Baldur's Gate 3: Owlbear Cave and the Gilded Chest of Selune

The Owlbear Cave chest in Baldur's Gate 3 is one of the more puzzling conundrums you come across in the early game.

Unlocking it requires you to solve a riddle whose solution you can’t even see, unless you know the right place to look.

Emptying it gives you some decent loot and a mysterious statue whose use we have, admittedly, not figured out yet.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Owlbear Cave Chest

Baldur’s Gate 3 Owlbear Cave location

The three cultist siblings near the bridge outside Emerald Grove mention a deadly owlbear and a treasure in the cave that it’s guarding, but not actually where to find it. The cave is at the source of the river under the bridge nearby.

If you head a bit north of the bridge, down a dirt trail, you'll find a path that leads down to the river. Follow the river north to reach the Owlbear Cave entrance.

Inside is a full-grown owlbear who doesn't take kindly to your unannounced visit. You can handle it in one of two ways. If you pass an Animal Handling check, you can convince the owlbear to leave you alone and let you move about the cave freely. Just don't interact with it again if you do manage to calm it. Any further interactions will make it aggressive again.

The other option is just fighting it. The method seems cruel, but if you defeat the owlbear, it doesn't actually die. It remains unconscious with 1 HP, even if you use Healing Word or other spells on it.

While the owlbear is out of commission, swipe an egg from its nest and loot the dead body nearby for some magic armor. Even if you don't want to wear it, you can donate it to Gale at camp when he asks for a magic item to consume.

How to open the Gilded Chest of Selune

To open the Gilded Chest of Selune you'll need to follow the path around to the back of the cave where you'll find a large statue and a small, shining blue chest. You can interact with the chest if you want, but we don't really recommend it. If you fail the saving roll that follows, the chest will create a small explosion that takes a significant chunk out of your health.

Use the jump command to leap across the gap behind the statue. The party will automatically roll a perception die, and if you succeed, you'll see a small piece of parchment on the ground. If you fail, jump across to the statue again and leap back, and you should reroll the perception die.

Interact with the scroll to trigger another roll, a Religion check this time. You have a pretty decent chance of succeeding with this one if Shadowheart is in your party, but you can leave the scroll and interact with it again to force another Religion roll if the first one fails.

You'll get a bit of information about the scroll and, if Shadowheart picks it up, some choice words from her about the followers of Selune the moon goddess. What you need to do with it is read it in front of the statue, so pick up the scroll, put it in your inventory, and jump back across to the statue.

Drop the scroll in front of it, and then interact with it to read it again (left click, if you're using a mouse). Doing this removes the seal on the chest and lets you open it to collect:

• Idol of Selune
• Silver Necklace
• Bloodstone

The extra checks where Shadowheart tries bullying you into not opening the chest aren't in the launch version like they were in early access, or at least they weren't when I opened the chest.

As for what the Idol of Selune does, well, that remains to be seen. We haven't found a use for it yet. It fits in a few little alcoves, though it doesn't seem to actually do anything yet.

If you're looking for more help during your time in Faerun, check out our tips for the best classes and subclasses for beginners, and the must-have party members if you want to optimize every interaction.