Find a Cure

The crashsite of Nautiloid in Act One

Find a Cure is the main Quest in Act One of Baldur's Gate 3, and contains multiple related sub-quest within it. It is automatically added to the journal after completing the Prologue.

Objectives

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

Find a way to remove the mind flayer parasite.

• We've escaped the Hells on the nautiloid and crashed somewhere back in the Material Plane. We need to explore the area and find a healer.
• There could be several ways to get rid of the parasite. Lae'zel, the githyanki who helped us escape the nautiloid, thinks finding a Githyanki Crèche is our best solution.
• Lae'zel is now gone and she couldn't lead us to the githyanki cure.
• We used the purifier Lae'zel told us about, but it didn't work - the parasite is still in our heads.
• We found people taking refuge in a grove. We should explore it - there might be a healer inside.
• We learned that there is a healer named Nettie in the grove. Maybe she can help us.
• Nettie died before she could cure us of our parasites.
• We learned that the leader of the druids is a powerful healer named Halsin. He might be able to help us remove the parasite.
• Nettie couldn't help us. Instead, she poisoned us with deadly venom - hoping to kill us before we turned into mind flayers.
• The druid Halsin believed that the parasites originated from a place called Moonrise Towers. We should investigate.
• Halsin's magic is powerless against the parasite, but the druid said we might have a chance at a dark place called Moonrise Towers.
• Halsin was defeated before he could help us find a cure for the parasite.
• An old woman told us she could help us with our tadpole problem. We should follow up on this.
• Auntie Ethel tried to cure us but failed. She told us the parasite had been empowered with Netherese magic.
• Auntie Ethel died before she could help us with the parasite.
• We met some cultists who worship a deity called the Absolute. One of them could telepathically communicate with us - which means they were infected too.
• A goblin priestess apparently possesses some powerful healing spells. She might be able to help.
• Instead of healing us, Priestess Gut imprisoned us - to watch us while we transform.
• Priestess Gut died before she had a chance to help us.
• A friendly mind flayer might know a way to remove the parasite.
• Omeluum died before it could examine the parasite.
• The mind flayer's potion didn't help us - it strengthened our parasite instead.

Find the source of the parasite.

• Our chance of finding a cure seems to be diminishing as we continue our journey - but we must press on.
• It is clear that the parasites are coming from Moonrise Towers. Infiltrating the Towers and finding the source of this evil may be our only chance of finding a cure.

Quest Complete

• This is a far greater plot than we had imagined - one spearheaded by the Chosen of the Dead Three and involving an elder brain. We must overcome this greater evil if we wish to heal ourselves once and for all.

Walkthrough

As the overarching main-quest, this questline is progressed by completing the various sub quests associated with it. Several of these sub-quests can be progressed in any order, except for Find the Githyanki Creche.

Get Help from Healer Nettie

The party can learn about Nettie by speaking with Nymessa and Damays as part of  Free Lae'zel, or by speaking to Zevlor after entering the Druid Grove for the first time. This starts  Get Help from Healer Nettie. As one of the earliest healers the party can encounter, they can seek her out.

Nettie is within the Inner Sanctum of the Druid Grove, where she is healing an injured bird. After telling Nettie that the party members are infected, she asks them to move to a more private room where a Dissected Drow with a tadpole can be found. She explains that she has seen victims with tadpoles and that she and Master Halsin were researching them. Unfortunately, she does not have the ability to cure the party of their tadpoles, but believes Halsin would be the best possible option.

Depending on how the party treat Nettie, she may attempt to poison them and may have to be killed to exit the room. If being honest with her, she gives the party a Wyvern Poison and asks that they promise to drink it if they begin to transform. The party can only leave peacefully if they agree.

Ask the Goblin Priestess for Help

Priestess Gut can be learned of by speaking to Sazza in the Makeshift Prison of the Druid Grove or by speaking with the guards at the entrance to the Shattered Sanctum in the Goblin Camp. This starts  Ask the Goblin Priestess for Help. The goblins all emphasize the power of Gut and how she can heal anything. As another option, the party can seek out her skills.

Speaking to Gut, the player character can allow her to commune with their tadpole, using her own. By searching through their memories, Gut then realizes the player character was kidnapped aboard a mind flayer ship and infected. Surprised by this information, she asks that they follow her to her private room. She claims that she can cure them, but actually offers a sleeping potion. If the player character is not resistant to sleeping potions (e.g. elves, drow, etc.) and drinks it, they wake up chained up in the Defiled Temple's prison cell. Gut arrives and annouces that she plans to make them her 'squiddy pet.' If the player character fails to break free or does nothing, they are rescued by Korrilla, who kills Gut and her ogre servant, Polma.

Get Help from Auntie Ethel

Auntie Ethel can first be found in The Hollow where she sells lotions and potions. If spoken with, she says they do not look well and asks what is the matter. The party can be honest about their tadpole infection, to which she says she can help, but she does not have the tools in the Grove. She tells the party to meet her at her teahouse in the Sunlit Wetlands and she will help them out. This starts  Get Help from Auntie Ethel. Ethel can also be met on the path to the Sunlit Wetlands, south of the Blighted Village, where she is arguing with two men.

Once at Ethel's Riverside Teahouse, she reveals herself to be a hag. She says she has removed tadpoles before and can do it again for one of their "pretty little peepers." If the player character takes the bargain, the permanent condition  Paid the Price is acquired. However, Ethel is not able to remove the tadpole because they are enchanted by Netherese magic. If argued with over this, she rebuffs that they never told her about the magic and held up her part of the bargain.

Rescue the Druid Halsin

Talking to one of the main characters in the Emerald Grove (e.g. Rath or Zevlor) reveals that Halsin, the First Druid of the grove, may heal the party but is actually gone missing. This starts  Rescue the Druid Halsin and also  Save the First Druid. Halsin was was kidnapped by goblins after a failed expedition, led by Aradin, and can be found in the Worg Pens of the Goblin Camp, where he is  wild-shaped as a Cave Bear. A group of goblin children are throwing rocks at him. The party can intervene, which results in a fight. After this, Halsin can be spoken to and explains what he knows about the tadpoles. He does not have the power to cure them, but he has been extensively researching them and knows they are tied to the cult of The Absolute. He has been tracking the cult's movements and knows they are headed towards Moonrise Towers, which he advises as the party's next destination.

If the party complete  Defeat the Goblins and side with the druids and tieflings against the goblins, Halsin offers to join the party on their journey to Moonrise Towers.

Help Omeluum investigate the parasite

In the myconid settlement in the Underdark the party can come across a friendly hobgoblin trader named Blurg at Ebonlake Grotto. If the party tell him that they are infected with tadpoles, he calls for his partner, a mind flayer named Omeluum as someone with expertise on the subject. Omeluum is surprised the party members have not transformed yet and suggests that he might commune with their tadpoles. It tells the party that it can make a concoction of Tongues of Madness and Timmask Spores to connect to the tadpoles. These rare ingredients can be found in the Arcane Tower to the south. This starts  Help Omeluum Investigate the Parasite.

If the party bring back the ingredients, it performs the procedure, but the tadpole only gets stronger. Still seeking to aid the party, Omeluum offers to trade them for a rare Ring of Mind-Shielding, which it and others of his kind had been using to evade the Elder Brain.

Find the Githyanki Crèche

If Lae'zel is recruited, she insists that a githyanki crèche will have a cure. She refers to the process as purification and states the Zaith'isk is a sacred device that can cure the infected of their tadpoles. This starts  Find the Githyanki Crèche. The party can find a crèche at the Rosymorn Monastery Trail, inside Rosymorn Monastery. Within the infirmary of Crèche Y'llek is Ghustil Stornugoss, who claims that she can purify the party if they tell her they are infected. Unfortunately, through the process of 'purification,' it is revealed that the Zaith'isk is not a device of healing; it extracts the memories of the infected - and then kills them.

Whoever steps in the Zaith'isk must pass three Saving Throws to prevent persistent debuffs: -2 to Wisdom, Intellect, and Constitution, respectively. Passing all three saves awards the permanent  Awakened buff. Any debuffs acquired can be cured by consuming a Mind Flayer Parasite.

Moonrise Towers and Beyond

The party ultimately must travel to Moonrise Towers - either through the  Underdark or through the  Rosymorn Monastery Trail, to learn more about the Cult of the Absolute in hopes of curing the tadpoles. This leads to the conclusion that the cult must be defeated in order to have any hope of destroying the tadpoles - not just for the party, but for all of the infected.

Related quests

•  Ask the Goblin Priestess for Help
•  Find the Githyanki Crèche
•  Get Help from Auntie Ethel
•  Get Help from Healer Nettie
•  Help Omeluum Investigate the Parasite
•  Rescue the Druid Halsin
•  Save the First Druid
•  Travel through the Mountain Pass
•  Travel through the Underdark