Act 1 of Baldur's Gate 3 sees a major conflict between the Druids of Emerald Grove, the Tiefling refugees, and the Goblins. The first time you'll come across goblins is at the Blighted Village, west of Emerald Grove.
Blighted Village is a collection of ramshackle houses with a waypoint, multiple combat encounters, secrets, and cutscenes. Knowing what awaits when players visit the Village and what choices they need to make can come in quite useful.
Updated by Hamza Haq on August 26, 2023: The article has been updated with fresh links to align with the latest articles on Baldur’s Gate 3.
How To Reach Blighted Village
Follow the road directly west from the Emerald Grove Environs waypoint. Stay on course, and you'll reach a rundown archway (X:62, Y:403) with a dead tielfing and a broken cart. Entering this archway leads into the Blighted Village. If you or your companions pass a perception check, you will be warned that there is someone up ahead.
If you enter from the main entrance, you'll encounter a group of goblins setting up an ambush. You can avoid this ambush or face it head-on. To avoid it, head north of the main entrance to find some knotted vines that will allow you to enter the Village without having to use the main entrance.
If you decide not to visit Blighted Village and force the Tieflings to leave Druid Grove, you’ll find all of them slaughtered as a result of the goblin ambush.
All Encounters In Blighted Village
There are four groups of NPCs loitering around Blighted Village, and each one can be handled separately.
Goblins At The Gate
As soon as you enter the Village proper, you'll find yourself in a cutscene with the Goblin Leader of the gate goblins proclaiming herself and planning to ambush you. Here, you will have two options:
- Avoid Combat: To prevent the goblins from turning hostile, you will need to pass a dialogue check and succeed in the dice roll. You can also force the goblin leader to obey you and stop the fight if you pick the Illithid dialogue.
- Kill The Goblins: If you fail the speech check or simply select the Attack option, you will have to kill all the goblins at the gate. Keep in mind there are more goblins over to the left that trickle into the fight if the noise alerts them, but that's not always the case.
If you're uncertain whether killing this group of goblins will lock you out of certain quests or make you automatically hostile to certain factions, it won't. Killing them or sparing them doesn't seem to matter to the Goblin Camp or Minthara in any meaningful way. You can still recruit the Drow to your party even if you kill this group mercilessly.
Using the side entrance will allow you to ambush the goblins yourself. If they don't see you coming, they don't expect you.
Ogres
To the west of the gate goblins, you'll run into three Ogres standing over a corpse. A cutscene will play, and you'll enter dialogue with the Ogres. Here, you have three options:
- Kill the Ogres: You can resort to this option at any time. The Ogres are powerful combatants but nothing unmanageable. If you're having trouble, you destroy the wooden beam of the hut the ogres are standing in to drop the roof on them, dealing massive damage.
- Avoid the Ogres: If you convince the Ogres that you are a chosen of the Absolute or bear his mark, they will recognize you as a friend and let you leave unharmed.
- Recruit the Ogres: You can recruit this gang of brutes and turn them into single-use summons if you pick the right dialogue option. Convincing these ogres will result in them giving you a horn which is a consumable item that you can use in any battle and summon all three Ogres at your location.
If you're planning on recruiting the three ogres, know that convincing them is an extremely difficult speech check. Remember to save before the cutscene starts to have the chance of a do-over.
Buthir & Grukkoh (Barn)
North of the gate goblins, you'll find a locked barn with curious noises coming from the inside. Open the door, and you'll be presented with the scene of a female Ogre, Buthir, and a bugbear, Grukkoh, engaged in coitus. There are two ways this encounter can go.
- Kill Buthir and Grukkoh: Opening the door will result in both of these NPCs becoming hostile and the player character having to put them down.
- Avoid the fight: Presently, the only known way to avoid this fight is to play as a Bard or a Barbarian and pass a high-difficulty speech check.
Goblins At The Windmill
When you go to the far end of the Blighted Village, you'll see a cutscene of a group of goblins playing a dangerous game with a helpless deep gnome. They've tied the gnome to a windmill and are enjoying seeing him do his best bird impression. There are three possible outcomes here:
- Kill the goblins, save the gnome: The goblins are low-level and can be defeated easily. None of them have anything valuable.
- Convince the goblins to leave, save the gnome: Use the mark of the Absolute or pass a speech check to convince the goblins to leave.
- Ignore the problem: No sweat off your back.
There are two levers on the lower floor of the windmill. One lever stops the windmill, and the gnome can be saved; the other lever removes the limit to how fast the windmill can go, and the gnome is wrenched free from the windmill and flies off into the distance, dead.
Saving the gnome will result in a small reward, and some added XP for completing the quest, Rescue The Gnome. If you do save him, you will meet him again during the Save the Grymforge Gnomes quest.
All Hidden Locations
There are two main hidden areas to find in the Blighted Village, and you’ll need to explore both to complete the Search The Cellar quest.
Whispering Depths
There are two ways to get to the Whispering Depths from the Blighted Village.
- Well: Directly opposite the Blighted Village waypoint, you'll find a well you can interact with to enter the Whispering Depths proper.
- Blacksmith's Workshop: You'll find the Blacksmith's workshop in the house to the right of the entrance. There are two chests inside containing some valuables and Highcliff's Journal and Blueprints lying about. Obtaining the journal will trigger the Masterwork Weapon Quest. To enter the Whispering Depths, you'll need to pass a perception check to find two breakable stone walls. Breaking these doors will see you entering the Whispering Depths.
The Whispering Depths are home to multiple large and small Phase Spiders as well as a Phase Spider Matriarch boss. Defeating these monsters will allow you to obtain the Dark Amethyst, an item you need to read the Necromany of Thay book you will obtain from the Necromancer's hideout.
Necromancer Hideout
In the dilapidated house behind the Blighted Village waypoint, you'll find a basement hatch that leads to the lower floor. In this room, you'll notice a lever behind some boxes if they pass a perception check.
Pull this lever to unlock a hidden area behind a bookshelf. Here, you'll encounter multiple wooden coffins. Interact with these, and undead warriors will rise from them. Defeat these enemies and keep exploring the area to find a mirror.
The mirror is actually blocking the way to the next section, and to get there, you'll have to answer its questions correctly.
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Speak your name.
- Correct Answer: Tell it your name.
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If you are known to my master, step forward and declare yourself an ally.
- Correct Answer: Yes, an ally! I'm an ally of your master's.
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What think you of the Zulkir known as Szass Tam?
- Correct Answer: Szass Tam is a foul, wretched creature.
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Tell me, why might one use balsam ointment?
- Correct Answer: To clean a wound.
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If you could see anything in me, what would it be?
- Correct Answer: I'd look for whatever spell will rid me of this worm in my head.
There are some alternate options to get this mirror to open, but these are the ones that worked for us.
If you fail to answer the questions correctly, you can interact with the mirror using another of your party members, and the mirror will ask the same questions again.
Once you manage to get past the mirror, enter the room to find the Necromancer's hideout. At the far end of this chamber, you'll find a locked door with a curious book inside. Lockpick the door to open it and pick up the book. The book is sitting on a trap, so disarm it before you pick it up.
This is the Necromancy of Thay, a powerful tome that will see use well into Act 3 of the game. If you found the Dark Amethyst from the Whispering Cave, you'll be able to open this book. Reading this book will force you into progressively harder WIS checks (10 -> 15 -> 20).
If you pass all the checks, you'll get bonus WIS on your character and the permanent ability to talk to the dead. If you fail to read it, you'll be afflicted with the Baleful Knowledge curse, which will give you a disadvantage on Wisdom saving throws until you get rid of it.