To gain information about Ciri’s time in Velen, Geralt will find himself working for the Bloody Baron. During the quest [Family Matters] you’ll discover the secret behind the disappearance of the Bloody Baron’s family and after making a choice regarding the Botchling you’ll finally gain a fruitful lead. As a reward, the Bloody Baron will tell Geralt another one of Ciri’s adventures, and just like Ciri’s Story: The King of the Wolves this retelling is its own playable quest. This page will cover the quest Ciri’s Story: The Race in The Witcher 3.

Quest Objectives¶

Starting Ciri’s Story: The Race¶

As mentioned above, this quest will begin during [Family Matters], when you return to the Bloody Baron after visiting the fisherman who lives northeast of Crow’s Perch and learning Tamara’s location. Agree to seek out Tamara in Oxenfurt on the Bloody Baron’s behalf and he’ll give you a Letter of Safe Passage, granting you access to Novigrad and Oxenfurt, after which this quest will automatically begin.

Beat the Baron in the Horse Race¶

The flashback begins with Ciri palling around with the Bloody Baron’s men following a successful hunt, clearly taking place sometime after Ciri found herself in the Baron’s care following Ciri’s Story: The King of the Wolves. Eventually this banter turns into a challenge, with Ciri betting her sword that she can defeat one of the Bloody Baron’s henchmen in a horse race, which ultimately ends up with the Bloody Baron accepting the challenge, as he owns the horse Ciri seeks. It doesn’t matter what choices you make here, the quest progresses the same way, regardless.

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Following a successful hunt, playful banter will turn into a series challenge.

The quest will fast forward to the next day, at the start of the race. If you’re following the game’s intended route (clearing Velen before Novigrad and generally choosing lower-level quests whenever they pop up) this should be your first taste of horse racing. Some of the elements you’ll see in later horse races - like checkpoints, obstacles, stakes that actually matter and opponents who seem legitimately concerned about winning - aren’t present, so you can focus on the basics. When the timer counts down you’ll need to race downhill, following a path the entire way. Horses in The Witcher 3 are generally unresponsive, clunky, and stupid, and the game doesn’t mark where you need to go to stay on the course save for the minimap, forcing you to look between the minimap and the actual race. This becomes a nuisance later, as you can imagine, and some degree of trial-and-error and course memorization becomes necessary.

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Race against the Bloody Baron to complete the quest.

This race, however, is spared such bother by its sheer simplicity. Press / twice to gallop, follow the road, and don’t worry about your horse’s stamina - the race is just long enough to deplete your horse’s stamina, so you shouldn’t have to slow to a canter to recover. It also doesn’t matter if you win or lose, so do what you will, and after the race a monster will intervene. This provides a gripping cliffhanger for the Bloody Baron to end his story on, which he does - only telling Geralt the rest once his wife, Anna, has been found. With the end of the Bloody Baron’s retelling, so too will this quest end, transitioning back to [Family Matter]