Nere

Nere, also known as True Soul Nere, is a True Soul of the Absolute, and potential boss in Baldur's Gate 3. In Act One he can be found at Grymforge, trapped inside a room that suffered a cave-in. He is a pivotal character for the quests  Free True Soul Nere and  Deliver Nere's Head.

“

Heretics. Let Nere be your end.

„

— Nere

Involvement

Act One

A group of enslaved Deep Gnomes are trying to free Nere from a cave-in near the main room of the Grymforge. To save him, the gnomes tell the party to find Philomeen, a runaway gnome in possession of an explosive capable of destroying the rubble.

Warning: Fast traveling or long resting more than once causes Nere to die.

After freeing him, the party can decide to kill him and his mercenaries to save the gnome slaves. The party may also complete the quest  Blind the Absolute - convincing Elder Brithvar to side against Nere, which will make the fight much easier.

Alternatively, it's possible to betray Brithvar and convince Nere and the Absolute Cultists to turn on the mercenaries.

It is also possible to lock the party out of either of these options through dialogue choices prior to rescuing Nere, leading him to kill both the gnome slaves and Sergeant Thrinn immediately after he is freed from the rubble. He will then demand that the party help him to kill the rest of the cultists and duergar mercenaries; this will turn all NPCs except Nere hostile an start a combat.

If defying Nere when he kills the gnome slaves, or when he demands that the party kill the other cultists, and not having a deal with Elder Brithvar, then the party will be forced to fight Nere and all of the duergar at the same time. If, however, having a deal with Elder Brithvar, it's possible to interrupt Nere from killing the gnome slaves and still side with him once Elder Brithvar attacks him, leading to an option of saving the gnomes while Nere is still alive.

Should the party decide to fight his mercenaries before freeing him, an option to convince him that the Absolute is a group of cultists will appear once freed. That will result in Nere abandoning the Cult of the Absolute and leaving Grymforge for good.

If Nere is defeated or died off-screen from either a revolt or poisoning, it's possible to remove his head to bring it to either Spaw or Glut.

Regardless of his status, the party will receive a Broken Moonlantern, a precursor to a crucial item needed to travel through the Shadow-Cursed Lands in order to get to Moonrise Towers. There is no way to fix this lantern, rendering this item useless, but the the party will have several options to find a working moonlantern later.

Act Two

If Nere is kept alive in Grymforge and loyal to the Absolute, he will appear briefly in Act 2 as a zombie servant to Balthazar.

Speak with Dead

Nere can be spoken to with  Speak with Dead.

Party member: Who are you?

• Nere: True Soul... Nere...

Party member: How did you get trapped?

• Nere: Corridor... triggered old trap... cave-in...

Party member: What were you doing here?

• Nere: Find... path to temple... orders of General...
  • Party member: What about this temple is so important?
    • Nere: General's necromancer... Balthazar...
  • Party member: Tell me more about this General.
    • Nere: Absolute's Chosen... Moonrise Towers...

Party member: Where did you come from?

• Nere: Moonrise... Towers...
  • Party member: How can I get to Moonrise Towers?
    • Nere: Minthara in goblin camp... safe passage... Moonlantern... drider...

Party member: Did you come here with the duergar?

• Nere: Mercenaries... Absolute unites...

Combat

Attacks and abilities

 Dissonant Whispers ()

3d6 (3~18) Psychic

 Frighten a creature: they'll have Disadvantage on Ability checks and Attack rolls and they cannot move.

WIS Save

 Range: 18 m / 60 ft

 Main Hand Attack ()   –  Sword of Screams

Normal weapon damage Make a melee attack with your equipped weapon.

 Melee: 1.5 m / 5  ft

 Shield of Screams ()

2d6 (2~12) Psychic

Recall the voices of all who scorned you - and how they screamed in the end. They form a shield around you.

Your Armour Class increases by 3, and anyone who hits you with a melee attack takes 2d6Psychic damage.

 Range: 18 m / 60 ft

 Wicked Coercion ()

2d4 (2~8) Psychic

Invade an enemy's mind and force them to join your side. They also take 2d4Psychic immediately, and 1d6Psychic per turn.

WIS Save

 Range: 16 m / 52 ft

Honour mode

 Psionic Visage

Summon 3 psychic copies of yourself to protect you. As long as one of those copies remain, you are immune to Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing damage.

When the caster is struck, a Psionic Visage will  Detonate.

 Range: Self

Recharge: Per turn

 Shatter Visage

2d6 (2~12) Psychic

Detonate a psionic visage, striking the attacker with a psychic wave that pushes it back 3 m / 10 ft.

AoE: 6 m / 20 ft (Radius)

Allies

• Dalthar
• Drar
• Dunnol
• Fonmara
• Greymon
• Murmath*
  • Lur Fu* (conditional)
  • Lur Jox* (conditional)
  • Lur Otan* (conditional)
  • Lur Xanta* (conditional)
• Thrinn

If the party did not complete  Blind the Absolute, then additional allies will side with Nere:

• Brithvar
• Danna*
• Gergerann*
• Grundril*
• Kith*
• Kur*
• Magmar*
• Mirthis*
• Morghal*
• Morgya*
• Pistle*
• Orgarth*
• Thudd
• Scrying Eye
• Skarjall*

* = Will not join the fight until it gets close to them

Encounter details

If the party completed  Blind the Absolute then many enemies will choose to ally with them against Nere, significantly reducing the difficulty of the fight.

Multiple enemies have spells that can control the minds of the party members. Nere will use  Wicked Coercion, and both Mind Master Dunnol and Mind Master Fonmara will use  Mind Mastery to force the party to waste actions fighting each other.

This battle also occurs next to  Lava which will quickly  melt anyone who falls into it. Many enemies have ways of pushing the party backwards into the lava, such as  Shove, Thrinn's  Thunderwave, or Nere's  Shatter Visage on Honour mode. Nere has an abnormally high Athletics bonus of +9 and the  Muscular passive making him very difficult to successfully shove (DC is 24), though he does not actually possess the Shove ability himself.

Tactics

It is most important to take out the enemies that can mind control your characters first. Start with the Mind Masters because they have fewer hit points and then switch focus to Nere once they've been taken care of.

It is highly recommended to keep away from the lava as well, as it will almost certainly kill anyone who falls inside. However, this can be used to your advantage if you can knock enemies into it using effects such as  Shove,  Pushing Attack (Melee),  Flurry of Blows: Push,  Thunderwave, or Arrow of Roaring Thunder.

Bringing a Sussur Bloom to the fight can greatly reduce the amount of magic being cast, thanks to its Sussur Flower Antimagic Field. This is particularly effective against Nere himself since his spells are far more dangerous than his physical attacks. Failing that, the party can try to use either the Sussur Greatsword or Sussur Dagger to  Silence him if he fails the saving throw.

In Honor Mode, it is important to note that his legendary action, whilst stating that it triggers when Nere is attacked, will in fact trigger on many offensive actions that do not require an attack roll. Even spells that do no damage, and require no save, such as  Create Water will trigger it.  Silencing him does not impact his ability to trigger this action, but  Incapacitating him will prevent him from using it.

Also, the  Detonations triggered by attacking Nere while  Psionic Visages are active are centered on the character that triggered the  Detonation, rather than on Nere.

Loot

• 1402 Gold
• Amethyst Ring
• Broken Moonlantern
• Dagger +1
• Disintegrating Night Walkers
• Mind Flayer Parasite Specimen
• Nere's Head
• Potion of Healing
• Silver necklace
• Simple Robe
• Spider's Lyre
• Sword of Screams

It's possible to get both Gift from the Absolute and Mind Flayer Parasite Specimen by first completing  Free True Soul Nere then killing Nere later.

Related quests

•  Deliver Nere's Head
•  Find the Explosives
•  Free True Soul Nere
•  Save the Grymforge Gnomes

Gallery

• 

  Nere's model

• 

  Nere in early access

Notes

• Grants 90 experience when killed.

External links

• Nere on the Forgotten Realms Wiki