During Act 2 of Baldur’s Gate 3, players will encounter a Shadow Curse that blankets the land, making it impossible to navigate certain areas without facing severe damage. To successfully traverse these cursed lands, you’ll need to utilize sources of light and specific spells.
At first, a simple torch can offer some protection against the curse. However, as you venture deeper into more corrupted regions, this will no longer suffice. Additionally, the curse may affect some party members differently based on their equipment and combat style. Early on, you can also benefit from ambient light or higher-level spells like Daylight, but you’ll need a more effective strategy as you progress.
How to Navigate the Shadow Curse in Baldur’s Gate 3
Moonlanterns & The Pixie Blessing
If you meet with Isobel, the Cleric at the Last Light Inn, she can grant Selûne’s Blessing. This blessing enables your party to navigate through less intense areas of the Shadow Curse without needing torches or other light sources, but it won’t protect you in denser parts. For those situations, you’ll have a couple of choices, including the Moonlantern or Pixie’s Blessing.
While exploring Act 2, you might run into a group of Fist warriors planning to tackle the curse, who will set up an ambush against a Drider and some cultists. Eventually, you will encounter Kar’niss, a Drider in possession of a valuable item known as the Moonlantern. If you’ve taken the time to explore the Grymforge area, you may have already discovered a broken Moonlantern.
Note: The companion character Shadowheart has a natural resistance to the Shadow Curse, allowing her to cross the first layer without any light source. However, this won’t help against thicker areas of the curse.
The Moonlantern can help you navigate these dense parts of the Shadow Curse, though it might be somewhat inconvenient, as the broken lantern you found earlier cannot be repaired. Fortunately, Kar’niss’s lantern is functional thanks to a pixie named Dolly Dolly Dolly who energizes it.
If you decide to oppose the ambush, you may find Dolly Dolly Dolly dead inside the lantern once you reach Moonrise Towers. However, if you join in the ambush, you will obtain the lantern carried by Kar’niss during the fight or from Isobel when you return to the Last Light Inn.
Important Note: While the quest "Lift The Shadow Curse" becomes available after entering the area, you’ll later learn the curse cannot be lifted until the end of Act 2, when the main antagonist of this storyline is defeated. Therefore, be cautious and realize that you’ll need either the Moonlantern or the Pixie Blessing to progress without harm.
Once you have a functioning Moonlantern, you have two options: use it as is or release Dolly Dolly Dolly from within. The better option is to free her, as she will reward your party with the Pixie Blessing, allowing everyone to navigate through any parts of the Shadow Curse freely in Baldur’s Gate 3 without taking damage.
