Investigate Kagha

A conspiracy is afoot in the Grove.

Investigate Kagha is a sub-quest of the Emerald Grove's main quest;  Save the Refugees. It can be initiated by reading The Rite of Thorns, found in the Emerald Grove, or finding another clue hinting towards Kagha's scheme.

Objectives

Objectives and journal entries may vary pending story decisions and outcomes.

Search the Emerald Grove.

• The Rite of Thorns is dangerous magic. Why is Kagha so determined to do this? We should investigate.

Investigate the Swamp.

• We found a note addressed to Kagha that mentioned a meeting in the swamp. What is she up to?

Confront Kagha.

• We found a note proving that Kagha is in league with the Shadow Druids. This could explain why she wants the tieflings gone.
• A second note proved that Kagha is in league with the Shadow Druids. This could explain why she wants the tieflings gone.

Fight the Shadow Druids.

• (Kagha lives) We persuaded Kagha to turn against the Shadow Druids. It's time to end this.
• (Kagha hostile) Kagha refused to abandon her plans. It's time to end this.

Return to Zevlor.

• We defeated the Shadow Druids and stopped the ritual. We should report our success to Zevlor.

Quest Complete

• (Kagha lived) We exposed Kagha but were able to convince her to abandon the Shadow Druids. After fighting them, she stopped the ritual. The grove remains open.
• (Kagha died) We exposed Kagha and fought the Shadow Druids. Kagha is dead, and her ritual has been stopped. The grove remains open.
• The tieflings have been forced out of the grove, and the druids' ritual is complete. The grove is closed now - perhaps for good.
• We've interrupted the druids' ritual to close the grove, but now they are attacking the tieflings!
• The grove is besieged by goblins! The druids will want nothing more to do with us.
• We defeated the goblins. The refugees can safely leave the grove.

Walkthrough

Location of Kagha's chest.

This is multi-staged quest that can have several different outcomes, though it roughly follows the same path. Upon receiving this quest, the party is implored to search the Druid Grove to investigate Kagha.

The first clue

The vital clue required to progress this quest lies in the Half-Torn Note within Kagha's chest (X: -484 Y: -7, in the Emerald Grove. Interacting with the chest is considered a crime, meaning the party must engage with it while out of sight if they wish to avoid attitude lost. This is fairly easy to do, especially by hiding and entering turn-based mode, as the chest is tucked away in a dark corner behind a bookcase. The chest is locked and requires a DC 10 Sleight of Hand check to open. If the party is unable to pass the Skill Check, they can alternatively destroy the chest.

Following the clue

The wooden crevice containing the Letter to Kagha.

Reading the note reveals that Kagha has been corresponding with someone named Olodan, who asked her to meet alone at the "swamp". The swamp that the note is referring to is located in the Putrid Bog X: 97 Y: 224, in the southern part of the Overworld map.

The swamp is guarded by 2 Wood Woads and 4 Ancient Mud Mephits who will be hostile on sight. The Wood Woads have the ability to regenerate 10 Hit Points per turn, but are vulnerable to fire damage which also breaks their regeneration. The Ancient Mud Mephits are fragile, but will endlessly summon Young Mud Mephits until they are dealt with. Furthermore mud and tangling weeds predominate on the battlefield, making mobility challenging. On higher difficulty levels, achieving Surprise with e.g. Invisibility can help buy enough time to whittle the enemies down before they can respond.

Once the enemies have been taken care of, a success on a DC 5 Perception check at the large tree at the center of the island X: 86 Y: 220 will reveal an interactable wooden crevice on the south-west side of it that hides the Letter to Kagha.

Reading it reveals that Kagha has been scheming with the Shadow Druids to take over the Emerald Grove and install herself as the First Druid.

Confronting the Shadow Druids

With Kagha's secret now revealed, all that is required to finish this quest is to confront her back at the Druid Grove. Confronting Kagha forces the Shadow Druids Olodan, Wren, and Pinta—who have been hiding in the Grove by wildshaping themselves into Rats—to reveal themselves.

The Wild and Wellspring plaques in the Emerald Grove.

The party can try to convince Kagha to repent and break her alliance with the Shadow Druids ahead of the fight, turning her into an ally in the upcoming confrontation. To do so, they must first pass a DC 15 Persuasion check (10 for a Druid) to stop her from immediately jumping into action.

After that the party must also succeed on another DC 10 Persuasion, or Religion check to convince her to join their side. If the party has read the plaques inside the Emerald Grove and learned of the grove's history, they have an alternative option to succeed on a DC 5 History check (Automatic succes for a Druid) to convince Kagha. Some races (i.e. Wood-Elves) or classes (i.e. Rangers) get an auto-success option.

Alternatively, if the party uses the  Detect Thoughts spell at the start (instead of the Persuasion check), they only need to pass a single DC 13 Intelligence check to convince Kagha.

After that, a fight breaks out against the three Shadow Druids, with Kagha either joining them or the party depending on the dialogue choices. The other occupants of the Druid Grove, such as Rath and Silver also join the party against the Shadow Druids.

After the battle, if Kagha is spared and the player character is a Druid, she bestows upon them the title of Faithwarden and award them with the staff, Pale Oak. If Kagha perished during the battle, the party can loot the magical amulet Broodmother's Revenge off her body.

Quest rewards

• Broodmother's Revenge, looted from Kagha's body
• Hellrider's Pride, awarded by Zevlor
• Pale Oak, awarded to the player if they are a druid
• 15 Exp for confronting Kagha

Related quests

•  Kill Kagha

Companion approval

• If Kagha is convinced to stand down through reference to the frescoes and nature's teachings  -1  +1  +1  +5
• If Kagha is confronted and attacked  +1  +1  +1

Notes

• The letter to Kagha in the Putrid Bog is there even if the party hasn't started this quest. With meta knowledge or simple thorough exploration of the Sunlit Wetlands, it's possible to "skip ahead" by finding it unprompted. The quest starts and the party is told to confront Kagha.
• The fight with the shadow druids can be avoided but may cause a bug: If shooting one of the rats just before the final conversation with Kagha, the rats will run away, the conversation with the shadow druids will still occur, but when it is finished and if Kagha is convinced to help the party in the fight, there will be no fight. However the bug is that the quest will remain in the journal and the party won't get Pale Oak if they were otherwise eligible for it.
• If the goblin leaders are killed or knocked out before Kagha is confronted, the quest will be resolved automatically without the player needing to return to Halsin as the quest text describes. Zevlor doesn't reward the player with any loot, the shadow druids leave and no further interaction besides Kagha is available.