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During The Witcher 3, Geralt spends plenty of time with Yennefer and Triss. But in the Velen section of the game, he builds a bond with another sorceress in Keira Metz. The duo goes on multiple quests together, including "Wandering in the Dark." Even though their relationship isn't guaranteed to end well, they're on the same page during this adventure.
The pair's objective is to track down the Mysterious Elf who's somehow connected to Ciri. And it makes for an enjoyable adventure. However, some moments can be confusing, either due to some difficult puzzles or because it's not clear which direction to go. This guide can help you get past any obstacle in front of you.
Updated on December 17, 2022 by Quinton O'Connor: 'Wandering in the Dark' is a formative quest in Geralt's adventure, a critical piece of story and even character development during the Witcher's continued search for Ciri. We've done another pass at this guide to shore up consistency, adding a table of contents for easier browsing.
Entering The Portal
The quest will begin one of two ways. If you decided to travel with Keira when prompted, you will be teleported straight to the desired area. Otherwise, you'll need to travel there, and the objective marker shows exactly where.
Regardless of how you get to the cave, you need to follow Keira inside. It won't be long until a cutscene triggers that shows that the Wild Hunt is also at the location. The sorceress then opens a portal for you both to go through.
Finding Keira
Geralt's mistrust in portals is well-placed as you and Keira get separated. So, of course, you need to find her to re-group. First, though, you have to deal with the nearby drowners. These things are like your Final Fantasy goblins; even at this early point in The Witcher 3, they'll go down swiftly.
Once the monsters are down, dive underneath the water behind them. At this point, there may be more drowners, which are easily killed with the crossbow. Keep swimming forward until you get to a place to come up for air. When you're out, you have two paths to choose from; the easiest option is the left one.
The left path will lead you to an area with more drowners and some poisonous gas. Kill the beasts, and head the opposite way to the clouds of poison. After walking a little, you'll see a small set of stairs to your right. Head up them and walk right across the platform to get to the other side. Through the archway in front of you are Keira and several rats. Destroy the rodents' nests to save the sorceress.
Following The Swallow
With Keira, you can leave through the archway in the back corner of the room. This will lead you to a projection of the elf mage, which will trigger another cutscene. The scene reveals that you need to be looking for images of swallows.
The following room contains plenty of gas and a bunch of wraiths. To temporarily remove the poison clouds, you can use Aard or Igni. Watch out, though, as the latter creates explosions that hurt both you and your enemies. To slay the wraiths, it's best to use Yrden to make them easier to hit targets.
It can be tricky to find the correct way to leave this room as there are paths everywhere. You want to be searching for the image of a swallow, which glows red with witcher senses. The correct exit is on the right side of where you entered the area. To be more specific, it's located in the northwest area of the minimap. The swallow will be on a stone that's right of the entrance.
Locating Horse Imagery
After you've found the right exit, you can just keep following the path until you get to a room with another projection. Watch this one to learn that the next clue is Ciri's horse, Kelpie. This means instead of looking for images of swallows: you need to find horses.
For the first one, you must jump into the pool that's in the middle of the room. Once down there, you can examine the horse image on the wall. Then dive underwater and find the secret pathway - it's shown on the minimap. Keep swimming until you're able to come up on the other side.
Then climb up the stairs and find another horse image at the top. Examining it will open a door near Keira. Keep following the stairs upwards to find a place to drop down near the sorceress.
Opening Portals and Fighting A Golem
Alongside Keira, enter the door that just opened, and after a short stroll, you'll end up at an inactive portal. To get it working again, examine the swallow next to it.
On the other side of the portal, though, is danger in the form of a Golem. Take it down easily by using Elemental Oil and Dimeritium bombs, along with executing some well-timed dodges.
Once it's down, climb up to the area that it was defending to progress. Continue down the path until you get the option to go left or forwards. To head towards the objective, turn left as the other way sends you to an optional fight with a gargoyle.
By going the right way, you'll find another inactive portal. Examine the swallow to open it up.
Destroying Rifts With Keira
This portal actually leads to a safe area as all the guardians are incapacitated, so you're free to walk straight through the place. In the next room, however, you're not as lucky as there are Wild Hunt rifts that need to be destroyed.
This process requires you to stay close to Keira and her shield while she exterminates the portals. Meanwhile, you'll need to protect her from all the Wild Hunt hounds that attack. You need to be careful while fighting, as being out of the sorceress's shield is painful. There are three rifts in total that need to be removed.
Afterward, she'll fall into your arms, and you can say either "Just Don't Faint On Me" (select if you want to pursue a romance with Keira) or "If You Can't Go On." When she recovers, she'll lead you to the way out.
Boss Battle With Nithral
Follow the path down to the next area to find one of the many bosses in the game, Nithral. The Wild Hunt rider is a powerful yet sluggish fighter. It's best to hit him with quick attacks before rolling or dodging away. Quen can also help you survive some of his strong strikes.
At some points during the battle, he goes into a bubble and starts to heal. Don't attack him during this time, as it'll only hurt you. Instead, wipe out the minions he sends out as fast as possible because once they're finished, he stops healing.
Finishing The Quest
With the big guy down, you can climb up to the area at the back of the room. Up there is another projection, which reveals more about Ciri's potential whereabouts and prompts a conversation about the Ladies of the Wood.
There are multiple things around that you can examine to find out a bit more information about the Mysterious Elf. Yet, the one that advances the quest is the red archway on the back wall. Reveal it using witcher senses and then examine it. It turns out it's a secret exit, and Keira will give you the means to open it up.
This allows you to leave the place, but after a few steps, the sorceress stops you. She asks for your help finding a lamp, and agreeing to assist will trigger a side quest. However, for "Wandering in the Dark." your response doesn't matter as it's the end anyway.