Auntie Ethel is one of several potential boss fights that you can encounter in Baldur’s Gate 3 as early as near the end of Act One. Because Auntie Ethel has significant power and is a Hag known to manipulate and murder others, she often has traps or tricks ready to use. Because of this, picking up, equipping, or consuming Items found in Auntie Ethel’s domain, such as the Whispering Masks, can be a gamble. Don’t worry, though; we’ve got all the information you’ll need to know about the Whispering Masks, and if you should equip or avoid these items, so follow along below.
Where to Find the Whispering Masks in Baldur’s Gate 3
In Baldur’s Gate 3, the Whispering Masks can be found sitting on a table within the Overgrown Tunnel. After entering the Overgrown Tunnel through the fireplace doorway in Auntie Ethel’s Riverside Teahouse, make your way down the path until you come across the tree-faced Gnarled Door. The Whispering Masks will be located on the table just to the right side of this door, but we’ve included a screenshot below for extra clarity:
After Auntie Ethel disappears through the Gnarled Door, which stubbornly refuses to open for your party, the Whispering Masks may tempt you to try them on and fool the door into believing you’re Auntie Ethel, the Hag herself, and opening right up. If this thought has crossed your mind, keep reading below, as we’re going to cover this scenario in depth.
What the Whispering Masks Do in BG3
Considering Auntie Ethel’s manipulative and tricksterish nature, it should come as no surprise that her lair is filled with various traps to hinder you along the way. Unfortunately, the Whispering Masks are one of many traps designed to disrupt your adventure and trigger fatal outcomes.
While picking up the Whispering Masks and adding them to your inventory doesn’t cause anything bad to happen, the moment you choose to equip a Whispering Mask to one of your party members, they will become a victim of the Hag (or at least attempt to perform a WIS save for as long as possible until the Mask’s powers take over), and turn against the rest of your party, triggering a very undesirable and difficult battle.
If you fail to make the Arcana Check when talking to the Gnarled Door, your party will remain unaware that the Gnarled Door is no more than a mere illusion. If you succeeded in making this check, then you’ll be able to simply pass right through the door as if it isn’t there by walking to the other side, however, if you failed the Arcana Check, you may need to turn to the Whispering Masks.
If you fail the required Arcana Check, you can get through the Gnarled Door by equipping a Whispering Mask and immediately walking through. However, I strongly recommend equipping this Mask on a party member with a strong WIS stat, as anyone weak in that area will likely fail the first saving throw and head straight into combat.
To ensure things go smoothly and safely, it’s a better idea to equip it to someone like Shadowheart, who has more chance of resisting the side effects if you take slightly too long to walk through the door. Once you’ve made it through to the other side, immediately unequip the Whispering Mask to avoid the Hag eventually taking over and triggering one of those painful and frustrating battles between the party members that we mentioned earlier.
It’s a good idea to create a new save file before equipping any Whispering Masks, as you can simply revert to this state and try your luck again if something goes wrong. Furthermore, I’d also strongly advise against equipping a Whispering Mask to more than one party member, as things can get ugly quickly when Auntie Ethel gets access to your comrades. If you equip Whispering Masks to all four party members, Auntie Ethel will eventually take over all of them, and you will receive an immediate Game Over – and that’s certainly not what we want.
Should You Take & Equip the Whispering Masks From the Overgrown Tunnel in BG3?
There’s no harm in taking the Whispering Masks for your inventory and flipping them for some coin once you encounter some vendors. It may also be a good idea to keep one aside in your inventory as you progress through the game, just in case you need to bypass another similar structure to the Gnarled Door in your future Quest endeavors.
However, when it comes to equipping the Whispering Masks, you should only do so as a last resort, and unequip the item immediately after passing through the Gnarled Door. Avoid equipping the item to a character with low WIS, as they will be too easily consumed by the Mask’s power and fall victim to Auntie Ethel before you get the chance to take it off.
That’s everything you need to know about the Whispering Masks in Baldur’s Gate 3 and if you should take and equip them from the Overgrown Tunnel. For more helpful BG3 guides, check out the rest of our content here at Twinfinite. We have plenty more topics to help you progress your character build and get the most value from your playthrough, such as our guide covering Advantage and Disadvantage in combat.
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