Stop the Presses is one of the easier yet tricky quests in Baldur’s Gate 3 when you enter the Lower City in Act 3. You will encounter a well-dressed journalist who seems to know uncomfortably too much about you and your party. Her newspaper is about to print some negative pieces about the party that will soil your reputation. However, you can make things right by swapping the spiteful printings with good ones.
But doing so will not be easy. You have to infiltrate the newspaper’s office and have a set time limit to do this quest in. Once you start, you cannot take a long rest.
Stop the Presses Location in BG3
Going to Lower City in Act 3, you will come across an NPC named Estra Stir near the Basilisk Gate waypoint. You can chat with her by purchasing a copy of the Baldur’s Gate Gazette from a nearby boy.
During your dialogue choices, Estra informs you that your party will be featured in the upcoming Baldur’s Mouth Gazette. She claims it will make you talk of the day for every reader of her paper, though her tone seems dangerous. The quest starts as soon as she takes your leave.
Stop the Presses Walkthrough in Baldur’s Gate 3
The quest is short, but it has technical objectives that require you to be careful. Essentially, you must find the printing press and swap the negative article for a positive or a neutral one. For ease, it is best to complete the Disable the Steel Watch quest before doing this one. It will make your task easier and reduce the risk of going haywire.
Infiltrate the Basement
Approach and open the main gate of Baldur’s Mouth Gazette and make your way to the immediate left from the entrance. Salene Freig will be seen standing beside the Elevator Door.
Use the hide action and sneak past everyone to your left. Use a set of Thieves’ Tools to open the door and then enter inside. Pull the lever and take the elevator downstairs. It will take you to the Baldur’s Mouth Basement.
Two Steal Watchers guard the Press’ basement. If you did not complete the quest to disable the Steel Watch, you must hide and proceed stealthily. The turn-based mode can be handy in this situation as it lets your characters pass through more easily. Use Thieves’ Tools to unlock the door leading to the next part of the basement. Close the door as you enter a new area, as it helps prevent the Steel Watchers from finding you.
Replace articles with positive pieces
This part of the basement contains a large talking mechanical printing press, already printing the next talk of the city. As soon as you inform the printer about your intentions of swapping articles, the fey creature that was talking from inside it will shut its mouth, leaving you to figure out things on your own.
However, if you freed the Dolly Dolly Dolly Pixie in BG3 from the Moonlantern in Act 2, you will get a few dialogue options with the machine. You will be able to convince it to help you. It will then guide you as to what to do next.
Use Sleight of Hand to unload the old printing from the printer. This will make room for the new article to be printed.
Now, move to the side hallway to pick the positive plates. Things get interesting here, as picking up random plates can result in an unwanted outcome and waste all your hard work. The right plate will be in a wicker basket on the far side of the room. Check inside and take the printing block from there. This is a positive article that paints your party as heroes.
Insert the positive plate in the printing press, and you will be informed that it’ll be available after one day upon publishing.
Check the next edition of the Gazette
After doing all the sneaking work and replacing articles with positive pieces, the only thing remaining is waiting for the next edition of Baldur’s Mouth Gazette. It will take a Long Rest to see the result of your hard work.
If you were successful, you would see in your quest journal that your reputation was saved from being tattered.
