Free True Soul Nere is a side quest you acquire upon reaching the Grymforge during Act 1 of Baldur’s Gate 3. This quest has a time limit and will create a sense of emergency when you set foot in the area.
Nere is a follower of the absolute and is forcing the slave Gnomes to work for him. Due to an incident, he is now trapped behind the rubble with his slaves and wants you to free him. This quest takes place in the Underdark area. Many paths will take you to True Soul Nere. Whatever you plan on doing with True Soul Nere, you will have to free him first.
True Soul Nere Location in Baldur’s Gate 3
True Soul Nere is trapped behind a collapsed passageway in the Grymforge area. After arriving, a new quest will automatically be added to your journal. Nere’s location is to the South of your entry point.
You will come across multiple Duergar on your way to Nere. One of them is named Elder Brithvar. They seek an alliance to free True Soul Nere and kill him. Nere owes them gold, and you must pass a persuasion check to convince the Duergar you are not allied with him.
Talk to Thrinn at the cave-in site
As you reach the cave-in, you will see Sergeant Thrinn looking over some slave gnomes, trying to clear the rubble. You can give Thrinn her boots that you recovered from Thulla in the Myconid colony to be on her good side.
Approach the rubble, and True Soul Nere will telepathically talk to you. He will tell you that he does not have much time inside. The area is full of poisonous gas. You must hurry and ensure you do not take unnecessary long rests before rescuing him. Doing so will kill him and trap gnomes, actively failing the quest.
You’ll hear two Gnomes talking about Philomeen near the ruins. Winning the trust of one of these will allow you to know the method to free Nere easily. They will tell you Philomeen has explosive powder that can easily and safely clear the rubble from the cave-in. They will also tell you about Smokepowder bombs in the area that you can acquire. You can also pick up the Save The Grymforge Gnomes side quest here.
Find Philomeen and get a runepowder bomb
To find Philomeen, start your journey from where you parked the boat after arriving at the Docks. As you reach the middle of the two stairways, move slightly to the left to see Double Iron Doors. In this area there are a bunch of dead Gnomes and a couple of Duergar busy clearing the bodies.
Start conversing with the Duergar at the door to convince them that you will clear the bodies for them. This conversation aims to get them to leave the site for you. After successful checks, the guards will leave, and you can move ahead to lockpick the doors.
Perform a Perception check on the left corner of the room beside the skeleton to reveal a secret Button on the wall. Make sure to save your game repeatedly, as the next sequence is lethal.
Go up the stairs that start right from the other side of the wall. You will encounter annoying enemies here, so watch out for them now. Keep walking upstairs until there are no more climbing stairs, and you see the cavern’s edge instead.
Make a jump to the other side and open the Intricate Door with the same lockpicking method. Philomeen will be inside this new hall with a canister of Runepowder.
Philomeen is extremely skittish and will threaten to blow off the bombs if you go near her. Pass the checks and convince Philomeen to give you a runepowder bomb. Make sure that you only take one. If you try to steal, she will blow the entire cache, wiping your whole party alongside her. Upon talking to her, she will reveal that she is planning to use the bombs at Baldur’s Gate during Act 3. You can enter turn-based mode and kill her after taking the runepowder bomb.
Blow up the rubble and free True Soul Nere
After you have acquired the explosives, fast-travel to the Grymforge waypoint. Make your way upstairs and to the area with the NPCs near the cave-in. Throw the explosive near the rocks and light it up with a fire-based spell or a fire-arrow.
True Soul Nere will be free with another gnome trapped beside him. Nere will kill the Gnome for his negligence, showing what kind of a tyrant he is.
Should you side with Nere or kill him?
At this point, you will get two options. Either kill Nere or side with him. If you decide to kill Nere to free the Gnomes, Duergar will join your side. However, you need to make a deal with Elder Brithvar first.
True Soul Nere is a level 5 enemy, and you can take him down easily with the help of our guide here. Once Nere is defeated, you can loot his body to obtain an Illithid parasite and his head. You can deliver his head to Sovereign Spaw in the Myconid Colony to complete Deliver Nere’s Head side quest. Brithvar will also give you 500 gold, as promised.
If you take sides with Nere, you must fight Brithvar and his allies. However, due to the presence of Thrinn and Nere, this will be an easy fight. You can persuade True Soul Nere to spare the gnomes and free them by using persuasion. Failing this check will make Nere hostile, making this sequence extremely difficult to survive. We recommend that you side with Elder Brithvar and kill True Soul Nere. This will allow you to finish at least 3 side quests and gain valuable allies for Act 3.
