Cover-Credits:
Baldur’s Gate 3 showcases an array of different NPCs you can interact with. They present you with interesting choices and grant you various quests to progress through. One such character is Auntie Ethel who is portrayed as an adorable old lady whom you might run into if you’re exploring the southwest side of the Blighted Village. Upon interacting with her you will know that she lives at the Riverside Teahouse. She will immediately notice that something’s not right with you and further interacting with her will lead to her offering to remove the tadpole from you, albeit for a price. However, Auntie Ethel has a very dark side to her. Let’s take a look at it.
Who is Auntie Ethel in Baldur’s Gate 3?
Auntie Ethel is initially revealed to the players as a sweet old woman but eventually, you discover that she is actually a compelling old hag/witch and a fey creature who feeds on people. She is a level 5 boss who possesses potent magical powers.
When you first meet her, she will be disguised as an old woman and you can trade items like water and healing potions with her. You will also trigger a quest after she figures out that you have a tadpole problem. After bargaining, she will offer to get rid of it for a price.
She says that she needs your eye momentarily in exchange for removing the tadpole. If you choose to go through this route you will find yourself at the end of a deal-gone-wrong type of situation. The hag will not be able to remove your curse as it is bound by shadow magic called Netherese. By the end of it, you will get a Paid the Price debuff which not only removes an eye but also makes you unable to perform critical hits and gives you a disadvantage on perception checks.
How to Find Auntie Ethel?
You will come across Mayrina at the Riverside Teahouse in your first cutscene with the hag. At the end of your conversation, you will get a glimpse of Ethel’s powers as she teleports Mayrina away. If you choose to go down the path of removing the parasite you will figure out that the fireplace in the Teahouse is an illusion. The witch will wander off into her lair called the Ancient Adobe. Before you begin fighting Ethel, you must make your way into the lair which will present you with a few traversal challenges and enemies.
After making it past the fireplace through the hidden stairway, you will reach an Overgrown Tunnel cave. Here you will find the Gnarled door, which is also an illusion and you can simply get past it by moving your camera past the door and clicking on the other side. Keep in mind that you need to equip the Whispering Mask Helmet to do this. You can find it on a table which is on the right side of the door. You might also run into four masked enemies so be prepared for battle from this stage onwards.
Defeating Ethel and Saving Mayrina
After making it to the other side, jump across the waterfall and use misty steps to get over the pits of gas. You will finally reach the Witch’s Lair where you will see Mayrina hanging from a cage. The fight will now begin as the old hag throws a bottle at the cage, starting a fire. You can easily counter this by using water bottles, throwing a water barrel, or using a level 1 spell called Create Water (Shadowheart has this by default).
Ethel will then create three versions of herself. You only need to do a bit of damage to break these clones. Alternatively, you can also choose to use Magic Missile or Witch Bolt to target all three illusions and reveal the hag. Upon reducing her HP by half, she will clone herself for the second time. You can choose to use the aforementioned method or also add AoE attacks such as Burning Hands.
Dealing further damage will lead Ethel to her last resort of cloning herself as Mayrina, however, you can easily spot the fake version of her. The real Mayrina will also tell you that she is not Ethel. As confusing as it sounds, you might just have to trust her.
Rewards for Killing Auntie Ethel
Upon killing Ethel successfully, you will save Mayrina, who is a little upset that her deal with the hag hasn’t gone through. You will also get several rewards such as:
250 XP
3x Potion of Hill Giant Strength
Spellthief
Corellon’s Grace
