Baldur's Gate 3 Last Light Inn and shadow curse guide

The Baldur’s Gate 3 Last Light Inn is a central hub area for Act 2 – a lot of important stuff will go down in this area to do with the main quest and Halsin’s personal questline too. It’s also free from the Shadow Curse, which makes it an essential place to rest and recuperate in Baldur's Gate 3.

While you're waiting here, it's worth exploring the inn thoroughly to try and unravel as many of the threads here as possible before things start to go a bit wrong. If you want to recruit the ursine juggernaut to your party, need help waking up a sleeping man, or need to protect a key ally, I've laid out how to complete these various Last Light Inn questlines below.

Baldur's Gate 3 Last Light Inn: Protect Isobel

The question of whether to protect Isobel or use her to get into Moonrise Tower comes up pretty much as soon as you get to Last Light Inn. After speaking with Jaheira and heading upstairs to Isobel's room, you will be attacked by a Flaming Fist cultist named Marcus who will attempt to kidnap Isobel, a Selune cleric, and take her to Moonrise Tower to see Ketheric Thorm.

If you side with Marcus and kidnap Isobel, you'll avoid having to fight him and his Horrible Beasts. It's also your ticket to getting into Moonrise Tower unobstructed, though it comes at the cost of never having Jaheira join your party.

If you decide to defend Isobel, you'll have to defeat Marcus and his cronies first. The battle isn't too tough, given the Harpers will rally to your aid and take care of said cronies for you, so you can focus your party on defeating marcus – magic-oriented companions like Wyll and Gale are decent for this battle, as is BG3 zariel tiefling Karlach thanks to her brute strength.

If you decide to side with Isobel, you will have another opportunity to backtrack on that by playing up to your Dark Urge origin in Baldur's Gate 3 if you selected it in character creation. Your Urge instructs you to kill "that sweet cleric" Isobel, and if you succumb to the urge, it immediately destroys the Moonshield protecting the Last Light Inn and triggers a battle against the undead - and Jaheira, who you'll also lose as a potential companion for your crimes.

However, you can still lie to Jaheira, who will then not fight you, and what is a lie compared to a murder, frankly?

How to wake up Art Cullagh in Baldur's Gate 3 

To wake up Art Cullagh, the sleeping man in the Last Light Inn in Baldur's Gate 3, you'll need to travel to the House of Healing nearby and find a lute to play for him. The lute is, ironically enough, looted from the corpse of Malus Thorm, the mad undead doctor you'll find in the operating theatre of the House of Healing.

Like everything and everyone else in the Shadowlands, Malus Thorm is a tough enemy to fight. Get around this gruelling boss battle by selecting BG3 companion Astarion to do the sweet talking for you - if you roll the dice right, Malus will tell his army of Ratched-esque zombie nurses to kill one another before he offs himself, saving you a gruelling battle.

Once Malus Thorm is dead (for real this time), you can search his body for Art Cullogh's lute and bring it back to the Last Light Inn to play for him. The music rouses Art, which will prompt Halsin to ask you to meet him by the river. Here, you'll be defending him from hordes of enemies as he goes off in search of Thaniel in the Shadowfell, so be sure to bring your strongest magical companions.

How to protect Halsin and lift the shadow curse in Baldur's Gate 3 

To lift the Shadow Curse, Halsin needs to venture into the Shadowfell to bring back Thaniel. You'll have to hold off a horde of shadowy enemies for four turns, protecting the portal and preventing enemies from attacking it. If the portal breaks, Halsin will be lost in the Shadow Fell and you won't be able to break the curse.

This battle is a brutal one, even on the lowest Baldur's Gate 3 difficulty. Try to spread your party out and prioritize defeating the archers, whose ranged attacks can quickly decimate the portal given the sheer number of enemies attacking back to back. Use area-of-damage spells or acid vials to deal damage to multiple foes in one move, and bring all the radiant damage items and spells you can. You can also throw some bottles of grease and set them on fire with a fire attack, since enemies like the Shadow Creeper are susceptible to fire damage.

A really helpful method to protect Halsin and the portal is to purchase a Scroll of Wall of Stone from the Last Light Inn trade. Use it to build a wall blocking off the shrubbery to the right of the portal, keep some enemies out and blocking their arrows. More and more shadows and undead foes will spawn during the four turns you'll need to hold down the fort, and since the most damage comes from these undead warriors, you'll want to make sure they can't get anywhere close.

After four turns have passed, Halsin will emerge from the portal with Thaniel and the enemies will evaporate. You're now one step closer to banishing the shadow plague for good.

Following this, you'll need to help Halsin reunite Thaniel with the corrupted shadow-infested half of his soul. This battle can be a tricky one, so stock up on radiant damage spells and weapons. Shadowheart's Spirit Guardians is a godsend here. Bring Halsin with you to help convince the lost child to return to camp with you, and now all that's left to do is defeat Ketheric Thorm at Moonrise Towers.

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