Baldur’s Gate 3: Should You Help Gekh Coal?

Baldur’s Gate 3 is an incredibly immersive game that allows the player to explore countless massive areas with many characters, and quests to partake in.

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One of the most dangerous areas the player will have to enter is known as the Underdark. There, the player will come face to face with a Duergar known as Gekh Coal, who will request the player’s help, in exchange for a reward.

Who is Gekh Coal and Where To Find Him?

Gekh Coal is quite an unlikable character. He is Duergar who partakes in slave trade and wants to hunt down one of his slaves who escaped and stole some boots.

The player will find him early on when exploring the Underdark, inside the Decrepit Village. This area will be found after entering the Underdark and passing through the Selune outpost. The road there can be quite dangerous, however, so the player should be prepared.

This village is next to the beach and the player should be able to find a Sigil circle nearby. Gekh Coal will not be alone and will have a few of his men around, and they are quite a strong group. Gekh Coal specifically is the one Duergar standing not far from the rope ladder after the waypoint.

Gekh Coal’s Initial Request

When the player speaks to Gekh Coal, they should make sure to not get on his bad side so as to not start a fight. He and his crew should definitely not be underestimated. One good way to avoid that is to show him the player’s brand if they have been branded before. Alternatively, using the Illithid powers will also make him back down.

He will tell the player that one of the slaves ran away and stole Sergeant Thrinn’s Boots. For that, he asks the player to kill the slave and get back the boots.

Where To Find Sergeant Thrinn’s Boots

If the player decides to help Gekh Coal, they will have to start heading north in the Underdark from the Decrepit Village. On the way, the player will find many corpses lying around of Duergars and Myconids. The player will eventually reach Ebonlake Grotto, a Myconid colony.

The player should be careful, as they will initially be very hostile. Once on their good side, they will let the player in. Alternatively, the player could fight them, however that will not be an easy fight.

Inside the colony, the player should go up the mushroom stairs, there, they will find Thulla, the slave Gekh Coal spoke off. However, she’s extremely injured and poisoned. The easiest way for the player to help her is to use lesser restoration to heal her poison illness.

When the player does this and accepts to help her people, she will give the boots out of her own will. This is the easiest way to acquire the boots from her.

Giving The Boots To Gekh Coal

With the boots now in possession, the player can go back to Gekh Coal. The player should tell him that they got the boots with them. He will be quite satisfied. However, the player’s mission will not just end here. Instead, he wants the player to go and hand the boots themselves to their original owner, Sergeant Thrinn.

Where To Find Sergeant Thrinn

To reach Sergeant Thrinn, the player must first get on the Underdark Duergar Boat, located down from where Gekh Coal was standing. When the player chooses to sail, they’ll hop on the boat and sail off.

On the way to Sergeant Thrinn, however, they will be spotted by another Duergar and be questioned. Since the player has Sergeant Thrinn’s boots, all they have to do is say they want to hand her the boots. With that, the player will be allowed through with no problems.

Once arrived at the location, the player will be confronted with even more Duergars, notably one named Morghal. She will try to make the player pay up to 100 coins. The player shouldn’t hand her a single coin.

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Sergeant Thrinn will be found up the stairs, after the waypoint, around the area where she’s making slaves work to remove rocks to open a cave passage. She’ll know the player has her boots and will ask for them. The player should just hand her over the boots. She’ll want the player to help her free Nere from under the rubble. She’ll also give the player a good reward.

The Rewards The Player Gets

The player will have two options to pick from when it comes to rewards.

The first one is the Armour of Uninhibited Kushigo. The game describes it as follows:

“Long ago, Kushigo was a warrior. Bedecked in an enormous set of plate steel, its shoulder pauldrons fashioned like great antlered stags, his arrival on a battlefield spelled doom for the enemy.

Yet this armor – so light and fine – speaks nothing to that legacy.”

This uncommon clothing can allow the player to use their reaction to make unarmed strikes whenever an enemy misses their strike on them. This item has 10 armor class. If desired, the player can sell these clothes for around 250 coins.

The second choice for the player is the Bracing Brand. The game describes this uncommon ring as follows:

“A common ring, simple and unadorned. Though there is a certain heft to it…”

With this ring on, the player makes use of Personal Space, which gives the player a bonus +1 to their armor class until their next turn whenever they shove an enemy. If the player wants to, they can sell this ring for 40 coins.

Both of these options are fairly solid in their own regards, but, unfortunately, the player can only choose one out of the two. The better option is going to be the Armour of Uninhibited Kushigo, as the Kushigo Counter will come in handy more than the Personal Space ability of the Bracing Brand. It will allow for counter-reactions from the character wearing it. In general though, neither of these items is incredible or a must-have, and the player will earn significantly more money from selling the Armour of Uninhibited Kushigo than the Bracing Brand to traders.

Is Helping Gekh Coal and Sergeant Thrinn Worth it?

When it comes to this quest of finding the boots and getting them back to Sergeant Thrinn, one important aspect many players might look at is from a moral perspective. Many players will not be comfortable helping despicable slave owners who mistreat the deep gnomes.

Besides that, the reward the player gets does not make up for it, and they would be better rewarded by helping the Myconid and Deep Gnomes. The reward given by Sergeant Thrinn is nothing to boast about, but it will make accessing Grymforge easier. Overall, this might definitely not be worth much.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is now available to play on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation 5.