Spooked Mare – Witcher 3 Quest

This guide is a walkthrough of a side quest in the Witcher 3 for the area of Velen. 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 – Peasant’s House
2 – Scoia’tael Camp

Background

You’ll receive this quest from a peasant standing in front of a house east of Oxenfurt in Velen North (#1).

Walkthrough

The peasant will tell you that a “woodland spook” took his mare the other night, and he’ll ask you to get it back. If you ask him about woodland spooks, then he’ll tell you that they leave blood at the threshold of houses and take what they need. He’ll also mention that his mare is gray.

To find the spook, you’ll need to turn on your witcher senses. You’ll spot blood by the peasant’s front gate, and you’ll also detect the tracks from his horse. The tracks will lead you to the southeast, where you’ll find the horse penned up at a scoia’tael camp (#2). The elf commander there will tell you that the scoia’tael need horses to transport their wounded. This will give you two ways to proceed:

• You can let the scoia’tael have the mare. You won’t receive a reward for this option.
  
• You can demand that the scoia’tael give the mare back. You’ll have three options for this: a bribe, the Axii sign, or a fight. You’ll earn 25 xp for each option, with the Axii sign giving 40 xp beyond that.
  
  Regardless of your choice, you’ll need to take one of the horses back to the peasant. To do this, you’ll need to mount the horse and ride it back to the enclosure by the peasant’s house. After doing this, when you return to the peasant, you’ll earn one of two rewards. If you brought back the right horse (the gray one), then you’ll receive 20 crowns and 25 xp. But if you brought back the wrong horse, then you’ll receive 50 crowns and 25 xp (because the other horses are younger and stronger than the mare).