Baldur’s Gate 3: Should You Help The Myconid and Kill The Duergar? (2024)

Baldur’s Gate 3 has a multitude of quests and side quests the player can partake in to find rewards and go for a challenge. The player often has to pick certain sides in conflicts and fight for certain characters.

In the Underdark, the player will meet Myconid, who hold a grudge against Duergars, who massacred many of their kin. The player can help them by doing the work for them for a great reward.

Where to Find The Duergar?

When the player first gets access to the Underdark, they’ll probably reach this area first – the Decrepit Village. This village is located next to a beach and the player will find a waypoint there. They should activate it. There, the player will find a hoard of Duergar, with their leader being known as Gekh Coal.

Gekh Coal and his band are slave traders, and are currently looking for their escapee slaves, specifically one known as Thulla, who stole the Sergeant’s boots and escaped with them.

The player should approach Gekh without making him fight them, for now. If the player is branded, they can show him their brand to appease him. With that, the player can accept to look for Thulla, even if they don’t really plan on helping these people.

Finding Thulla and The Myconid Colony

To find this deep gnome slave Gekh Coal is referring to, the player must head north of the Decrepit Village. On their way, they’ll see corpses of Duergar and Myconid, which means the player is on the right path. The player should eventually stumble upon the Myconid colony.

The Myconid will not be welcoming at first, as they have had to experience a lot due to the Duergar. The player can get them to let them in anyway, which will lead the player to speak to their Sovereign, Spaw. On their way, they should also find a waypoint to be able to fast travel here later when needed.

Spaw will want the player to cleanse the rot by eliminating the Duergar, for hefty reward. The player should agree to this. Spaw also gives the player two Haste Spore Grenades, which can be used anytime. These will release a cloud that hastens creatures inside of it when it explodes.

Next to Spaw, the player will find Thulla, who is injured and poisoned. The player could simply heal her with lesser restoration, but by defeating the Duergar, they’ll get access to the antidote anyway, so this can wait for now.

Eliminating the Duergar

Now that the player has taken Spaw’s mission, all they have to do is fast-travel to the “Underdark - Beach” waypoint on the map. With that done, the player needs to position themselves optimally for battle.

Preferably, they should take on Gekh Coal first as he will reanimate enemies that will attack the player. Besides Gekh Coal, there are other enemies to worry about, notably Holvik, who Carries a crossbow, as he’s the highest positioned one and will attack the player from a distance.

Then there’s Lurgan, who carries a hammer and is standing watching over Gekh Coal. Finally, there’s Novie Garmor, who carries an ax. He’s positioned the farthest, being next to the boat around the beach. It will take him a turn or so to reach the player due to that.

When attacking Gekh Coal or his reanimated allies, the player should try to use attacks that target multiple enemies, so as to not get overwhelmed. Such attacks can be spells, such as Lightning Bolt or Fireball. It’s also better to start the fight for characters who are at an elevation, and this will allow the attacks to hit more accurately and eliminate Gekh Coal as fast as possible.

Once Gekh Coal is gone, the player should start with the others. Spells such as Hold Person can be game-changing, as it will allow the player to attack enemies better while they can’t move.

The player should be careful of being pushed off, as it’s quite high and the player can die. If the player is pushed into the water, they will automatically die as they can’t survive that. The player can, however, try to use this tactic against the Duergar themselves, if they have physically strong characters available. One of the Duergar can also cast silence, which the player should be wary about if they rely on spells. The player should make sure their characters can at least make use of some weapon or cast spells that work while silenced.

Alternatively, the player could also start with Novie Garmor. The player will be able to gang up on him while his allies aren’t anywhere near. Then, they’ll be able to handle the rest with this strong one gone.

Once they’re all dead, the player will be able to loot their corpses. The most interesting one will be Gekh Coal, who will be carrying the following:

• Duergar Antidote
• Scroll of Misty Steps
• Scroll of Vampire Touch
• Exterminator’s Axe
• A fish

With this, the player can return to Spaw, and be heavily rewarded.

Spaw’s Reward to the Player

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Spaw will be quite happy with the news of the Duergar’s death, however, they’d want the player to kill even more Duergars, which should wait for now.

With that, Spaw will bless the player with these rewards:

• Rapport Spores
• Bliss spores

These will be useful for the player and will last until the next long rest or if the player dies.

This is only the start of the rewards the player will find. Spaw will open a cave for the player, in there, they can loot a corpse, on it, they’ll find:

• 8 gold
• Drow Poison
• Basic Poison
• Flumph of Maring Rituals (which is actually the Great Furnace of Grymforge after inspection)
• Hill Giant Finger
• Icy Metal
• Malachite
• Pegasus Feather
• Mud Mephit Wing
• Viridian Crystal
• Purple Fluorite Shard
• Lolth’s candle

However, this isn’t all. Looking around, the player will also find these:

• Shadow of Menzoberranzan
• Scroll of Ray Of Sickness
• Scroll of Blindness
• Scroll of False Life
• Scroll of Hold Person
• Brimmed Hat

With all these rewards, helping Spaw is definitely worth it.

Helping Thulla with The Antidote

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Now, with Gekh Coal defeated, the player was able to acquire an antidote off his body, called the Duergar Antidote. With that in possession, the player can heal Thulla from her poison, without even having to use up a spell slot.

Healed from her poison, Thulla will be extremely grateful, however, she’s still unable to do much as she’s still in pain. So she will ask the player to help save her deep gnome kin, who are still being worked and abused in slavery. If the player accepts, she will hand over the boots that she stole, which can come in handy for what’s to come, as the Sergeant will be happy to see her boots back.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is now available to play on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation 5.

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Baldur's Gate 3

4.5

Platform(s)

PC , macOS , PS5 , Xbox Series X

Publisher(s)

Larian Studios

How Long To Beat

100+ Hours

Metascore

96