If Baldur's Gate 3 players find themselves in a fight against the Auntie Ethel boss in the Overgrown Tunnel, she'll eventually retreat to her lair once you weaken her enough. You have to pursue her if you want to finish the job, but sadly, doing so isn't an easy task. In order to follow Ethel, you'll have to navigate a number of different traps, with the deadliest of them being a massive cloud of Noxious Fumes.
This gas can simply be ran through, but your party will take lots of damage and you'd have to waste spell and potion resources on healing everyone up before you begin the second phase of your bout with Ethel. So how can you get past the fumes safely? In this guide, we'll go over everything you need to know about the solution to this puzzle.
How to get past the Noxious Fumes
You won't be able to find and save Mayrina without getting through the Noxious Fumes, but thankfully, there's actually a very simple way to dispel them. Here's what to do:
- First, approach the gas slowly with the member of your party that has the highest Perception.
- They should automatically run a Perception check and notice the Ruptured Stone in the center of the fumes.
- Next, select a junk item you don't care about, such as a small rock or an old piece of gear.
- Select the Throw option.
- Finally, target the Ruptured Stone and throw your item.
The item you throw will block off the Ruptured Stone's opening, containing the Noxious Fumes and allowing you to pass safely. Note that if you don't have a junk item to use, there are some small rocks by the waterfall next to the Noxious Fumes that you can use. As long as you're quick, you can also grab whatever you threw and run away from the vent before the gas comes back to get your item back. This trick will work on any future poison traps with vents that you encounter, so keep that in mind.
If you ever come across gas that's not coming out of a vent, you'll need to burn it away. This can easily be done with any item, spell, or ability that's capable of igniting something. If you have one, throwing a torch is a great way to accomplish this without using up spells or skills.
Baldur's Gate 3 is available on PC now, with the PS5 version scheduled for Sept. 6. It stands tall as one of the best PC games of 2023, and is a must-play for fans of fantasy RPGs and the D&D universe.