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Get Help from Auntie Ethel
Get Help from Auntie Ethel is a sub-quest of Act One's main quest, Find a Cure. It can be initiated by speaking with Auntie Ethel at the Druid Grove, or running into her south of the Blighted Village.
Objectives
Objectives and journal entries may vary pending story decisions and outcomes.
- We met an eccentric old lady in the Emerald Grove. She's confident she can remove our parasites and invited us to her teahouse.
- We met an eccentric old lady at a teahouse in the wilderness. She's confident she can remove our parasites - for a price.
- Ethel named her price for helping us: one of our eyes
- We agreed to give up an eye in exchange for removing the parasite.
- We made a deal with Auntie Ethel, but she couldn't remove the parasite, claiming it was Netherese. If a green hag can't help us, who can?
- Auntie Ethel died before she could help us. We need to find someone else to remove the parasite.
- Things turned violent with Auntie Ethel. She isn't happy with us.
- We left the area before finding out whether the old lady could help us.
Walkthrough
Meeting Ethel
Ethel can be found in two places. She can first be encountered in The Hollow within the Emerald Grove X: 192 Y: 544, where she runs a small shop selling lotions and potions. Ethel notices that the party looks ill, and they can reveal that they were infected with a mind flayer tadpole. Ethel states that she can help, but that she doesn't have the supplies at the Grove. She invites the party to visit her at her house in the wetlands.
Ethel can also be encountered southwest of the Blighted Village, in the Sunlit Wetlands X: 45 Y: 313. Here, Ethel is confronted by two men, Johl and Demir, who accuse her of kidnapping their sister, Mayrina. The party can intervene on behalf of the brothers or Ethel. If the party sticks up for Ethel, she invites them back to her house.
Ethel's bargain
Ethel's house X: -47 Y: 266 is in the southwestern area of the Sunlit Wetlands/Putrid Bog. She greets the party and regardless of whether she was told or not, states she's well aware of the tadpole in their heads. Luckily, she has experience removing them. She offers the party a deal - sacrifice one of their eyes and she will remove the tadpole.
If the party agrees, Ethel transforms into her true form, a hag, and asks if she should take the left or right eye. After choosing, Ethel takes the eye and enchants it, giving the party member the trait Hag-Eyed. After this is done, she tries to fulfil her part of the bargain by removing the tadpole. Unfortunately, the tadpole fights against the removal. Ethel is unable to remove it, as it has been enchanted by Netherese magic. If asked about the eye, she says she fulfilled her part of the bargain and that she didn't agree to remove a Netherese tadpole. As a token of rare good faith from a hag, Ethel will give Auntie Ethel's Charm to the party after the attempted removal.
Consequences
Depending on dialogue choices, a character who still has both eyes can allow Auntie Ethel to attempt to remove the tadpole. This will fail and result in the major, permanent debuff Paid the Price, which gives +1 to Intimidation checks but disadvantage on Perception checks along with disadvantage when attacking Hags.