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Help Your Protector
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[edit | edit source]
Objectives and journal entries may vary pending player decisions and outcomes.
Walkthrough[edit | edit source]
After completing , this quest starts automatically after moving on to the road to Baldur's Gate and then long resting at Wyrm's Lookout before entering the Outer City. After ending the day, 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 appears 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 to the Astral Plane. It is not necessary to fight any of the attackers and they do not pursue the party through the portal; any Gish'ra left behind are found dead when the party returns.
Meeting the Emperor[edit | edit source]
Once being teleported to the Astral Plane, the Dream Guardian calls the party out and asks for help, explaining that they are under attack. As the party moves forward, it can see nine Intellect Devourers being attacked by two Gish'ra - High Gish'ra Sh'ari and Ember Gish'ra Mir'ic. The party can join the fray and is urged to hurry by the Dream Guardian. On another rock is High Gish'ra K'i'lar, fighting against five Intellect Devourers. The party must 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 the party members' dreams and, if asked to prove itself, does so by recalling events which transpired during the party's adventures. If agreeing to help it, the party must defeat Prelate Lir'i'c, High Gish'ra G'imre, Ember Gish'ra M'i'hayk, and Zephyr Gish'ra Verik. If attacking the mind flayer instead the party must fight it, the Intellect Devourers and the Gish'ra, though the two factions of enemies attack each other as well. If hitting the mind flayer, it may shout warnings that it is the one keeping the party alive.
If the mind flayer survives the battle, it reveals the power used to protect the party 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 freed itself from The Brain's control once within the prism's shield.
The Emperor's story[edit | edit source]
The Emperor finally explains its story after the battle. It was once an adventurer just like the party members, 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, now known as the Absolute, as a thrall like any other, but 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, but not its true identity as a mind flayer, called it the Emperor, for its role with the Knights. However, the Emperor's true 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 again and set out on a mission to take down the Elder Brain.
The Emperor tells the party the already consumed tadpoles have made them stronger and that they would be stronger still as illithids. It gives them an Astral-Touched Tadpole, which can transform every party member who communes with it into a Partial-illithid. However, if one party member eats it (and it can only be eaten once), only that 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 check.
Early ending[edit | edit source]
If the Emperor dies in battle, the Elder Brain takes control and turns the party into mind flayers, assimilating them into her [1] Grand Design, which results in a Game Over.
If a party member is the one to kill the Emperor, a narration is subsequently triggered which confirms the importance of the mind flayer's survival. The party member is then given the option to help it up, which restores the Emperor's health, recategorizes it as an ally (if the party originally chose to attack it) and lets it resume the fight. This can only occur once. Choosing to allow it to die prompts the Emperor to declare that the player character has "failed us all" before collapsing dead. A Game Over then occurs, 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 reappears in the center of the place. If its corpse has been picked up by a party member, it is removed from that character's inventory.
Quest rewards[edit | edit source]
Notes[edit | edit source]
- ↑ While the voice may be female, the Elder Brain has no assigned gender and most mind flayers are referred to as without gender.