Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Help Tips & Tricks Fighting Auntie Ethel without killing the enchanted people

I am currently stuck in the fight with Auntie Ethel: I would really like to save all four enchanted people this time, but the best I could achieve up till now was to save one.

Is there any possibility to remove the masks? I tried pickpocketing, but the masks did not show up in the inventory, and even with Lae'zel, I could not knock them unconscious.
I used Sleep and Hold Person, but of course this does not last long - and I need my spell slots to fight Ethel.
I tried to fight her while we were still in the Gnarled Teahouse, but I never manage to kill her before she disappears at half hitpoints.

Currently, I have my bard, Shadowheart, Astarion and Lae'zel in my party - and none of us has Magic Missile to target Auntie Ethel's clones, unfortunately.

Does anyone know by chance if/how it is possible to fight Auntie Ethel without killing everyone?
Thanks in advance!

Yes it is quite possible and easy to save them all. You cannot save any of the prisoners in her lair prior to the fight as removing the mask will kill them since she is actively holding the spell on everyone. So you have to fight and kill Ethel to break the spell.

My advice is spread out all 4 members around the hole in the center, give them ranged weapons and just ignore the masked people. Priority is Ethel and her clones. If she duplicates Mayrina, you can find the proper one by inspecting them both and comparing the stats. After that she won't duplicate anymore and you can just converge all of them on her and deliver the killing blow.

I did it with all kinds of party compositions, even a full melee one. And the fight can be made even easier with ranged scrolls and familiars such as Ravens or Imps if required.

If you're interested here's a video I made for a bug report, but it shows it actually dealing with her and saving all 4.

Thank you very much, Crimsomrider! I will try this tomorrow (or rather later today).

If you still have trouble with, I usually try to gank her in the teahouse, if you're able to control her turns once or twice it's possible. That's usually what I try to do, I find that fight one of the more challenging, I'm not sure why.

Thank you very much, Sozz! For me, the fight with Auntie Ethel seems so much harder than any other fight, maybe with the exception of the Githyanki patrol (that is why I hope that Lae'zel manages to lie convincingly, or let my very persuasive, disguised bard or sorceress do the talking, so we can avoid it)

I didn't know, you could save the other masks. So far, I only managed to save the halfling Lady, who promised me free drinks in the Elfsong tavern.

She was the one I managed to save, too. I hope I'll have some time tonight to try this fight again. I don't think I will be able to finish this playthrough before the new patch comes out, though

If it helps, you could go grab the Quasit scroll in the Blighted Village alchemist's basement for an extra helping hand. It's in one of the coffins. And you could check Arron in the Grove for any scrolls of Magic Missile, I think he sells some sometimes.

I have found two possibilities:

1) You kill Ethle before she could enter the lair. For this you have to put your group during the conversation around her and kill her before she escape after two rounds.
In the first round she uses a Invisible potion so you to use a potion/spell which causes an areal damage.
I always do it in this way because it is "easier".

2) You sneak with one character til to the point where Mayrina is caughted. Then you go to the door to Ethel's room. There is a teleporter which brings you back to the swamp. In this way you can move the whole group to Ethel with being in contact with enchanted people.

For 1), I seldom do enough damage within time to eliminate her. I've fought her what, four/five times? Achieved it only once. Think you need Astarion and Lae'zel outfitted and buffed (wyvern poison?).

And 2), I was clever and did that, then Ethel summoned them to the fight! Had to kill a couple of them ASAP, emphasis 'had to' not wanted to, and they had already wrecked the party.

Only in my first play through did I shove Ethel to her death. I thought back then that the fight was so easy; haven't managed it ever since.

1) I could do it in a lot of playthrough with Druid, Sorcerer, Bard and Barbarian. Most with Lae'zel, Shadowheart and Whyll in the group. But I have activated the "Weighted Dice" feature.

2) The last time I did it in the way is serval patches ago. There Ethel duplicates herselft two times.
Maybe you can select the option to knock out the enimies.

Thank you all for your help!


In the last fight, I had used the scroll to summon Shovel, and he is really useful for targeting the clones (I think his design is surprisingly cute for a little demon).


I did this in a previous game, this really saves you a lot of trouble before the fight with Auntie Ethel starts (And sneaking through her lair, you can also discover a portal to the underdark).
But once she summons the masked people, my problems start...


It's the same with me, but the wyvern poison is a good idea!

I try not to shove her to her death, though. I still need to talk to her

In addition to what has been said so far:

Equipping your Rogue with two hand crossbows is a good alternative to not having a Mage or said scrolls with Magic Missiles.

Someone also suggested switching to non-lethal attacks before the coup de grace against Ethel, so she doesn't get accidentally killed and the dialogue is lost. But note that this only works for melee combat.

Thank you, Lotus Noctus! Usually, I equipped Astarion with The Joltshooter. Maybe this is a stupid question, but I did not use crossbows a lot before: do you get an extra attack with these?

If you use Hand Crossbows (dual wield), you can do two attacks per turn. Also if your Astarion is a Thief instead of Arcane Trickster, you can do three attacks.

Thank you, Crimsomrider! It's a bit embarrassing I didn't know this after so many hours of play time...
My Astarion is an Arcane Trickster, but two attacks is already a large improvement.

Crimson was faster and he is right. As a Thief class you have two bonus actions. Extra Attack is not included yet, because you get it only if you multi-class your rogue.

Thank you as well, Lotus Noctus! Maybe I am a bit too focused on playing full-casters, that sounds interesting (when it is included).

I've found no game mechanics difference between knockout and killing, the person disappear in both cases.

Now for most that doesn't matter, but one of the "mask" people is a future quest NPC in Baldur's Gate and the other person that is an issue is Helsings apprentice, she is still gone if you knock her out. Only the human vs Zevlor scripted knockout seems to have recovery.

I typically just collect a few smoke powder barrels from different areas.... Go chat her up and turn her help down so she goes about her day in her little home. Walk over and sit 3 or 4 barrels of smoke powder around her.... Move way back... firebolt/fire arrow from a distance.... BOOM dead hag. Wait a few rounds for the fire to calm down and collect loot. I did have a little luck once using a silence scroll on her to buy myself another round or two of melee combat. But the explosion route is always quick and glorious!