At some point during Act 3, you’ll meet a desperate mother looking to save her little girl. We’ll explain how to save Vanra in Baldur’s Gate 3.
To successfully complete this quest, you must also complete a secondary quest that’s linked to it to help the Hag survivors. Yes, the Hag is back, and she’s responsible for this entire mess.
Baldur’s Gate 3: ‘Save Vanra’ quest guide
Once you speak to Lora at the Basilisk Gate Barracks, you’ll learn that Vanra’s last location was the Blushing Mermaid tavern. If you simply progress through this quest, only you won’t be able to save Vanra’s life, so listen up. How you save Vanra in Baldur’s Gate 3 is by also helping the Hag survivors and brewing Hag’s Bane.
How to investigate the Blushing Mermaid in BG3
Let’s start with the investigation at the Blushing Mermaid. Speak to Captain Grizly on the second floor, and keep questioning her about the missing child. She’ll eventually ask that you get rid of Lora, because she’s after her, for a price of 3,000 Gold.
Tell the Captain that you won’t do her dirty work, and she’ll reveal herself to be Auntie Ethel. You’ll probably remember her back from Act 1, but she’s still around and kicking. The Hag disappears, and a bunch of patrons reveal themselves to be Redcaps working for her, initiating combat. You know what to do with them.
Before we go and find Auntie Ethel’s lair, let’s go and deal with the secondary quest to actually help save Vanra.
How to help the Hag survivors in BG3
I actually found a poster that led me to this quest, but you can head right to the quest location anyway. Find Old Garlow’s Place, which is just east of the Counting House. Inside you’ll find a few of the Hag’s victims who are trying to team up and figure out a way to get rid of her.
You’ll need to either Intimidate or Persuade them to trust you, and if that fails, one of them will transform into a Redcap, initiating combat again. He’ll drop a key to Ethel’s Lair, so make sure to take it. After you take him out, the other Hag’s victims will start to trust you.
Upstairs you’ll find a sheep, but it’s actually Mayrina transformed. To get her back to normal, get rid of the Voodoo Doll at the back of the room with the Remove Curse spell, either on the doll or Mayrina.
Once you chat with Mayrina after she’s back to her normal self, she’ll give you the key to the safe inside this house. It’s on the wall on the bottom floor. Inside is a vital potion ingredient alongside two books. Read both of the books and you’ll learn the recipe for Hag’s Bane, which will make the Hag vomit up Vanra.
If you decided to just go and kill Auntie Ethel, Vanra would die with her. This way, you can both defeat Auntie Ethel and save Vanra. Create the potion in your Alchemy menu, and head back to the Blushing Mermaid.
Related: How to use the Magic Mirror in Baldur’s Gate 3
How to defeat Auntie Ethel and save Vanra in BG3
Run back to the second floor of the Blushing Mermaid, and inside the room where the Captain was, you’ll find stairs to a Cellar Door. Head downstairs, and you’ll find a very small room that connects to another part of the tavern.
There’s a secret entrance to the Hag’s lair if you just leap up onto the barrels and make a successful Investigation check. Walk through the illusory wall, and you’ll find a few of Auntie Ethel’s minions, alongside Captain Grizly. It shouldn’t be too much of a hassle to beat them, just watch out for the various traps lying around.
Once you take care of them, unlock the next set of doors to find the boss fight room. You don’t want to kill her right away, though. Once combat begins, get out Hag’s Bane and throw it at Auntie Ethel. The Hag will vomit, and Vanra will come out with it, running away from the scene. Now you can get rid of the Hag!
If you paid attention to the book you read before, you’d remember it said that the Hag can keep reviving herself with the blue mushrooms. This just means you have to get rid of the blue mushrooms around the room.
Now when you kill the Hag, she’ll be dead for good. Once you’re out of the Lair, head over to Lora’s home just southwest of the Lower City Central Waypoint. As a reward, you’ll receive the Amulet of Windrider, which gives you the Ride the Winds and Gust of Wind spells. Not only that, but you’ll receive an incredible weapon called Duelist’s Prerogative that has these stats:
- 1d8+3 Piercing and 1d4 Necrotic damage
- Weapon Enchantment +3
- Elegant Duellist (main hand only): Your Critical Hit score lowers to a 19 instead of a 20. You also gain an additional reaction each turn.
- Withering Cut: Use a reaction to deal additional Necrotic damage on a successful hit.
- Challenge to Duel spell: You can challenge an enemy to only attack you, which can inflict Bleeding on the target.
- Dueller’s Enthusiasm: When not dual-wielding, you can make an additional melee attack.
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Baldur’s Gate 3 is available on Steam and the PlayStation 5.
