Baldur's Gate 3: Where to find the Nightsong

One of the most enigmatic side quests in all of Baldur's Gate 3 is your mission to find the Nightsong. A renowned wizard in the city has offered a massive bounty if the relic can be found, but that’s easier said than done.

No one knows where the Nightsong is for a start, and there are all sorts of monsters and magical creatures stopping any search from gaining momentum.

It’s up to your party of adventurers to step in where others have failed and deliver the goods.

Be aware: while you can start this quest via multiple sources in Act 1 of Baldur’s Gate 3, it cannot be finished until Act 2, where it will have far-reaching consequences for your entire playthrough. If you’re lost in the Underdark, wondering where to go next, sit tight. As you venture forth into the Mountain Pass or Shadow-cursed Lands a new lead will eventually present itself.

How to start the “Find the Nightsong” quest in Baldur’s Gate 3

In Act 1, you can gain a lead on the Nightsong from a few different sources.

First you can speak to Aradin, the mercenary you saved in the battle at the Grove’s gate, in The Hollow. Here he will relinquish his claim to the Nightsong contract and pass it off to you as more trouble than it’s worth.

He tells you to take your search to the Goblin Camp, where the druid Halsin was captured during their ill-fated expedition.

Once you’re inside the camp, you can speak to Liam, another member of Aradin’s party about the Nightsong. You find him strapped to a torture rack on the right-hand side of the temple, and he’s all too happy to spill what he knows if you set him free. There’s apparently a passageway to a forgotten part of the temple somewhere within the camp, but he doesn’t know where.

Finally, you can also start the quest in conversation with Halsin himself. But given that he was just as unsuccessful as the others, he doesn’t know how to proceed either.

To progress the quest in Act 1, go into Priestess Gut’s private chamber. If you’re taking out the goblins, attack her immediately so she can’t raise the alarm and loot her belongings.

Here you find a key which unlocks the door at the back of her room. This leads to the aforementioned forgotten temple.

Progress past the ogre guard - either stealthily or using force - then through the sliding moon puzzle. The easiest way to do this is by passing the perception check on the lever next to the contraption, picking the lock and completely bypassing the challenge.

Past the door that’s revealed, descend the ladder and you find yourself in the Underdark, in a disused temple to the moon goddess Selune. Next to the portcullis is a lever you can pull to wander out into the darkness, or you can also go out of the open window on the cliff side of the temple.

Either way, the Nightsong’s trail goes cold, and your quest journal tells you as much.

Where to go after the Underdark to find the Nightsong

To continue your search for the Nightsong, you need to wait until you reach Act 2 of Baldur’s Gate 3, where you gain access to the Shadow-cursed Lands. You can get their either past the Mountain Pass, or through Grymforge.

Completing side quests in this area will point you towards the Thorm Mausoleum in Reithwin Town Cemetery. Apparently there’s something cool there, I wonder what it could be?

Make your way south from Last Light Inn to Reithwin, then into the cemetery. You will pick up some interesting story beats along the way, and it’s advised to bring both Shadowheart and Astarion along for the ride since the mausoleum plays a key role in their companion quests.

Be warned that there are spoilers below, and if you just wanted a push in the right direction towards the Nightsong stop reading now and go and find Thorm Mausoleum in Reithwin Cemetery for yourself - just complete everything you want to at Last Light Inn first.

What to do with the Nightsong

In Thorm Mausoleum, you reveal a secret passageway behind a portrait of Ketheric which leads to the legendary Gauntlet of Shar - the proving ground where the goddess of darkness and pain chooses her strongest and most faithful warriors, the Dark Justiciars.

Complete the challenges presented around the temple to collect Umbral Gems. These will eventually provide access to the Inner Sanctum.

As you progress through the challenges, it will become more and more apparent that the temple has something to do with the fabled Nightsong, but not the exact nature of the connection.

With Shadowheart in your party, equipped with the Spear of Night from the temple library, enter the pool if you have completed everything else you want to undertake in the whole of Act 2, because your decisions here will have profound effects.

Interact with the pool, and if you pry into the conversation you hear that Shar wants Shadowheart to kill a Selunite - owing to the antipathy between sister goddesses of darkness and the moon.

Jump down the giant rocks to get to the bottom platform, and if you haven’t killed the Absolute’s advisor, Balthazar, by this point, then he appears.

There you find Nightsong. She’s a person, not a relic to be possessed.

The climatic conversation reveals some good lore about the mechanics of different factions, but now you need to make your decision on Balthazar: attack him, or let him leave. Letting him take Nightsong obviously gets you in with the cult of the Absolute, but in bother with both Shadowheart and the Harpers.

If you attack Balthazar a difficult boss fight ensues, but if you focus on taking out the necromancer quickly his goons are much more manageable.

Afterwards, the confrontation between Shadowheart and Nightsong begins.

If you let Shadowheart go ahead with it, Shar powers her up and bids her to kill Ketheric Thorm. Without Nightsong, Thorm is vulnerable and more is promised in Baldur’s Gate when Shadowheart reunites with her temple.

Shadowheart gains a new unique weapon and suit of armor, as well as advanced abilities gifted to her by Shar.

However, killing Nightsong weakens the power of the Selune, destroying the ward around the Last Light Inn and killing everyone inside - similar to if you failed to save Isobel from Marcus earlier. This ends every incomplete quest in that area. The warning before you came in here wasn’t playing around!

Alternatively, if you have a good relationship with Shadowheart you can attempt to talk her out of her convictions like you did Lae’zel in the Githyanki creche.

If you talk her out of it by passing a persuasion check you have a couple of options. If you take the first chance you get, the persuasion check is very high (30). But if you argue back and forth to get to the next sentence, something Nightsong says rocks Shadowheart’s resolve and you can then take a lower persuasion check (21).

After passing either of these, Shadowheart throws away the Spear of Night and Nightsong steps in to guide her. Shadowheart frees Nightsong from the soul prison and restores her power.

Shadowheart is given the Moonlight Glaive and a big cutscene plays which cements this as the “good” decision, but not necessarily the “best” one given how you want your personal story to play out.

Either way, whatever your choice, you now have a powerful ally by your side as you storm Moonrise Towers to take down Ketheric Thorm.