The Prologue of Baldur’s Gate 3 follows the story of the player, captured inside the ship of the Mind Flayer, as they make their escape before the ship crashes into its doom. Read ahead as we go through the events of the Prologue of Baldur’s Gate 3 and share some tips on how to get through the encounters easily.
Prologue: Escape the Nautiloid Walkthrough
After a short cinematic and going through the character creation screen, you find yourself inside one of the pods. Another cinematic plays showing the Nautiloid, controlled by the Mind Flayer, flying over the city as it captures civilians into its pods. After being thwarted by dragon riders and traveling through different realms, the ship has now sustained substantial damage and is in the verge of crashing.
Explore the ship
You then wake up in the burning pod chamber. You can interact with some objects within the chamber (press Alt key to highlight objects), including the parasite pod in the middle which you can investigate with an Intelligence check (Int check). You can also check the corpse nearby for some items and consumables. If ever you get hurt, there are also restoration pods that you can get health back from.
Myrnath and Us
As you move towards the west area, you will find a lift that you can ride up to the higher level. There you will see Myrnath, a body of a man with his brain exposed. The brain somehow communicates with you and it asks you to free it from the body. You will then have options if you want to destroy the brain or help it free through different checks (Str/Dex check; Int>Wis check). Go for the option based on which of your stats will give you the highest chance of success.
If you are successful in freeing the brain, you will then have the option to mutilate it in case it does something against you (Dex check), or just spare it. Either way, it will grow tendrils and limbs and it will be added into your party. You will also have an additional option to attack the brain during your next conversation.
Reach the helm
Your next objective is to reach the helm. Go through the hole that leads to a path outside of the ship. You will then meet the warrior that was shown in one of the pods earlier, Lae’zel. She stops you, but then realizes that you are no threat, but an ally. You can go through the other conversation topics and she will reveal that both of you will turn into Mind Flayers if the parasite gets full hold of your body.
Head into the next area where you will be getting into your first combat encounter. Go through the basic tutorial of your skills and hot bar as well as how the turn-based combat works. Clear out the enemies, then loot all the bodies to get some consumables and even some weapons.
Next, head towards the outer deck where you will find a tied up person. After the cutscene, you will get to talk to the person, but it is already too late to save her. The next person will also be enthralled soon. Continue moving up the upper deck to find more imps that you can defeat. There are more people that you can talk to, but they’ll just be talking nonsense at this point.
Save Shadowheart
Make your way to the next door to reach a corridor. At the end of the corridor is a gate that you can attack to get through and reach another chamber. In it is a control panel and some items that you can loot, along with another pod with someone in it.
On the control panel are three screens and buttons underneath each of them. You can check the screens, but you will have to pass the Arcana check to see what is written on them. The three screens show, from left to right: Unleash, Aggression, Annihilate. Pushing the button for unleash will do nothing, aggression will make the thralls attack you, while annihilate kill all of them.
Next, interact with the pod to see another person, Shadowheart. You can find a way to open the pod, or leave Shadowheart. If you do wish to save her, you will need to find a key from a corpse in the next chamber to the east.
Head to the east chamber first where you will see another pod and another control panel. The screen on the panel requires another check, and the button will cause the thrall inside the pod to transform into a mind flayer. Check on the corpse behind the panel to find the Elaborate Key. Take this key back to the previous room and use it on the Elaborate Reliquary to get the Eldritch Rune, then take this over to the panel and insert the rune into the panel.
The panel will then activate and an Intelligence check will happen. If you pass, you can interface with the panel where another Wisdom check will happen. Thankfully, because of the parasite in you, you can will the pod to open without fail. After releasing Shadowheart, you are given the option to add her to your party or let her be on her own.
Get to the transponder
Continue on to the next chamber where another cutscene will play between the demons and the mind flayers. Your objective in this fight is to defeat the imps in the room, then move towards the front of the helm to connect the transponder.
Get the Everburn Blade
Alternatively, you can spend more time to help the mind flayer defeat Commander Zhalk as you can loot the Everburn Blade from its corpse; be prepared to fight against the mind flayer if it survives the fight, plus some more enemies that will join in.
After clearing out the imps and interacting with the transponder, go through the next cutscene where your character will end up surviving the crash and find themselves on the Ravaged Beach.
See next: Baldur’s Gate 3 Chapter 1 Part 1 Guide