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Family Matters is a Main Quest in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's Act 1. Find out how to complete the quest, as well as the best choices and rewards here!
| Previous Quest | Current Quest | Next Quest |
|---|---|---|
| Ciri's Story: The King of the Wolves | Family Matters | Pyres of Novigrad |
| Quests Within Family Matters |
|---|
| A Princess in Distress Ciri's Story: The Race Hunting a Witch Ladies of the Wood Whispering Hillock Ciri's Story: Fleeing the Bog Ciri's Story: Out of the Shadows |
List of Contents
| Step-by-step Walkthrough | |
|---|---|
| 1 |
Follow the Baron After the cutscene, follow the Baron up the stairs. |
| 2 |
![]() Use your Witcher Senses to Search the Room Enter the room to the east and use your Witcher Senses to find clues. Examine the following objects inside the room: ① candlestick on the table ② flowers on the jar ③ different colored wall ④ painting of the baron and his wife ⑤ wardrobe at the other side of the painting ⑥ wooden pillar near the flowers |
| 3 |
![]() Afterward, examine the candlestick again. Next, use your Witcher Senses to follow the red trail. It will lead you out of the room down the stairs. |
| 4 |
![]() Examine the floorboard at the end of the trail, then pick up the talisman. |
| 5 |
Talk to the Baron About What You Found Talk to the Baron waiting outside the rooms. Afterward, you'll gain 150 XP. |
| 6 |
Find the Pellar's Hut Search for the pellar's hut near a village called Blackbough. Leave Crow's Perch and follow the road northwest to the marker. |
When you reach the Pellar's hut, you will be confronted by 5 of the Baron's men. You will be given dialogue options to deal with them, but your choice has no impact on the story.
| Options to Deal with the Bandits | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Offer to Heal Edric Asking what they want with the Pellar and saying you can help their friend will pacify them. However, if you chose to kill the men in the Inn at the Crossroads during the Nilfgardian Connection, they will attack you instead. |
| 2 | Pay Them Off You can try to bribe them with money, but they will not accept it. After choosing this dialogue, it will disappear from the options and you will have to select again from the remaining three. |
| 3 | Use Axii If you have Delusion Level 2, you can convince them to leave. This earns you a 40 XP bonus. |
| 4 | Threaten Telling them to leave or die will lead to a fight where you'll have to kill all of them. |
| Step-by-step Walkthrough | |
|---|---|
| 1 |
Talk to the Pellar Go to the Pellar's hut and knock on the door to talk to him. |
| 2 |
![]() Lead the Goat to the Pellar After speaking to him, you will need to agree to find his goat and finish the quest A Princess in Distress to continue Family Matters. |
A Princess in Distress Walkthrough
| Step-by-step Walkthrough | |
|---|---|
| 1 |
![]() Read About Botchlings in the Bestiary Open the Bestiary and read the entry about botchlings to learn about its weaknesses. |
| 2 |
![]() Talk to the Baron Head back to Crow's Perch. Upon arriving at the castle, you'll have the option to save the stablehand. Otherwise, talk to the Baron to continue. |
| 3 |
![]() Save the Stablehand and the Horses Trapped in the Burning Stables (Optional) Head to the burning building and climb the ladder. Use the Aard Sign to clear the debris and drop down into the stables below. Note: Don't forget to loot the chest before going down. |
| 4 |
![]() Open the Main Gate of the Stables (Optional) Open the lock on each stall of the horses. You will not interact with the stablehand, but you'll hear him. When he says "Good work", it means you've freed all the horses including him. Proceed to open the main gate. Note: When you get short of breath, approach the main gate to replenish. |
| 5 |
![]() Defeat the Baron in a Fistfight Beat the Baron in a fist fight to calm him down, netting you 50 XP afterward. By the end of the dialogue, you can choose to immediately proceed to going to the botchling or do preparations first. You can use this time to make Specter oil or Cursed oil. |
| 6 | Follow the Baron. Once you reach the grave, you will then have to choose what to do with the botchling. |
| Options to Deal with the Botchling | |
|---|---|
| Attack the Monster | Turn the Botchling into a Lubberkin |
| Step-by-step Walkthrough | |
|---|---|
| 1 |
![]() Kill the Botchling Choose [Attack the moster] when presented with the choices. Geralt will strike the botchling, turning it hostile. The Botchling is a tough fight. Light attacks are not very effective so stick with using heavy attacks. When the botchling's health drops low enough, it will grow spikes on its back and regenerate its health. Use Axii to force the spikes to retract and stop it from regenerating. |
| 2 |
Talk to the Pellar After defeating the botchling, make your way to the pellar. |
| 3 |
Follow the Pellar Follow him to the ritual site. Kill the 5 wolves that attack, then continue following the pellar. |
| 4 |
Prepare for the Ritual and Light the Fires Light the 3 fires by using Igni on the marked stones. |
| 5 |
Relight the Fires if They Go Out Once the ritual starts, relight any of the fires that go out. You can stand near the fire and use the Igni interaction instead of casting it. This will help you preserve stamina. Killing the wraiths is not required. |
| 6 |
Walk the Pellar Home (Optional) After the ritual, choose the option to walk him home to receive an additional 100 XP. |
| 7 |
Find the Fisherman Voytek's Hut Find the fisherman's hut, located east of Crow's Perch. |
| Step-by-step Walkthrough | |
|---|---|
| 1 |
Follow the Baron to the Castle's Entrance Choose [Turn the botchling into a lubberkin] when presented with the choices. After the cutscene, follow the baron to the castle's entrance. |
| 2 |
![]() Protect the Baron from Wraiths Upon reaching the road towards the castle gate, wraiths will appear. You must kill them to continue. Yrden and Moon Dust Bombs can help with fighting wraiths by restoring their physical form, making them more susceptible to physical damage. |
| 3 |
Use Axii Sign to Calm the Botchling After defeating the wraiths, calm the botchling with Axii right after. Continue following the Baron until you reach the threshold, two waves of wraiths will appear along the way. Make sure to always calm down the botchling immediately upon eliminating the wraiths, or else it will transform and you'll have to kill it. This will render you unable to turn it into a lubberkin. |
| 4 |
![]() Summon the Lubberkin Approach the lubberkin's grave. Examine it to sit and wait. |
| 5 |
Follow the Lubberkin Follow the lubberkin out of the castle where it leads you. |
| 6 |
![]() Search the Area Around the Smokehouse Use your Witcher Sense to investigate the area. Examine the following: ・The horseshoe prints outside the smokehouse. ・Bracelet on one of the barrels next to the horseshoe prints. ・Clothing on the ground south of the horseshoe prints. |
| 7 |
![]() Examine the Dead Horse Continue following the lubberkin. Kill the Rotfiends that come in 3 waves of 2 then examine the horse. Rotfiends explode when their health gets low enough. This will kill it and deal heavy damage to anything near it, even other monsters. Use this to your advantage by luring other monsters near Rotfiends that are about to explode, but be sure not to get hit yourself. |
| 8 | Follow the lubberkin to the fisherman's hut. |
| Objectives | |
|---|---|
| 1 | ![]() Look Around the Fisherman's Hut Enter the hut and exhaust all the dialogues to know about what happened to Anna and Tamara. You will get 300 XP after. |
| 2 | Talk to the Baron About His Family Head back to Crow's Perch and speak with the Baron. If you have not gone to Oxenfort to find Tamara yet, you will receive a Letter of Safe Conduct and 50 crowns when you agree to look for her. |
| 3 | Talk to the Baron about his wife and you will receive 300 XP. When he tells you about Ciri, the game will transition to the quest Ciri's Story: The Race. |
Ciri's Story: The Race Walkthrough
| Objectives | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Go to Oxenfurt. It is found east of Hanged Man's Tree. |
| 2 | If you talked to the Baron first, you will receive a Letter of Safe Conduct, which will let you pass the bridge into Oxenfurt and give you 75 XP. If you did not talk to the Baron first you will have to swim across and will not gain extra xp. |
| 3 | You can find Tamara in one of the northern houses marked on the map.. |
| 4 | After talking to Tamara you will receive 150 XP. |
| 5 | Return to Crow's Perch and find the baron. |
| Objectives | |
|---|---|
| 1 | After telling the baron about Tamara, the objective will change to "Investigate the remaining leads". Complete Hunting a Witch and Wandering in the Dark to get the quest The Ladies of the Wood. |
| 2 | Complete Ladies of the Wood and return to the baron. He will tell you the rest of his story about Ciri, transitioning you to Ciri's Story: Out of the Shadows. Afterward, the Family Matters quest will be completed. |
| Choice | Results |
|---|---|
| Attack the Monster |
・You will need to fight the botchling, along with a few wraiths. ・The baron will get angry afterward, but no impact on story and later quests. |
| Turn Botchling into Lubberkin |
・You will need to fight waves of wraiths. ・No impact on story and later quests. |
Choices and Decisions that Affect the Story
| Gold Reward | None |
|---|---|
| Exp Reward | 200 |
| Item Reward | Letter of Safe Conduct x 1 |
| Quest Number | 9 |
|---|---|
| Region | Velen |
| Quest Location | Crow's Perch |
| Previous Quest | Ciri's Story: The King of the Wolves |
| Next Quest | Pyres of Novigrad |
| Missable? | No |
| Failable? | No |

| Prologue | |||||
| Act 1 | Act 2 | Act 3 | |||
| DLC | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hearts of Stone | Blood and Wine | ||||
If you know the quest with the three crones and the spirit in the tree, kill it instead of releasing it, then he'll survive.
Family Matters Walkthrough, Choices and Best Choice

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Hi there, we actually have a walkthrough concerning this quest! Check the link below. https://game8.co/games/Witcher3/archives/275827