In Act 1 of Baldur’s Gate 3, players can rescue Counselor Florrick from the burning Waukeen’s Rest and learn from her that Grand Duke Ravengard, Wyll’s father, has been abducted by Absolutist cultists. Unfortunately, the party won’t find Ravengard anywhere in Act 1 and must continue to Act 2 to find him.
In fact, players have no chance of rescuing Ravengard during Act 2, even though the party can find and rescue the tieflings, the deep gnomes, and even Zevlor from True Soul clutches. It’s only during Act 3 of Baldur’s Gate 3 that players will have a chance to free Ravengard and bring him back to camp.
Duke Ravengard’s Location in Act 2
If Counselor Florrick survives Act 1, players will find her in the Last Light Inn of the Shadow-Cursed Lands. She gives the party a quest to find and rescue the Grand Duke, whose captors she traced to Moonrise Towers. However, Ravengard isn’t in the tower’s prison, and unlike Zevlor, he isn’t in the pods in the Mind Flayer Colony beneath it.
Instead, the first time players get a chance to see Duke Ravengard is when the party overhears the champions of the Dead Three talking about their plans. This happens at the end of the Mind Flayer Colony area and right before the second and third phases of the Ketheric Thorm boss battle. Ravengard and the other two champions leave before the fight begins, and so players won’t see him again until Act 3.
Wyll’s Decision and Mizora’s Pact
The next time the party sees him, Grand Duke Ravengard is proclaiming Gortash the new Archduke of Baldur’s Gate, a position Gortash invented to become the city’s dictator. Ravengard is alive and well, but he’s also deep under the Absolute’s influence. This happens the first time players reach Wyrm’s Rock Fortress.
Players may notice that Mizora is standing around on the main level of the prison, at least if Wyll is in the party. After the party has gone upstairs to talk to Gortash and Ravengard and then come back down, she’ll force the party into a conversation. Apparently, Gortash has already sent Ravengard to a hidden location, and Mizora knows where he is.
The conversation continues once players end the day back at camp. Mizora and two witnesses will appear, and her goal is to either reinstate or deepen Wyll’s Warlock pact with her. In exchange, she’ll tell Wyll where to find Duke Ravengard and help him rescue his father. If Wyll refuses, she’ll guarantee Ravengard’s death. Players should be aware that they get no second chance to end Wyll’s pact, and Ravengard’s death isn’t as guaranteed as she claims. However, freeing Ravengard is much easier with Mizora’s help.
One last, important note: Players must resolve Wyll’s contract before rescuing Duke Ravengard. If the party reaches Ravengard’s prison before speaking to Mizora, he’ll already be dead. Curiously, this means ignoring Mizora is more of a death sentence for Ravengard than turning down her offer.
How to Reach Duke Ravengard
After Gortash’s crowning as Archduke, players will find Grand Duke Ravengard in an underwater prison. The way there isn’t easy, and it’s closely connected to the Steel Watchers quest. In short, players shouldn’t try to rescue Duke Ravengard if they want to keep Lord Gortash as an ally.
For everyone else, players should start by heading to the warehouse called Flymm Cargo. The warehouse is south of the Blushing Mermaid and across the water from the Grey Harbor Docks waypoint. The door is locked and forbidden, but players can avoid attention by jumping onto the warehouse’s roof, and then jumping down to the door on the southern side of the building. This door is also locked and forbidden, but no one can see the party pick it open or destroy it.
Inside the warehouse is a pack of wargs, giant wolf-like creatures who will attack the party on sight. The wargs have no spells or ranged attacks, so at this point in the game, they shouldn’t be a serious problem.
With the wargs defeated, players should head to the northwest corner of the warehouse. There’s a hatch in this corner covered by boxes and crates, and it leads to an underground prison. The greasy slide in the city sewers also leads to this area. Go straight across this chamber to discover a hidden submersible bay.
The captain of the submersible is Redhammer the Deviser. The party can use Intimidation or Deception to get him to mention the Iron Throne, which is the underwater prison where Gortash keeps Ravengard and several Gondian hostages. The speaker can then use Intimidation, Persuasion, or Deception to convince Redhammer to take the party down. The skill choice is important because the Persuasion check is against a 10 while Deception is against a 25.
How to Rescue the Grand Duke
When the party approaches the Iron Throne in the submersible, Gortash will contact them and warn them to stay away. There’s no secret way into the Iron Throne, unfortunately, so players should go in anyway. Gortash will set off explosives in the underwater prison, and so, when the party reaches it, they’ll have six rounds to rescue as many prisoners as they can while sahuagin start to invade the base.
Duke Ravengard is in the central cell in the room to the east of the docking site. Like all the other cells in the base, players can open his by interacting with the lever next to the door. Doing so doesn’t cost an action, so quickly kill the sahuagin in the way and then spend every action on dashing.
Once players free Ravengard, he’ll become a controllable party follower. Players can decide on his actions, but they can’t bring up his inventory to equip his weapon and armor or give him potions. This is a problem because Duke Ravengard starts with only 29 hit points.
What happens next depends on whether Wyll renewed his contract or not. If he did, Mizora will appear and cast spells on Ravengard to give him more defense and a faster movement speed. If he didn’t, she’ll summon a set of six “Combustion Belly Spiderlings.” These creatures will try to run at Ravengard and explode. However, players can send a party member over to kill them before they can reach the duke, keeping him safe.
Players should also try to rescue as many of the hostages as possible. In particular, the room west of the entrance has two sets of three prisoners, and the room where all the sahuagin appear has one prisoner on the far side.
If at least one party member is at the base of the ladder to the submersible (they don’t have to be inside), the game will continue, and anyone still in the base when it explodes will wash up on the beach as a dead body. The survivors can resurrect or revivify party members as normal, but any Gondians (or Duke Ravengard) will be dead for good. If Ravengard survives, he’ll head to the party camp to have a tense reunion with his son.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is available for PC, and a PS5 version is set to release on September 6. An Xbox Series X/S version is currently in development.
