In Baldur's Gate 3, Save the Dwarf is a side quest of the first act, during which you will need to help Bark Ruth, who is tied goblins to the mill in the Extinct Village. Then you will need to find his backpack. In this guide, we'll tell you how to do this, and what consequences your decisions may have.
Walking through the “Save the Dwarf” quest in Baldur's Gate 3
How to start the quest
Go to the Extinct Village, located west of the Emerald Grove Outskirts and captured by goblins, and then go a little northwest from the settlement teleport to the windmill (X: 13, Y: 418). There you will find a group of greenskins, which will lead to the start of the quest.
How to figure it out with goblins
As soon as you approach the goblins, a dialogue with their leader, Fezzerk, will automatically start. Next, you will have several options for solving the problem.
Persuasion
You can simply convince Fezzerk using your social skills, or using the power of the Illithid:
- If you are playing as Drow, make a Perform, Deceive, or Intimidate check (difficulty 5) to persuade the goblins to retreat without fighting.
- When playing as a character of another race and questioning the goblins about what they are doing with the gnome, you can try to persuade them to back down by choosing the Persuasion and Intimidation answers (difficulty 15). The latter option will be approved by Shadowheart.
- When playing as a character of another race and choosing the answer “I just want to pass here,” you will need to pay the goblin 1000 gold coins to make him leave. This amount can be reduced to 500, 250 or 100 coins by passing a Persuasion check of difficulty 10, 10 and 15 respectively. By using Detect Thoughts, you can reduce the cost to 5, but Fezzerk will not leave in this case. If you speak to him again, a fight will begin.
- If you have the Brand of the Absolute, you can force him to leave.
- Use the power of the Illithid (difficulty 2) to force him to leave. Before this, you need to rest in the camp.
These are all non-violent methods of resolving a conflict with goblins. Of course, you can do nothing at all and simply leave Barka to continue spinning at the mill, but in this case you will not be able to advance the task further.
Battle with goblins
If you fail to persuade the goblins, a battle will begin. Please note that if you respond rudely when talking to Fezzerk, he and his gang will fight you to the death. If you spoke friendly to him or just immediately attacked the thugs, then reduce his bar to about 10-20% so that he gives up and runs away with his henchmen.
Let us add that these opponents are not very strong, so if you have a full and rested squad, you should be able to deal with them relatively easily, even at the Tactics difficulty level. By the way, Fezzerk drops a very heavy large ax and a smoke bomb (if the goblin did not manage to use it).
How to untie a gnome from the mill
Having dealt with the goblins in one way or another, go around the mill behind and look for a passage there that allows you to go inside the building. Here you will find two levers: “Brake” and “Release Brake”. You need to interact with the first one, as the second one will send the gnome flying, resulting in his death.
Selecting the “Brake” option, watch a short video of the blades stopping, and then go to the front again and interact with Bark Root to untie him. He'll tell you about a backpack that you can pick up if you find it. You can still ask him a couple of questions, but this will be the end of the task. As a reward you will receive 75 experience points.
Important: Completing this quest has far-reaching consequences, as it opens access to the quests “Save the Dwarves in Grimforge”, “Save Wulbren” and “Avenge the Iron Hand Clan”.
Where to find Bark Root's backpack
Where to find Bark Root's backpack
Go again to the entrance to the mill along the same path, and, before reaching the passage, click on the wooden hatch to go down to the basement of the mill. Here you will find a chest and a backpack containing Lightspeed Boots (Athletics +1) and a Bag of Black Powder.
Note: To get these things it is not necessary to save Bark, since they will still be in the basement.
What happens if you release the brake
If you want to see a flying gnome, then, while inside the mill, pull the lever labeled “Release the brake.” After this, you will be shown a short cutscene in which you will see Bark rising high into the air and then falling down.
Note, that you can find the corpse of a gnome at the exit from the Extinct Village (X: 16, Y: 391). After examining it, you will find the Amulet of Lost Voices and a diary. You can also use Speak to the Dead on him to learn about his purpose in life.
Perhaps this will be enough to continue the above quests even if Bark dies.
