Philomeen is an Ironhand Gnome in Baldur’s Gate 3 who is short in size but big in attitude. During your journey through the Grymforge area of the Underdark, you will come across rubble that you need to clear to Free the True Soul Nere. The Gnomes there will ask you to find Philomeen and get a Runepowder vial from her.
She ran away from her captors by stealing a barrel of Runepoweder, enough to blow a massive structure. However, nobody knows where she is. This is where we help you find Philomeen’s hiding spot in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Philomeen location in Baldur’s Gate 3
Once you talk to the slave Gnomes in front of the cave-in, they will ask you to find Philomeen. They are clueless about her hiding spot, but this conversation will mark the location on your map. She is in the northeastern part of Grymforge. Fast travel to the Underdark-Grymforge waypoint to find her. From there, move eastward and take the stairs.
Move along the water until you see a locked double door. You will also find two Duergars here dumping the dead bodies of the slaves. Either you can kill them or persuade them to leave. Once they are gone, unlock the door with a lockpick (DC14) using the character with the highest Dexterity, like Astarion.
After unlocking the door, move to the far-left end of the room. Here, you must pass a perception check to find a hidden button to unlock the door on the right. Move through the secret door, and two large Double iron doors will be in a small corridor. Move through any door you want and climb the stairs to your right.
You will encounter three level 5 Orchre Jellies. These are resistant to slashing damage, but you can quickly deal damage if you have Piercing or Bludgeoning weapons or have a range build. Also, the ooze on the floor will poison you and your teammates, so avoid it.
When the Orchre Jellies are dealt with, move up the stairs and take the right path. Follow along until you reach the edge of a cliff with a fall in front of you. You must jump from here to the platform in front and move ahead. Now, you will find a locked double intricate door. You can either lockpick this door or walk to the back side of the building to find a cracked wall.
You can use this opening to enter the chamber, and at the very end, you can find Philomeen in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Possible outcomes of Dialogues with Philomeen
Approach Philomeen and start a dialogue with her. She will threaten to explode herself and the Runepowder if you get too close or try to intimidate her. Philomeen thinks that Nere sent you to capture her, and she doesn’t want to return.
During the dialogue, you will have many ability checks which you can use to persuade Philomeen. Choose those dialogues which suit your character’s abilities and give you more chances to succeed in calming her down.
When you have successfully calmed Philomeen, she will hand the rune powder vile to you. Don’t try to take more, as she will blow herself up and kill you in the process. This will not be a lot, but it will be enough to open the cave-in. Philomeen will ask you to tell Laridda that she is dead. If you try to take Laridda’s side, she will get angry.
Now simply take the vile back to the miners and throw it on the pile of rocks, stand back, and shoot a fire-based projectile to make it explode. This will free the gnomes, and you will complete the Free True Soul Nere quest.
When Laridda asks about Philomeen, you can either lie (she is dead) or tell her the truth (she is alive). In both cases, Laridda will be heartbroken.
If you fail to calm Philomeen, she will explode herself and the powder too. This will completely wipe out the powder in the process. You can, however, find more powder other than her stash.
To get your hands on more powder, there will be a backpack with a map of all the stash of smoke powder on it. You can use it instead of runepowder to open the cave-in when you find it.
You can also attack and kill her to get more runepowder vials. This requires passing a DC20 Dexterity check to stop Philomeen from detonating herself as soon as you get violent.
This is the last time you will ever see Philomeen, regardless of your chosen path. During Act 3, you will meet all the Gnomes again in Baldur’s Gate 3, but Philomeen won’t be there. No one will mention her either. We hope she is okay, but we conclude that she never made it out alive.
Philomeen isn’t there at her hiding spot?
A bug is associated with this quest, and Philomeen will not be there when you reach her hiding spot. There are a few ways to solve this problem.
- The first method is reloading to a previous save before encountering the Orchre Jellies, killing them, and doing the whole thing again. This has worked a few times, but people have not found Philomeen still after performing this method.
- Don’t free True Soul Nere before finding Philomeen. If you do, she will move away from her location, but the quest marker will be stuck. If she moves without clearing the rubble, this means True Soul Nere has died in the tunnel due to poisoning.
