Blood Simple – Witcher 3: Blood and Wine Quest

This guide is a walkthrough of a main quest in the Witcher 3: Blood and Wine DLC. The guide is composed of a map, map legend, and walkthrough to show readers exactly where to go and what to do to complete the quest.

Map Legend

1 – Orphanage
2 – Tree
3 – Wagon
4 – Garkain Lair
5 – Cockatrice Inn
6 – Dock

Walkthrough

For this quest, you’ll need to help Orianna with her orphanage in Toussaint South so she’ll tell you how to meet the region’s Unseen Elder. When you arrive at the orphanage (#1), you’ll smell blood, and you’ll quickly discover some dead children. But soon after that, you’ll find a living orphan who will tell you that a creature attacked, and that Arnaud and his wife, the custodians of the orphanage, fled and left the children to fend for themselves. Orianna will order you to kill the creature while she stays with the orphan.

To find the creature, you’ll need to turn on your witcher senses and explore the orphanage and its immediate surroundings. You’ll find several bodies — killed but not eaten — and you’ll also spot some tracks leading north. As you follow the tracks, you’ll notice a green smudge near the entrance to the orphanage grounds, and you’ll detect a scent coming from it.

Between the tracks and the odor, you’ll be able to follow the creature. You’ll first come to a body showing signs of venom — which will reveal the creature to be an alpha garkain — and then you’ll spot the wheel ruts from a wagon — possibly from the custodians fleeing. At this point you’ll receive an objective to read the bestiary entry for alpha garkains. If you do so, then you’ll earn 100 xp.

The wheel ruts and garkain tracks will eventually take you far to the north, where you’ll discover the remains of the wagon (#3). You’ll find Arnaud’s wife there, dead and drained of her blood, and you’ll detect the sounds of the garkain coming from the north (#4). You’ll try to sneak up on the creature, but it’ll hear you and attack.

The alpha garkain will do the standard vampire things — it’ll jump around, hit you hard, and stun you with a sonic cry — and it’ll also poison you. But if you have Vampire Oil, Black Blood, and Golden Oriole, then the garkain will probably go down easily — or at least far more easily than the alps and bruxae you faced in the previous quest. When the garkain dies, you’ll earn 200 xp, and you’ll find a Garkain Trophy on its corpse.

Before heading back to see Orianna, you should take a look at the garkain’s lair. You’ll find Arnaud’s body there — or what remains of it — complete with a Letter from Orianna, which will indicate that Orianna kept the children at the orphanage as a source of blood.

To return to Orianna, you won’t be able to fast travel, so don’t bother heading north to the nearby Cockatrice Inn (#5). Instead, jump on Roach and ride back to the orphanage. When you get there (#1), you’ll discover Orianna feeding on the surviving orphan. You’ll want to deal with her right then and there, but the orphan will beg you to spare her, and Orianna will argue that she gives the orphans far more than she takes. So you’ll leave Orianna be — for now at least — and she’ll tell you where to find the Unseen Elder. She’ll also give you a Magic Key so you can enter its lair. This will earn you 800 xp.

To complete the quest, you’ll need to update Regis on your status. To do this, you’ll need to talk to a crow. Conveniently, you’ll find a group of them in a tree just outside the orphanage (#2). You’ll tell the crows to have Regis meet you at the dock just outside the palace. When you get there (#6), you’ll talk with Regis. He’ll once again try to convince you to send Syanna to Dettlaff. If his arguments change your mind, then he’ll take you to the palace playroom, and you’ll start the quest Beyond Hill and Dale. Otherwise, you’ll board a boat and set sail for the Unseen Elder’s cave, which will trigger the quest What Lies Unseen.