Free The Artist is a unique side quest in Baldur’s Gate 3, which depends on the choices you make. You will find this quest during Act 1, and if everything goes right, you will encounter this quest once more during Act 3. It takes a lot of money to start this quest during Act 1, where you must buy and free the distressed artist, Oskar Fevras.
Free the Artist Quest location
You can acquire and start the Free the Artist quest inside Zhentarim Hideout in Baldur’s Gate 3. To find the Zhentarim Hideout, you need to enter Waukeen’s Rest, which is to the North of the Goblin Camp, near the Mountain Pass.
Go to the house at the coordinates (X: -115, Y: 615). Remove the wooden crates and pass a few skills checks to enter the Shabby House. Talk to the person there and intimidate them to receive the key. This key will open the hatch at the end of the house leading to Zhentarim Hideout in Baldur’s Gate 3.
You will find a soldier in the hideout on the gates next to the Zhentarim Hideout waypoint. She will ask you to go back. You can pass a persuasion check so she can let you enter the hideout.
When you have located the Zhentarim hideout, you can move through the main gate and towards the main hall of the hideout. Here, you will find a few people you can interact with, including the artist Oskar. He will quickly recognize you as not related to the Zhents. Oskar will ask you to set him free by talking to his patron named Brem who is a merchant. He adds that his real patron will cover all your dues and troubles if you buy and free him.
Now you can go and talk to Brem. He will ask for 1000 coins for Oskar’s freedom. You can give him the 1000 coins or haggle by using either persuasion or intimidation to bring the price down to 600 coins.
This is, however, a lot of money and makes you wonder if it is even worth it to buy Oskar. While completing the Free the Artist quest itself is worth it, you won’t see a return on your investment at all.
Free Oskar without paying Money
If you don’t want to waste your money on Oskar and think the rewards he might offer aren’t worth it, you have two other options to free the artist.
You can talk directly to Brem without meeting Oskar and choose the first option about a pet artist. Depending on your intimidation or persuasion stats (DC20 and DC25), you can select the second or third option in the next dialogue. This will enable Brem to hand Oskar to you without charging any money.
Finally, if you want to take the violent approach of freeing Oskar, you can kill all the Zhentarim in the hideout, including Brem. This will automatically set Oskar free, and you can later talk to him. However, it is a near-impossible fight to win this early in the game.
Oskar will ask for 200 more gold to return to his in Baldur’s Gate. Even if you refuse to pay him, he will run away and reach his house safely. Save that money for something better.
Talk to Lady Jannath at her estate during Act 3
Oskar can be found in Lady Jannath’s mansion during Act 3, which is to the North of Steel Watch Foundry. You will find Jannath’s butler at the door, asking you to return later because she will not see any visitors. You can insist on choosing the option “I need to enter. I have business with Oskar.” You will now be granted access to enter the mansion.
When you enter the mansion, you will find everything floating in the air. There will also be a lot of invisible Poltergeists/cursed skulls here. You can use the See invisible potion or Volo’s eye to see them.
Lady Jannath is in her room on the second floor. To get there, take the right stairs up and open the door to the right. Move through the hall and up the stairs. Open the entrance to the left and then to the north, where she will be in the large room with Oskar.
Here, you will find Oskar possessed and cursing his wife, Lady Jannath. She will ask you to subdue him so that he can be cured. Here, you must use non-lethal attacks on him to knock him out. Search his body to find a key.
She will tell you that Oskar spends a lot of time in the attic on the top floor of the mansion. Unfortunately, the path to the Atelier is blocked by Cursed Skulls planted at different points on the stairs. Anyone who gets close to them gets knocked back.
Reach Oskar’s Atelier safely
The Cursed Skulls possess the Greater Toughness ability, which means any attack below 50 is useless against them. However, the cursed skulls are vulnerable to Slashing, Force, and Fire damage. They take double the damage from these attacks.
You should have upgraded Fireball or Magic Missile spells at this point. You can upcast these spells to increase their damage further. Hitting the skulls with these spells while equipping another cleric with Reaper’s Embrace chest armor, which you can obtain by killing Ketheric Thorm.
This armor protects its wearer from spells that force them to move against their will. Go near the Cursed Skulls and cast the Remove Curse spell. This spell kills the Cursed Skulls instantly. Enter the Atelier to find two easels. One with Lady Jannath’s portrait and the next one being empty.
Pick up Oskar’s portrait from the floor and place it on the empty easel. This will open a secret door behind Lady Jannath’s portrait. Inside the room, you will find another portrait of Oskar’s former lover, Kerri. Open the locked chest behind Kerri’s portrait to find a letter that explains what happened here.
Oskar used the services of Mystic Carrion to summon Kerri’s spirit. She is angry at Oskar and is possessing his body for revenge. If you try to destroy Kerri’s portrait, she will attack and kill you. The best way is to use the Torch of Revocation, which you can obtain from Mystic Carrion.
Find Mystic Carrion’s Servant
You can find Mystic Carrion inside his house near Heapside Strand waypoint, south of Sorcerous Sundries. Use the password from the letter inside the chest to make the gate appear as Mystic Carrion’s house has no entrance. Talk to him, and he will ask you to find his servant, Thrumbo. This will start a new quest: Find Mystic Carrion’s Servant.
Once you complete the quest or pay Mystic Carrion 3,000 gold, he will hand over the Torch of Revocation to you. This torch is a weapon that you can use to destroy cursed objects.
Destroy the painting and calm Kerri’s spirit
Now, return to Oskar’s Atelier inside Lady Jannath’s estate and destroy Kerri’s portrait. Her spirit will appear and go to Lady Jannath’s room. Go there and talk to her. She is furious at Oskar for betraying and killing her and wants revenge. You will get three options here.
- Persuade Kerri’s spirit (DC18) to stop this and let Oskar go and leave this plane. This will make Oskar return to his Atelier and reward you.
- You can defeat Kerri Evenfield, but Lady Jannath will not forgive Oskar for his actions of betrayal. Nonetheless, you can still ask Oskar for the reward, as promised. After you have defeated Kerri, you can persuade Lady Jannath to forgive Oskar. Later you can ask him for the reward.
- The final solution is also the worst one. You can leave Kerri and Oskar to their business. Kerri will kill Oskar, and Lady Jannath will refuse to give you any rewards for freeing Oskar.
Baldur’s Gate 3: Free the Artist Quest Reward
Once you have freed Oskar from Kerri, you can ask him for the reward. He will return to his Atelier and promise to draw your portrait as a reward. However, the reward for the Free the Artist quest is bugged. Make sure to create a quick save here. Oskar will draw random portraits, and it will take you a lot of tries before getting the right one, yours.
You can also ask Oskar to draw the portrait of any of your companions instead of yours. He will happily comply with the request. This marks the end of the Free the Artist quest in Baldur’s Gate 3.
