In your quest to rid the Shadow-Cursed Land of its titular curse, you’ll need to seek ancient and great power. It’s a grand endeavor, so you might expect something pretty big to kick things off. But the start of this Baldur’s Gate 3 quest actually begins with waking up a guy named Art Cullagh.
After speaking with the Druid Halsin upon reaching the Shadow-Cursed Lands, you’ll learn about a friend of his named Thaniel. Halsin thinks Thaniel can heal the land, being a sort of forest spirit, but he doesn’t know where to find him. Once you get to the Last Light Inn, you may notice a man tossing in his bed named Art Cullagh, who keeps saying something about Thaniel.
Go tell Halsin, and he’ll head down to the Last Light Inn to help out. As it turns out, our dreamer is feeling the heavy effects of the Shadow Curse. You’ll need to rouse Art Cullagh from his sleep by finding something in the world of Baldur’s Gate 3 to reach out to him.
Where to find the House of Healing in Baldur’s Gate 3
After reading the letter a helpful Fist hands us, we learn Art was investigating the House of Healing at some point. We’ll need to head deeper into the Shadow Curse at this point, so if you haven’t acquired a Moonlantern or Pixie’s Blessing yet, you’ll want to take care of that.
Head south from Last Light Inn, then across the bridge into the Reithwin Town area near the Masons Guild and further west, where you’ll find the House of Healing (X: -200, Y: 47). On your way in, you might run into Arabella’s parents, which will be important for her quest; make sure to check on them if you haven’t.
Head into the main chamber, and you’ll see an incredibly creepy-looking dude named Malus Thorm doing some “surgery” with his sisters-in-training. You’ll need to deal with them in order to get the item you’ll need to wake Art. You can outright fight them, but I highly recommend taking the dialogue option; persuade Malus that the sisters need to learn by practicing on a master, and he’ll subject himself to his own treatments. Gruesome? Yes. Effective? Very, as you’ll skip having to fight a pretty high-level enemy.
Play Art Cullagh’s lute for him
Loot Malus and the surrounding area and you’ll find a worn lute with some initials on it. This is Art’s lute! Take the lute back to Last Light Inn and talk to Halsin. After you show him the lute, you’ll get a dialogue option to play it for Art Cullagh. Don’t worry, you don’t need to be a Bard for this to work.
You’ll enter a scene where Art Cullagh hears the beautiful music of Baldur’s Gate 3 and wakes up, giving Halsin the info your team will need to find Thaniel. From here, you can move on to the next stage of “Lift the Shadow Curse.”
