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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[edit | edit source]
Objectives and journal entries may vary pending story decisions and outcomes.
Walkthrough[edit | edit source]
Meeting Ethel[edit | edit source]
Ethel can be found in two different places. She can first be encountered in The Hollow within the Emerald GroveX: 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, the brothers 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[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
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.