geralt anything until he does something for them.
The task they’ll present is for you to head to Downwarren and speak with the ealdorman, who will tell you more about what Geralt has to do. Until that’s done, they’ll reveal nothing else about Ciri.
Talk to the Ealdorman in Downwarren
Downwarren is only a little further north from where the bog is, so it won’t take long to get there.
When you arrive, the ealdorman will be waiting. He’ll not be all that talkative until you reveal you work for the crones, where he’ll then tell Geralt about a strange evil in the forest that’s killed men, women and children.
Geralt will agree to go and drive out this evil, thus starting the quest The Whispering Hillock and putting Ladies of the Wood on hold.
- If you’ve already dealt with this evil spirit, Geralt will not have to go into the forest at all and the quest The Whispering Hillock will automatically be completed.
The rest of this guide will assume that you’ve completed The Whispering Hillock. If not, return to this guide once you have.
Return to the Ealdorman
After getting rid of the evil spirit in the forest, you’ll have to return to the ealdorman and tell him that it’s been dealt with.
- Depending on what you did in the quest The Whispering Hillock, the ealdorman will react very differently if you choose to tell him the truth. Ultimately, his reaction won’t matter as he’ll still give you proof of your service to the Crones.
Once you’ve finished your conversation, the ealdorman will return with his payment: a severed ear, one of the best things to have in any thriving economy.
With that said and done, you’ll now have to return to Crookback Bog to talk to the Crones and hopefully learn more about Ciri.
Talk to the Crones
After you’ve made your way back to the bog, you’ll be met by the Crones of Crookback Bog. Though this time, they won’t look half as beautiful as they appeared in the tapestry. Unless you’re into their new look, then we sincerely apologize.
Depending on choices made in The Whispering Hillock quest, the Crones will either be pleased or displeased with Geralt.
- You’ll also make the realization of just who Gran really is during this interaction with the Crones. See our Witcher 3 Family Matters (opens in new tab) mission guide for more.
Regardless, the Crones will reveal what they know about Ciri and you’ll play through another small section of Ciri’s story. Once that’s finished and the Crones disappear, the Ladies of the Wood quest line will officially be completed.
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