Objective: Learn the ropes and find where Ciri was last seen.
Boss: The Royal Griffin.
Reward: Access to Velen.
1. The Basics
After a dream of Ciri, you and Vesemir arrive in White Orchard. Use this zone to learn the essentials:
- 1
Combat & Signs
Practice light/heavy attacks, dodge (roll for big hits, sidestep for small), and cast Quen before every fight. Try each of the five Signs.
- 2
Roach, meditation & oils
Whistle for Roach to travel fast, meditate to refill potions and pass time, and always apply the correct blade oil for the monster type.
- 3
Witcher Senses
Hold the senses button to highlight clues, scents and tracks — the core of every contract and investigation.
2. Yennefer's Trail
Head to the village and the inn. A Nilfgaardian officer knows where Yennefer (and Ciri's trail) leads, but he'll only talk once you help the locals with their griffin problem. Along the way, grab a Place of Power for an early Ability Point — White Orchard has six in total. The Griffin School gear scavenger hunt waits for Velen rather than starting here: every base armor diagram for the set is stashed together in Dragonslayer's Grotto there, while the two swords lie at other spots in Velen.
The region also hides the very first Viper School diagram — not a set most players reach until much later. It sits under a skeleton in the crypt below the cemetery chapel north of the Mill, guarded by one or two Wraiths who retreat there even if you wound them outside first; Aard breaks the crypt door open.
3. Boss: The Royal Griffin
- 1
Prep
Coat your silver sword with Hybrid Oil, brew Thunderbolt and Swallow, and craft a few Crossbow bolts — shooting the griffin grounds it while it flies.
- 2
The fight
Keep Quen up, dodge its dive and tail sweeps, and punish after it lands. Aard can stagger it. Bombs like Grapeshot help too.
4. On to Velen
With the griffin dead, the officer tells you what he knows of Yennefer. Back at the inn a brawl breaks out, Yennefer arrives, and Geralt parts ways with Vesemir before the ride to Vizima and an audience with the Emperor, who sends him to Velen after Ciri — where the trail leads to the Bloody Baron. The real adventure begins.
Finishing the griffin contract and reporting back triggers a cutscene straight to Vizima, and unfinished White Orchard side quests fail when it plays. Missing in Action, On Death's Bed and Twisted Firestarter are lost for certain: the Witcher Wiki gives all three a cut-off at the end of the prologue. Whether Precious Cargo and A Frying Pan, Spick and Span go with them is disputed: TheGamer's auto-fail list and WitcherDB say they fail too, while the Witcher Wiki gives them no cut-off and Vandal's guide names only the first two. The Devil by the Well contract (a noonwraith at the village well) is not lost here — it stays open until the main quest On Thin Ice. Faithful Friend survives as well, because it can't trigger until much later, near one specific ending. Clear White Orchard before you fight the griffin.