Many dangers prowl the forests of Velen, from bandits to wolves to monsters - dangerous enough that the townsfolk of Blackbough know better than to venture into the woods. Despite the threats lurking among the trees, however, sometimes the most dire threats lie closer to home, and few things are more deadly than the jealousy sparked by unrequited love. This page will provide a walkthrough for the secondary quest Wild at Heart in The Witcher 3.
Quest Objectives¶
Starting Wild at Heart¶
You can start this quest the good, old-fashioned way: by perusing notice boards! The Notice Boards at Mulbrydale, the Inn at the Crossroads, Crow’s Perch and Midcopse all feature the notice Missing Wife. Pick this notice up and read it to start this quest. Once you’ve started this quest, travel to Blackbough, a small village west of Crow’s Perch and seek out the missing woman’s husband, Niellen, who can be found standing outside a hut northwest of the signpost.
(1 of 2) Grab the “Missing Wife” notice from the Notice Board in Mulbrydale, the Inn at the Crossroads, Crow’s Perch or Midcopse,
Grab the “Missing Wife” notice from the Notice Board in Mulbrydale, the Inn at the Crossroads, Crow’s Perch or Midcopse, (left), then find Niellen and Margrit in Blackbough. (right)
Ask About Hanna Around Blackbough¶
Talk to Niellen and go through his dialog options and eventually you’ll be interrupted by Margrit, Hanna’s sister. You won’t get much useful information out of the two, but it’s worth noting Margrit’s tense slip - referring to her sister in the past tense is certainly an… odd slip. After you’re done letting those two waste your time you can talk to some villagers to get some more information, although this phase of the quest is optional. Talk to the butcher’s wife, Glenna, and she’ll suggest that wolves were the culprit, speculation that the Blacksmith agrees with, when you ask him. His kids, however, say something interesting - Hanna wasn’t alone when she went into the forest, she was being led by another woman. Alas, they can’t identify this mysterious woman. Still, it’s an interesting wrinkle to this mystery.
(1 of 2) Talk to the butcher’s wife, Glenna,
Talk to the butcher’s wife, Glenna, (left), and the Blacksmith to learn some interesting tidbits. (right)
Search for Signs of Hanna in the Woods¶
Snooping around town will only get you so far, so when you’re done head out into the woods northwest of the village, where you’ll find a rather large search area. Along the south-center of the search area you’ll find a pack of Wolves (Lv6); kill them and Margrit will show up, asking you to abandon your search for Hanna. Her reasoning is flimsy, but she’ll offer to pay you double what Niellen is offering.
Choice: Accept or Decline Margrit’s Offer¶
A woman led Hanna into the woods, her sister Margrit mentions Hanna in the past tense, and now she’s offering to pay you to drop the investigation… yeah, she’s guilty as hell, but on the plus side you can take her bribe, then keep investigating, earning 80 EXP and 55 Crowns. There is a downside, however - accepting the bribe will start the objective Tell Niellen Hanna is dead. and if you keep investigating and complete the quest fully, this objective will fail. It doesn’t affect the outcome of the quest itself, but it does leave some nasty red ink in your quest log, if that bothers you.
If you actually wish to follow through with Margrit’s advice, take the money, head back to Blackbough, and tell him your baseless speculation. Being a better man than Geralt, Niellen will still offer to pay, which you can accept to score 50 EXP and 10 Crowns or you can decline for 30 EXP.
(1 of 2) Kill a pack of Wolves in the woods
Kill a pack of Wolves in the woods (left), and Margrit will show up and try to bribe you into abandoning your search. You can take her money and keep working on the quest, if you don’t mind a failed objective in your quest log. (right)
Find the Werewolf¶
If you choose to continue your investigation - whether you took Margrit’s bribe or not - you won’t have to look much further. After Margrit leaves, examine the disemboweled corpse of a dog near a tree near where you fought the Wolves, then investigate some claw marks on the ground nearby and finally head west to find Hanna’s dismembered corpse beyond the tree where you found the disemboweled dog. Examine Hanna’s corpse to determine the cause of death - a Werewolf.
If you took Margrit’s bribe, a new objective will now appear, Find the werewolf’s lair using your Witcher Senses. and if you switch to that objective you’ll find yourself along the western edge of a search area. Head northeast from Hanna’s corpse to find some paw prints on the ground, and just north of there you’ll find some claw marks in a stone leaning against a tree. The Werewolf climbed, which will complicate our search, but further north you’ll find a tuft of fur. Our Werewolf isn’t a hygienic fellow, which will allow you to follow a scent trail. This scent trail will lead you northwest through the woods, where you’ll start finding discarded clothes near a hunter’s cabin west of the Abandoned Tower signpost.
(1 of 4) Search near where you killed the Wolves to find a disemboweled dog,
Enter the cabin and loot the various containers within - we found two Silver Ingots, so the cabin is definitely worth looting. There is, however, a locked chest in one of the rooms that can’t be opened yet. In the same room you’ll find some Mysterious Notes on the floor that confirms the owner of this cabin is, in fact, a Werewolf. After finding these incriminating notes, exit the cabin and circle around back to the western side of the cabin, where you’ll likely have to kill a Bear (Lv6) that will almost certainly pester you later if you leave it alive. Once it’s dead, use your Witcher senses to find a blood trail leading under the cabin, where you’ll find a door. Hit it with Aard to open it up, beyond which you’ll find a cave. If it’s daytime you can just waltz right on in and loot the cave - there are two chests inside, although neither of them offers great prizes. If it’s nighttime, however, you won’t find yourself alone in the cave for long…
(1 of 2) Search the cabin to find some notes,
Search the cabin to find some notes, (left), then head under the cabin to find a door blocking a cave. Use Aard to clear the way. (right)
Defeat the Werewolf¶
To advance the quest, rest until night then enter the cave and progress until you’re joined by a Werewolf and its Wolf companions (Lv2). Even on Death March! difficulty the Wolves accompanying the Werewolf are miserable foes, and thankfully they can be killed with silver swords, as they’re part of a Werewolf’s retinue, not normal Wolves. The Werewolf is the real threat here, and he’s the reason we delayed this quest. Not only is this creature fast and mobile, but it hits like a truck. Worse still, when reduced to below 50% of its health it’ll howl and start regenerating health. This is in effect a damage check, and a damage check against a foe that’s rather dangerous - something you just might not be able to keep up with if you’re stuck using lower-level weapons.
We recommend only using fast attacks against this foe, as he’s just too quick to reliably damage with strong attacks, especially if you don’t want to get hit in return. It might seem a bit counterintuitive knowing you’ve got to keep piling on damage once the Werewolf is regenerating, but any time spent healing with Quen and any strong attack that misses just gives the Werewolf more time to heal. Consider using potions like Thunderbolt, Petri’s Philter and Tawny Owl to boost damage output, sign intensity and Stamina regeneration, respectively. If you can spare the Stamina, attempt to hit the Werewolf with Igni with the goal of setting it on fire - once burning it’ll stop regenerating and start losing health. Wait until the damage-over-time effect is nearly expired, then land a safe sword combo on the Werewolf. Repeat until it’s defeated.
(1 of 2) Inside the cave you’ll be attacked by a Werewolf - use fast attacks, as the lycanthrope is too quick to safely and reliably strike with strong attacks,
Inside the cave you’ll be attacked by a Werewolf - use fast attacks, as the lycanthrope is too quick to safely and reliably strike with strong attacks, (left), and try to ignite it with Igni when its health is low to hinder its regeneration. (right)
Choice: Let the Werewolf Kill Margrit or Send Her Away¶
Win the damage race against the Werewolf and when it’s nearly dead Margrit will intervene, explaining what happened and why. Your choices don’t matter until you get a timed decision, where you can pick the option “She deserves it. Do what you will.” to leave Margrit at the Werewolf’s mercy, or “Can’t let you do that.” to protect Margrit. She’s undeserving of rescue, honestly, but a Witcher’s job isn’t to execute bad humans, but rather to kill monsters.
Defeat the Werewolf and Margrit will intervene. Either let the Werewolf kill her, or protect her from the Werewolf.
If you pick the option “She deserves it. Do what you will.” the Werewolf will take Geralt up on his offer, after which the Werewolf will ask Geralt to finish it off. This will complete the quest, earning you 50 EXP and the odd satisfaction of getting to punish both an evil human while also killing a dangerous monster. You can then loot Niellen’s Key off the Werewolf’s body, which unlocks the chest in the hunter’s cabin. It’s worth noting that with this approach you will not gain any monster bits from the Werewolf, which is a shame as you’ve got limited opportunities to obtain a Werewolf Mutagen.
Alternatively, pick the option “Can’t let you do that.” and you’ll continue the fight with the Werewolf, with the lycanthrope restored to around 25% of its health. It’ll quickly roar and regenerate again, but if you’re quick you can finish it off without much fuss. Once the Werewolf is dead the quest will end and you’ll get 50 EXP and can fully loot the corpse, getting a shot at various Werewolf bits including Niellen’s Key. Return to the hunter’s cabin and you’ll find Margrit crying, but you can’t interact with her further. Settle for looting the locked chest and leaving Margrit to her well-deserved grief, although it should be noted she wasn’t nearly as upset about her sister’s death as she is now. A dangerous monster was slain and an evil person suffered - not a bad day of Witchering.
Sign up
So the Wild at Heart quest was moved to here... no idea why. I had thought is was because it was tough to do on DM, but I just did it easily on DM as a level 4 (the quest itself leveled me to level 5 at the end after I killed the werewolf), so now idky it was moved here. It did throw off a lot of earlier stuff though... It should be edited one way or the other.
If this quest is supposed to be completed after all the rest of Velen's exploring, then why was the part about it in the main walkthrough written in such a way that this quest has already been completed.
This part must be raised significantly higher in this case.