Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Brilliant Storytelling: Derryth and Baelen Bonecloak - An exploration of Co-dependence *Spoilers*

I have taken an interest in the moral/ethical implications of this Quest line and it seems there is a lack of information on what happens here in ACT 3.

The quest gives you two Obvious choices:

1) Give the Noblestalk to Derryth she continues to enslave her mentally handicapped husband and you find her in Baldur's Gate. She is not happy but she gives you a discount and is her usual grumpy self.

2) Give the Noblestalk to Baelen which cures his mental fog and he is angry at Derryth for treating him "like a mule" for the last few years.

you can also:

3) Eat the Noblestalk if you are the Durge and unlock memories.

4) Give it to Shadowheart to unlock her memories.

If you choose Option 1:

Derryth is running Bonecloaks, she is as unhappy as ever but gives you a small discount. Baelen is still enslaved.

If you go with Option 2:

Baelen is running the shop and says that "Derryth fled during the night" and he calls her a coward and indicates he resents her for her enslaving him. He gives you a discount and is grateful for your help.

Upstairs you find her diary which seems to indicate she left. Not sure why she left her diary though...





There is also another letter which exists regardless of choice that indicates she made a bad choice a long time ago to marry Baelen instead of another Dwarf named Glumbor. The letter is unfinished and never sent.





Luckily she can be found in the Elfsong Tavern - and she is doing really well.



My conclusion though is that the morally correct choice here is to heal Baelen and NOT give the Noblestalk to Derryth Bonecloak. Baelen may be abusive and mean but Derryth is abusing him as well and enslaving him. Additionally they are caught up in a cycle of what is called co-dependence. Co-dependence is a state of mutual toxicity that prevents both people involved from moving forward, growing and experiencing true joy.

I applaud Larian for this questline, because I think the majority of people fail it and do the wrong thing by giving the Noblestalk to Derryth- it's an example that doing the right thing isn't the easy thing - especially when it comes to relationships like this.

Found her! She is in the Elfsong Tavern.



I was right. She left him. Well this is very interesting.

In Multiplayer games people universally give the Noblestalk to Derryth without much thought even when they are playing "Good" playthroughs. I also looked online and no one could say how the quest turned out in Act 3 if you cure Baelen.

Even in "evil" playthroughs people gave Derryth the Noblestalk because they didn't want to lose a trader (and maybe didn't know about how disguise self works).

I would love to see data on this from Larian but I would bet very good money that 99% of players give the Noblestalk to Derryth which perpetuates their co-dependent relationship and the cycle of abuse.

This entire quest is brilliant. It basically proves what I suspected and what psychologists have been saying for years - most adults are not capable of moral reasoning outside of established moral guidelines which they learn in childhood. When presented with moral situations that are unfamiliar or vague people struggle and usually make bad decisions, unless they have been specifically trained to think about moral problems.

For the record, there is no ultimate reward for doing things this way, and you do miss out on a possible reward from Derryth (her wedding band worth 20g) for giving her the Noblestalk.

The reward for doing the right thing here is that you get a happy ending...for once. Both Baelen and Derryth are both better off afterwards - Derryth even talks about dating again at some point...or "getting a cat" - Baelen also runs the shop and gives you a solid discount for saving him.

Very cool, thank you for sharing! I gave the noblestalk to Shadowheart but wouldn't do it again, you see nearly the same scene later anyway. But if you play as Durge you can unlock some memories as well - does someone know if it is worth it - meaning would you see it later anyway or not?

My first impulse was to give to Baelen and when I heard the misogyny that flowed after I regretted my decision and reloaded.

It's an interesting quest but I think good outcome relies on moral luck. From the conversations in the underdark it seemed equally likely that she would have remained as a battered wife losing both her income and bodily integrity. And Balen gave the impression of a "happy slave" - absolutely being exploited but happy in his simple minded way.

So, yes, in this narrative giving the stalk was the right thing to do but there were plenty of reasons to believe it was the evil choice.

I did the wrong thing initially as well. It wasn't until I revisited the situation and REALLY looked at what was going on that I was able to apply moral reasoning to the problem and reach the right solution. To be clear, psychologists have indicated that we are bad at moral reasoning unless we are trained in it or exposed to a lot of it where we are forced to work through these kinds of problems. It's basically just like a kind of math and it's NOT a fun experience because you end up being WRONG a lot!

All our moral views are basically "reaction formations", and they are predicated on what we learn as children about right and wrong.

If you watch the interview with Maggie Robinson (Orin) - she talks at length about how they built Orin's character based on the fact that this is all she knew as a child, so for her murder is her only way to express anything - and from her point of view is as often an expression of rage as it is of altruism.

I could understand him being pissed at his wife though. The correct option is to leave, not poison him until he's so mentally backwards he probably can't aim to piss.

And then she trash talks him about the outcome, that he's slow and stupid. It's your doing lady! You should have left before doing something that wrong.

There is no winner in that situation.

This quest was fantastic. Just sayin'.