How to Save Shadowheart From the Pod in Baldur’s Gate 3

As you rush to escape the flaming wreckage of an out-of-control Mind-Flayer starship in the opening hour of Baldur’s Gate 3, you will come across Shadowheart, a half-elven cleric of the goddess Shar, imprisoned inside a pod. While you’re free to abandon Shadowheart to her fate, what kind of two-bit adventurer passes up an opportunity to rescue a beautiful and mysterious damsel-in-distress in need? Here’s how to free Shadowheart from her pod in Baldur’s Gate 3.

How Do You Save Shadowheart in Baldur’s Gate 3?

To free Shadowheart in Baldur’s Gate 3, you have to find a way to open her pod. Interacting with the pod gives you a chance to talk to Shadowheart, who tells you that she saw the Mind-Flayer interact with the mechanism to the left of her pod before she was locked inside it. A quick inspection of the device will reveal an oddly-shaped socket.

To find the object that can be fitted into the socket, head through the door to the west. You’ll find yourself in a large room with an unconscious human woman trapped in a pod. While you can interact with the mechanism on the far side of the room and get a sneak preview of the gruesome fate that awaits Shadowheart if she isn’t freed, your main goal in this room is the corpse of the Dead Thrall on the platform behind it.

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Looting the Dead Thrall will allow you to pick up an Eldritch Rune, which you will want to bring back to Shadowheart’s pod. Once there, you’ll have to make a Wisdom check to determine how to use the Eldritch Rune, which is almost impossible to fail thanks to the Mind-flayer tadpole swimming inside your head. Once you’ve succeeded, Shadowheart will be released and will offer to join your party.

Alternatively, you may not have to get the Eldritch Rune if you’re playing as a spellcasting class. While playing as a Dark Urge Drow Sorcerer, I was prompted to do an Arcana check on the console and gleaned some knowledge about the alien magic that connected it to the pod. Once I figured that out, I input a sequence of runes into the console and freed Shadowheart.