Save the Grymforge Gnomes is a main story quest found in Act 1 of Baldur’s Gate 3. The quest is a required part of the game’s main story progression. This guide will cover the walkthrough for the quest Save the Grymforge Gnomes in BG3.
How to start save the Grymforge Gnomes in Baldur’s Gate 3
The quest is available in the Grymforge location itself. Here, players need to talk to the gnome Lunkbug. To meet with Lunkbug, players need to talk to Sargeant Thrinn at Grymforge, who has actually captured Lunkbug as his slave and is working him to death. There are two ways to meet Lunkbug himself in BG3.
Talk to Thulla
The easiest way to progress through and find Save the Grymforge Gnomes in BG3 is by helping Thulla first. Thulla can be found at the Myconid Circle in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Thulla has been attacked and poisoned by Duergars. Pass the Wisdom Check to learn more about the poison and how to cure it, or simply handover the antitoxin to Thulla. This saves Thulla’s life, and you can then talk to her why she was here.
Thulla asks for your help to save her people and they will reward you. Thulla does lie about the true reason her people need saving. You can pass the Charisma Check to actually ask her the true reasons for her people’s problems.
If you do pass the Charisma Check, she just tells you that there is a blood feud her clan needs help with. If you agree to help her, she will mark the location you need to go to. You can take the boat found at the murkwater dock to get to Grymforge. From here, you need to find Lunkbug.
Meeting Lunkbug
If you have helped Thulla or not previously, you will still need to follow this.
Get to Grymforge and request an audience with Sergeant Thrinn. After players talk to Sergeant Thrinn, they need to persuade Thrinn that they are True Soul to gain his trust. Here, during your conversation, players will meet Sergeant Thrinn’s slave Stickpot. Players need to follow Stickpot down the stairs after he is done serving Sergent Thrinn and tell him that you are there to help save him and the other gnomes from slavery. Stickpot won’t believe you are first, but he’ll come around.
At this point, Stickpot will tell you to meet him at the dig site where gnomes are being forced to labor off trying to free True Soul Nere. At the dig site, players can see two gnomes whispering to each other. To see what they are talking about, players need to pass a Wisdom Check for perception. If you do, you will hear the Gnomes talking about getting smoke powder to save their friend.
The male gnome is Lunkbug. Now, if you have helped Thulla before this quest, you can simply tell Lunkbug that Thulla sent you to help, and they will cooperate with you. If not, you need to either intimidate or persuade Lunkbug to tell you what is going on.
Lunkbug will tell you that his clan members are trapped in the cave in along with the True Soul Nere, and they need help clearing out the cave-in to free their clan members. However, it is taking too long, and they need the smoke powder to blow out the rubble blocking their path.
Unfortunately, they don’t have any Smoke Powder and one of the gnomes who had escaped slavery, Philomeen in Baldur’s Gate 3, has some Runepowder Vials that can help. So, you set off to find the Smoke Powder.
Deal with Elder Brithvar (Optional)
Before you go on talking to Sergeant Thrinn and Nere or even the Gnomes, we recommend that you meet with Elder Brithvar. Brithvar is the leader of Duergar mercenaries serving Nere. Brithvar claims that their service comes for Nere’s wealth rather than loyalty to the True Soul himself.
As such, if you are willing, you can plot with Brithvar to help take down Nere. Brithvar will share some of Nere’s gold with you and you will get some powerful allies against Nere.
How to clear the cave-in in Grymforge
After talking to Lunkbug, he will mark a location on your spot where he believes Philomeen is. However, we will look at all the steps you need to take to find Philomeen.
Head to the docks, and head west from the Underdark-Grymforge waypoint, head north from the west side of the docks until you get to the Duergar and find Gnome corpses lying here. Near these corpses is a giant iron door. Interact with it and open it using a lockpick to proceed.
Inside the room, players need to pass a Perception check to discover the small button in the corner, that will open the path ahead. Find and interact with the button to proceed. You will find some basic enemies here. Defeat them and continue to get to the door with the intricate pattern on it.
The door is locked, and players need to move along the wall to find a broken segment they can enter through to find Philomeen. Philomeen will be hostile to you, but you can either persuade or intimidate Philomeen. After getting her to calm down, players can take one Rune Powder Vial from Philomeen. Keep in mind if you try to take all of her Rune Powder Vials, she will detonate them all herself, probably killing you along with herself.
Now, for the sake of this walkthrough, we won’t be siding with Nere later on and opt to take him out. For this, you should set up your spell slots with the spells you need for the Nere fight, as there are no more Long Rest from here to Nere.
After you get the Rune Powder Vial, head back to the cave in, and throw the Rune Poder Vial on the cave in rubble. This vial doesn’t explode on contact, and you need to shoot it from afar to detonate it.
Wait for the Gnomes to get away from the cave in rubble and shoot the vial with a fire arrow to detonate it. This will clear the cave in rubble completely. If by chance you forced Philomeen to detonate the Rune Powder Vials, you need to find an alternative source.
Fortunately, practically any explosive item can clear out the rubble. The rubble has 14 HP, and you can clear it out by using any other powerful enough explosives that you might have in your inventory.
Talk to Nere during save the Grymforge gnomes quest (Optional)
Before you clear out the rubble, you will perceive Nere trying to communicate to you through the rubble. Here, players can pass the Perception check and see through Nere’s eyes what’s going on the other side of the cave in.
After this interaction, you will realize that Nere is infected with a tadpole and is a true soul. Nere was being given orders by someone else, and this means that Nere’s Absolute is of Deviant nature. This information has no role here, but some extra content you can get.
True Soul Nere boss fight
As soon as Nere is free, he will try to kill the Gnomes owing to their inability to free him. Save the Grymforge Gnomes and tell him that you won’t allow Nere’s actions to continue in BG3. Nere will order Thrinn to kill you.
Here, if you have already plotted with Brithvar, you can give him the cue to rebel against Nere. Even if you haven’t plotted already, he will automatically turn on Nere and you will have three options: Either to side with Nere, side with Brithvar or side with none of them. Since you are planning on defeating Nere, side with Brithvar so you don’t have to fight him and his Duergars while taking down Nere. You also get backup this way against Nere.
Nere is a level 5 boss, so you should be at least level 5 as well when fighting Nere. You can use the lava around the fight area to your advantage. Using abilities that push away the enemy such as Thunderwave have a chance to even push off some of the enemies into the lava, killing them instantly. Keep in mind that you and your party members can also fall into the lava.
Next, summon fog around you, or try to reduce Nere’s movement and sight. This causes Nere’s attacks to miss, and you will stay safe from his devastating attacks. Keeping all your party members safe from Nere is crucial as Nere is extremely powerful.
We recommended siding with Duergars. If you don’t, you will be sandwiched between Nere and the Duergars, leaving you open from all sides.
You want to depend on elemental attacks when fighting Nere, since he is least resistant to such attacks. Use elemental arrows in case you are running a melee build. If you have access to spells, use Alchemist Fire to deal high damage to Nere. Lastly, you should always maintain a safe distance from Nere. His spells and attacks can practically one-shot you at close range. If Nere is attempting to close the distance, you can use pulse spells to knock him back and maintain the distance.
Rewards for Save the Grymforge Gnomes quest in BG3
Once Nere is defeated, players need to convince Brithvar to free the Gnomes from their shackles. You can use both persuasion and intimidation to change his mind and release the enslaved Gnomes. This option to settle things peacefully is available if you sided with the Duergars against Nere and had plotted with him pre-hand.
If you fail to persuade or intimidate Brithvar, a fight between you and Elder Brithvar breaks out. Defeat Brithvar to get the Gnomes their freedom.
If you didn’t side with Duergars or had not preplanned with Brithvar, your only option will be to fight him. Again, you need to defeat Brithvar and his Duergars to free the Gnomes.
You will get the following rewards for Save the Grymforge gnomes quest in BG3:
- 2x Illithid Specimen
- Nere’s Head (If you killed Nere instead of letting him live)
- True Soul Nere’s Gold
- Disintegrating Night Walkers (very rare boots)
- Sword of Screams (rare melee weapon)
