Baldurs Gate 3: Removing the Parasite walkthrough Baldurs Gate 3 guide, walkthrough

Removing the parasite is the main quest of the BG3 game, which you will start in the prologue and perform in Act 1. Find out how you can get rid of the parasite from the protagonist's brain.

Last update: 03 October 2024

Your main objective in Act 1 of Baldur's Gate 3 is to find a cure for the Mind Flayer parasite in your head. This quest goes on for the entirety of Act 1 and consists of several smaller quests. On this page of our guide, we described where to go after the Nautiloid crash, where to find the remaining team members scattered around the beach and where you can find clues that may lead you to the medicine.

• Waking up on the beach and recruiting Shadowheart
• Combat in the Nautiloid wreck
• Recruiting Astarion
• Dying Mind Flayer
• Recruiting Gale
• Recruiting Lae'zel
• Overgrown Ruins
• Fight in front of the Druid Grove
• Recruiting Wyll
• Searching for the cure

Waking up on the beach and recruiting Shadowheart

After the Nautiloid crashes, you will wake up on the beach - although you survived the shipwreck, you must now search for a cure for the tadpole that threatens to turn you into a mind flayer.

Just a few steps from the spot where you woke up, in the middle of the path, you'll see unconscious Shadowheart - that is, provided that you pulled her out of her pod aboard the Nautiloid. If you left her to die, you'll find her at the end of the path to the north, right next to the locked entry to the Overgrown Ruins. Regardless of where you meet, you can recruit her after a short conversation - this is highly recommended because you need a full team as soon as possible.

Combat in the Nautiloid wreck

Leave the ruins for later - you should gather a full team first. To do this, go west and go through the wreck of the crashed ship, where you will engage in a fight against the three surviving Intellect Devourers.

Despite its simplicity, this fight can result in a very quick death. You only have two team members and first-level characters have very little health - it only takes a bit of bad luck to die here. Always recruit Shadowheart before starting this fight - fighting against the devourers on your own is suicide. On lower difficulty levels, devourers can only attack in melee, while on hard and in honor mode they can also perform ranged attacks.

Ranged combat is the optimal strategy for this fight. Right at the entrance to the wreck, find the highly positioned platforms; they are located to the right of the hole in the hull, which you can climb up like stairs. This will give you a High Ground advantage over your enemies - you have an increased chance of performing successful ranged attacks and it will be harder for enemies to hit you. Shadowheart should attack with a crossbow - her default cantrip, Sacred Flame, doesn't get any bonuses related to the High Ground advantage. Focus on using thrown weapons (the Strength build), shooting with ranged weapons (the Dexterity build) or casting cantrips (the Intelligence/Wisdom/Charisma build).

You should try to get rid of one of the devourers as quickly as possible, so focus your attacks on a single enemy. Once you're not outnumbered, it will make the fight much easier for you. In the room, there is also a spilled purple liquid - if one of the enemies steps into it, you can set it on fire to deal them some damage. You can use the Fire Bolt cantrip of Shadowheart for that. After getting rid of most of the devourers, you can get rid of the rest in melee combat. Don't be afraid to use healing potions - they are very common and worth using. If you're in a bad situation and need to get rid of one of the enemies as quickly as possible, Shadowheart's Guiding Bolt will work great - as long as you've prepared it before the fight (K on the keyboard).

Recruiting Astarion

After winning the fight and searching the room, go west through another hole in the hull. Follow the path and you will finally come across another capsule, and Astarion right next to it. He will ask you to get rid of the intellect devourer nearby - you can agree or refuse.

Regardless of your decision, the elf's lie will be revealed - a passive Perception check will decide whether you will have a conversation man-to-man or with a knife at your throat. If Astarion has surprised you, you can free yourself with an ability check, but no matter what you do next, the misunderstanding will be resolved by your parasites' telepathic bond. You can now recruit the elven rogue to your party.

Before you go further, it is also worth jumping down to the stone path right next to spot where you met Astarion, which will lead you to a small cave. A passive Nature check there will reveal a stone that you can move away. Below it there is a small chest with gold, several potions of speed and documents - read them to get the locations of the next cache marked on your map.

Dying Mind Flayer

Inside the wreck of the ship, in another room, there is a dying mind flayer. You can finish him off with a ranged attack or talk to him.

As soon as you approach the mind flayer, the monster will try to take control of your mind. At first, you won't be able to resist it, but you will also realize how you can escape - you can break the psychic connection (no ability check required) or, counterproductively for your safety, maintain it with an Intelligence check (DC 10). If you maintain the connection, you will either succumb to the flayer or you will receive the last chance to break the bond through a Wisdom check (DC 5).

If you succumb to the raider, the character you control will immediately die and the healed monster will attack the rest of the party. If, by some miracle, you survive this fight, you can resurrect the dead hero with a Scroll of Revivify. If you've broken the connection, you can finish off the flayer and loot his corpse for some tubers or leave him to die a slow, guaranteed death.

Recruiting Gale

Your next objective is a purple portal, east of the room with the dying flayer, next to a path strewn with goblin corpses. Interact with it and a hand will pop out of the portal - this will be Gale, the wizard, who got stuck at the fast travel point.

To add Gale to your party, you must pull him out of the portal with a Strength check (DC 7). If you fail the test, you will get a second chance (DC 12). After getting the wizard out and having a short conversation with him, Gale will join you. If you fail to pull him out or you ignore him, Gale will permanently die, you won't be able to recruit him, and you'll miss his entire storyline.

Recruiting Lae'zel

A little north of the spot where you met Gale, you will encounter a pair of devils from the nearby grove, who managed to capture Lae'zel. This situation develops into a separate quest, the walkthrough of which on a separate page of the guide. If you complete the quest and add Lae'zel to your party, you will also receive a clue about the cure for the parasite - purification at the githyanki creche. A peaceful conversation with the devils will give you another clue - Nettie, a medic in the Druid Grove nearby.

Overgrown Ruins

Before you continue and visit the nearby Druid Grove, it is worth visiting the Overgrown Ruins east of the Nautiloid wreck. You will encounter a character there, whose services will prove extremely useful throughout the rest of the game. We described how to explore the ruins on a separate guide page.

Fight in front of the Druid Grove

After gathering your team and making your way through the ruins, you should go north of the wreck and the Roadside Cliffs fast travel point. Eventually you will reach a closed wooden gate - this is the entrance to the Druid Grove. When you approach the gate, a short cutscene will trigger, after which a battle with the goblins attacking the grove will begin.

Starting the fight from the southern side of the gate should make the fight much easier - you can then climb the large hill in front of the gate and immediately eliminate the two archers positioned there. Once you defeat them, the hill is yours - the High Ground advantage will make it much easier to fire at the remaining enemies and the lack of enemy archers on the hill will make it easier for the remaining defenders of the grove to survive.

Although there are a lot of enemies, you probably won't die in this fight - your allies will throw healing potions at you if you are injured and Zevlor, the commander of the grove's defenders, will occasionally blow the horn at the top of the gate, giving you and all your allies temporary 8 health points. Additionally, most of the enemies focus on Aradin and his allies in front of the gate - saving them all is much more difficult and requires a lot of luck, although fortunately it is not obligatory (Aradin is the only one from this group, who you'll have a significant interaction with further down the line). However, the biggest priority in this fight should be keeping Wyll, a potential future companion, alive - he is not a priority target for the goblins and can take care of himself, but you should end the fight before Aradin's team dies and the enemies shift their focus to Wyll.

After dealing with the archers or pressing them (they will have a disadvantage to all attacks if you are standing right next to them), you should deal with Booyahg - a wizard, who can cast strong and annoying spells. He doesn't have much health though so killing him shouldn't take long. The most resilient enemy units, Strachan and the leader Za'krug, should be occupied with Aradin. If you want to save the rebels, send your strongest unit there for distraction. Zevlor will support you with fire from the top of the gate - he deals high damage, so you should be able to handle the enemies with his help.

After the fight, search the bodies of the fallen - the goblin chief has gloves with a +1 bonus to the Sleight of Hand checks. They also provide a chance to inflict the Bane effect (1-4 penalties on attack checks and defense throws) when hitting a target, but only if the wearer has the Brand of the Absolute. You can obtain this later in Act 1.

Recruiting Wyll

If Aradin survives the fight, he will engage in an argument with Zevlor outside the front gate. You can calm the two down with a Persuasion (DC 15) or Intimidation (DC 10) check. During the conversation, there is also a passive Perception check - if you pass it, you can knock out either Aradin or Zevlor before they resort to physical violence. A more important conversation will take place nearby - talk to the wizard Rolan. Through a Persuasion check (DC 10) or an exclusive class/racial option, you can convince him to stay in the grove and help his kin. This unlocks Rolan's personal quest from the future acts.

Go to the training ground nearby, where you can talk to Wyll - that is if he survived the battle at the gate. After a short conversation, the warlock will join you, asking for help in finding and killing the devil Karlach. You can find her later, outside the grove - you can also quite easily settle the misunderstanding between Wyll and Karlach and recruit them both.

Searching for the cure

By defeating the goblins in front of the gate, you will gain access to the Emerald Grove and the rest of Act 1. The quest branches out here. In Act 1, there are several NPCs with clues that may be able to help you. Each of these characters has a separate quest, which are described on separate pages of this guide. These are:

1. Nettie, a healer in the Emerald Grove,
2. Halsin, an Archdruid imprisoned in the goblin camp,
3. Volo, a writer and singer imprisoned in a goblin camp,
4. Priestess Gut, one of the leaders of the goblin camp,
5. Auntie Ethel, a herbalist who lives in a teahouse near the swamps,
6. Omeluum, a friendly mind flayer from the Underdark,
7. Githyanki, the kin of Lae'zel who reside in an abandoned monastery at a mountain pass.

Halsin is the most important hero among them, whose quest (regardless of whether you ally with him or the goblins) will lead you towards the Shadow-Cursed Land and Act 2. Although all of these tasks are optional and you can get to Act 2 completely blindly, it is recommended to complete them due to their unique rewards, experience and potential allies.