Help the Spirit of the Amulet

The cursed monk wishes to return to his granddaughter.

Help the Spirit of the Amulet is a quest attained in Act One of Baldur's Gate 3. It can be initiated by reading the Dark Justiciar's Journal or by picking up the Sentient Amulet. It cannot be completed until Act Three.

I am sunlight on water, dew on grass

— Monk's Manifestation

Objectives

Objectives and journal entries may vary pending player decisions and outcomes.

Find the lost amulet.

• We read the journal of a Dark Justiciar. He mentioned an amulet of great power that also made the wearer laugh. It was cast into the lava.

Travel to Wyrm's Crossing.

• We found the amulet. It's been possessed by a spirit. The spirit wishes to be returned to his granddaughter. She lives at the Open Hand Temple in Wyrm's Crossing.
• The longer we have the amulet, the worse the curse becomes.

Find Shirra Clarwen

• We reached the Open Hand Temple. We should look for the spirit's granddaughter - Shirra Clarwen.

Bring the spirit of the amulet to Shirra.

• We learned that Shirra Clarwen passed away. She is buried in a crypt under the temple.

Quest Complete

• If the player refuses to bear the monk's curse:
  • The spirit possessed Shirra's body. We refused to take on his madness, putting a stop to him instead. His spirit will forever remain cursed.
• If the player agrees to bear the monk's curse:
  • The spirit possessed Shirra's body. We agreed to take on the curse of his madness, allowing his spirit to pass on.

Walkthrough

Act One

The Grymforge

Within Grymforge, the party may find a skeleton of a Dark Justiciar (X: -654 Y: 424), which contains a Dark Justiciar's Journal. Journal's entry mentions a cursed amulet that provided great power but also caused the wearer to laugh uncontrollably. The Justiciar wrote that he threw the amulet into the lava. Reading the journal starts the quest to track the precious magical item down.

The Adamantine Forge

To find the amulet, the player must reach the forge itself. There, from the forge platform in its upper position, the party can jump to the side cave half-full of molten lava (X: -570 Y: 229). The lava there is unlike all other places where it is close: boiling and bursting, popping bubbles that leave Fire surface behind. A sequence of successful passive checks ( DC 10 Nature check, DC 15 Arcana check) will allow to understand the reason of this phenomena: a Lava Elemental wandering around the cave.

The elemental itself is non-aggressive, it doesn't react to player's presence or any actions, but defeating it will make the way to the amulet much easer. However, fighting it might be troublesome, because it restores full health each turn while it is standing in lava. Spells like  Bone Chill might be useful.

In the middle of the cave there is a rocky 'island', where a locked Adamantine chest stands. Inside the chest ( DC 20 Sleight of Hand check) lies the Sentient Amulet, along with small amount of gold, a random gem and two Uncommon elixirs (see below).

Once the amulet is picked up, the party member will feel the urge to laugh, which needs to be resisted:

• Give in to the laughter.
• Drop the amulet.
• [WISDOM] Fight the urge.
• [DWARF][WISDOM] Squash all cheer and summon memories of your ancestral enemy - the mind flayers.
• [MONK][WISDOM] Quiet your mind. Let everything be still.
• [WARLOCK][WISDOM] Call on the power of your pact and resist the urge.
• [BARBARIAN][WISDOM] Kill the mirth. RESIST.
• [CLERIC OF SHAR] Grit your teeth. Summon your god's wrath.
• [CLERIC OF LATHANDER][WISDOM] Summon your light and devotion as you push back.
• [SORCERER][WISDOM] Close your eyes and let your magic flow through you in all its wild and beautiful glory.

All these are DC 10 Wisdom checks (though Barbarian characters will roll the dice with Advantage).

If the party manages to keep from laughing, the spirit of the amulet - the Monk's Manifestation - appears with a request. The Sharrans tortured him to death, and he laughed at their pathetic (but not quite futile) attempts to break his spirit. After passing over, manic laugh became his curse. He wants to become free, and to that end wants his granddaughter Shirra Clarwen to take the curse over from him.

The spirit tells the party that Shirra lives in Wyrm's Crossing and serves at the Open Hand Temple as a cleric of Ilmater. The monk promises to bestow blessings upon the party if they agree to undertake this journey.

However, should the player choose to succumb to the urge bestowed by the amulet, it won't bring any negative consequences or effects, and the quest can still be continued.

The dialogue with the spirit contains several unnecessary Ability checks that may shed some light on the Monk's Manifestation story.

• DC 10 Investigation check and subsequent DC 10 Religion check will reveal that the monk worshipped Lathander - god of dawn and renewal.
• DC 10 Insight check will tell that the spirit has no deliberate intent to harm its bearer.

If the party agrees to help the spirit, Monk's Manifestation says he shall travel with them and grant some help on their way. Sentient Amulet can be worn by any party member, providing them with  Shatter once per Short Rest, Ki Restoration (Lesser) and an ability Talk to the Sentient Amulet, which allows to reconsider the decision about helping the spirit at any time. Simply keeping the amulet in the inventory doesn't grant any of these.

The quest cannot be ultimately resolved until the beginning of the Act Three of the game.

Notable loot

• Elixir of Arcane Cultivation
• Elixir of Fire Resistance
• Merregon Halberd x2, - near skeletons at lesser basalt islands close to cave walls (X: -600 Y: 199, X: -646 Y: 217)

Act Three

The Open Hand Temple

The Open Hand Temple where Shirra Clarwen worships is in Rivington (X: -19 Y: -5), north of the Circus of the Last Days.

Within the Open Hand Temple, the party will find its second-in-charge cleric Sister Yannis (X: -44 Y: -6) having an argument with Investigator Valeria. They are discussing the recent murder of Father Lorgan, which Valeria is charged with. After they finish their conversation, Valeria leaves, and the player can speak to Yannis about the murder. Through the dialogue, there is an option to ask the Ilmaterian where to find Shirra Clarwen. Yannis explains that Shirra passed away last year and was buried in the temple crypt.

The Crypt

Shirra's tomb.

The crypt can be reached through the hatch in the kitchen (X: -62 Y: :3). Enter the prayer hall to the south, then take the door to the west to find the passed clerics' resting place. Shirra Clarwen is buried in the sarcophagus in the southwestern corner of the room. Interact with the plaque, then open the lid of the sarcophagus.

After that, the conversation starts automatically. To trigger the cutscene, the party doesn't even need to have the Sentient Amulet itself present in the inventory, let alone wearing it. Monk's Manifestation possesses the withered husk of Shirra's corpse. He laments the death of his granddaughter, as she would have been willing to bear the curse on the wishes of her god, Ilmater. Now he needs another volunteer to get rid of the curse.

At that point of the quest the party can decide whether to agree to bear the curse or reject the monk's offer. Also, one of the side options here is to try and guess the truth about the spirit's affliction through DC 15 Arcana check. If successful, the player will figure out that the curse nature is actually tantamount to  Tasha's Hideous Laughter spell.

Dealing with the curse

If the party choose to bear the curse, there are three options to avoid negative consequences - DC 15 Wisdom check, DC 15 Constitution check or DC 2 Wisdom check (Illithid). The player must succeed in these checks twice (with same DC). It is possible to select the same check twice (except the Illithid one). Each failed check or choosing to succumb to the spell results in a permanent loss of 1 Wisdom point. If the curse has been removed, the party member that endured it (no matter of the Wisdom loss) will gain the ability to cast  Tasha's Hideous Laughter once per Long Rest.

If the party refuses to bear the curse, or stops partway through absorbing it, the monk becomes hostile. He raises the three other corpses in the crypt (all four will have Lvl. 9 Zombie stats and feats) to attack the party and must be defeated.

Rewards

•  Tasha's Hideous Laughter as an action once per Long Rest (if the player agrees to bear the monk's curse)
  • This path removes any magical effects from the Sentient Amulet in the player's inventory.
• Sentient Amulet (Very Rare) a version of the amulet that does not require you to make Wisdom Saving Throws after using its powers (if the player refuses to bear the monk's curse and fights him)
• 200 XP

Companion approval

• Agree to bear the monk's madness  -1  -1  +1  +1  +1  +1
  • Withstand the monk's madness and earn Tasha's Hideous Laughter  +3  +3  +3  +3  +3  +3  +3  +3  +3  +3
• Refuse to inherit the curse  +1  +1  +1  +1