Triss may not have had any useful information about Ciri’s whereabouts, but she did point Geralt to an oneiromancer, who did. Once freed from the predicament she found herself in, this oneiromancer, Corinne, was only too happy to help Geralt search his dreams for clues that eluded the waking mind. After learning that Ciri had been in contact with Dandelion and that the latter had inherited a brothel, Geralt had a fresh new lead to pursue. This page will provide a walkthrough for the main quest Broken Flowers in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Quest Objectives¶

Starting Broken Flowers¶

Novigrad’s main questline is still pretty linear for now, and Broken Flowers dutifully begins immediately after the previous main quest, Novigrad Dreaming ends. Enjoy the simplicity while it lasts - it don’t be long before the thread we’re pursuing frays. The first step in this quest is to travel to Dandelion’s brothel, the Rosemary & Thyme, which is located along the southeastern edge of the city.

Look for Dandelion in the Rosemary and Thyme¶

Dandelion is an inherently itinerant being, in no small part because his fickle dalliances quickly earn him enemies, but perhaps the demands of owning a business will finally force him to grow roots? In any event, his newly acquired brothel is the only lead we have, and we should check it out for purely professional reasons. Head to the Rosemary and Thyme, which is along the southeastern edge of Novigrad, just across the bridge from the Gate of the Hierarch.

When you approach you’ll hear a familiar voice yelling at some vagrants. Head inside and Zoltan Chivay will finish expelling several squatters from the premises before addressing Geralt. Before they can catch up properly, more Vagrants (Lv5) will show up and make it clear they’re not leaving without a fight, and Zoltan invites Geralt to help him toss out the trash. There are four foes in this fistfight, although Zoltan will occupy at least one of them. There’s also not a great deal of space and your enemies will almost certainly bunch up, making it more tedious to do the ol’ block-and-counter routine. You also can’t use signs during this fight like you could against the Thugs in earlier quests, but these foes are relatively weak, even with the complications presented by the location.

Expel the Vagrants and you’ll continue your chat with Zoltan - exhaust his dialog options and you’ll find out that Zoltan doesn’t know where Dandelion is either, and you’ll need to use your Witcher senses to find some clues. Search atop a wine rack under a window to find Dandelion’s Planner, which provokes another round of chatter, ultimately ending with Geralt and Zoltan finding some verses about some of Dandelion’s… lady friends. It’s not the bard himself, but they might be able to point us in the right direction or otherwise provide some useful intel. You’ll now get five objectives and a great deal of EXP - the first of many large EXP rewards this quest will yield for relatively little danger or effort. It’s very much a quest designed to get your level up to snuff if you’ve been lagging.

Be sure to loot the brothel - better its treasures end up in your pockets rather than in the hands of some squatters - and examine the various diplomas, letters and the hilariously silly painting in the building, if you wish. You can also use the storage chest here, finally unlocking one outside of White Orchard and Crow’s Perch. Finally, you can ask Zoltan about the entries in Dandelion’s Planner if you want to get some intel on the girls you’re going to be talking to shortly. It’s entirely fluff, however, so don’t feel compelled to do so if you don’t care to.

When you’re ready, leave Rosemary and Thyme behind. You can visit these girls in whatever order you wish, so don’t feel compelled to follow the page chronologically, if you don’t wish. That said, we’re going on a geographic loop, starting with Vespula, moving northeast to Elihal, before working our way up to the richer part of town and talking to Marabella, Rosa var Attre and finally Molly.

Talk to Vespula¶

You’ll find Vespula along the southern edge of the nonhuman district, a short ways away from the Rosemary and Thyme. When you get close you’ll find her being accosted by some of Whoreson Junior’s men, shaking her down for protection money. You can either squander your own wealth pointlessly by paying what she owes (200 Crowns) or pick a fight by saying “Vespula’s got new protection.” followed by “Mine.” or by saying “Get outt here.’. You can avoid a fight - and paying - by saying “Vespula’s got new protection.” followed by “The King of Beggars’.”, which is sufficient to cow them without putting Vespula’s business at risk. If you pick a fight you’ll need to put down several Bandits (Lv10-11), including an archer and a spearman, but nothing too challenging.

However you resolve matters, talk to Vespula and after you hear her out you’ll get another massive influx of EXP - the first girl you talk to will earn you a whopping 300 EXP and every subsequent one 150 EXP, and these stack, so the first objective will earn you 450 EXP. That’s a whopping 1050 EXP at stake just for completing these objectives!

Talk to Elihal¶

Elihal can be found in his shop along the south-central end of the nonhuman district, southeast of Tretogor Gate. Enter and you may recognize him as a Gwent-playing tailor, if you bothered to play some Gwent in Novigrad, but chatting will reveal the flexible nature of Elihal’s persona and of Dandelion’s relationship with the elf. For learning what you can from Elihal you’ll earn another 150 EXP.

Talk to Marabella¶

Marabella can be found in a school along the northeastern corner of Novigrad’s large, central island. Enter and she’ll tell you to wait outside - oblige her and after a moment she’ll discharge the students, signaling you can enter and talk to her. Do so and she’ll divulge the bard’s odd taste in… mold? Endure her terrible equine poetry and she’ll tell you what little she knows of the bard. All in all a fairly fruitless endeavor, albeit one that yields great EXP, like the rest.

Talk to Rosa var Attre¶

The var Attre estate can be found along the northern end of Novigrad’s largest, central island, just east of the St. Gregory’s Bridge signpost and southeast of The Passiflora. Listen to some guards talk outside the front entrance and it’ll become clear that meeting Rosa isn’t going to be as easy as the rest of the girls. She’s got a proper surname, which means wealth, and in turn, social complications. Suffice to say that an audience isn’t likely to be given to any scruffy Witcher off the streets.

Talk Your Way Into the Var Ettre Estate¶

Talk to the Var Attre Guard Captain standing outside the door and tell him that “I’m the new swordplay instructor.” and he’ll let you right on in. Picking either of the other two options will see you ridiculed and barred from further attempts at duplicity. If you talk your way in, follow the guard captain through the house, pick up a sword when prompted, then head downstairs to meet the young, violent Rosa Var Attre girl, who insists on a bit of sparring…

Sneak Into the Var Ettre Estate¶

More on this in a bit, but first, if you couldn’t get in via the front door you’ve still got options. Head around the left (western) edge of the house to reach the eastern edge of The Passiflora, where you’ll find some stairs leading down to the east. Descend them, drop down a ledge to the southeast, loot a chest hidden in some bushes, then work your way east, jumping gaps and climbing ledges as necessary until you find some ledges leading up behind the Var Attre estate. Once on the grounds, loot around as you wish, then head to the western side of the house to find Edna var Attre, who covers for you and tells the guard captain that you’re her new swordplay instructor. Like with the other route you’ll be walked through the estate, told to pick up a Wooden Sword, then taken downstairs to train Rosa var Attre.

Spar with Rosa var Ettre¶

Either way you get into the house, you’ll end up downstairs, armed with a fancy stick, challenged to a match by Rosa var Attre.She’s got the same moveset as an elite swordsman, somewhat delayed overhead swing, deceptively quick charging attack… you’ve seen all these moves before and if you learned how to parry and counter the odd bandit by now, you’ll have no trouble with Rosa. If not, you’ll have to learn - remember to hold / just before her attacks land and you’ll block if your timing is off, or parry if you get the timing right. The timing window on these parries isn’t all that strict, but on harder difficulties Rosa can deplete half of Geralt’s health in one combo, while it’ll take Geralt many counters to whittle Rosa’s health bar down.

Reduce Rosa’s health to half and she’ll stop the match to praise you. Say what you will and it won’t be long before she resumes the match. You’ll both start out with full health, but this time you’ll need to reduce Rosa’s health bar to nearly empty before she’ll relent. Best her a second time and she’ll ask for private lessons - if you want to unlock the secondary quest Fencing Lessons respond with “Gladly.”, after which Edna will appear and the two will finally explain the nature of Rosa’s relationship with Dandelion. Run through their dialog and when Rosa enquires about those private lessons mentioned earlier, reiterate your intent by picking “Where and when?” to start Fencing Lessons.

If you want to take a break from Broken Flowers and complete Fencing Lessons, just meditate for a day and you’ll be able to advance it. Either way, once you’re done with the var Attre girls you’ll get the typical 150 EXP and you can loot and leave the estate via any door you please.

Talk to Molly¶

Molly is the chambermaid of Mary Louisa la Valette, so naturally you’ll find her in the orbit of nobility. You’ll find Molly - or rather, her patroness - southeast of the northernmost Notice Board in Novigrad, southeast of the St. Gregory’s Bridge signpost and just a short walk south from the var Ettre estate. Approach and your reception will vary depending on whether you spared or killed Aryan la Valette in The Witcher 2, but the end result is the same - you need to seek out Molly at the Vegelbud Residence southeast of Novigrad. Ride with Morvran to travel there instantly, or opt to go on your own as you see fit.

Race Morvran Voorhis¶

When you arrive at the Vegelbud Estate, Morvran will blather about horses before challenging Geralt to a race. Accept and pick whatever horse you wish - this race is easy, just stay on the track and manage your stamina and you should win a Superior Racing Saddle with little fuss. After the race - win, lose or decline - you’ll be pointed to Molly, whom you can now talk to and gain a bit more info about Dandelion’s eccentric behavior over recent days. You can now choose to talk to Morvran to ride back to Novigrad, or head back on your own.

Which Horse to Choose During Broken Flowers?¶

Nobody likes losing at the Races, and that holds true whether in real life of in the Witcher 3’s digitized horse races. As with all games of this type, your choices often matter; many of your choices in The Witcher 3 have profound long-term effects on the rest of your game. Just to keep people guessing, however, those significant choices are mixed in with a myriad of choices which do not matter in the slightest, and finding out which choice is important or not… well, it helps us pay the bills, frankly.

When it comes to picking a particular horse in the race during the Broken Flowers quest, your decision has no impact whatsoever, save for a few lines of dialog where your colleagues are forced to moderate their picks around your own. You will have the choice of four horses: Cantarella, Chestnut, Zerrikania, and Nemrod. The only main difference between them will be their color, and “go faster” stripes count for nothing here - they all have the same stats and performance on the track.

Return to the Rosemary and Thyme and talk to Zoltan¶

After you get what intel you can from all five names mentioned in Dandelion’s Planner, return to the Rosemary and Thyme to find that Zoltan, aside from obtaining an owl, found little of note. At least, it seems that way, but paired with Geralt’s info a strange pattern emerges from Dandelion’s antics. More importantly, Zoltan can put a name, a face, and a location to the strange woman Dandelion has been fawning over a trobairitz named Priscilla, who should be performing at The Kingfisher.

Play Gwent with Zoltan¶

Before you head over to The Kingfisher, talk to Zoltan again and challenge him to a game of Gwent. He’s got a competent, if unimpressed, Scotia’tael deck, and besting him will earn you the Eithne card, a 10 strength hero card for the Scoia’tael deck, while also starting the quest Gwent: Old Pals. This can be a somewhat tricky quest to keep track of, as the various NPCs you need to play are available at different times, sometimes during rather limited windows. Case in point, if you don’t play Zoltan now you’ll have to wait until after A Poet Under Pressure. The cards at stake here can be very good, so it’s worth checking out the linked page for more information so you can work through this quest as you progress through the main questline in Novigrad.

Meet the Trobairitz at The Kingfisher¶

To finish up this quest, wait until sundown (meditating until 9:00 or so works) then head to The Kingfisher along the northeastern corner of Hierarch Square. When you arrive you’ll trigger a scene, after which you’ll end up chatting with Priscilla. She will finally tell you what Dandelion was up to.and give you a name that might help you find Dandelion - Whoreson Junior. This ends Broken Flowers and begins Get Junior.