And the reward is even worse!
You mean I've jumped through ALL of those hoops for a shitty painting that isn't even mine?! I was expecting MY portrait (at least the one that stays on the side panel).
Also that house has the worst line-of-sight issues in the entire game.
True. Volo's eye kept revealing ghosts on different floors and in different rooms. It was agonizing.
I found out the ghosts can be skipped entirely by entering the building through the roof. It can easily be reached from Jaheira’s house. Just be careful there is a repelling orb thing by the door but it can be easily bypassed by jumping far enough into the room from the outside or by misty step.
If u cast invis u can run all the way to the top floor
Seriously, I just did it recently and it is a major pain. Unless there is a really good reward, I'm going skip this quest neck time I do a play through
All I wanted when playing that quest was a painting of Astarion (Man hasn't seen his own face in hundreds of years). And I wound up with one of Gale. Should have autosaved beforehand.
Ketheric Thorms armor did help with the stairs though
Mine bugged and I ended up with like five portraits of Astarion. All useless because he has no reaction to it!!
I knew he had no reaction to it (Which is disappointing) but it felt right to me.
You could get a statue for him instead!
I hear they've fixed this bug where the portrait would be of the last character you leveled (usually), and now it's actually of the person who spoke to the painter.
Unfortunately, I can't check because, on my current run, I left Oskar with the Zhents. Whoops.
Yup I can confirm, Astarion got his portrait because he was the one talking to the painter (I tried with my Tav and he got his own portrait too). Sadly, no reaction from Astarion, I even tried to put his portrait on his bed at the inn, and made him clic on it, but nothing 😅
The bug in mine (on the single run I actually did the quest) made the painting of a seemingly random party member every time I took it out of my inventory and placed it in the world.
That worked for me, I had Astarion speak to him and an Astarion portrait is now chillin at his feet for optimal viewing
I just had a nude statue of Astarion made… he can look at himself whenever he wants too.
Do you know if there is an option to not have the statue doing the goofy hero positions?
I mean Astarion is goofy so it suits him. It’s part of his charm.
My tav was too elegant and beautiful to be positioned like that 😹 I felt deceived
sadly theres not :( maybe with a mod but idk of any
You can do it on everyone, though? At least, I have.
can't you just get one of every person in your party? I certainly wound up with 4 to sell lol
I was able to get a portrait for each party member as well by having them each talk to him
You can select the other characters, have them talk to the painter and get portraits of their own
Side note. Astarion knows he can use the tadpole to see though Tav’s eyes to see himself, but the one time he asks for that is to look at his back so he can ascend.
Just don't talk to him, don't rescue him, and he never ruins Lady Jannath's life. He remains a slave to the Zhentarim and can be found in the Thieves Guild in Baldur's Gate trying to sell a forged painting. Lady Jannath has an art show for a bunch of snobs. Some of the quest lines remain when you talk to Mystic Carrion, but that's it.
That quest is the WORST. Another Redditor clued me into the above.
I can't decide which one is worse - that one or the Dribbles the Clown quest. Easily the two most unsatisfying quests in the game. Way too much effort for too little reward.
The Dribbles quest COULD be ok, but the reward is pathetic, the locations and pieces are "owned", so you have to break in/steal them, and the final piece is in a location that most people don't go until the very end. I feel like the quest was added in at the end and was not planned very throughly.
Not to mention the objective is to gather him up to allow Lucretious to bring him back, and you never even get to see that happen. Complete dud of a quest in every way.
I at least wanted an undead dribbles show lol
Yeah. And it triggers the circus to move on. Which, granted, you're probably done with by the time you get the last bit. But still! I can't buy more clown makeup? Can't talk to my favorite vendor about treatos?
That's true. At least if you got to see him resurrected, that would be cool.
Also you can just steal the quest reward from Lucretious, so why even bother.
(And a cool staff too, if you get a little violent (knock out). But you dont know that from me, id never do such a thing)
Also I love loading up karlach with random severed legs for frenzied strike, so I lose track of parts.
Spellmight gloves are GOATED on certain builds, which is why you pickpocket them and never do the quest.
Or just murder her the old fashioned way (just make sure you've done what you want at the circus first)
Minthara's commentary on connecting clown body parts was reward enough for me honestly.
It's the type of quest you only do once lol
I was hoping to get some sick necromancy staff for that one. Or at least something really powerful since she talks it up, and by its nature you don't finish the quest until the very end of the game. But no.
On the plus side, at least most of the locations are showing references to the 5 from Throne of Bhaal. Those were more fun to see than getting Dribbles together again for sure.
Nah, it's the stuffed animal bombs
Minthara's lines upon picking up the uh, quest items, are the reward for me. She's hilarious
Dribbles is one of the very few quests I just never bother with at all
I've ONLY ever had it happen that way. I didn't know such a quest existed, haha. I guess I miss him every time.
It starts in the zhentarim hideout in act 1, which you can easily avoid.
The fact that he hits you up for booze money after you've paid for his freedom...and then the way he treats his patron turned wife...eff that guy. He is literally the worst and if anyone deserves their fate, it's him. (Obv. no one deserves to be enslaved IRL.)
I always assumed the money was for entrance into the outer city, as he asks for 200 and that’s the amount you’re asked to pay by the guard
When you tell him no, he admits that it was just for wine.
Omg just more proof he’s a sleazeball
Yeah. That's why I don't rescue him, anymore. I don't blow up the Zentarim because idk how that affects Act 3, plus I like the wolves. But I am perfectly capable of ignoring him.
After my first playthrough, I just blew his ass up along with the rest of the Zhentarim every time.
Or you can leave his fate up to the ghost to get both rings.
How do you go to the Zhentarim hideout and not set off all the explosives? Kills Oskar and it's glorious!
I'm convinced the quest designer in Larian made a deal with the devil where their lifespan increases every time someone complains about that quest line
Hahaha yeah I bet it.
He dies in the fiery explosion that starts the slaughter of the waykeen rest chapter of the zhent
I used to do that, but now I carefully execute them so I can steal their explosives. I usually talk Oskar free for free and then ignore him in act 3.
Lady Jannath and Kerri are both better off without him.
No argument, but they also usually aren't worth the trouble of saving them from him.
I just ignore the twat and leave the ladies to their lives without him :D
I may try that next time, it works with goblin, dueagar, and cultists after all
Well its free the painter not the epic weapon smith
And we would all care so much more if we were rescuing Dammon.
We love Dammon
There's a reason I haven't freed him on every playthrough since my first. He's also a terrible person, so I don't feel too bad about it.
That’s one of the great things about this game is that you can play through something like this once and never do it again lol
One of the reasons I love Act III so much is that so much of it is totally optional so you can pick and choose whatever you like because once you hit level 12 you don’t need exp anymore
I’ve saved this dude twice and third time realized I don’t have to feel bad for him and let him rot with the Zhent. Next play I’m probably just blowing the whole place up after I steal what I want lol
I reluctantly did this quest the other night because I had the mace already and was like whatever. After finishing it. I lockpicked the wrong door and aggroed half the damn town. Decided to reload thinking it was right after that quest. Nope was standing right at the mansion doors and I said "NOPE!" And walked away.
2 years playing this game and I still haven't completed this. I see I have a lot to look forward to.
I freed him, but somehow, before I got to Act 3, his quest got completed and I never saw him again.
He must have died at some point, his quest completes when he dies.
I don’t know what you’re talking about. I got a painting of my icon. At first, it showed as a blank painting, but when I put it in my inventory, I think it changed. It definitely was the photo of my character though and I’m remember being confused that it just look like a blank avatar for a little bit.
It is an unreasonably annoying quest for the reward that you get though. Those stupid skulls and ghosts.
Mine was one of Minsc, but then I went to rescue Volo right after and he died, so I had to reload to a point where Lady Jannath dumped him. Hehe
That’s so random haha! That makes no sense
Me too. I got a painting of my Tav no problem. Surprised more people aren't correcting this.
I think this quest basically exists as a way for the game to help the player find mystic carrion and that whole thing if you haven't discovered him and his jars already/elsewhere
Like op says, the quest is annoying and the rewards are shit 🤣 it's just a goose chase to help the player find more stuff in the world, lots of games use this tactic.
Yeah, the only other way to learn about Mystic Carrion is a note you find in the ruined house across from the Thieves Guild entrance, the one with the magic words for opening the wall. If you try to talk to the runaway servants first, they have limited interactions and tell you nothing.
Yep
If he survives the explosion. He can live. He’s done it once.
Theres a way to do a "fast" version of this quest.
1: Go to Trumbo and kill him, destroy the heart that popps out.
2: Go to the Mystic Carrion, enter by his hidden door by the water, start combat and make the Mystic Carrion come out (he will be immune to damage since you only destroyed the heart)
When he comes out pick him up and throw him in the water insta killing him.
Take the torch.
3: Go to the mansion, use the torch to bannish the ghost and there, ur golden!
I blow up the Zen camp with him in it i hate that quest so much
Let the ghost kill him, if you let the ghost kill him you get a decent magical ring. And if you are playing an evil character you can kill Lady Jannath and get a second magical ring.
Or you can just steal from her
Aye, but murder is more evil-er!
Shovel approves
If you throw the painting on the ground, you can see it. It looks like your in-game portrait, at least in my experience.
Guy somehow always gets killed in this explosion that seems to happen at the zhentarim base in my games. Huh? Me? No i have no idea how the explosion is triggered.......
i hate the quest, but the amount of gold the painting is worth makes it almost worth it on honour mode
I just freed him, what makes him so hated by the community? Thought he was a little smug, but I didn’t think he was some asshole and whatnot compared to literal slavers, goblins, and giths.
In Act 1, he's fine. The continuation of the quest in Act 3 is what people hate. Spoilers below.
He married his former patron, but is pining over a dead woman from his past and makes a bargain with a necromancer to bind her spirit. This leads to him being possessed and his wife's mansion being filled with poltergeists and cursed objects. Navigating the mansion is a chore, and then you have to find the necromancer (which triggers another quest to either get the necromancer to help you or kill him), and then at the end of all of that the reward is a painting that you can't actually hang on anything and until recently was buggy and didn't always show the character you wanted it to.
Damn, so he wanted to keep her spirit around after she died? Basically having a living wife and a dead wife at the same time?
Strangely, no. He wanted to ask her whether she killed himself over their breakup. When she finds out that's all she was dragged back for, she's pissed. So, yeah, all of that suffering to basically ask, "Are you mad at me? Y/N"
A true bruh moment. A simple “Speak with Dead” would’ve been enough.
Still, other than the lackluster rewards, I don’t think that’s anything to hate him over.
Yeah, a lot of the hate for Oskar is really about how tedious the quest is. The cursed skulls all over the mansion are annoying, and the associated quest with the necromancer has you searching all over the city for things. I've only finished one playthrough, but I'm probably not going to do the quest on my current or future runs.
Did it once. I learned my lesson.
Not to mention that the house is annoying as hell to navigate. The cursed shit, those skulls that knock back your party, the camera seems to bug out more frequently
I just wish I could hang it up somewhere
My first playthough I wanted to do a sort of pacifist run. Trying to talk my way out of combat and and get peaceful resolutions. I wanted to try and save everyone so, save the artist was included.
The damn house crashed my game. And it took several crashed for me to search and find out that it was a known problem. It was due to the huge number of lit candles in the house with the ghosts. The only way to progress was to shoot/destroy/extinguish every candle in sight while inside.
Aside from wanting to complete all the quests at least once, save the artist is very much not worth the trouble
IIRC, the +2 hand-crossbow (which is roughly a 10000x better reward than what you get for the quest) is hidden in the room at the very top of the mansion. Ugh.
Yes
The first and last time i did this quest the game kept crashing inside the house when you used see invisibility elixir, they have probably fixed it but it left a bad impression
Oh lord, don't tell me this. I completely missed it on my first 2 playthroughs, and I'm like 30 mins into it on my current playthrough. I'm loading back in right now to go try to find... zombies (???)
The party with the zombies is okay, you get the best staff of necromancy in game, but it's kind of independent, you can do it even if he dies in act 1.
Lady Jannath is better off without that clown anyway. Bro is shamelessly necromatically cheating on her and making it everyone's problem. 🙄
Maybe it bugged out but when I've done it I ended up with painting I couldn't see or even put on the wall, and when I clicked on it, it was like "pfp placeholder". Like it just laid flat and gave error on trying to put it up. Was mega disappointed. Especially now learning that apparently people got at least a real painting of their companions or whatnot.
Despite the house quest being annoying af, it was really interesting to see all that flying shit and ghosts, I appreciated the effort. But one time was enough because annoying buggy house plus shitty painting plus really AH artist personality sum up to not saving him ever again. The lady is better without.
Did it once and never again. Now I just antagonize him a bit and then leave him there. He’s a turd.
I only did it during my first run. Just killed him immediately for all the other runs
I just yuck a fire bolt at the smoke powder barrels in hideout. Saves time as I never do his questline, I forget it's there.
I always kill the Zhentarim after I’ve milked them for all that they’re worth so I just set off the explosives and Oskar always dies in the process.
I only did it once. It was just too annoying. Never again.
It used to be worse!
I think so at least. Iirc they nerfed the skulls long ago.
i usually just cast brek curse at the akulls and they vanish. but you'll need two characters with the spell, bc there's a lot of skulls
Yeah it's really a boring quest, I often don't even finish it
I've never had an issue with this quest... Do people just not like the dude?
i, personally, didn't had issues with crashing or anything, it's just annoying as hell. and the reward is shit.
4 things here. 1 get the torch before the quest 2fly to the top of the building and light up the painting. 3 Then the quest is one step. 4 every PC in your party can talk to him to get a painting and all sell for 1500. So 1500x the number of PCs you are willing to cycle. Lastly you can pickpocket the wife for her vault key and other magic goodies.
I’ve never actually been able to complete that quest. Every time, it crashes the game. I’ve barely made it past the initial fight in the room with Lady Jannith.
Wait, but you can get your portrait
I feel I’ve missed something obvious in this post
i think it depends on the answer that you give him, if it's the "portrait of adventurer" it's a random party member, if it's the Ghost whisperer, i think it's yours
I don't know why I actually helped Oskar. Ah yeah, I had expected some reward.
I mean from the get go the artist is telling you, you will be paid and nothing else.
Technically he's right you got paid in an expensive painting
In the future just leave him in the cave. Lady Jannath is living her best life, having a great time when you get to Baldur's Gate and Kerri is at peace. You don't have to do the dumb quest. Everyone is better off without that guy.
1600 hours and I’ve never completed this quest lmao
Yeah mine in my coop run with my friend just broke entirely I put the right painting on the thing and it disappeared and spawned a ghost and now I can't get into the backroom to finish the quest it's the only mission in the entire game I can't do now because of this
I stole everything from the house. The reward wasnt great, the painter fuck should have paid me back and then some. But no, "its all about him"
Nah you get an awesome ring or amulet, I forget which. But I think it's BoH once per day which is DOPE.
I'm always level 12 by the time I reach the mansion in Act 3, so I don't even bother anymore.
I don't understand, I read in a walkthrough that the painting is of a companion, but the painting is of ME.
It's sitting in my camp right now and it's def my tav
What gives did yall do something wrong?
Even worse if you don't do it in larder amd you just enter a house with ghosts that you can't do anything about and have to turn base your way all the way put if the house again
Wait I got to act 3 and this is my first time doing this quest. I talked to Mystic Carrion and I had dialogue that acted like I already talked to Fevras and Lady Jannath even though I didnt even enter that part of the map yet. Did I break something in the quest?
No as long as you're talking to NPCs in act 3 about it you should be good. I entered the house through a side entrance and didn't even know it was related to the artist because of it. I had to revert to an old save simply because I couldn't solve combat because of the terrain actions its constantly doing
Any way to see invisibility fixes this
I've never understood how See Invisibility worked in the game. I had the magic eye from Volo and I would see checks and I would succeed and still couldn't see them or they'd fail and still couldn't see them. The whole time I was in the house my Tav had the eye and it never fixed anything
Iirc if you ever die with the magic eye and get revived you lose the effect. Its dumb
If you break the curse and don't end it with a Charisma check, you can get his wife to dump him.
I'm just sad for the ghost, I wanted them both free of him.
When you break the curse she moves on if I recall.