Find the Missing Shipment is a side quest in Act 1 of Baldur’s Gate 3. It involves you finding some distressed merchants and saving them from a group of Gnolls. This is one of the most complex quests in Baldur’s Gate 3 due to the various choices you can make and the unique outcome for each choice.
Given Baldur’s Gate 3‘s role-playing nature, things aren’t as simple as they appear. You have several choices to make here that can affect the story in numerous ways. In this guide, we’ll go over how exactly you can complete the ‘Find the Missing Shipment’ side quest in Baldur’s Gate 3.
How to start the Find the Missing Shipment quest
The quest can be picked up in the northern areas of Risen Road, which are accessed by crossing the river near the Blighted Village. Use the map pictured above to reach the location. You’ll know you’re in the right place when you come across a pack of injured hyenas on the ground just outside a cave.
As you interact with the dying Hyena, you will have multiple options. No matter what you choose, you will be ambushed by newly-born Gnolls. Upon killing those Gnolls, you can read a secret document that you can loot from a dead body. This will start the Find the Missing Shipment quest, and you can add it to your journal.
How to complete the Find the Missing Shipment quest in Baldur’s Gate 3
This is a straightforward quest that can be completed by eliminating the Gnolls and saving the remaining merchants. However, the real fun begins after it with a lot of choices that can make you nervous.
Before you proceed, we would like to tell you that this quest is not time-sensitive. However, if you take long rests after starting the quest, Olly and Rugan will die at the hands of the Gnolls.
Defeat the Gnolls
The first step of this quest is to defeat the Gnolls that have surrounded the merchants. This can be done if you go up the ramp where you have acquired the quest. This will give you the advantage of surprise and even higher ground to tackle the foes.
The Gnoll party is level 5, and their warlord, Flind, is a true soul. This is the most brutal fight of the early game sections. If you are level 3 or below, you will be killed in one round. The Gnolls use multi-attacks and take a massive chunk of your HP with each successful strike.
The best and the only way to survive this fight below level 6 is by sneaking up on the Gnoll party and controlling their Warlord, Flind. She will attack her own party and kill them in the process. Once done, you can order her to kill herself.
If you are feeling extra confident, go straight from the massacre sight and enter the cave. You will need to break the barrier to enter it. Here, you will come across multiple traps the missing party has set to save themselves. Remove those traps and go inside to find Ollie and Rugan. They will ask you to defeat the Gnoll party and the fight will start immediately. Climb the ledges to gain tactical advantage and spread your party. Use the Hold Person spell on Flind while you tackle the rest of her companions.
Dealing with Rugan and its consequences
This step is extremely important as it will decide the fate of your quest and your future interactions with Zhentarim. Upon talking to Rugan, you will find out that he is a Zhent. He will be impressed and tell you about the Gnoll ambush.
He is the leader of the caravan, returning with some goods for the Zhentarim Hideout. At this point, you will have four options.
- Let Olly and Rugan deliver the chest themselves.
- You are late, and both merchants are dead. This will allow you to take the chest for yourself.
- Intimidate Rugan (by passing a DC20 check) and take the chest for yourself to deliver to the Zhentarim hideout.
- Make a deal with Rugan and Olly to split the earnings between yourself (half for you and half for Rugan/Olly).
The consequences of these actions will be.
- When you reach Zhentarim Hideout and meet Zarys, she will reward you with gold and a rare crossbow “Harold.” You will also gain access to Brem’s extended inventory.
- Because you are telling the truth and successfully delivered the chest despite both Olly and Rugan dying, Zarys will grant you the same rewards. You can still access Brem’s enhanced inventory.
- Olly is punished with death, and Rugan is captured. You will be tasked with killing him, or the whole hideout turns against you. If you kill Rugan to save yourself, you won’t get Harold as a reward.
- It’s the same as the previous one. However, you can convince Zarys (DC21 check) to let you go. Rugan will run away, and you won’t be welcome inside the hideout anymore.
Consequences of Opening the Caravan Strongbox
If you don’t want to choose one of the four options we’ve listed above, you can steal the contents of the lockbox that is to be delivered to the Zhentarim.
This can be done in two ways. You can either steal from the strongbox when Rugan and Olly aren’t looking, or you can kill them and then loot the box. Opening the box requires you to pass a DC20 dexterity check as there is no key available for the chest.
When you open the box, you can loot a couple of items, including an invisibility potion and some gold. What’s important in the box is the Iron Flask. Here, you’ll be faced with yet another check, this time an Intelligence check. If you pass it, you’ll discover that the flask contains a spectator.
Now, you can either open the flask or keep it in your inventory. If you open the flask, you’ll immediately initiate a boss battle with the Spectator that’s inside. Even throwing the flask will release this foe. The battle is quite tough and does not net you any rewards, so we do not recommend going this route.
Do note that you will lock yourself out of the Zhentarim quest line if you go this route. If you open the Caravan strongbox, Zhentarim will not accept it and turn hostile towards you as soon as you show it to them.
If you don’t want to deliver the chest to the hideout or fail to find it, you can always hand it over to Slick Inatra in the Guildhall during Act 3. We believe the best choice is to allow Olly and Rugan to deliver the chest and not tinker with anything to achieve the best outcome.
Baldur’s Gate 3: Find the Missing Shipment bug
In some instances, you may encounter a situation where Zarys will not accept the chest despite you not stealing from it. Alternatively, after you make it to the Zhentarim Hideout, Zarys may not be present at all, which prevents you from finishing the quest and may seem stuck. These oddities are not bugs and just require a simple fix.
Simply exit the hideout, move, and put some distance between it and you. Next, take a long rest and come back to the hideout. Both problems should be fixed now.
