Save Mayrina

Save Mayrina is a Quest in Act One of Baldur's Gate 3. The quest is acquired by running into an argument between and brothers - and , south of the Blighted Village. 
== Objectives ==
Objectives and journal entries may vary pending story decisions and outcomes.
==Walkthrough==
=== Meeting Ethel ===
 can be first encountered in The Hollow in the Emerald Grove at . She runs a small shop selling lotions and potions. Ethel notices the player character looks ill, prompting the option to reveal they were infected with a mindflayer tadpole. Ethel states that she can help, but doesn't have supplies at the Grove. She invites the party to visit her in the wetlands.
Ethel can also be first encountered southwest of the Blighted Village at , just after entering the Sunlit Wetlands, where Johl and Demir are accusing Ethel of kidnapping their sister, Mayrina. In the initial confrontation with Auntie Ethel and the brothers, the party can choose to side with Auntie Ethel, the brothers, or refuse to get involved. If siding with the brothers, Ethel reveals her true nature and departs for her teahouse. If not fighting with the brothers, they leave for Ethel's teahouse, where the party can later discover their corpses. If refusing to involve themselves in the situation, Ethel reproaches the party, saying they were supposed to rush to her defense. She kills the two men with a poison spell, then departs for her teahouse. If siding with the brothers or refusing to get involved, Ethel warns the party that if they come to her teahouse, they best come bearing an apology. Finally, if siding with Ethel, the brothers attack immediately, and after the fight she asks the party to come to her teahouse so she can thank them properly.
=== Ethel's teahouse ===
Auntie Ethel's house is at in the southwestern area of the Sunlit Wetlands/Putrid Bog. She greets the party and, regardless of if she was told previously or not, states she is well aware of the tadpoles in their heads. In the teahouse, Auntie Ethel berates a young woman, revealed to be , for not finishing her pie. If Ethel is not yet hostile, the party can initiate . Regardless of the conversation choices, Ethel transports Mayrina further into her lair, done with her complaints about being full.
Most actions after this point lead to Ethel revealing her true form and retreating into her hearth. The party can pursue her through the Overgrown Tunnel. If Ethel is not yet hostile, moving close to the hearth causes an automatic Investigation check. On success, an illusory passage is revealed, which the party can walk through to proceed into the tunnels. If the illusion has not yet been broken, entering the tunnel causes the Sunlit Wetlands to reveal its true form as the Putrid Bog. While pursuing Ethel through her lair, the party cannot return to camp but is able to short rest.
On proceeding Ethel appears within the first part of the tunnel to warn the party away. Regardless of the response, she disappears. The first hurdle is a door of vines. Attempting to open the door causes it to telepathically share its story with the party to warn them from proceeding further.
An Arcana check reveals that the door is an illusion and can simply be walked through. Otherwise, persuading the door causes it to share its secrets:
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Through the door are four thralls of Ethel: , , , and . They become hostile upon detecting the party.
On the table next to the door are . If a party member wears one, a is made every turn. If failed, they become a Hag's Pawn (controlled by Auntie Ethel) and attack the party; if all party members equip the masks, a Game Over screen appears. The negative effects of the masks can be prevented by casting before equipping one. Only one party member needs to wear a mask to let the full party pass through the door. The masks also prevent the hag thralls from becoming hostile towards character(s) wearing them; any others need to sneak past to avoid confrontation.
Past the Hag's thralls is a waterfall and a winding path filled with noxious fumes and explosive traps. The vents can be covered with any item - including the Whispering Masks on the table. Another option is jumping over the fumes ( and are helpful here). Once reaching the bottom of the path, can be seen in a cage. On proceeding further Ethel appears and a fight starts. However, it is possible to avoid the fight by staying on the path to the right. The party can enter the last chamber and even leave via the Mushroom Circle (and take a Long Rest outside). After that the party can return, and run up to the cage to trigger the fight with Ethel.
=== Facing Ethel ===
During the fight Ethel attemps to destroy the cage with fire. If the cage is destroyed by fire or other means, Mayrina dies. The spell or a thrown container of water puts out the fire, as well as a simple cantrip or . Regardless of how much damage was done to her upstairs, Ethel starts at full health and, at the start of her turn, summons illusory copies of herself. These copies have all of her regular spells and abilities but are destroyed after taking any damage. The real Ethel keeps her place in the initiative order, and can be distinguished by this. If they are alive and conscious, Ethel also summons the masked victims from the Overgrown Tunnel and sets them on the party.
Ethel may teleport Mayrina out of the cage, then assume her form, attempting to trick the party into killing Mayrina, as there are now two seemingly identical copies. Generally, the most obvious way to determine if the target is Mayrina is by seeing if the character model is visibly pregnant - the real Mayrina has a belly; Ethel's clones do not. The spell also does not affect Initiative, so Ethel and Mayrina retain their positions in the turn queue.
Once Auntie Ethel is reduced to below 20% of her life and has a turn to act, she offers the party a chance to make a series of persuasion or intimidation checks.
Depending on the results of the skill checks and subsequent decisions, the party can either free Mayrina: 
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Let Ethel keep Mayrina in exchange for the , a special single use item that can increase any Ability Score of any character by 1 permanently: 
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Free Mayrina *and* keep the Hag's Hair both. 
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...or simply kill Ethel: 
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If a deal is struck with Ethel, she disappears, but her thralls remain hostile. If Ethel is killed, the thralls are freed, although all but the Mask of Regret are too far gone to truly be saved. The cutscene to trigger Ethel's deal can be missed if she is killed too quickly. If intending to obtain her hair it may be necessary to skip turns to give her a chance to speak once she is brought to sufficiently low hit points. Additionally, Ethel initiates conversation with whomever is closest to her, so it may be beneficial to shuffle party members around in preparation for any ability checks wanted in the conversation.
The Acrid Workshop area here has some treasure, some writings that provide more context and background information, and a Mushroom Circle which can be used to teleport the party back outside to the back of the house. Behind the teahouse is the body of Mayrina's husband, at . The wand , found in the Workshop, can be used to raise Connor as a zombie. The party can choose whether to give the wand to Mayrina to take her ex-husband with her or keep it for themselves. If kept, it changes to and can be used at any time to summon Connor as a zombie follower.
== Quest rewards ==
* if a deal is made with Ethel.
* if choose to keep the wand.
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==Companion approval==
On meeting Auntie Ethel and Mayrina's brothers for the first time, on the outskirts of the swamp:
*Refuse to aid Mayrina's brothers - "You're on your own. I have enough problems." 
* Agree to find Mayrina - "Let me - I'll bring Mayrina home." 
* [WIZARD, RANGER, or SORCERER] Warn the brothers about the hags, then agree to help find Mayrina - "Trust a more experienced soul. I'll find your sister." 
* Give Mayrina the Wand. (After using to raise Connor from the dead.) 
== Notes ==
* Mayrina's brothers can technically be saved by knocking them out with non-lethal attacks. However, this is somewhat glitchy and part of the dialogue states that the brothers are dead.
* Non-lethal damage can be used to knock out the Hag's thralls and save them. On returning to them after Ethel is defeated, they have regained consciousness, and the has regained her sanity, though the others have not. She can later appear as part of in Act Three.
* Using non-lethal damage on the Hag knocks her out and bypasses the surrender cutscene.
* Using the wand Bitter Divorce to resurrect Connor triggers Oath Breaking for Oath of the Ancients Paladins.
* It is possible to spawn the Hag without entering combat immediately by or to the orb, using it to lower the cage and releasing Mayrina, then talking to Mayrina to make the Hag appear. The party can hide and sneak down the right path and, when they get close to the orb, jump to it to avoid alerting Ethel as well. Ethel's red cone of sight can be seen whilst hiding even when she herself is invisible; all hiding or invisible creatures in the game have red cones of sight, making it very easy to determine their location.
Category:Quests