In Act 1 of Baldur’s Gate 3, while you’re on the hunt for Auntie Ethel (the first time, mind you), you can encounter a Gur Hunter named Gandrel near the Riverside Teahouse waypoint. This otherwise innocuous meeting can take a violent turn if you’re not sure how to respond.
If you can end this conversation amicably, Gandrel will make an appearance when you make it to Act 3, but if not — you’ll lose a trading partner. So, let’s outline the best means of ensuring the conversation with Gandrel doesn’t turn bloody in Baldur’s Gate 3.
How to save Gandrel in Baldur’s Gate 3 (BG3)?
To find Gandrel in the Sunlit Wetlands, fast travel to the Riverside Teahouse waypoint — or, if it’s easier, manually travel to this area. Depending on where you’re at in the Auntie Ethel quest, you may have a handful of hostile redcaps in the area that can be a genuine pain to deal with. If this is the case and you’d like to avoid dealing with them right this second, separate one character from the rest of your party and sneak past the redcaps’ line of sight until you reach Gandrel.
Talk with Gandrel and you’ll be able to roll for either Persuasion or Intimidation to get him to tell you that he’s hunting Astarion, whom you may have in either your camp or party. This is one reason you should separate from your party for this encounter, as it’d seem if Astarion is present, there are more ways than not it’ll end badly.
If you’re seeking to trade with Gandrel, you must ask him to trade the one time it’s an option, because once you learn who his target is, the option to trade goes away. It’s possible the option returns once you’ve dealt with Auntie Ethel, but we haven’t tested that scenario yet. In any case, if you can maneuver your way to an ending where Gandrel survives and you don’t have to fight him, he’ll pop back up later in the game once you’ve made it to Rivington.
