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Help Your Protector
 | Spoiler warning: The following content contains unhidden spoilers. Read at your own risk. |
Help Your Protector is a quest in Act Three of Baldur's Gate 3 that is added at the very beginning of Act Three.
Objectives
Objectives and journal entries may vary pending player decisions and outcomes.
Walkthrough
This quest starts automatically after the party completes Defeat Ketheric Thorm and moves on to the road to Baldur's Gate. After this, the party rests at Wyrm's Lookout before entering the Outer City. After ending the day (note: there will not be any autosave), the party is awoken by the voice of the Absolute commanding them to submit. The Astral Prism goes out of control, seemingly pushed away. Shortly after, a portal opens and three Gish'ra warriors step through and attack the party. An additional gith enemy will appear each turn. The party has only three turns to make it to the Astral Portal. Only one character needs interact with the portal for all of the party to get transported. It is not necessary to fight any of the attackers, though killing them will each grant EXP; they do not pursue the party through the portal, and any that are left behind will be found dead when the party returns.
Meeting the Emperor
Once the party makes it to the Astral Plane, the Dream Guardian calls out and asks for help, explaining they are under attack. The party is attacked by two Gish'ra - High Gish'ra Sh'ari and Ember Gish'ra Mir'ic - while being aided by nine Intellect Devourers. On another rock is High Gish'ra K'i'lar fighting against five Intellect Devourers. Proceed to the skull, where a mind flayer is fighting against several Gish'ra warriors. The mind flayer reveals that it is indeed the one who appeared in your dreams and, if asked, recollects events that happened during the party's adventures. If the party agrees to help it, they must defeat Prelate Lir'i'c, High Gish'ra G'imre, Ember Gish'ra M'i'hayk, and Zephyr Gish'ra Verik. If the party insists on attacking the Emperor they must fight it and the Gish'ra, though the two factions of enemies will attack each other as well.
After the battle, the party learns that the power used to protect them from the Absolute is stolen from the Githyanki Prince Orpheus, who is trapped by infernal chains in the Astral Prism. The mind flayer, also known as The Emperor, was tasked to acquire the Prism as an agent of the Elder Brain, but got free from its control once within the prism's shield.
The Emperor's story
The Emperor finally explains its story after the battle. It was once an adventurer just like the party, living in Baldur's Gate. Eager to do more, the Emperor went to Moonrise Towers in search of treasure and was captured by the Mind Flayer colony below, where he was transformed into a Mind Flayer. For years, the Emperor served the Elder Brain, which is now known as the Absolute, as a thrall like any other, but it was able to break free and return to Baldur's Gate. The Emperor lived in the shadows, feeding on criminals' brains and worked alongside Duke Belynne Stelmane as the governing force behind the Knights of the Shield. Those who knew it called it the Emperor, for its role in the Knights. However, the Emperor's identity was found out by Lord Enver Gortash who forced it back into servitude for the Elder Brain. After being sent on a mission to retrieve the Astral Prism, it broke free and set out on a mission to take down the Elder Brain.
The Emperor tells the party they would be stronger as an illithid, and the already consumed tadpoles have made them stronger. It gives them an Astral-Touched Tadpole that can transform every party member who communes with it into a Partial-illithid. If one party member eats it (and it can only be eaten once), only this party member is transformed. Although the Emperor urges them to consider it, the party can either agree or refuse; if the player character consumed any tadpoles prior to this, refusing requires a DC 21 Wisdom Check.
Early ending
If the Emperor dies in battle, the party soon find out that it was correct in its assertions that it was protecting them. The Elder Brain takes control and turns the party into mind flayers, assimilating them into her Grand Design. The game ends.
- If a party member is the one to kill the Emperor, they will be prompted to help it back up instead of killing it, which restores the Emperor's health, recategorizes it as an ally (if the party originally chose to attack it) and resumes the fight. This can only occur once. Choosing to allow it to die simply ends the game, as above.
- If the Emperor is instead knocked out, the fight continues without acknowledgement. Similarly, if it later dies after being knocked out, nothing happens, and its corpse can be looted and picked up like a normal opponent. Once the battle is won, the Emperor will reappear in the center of the place. If its corpse has been picked up by a party member, it will be removed from that character's inventory.
Quest rewards
