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"Wandering in the Dark" is an early main quest in The Witcher 3. Geralt learns that Ciri quarreled with a witch in Velen, and while he finds the wrong witch at first, he also finds valuable clues in the process.
The "witch" in question is the sorceress Keira Metz. While Keira is an important character in the book series, The Witcher 3 marks her first appearance in the video games. Keira is in Velen to hide from Redania's witch hunters, and while she doesn't know where Ciri is she does know of a masked elven mage who might. She asks Geralt to help her investigate the mage's hidden lair, and that's where the "Wandering in the Dark" quest begins.
The Hunt Begins
Soon after entering the ruin, Geralt spots a group of Wild Hunt soldiers with a navigator. He asks Keira to teleport them closer, but the spell goes wrong and Geralt finds himself alone in a partly flooded tunnel full of drowners. Fortunately, the only path out leads back to the large chamber Geralt started in, and players can find Keira by using Witcher Senses to locate her voice.
Keira is surrounded by hostile rats, and she won't go anywhere until Geralt destroys the two rat nests in the chamber. Geralt can drop a bomb into them like normal monster nests, but Igni also works. Rats will constantly pour into the room until the nests are gone, but luckily they're normal rats and mostly harmless.
In Elven Footsteps
Just past the rat room is a projection left by the masked elf. He speaks in riddles based on Ciri's past, and Geralt realizes that he's telling them to find swallow markings. The next chamber is full of toxic, flammable gas and wraiths, and sure enough the correct exit is just to the right and marked with a swallow. The swallow symbol might be hard to spot, but Keira will mention it when Geralt gets close.
Players may also want to check out the room's other exits. There's a short corridor right across from the entrance with a good loot chest at the end, and there's a flooded passage marked with a squid. The flooded area contains two large chests, and on the far side is a room with more gas, more wraiths, and a third chest.
The next room has a second projection that provides more cryptic clues. Geralt will explain that they should now look for a horse symbol. This symbol is near the water in the well at the center of the room, and so players need to dive in to find an underwater passage. Past the water is a tunnel with some stairs, and at the top is another horse symbol. When Geralt interacts with this symbol (use Witcher Senses to highlight it), it will open the way forward. The tunnel will curve around and drop Geralt where he started, and the newly opened door will lead to a portal. Simply interact with the swallow on the wall next to it to get it working.
The far side of the portal is guarded by a golem. Golems are elementals, so elementa oil will harm it. Golems are also slow, so strong attacks work best. Past the golem players can go left or straight, and while the left door has a swallow painted over it the straight path leads to two chests and a gargoyle. The same tactics that work against golems work against gargoyles, so feel free to take it out. The left path leads to another portal, and once again touching the swallow will get it working.
Besting Nithral
At this point, Geralt and Keira finally catch up to the Wild Hunt. Their navigator summons the White Frost into a room to slow them down, and Geralt needs to protect Keira as she closes the portals the frost is coming through. Hounds of the Wild Hunt will leap out of the portals throughout this sequence, but players should only attack once they enter Keira's protective bubble. Geralt will lose health quickly if he steps outside of it, and so players who want to loot the hounds' bodies should wait until all three portals are closed. Conveniently, the hounds also count as elementals.
Once the White Frost is gone, Keira will clear the way forward. The next chamber is where Geralt fights the Wild Hunt elf Nithral, but before then there's a blocked passageway that Geralt can use Aard on. The hallway beyond it is full of gas (use Igni to clear it out) and up some stairs players will find a good loot chest guarded by a foglet.
The fight against Nithral isn't much harder than a fight against a normal enemy with a two-handed weapon, but players effectively have to fight him three times. When Nithral's health first goes down to one-half and then to one-tenth, he creates a protective shield and summons in several hounds to distract Geralt as he heals himself. Once the hounds are dead, Nithral will continue the fight, and if Geralt is fast the elven warrior won't have all his health back.
Once Nithral is down, Keira and Geralt will search the masked elf's laboratory. They don't find much, but what they do discover will lead Geralt to his next main quest, "Ladies of the Wood." They also find some clues about who the masked elf could be, and Keira will give Geralt the Eye of Nehaleni, an item that dispels illusions. This item will be useful in a variety of future quests. Finally, Keira will ask Geralt to help her find a magic lamp the elf promised to give her. Players can start this side quest, "Magic Lamp," right away or leave it for later, but either way the quest "Wandering in the Dark" ends here.
The Witcher 3 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.