Nautiloid

The sieged Nautiloid soaring over Avernus

The Nautiloid is a region in the Prologue of Baldur's Gate 3. It is the first area in the game.

Overview

The player character starts on the Nautilod immediately after character creation and has to ⁠escape from it before the ship crashes in Avernus.

Nursery

The nursery is the initial area where the player characters awakens. The room contains scattered mind flayer pods and a nursery at the centre of the room, a pool filled with larvae which explodes upon the slightest touch.

Surgery room

In the adjacent room,  Myrnath is undergoing surgery on an elevated platform. The creature  Us can be recruited by removing it from Myrnath's exposed skull. Interacting with one of the three Rune Slates laying on the table at X: 3 Y: -414 unlocks a unique option for a future dialogue with  Omeluum. Leaving the surgery room triggers a cutscene with  Lae'zel, who joins the party to escape the Nautiloid. If Lae'zel is chosen as origin,  Losiir joins the party instead.

Ceremorphosis chambers

The ceremorphosis chambers consist of two adjoining rooms on the northern side of the Nautiloid. In the first room,  Shadowheart is trapped in a mind flayer pod, which can be opened with a slate carried by a corpse in the second room or, with certain spellcasters, by passing skill checks as presented by the narrator. Shadowheart's pod also has a nearby control panel with the following labels, from left to right: "Unleash", "Aggression", and "Annihilate".

In the second ceremorphosis chamber, adjacent to Shadowheart's room, an unresponsive woman is trapped in a mind flayer pod. The console behind her contains a button with the label "Perfect". Pressing the button causes her to undergo  ceremorphosis.

Helm

The ship's helm is past the ceremorphosis chambers, where a  Mind Flayer battles  Commander Zhalk. Upon entering this area, combat immediately commences, and the party have a maximum of 15 turns to reach the transponder before the ship crashes. After several turns, two cambions spawn at the entrance of the helm. If Zhalk is defeated with his  imps and  hellsboars, the Mind Flayer attacks the party. Interacting with the transponder ends the prologue regardless of the remaining foes and party members' status.

Related areas

• ⁠Ravaged Beach

Related quests

• ⁠Escape the Nautiloid
• ⁠Rescue the Illithids' Captive

Characters

•  Lae'zel
•  Losiir
•  Mind flayer (prologue)
•  Myrnath
•  Sacrificed High Elf
•  Sacrificed Human Cultist
•  Shadowheart
•  Us
•  Zhalk

Creatures

•  Cambion
•  Intellect Devourer
•  Lesser Hellsboar
•  Lesser Imp
•  Mind Flayer

Loot

•  Dark Mind
•  Eldritch Rune
•  Everburn Blade disarmed or looted from  Zhalk
•  Gold Key
•  Rune Slate
•  Slave Mind

Gallery

• 
  Concept Art
• 
  Concept art by Dan Iorgulescu
• 
  Concept art by Dan Iorgulescu

Notes

• When playing as a custom character, if Lae'zel or Shadowheart are killed before reaching the Helm, they are found dead on the beach in Act One and can be revived.
• Prior to meeting Lae'zel or Losiir, characters cannot cast certain spells which summon controllable entities. The tooltips for such spells state they "can't be cast while your new parasite adjusts to your mind and magic". This is known to affect  Mage Hand and  Find Familiar. Casting  Minor Illusion is allowed, possibly because the entity cannot be moved around like the others. The affected spells become available at the start of the first combat encounter with the Lesser Imps.

External links

• ⁠Nautiloid on the Forgotten Realms Wiki