Most Important Events In Act 2, Ranked

Highlights

• Events in Baldur’s Gate 3 have significant consequences, so it’s important to save your progress and make named files to retrace your steps.
• Act 2 of the game introduces higher stakes for companion quests and reveals the mystery of the Absolute.
• Several key events in the game, such as meeting Elminster or confronting Vlaakith, shape future events and have a major impact on the storyline.

The storyline of Baldur’s Gate 3 progresses depending on when certain important events take place. These are often points of no return where it’s recommended that you have the game saved under an extra, named file in case you want to retrace your steps, and this gets more important as the plot marches on.

This gets more important as the characters enter Act 2 of Baldur’s Gate 3. The stakes rise for the companion quests and the mystery of the Absolute is revealed, all before the road west opens up to continue into Rivington and Baldur’s Gate.

Some of the following events are optional or depend on choices the protagonist has made in Act 1. Spoiler alert for those that haven’t progressed to this point in the game, or chose to take different routes into or through the Shadow-cursed Lands.

7 Meeting Elminster

Waiting Near The Entrance To The Shadow-Cursed Lands

It’s so important that Elminster find Gale at this point in the game that he’ll seek him, and you, no matter where you happen to be. This event can take place in one or two places, depending on how you decide to proceed to the Shadow-cursed Lands. Either Eminster is waiting for you on the winding road from the Mountain Pass that leads into the Underdark or the ruins of the Shattered Sanctum that leads into the Shadow-cursed Lands.

This is the scene when Elminster shows up with the rather sobering message to Gale about how he can regain the favor of Mystra. What he proposes is one option at the end of Act 2 that could end the game early the moment Gale gets in blast range of the Absolute.

6 Confronting Vlaakith

The Githyanki Warrior And The Astral Prism

You can skip the Mountain Pass entirely, but it’s not recommended for those who are keen on visiting a ruined monastery or completing The Githyanki Warrior quest chain. There are a few key events that happen in this scenic zone, but one of the most memorable is speaking to the Gith leader, Vlaakith, whose immense power gives her god-level status.

This event decides several future events, including both Lae’zel’s quest and the main storyline that involves the Astral Prism. It’s also one of the few instances in the game in which you and the whole party can be wiped out in an instant should your demeanor rub Vlaakith the wrong way.

5 The Harper Confrontation

Fight The Ambush Or Join It

There are different ways to trigger this event depending on how you decide to enter the Shadow-cursed Lands. If you go in through the Mountain Pass, you’ll meet the Drow Drider and his agents from Moonrise Towers, and while you’re on the road the Harpers ambush the whole group. You can choose to side with either them or the Drider.

The other way this can happen is if you enter the Shadow-cursed Lands through the Shattered Sanctum and join the Harper ambush from Last Light Inn. This is an important event, involving major players on both sides of the story.

4 The Attack On Last Light Inn

Save Isobel Or Everyone Dies

Speaking of Last Light Inn, by now almost everyone knows to buff up before heading upstairs to speak to Isobel. If she dies, or if Flaming Fist Marcus succeeds in taking her away, the dome of protection that keeps everyone from turning undead because of the Shadow Curse is also gone.

This is an important, high-stakes event that decides how the rest of Act 2 and almost all of Act 3 will unfold. Even if you can protect Isobel, and there are all kinds of jokes on the internet about how she’s one of thsoe NPCs that can’t stop trying to die, there’s a risk to other notable characters such as Dammon and Jaheira. Losing them here means they can’t help you in Act 3.

3 Confronting The Avatar Of Myrkul

The Truth Of The Absolute

The final boss fight of Act 2 is the second part of the same fight. It’s also the third part of an event that starts with a pivotal cut scene involving Orin, Gortash, and Ketheric Thorm which reveals their plot and the true nature of the Absolute.

After descending to the bottom of the Illithid Colony, this event automatically triggers, starting with a cinematic featuring some important characters. If Wyll is here, there’s some unique dialogue in response to Duke Ravengard. Should Gale be in the party, he’ll have the option to detonate the device in his chest that will destroy the Absolute but also everything else.

2 The Fate Of The Nightsong

Also One Of The Game’s Best Cutscenes

The fight with Balthazar can take place either here or in the Gauntlet of Shar, and either way he has to die for this event to happen. It’s up to you as to whether or not Shadowheart kills the Nightsong, which graduates her to Dark Justiciar status. This also has the effect of bringing down the protective dome around Last Light Inn.

If you decide to free her, and this requires a tough Persuasion dice roll, the Nightsong’s true identity as Dame Aylin is revealed and part of the Shadow Curse is lifted. This also makes it possible for Aylin to help you in the fight against both Ketheric at the end of Act 2 and the Absolute at the end of Act 3.

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