Howdy Gamers
In this post we are checking out the area of Baldur's Gate 3 known as the Putrid Bog.The storyline and boss fight here has to be my favorite area of the game so far.We meet a rather colorful character by the name of Auntie Ethel who is a Witch with a fabulous Irish accent.
This video shows the whole adventure through the bog up to the old Hag boss fight.
We find the Putrid Bog to the South of The Blighted Village in an area called The Sunlit Wetlands...
When we first reach this part of the map we find 2 men arguing with an old woman...
The men are looking for their sister Mayrina ...She had headed off to see the old women in the hope that the old women could resurrect her dead husband and she hasn't been seen for a while...
The old woman swears she hasn't seen Mayrina but a perception check lets us know she's lying...
We call her on her lies and she realises we aren't going to come to her aid
She gives a warning that if we ever darken her doorstep we better have a good apology for her and then she vanishes...
The two brothers then head of in pursuit of the hag...brave boys, brave but dumb....they only have a pitchfork ,no armour and probably very little in the way of magic...good luck with the hunt chaps!
With the brothers likely heading to their doom we can start exploring the area...
This is part of the area design I thought was really impressive.The area looks charming and full of life...you could almost say it looks inviting,but not everything is as it seems...
The area is under an enchantment of the old hags design.To see it as it really is we need to perform an intelligence check.My lead character is a fighter who only has an intelligence rating of 10 so he needs to roll a natural 20 to see through the illusion...
With the intelligence check failed everything looks normal and we won't see the danger ahead...
I loaded up my save file again and this time used the wizard character Gale to try the intelligence check..
Gales ability to perceive things of an arcane nature is much higher than the fighters.He has an intelligence score of 17 so this should be easier...
With the intelligence check passed we can see the area as it really is ,dead and deadly...
Checking a wicker basket we find a rather suspicious apple....looks to good to be true....I don't think I will be eating it...
Exploring the path ahead we see a small group of Redcap goblins...
If we were still in the enchanted version of this area these goblins would appear as sheep....this one's still pretending to be a sheep...
The jig is up bro...your not a sheep...
We have to fight 4 of them here,they are vicious little buggers and can one shot the casters if they get close enough...Shadowheart the cleric takes the first one out with a Guiding bolt that hits for 14 damage...
1 down 3 to go Gales Scorching bolt hits the next one for 18 ...we are of to good start...
Shadowheart takes another one out with Sacred Flame...
2 to go....one of them gets close to Wyll the Warlock and one shots him with a dropkick for 28 points of damage,damn that hurt!
Shadowheart whips up another Sacred flame and its lights out for another Redcap...
Last goblin standing , our fighter hits him with an Ice arrow that does a cool 15 points of damage,knocks him down and freezes him making him prone to the next attack...
So far Shadowheart has finished all 3 with holy spells,maybe they have low resistance against holy magic?....She cant miss this one since he's frozen and prone..
With the fight over we check the bodies for loot ...only thing worth looting is these 2 scrolls...
With the goblins dead we can explore further into the bog...
Eventually we stumbled upon Auntie Ethel's teahouse...
Before heading in I notice there is a hunter named Grendal waiting outside,interested to see if he has anything to trade or any advice we head over to investigate before wandering into the teahouse...
He plans to ask for help from the old hag but he wont tell us exactly what it is he's hunting.I decided to make some inventory space and trade him some unneeded items for 4 healing potions and 2 fire arrows...
Before we head into Auntie Ethel's tea house I want to camp so that my party has regained their full health and replenished their spell books.
So we head back to camp and are treated to a rather interesting encounter with Astarion our Elven rouge...
Astarion is sneaking up on our lead character with the aim of biting his neck and drinking some blood.Since we first met Astarion I was pretty sure he was a vampire ,the red eyes and the fangs kind of give it away.This encounter confirms my suspicions.
We have 2 options here to shout stop or to lash out at him with our elbow...
"No,no its not what it looks like I swear" he pleads in a somewhat apologetic tone...
"I wasn't going to hurt you! I just needed - well blood..."He explains as our lead character wakes up...
There in dim firelight we see him for what he really is: a vampire.A slave to sanguine hunger.
"How long has it been since you killed someone ,days? Hours?" We ask him...
"I've never killed anyone!Well not for food"he explains...
"I feed on animals,boars,deer ,kobolds what ever I can get"
"But its not enough ,not if I have to fight,I feel so weak"
"If I just had a little blood...I could think clearer .Fight better .Please.
"Why didn't you tell me?" our lead character asks.
I'm going down the sympathy road,we have the option to attack him multiple times throughout this encounter.Astarion is one of my favorite characters in the game ,I love his accent and his dialogue and he is a deadly rouge.So Im going to let him drink some blood so he can fight at full strength...
"At best,I was sure you'd say no.More likely ,you'd ram a stake through my ribs."
"No I needed you to trust me.And you can trust me."
"I do I belive you"
"Thank you.Do you think you could trust me just a little further?
"I only need a taste,I swear"
"Fine but not a drop more than you need"
"Really? I-of course.Not one drop more"
*He holds you carefully ,delicately.Until he strikes
*It's like a shard of ice into your neck - a quick,sharp pain that fades to throbbing numbness.Your breath catches,your pulse quickens
"That's enough..."We have to make a small persuasion check to get him to stop...
"Mhh? Of course"
"That - that was amazing."
"My mind is finally clear.I feel strong.I feel...happy"
"Im looking forward to seeing you fight."
"Shouldn't take long.So many people need killing."
"Now,if you'll excuse me,you're invigorating,but I need something more filling"
You watch as he stalks towards the forest.Stronger.More confident.Ready to hunt
"This is a gift,you know.I wont forget it"
Our main character falls back asleep and plans to add Astarion to the party in the morning.
"How does someone become a vampire,exactly?"
"It's simple.Just find a vampire that will drink your blood and turn you into a vampire spawn:their obedient puppet."
"In theory,the next step is to drink their blood.Once you've done that,you're free and a true vampire"
"You'd have to drink Cazador's blood to be free?"
"Free and a true vampire,capable of creating my own coven?Yes.
"I need to know how we'll feed you in the future"
"No innocents,you have my word.Only villains that we need to kill anyway"
"After all,you know what I am now.I can fight with all my weapons-teeth included"
"And if I happen to drain the occasional bandit during a fight,what's the harm?They're just as dead"
"I need you in my party ,will you travel with us?"
"Darling,I thought you'd never ask"
Since I haven't had Astarion in my party very often we need to chose his level 3 and 4 specializatins.
I decided to make him a pure rouge aka a Thief rather than a Trickster rouge with arcane abilities.If the characters intelligence isn't super high spells will often miss their target and I find its better to build a character towards their main strength.
Astarions main strength is his high dexterity so we make him a thief at level 3..
For his level 4 feat I increased his dexterity from 17 to 19 which should give him really high accuracy and chance to hit in combat..
So now that we have Astarion back in or party lets head back to Auntie Ethel's Teahouse and send Astarion in on his own to see what he can steal before we go in and confront her...
Sneaking around like a sneaky vampire we explore Ethel's house undetected...
There are a lot of useful potions we can pick up here like this Potion of Animal Speaking...
Ohh a wooden chest...
Inside we find a very useful Invisibility potion,a health potion and a poison resist potion.
I'm gonna steal this crystal ball as a decoration for my camp...A Lot of the things you find in the world have no real use but can be used as decorations back at cam...Im having this crystal ball from this old witches house....
On the middle floor you can find a really useful potion of Superior healing which does 8x D4 =8hp.This is the first place in the game we have found one of these...
Im a sneaky vampire sneaking round your house ,all quiet and sneaky like a sneaky mouse :)...
Another chest on the top floor...
Just gold inside...doh!
There's 2 more healing potions here,one on the mantelpiece...
And one in the cupboard...
That's everything worth stealing in the first room of the teahouse but we have the option to pickpocket Auntie Ethel...
To do this we need to use the invisibility potion...
Gotta pocket a pocket or 2 boy....gotta pick a pocket or 2!
She has many interesting items for stealing ...each attempt requires a slight of hand check...I decided that the 3x potions of Hill giant strength would be the best thing to steal...
The Invisibility potion only last 1 minute...I failed the second sleight of hand check so its time to head out and join the rest of the party...
Ok so let's head into the teahouse and see what Auntie Ethel is up to...
"I don't want a crumb left on that plate girl"
The girl she is holding captive is Mayrina.The young woman the two brothers were looking for at the start of this area...It turns out Mayrina is pregnant.
"Auntie Ethel,please.One more bite and this pie is gonna come back up to say hello"
"Don't make me get the wooden spoon.You're eating for two,so get to it!"
"If it isn't the cheekiest pup of them all"
"You'd best have one hell's of an apology for me,young man"
I try to pretend she's mistaken me for someone else but shes not having it...
"You know,I was gonna give you a swift kick up the arse and show you the door..."
"...but I think you and I could have a bit of fun together."
"Gods,grant me patience...Eat up,Mayrina!I won't say it again.
I chose to say, "The lady doesn't seem to be enjoying her dinner."
"Keep your own little nose in your own little dish petal"
"I don't like busibodies"
"Besides you have bigger problems"
"That wriggler swimming in your brain juice is a bit of an inconvenience, isnt it?"
"How do you know that?"
Gale interrupts with his concerns about Mayrina..."She's a pregnant lady in distress.We can't just stand by and pretend shes not here"
"I told you-the girl is none of your business.Keep that hole under your nose shut"
"I'll talk about your wriggler - and that's it.Last warning"
"Fine can you remove the parasite?"
"Quicker than you can say yes Auntie"
"What do you say?Want me to take care of the little bugger?"
"Yes.Get this damn parasite out of me."
"Well,that depends on the job.Removing a parasite is no small feat.But I like you,petal.So I'll only ask for something small."
"One of your pretty little peepers"
"I'll pluck it from your head,kiss it for luck,then back in it goes.Wont take but a moment."
"That is my price.Nothing more,nothing less."
"Will my sight be damaged?"
We accept her offer to remove the parasite in exchange for kissing our eye for good luck...Its a strange trade but an interesting one.I wouldn't recommend doing this on your own play through as it gives you a permanent debuff...You can't roll critical attacks and you have a disadvantage to perception rolls.
You might gain extra dialogue options in the future using a Hags Eye option but I can't yet confirm if it is a worthwhile trade of.The main reason for choosing this option for this playthrough is to get the Hag to reveal her true form and give us some more information about the nature of the mindflayer parasite living inside the brains of all of our main characters.
Auntie Ethel prepares to turn back to her true form...
"Glorious.One moment, Auntie needs her real nails for this"
The transformation begins...
And boom we find out exactly what we are dealing with!...
"Much better.That human skin is fierce restrictive"
Playing it cool I respond by saying "Cute.Am I supposed to be impressed?"
"Well,yes - I should bloody think so."
"Not many get to see a hag in all her glory.Consider yourself blessed"
"Now choose.Which eye will it be?Right or left?"
"Take the left eye"
"Hold onto your knickers.This might sting a bit."
"Now - that wasn't so bad,was it?"
Our main character checks to make sure his eye is still there...
"Now - unless you want tentacles for a tongue,stay absolutely still."
"I've removed one of these buggers before -but it's a touch tricky"
The parasite squirms at the hags words.Pain builds behind your eye
You feel the creature writhe as it's dragged towards your ear...
Aaaaaaaaaaaagghhhhhhh!!! Gods-damned-wretched- argh
*You little shit - you didn't tell me it was Netherese.Im not touching that!"
"Netherese?"
"Filthy shadow magic,brings nothing but chains and misery"
"How could I have missed the stink?Like blood and piss congealing on my tongue.Bleh"
"Someone's tampered with your parasite,that's likely why you've not turned yet"
"What do you mean tampered?"
"Bless us,you're as slow as a wet week.That thing has been touched by more than mind flayers"
"Your a dead soul walking,I can't help you"
"What about my eye?"
"What about it I held up my end of the bargain"
"Which is your way of saying -your not powerful enough?"
"I'd kill you for that - but why deny your wriggler the pleasure"
"But let it not be said that Auntie Ethel doesn't honour her debts."
"Here It's on you to fix yourself"
She tosses our lead character a spoon that looks like its made from bone...
"Now get out"
The Hag then teleports herself and Mayrina to a deeper part of her lair...
Continued in Part 2...