Mol wants you to steal the Idol of Silvanus from the druids, but can you do it without starting a war? In this guide, we’ll show you how.
Background
You’ll meet Mol, the leader of the tiefling children / thieves / con-artists, in the Tiefling Hideout located beneath Mattis’ shop in the Emerald Grove. In order to talk to Mol, you’ll need to get on her good side. There are four ways to do this: you can save Mirkon during the quest Investigate the Beach, you can rescue Arabella during the quest Save Arabella, you can help Meli after he steals Barth’s Brass Locket, or you can be nice to Silfy if you catch her trying to rob you at Mattis’ shop.
If Mol likes you, then during your conversation with her, you’ll be able to ask her if she needs help with anything. She’ll tell you that she wants to take revenge on the druids of the Emerald Grove by stealing their “big shiny idol” — the Idol of Silvanus. She’ll also speculate that the idol might sell for a good price in Baldur’s Gate, and she’ll offer to split the proceeds with you if you can liberate it. If you agree to this task, then you’ll trigger the quest.
Just note that if Mol doesn’t like you, then she’ll demand that you leave the hideout, and she’ll begin counting down from ten. If you leave in time, then you’ll be able to return to Mol later after completing one of the tasks listed above, and she should still give you the quest. But if you don’t leave in time, then she’ll race out of the hideout and tell the other tieflings that you’ve been threatening children — which will get you arrested when they spot you — and she probably won’t talk to you for the rest of the act, which means you won’t be able to trigger the quest at all. You also won’t be able to trigger the quest if you don’t talk to Mol until after the druids have stopped their ritual.
Walkthrough
You’ll find the Idol of Silvanus at the center of the Sacred Pool in the Emerald Grove. How difficult it is to nab, and what happens if you’re successful, depend on what’s going on with the druids — in particular, if they’re currently performing the Ritual of Thorns to close off the grove.
Ritual Is Ongoing
If the ritual is active, then four druids will always be camped out around the idol staring right at it, and they’ll have perfect light to see it with. There are various ways to steal the idol without the druids spotting you — like casting Darkness so you can hide better, or casting Invisibility to guarantee that you remain unseen — but the druids will immediately detect that the idol is gone. This will cause them to attack you and the tieflings all throughout the grove.
If you’re planning on siding with the goblins, then this won’t make much of a difference, provided you can survive the major battle. But otherwise, a whole lot of druids and tiefligs will get killed, and since most of the fighting will take place while you’re fending off the druids at the Sacred Pool, you won’t even be able to affect who lives or dies. This can break some quests and prevent some NPCs from appearing later in the game. For example, Dammon the blacksmith can get killed, which would break Karlach’s quest The Hellion’s Heart.
Ritual Has Been Interrupted
You can end the Ritual of Thorns in a variety of ways, including by completing the quest Investigate Kagha (removing her from power), rescuing Halsin from the Shattered Sanctum (putting him back in charge), or killing the three goblin leaders in the Shattered Sanctum (removing the threat).
When the druids stop the ritual, two important things will change at the Sacred Pool: the four druids who had been performing the ritual will sit down, and most of them will stop staring at the idol; and while a few tieflings will enter the area, most of them won’t pay any attention to the idol. So while the environment for thievery won’t be perfect, it’ll be better than when the ritual was active. Still, you might need Darkness or Invisibility to take the idol undetected.
When you steal the Idol of Silvanus, the druids won’t automatically detect that it’s missing, and if they do discover that it’s gone, they won’t attack the tieflings. Instead, they’ll look around for the culprit, and possibly assume it was you — so you might have to do some fast talking to avoid jail. But ideally, the druids won’t see or suspect anything.
Conclusion
When you return to Mol in the Tiefling Hideout, she’ll be way more excited about the idol than what might have happened as a result of your theft, and your conversation with her will go about the same even if most of the tieflings are dead.
If you give Mol the idol, then she’ll reward you with a Ring of Protection. If you don’t give Mol the idol, then she won’t blame you for keeping it, but the quest won’t end, and so you’ll be able to talk to her later and give her what she wants.
The Idol of Silvanus is useful. It creates an aura where everybody near the character holding it receives Silvanus’ Blessing (Proficiency with Animal Handling and Nature). If you want both rewards, then you can hand over the idol to complete the quest and then steal it right back from Mol afterwards. Mol won’t ever pay you a cut from selling the idol, so there isn’t any downside to liberating it from her.
“Somebody stole the idol. If I find out who it was… I’ll recruit ’em.” — Mol
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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.
