Get Help From Auntie Ethel - Baldur's Gate III Guide - IGN (2024)

Looking for a parasite cure? One possible cure for the parasite can be found at the hands of an intriguing NPC called Auntie Ethel. She's found to the southwest of the Blighted Village, living in the Riverside Teahouse, and she's one of the most interesting characters in Baldur's Gate 3 Act One.

Dealing with Auntie Ethel is a little trickier than it might seem at first, so below, you'll find a complete story Walkthrough. We'll be looking at key character interactions, important items, and any potential combat encounters that your party might find themselves in.

If you find yourself struggling with anything in this quest, make sure to take a look at our Beginner's Guide and top tips for some extra support.

Get Help From Auntie Ethel Walkthrough

To begin, you'll need to find the Riverside Teahouse. To make finding the Riverside Teahouse easier, it's best to find Auntie Ethel in Emerald Grove after defeating the Goblins outside the gate during the start of Finding A Cure.

She can be found in The Hollow.

When you speak to her, she will notice that you're 'unwell' and proceed to fuss over you, saying she's got plenty of lotions and potions that can help.

While Shadowheart will protest at the idea of you telling Auntie Ethel what's up with you, you'll need to tell her that you're infected with a Mind Flayer parasite. She is immediately concerned and sympathetic, then mentions that she might have something to help back home.

This will automatically mark her home on your map.

As you can see, it's a bit of a trek. Spend some time in the Grove picking up new equipment and potions, and double check that you've got all the spells you want prepared. In particular, make sure you have water spells and/or water bottles. You'll need them later in this quest.

Then, head out of the main Emerald Grove gate. The main direction that you want to be heading is southwest, but the most direct path to the swamp is to the Blighted Village first, in order to avoid jumping over too many cliffs or going through the Nautiloid again.

Even if you've never been to the Blighted Village before, you'll be able to see the dark orange buildings on your map once you get close. Head west towards Blighted Village, over the bridge with dead adventurers and Goblins. Make sure to loot them as you go- they have some handy items.

Head down the south path to continue.

Eventually, you'll see Ethel and two men arguing once you approach an area called Sunlit Wetlands.

As you approach, you'll notice that the men are accusing Ethel of doing something to their sister. Auntie Ethel seems frightened, pleading that she's never seen their sister Mayrina, but the men don't seem to be convinced- with one of them telling her to drop the act and calling her a hag.

Ethel will notice you and ask for your help. You'll need to defend her and say that you know her. This will start a combat encounter.

This is a pretty simple fight as, presuming you roll well for Initiative, you'll be able to take out the brothers with ranged attacks before they can even get to you. They don't have particularly high health, so if they do get over to you, crowd them and give them the Threatened debuff.

Auntie Ethel will cower and not join in the fight.

Once you're done with the fight, you'll be able to loot the bodies. Auntie Ethel will speak to you, clearly shaken by the encounter.

You can ask her about Mayrina and what she knows. Auntie Ethel will confess that she does know Mayrina, and that she's staying at Auntie Ethel's house. Ethel made a vow not to reveal her location, which is why she didn't tell the brothers.

Ethel will ask you to come by her house so she can thank you properly.

Interestingly, she vanishes in a puff of magic smoke. This will prompt your party to comment on how unusual that is and how Ethel may not be all that she seems.

Continue onwards to the quest marker, following the path west.

As you do this, your party will pause and notice that it feels like there's someone watching them. If you manage to pass a 20 Investigation roll, you'll notice a wave of magic cascading over the wilderness and the area will change before your eyes.

If you've been following our walkthrough closely, your party should level up somewhere around the swamp as you keep heading towards the quest marker.

Avoid the water at all costs- it's full of traps.

You'll encounter some Redcap NPCs as you continue onwards. They're harmless, but interesting- if you speak to them, one of them is pretending to be a sheep, showing that they were also part of the illusion surrounding this area.

You'll run into the Riverside Teahouse Waypoint here, which is really handy to have.

The Riverside Teahouse is just a short walk west from the Waypoint.

Before you head in, it's worth running to camp quickly to take a Long Rest. You're going to need plenty of spell slots here.

If you have Gale in your camp, he'll want to speak to you about a condition he has which relates to his Companion Quest, The Wizard of Waterdeep. There's also a significant event relating to Astarion's companion quest, The Pale Elf, which will take place here as well.

Save your game before going into the Teahouse, too.

The Potential Cure

Upon entering the Teahouse, you'll be greeted with an odd sight. Mayrina, the sister of the two men you just killed, is sat crying and begging Ethel not to make her eat any more pie. Ethel is demanding that she doesn't leave a single crumb, and your party will note how uncomfortable this is.

Auntie Ethel will also want to speak about your parasite. Even if you didn't tell her about it originally, she will still know. For now, concentrate on this.

She proposes a solution to help you get rid of the parasite, but there's a very odd price to pay.

She wants to remove one of your eyes temporarily, kiss it, then put it back in your head. If you've already tried dealing with Volo as a solution to the infection, you may be having some flashbacks right now.

This is a big decision that will greatly impact the rest of your game. You're going to need to decide whether to let Ethel proceed or not. To find out what happens before you do it, click the spoiler tag below.

Choosing to have your eye taken out can greatly impact your game. For our run, we decided not to go along with Auntie Ethel's plan.

It's important to note that most players have reported that not letting Ethel take your eye will leave the quest incomplete in your journal until you head to Act Two. This is frustrating for completionists, but is a bug that will hopefully be patched. Looting the lair and continuing with the path laid out below will still give you all the rewards of the quest.

When you refuse, Mayrina will ask again for Ethel to let her go. Ethel will grow frustrated and banish Mayrina with a wave of her hand, causing the pregnant woman to vanish in a flash of green smoke.

Ethel will assure you her door is always open for you, then go about her business.

Exploring the Teahouse

As you may have noticed, Ethel is not what she seems. There's a lot to do in this Teahouse (including saving some lives) and plenty of loot to pick up as well.

Quick-save as there's an Investigation check coming up. Head over to the fireplace nearby.

If you pass the check, you'll see that the back of the fireplace is fake and under an illusion spell.

Use your camera to pan through it and find the passageway behind the wall. You can simply click on the passageway to go through. Don't worry about the fire- it's fake and you won't take damage.

When you go down the stairs, you'll find yourself in a new location called Overgrown Tunnel.

Notably, the map is red. This means you can't fast-travel and that you're in danger.

Keep heading down the path. You'll hear someone begging for help in the distance, but before you can get to them, Auntie Ethel will appear in her true form. She's a fey/hag, similar to a witch, and she informs you that this is her own 'personal playhouse' and that you need to leave or she'll eat you.

Notably, she mentions Mayrina is already marinating.

You can agree or refuse to leave. Auntie Ethel will then vanish in a flash of green magic.

There are several prisoners and victims in Ethel's lair. There's a dead, blinded victim, a petrified victim, and one in stasis with their head cut off. You can use Speak to Dead to speak to the elf.

There's also an Elf named Lorin cowering in the corner in absolute terror. You can speak to Lorin, but they will be convinced that you're a Mindflayer who wants to eat them.

There's also a sentient gnarled door, which you're going to need to get through in order to progress here.

The door is absolutely terrified - turns out, it's one of Ethel's victims - and tries everything to get you to leave and not enter. It shows you horrible visions of people who've tried to take down Ethel and manages to accidentally let slip that you can just walk through without any resistance.

Much like the fireplace, the door is an illusion that you can just walk through by using your camera to pan through it.

Save before you go through, though. There are several masked enemies in here which you'll need to take down and you can get a stealth advantage here.

You'll be prompted to learn about non-lethal attacks here, and it's absolutely worth using them on the enemies with the trait 'Hag's Pawn' as they're not in control of their actions.

To use a non-lethal attack, get within melee range of an enemy. Then, select 'passive' from the list at the bottom of your toolbar.

This will help you use non-lethal damage moves.

You will still get experience for knocking out enemies, and there's a chance you can help them later on as well. Once you're done here, heal up (you won't be able to head to camp, but you can take a short rest) and prepare for the next step.

Head to the back of the cave where there's a waterfall. You'll need to use jump to get through, but do be careful as you go, as there are poison gas clouds on the other side.

You're going to need to move very carefully here.

The best method that we found to deal with the gas clouds (which are an almost instant death if you don't deal with them) is to:

1. Enter turn-based mode
2. Use fire spells (from a distance) to ignite the clouds
3. Use water spells to put out the fire

Rinse and repeat as you head down the path. You can also place heavy items on top of the vents, disarm the vents, or simply tank the fall damage from jumping past the gas clouds.

Once you get to the bottom of the path, save and heal, then press on.

You'll see Mayrina in a giant cage hanging from the roof of the Ancient Abode.

Dealing With Auntie Ethel

Prepare for a tricky fight. Auntie Ethel knows you're here, and she's fuming. At the start of this encounter, she will set Mayrina's cage on fire.

The sub-quest Save Mayrina will be added to your journal as her cage is set on fire.

You can deal with it by using water spells on the cage, throwing water barrels, or throwing water bottles. It's important to do this, or Mayrina will die and you need her alive.

This can be quite a difficult fight, especially if you're low level. Remember, you can drop your difficulty down a level at any time during the game and put it back up at any time without losing progress.

Auntie Ethel will start her turn by summoning clones of herself. Defeating the actual Auntie Ethel will make these clones vanish. Throughout the fight, Ethel will keep summoning clones and teleporting or becoming invisible, so it's worth dedicating one member of your party to dealing with them.

You'll also need to keep Mayrina alive, as she will get teleported into the middle of a fight at one point and can get hit by AOE attacks.

Once you get Ethel's health low enough, she will stop the fight and ask to make you a deal.

She will beg you to leave and let her keep Mayrina in exchange for her giving you power. This takes the form of an ability boost.

You can agree, or bargain/threaten your way into leaving with both options. We went with the option of saving Mayrina and not taking the roll- the roll can be quite tricky.

After you defeat Ethel, Mayrina won't react in the way you might expect. She's furious. Auntie Ethel had promised to bring her husband back from the dead in return for her unborn baby, and now she thinks she'll never see him again.

You'll notice here that your journal has updated to instruct you to find a way to help Mayrina, though. There's still an option here, although it's quite morbid.

Mayrina will storm off and leave the cavern, going to her husband's grave which is right outside the Teahouse.

Find the small wooden door in the cavern (to the side of where you came in) and head in. Here, you'll end up in a workshop and it's worth looting as there are some useful potions and a handful of tasty camp supplies, too.

The item that can help Mayrina is a wand on the desk, called Bitter Divorce.

Pick it up to continue. Before you click on the glowing circle of mushrooms at the back of the workshop to teleport your party outside, it is worth heading back into the main tunnels where the screaming Elf Lorin and other prisoners were so that you can attempt to help them.

Don't worry about the gas clouds or traps, they'll be gone now.

You can't save Magron, but you can free her from an eternity of pain by selecting her head and letting her body die. You can speak to Lorin and convince him you're not a threat, and if you have a way to unpetrify someone and cure illness at the same time, you can save Efrin. Basilisk's Oil and a Potion of Vitality should do the trick here.

Once you're ready to leave, head out via the mushroom portal or front door.

You'll find Mayrina close by, crying at the prospect of wheeling her dead husband's coffin home in a wheelbarrow.

You can show Mayrina the wand, and she'll beg you to use it on Connor, her husband.

Doing so has an unexpected - if predictable - side effect. Connor does indeed return from the dead, but he's now a mindless zombie. It seems that the wand controls Connor.

You'll be able to give the wand to Mayrina, who will take Connor with her to Baldur's Gate in search of a cure.

This wraps up the quest Save Mayrina- and it technically wraps up the quest Get Help From Auntie Ethel too, although as we noted earlier, there appears to be a bug at the time of writing this guide where the quest won't complete unless you let her take your eye.

It will automatically wrap up as you head into Act Two, though. For now, you're going to need to find another cure, so head back to the Act One hub and check out the various options you've got on offer to pick from.