Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Technical & Gameplay Problems Auntie Ethel

I had the same problem. She acts like she is going to escape, but doesn’t. It was very easy to kill her.

It's a bit of sad, really. SHe is my favorite villain in the game and I can't wait to meet her sister. I did the fight again just now with my rogue playthrough - and it was the same: she put out the fire, said 'Bye bye lovelies' and then just stood there and let herself get killed.

Few issues with Ethel i encounter.

In both palythougs i attack Ethel in the teahouse and i let her run away to her underground "nest"

1st playthroug: after fighting her i let her live and run away ,chosing the deception option to get both her reward and Mayrina
everything was fine - the small masked dude came back to his senses and went back to Baldursgate, petrification was lifted from "sick" dude and he realized the Ethel was the true reason of his illness and when shes gone hes no longer sick and can go back to his fammily. Frog is happy that Hug is gone and leads me to reward. Mayrina husband ressurected as undead walk away with her. Highelf that sees future also worked properly,
only problem with this playthroug was that Ethel doors to underdark remaind closed, i used mask befor and after killing her - doors where closed in both cases. i could use misty step to get into that chamber .

2nd playthoug ( or just doing Ethel again couse i had to use one of my save games befor Ethel, to fix my mistake with oppening Zhentahrim chest and "locking that area for me ):
Did Ethel fight the same way i did in my 1st playthough - i start the fight with manacing strike to fear her - then i bomb her in 2 turns to 10 hp so she dont even summons her 4 masked minnions, she begs for mercy, i am again taking the deception option to get both rewards ( Ethel hairs & Mayrina ) she runs away AND the problems starts here. 1st one - small halfling dude did NOT come back to his senses, now way to talk to him, hes not going back to baldurs gate, 2nd problem the petryfied dude is still petryfied and sick... , when i used basilisk potion on him he dies. 3rd. again i cant pass doors to underdark with mask on, before and after killing Ethel.
Only things that worked properly after Hug is gone was Highelf that sees the future, his visions stoped and he runed away, Frog was happy that Hug is gone and leads me to reward.

I am a bit confused

The masked halfling is a lady and very clearly so. So dudette, not dude.

And yeah, the whole Ethel Encounter is bugged as hell. I don't even have the option to get the hair, Ethel just bugs out after two rounds of fight and let herself get killed. The Dior to the lair is open for me though and the halfling lady comes to her senses.

Did some testing whole day today to see how to walkaround Ethel's issues and final conclusion would be - i have no idea how Ethel worked ok for me at my 1st playthrough.

All interaction in teahouse was working fine in both cases ( when i killed red caps before talking to Ethel / or not ) She flie properly ( ofc only when firepit is not body blocked with the party )
Galery talks, mask room, the descent i did 100% the same with compation ( Astarion sneaking wearing the mask ), activated mushroom portal, then i brought rest of the team by that portal.

I did Ethel fight multiple times and here are the outcomes ( sadly shes still bugged )
1st - Ethel left alive, bombed before she summons her 4 mask adds, deception used when she begs for her life. Outcome: mask dudette not working properly, petryfied dude too, underdark doors closed. Observation - after Ethel flies she is still visible like i was on mouse over her with hp that i left her ( 1 - 10hp depends on a bomb and attempt ) and status "Planing next move", seems life game still think Ethel is around cousing thing not to work properly.
2nd - Ethel left alive, she summoned her 4 mask adds, deception used when she begs for her life. Outcome: same issues with Ethel on mouse over no matter where i pointed my mouse cursor, even on textures, 4 minions still atacking me as she was alive.
3rd - Ethel killed before she summons her minions - most things works ok, i can speak to dudette and petrified guy, underdark doors still closed.
4rd - Ethel killed after she summons her minions - minions comes to their mind and stop attacking me - most things works ok, i can speak to dudette and petrified guy, underdark doors still closed.

Seems like there is some bug when Ethel is left alive and allowed to run away, game still treat it as she was alive and dont let other NPC's to work properly.
No idea wtf is wrong with underdark doors but there are other entrances so nevermind.

Ethel flie reward are also a bit odd:
When i ask for Mayrina freedom ofc no reward.
When i ask for power and let her take Mayrina i get Hugs Hairs x2 -> The STR hair + pop up screen in witch i can choose the other stats modification hair ( str dex con int wis char ) and after making my choise i am left with 2x Hair...
When intimidated or deceived i get only STR hair no pop up screen to pick stat of my choosing.

Seems like there is some spaggetti in the code and Ethel freaks out.
So for now i think i will skip all Ethel encounter for later fixes.

Well I just kill her in the teahouse and then can free elf, petrified guy, halfling mask and Mayrina. That works for me. I never get the option to barter for the hags hair though. Ethel just stops working midfight and that's it. The rest works fine for me.

So okay, I've finally figured out how to get into the Mushroom Circle portal in that bugged illusory door in Overgrown Passage. You'll need Misty step to do this though, so unless you've already found the Necklace of Misty Step, inside Defiled Temple, or have enough scrolls for it otherwise skip it for now. But once you can use misty step on all your party members you can then move onto the trickier bit. FIRSTLY though you'll need to untether everyone so you can get everyone through individually. Now just go near the ledge where that Illusory door is, you don't even have to be on the ledge itself, use Misty Step and look around the spell's radius until you find a spot in the blocked off room/area where you can teleport into. Send your heroes one at a time until everyone finally gets inside then you can move on as you used to.

But still, Ethel's new behavior still needs patching so all this hassle can be avoided altogether.

You can ONLY get the hair if you fight her in her underground lair. You need to bring her to >15 Health and then give her a chance to take her turn.

You can get + str and +1 any ability score if you let her keep Mayrina.



Outside of that Ethel seems bugged as hell. She isn't fleeing correctly and the special door to the Underdark is broken.

She is not even trying to go to her lair since patch 6 in my games anymore. SHe fights the first two rounds normally and then just does nothing anymore. When I kill her, the quest does advance, but that's it.

You have to run past the fireplace into the underground chamber, then she will move down there. Don't fight her in her hut at all.

Prior to Patch 6, you could fight her at her hut which was where you were supposed to find out that she was a Hag. If you sided with Mayrina's brothers outside the swamp she will get pissed off at you for even going to her Teahouse. And it's there where you, the player, is supposed to see her true fugly form. She'd attack you and that was supposed to be a fight you can't win as she'd outright run away from you. But, her "old" A.I. seems to have been broken after Patch 6.

Yes, I did. The cutscene did not start when she got down to 20% health. I ended up killing her, too, and did not get her hair. Will try again.