BG3 Where to find Vanra
On the mean streets of Baldur's Gate 3, a little girl, Vanra, has gone missing. But is there more to this mystery than it first seems?
Despite the world-altering stakes of your main quest in Baldur's Gate 3, your party can still choose to lend a hand wherever it’s needed. So when a woman named Lora desperately needs help to find Vanra, her missing daughter, you can offer to step up and aid with her search.
In the Basilisk Gate Flaming Fist garrison, you see Lora berating the officers for their lack of sympathy and awareness. Apparently, Vanra was last seen down by the Blushing Mermaid pub, near the docks, so make your way down to the large ship to investigate.
Speak to the barman and the patrons outside. When their stories don’t seem to add up, resolve to speak to the owner and head upstairs to the back of the pub.
Talk to Captain Grisly and she says that Lora was not only alone, but got violent when she was ejected from the public house. Grisly then says that Lora is a dangerous pirate and offers you a huge amount of gold to kill her quietly and finish the issue once and for all.
If that didn’t seem fishy enough, refuse and the conversation will take a turn.
Where to find Vanra
With her offer refuted, Captain Grisly will be revealed as Auntie Ethel, the hag from Act 1. It turns out that Lora wasn’t lying and that the malevolent swamp witch has stolen and eaten the child, hoping to turn her into a new hag.
She then sicks the enthralled patrons of the pub after you, revealed to be Redcap goblins. Deal with them, then set after Ethel to save the girl. Outside the pub, you find a leaflet discussing an anti-hag support group, read it and you will get a new quest marker over on the Heapside, in Baron’s Coop, to speak with them.
When you arrive, you find the house abandoned and the group evicted. Read the letter on the table and you find they’ve moved to Old Garlow’s place, on the other side of the wall.
Bash or lockpick the front door, which isn’t marked red as a crime. Then speak to the assembled group inside. Understandably, they’re a bit jumpy and you will need to pass a persuasion check to stop them from attacking you.
They’re also trying to defeat Ethel at the behest of their leader, Mayrina, the girl you helped escape her clutches all the way back in act 1.
Upstairs, polymorphed into a sheep with her zombie husband as a tittering voodoo doll stands creepily in the corner, you find Mayrina. With a party member that can speak to animals, start a conversation with her.
She says that the doll is the key to the hex, so blast it with a damage type it’s not resistant to. This cures Mayrina and reveals Jatlo as a redcap. Defeat him, then speak to the rest of the group - but before you do, take the key to Ethel’s lair from Jatlo’s body.
She reveals that she might know how to defeat Ethel for good and gives you the staff of interruption - good for counterspells - as a reward for finishing this part of the subquest.
In the safe on the wall, read the books and take the Hag’s Bane grenade materials. To make it, you need to mix the Fey Flower with any essence. If you’re au fait with potion mixing, go right ahead, but if you’ve haven’t got any ingredients, head to Bonecloak’s apothecary and grab what you need. If you’re unsure, select “extract all'' from your potion menu and you’ve probably got an essence from somewhere at some point by now.
How defeat Ethel and save Vanra
Now, return to the Blushing Mermaid and head into the cellar. Jump up onto the raised platform where you see the pile of gold and there’s an illusory platform. Walk through it, then through the door at the bottom of the ladder. It unlocks with the key you took from the Redcap.
Inside, you find a wide open chamber, filled with her minions. There are traps you need to perceive and disarm along the way, but your goal is the door around the corner, marked with a quest icon to confront Ethel.
Either lockpick it, or smash it with a blunt weapon. Either way, venture inside and you’ll see glowing mushrooms in the corners of the room. These are the evil, magic mushrooms which keep Ethel alive.
Invisible in the middle of the room is Ethel, who will aggro as you approach and summon copies of herself, her minions from the other room, and Captain Grisly.
At this point, it’s important to remember why you’re here: a rescue mission. Because you’re trying to save the child, and maybe the pub landlady Captain Grisly too, toggle non-lethal attacks from your Passive menu.
The real Auntie Ethel in my game was the one next to Captain Grisly. Focus all of your attacks on her to melt away her health as quickly as possible.
Once she’s knocked out, you get a cutscene where you can cut Vanra out of her stomach. Do so, then the fight will resume, only now you need to destroy the three glowing mushrooms before killing Ethel for good.
In the second phase of the fight, remember to turn off your non-lethal attacks, otherwise you’ll just knock Ethel out again, which isn’t what you want.
When that’s done, Ethel will once again summon copies of herself. However, you can tell which is the real hag because the helpers will tend to cast their buffs on the real Ethel. Again, focus on taking her out over anything else.
Upon Ethel’s defeat, Vanra will run away. If you managed to save her by only knocking her out rather than killing her, before you go after Vanra speak to the real Captain Grisly. She’s obviously pleased as punch for the rescue and offers unreserved thanks. On Ethel’s body, you find a ring that will make Wild Magic Sorcerers always trigger their passive - which is great if you’re into that sort of thing.
Leave the cellar and you have two new objectives: check in with Lora and Varna, and tell Mayrina the good news.
At Lora’s home, you get some incredible rewards for your time. First, the Amulet of Windrider with two wind spells as cantrips. Then the Duellist’s Prerogative, a legendary rapier with tons of unique abilities.
When you find Mayrina, Connor is still a zombie despite Ethel’s death. You can either persuade her that it’s time to move on, or leave her be. If you do persuade her, she breaks his summoning wand and although she’s upset, thanks you for your efforts. She gives you the Fey Semblance Amulet, which gives you guaranteed advantage on intelligence, wisdom and charisma saving throws.