Should you let Volo try to extract your tadpole in Baldur’s Gate 3

Depending on your playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3, Volo is a Bard that may or may not wind up in your camp. If you free him from the goblins, he’ll pop up and talk to you about your tadpole, going as far as offering to extract it. Should you take him up on the offer?

Yes, but with some caveats.

Volo is a bard you’ll spot as you enter the goblin camp. They’re using him for entertainment. If you free him by force or subterfuge, he’ll show up in your camp. You can’t miss him. He’s wearing a garish blue outfit. You’ll first have a conversation with him where you can prove that you’re infected with an Illithid larva. He’ll offer to help but will first need to gather information.

Later, when you visit the camp, he’ll say he’s ready and offer to remove it. Normally, it would be a really bad idea to have a bard mess around in your brain matter. However, allowing him to do so will come with a benefit.

The stomach-turning caveats

First off, before you lie down, you are going to need to have a stomach for body horror. While you don’t actually see much of what’s happening, the Volo’s actions are described in vivid detail. These details come alongside his increasingly unsure comments and a sound like someone is eating half a watermelon while on public transit. I read Junji Ito, and this still caused a lump in my stomach.

Obviously, Volo won’t be able to remove the tadpole. In the process, however, he will knock out your character’s eye. It will fall in the mud and quickly sink into it, but I wouldn’t trust Volo to reattach it anyway.

Thankfully, Volo has an enchanted false eye, and he’s enthusiastic about giving it to you to make up for his horrible mistake. This false eye will allow you to see invisible creatures and enemies within 9 meters, so long as they don’t succeed in a saving throw. It’s permanent and useful.

The downside is that your character’s new heterochromia is also permanent. Their right eye will perpetually be blue and gold. You can’t change this, even with the mirror in the camp. If you’re not okay with heterochromia, your only option is to change your character’s left eye to match the color of their new right.

Amusingly, my character already had heterochromia. And while it wasn’t the same color, I was struggling to think up a backstory to explain what caused their heterochromia. So, not only did Volo provide me with that humiliating backstory, my character got a new ability on top of that. So, I guess it was worth enduring that vicarious discomfort. I can still feel it when I think about it.