Deep gnomes have been enslaved in Grymforge. Can you rescue them from their plight? In this guide we’ll show you how.
Background
You’ll meet a poisoned deep gnome slave named Thulla in the Myconid Colony in the Underdark. When you talk to her, you’ll learn that she was poisoned when she escaped from the duergar at Grymforge. If you cure Thulla during the quest Cure the Poisoned Gnome, then she’ll ask you to save the rest of her clan, who are also enslaved at Grymforge. If you agree to help, then you’ll trigger this quest.
Walkthrough
When you arrive at Grymforge, you’ll learn that a True Soul named Nere is currently stuck in a collapsed tunnel, and that the deep gnome slaves are trying to dig him out. To rescue the slaves, you’ll first have to free Nere, which is covered in the quest guide for Free True Soul Nere.
When Nere eventually exits the tunnel, he’ll be mad at everybody, but especially at the deep gnome slaves. The first thing he’ll do is kill one of them, and then he’ll prepare to finish off the rest. If you tell Nere to stop, then he’ll just transfer his rage to you, and he’ll order the duergar guards to kill you. If you previously agreed to help some rebellious duergar, then Nere will learn of this, and he’ll order you to prove yourself by killing them instead. This will allow you to side with the loyalist duergar or the rebel duergar, and make the battle easier by splitting it in half.
If you side with the loyalist duergar, then Nere will survive, and after the battle he’ll still want to kill the slaves, but you can stop him with a DC-15 Wisdom check. If the rebel duergar survive, then they’ll want to keep the slaves, and you’ll have to pass a DC-10 Intimidation or Persuasion check to change their mind. If you fail your check, then you’ll have to kill the surviving faction to free the slaves.
Afterwards, the deep gnome slaves will celebrate, and their current leader Beldron will give you a reward — or at least he’ll say he’s giving you a reward, and the cut scene animation will show him handing you a reward — but you won’t actually receive anything other than the warm feeling of a job well done. The gnomes will then talk about a missing clanmate of theirs named Wulbren, who was captured and taken to Moonrise Towers after learning the recipe for runepowder. This will trigger the quest Rescue Wulbren.
If you return to Thulla in the Underdark, then she’ll thank you for your help as well, but she also won’t give you a reward.
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Steven Carter
Starting with cassette tape games on the TRS-80, Steven has been playing, creating, and writing about games for a long, long time. This makes him experienced, not old. Lately, Steven has been focusing on walkthroughs, making sure everybody knows how to solve Towers of Hanoi puzzles.
