Rescue the Gnome

Rescue the Gnome is a Quest in Act One of Baldur's Gate 3. It is initiated by discovering a group of goblins in the Blighted Village laughing at having tied to the blade of a windmill.
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== Objectives ==
Objectives and journal entries may vary pending story decisions and outcomes.
== Walkthrough ==
The only objective of this quest is to free . Approaching the windmill at automatically initiates a conversation with the goblin leader . There are several options to resolve the situation.
=== Solving the encounter peacefully ===
If demanding to free the gnome, there are the following choices:
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If using the tadpole:
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If convincing the goblins to walk away, the party is rewarded experience as if they defeated the whole group.
If trying to pass, Fezzerk claims that this is also what Barcus wanted, and demands 1000 gold, leading to several options:
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No matter which of the above checks succeed, Fezzerk lowers the price to 5 because he cannot count. Passing the Illithid Persuasion check can force his group to leave without payment. If paid, the party members are allowed to leave, but if approaching again, a fight breaks out.
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This causes Fezzerk and his group to leave, rewarding experience as if the party defeated them all.
=== Attacking the goblins ===
If attacking the goblins without attempting to convince them to stop or let the party pass (it is possible to ask what and why he is doing this first) nets .
If a fight breaks out, he surrenders when nearly killed, causing the rest of his group flee. It is possible to interrogate him, demand his possessions, and / or kill him. Experience is not granted for the goblins that run away, so to obtain the most experience while engaging in Fezzerk's surrender requires the party to kill all other goblins first.
Barbarians have a unique dialogue path:
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Otherwise, the party can interrogate him:
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... or just kill or release him:
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=== Freeing Barcus ===
Once the goblins are dealt with, the party must enter the interior of the windmill to pull the brake, allowing them to free Barcus. There are two levers inside the windmill. The "Brake" lever must be chosen to safely stop the windmill. The "Release Brake" lever causes the windmill machinery to spin faster, which launches Barcus into the sky by inertia, subsequently killing him. His body can be found on the western road leading out of the Blighted Village.
If the windmill is stopped properly, the party can free Barcus by interacting with him. Barcus offers the party his luggage in the windmill basement, which contains various goods, including a . He reasons that lugging the extra weight resulted in the goblins capturing him. Saving Barcus is not required to obtain his possessions, as his luggage is in the basement regardless.
== Quest rewards ==
* carried by Fezzerk
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* in the heavy chest next to Barcus' heavy backpack
* carried by Fezzerk
* 75 XP for saving Barcus Wroot
== Consequences ==
Saving Barcus has far reaching consequences for many quests, including , , and . If rescued, he can be encountered again throughout Acts Two and Three.
== Notes ==
* Exploring the Blighted Village or the area north of its walls may trigger the appearance of and the goblin group without triggering the quest. 
* Entering Grymforge without rescuing Barcus (even without initiating the quest) causes the goblins to disappear and Barcus to die, locking the party out of this quest and future quests involving Barcus.
Category:Quests
Category:Time-Sensitive Quests