Making your way through the Overgrown Tunnel in Baldur’s Gate 3 to fight Auntie Ethel can be daunting. The area is filled with different kinds of enemies, traps, and secret passageways that many fail to discover.
Players must go through the Overgrown Tunnel to reach the boss fight while playing the quest “Save Mayrina.” Knowing your way around the place and unearth its secrets becomes quite essential.
If you’re having trouble navigating the Overgrown Tunnel in Baldur’s Gate 3, let us show you how to do it.
Where to find the Overgrown Tunnel in Baldur’s Gate 3
You will find the overgrown tunnel by entering the Sunlit Wetlands. Once there, head over to the northwestern portion of the area and head into the Putrid Bog.
This area houses Auntie Ethel’s Teahouse, where you will meet Mayrina for the first time. Upon confrontation, Auntie Ethel runs away through the fireplace. Upon closer inspection, you realize the fireplace (X: 61, Y: 262) is an illusion. Pass through it to enter a secret location.
There is a Gnarled Door here, which initially seems inaccessible. However, as discovered later, the gnarled door in Baldur’s Gate 3 is an illusion. There is a secret yet easy way to get through this door: the Whispering Masks.
How to get through the Overgrown Tunnel
To get through the Overgrown Tunnel, you must first get through the Gnarled Door. There are two simple ways to get through the overgrown tunnel door. Do note that if you are stuck in the overgrown tunnel, you must jump through the waterfall to proceed.
Getting through the Gnarled Door
The first and recommended way to get past the Gnarled Door is with the help of the Whispering Masks. These masks randomly lie on the ground and a table near the Gnarled Door.
All you have to do is pick one up, wear it, and walk through the Gnarled Door without any obstruction. However, remember to remove the Whispering Mask when you cross the door to prevent your character from falling into lunacy. If you don’t, your character will become mad and attack the party. The only way to remove the mask from their face is by killing them.
Another method of getting across the Gnarled Door in Baldur’s Gate 3 is to scroll through the door until you see the area on the opposite end. Scrolling back out, your characters will automatically walk through the door.
While doing this, the area on the opposite end will be darker than usual, but that’s only because you haven’t walked in yet.
Fighting the Masked Creatures
In the next area, four characters, each wearing a mask, will ambush you. They have gone mad and are now working for Auntie Ethel. You can either kill them all and collect their masks or simply knock them out. Once knocked out, you can safely remove their masks and save them from this madness after killing Auntie Ethel.
This is a ranged fight, and these enemies are prone to physical attacks. Make sure to use the Misty Step spell to close the distance. Once done, you are ready to move to the next area full of poisonous Noxious Fumes.
Getting through the Noxious Fumes
The most difficult aspect of the overgrown tunnel is getting past the Noxious Fumes. These fumes are highly poisonous and deal much damage when you try to pass through them.
Typically, you can simply burn through Noxious Fumes by using a spell, but not these. The Noxious Fumes in the Overgrown Tunnel are powered by vents hidden in the fumes. They are constantly producing those fumes in the Overgrown Tunnel.
You have to block the vent itself to get rid of these noxious fumes. Use the Mage Hand on a Wizard or any of your characters, along with a discarded item.
The trick is to place an item on top of the vents so they cannot spit gas out. Using any fire spells, you can temporarily burn through the Noxious Flames.
After dispelling them, you must find the vents. Furthermore, you must grab an item and place it on the vent. In this situation, you must use a Rogue or a character that can locate these traps. Note that if you don’t have any item to place, you can always use the Whispering Masks since you no longer need them.
As you reach the first spot of Noxious Fumes, you must select one of your characters and jump across. Once there, disable one of the vents to dispel a small area – making room for your other characters.
The next spot of the fumes is tricky to block off. The vent in this spot is in the southwestern corner of it. It will take some trial and error before you can block this vent.
Once you have crossed the Noxious Fumes, keep doing a Perception check to find any Peculiar Flowers in the area. They can explode, turning the Noxious Fumes into fire and dealing massive damage to the party.
The Noxious Fumes lie ahead of an exciting boss fight with the Hag. The boss fight will be very difficult, so you must use every potion you can, especially healing potions.
Auntie Ethel Boss Fight
When you cross the Noxious Fumes to enter the next location, a cutscene will trigger when Auntie Ethel sets Mayrina’s Cage on fire. Use any water spell or water bottle to put out the fire.
Auntie Ethel uses her shadow clones to distract the party. Make sure to attack her with your strongest spells from afar. Once she is about to die, she will beg for her life. You can either kill her or let her go. It all depends on you.
Enter her workshop to obtain the Bitter Divorce wand and interact with the Mushroom Circle. A teleporter will take you outside near Mayrina and her dead husband.
