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Forest
| Wilderness | ||||
| Risen Road | ||||
| ↑ | ||||
| Blighted Village | ← | Forest | → | Emerald Grove |
| ↓ | ||||
| Sunlit Wetlands | ||||
“Nothing like a brisk stroll through the forest to invigorate the spirit <...> And without so much as a stirring from our tadpoles.„
Overview[edit | edit source]
Hemmed in between Emerald Grove environs, Goblin Camp, The Risen Road, and Sunlit Wetlands, this location actually encompasses the Blighted Village and the Owlbear Cave, which are considered as separate locations. However, it also has several points of interest by itself.
The Forest can be accessed from all locations listed above.
The Absolute recruits[edit | edit source]
Brynna and Andrick, recently recruited followers of the Absolute, can be found at X: 139 Y: 446 tending to their brother, Edowin, who is dying from the wounds sustained from an Owlbear attack.
When approaching them, the dialogue starts automatically. Edowin, Andrick and Brynna have been tasked with looking for survivors of the nautiloid crash. If revealing that the party members are those survivors, or otherwise revealing that they are not followers of the Absolute, she and Andrick become hostile. If passing a 
DC 10 Medicine check or a 
check, the recruits do not attack. 
of good-aligned deities and 
can use their class-based option to be allowed to examine Edowin without any checks.
However, if the fight starts and Brynna and Andrick are killed, this grants the 
inspiration for the characters with 
background.
If the first part of the dialogue does not spill into a fight, Edowin briefly comes to his senses, recognizes the player character as a True Soul, and then dies. Andrick and Brynna then ask the player character for further instructions. The player character can convince them to go away or order them to take a revenge over the owlbear for their dead brother. In the latter case, both proceed to the entrance of the Owlbear Cave and wait for the party to join them.
After getting rid of both recruits, the player character can loot Edowin's body. His tadpole connects to their mind, prompting to be harvested from the dead body. If the player character agrees, they may gain one of the first 
Mind Flayer Parasite Specimens in the walkthrough.
Also, the dialogue with Brynna is one of the first conversations where the player character can influence the interloper using an 
check. If it is the first time, the Narrator remarks that the player character has lost a part of themselves in giving in to the use of their illithid powers - a part they can never get back, and all party members afterwards prompt a dialogue with exclamation signs, wishing to discuss the party's newfound ability to bend others to their will through the tadpole.[1]
The 
Shaft of a Broken Spear can be found on Edowin's body, as well as gold and Camp Supplies. The other part of the spear can be obtained in the Owlbear Nest. Reforging the two pieces into the 
Vision of the Absolute grants the inspiration to the characters with 
background.
Owlbear Nest[edit | edit source]
The entrance to the Owlbear Nest is at X: 86 Y: 448, just behind the river which divides this part of the Forest in two. It is a large cave mouth with a patch of mud at the entrance. Passing a DC 0 Investigation check allows to detect owlbear tracks in the mud, and any party member may comment on this. If the player character previously convinced Andrick and Brynna to avenge their brother-in-faith, both wait for the party near the entrance to explore it. The Investigation check is rolled regardless of whether the party know about the beast presence in the area or not.
To the left of the cave entrance is a cragged rock which leads up and further into the Forest, to the point where Scratch can be encountered.
Meeting Scratch[edit | edit source]
Scratch can be found in the Forest, near X: 69 Y: 476. He guards the corpse of his dead master Gomwick, a messenger who worked for Sword Coast Couriers. The pair were making a delivery to Baldur's Gate when a group of gnolls attacked them. Gomwick forced Scratch to flee, but then died in the attack. Scratch later returned to find his master and, thinking him merely injured, continues to wait patiently by his side for him to wake.
Scratch can be recruited as Camp Follower and Familiar. To do so, the player character must convince him that they mean no harm to him or to his "resting" master. If successful, Scratch appears at the camp after some long rests, and the player character gains the 
action.
Selecting conversation options which lead to Scratch attacking and then killing him is considered an oathbreaking action for 
.
After Scratch has moved to the party's camp, Gomwick's corpse can be looted for a bundle of letters he carried.[2] One of them, the 
Tough Letter, contains information about a stash of valuables concealed in a grave marked "M.Kurwin". The grave can be found later in Act Three, in the Lower City Graveyard.
Just to the north from the point of meeting Scratch, the party can jump over several huge stones to cross the river and reach the opposite shore which runs along the Risen Road on the cliff above.
Exsanguinated Boar[edit | edit source]
If Astarion is recruited, and the party takes at least two long rests after this, a dead boar can be found in several points in the forest. The exact point is chosen randomly between the following:
- X: 139 Y: 409 - before the bridge leading to the Blighted Village
- X: 69 Y: 425 - to the north from the eastern entrance to the Blighted Village
- X: 52 Y: 287 - near the entrance to the Sunlit Wetlands / Putrid Bog
The party can examine the animal carcass, rolling a DC 10 Medicine check. Succeeding reveals wounds on the animal's neck. If Astarion is in the party at this moment, he tries to discourage the player character from further investigating the corpse. However, if the player character passes the subsequent DC 10 Persuasion or Intimidation check, Astarion surrenders a piece of information: the animal was drained to death by a vampire.
After finding the boar, the player character gets an additional dialogue option when speaking with to Astarion in the bite cutscene. Finding the boar is not necessary for this cutscene to trigger, which is often postponed by other pending end-of-day events (e.g., the first appearance of Dark Urge's Butler, Mizora or the Dream Guardian).
A piece of 
Bloodless Pig Meat can be looted from the pig's corpse, replenishing the party's Camp Supplies.
Blighted Village environs[edit | edit source]
The Blighted Village was a small settlement called Moonhaven, inhabited by followers of 
- seemingly the congregate of the nearby temple. By the time the party can explore it, the village has been long ago ransacked.[3]
The path from the Emerald Grove leads straight to the village over a stone bridge. The area just behind the bridge is littered with several corpses of adventurers and goblins. If Aradin and the surviving members of his crew have previously left the Emerald Grove (e.g., after a quarrel with Zevlor), they can be found here, examining the corpses.[4] If the player character has not yet spoken to them to start the 
quest, it can be done here.
Southeast of the Blighted Village along the ridge overlooking the river is a dig spot at X: 79 Y: 347, requiring a DC 20 Perception check to notice. It contains random Arrows and Potions, and the 
Fleetfingers as well. If no party member passes the check, the stash can be revealed later by reading Minthara's 
War Map in the Shattered Sanctum. Reading it adds the marker "War Supplies" to the map.
In a hidden burrow in a tree trunk at X: 73 Y: 358 is a backpack. It requires a DC 10 Perception check to notice; the backpack contains Gold and random Valuables.
To the southwest of the Blighted Village at X: -8 Y: 346 is a lone-standing rock. On its top (accessible only from the ruined village school) a makeshift observation point can be found, with a backpack and 
Volo's Guide to Baldur's Gate left forgotten.
Detached Barn[edit | edit source]
To the north-east of the village is a barn. Though once used by the village inhabitants, it is actually situated in the Forest. Upon approaching, the party can hear strange noises coming from inside. Opening the doors initiates a conversation and (likely) a fight with its occupants, Grukkoh and Buthir. If Astarion is in the party, then allowing him to open the doors earns 
+5 approval. However, this option is not available if Shadowheart or Wyll is in the party as well - each of them (in this order) try to stop the player character from indulging their curiosity.
Beside the barn and up is a small clearing where a piece of meat is roasting over the campfire, with a 
Dagger +1 lodged in it. The dagger can be obtained by passing a DC 15 Investigation, Sleight of Hand, or Strength check.
Further to the west, at X: 1 Y: 448, a 
Curious Book can be taken from a Mysterious Hole, along with a 
Scimitar and an 
Oil Lamp. Upon trying to read it, the book is revealed as a container with a bottle of wine inside.
At X: -12 Y: 489 a broken bridge leads to the Risen Road. This is also one of the possible points where Raphael may be encountered for the first time in the walkthrough.
Forest locations[edit | edit source]
Characters[edit | edit source]
Loot[edit | edit source]
Curious Book in the mysterious hole at the outside base of the northern wall of the Blighted Village
Fleetfingers at dig spot at X: 79 Y: 347
Mind Flayer Parasite Specimen carried by Edowin at X: 139 Y: 446
Oil Lamp in the mysterious hole near the Blighted Village
Scimitar in the mysterious hole near the Blighted Village
Shaft of a Broken Spear carried by Edowin at X: 139 Y: 446
Silver Ingot in a hidden burrow in a tree trunk
Hidden treasures[edit | edit source]
- Just outside the west entrance of the Blighted Village on the overlook towards the Goblin Camp there is a dig spot at X: -45 Y: 402, requiring a DC 15 Survival check to notice. It contains several random spell scrolls and gold.
- Just outside the north entrance of the Blighted Village near the broken bridge towards The Risen Road there is a dig spot X: -3 Y: 481, requiring a DC 15 Survival check to notice.
- Outside the southern entrance of the Blighted Village, at X: 25 Y: 311 near the hamlet-like rock heap there is a dig spot requiring a DC 15 Survival check to notice. It contains gold and Camp Supplies.
Notes[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Although the Narrator's comments may imply otherwise, there are absolutely no negative consequences whatsoever in the game for making use of Illithid Persuasion or any base powers in the illithid powers skill tree, with one exception: if wanting to avoid
into a Partial-illithid, consuming a tadpole then requires the player character to pass a Wisdom based DC upon first obtaining the 
Astral-Touched Tadpole.
- ↑ While Scratch is guarding Gomwick's corpse, he does not allow looting it; doing so anyway results in him attacking immediately.
- ↑ By reading some documents found in the village and also later in the walkthrough (e.g., in Grymforge) it may be concluded that the attackers were
raiders dispatched by Ketheric Thorm.
- ↑ Aradin and his subordinates do not loot the corpses but, while they still are at the spot, the adventurers' corpses are red-outlined; trying to loot them makes Aradin and the others hostile to the party. The corpses can be safely looted after the mercenaries leave.
