Hunt the Devil

Karlach claims she isn't starting a Blood War. Can she be trusted?

Hunt the Devil is a quest in Act One of Baldur's Gate 3. Anders and his group at the Risen Road claim to be Paladins of Tyr hunting the devil Karlach. Karlach claims to be a tiefling fleeing the Hells from servants of Zariel. Decide who to help.

If Karlach is the Origin character, this quest is not available but Anders' group is still located at the Risen Road. If spoken to while Karlach is present, a fight breaks out. Other characters may speak with Anders as normal, but it is not possible to actually side with him.

Objectives

Find the devil.

• We spoke to a corpse who claimed to be an infernal servant of the devil Zariel. What business does a devil have here?
• We met a group of paladins of Tyr who are hunting a devil. Anders asked for our help - we agreed to search for the devil.

Kill the tiefling.

• We met a tiefling who matches the devil's description. Now's our chance.
• The devil is actually a tiefling called Karlach. She told us that the paladins are actually servants of the archdevil Zariel who were sent to hunt her down.

Confront the paladins.

• We decided to let Karlach join us. The 'paladins' will have something to say about it.
• Karlach joined us. She told us she's being hunted by servants of Zariel who are pretending to be Paladins of Tyr. We need to deal with them.

Take Karlach's head.

• The devil is dead. Time to take her head.

Deliver Karlach's head.

• We have the devil's head. We should take it back to Anders.

Kill Karlach.

• We betrayed Karlach.

Speak to Anders.

• We killed Karlach. Anders will have something to say about that.

Kill Zariel's followers.

• Zariel's followers want to kill Karlach. We need to protect her.

Quest Complete!

• Anders rewarded us for our help.
• We defeated Anders.
• Anders thanked us for our help.
• We left the area without helping the paladins of Tyr.
• We defeated Zariel's followers. Karlach is safe - for now.

Walkthrough

At the far east of the Risen Road, you can find Anders, Cyrel and Trynn holed up in a Toll House. Not far, down the cliff and across the stream, you can find Karlach. Each asks you to take out the other:

• Anders claims his group are Paladins of Tyr tasked with a holy mission to hunt down Karlach: a fearsome devil already responsible for killing other innocents. He'll ask for Karlach's head.
• Karlach claims to be a runaway tiefling forced to fight in the Blood War, and says that Anders and his group are servants of Zariel here to kill her and send her back to the Hells. She'll offer to join the party and help take Anders down.

Wyll successfully hunts Karlach

Wyll has also been tasked with hunting Karlach by an unnamed party, and so if he's in the party he'll confront and threaten her. Either agreeing to take her out or convincing Wyll that he's been tricked into hunting a tiefling results in Wyll's approval, no Ability Checks required.

There are a few ways to try and ascertain the truth:

• Casting Speak with Dead allows you to interrogate nearby corpses. The one in the room next to Anders confirms he is a fallen Paladin of Tyr, serving Zariel.
• Clerics of Tyr may receive a warning from their god.
• If you take Karlach into your party and bring her to Anders, the two confront each other. An Insight Check or Detect Thoughts confirms he's the liar.
• If you confront Anders about serving Zariel, he'll drop pretenses and attack you.

In any case, you'll have to take one party out. If you bring Karlach to Anders and attempt to leave him in peace, Karlach forces a fight; you can help either side.

The quest can also come to a close by moving on too far in Act Two or recruiting Karlach only to cause her to leave the party before you can finish the quest.

Consequences

Aside from the immediate rewards and possibility of obtaining Karlach as a companion, Karlach's fate results in some permanent changes for Wyll. If you sided with Karlach, Mizora shows up at camp to punish Wyll for reneging on his agreement to hunt all given targets, permanently disfiguring him with devil horns. If the player killed Karlach, she'll instead reward Wyll with the Infernal Robe.

Rewards

• Sword of Justice, either as a parting gift from Anders or as loot from his body
• Karlach as a companion (if sided with)

Companion approval

Talking with Anders before talking with Karlach

• "Let me help, I can help you hunt down this monster."

 -1

Meeting Karlach. (In multiplayer this gets wonky, the character that starts this conversation is the focal point of the following conversations when returning to Anders.)

• Don't kill Karlach

 +2 +20

• Kill Karlach

 +10

Returning to Anders At the Toll House

• Tell Karlach not to attack

 -5

• Attack the 'paladins' after proving them to serve Zariel

 +10

Notes

• Unsurprisingly, Anders is unable to reward you with the Sword of Justice if you've previously temporarily KO'd him and taken it from him, or otherwise found a way to remove the sword from his inventory.
• Although Anders asks for Karlach's head, the quest can still proceed if Karlach despawns or her head otherwise becomes unobtainable. (For instance, Karlach is Knocked Out and the player Long Rests, or the player kills her in a way that burns or disfigures the corpse.) The player can report to Anders that they weren't able to get her head but Karlach is still dead; he rewards the player with his sword as usual.